August 2014 by The Washington Diplomat

■ EXCLUSIVE:

WE JOIN AMBASSADORS ON A STATE DEPARTMENT TOUR OF SEATTLE WITH PROTOCOL CHIEF PETER SELFRIDGE.

A World of News and Perspective

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■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

■ VOLUME 21, NUMBER 8

■ AUGUST 2014

: THE GREAT WAR 1914-2014

A CENTURY LATER World War I introduced modern warfare and killing on an industrial scale. It obliterated empires and redrew the world map. And it had a profound effect on countries that still grapple with its destruction 100 years later.

GREAT BRITAIN

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

British Envoy Reflects on War’s Enduring Impact

Ethnic Tensions Simmer in Bosnia, Cradle of WWI

“Every family in Britain has an emotional connection to World War I,” says Ambassador Peter Westmacott, whose grandfather was injured for life by a globechanging conflict that caused some 37 million casualties. PAGE 14

Bosnia and Herzegovina, home to the spark that lit World War I, still struggles with the ethnic tensions that made the Balkans a tinderbox of nationalist and sectarian passions 100 years ago. PAGE 15

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

CULTURE

Nicholas Burns Offers Nuanced View of Obama’s Foreign Policy PAGE 4

National Gallery Examines Art of Preservation in War PAGE 28

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The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

CONTENTS tHE WaSHINGtON DIPLOmat

august 2014

6 Seattle’s iconic Space Needle

[ news ] 4

Leila Mol Beale

SOMALILAND STABILITY somaliland has a growing economy, functioning democracy and none of the anarchy that afflicts neighboring somalia. the only thing it doesn’t have is independence.

AN ERDOGAN EMPIRE?

[ medical ]

turkish Prime Minister recep tayyip erdogan is hoping to win the presidency this month in a bid to extend an 11-year rule marked by achievement and animosity.

UNDERESTIMATING PUTIN

russian President vladimir Putin has seized on discontent with Western values to ingratiate himself with a growing chorus of conservatives and nationalists around the world.

COVER PROFILE: WWI AND BRITAIN

Bosnian ambassador Jadranka Negodic says people still view the events that triggered World War i through the prism of ethnic divisions that haunt her region 100 years later. COVER: Ambassador photos taken at the British Residence and the Bosnian Embassy by Lawrence Ruggeri of ruggeriphoto.com. Obama photo taken by Pete Souza.

32 34

OPENING THE GATES

ART OF PRESERVATION World War ii caused untold losses around the world, but a new exhibition at the National gallery of art looks at an oft-overlooked victim of the destruction: culture.

OPERA BALL SPOTLIGHT FILM REVIEWS in “Mood indigo,” maverick french filmmaker Michel gondry makes an emphatic return to his surrealist roots, constructing an engrossing world of Parisian love and devotion.

you might not be able to pronounce the name of the latest rampant mosquito-borne viral infection, but you’d probably never forget chikungunya if you caught it.

[ culture ]

FAMILY-FRIENDLY ‘BFG’ With its exquisite puppetry, sweet fairytales and, yes, potty humor, “the Bfg (Big friendly giant)” at imagination stage is sure to entertain the entire family.

CHIKUN-WHAT?

COVER PROFILE: WWI AND BOSNIA

EMBASSY GEMS some of the most fascinating art in d.c. is tucked away in the city’s embassies, as seen in two new shows at the argentine and italian missions.

FILM FESTIVALS Marfa is a tiny texas town that punches well above its weight as a backdrop to iconic hollywood films and the home of an intimate, quirky film festival.

the Bill & Melinda gates foundation hopes to involve d.c.-based diplomats in its campaign to improve health care throughout the developing world.

“it’s a part of our national consciousness,” British ambassador Peter Westmacott says about World War i, which introduced modern warfare, redrew the world map and planted the seeds of conflicts that fester to this day.

WHAT’S IN A STREET NAME? come fall, chinese diplomats in d.c. may well go to work at 1 Liu xiaobo Plaza, a street named in honor of a jailed chinese dissident.

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES Brazil native Leila Mol Beale juggles her real estate career with representing Barbados alongside her ambassador husband, but this mother of three also has to strike a delicate balance in another area of her life: eating.

KEYSTONE OPTIMISM the canadian american Business council recently gathered top energy experts to make the case for giving the green light to the embattled Keystone xL pipeline project.

EXCLUSIVE the diplomat joins d.c.-based ambassadors as they head to the other Washington to visit seattle as part of a state department trip with Protocol chief Peter selfridge.

Chikungunya virus

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE respected former U.s. diplomat Nicholas Burns offers a mixed report card on obama’s handling of the litany of foreign policy challenges confronting his administration.

CINEMA LISTING

EVENTS LISTING

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

APPOINTMENTS / WORLD HOLIDAYS

CLASSIFIEDS

REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIEDS

P.O. Box 1345 • Silver Spring, MD 20915-1345 • Phone: (301) 933-3552 • Fax: (301) 949-0065 • e-mail: news@washdiplomat.com • Web: www.washdiplomat.com Publisher/Editor-in-Chief victor shiblie Director of Operations fuad shiblie Managing Editor anna gawel News Editor Larry Luxner Contributing Writers christopher Boian, Nicholas clayton, Michael coleman, rachel hunt, stephanie Kanowitz, Miranda Katz, eliza Krigman, Ky N. Nguyen, gail scott, gina shaw, gary tischler, Lisa troshinsky Photographer Lawrence ruggeri Account Managers rod carrasco, chris smith Graphic Designer cari henderson The Washington Diplomat is published monthly by the Washington diplomat, inc. the newspaper is distributed free of charge at several locations throughout the Washington, d.c. area. We do offer subscriptions for home delivery. subscription rates are $25 for 12 issues and $45 for 24 issues. call fuad shiblie for past issues. if your organization employs many people from the international community you may qualify for free bulk delivery. to see if you qualify you must contact fuad shiblie. The Washington Diplomat assumes no responsibility for the safe keeping or return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other material. the information contained in this publication is in no way to be construed as a recommendation by the Publisher of any kind or nature whatsoever, nor as a recommendation of any industry standard, nor as an endorsement of any product or service, nor as an opinion or certification regarding the accuracy of any such information.

August 2014

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PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

Nicholas Burns

Burns Offers Nuanced Perspective On Slew of Crises Facing Obama by Michael Coleman

icholas Burns, the respected former American diplomat who served three presidents while working on some of the nation’s most intractable foreign policy challenges, offered a prediction at the outset of the 2014 New Year.

Writing in the Jan. 2 edition of the Boston Globe, where Burns now pens twice-monthly columns on global affairs, he warned: “There will be no rest for the weary as President Obama confronts a daunting foreign policy agenda in 2014.” Talk about an understatement. Asked about the prediction during an interview with The Washington Diplomat in mid-July, Burns — now an international relations professor at Harvard University and director of its Future of Diplomacy Project — laughed heartily. “Unfortunately, I think it has come true,” he said before turning serious and citing daunting U.S. foreign policy predicaments as far flung as Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, China, Afghanistan, Israel and beyond (not to mention problems closer to home, such as the surge of Central American minors swamping the U.S. border). Burns has a seemingly encyclopedic understanding of geopolitics and occupies a unique space in politically polarized Washington: He’s served Republican and Democratic presidents, having worked as the director for Soviet affairs in the George H.W. Bush administration and then in the Bill Clinton White House as the National Security Council’s senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia affairs. A third president, George W. Bush, tapped Burns to serve as undersecretary of state for political affairs, a position he held from

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as well as State Department spokesman in the mid-1990s. A growing chorus of critics has called President Obama’s foreign policy“besieged and befuddled,” as The Post’s Fred Hiatt recently put it, but Burns offers a more even-handed, nuanced assessment of Obama’s response to a litany of security crises around the world — an assessment befitting the complexity of the problems the U.S. faces. The former ambassador said that among these problems, sectarian violence in Iraq is foremost on his mind. Burns said he generally gives Obama high marks on foreign policy, but suggested the president’s legacy on Iraq will be mixed. After Obama pulled the last U.S. troops out of Iraq in 2011, the Shiite-led government steadily alienated the Sunni minority. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) exploited these tensions to seize a large amount of territory in the north, threatening to fragment the war-torn country and unleash another round of bloodletting on Iraq’s beleaguered citizens. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq recorded 2,417 deaths and 2,287 injuries in the month of June alone. That is the highest single month casualty rate since 2007, the peak of Iraq’s sectarian civil war in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Many foreign policy experts, including Burns, place heavy blame at the feet of

We’re seeing a more isolationist mood…. I think that is a recipe for failure in foreign policy. We live in a highly integrated global economy. People as far away as terrorists outside of Kandahar, Afghanistan, assaulted Washington and New York on Sept. 11, 2001. You can’t let problems fester until they get that severe or acute. — Nicholas Burns former undersecretary of state for political affairs

2005 to 2008. In this capacity as the State Department’s third-ranking official, Burns led negotiations on the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, helped craft a longterm military assistance agreement with Israel and led U.S. talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Over the years, Burns also served as U.S. ambassador to NATO and to Greece,

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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his exclusion of Sunnis from the power structure. “Iraq is a looming disaster for the United States because there is a possibility it could splinter into two or three different pieces,” Burns said. “The Islamic caliphate has already established itself in western

Photo: Harvard University

Iraq and in northern Syria — the ISIS caliphate. The Kurds are already thinking about a referendum for independence and there is the continued Sunni-Shia war underway. The stakes are very high and there is no question it is in the United States’s interest to see a unitary state remain in Iraq. Our major instrument is diplomatic right now, using our influence to convince Maliki and the Kurds and the Sunni leaders to reinforce the Iraqi state and recommit to a unitary state. That role has to be constant through Secretary [of State John] Kerry, through our ambassadors there and others in Washington.” In recent weeks, some pundits have suggested that perhaps Vice President Joe Biden was right when, as a U.S. senator in 2006, he proposed a “soft partition” of Iraq that would give the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds their own autonomous regions, overseen by a central government in Baghdad. Burns said that option doesn’t appear to be on the table in the Obama White House, and for good reason. “Here’s the problem,” Burns explained. “Once you begin to change borders in a

fragile, divisive, violent region of the world like the Middle East, where does it stop? And if you begin to change Iraq’s borders, does that have an impact on Jordan? What does it do to Syria and Lebanon? You may unleash uncontrollable forces that lead to further violence by agreeing to change those borders. The whole international system … is based on the inviolability of everyone’s borders. Borders can be changed by mutual agreement among countries, but if you begin to change them by international forces, or like ISIS through the barrel of a gun, that is very dangerous. That can lead to greater instability and more warfare.” Despite Republican criticism that Obama’s foreign policy has been feckless and reactionary, Burns said the president’s handling of the recent ISIS flare-up in Iraq has been measured and responsible. “I think he was right to lead diplomatically over the last 30 days. We didn’t rush into using military force blindly or [giving arms] at the service of the Maliki government without extracting some commitments from the Maliki government,” Burns

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August 2014

said. “He’s been right to put the 600 American military personnel back in the country.We had to do that to protect our embassy and to give military advice to the Maliki government. It may be we’ll have to use American airpower if ISIS continues to make military progress, but I think leading with diplomacy made sense given the situation as it was.” Yet the former ambassador also said Obama bungled the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. “It would have been better, certainly in hindsight, had the U.S. left a small military training force in Iraq,” Burns said.“That would have given us more influence over the Iraqi military and over the Iraqi civilian authorities.” Of course, Maliki, facing fierce public opposition to American boots on the ground, may not have acquiesced to a continued U.S. deployment regardless of Washington’s wishes. Nevertheless, Burns points out that Obama had his “Mission Accomplished” moment too soon (much like his predecessor). “I think we should have been more active diplomatically as the continued powerbroker, if you will, in Iraq. We occupied the country for eight years. We ran the country for the first year after the fall of Saddam Hussein and for us just to disappear and not be a primary diplomatic force in the country trying to hold these three groups together, for instance, and trying to get the government to meet its commitments — we took our foot off the pedal.” Burns gives the president a better appraisal for his handling of longtime adversary Iran. He said Obama wisely eschewed hawkish voices in Washington urging airstrikes targeted at Iran’s nuclear facilities and instead pursued a diplomatic path started under President George W. Bush that aimed to rein in the nation’s nuclear ambitions. “Both President Bush and Obama championed the idea that you want to have a group of countries establish a negotiation with Iran before we opted for with Iran, and I very strongly agreed with that,” Burns said.“I was the Iran negotiator in the Bush administration for Secretary [of State Condoleezza] Rice. That was our policy and I think president Obama has accepted that policy since he took office; he strengthened it and ran with it. I actually see a high degree of integration between the second Bush term and the Obama administration on how to handle Iran. I suspect there is more common ground in Washington on this issue than less.” Yet there’s little common ground with Congress, where both sides of the aisle favor a tough approach to Iran and have been pressing for harsher sanctions and terms that Tehran would never accept in a final nuclear deal. That legislative opposition, however, did not thwart the administration’s attempts to extend the nuclear talks, which have frozen Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear in exchange for modest sanctions relief, past their July 20 deadline. Even though talks will continue for another four months, there remains a huge gulf between Tehran and the West over an array of highly technical issues, notably the number of nuclear centrifuges Iran can have. Whatever the final agreement, Burns suggested it would likely be better than war. “There were some people in the Bush administration who didn’t believe diplomacy would work with Iran or that negotiations would have any kind of positive ending,” Burns told us. “I think that view was shortsighted. In 2005 and 2006, we had occupied Iraq, we were heading into the worst days and years of the Iraq War, and we were beginning to have major problems in Afghanistan with the resurgence of the Taliban. We had a lot on our plate.The idea that we would blithely risk a military conflict with Iran didn’t make sense, especially when diplomacy was an alternative.” He also pointed out that,“If negotiations break down, you can always go back to sanction and August 2014

Photo: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

An armed separatist in eastern Ukraine stands guard at the MH17 crash site, which Nicholas Burns calls a “game changer” in the Ukraine crisis.

reserve the use of military power. It just seemed to be the right way to do that — exhaust your options before you go to war.” While Burns doesn’t think a military conflict with Iran is wise, he believes force is warranted if the situation calls for it. On that note, turning his attention to Syria, Burns is less charitable to Obama. “I thought, frankly, it was a mistake last August for President Obama to draw a line in the sand on the use of chemical weapons and dare [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad to cross it,” Burns said. “He did cross it and then we did not respond. That hurt the credibility of the United States worldwide.” Russia maneuvered a face-saving plan to rid Assad of his chemical weapons supply, taking the threat of a U.S. military strike off the table. But Obama’s reluctance to use air power last year cemented the impression that the president was determined not to get sucked into Syria’s civil war, which has so far taken at least 170,000 lives and destabilized the region. Burns thinks that was a miscalculation. “The judicious use of American airpower against Assad’s air force could have neutralized that force and hurt Assad politically and militarily. I very respectfully think there was an opportunity missed there,” he said. At this point in the interview, Burns is careful to stress that he was a career foreign service officer and not a “political person” or a regular critic of Obama. “But in this case, yes, I think we never determined a definite strategic way forward on Syria,” he said. “We’ve avoided making a basic decision about whether or not to use American influence and American power to try to make a difference there. I think it’s a missed opportunity for us.This is a hard issue and there are no easy choices, but the absence of American influence is felt and it has exacerbated the situation. “We continue to be the primary power in the world,” Burns added. “When we act judiciously and skillfully and with others supporting us, we can continue to be very powerful.” The question of whether Obama should have acted sooner in Syria — arming the more moderate rebels before Islamist extremists like ISIS hijacked the opposition and Assad gained the upper hand — will forever haunt the administration. At the same time, the president’s supporters point out that American intervention may have only made the situation worse (Iraq stands as the crowning achievement of this axiom) and unleashed more weapons in a region already brimming with them.

One thing is certain:There are no certainties in the Middle East anymore. In recent years, revolutions have sprung up across the Arab world, from Egypt to Yemen. While the president has been criticized for his hands-off approach to the Arab Spring, it’s doubtful any outsider could have done much to contain the political and economic grievances that had been brewing in these countries for years. Burns said the region “is in as bad a shape now as it has been in many decades.” “Every major country from Egypt to Syria to Iraq and Jordan — they are all in crisis,” he lamented.“Look at the crises the president has to deal with in the Middle East.You have a civil war in Iraq and a civil war in Syria, where the humanitarian crisis is so profound. You have a very combustible and divided situation in Egypt between the military authoritarian government, the Muslim Brotherhood and other parties.” Like many people, Burns was optimistic when the Arab Spring bloomed across the region in early 2011. “It was a hopeful time,” Burns recalled. “There were millions of young people in all these Arab capitals not protesting against the United States but for democratic freedoms and jobs.Three and a half years later it’s hard to argue that more than two of those countries are better off — maybe Morocco, maybe Tunisia, maybe. But almost all of the other countries are worse off.The revolutions have turned very sour, very divisive and very bloody. There have been counter-revolutions in some countries and these huge civil wars in major states like Syria and Iraq. It is in fact a region turned upside down.” Burns said Secretary of State Kerry’s efforts to get the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process back on track, in the midst of the Arab Spring upheaval, made sense, even though many saw it as an unnecessary distraction. Despite the failure of those talks, Burns points out that the recent violence between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is a sign that the conflict will fester until real peace is achieved. “A lot of people have criticized Secretary Kerry for having spent so much time on the Israel-Palestine issue. I don’t,” he said. “This is a 64-year problem right now and until it’s resolved, that part of the Middle East will continue to be unstable…. There may be a hiatus in the talks right now, but we’re going to have to go back to mediating political talks between the two for an independent Palestinian state and for the Palestinians to accept the state of Israel.” Historical grievances have reared their head in another global hotspot: Ukraine, whose jockey-

ing for power has reignited Cold War-era tensions between Russia and the West. Burns called the Malaysian Airlines disaster over eastern Ukraine on July 17 “a horrific event” and “a game changer” in terms of the Ukraine crisis. The Boeing 777 was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile in an area controlled by pro-Russia separatists, killing all 298 people aboard. Blame quickly fell on the rebels, who have been targeting Ukrainian military aircraft, and on Moscow for supplying the rebels with a steady flow of weaponry. “The European governments are finally going to have to act,” Burns said, suggesting that additional sanctions were imminent. “There seems to be little doubt that the Russian government has been aiding the separatists and delivering sophisticated military technology to them and has trained them. Therefore it bears responsibility for what they did. I certainly think this is a major, major change in the status quo there. The rest of the world now sees the cynicism of the [Vladimir] Putin regime. “Moscow has been avoiding major sanctions until now, but that will soon change,” Burns predicted. Meanwhile, he said the Russian response to the tragedy was disappointing but predictable (Putin blamed the central government in Kiev for starting the fighting that led to the plane crash). “I think President Putin has been true to form: He’s been misleading, he’s been obstreperous, he has pointed the blame at the wrong party — the Ukrainian government,” Burns told us.“He’s done everything wrong and shown his true colors. He is an authoritarian leader who does not tell the truth to his people and he’s demonstrating that again in this crisis.” Burns said Obama and Kerry rightly “pointed to Russia as the culpable party” in statements following Flight MH17’s explosion over Ukraine, and he urged world leaders to call Russia out even more. “The most important thing right now is to illuminate to the rest of the world the lies of the Russian government as it is very likely the separatists are responsible for shooting down the airliner,” Burns said. “We need to rally the Europeans and convince them to move forward with sectoral sanctions and to continue to isolate the Russian government,” he added.“President Putin has the ability to end the war in eastern Ukraine. That he chooses not to do so is an indictment of his policies and regime.” Even before the airline tragedy, Burns praised the Obama administration for acting judiciously in a difficult situation by steadily ramping up sanctions against Russia — as opposed to Europe, which Burns said was “too restrained” in slapping economic penalties against Moscow largely because of its heavy dependence on Russian natural gas and trade. “It’s not a good position to be in when a potential authoritarian country like Russia has such a lock on the European economy,” he pointed out. With the crisis in Ukraine escalating, however, Burns said that in addition to tougher sanctions, Russia’s increasing belligerence should also prompt NATO and the U.S. to reinvigorate their missile defense plans. “It just seems to me that if relations are in effect breaking down with Russia, we ought to go back to a big missile defense regime in Europe,” Burns argued. “Missile defense in Europe among NATO countries is primarily a defense against Iran and the ability of Iran to launch long-range missiles at European countries…. If you live in a world where many states have long-range missile capacity and some of the states are authoritarian or reckless like North Korea or adversarial like Iran, you want to have a defense and it makes sense to develop it.”

See burns, page 44 The Washington Diplomat Page 5

EXCLUSIVE

Diplomacy

D.C.-Based Ambassadors Visit the ‘Other’ Washington

Photo: Boeing

Nearly 30 D.C.-based ambassadors tour a massive factory in Everett, Washington, where Boeing builds its biggest jumbo jets, as part of a State Department “Experience America” trip to Seattle.

EATTLE — Starbucks coffee was born here. So was the Nordstrom department store chain, the world’s first gas station and the Boeing 747 jetliner — not to mention Microsoft, Amazon, Expedia, Trident Seafoods and Costco. That tradition of entrepreneurship has made Seattle, despite its rainy reputation, a haven for innovation and creativity.

Add to that a sizzling economy, top-notch medical research institutions and a worldclass port, and it’s no wonder this Pacific Northwest metropolis is attracting so much international attention. In late June, D.C.-based ambassadors representing 29 countries ranging from Andorra to Zambia spent three days in Seattle as part of the State Department’s “Experience America” program. It was the first trip led by Peter Selfridge, the agency’s new chief of protocol, who began his job barely a month before, and it was the 10th such outing organized by the Obama administration (also see “Peter Self ridge, New Protocol Chief, Meets Diplomats at Mount Vernon” in the July 2014 issue of The Washington Diplomat and “Arkansas Odyssey” Ambassadors Experience the Natural State” in the January 2013 issue). But due to a last-minute Oval Office meeting between President Obama and Israel’s departing president, Shimon Peres, Selfridge missed the first day of the June 25-28 program, which began with a breakfast panel on tourism at Seattle’s iconic Space Needle. “This is one of the fastest-growing cities in America,” said Tom Norwalk, president and

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CEO of Visit Seattle, as the ambassadors gazed at the metropolis from the Space Needle’s observation deck 500 feet in the sky. Norwalk noted that at least 20 construction cranes dot the Seattle skyline at any given moment. “We have a renaissance going on along the waterfront, and over the next five to eight years, billions of dollars of investments will change the face of our city,” he said proudly. “Almost every industry and sector in Seattle is healthy.” With a population of 3.6 million, the Seattle metropolitan area is home to more than half of all residents of the Evergreen State. Gary Locke, whose past jobs include governor of Washington, U.S. secretary of commerce and U.S. ambassador to China, addressed the visiting dignitaries during a lavish reception at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. “We think of this as the better Washington, and we hope you’ll learn that, quite frankly, not all wisdom resides in Washington, D.C.,” said Locke, standing next to Selfridge under the wing of an early Boeing prototype plane. “What makes America great are the people who reside in the rest of the nation. To really understand America, it’s critical that you get

story and photos by Larry Luxner outside that bubble and interact with real people and real companies.” Stanley Roth, Boeing’s D.C.-based vice president of international government relations, added:“This is exactly the type of program we should have more of. We must end the artificial division between Washington and the rest of the country, and bring the diplomatic corps out to see all of the United States.” Granted, none of the diplomats visiting Seattle were from heavy hitters such as Great Britain, France, Brazil or China — all countries whose embassies have the resources and contacts to arrange business trips to such places on a moment’s notice. Rather, as a rule, these trips tend to attract smaller countries. This time around, the largest countries among them were Ambassadors Kyaw Myo Htut of Myanmar (population 53 million); Liberata Mulamula of Tanzania (49 million); Oliver Wonekha of Uganda (36 million); and Rachad Bouhlal of Morocco (33 million). At the other end of the spectrum, nine of the 29 diplomats on the bus represented nations with fewer than 1 million inhabitants. Overall, the group included 11 African envoys and six Caribbean ones, as well as diplomats from three European mini-states: Luxembourg (population 550,000), Andorra (85,000) and Monaco (37,000). In addition, nine wives accompanied their ambassador husbands; for them, the State

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Ambassadors Angus Friday of Grenada, left, and John Beale of Barbados stand in front of Seattle’s Space Needle, built for the 1962 World’s Fair.

Department came up with a “spouses’ program” that included a tour of Seattle’s Glassybaby Madrona glassblowing studio, a discussion on volunteerism at the Rainier Valley Boys and Girls Club and a “cultural experience dinner” at the Dale Chihuly Boathouse. Seafood and fine wines were the topic of conversation at a diplomatic welcome lunch co-hosted by Seattle-based DeLille Cellars and Trident Seafoods. As the ambassadors dined on sockeye salmon, roasted red pepper basil with Yukon August 2014

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We think of this as the better Washington, and we hope you’ll learn that, quite frankly, not all wisdom resides in Washington, D.C…. To really understand America, it’s critical that you get outside that bubble and interact with real people and real companies.

”

— Gary Locke, former U.S. ambassador to China and commerce secretary gold potatoes and Yakima Valley asparagus, Trident Seafoods CEO Joe Bundrant explained how his father began the company in 1973 with a single boat — delivering freshly caught Alaskan crab to restaurants in a pickup truck. Today, that company has more than 6,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. The privately held conglomerate harvests 1.1 billion pounds of salmon, flounder, tilapia, cod and other species from the Pacific Ocean each year. “Last year, we shipped to 54 countries,” Bundrant said proudly, noting that 50 percent of Trident’s sales are to North America while the other half goes to Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. Getting such a huge crop of top diplomats to visit their city — regardless of how big or small the countries are — was clearly a victory for Seattle’s movers and shakers. “Welcome to the other Washington. It’s an honor to greet so many people from so many different countries,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, speaking at a dinner hosted by the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle. “Creative people live here, and that attracts more creative people. That’s a strong element in creating a strong economy. Literally, 40 percent of all jobs in this state are related to international trade.That is why you are so important to us.” The mayor, who took office in January, lauded Seattle’s “vibrant economy” as well as its long tradition of racial, religious and sexual tolerance. “Voters here elected me mayor of Seattle,” said

Murray, the city’s first openly gay top official. “There’s another event tonight for the spouses of the ambassadors, and my husband is speaking at that event. And that shouldn’t be lost on you folks.” Yet it was, in some cases. Several African ambassadors were clearly uneasy with what they had just heard, and at least one of them was sure Murray had been joking. This reporter managed to convince the diplomat that yes, the mayor of Seattle is married to another man and that such a marriage is legal and binding, at least in the state of Washington. The senior diplomat in this hodgepodge group of nationalities was Bayney Karran, who has been Guyana’s ambassador to the United States for nearly 11 years, a distinction that made him dean of the 29 diplomats in Seattle. “In case you didn’t know, the word ‘dean’ is derived from a Latin root meaning ‘he who has no hair,’” joked Karran, who is bald. “I wish to compliment the organizers of the spouses’ program, which they have definitely found very enjoyable and stimulating. The spouses were deeply disappointed on a previous Experience America program to Chicago when they visited Oprah but were not each given a car. I told my wife this morning, ‘Just keep your fingers crossed, honey. Tomorrow,

From left, Ambassadors Liberata Mulamula of Tanzania; Deborah Mae Lovell of Antigua and Barbuda; Bockari Kortu Stevens of Sierra Leone; Jadranka Negodic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Omar Arouna of Benin; and Oliver Wonekha of Uganda stand atop Seattle’s Space Needle. Peter Selfridge, the new protocol chief at the State Department, center, joins Ambassador of Morocco Rachad Bouhlal, left, and Gary Locke, former governor of Washington, U.S. commerce secretary and U.S. ambassador to China, at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

Continued on next page

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Ambassador of Benin Omar Arouna, below, looks at a digital map of cybercrime hotspots at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond. “This is a very critical issue for my country,” he said.

From left, Michael Russell and Christine Russell of the Future of Flight Foundation; Ambassador of Papua New Guinea Numa Mulina and his wife Rupa Mulina; and Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson and his wife Queenie Thompson visit Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

Recently appointed Ambassador of Monaco Maguy Maccario Doyle, below, stands in front of an Air Force One jet from the 1960s on display at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

Ambassador of Morocco Rachad Bouhlal, left, shares a laugh with Stanley Roth, vice president of international government relations at Boeing, during a State Department-sponsored “Experience America” trip to Seattle.

Continued from previous page we’re going to Boeing.’” Indeed they did, though they didn’t get any planes. Departing their downtown Fairmont Olympic Hotel at 6:40 a.m., the group traveled to Everett, Wash., for a private tour of the factory where Boeing builds its biggest jumbo jets, including the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Here, in the world’s largest building by volume (nearly 400,000 cubic feet in size), ambassadors were briefed by Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Yet nobody, not even the official State Department photographer hired for the trip, was allowed to take photos. As such, all cameras, laptops, cellphones and electronic devices had to be left on the bus to prevent any possibility that trade secrets might get leaked to Boeing’s arch-rival, Airbus. For Boeing — which employs 81,300 people in Washington, making it the state’s largest private employer — that rivalry is no laughing matter. “We need to ensure we can compete for the long term against Airbus,” said Raymond Conner, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Air planes. “In my 37 years at Boeing, I’ve never seen such a fierce marketplace.The realities of our business require us to constantly renew and refresh our focus to ensure we can compete and win.” Conner, speaking at the Trade Development Alliance dinner, publicly thanked Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov, noting that Kazakhstan’s Air Astana would take delivery of a new Boeing 767-300 the very next day and had contracted to buy a Dreamliner 787 in 2017. Boeing’s presence is critical to the state — in 2012, Conner said, Boeing’s commercial airplane division pumped $70 billion into Washington’s economy. Similarly, the international market is critical to Boeing’s bottom line. “Over the next 20 years, Chinese airlines alone will need 6,000 new airplanes worth $780 billion,” Conner pointed out.“Nearly half the world’s air traffic growth will be to, from or within the

Page 8

Asia-Pacific region. Today, nearly one in three of the 737s we build in Renton are delivered to our customers in China. The growth in each of these emerging markets is good news for Washington because the more airplanes we sell to China, the more work it creates for our factories here.” For this reason, he said, Boeing bitterly opposes a proposal by some conservative lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to abolish the Export-Import Bank. Since 1934, the Ex-Im Bank has provided loans and guarantees to foreign firms that want to buy American products, ranging from jumbo jets to auto parts. But some House Republicans see the program as a form of corporate welfare to politically connected companies (like Boeing) and want to turn off the spigot when the bank’s charter expires on Sept. 30. “I don’t understand why we’re even having this debate. Tens of thousands of jobs could be lost as a result of this,” Conner warned.“I would urge you all to communicate this to your congressmen and senators that this is one of the most critical things for the competitiveness of the United States. We cannot lose the Ex-Im Bank. It supports American companies and American jobs, and it makes money.” The government-subsidized bank also supports foreign companies with loan guarantees not offered by traditional banks, so the tea party-driven cause célèbre to close the Ex-Im Bank has diplomatic implications as well.This was not the only political hot potato the ambassadors encountered in Seattle. During their visit to Microsoft, diplomats didn’t meet Bill Gates — the world’s richest man — but they did get a first-hand look at cybercrime and the debate over intellectual property rights. Patti Chrzan, senior director of global accounts and partnerships, told the visiting ambassadors

Above from left, Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda Deborah Mae Lovell; Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel at Microsoft; Ambassador of Barbados John Beale; and Ambassador of Grenada Angus Friday tour Microsoft headquarters. Below from left, Ambassador of Guyana Bayney Karran and his wife Donna Karran join Beth Galetti, vice president of human resources for Amazon.com, and her daughter Alison at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

that 400 million people are victimized by cybercrime annually, costing the world economy $113 billion a year. She showed them Microsoft’s topsecret Malware Lab as well as a world map dotted with lights showing the countries where PC virus infections are most prevalent. “This is a very critical issue for my country,” said Ambassador Omar Arouna of Benin, where Internet cafés are fast becoming command centers for online scammers trained in neighboring Nigeria. “It puts a damper on our business environment. We are fighting that, and that’s one of the reasons I’m here.” Microsoft’s campus in Redmond is the world’s largest research and development campus, said Brad Smith, the company’s executive vice president and general counsel.

A truck advertising Caribbean rums at Seattle’s Pike Street Market catches the attention of Ambassadors John Beale of Barbados, left, and Neil Parsan of Trinidad and Tobago.

“We spend over $10 billion a year on R&D at this facility,” he said, noting that Microsoft’s 125 buildings cover more than 55 million square feet. “Every day, we have 40,000 employees and 15,000 contractors who come to work here.” That makes the Redmond campus bigger in size and more populated than Monaco (represented on the Seattle trip by the principality’s new envoy, Maguy Maccario Doyle). “Of those employees, over a third have come here with a foreign passport. We have 27,000 people who are here on visas or green cards, and they come from 157 countries, speaking 50 languages,” said Smith. For this reason, Microsoft, like many other tech companies, is lobbying hard for immigration reform, even though the chances of congressional action on the issue this year look all but dead. In May, the company announced it would open a huge new high-tech center in Vancouver — across the border in Canada, only 140 miles north of Redmond — so it can accommodate more foreign workers. The problem is that U.S. law limits the number of H-1B visas granted each year to foreign workers with specialized skills.

The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

From left, Mark Walsh, deputy chief of protocol; ambassador of Botswana tebelelo seretse; gladys Boluda, assistant chief of protocol for diplomatic affairs; and ambassador of oman hunaina al-Mughairy attend a reception at seattle’s Museum of flight.

From left, aneta spaic, ambassador of Montenegro srdan darmanovic, ambassador of Barbados John Beale and ambassador of Bosnia and herzegovina Jadranka Negodic pose atop seattle’s space Needle.

President Obama has been working to improve the H-1B program to attract more talent to the United States; he recently announced a proposal that would allow the spouses of visa-holders to Ambassador work here as well. But the changes would do little of Uganda oliver to bring in the large number of STEM (science, Wonekha, left, and NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling technology, engineering and math) workers that talks with chris content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. tech companies say are in short supply. Mcdonald, viceEven though 65,000 H1-B visas are awarded consul at the British The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes each year, and another 20,000 go to holders of consulate-general advanced degrees from U.S. schools,“demand has will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. of Los angeles, at reached the point where they are awarded by lota seattle reception. tery — a record 172,500 applications were made Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. More importantly, Mulonda said, the trip for fiscal year 2015,” reports the Seattle Times.“For diplomatic corps, both personally and professionMicrosoft, Canada’s more flexible policies make it ally, and to get away from the formal ceremonies afforded him a useful chance to meet, network and learn. “If we it on own,949-0065 it would If the ad is correct sign anddidfax to: our (301) needs changes a better base for international recruitment.” of Washington and be able to have that one-onPrivacy is another politically tinged priority for one time, sitting next to chiefs of mission on the take us over two years to arrange everything, and it would be very costly for any single Microsoft. Smith said the company plans to spend bus, learning what they’re interestedThe in accomWashington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 embassy to pursue such an initiative on its $600 million over the next year to build data cen- plishing while serving in D.C.,” Selfridge told us. own. Experience America did it in three days. ters — “the most capital-intensive investments Some of these ambassadors have been on sevApproved __________________________________________________________ our industry has ever made.” The company now eral Experience America trips, which are largely All we needed to do was fly into Seattle and everything else just flowed.” has 100 data centers in 43 countries; the largest of paid for by the embassies themselvesChanges rather than ___________________________________________________________ them are so big that two Boeing jumbo jets could the State Department. Even so, the ___________________________________________________________________ excursions Larry Luxner, news editor of The Washington fit inside them. These centers, which house com- must still be subsidized by large companies to Diplomat, joined the ambassadors for the trip Advertisement puter, telecommunications and other systems,Custom are defray meal, transportation and other local costs. to Seattle. 4.75 6.25” also part of a global effort to thwart American Previous adventures have taken diplomats to such spying after Edward Snowden leaked files reveal- places as Arkansas, Alaska, Florida, Texas and ing the extent of NSA snooping around the Wyoming. world. “This particular visit focused on the economic TYSON’S FIRST HIGH-RISE APARTMENTS “A hugely important issue, especially given the and strategic importance of Seattle, as an internapolitical debates of the past year, is how people tional trade and technological hub as well as a think about privacy when governments have center for environmental and public health policy, access to information from individuals, or when to show the ambassadors this renowned corner companies haveNO accessINTEREST to data from consumers,” of America up close,” Selfridge said. “Several For 12 Months Smith said. “We’re building out data centers so ambassadors said later that they wanted to follow that all parts of the world be able to say, ‘If up with the people and places we visited.” SAME ASwill CASH! you don’t want the to have access to your The 43-year-old State Department official WithNSA approved credit data, we can make sure thepurchase U.S. government has added:“One of the challenges we have in putting and minimum of $4000 APR 23.97% no access.’That’s an important criteria.” these trips together is making them worthwhile MENTION John Beale, ambassador of the Caribbean island to the ambassadors by providing them with real, THIS AD AND of Barbados, listened attentively at every stop and substantive events and opening new doors with RECEIVE A said he came away from Seattle deeply impressed individuals and companies they might not otherWAIVED with its culture of learning and innovation. APPLICATION wise have the opportunity to engage with. We FEE! “I found the visit to Amazon.com absolutely also have to pay close attention to how we use amazing. They know how to use big data, and our time to maximize the benefits of these visits INTERIOR FINISHES those things could stimulate plenty of interest while minimizing disruptions to the ambassadors’ AMENITIES within the tourism sector in Wood flooring in living areas already packed schedules.” Concierge services Barbados,” he told us. “I liked So where’s the next trip? Two-tone kitchen cabinets with To view all Direct front door elevator access Microsoft and Boeing too. Those Selfridge wouldn’t say, but he islands* the photos three companies alone made the promised it will take place before Resort-style pool with large sundeck from the Stainless steel ENERGY STAR® trip more than worthwhile.” the holidays. “Our window is Seattle trip, Outdoor grilling area But the Seattle adventure tight, and we have a lot of good Floor-to-ceiling windows be sure to like Cyber café with business services wasn’t all politics and business. options out there.” The Washington Build to LEED® Silver certification The ambassadors also clearly Eliachim Molapi Sebatane, 24-hour fitness center Diplomat on Walk-in closets enjoyed themselves — especialambassador of the tiny African Facebook. Gaming area ly when touring the famous nation of Lesotho, can hardly Baths with linen closets, ceramic salmon fish ladder at Ballard wait. This was his fourth ExperPet-friendly building with dog park tile and frameless glass showers Locks, visiting the very first Starbucks (it opened ience America trip; he’s previously visited Los Smoke-free building Balconies* in 1971) and walking through an Air Force One Angeles, Miami and Austin. “I’ve always enjoyed jet from the 1960s on display at Seattle’s Museum these trips very much, and Seattle was pleasant. I Bocce court Penthouse apartments of Flight. Another highlight: dancing up a storm liked the people and was able to make contacts aboard the Lady Mary while cruising up Puget for future follow-up.” Sound to a traditional Alaskan salmon bake on Joining Sebatane on the diplomatic bus was Blake Island’s Tillicum Village. Zambian Ambassador Palan Mulonda and his 8231 Crestwood Heights Drive, McLean, VA 22102 | 855.328.6931 At the Museum of Flight, Selfridge himself took wife. a break from shaking hands and making speeches “I think Seattle is a very innovative place — to try his hand at a flight simulator. Joining him for one that needs to be showcased to the rest of the the exhilarating, sometimes frightening, ride was world,” he told us.“I had a chance to visit Boeing, Hunaina Sultan Al-Mughairy, ambassador of the largest factory in the world. I’ve flown on Oman. several of their planes but never had an opportu“These trips are a great way to get to know the nity to see where those planes are put together.”

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The Washington Diplomat Page 9

Politics

Eurasia

Erdogan Eyes Presidency To Cement His Grip on Turkey by Nicholas Clayton

n Aug. 10, Turkey will elect its president by popular vote for the first time in history amid a period of acute political polarization. But the election itself might not be the only first.

Many analysts say that if frontrunner and current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins the race, the country will see its first assertive executive presidency since the largely ceremonial position was created under the 1982 Turkish constitution. Erdogan, who has served his three-term limit as prime minister, said in April that if he were elected then the country would be a “de facto” presidential system, granting the position extensive powers by virtue of the fact that he was directly elected. That would extend Erdogan’s 11-year rule, which has been marked by both success and controversy. The former Istanbul mayor has been praised for transforming Turkey into a regional power player, presiding over unprecedented economic growth, loosening the military’s grip on governance, reaching out to the alienated Kurdish minority, giving greater religious freedom for the Muslim majority, and serving as a model of Islamic democracy. He has also been criticized for stifling dissent, funding an ego-driven building boom, raging against perceived enemies, and trampling Turkey’s cherished secularism by pushing an overt Islamic agenda that tries to micromanage people’s lives. Despite the backlash, Erdogan retains a solid base of support and has suggested he’d like to remain at the helm until 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of modern Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.That would cement Erdogan’s reputation as the leader who brought the country into the 21st century, perhaps even eclipsing Atatürk’s legacy. It would also inevitably inspire comparisons to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who also gamed the system to stay in power long past his term. In practice,Turkish presidents under the 1982 constitution have generally held little power beyond the rarely used right to veto legislation and sign treaties with foreign governments. However, the constitution was created after a 1980 coup d’état and its first president — coup leader Gen. Kenan Evren — indeed wielded considerable “de facto” powers. Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have dismissed the Evren comparison, particularly as the 96-year-old former general was convicted in 2012 to life imprisonment for his role in the coup. But Emre Deliveli, an economics columnist for Hurriyet Daily News, said that Erdogan’s presidential run is representative of a wider defeat, even if he wins, as he’s widely expected to. That’s because one of Erdogan’s long-stated goals since coming to power as prime minister in 2003 has been to adopt a new constitution for Turkey that would consolidate power in the presidency. However, although the AKP has consistently made gains in both municipal and parliamentary elections, the party has failed to push through constitutional changes during its decade in power.

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Photo: “RTE seçim pankartı” by Myrat / Wikimedia Commons

An election campaign poster featuring Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the slogan “Istanbul is Ready, Target 2023” hangs in Taksim Square. By running for the presidency, Erdogan is hoping to extend his term and possibly rule the country until 2013, the 100th anniversary of the founding of modern Turkey.

Over the years, he has also cultivated a large following in Turkey as a theologian, and although he initially supported the AKP, the two sides had a falling out in 2012 that has led to an internal war of attrition among Turkish conservatives. A series of tape recordings believed to have been gathered by Gülenist officials have been leaked over the past year purporting to show Erdogan and his inner circle discussing corrupt deals and options for invading Syria. In response, Erdogan’s administration has shuttered Gülenist schools, reassigned thousands of police officers and judges thought to be under the movement’s sway, and requested Gülen’s extradition to Turkey. In recent years, Erdogan has also railed against what he sees as foreign meddling and internal forces working to sabotage his government — a reference to Turkey’s “deep state,” an alleged clandestine network of influential military and civilian officers who try to pull the levers of power behind the scenes. Despite the Erdogan-Gülen rift, the graft allegations it produced, and the supposed machinations of the deep state, the AKP trounced the scattered opposition in the March municipal elections. Yet the backlash against Erdogan and his party continues to hang over Turkish politics, signaling the growing divide between the religious and working-class masses that support his government and the liberal, secular elite that doesn’t. Meanwhile, Erdogan’s victory in the presidential election may prove to be a more difficult test than the local races. According to a recent poll, Erdogan is a 15-point favor-

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August 2014

ite over his nearest challenger, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, with 54 percent of respondents saying they intend to vote for him, putting him over the 50 percent threshold to forgo a second round. However, the same poll reported that 68 percent of Ihsanoglu’s coalition was unhappy with his candidacy. Deliveli said that many in the People’s Republican Party (CHP), the largest party supporting Ihsanoglu, are hardcore secularists who disapprove of his open expressions of faith. But Deliveli believes that when push comes to shove, many of those voters who told pollsters they would stay home will nonetheless show up on election day to vote against Erdogan. The prime minister, however, still has considerable tools at his disposal, one of them being the media. In May, Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey 154th in press freedom, dropping it below Russia and Myanmar from “partly free” to the “not free” category. For the past two years, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called Turkey the world’s top jailer of journalists. In addition, the CPJ reported that at least 59 journalists had been fired or forced to resign over their coverage of the Gezi Park anti-government protests that swept the country last summer (also see “Before Turkey Clamped Down on Protesters, Media Felt the Heat” in the July 2013 issue of The Washington Diplomat). What began as a small environmental demonstration against development in Istanbul’s Gezi Park last May exploded for several weeks into a wave of nationwide protests against Erdogan’s heavy-handed rule. Since then, self-censorship and in some cases direct pressure have led to media coverage that is widely favorable toward the ruling party. M.K. Perker, an illustrator and editor at the Turkish humor magazine Penguen, said that he expects the media to be even less critical toward

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Selahattin Demirtas, the candidate for the proKurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is currently polling in the single digits, but his supporters and other undecided Kurds have the potential to be “kingmakers,” Deliveli said. Kurds represent about 18 percent of Turkey’s population and both leading candidates have courted their vote by vowing a peaceful end to the 30-year conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group listed by the United States as a terrorist organization. Since 1984, the KurdishTurkish conflict has led to as many 45,000 deaths. Erdogan, who has been in peace talks with jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan since 2012, has long seen the Kurdish vote as key to his goal of constitutional reform. In recent years, he has been trying to find a balance between concessions to Kurds seeking greater autonomy and Turkish nationalists averse to compromise. NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and One way he has found to court Kurdish voters content it is ultimately up to theindirectly customer make theTurkey’s final proof. has to been through increasing credit: officiaL White hoUse Photo By Pete soUza support for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in to northern Iraq. In November, Ankara change President Barack obama meets with turkish PrimeThe Minister recep erdogan following will the g-20 first twotayyip faxed changes be summit madeinat no cost the advertiser, subsequent signed a $40 billion energy deal with the KRG 2009. Although Erdogan has good relations with the West, which for a time saw him as a model of Islamic democwill be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. against Baghdad’s wishes. Turkish officials have racy, he has recently come under fire for his growing authoritarianism. also signaled that they would support an indePlease check ad carefully. MarkKurdish any changes to your ad. state in Iraq. Erdogan during this election cycle than during Penguen’s cover showed a manthis stuffing money pendent It’s a delicate dance that Erdogan has been the country’s municipal elections in March. rather than a ballot into the ballot box. Over his “Leading up to the municipal elections,Ifthere was a thought saying, all I playing “smartly,” Deliveli the adhead is correct sign bubble and fax to: “This (301)is 949-0065 needssaid. changes was an expectation that the AKP would perform could scrape together.” poorly and at least lose a few major cities, so the As if those disadvantages weren’t enough, Nicholas Clayton is a contributing writer The Diplomatannounced (301) media were much more openly criticizing theWashington 70-year-old Ihsanoglu early in933-3552 his for The Washington Diplomat based in Istanbul. government than they would have dared before,” campaign that he would not be holding large he said. “But after the AKP victory, they have all campaign rallies, preferring a gentlemanly comApproved __________________________________________________________ gone silent again and don’t want to gamble on petition of ideas. To further make his point, this election.” Ihsanoglu donated 1,000 Turkish lira ($470) to Changes ___________________________________________________________ Penguen is one of the most conspicuous out- the campaigns of his two opponents. The AKP ___________________________________________________________________ lets of dissent in the Turkish press, with weekly promptly returned the sum. Get the latest diplomatic news. comic magazine covers caricaturing and lamIf the elections do go to a second round, sign up at www.washdiplomat.com. pooning Erdogan.As a riff on the ongoing corrup- Turkey’s Kurdish population could be the swing tion probe a week before the municipal polls, vote.

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Diplomacy

Russia

West Underplays Putin’s Appeal To Rising Nationalist Sentiment by Christopher Boian

f rhetoric is, as the ancients defined it, speech intended to persuade, then few contemporary politicians seem more devoted practitioners of the art than Vladimir Putin.

Rarely does he speak without mounting a rhetorical charge for the Kremlin cause of the day, whether it is ramping up on oil and gas or clamping down on gays and adoption. And whether they cheer or chafe at his message, frequently delivered as a blast of invective directed at the United States, it never leaves audiences indifferent. Putin’s provocations in Ukraine, however, may finally silence the fiery Russian president, at least for the time being, as the West suspects pro-Russian separatists — supplied with weapons from Moscow — of downing a Malaysian jetliner last month over eastern Ukraine. In the face of increasing sanctions, Putin may be forced to stop interfering in Ukraine, but he’s likely to retain a strong well of support back home, not just for his defense of pro-Russian Ukrainians, but also for standing up to what many Russians perceive as Western bullying and the erosion of traditional values. Often enough, the Russian leader’s pronouncements are shot down in real time by big Western media and officialdom, dismissed with theatrical flourish as the evil diktats of a despot, the duplicitous mind games of a KGB charlatan or the fevered ranting of a man trapped in the past and utterly detached from the civilized discourse of today’s “international community.” His assertion earlier this year, in an op-ed in The New York Times, that it is “extremely dangerous” for Americans to consider themselves “exceptional” in the world was ample evidence of this pattern, triggering shrieks of indignation from Washington’s policy and media elites. Like any effective caricature, the flamboyant outrage from the Beltway establishment at Vladimir Putin’s more provocative rhetoric is grounded in a measure of fact and no doubt reflects genuine disagreement in principle. Yet the reality that such superficial reaction fails to reckon with is that, objectionable as it is to a brave handful of liberal activists inside Russia and a chorus of policymakers and pundits in Western capitals, Putin’s rhetoric indeed resonates deeply with both an overwhelming majority of Russians and a less vocal but growing audience of conservatives and nationalists in Western Europe and the United States. Voters on both sides of the Atlantic increasingly say they are fed up with cultural relativism, unhappy with centralized authority, whether it be in Brussels or Washington, untouched by the promised benefits of globalization and opposed to large-scale immigration. They are today demanding the wholesale repeal of policies and practices fostered by liberal, democratic government in the West for generations. These conservative and nationalist voters say the West has strayed too far from “traditional values” in family and society. They argue that “founding principles” once sacred in their countries are being eroded or jettisoned altogether, and they seek a global order where national borders are again solid, with national self-interest the only coin of the realm.They are flocking steadily

Page 12

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

More clear-eyed understanding of why Putin’s rhetoric finds genuine purchase among conservatives and nationalists in the West today — and less headline-grabbing, superficial bombast — is needed from politicians and journalists if the Western democratic way of life is to remain attractive to the world. to, for instance, the tea party and Christian-right groups in the United States, the National Front in France, the UK Independence Party in Britain, the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, Jobbik in Hungary and similar conservative-nationalist organizations in numerous other Western countries. While they have not yet attained the critical mass needed to take the reins of government in the West, their numbers are, judging from the results of the latest cycle of elections in Europe and the United States, growing. Conservative, nationalist and right-wing parties and movements have become more than just an aberration on the postwar political landscape. They project real power and constitute a full-fledged challenge to the West’s liberal postwar model.And whether they acknowledge it grudgingly or enthusiastically, much of the anti-liberal gospel that Vladimir Putin preaches both within and beyond Russia is music to their ears. This is a reality that Western journalists and officials, in the apoplectic competition to demonize the Russian leader in the most colorful metaphor, often

President Barack Obama consults with world leaders, left, as Russian President Vladimir Putin waits to begin a session of the G20 Summit in Saint Petersburg last year. With his fiery anti-American rhetoric and dangerous meddling in Ukraine, Putin is increasingly finding himself at odds with Western leaders.

overlook. And it is an oversight that has consequences for Western societies. “Peoples all over the world, claims Putin, are supporting Russia’s ‘defense of traditional values’ against a ‘socalled tolerance’ that is ‘genderless and infertile,’” conservative columnist Patrick J. Buchanan wrote in December in a column aimed at American conservatives titled “Is Putin One of Us?” “While his stance as a defender of traditional values has drawn the mockery of Western media and cultural elites, Putin is not wrong in saying that he can speak for much of mankind.” Buchanan’s assertion that the Russian leader speaks for much of the world is of course specious. But Putin — whose unrivaled popularity in Russia was built in large measure on exploiting a deep sense of victimization by the West among many Russians and appealing (largely through television news broadcasts, which he controls tightly) to basic “patriotic” instincts among his countrymen — does keep a very close eye on the world and its fast-shifting political and economic currents. He knows where his audiences are — and where they are not — and he tailors his message carefully to achieve maximum impact with them. That messaging has shrewdly seized on the palpable discontent over culturally divisive issues such as homosexuality, abortion and religion to create what journalist Melik Kaylan calls “a discernible, exportable, full-fledged ‘-ism,’ one that [Putin] has evolved slowly and that the West has been even slower to identify.” In the recent World Affairs article “Kremlin Values: Putin’s Strategic Conservatism,” Kaylan argues that the

The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

Russian president “has moved up from mere reflexive anti-Americanism to deploying a marketable philosophy, an evolution that Western observers have difficulty acknowledging because our news media are committed to the monochromatic view of Putin as an amoral leader.” Kaylan warns that Putin, whom he calls a “consummate cynical operator,” is trying to upend Cold War-era roles between East and West by making Russia “ground zero for defenders of Christian tradition, of conservatism, the nationstate, family values and the like.” This is not to say that the increasing strength of conservative-nationalist politics in Europe and the United States is attributable to, or even much inspired by, Vladimir Putin. Political gains by right-wing forces in the West, experts agree, are first and foremost the product of domestic realities in which a wide range of local social and economic circumstances far outweigh any influence the Russian leader wields. “There are more important factors that account for the rise of those groups than the fact that they may have an admiration for Putin,” Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and expert on the Soviet Union who is now a director and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The Washington Diplomat. But that said, the rhetorical affinities between Putin and the leaders of growing nationalist movements in the West do exist, Pifer explained, and it is important for political leaders and media to recognize those affinities and address their origins if the West is to formulate effective “pushback” strategies against the propagandized mystique that surrounds Putin and against the hard-line nationalism that admires his narrative. “Putin does portray himself as a strong, decisive, forceful leader and I think that plays well with a lot of these groups,” Pifer said. “Putin standing up to the European Union over issues like Ukraine, forming his own Eurasian econom-

Photo: ITAR-TASS / Wikimedia Commons

Russia’s Vladimir Putin speaks at a military parade in front of the Kremlin in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of Russia’s victory in World War II.

ic union — I think that has appeal to groups in EU member states that question the authority of the EU.” When Barack Obama dismisses Putin as a “bored kid in the back of the classroom,” when Angela Merkel says he is living “in another world,” when Hillary Clinton complains that Putin is doing in Ukraine “what Hitler did” in Poland and elsewhere, they no doubt give voice on some level to popular perceptions shared by their constituents, racking up easy political points at home. And mass media, by its very nature, thrives on such earthy, simplistic sound bites because they “humanize” the story, drive

ratings and revenue, and help journalists tell complicated stories in simple terms. So the pattern continues: With nearly every public utterance, Putin reinforces the image he seeks to project of himself around the world as a champion of morality in a decadent world, protector of his surrounded people and fearless speaker of truth to (U.S.) power. Ironically, by underestimating the resonance that Putin’s rhetoric has among disaffected voters in their own countries and systematically portraying the Russian leader as out of step with their own values, Western officials and media only reinforce the optic that Putin successfully

promotes, effectively ceding control of the larger political narrative to the Kremlin. The emotional vitriol directed by Western capitals at Moscow — as opposed to clear-eyed engagement with the very audiences that are attracted to Putin — is precisely the oxygen that the Kremlin depends on to promote Putin’s agenda, both within Russia and abroad. Despite difficult economic circumstances, bewildering, fast-paced social change and embarrassing missteps of all kinds around the world, the West has dynamic, liberating and inclusive ideas about how humanity might move forward in the 21st century — ideas that have withstood the test of time. But as Putin understands very well, the full force of those ideas will not resonate in a rapidly changing world until the West comes to grips with the shifting moods in its own house. More clear-eyed understanding of why Putin’s rhetoric finds genuine purchase among conservatives and nationalists in the West today — and less headline-grabbing, superficial bombast — is needed from politicians and journalists if the Western democratic way of life is to remain attractive to the world.

Christopher Boian was Moscow bureau chief for Agence France-Presse from 2005 to 2010 and worked as a foreign correspondent for AFP, the International Herald Tribune and others around the world for 30 years. He is now a principal with the turner4d communications firm in Washington, D.C.

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Britain Reflects on Sacrifices Made as World Went to War by Larry Luxner

n 1917, the third year of the Great War, as it was then known, a young British soldier named Horace Field Westmacott came under German artillery fire at Hill 60 near the Belgian town of Ypres. Captain Westmacott of the Royal Berkshire Regiment survived the bloodbath and lived to the age of 85, though he remained crippled for life. “Every family in Britain has an emotional connection to World War I. It’s a part of our national consciousness,” said Sir Peter Westmacott, the soldier’s grandson and Britain’s ambassador to the United States.“There were huge casualties from all classes. In just one day of fighting, 20,000 soldiers died and 40,000 were injured. It was an enormous conflict in terms of the shared human scale of the sacrifice, and the millions who lost their lives.” Although European hostilities broke out on June 28, 1914 — the day a Serb nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne — it wasn’t until Aug. 4 of that year that the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. With that date in mind, the British government has organized a series of high-profile events this month marking the centenary of the First World War. On Aug. 4, a service of remembrance will be held at Scotland’s Glasgow Cathedral following closing ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games the night before. That same day, Britain and Germany will hold a joint service at the military cemetery in Mons, Belgium; a candlelight vigil at London’s Westminster Abbey is also planned. In early November, Westmacott will install a brass plaque at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier inscribed with the names of four American recipients of Britain’s highest military honor. On Nov. 7, the embassy will receive an official delegation from the American Veterans Center, followed two days later by a multidenominational service at Washington National Cathedral to mark Armistice Day. “The First World War and the way the United States came to help us out was not only a decisive turning point in bringing the war to a close in 1918, but the beginning of a pattern of the U.S. engaging with its European allies in defense of freedom and liberty, and against fascism,” Westmacott told The Washington Diplomat during a recent interview at the British Residence fronting Massachusetts Avenue.“This has been an essential feature of our relationship ever since, but it started with World War I.” In fact, our notion of modern warfare began with World War I, which introduced tanks, chemical weapons, aerial bombings and killing on an industrial scale.The Great War obliterated empires, gave rise to new countries and literally redrew the world map, planting the seeds of conflicts that continue to this day. It pitted the Allies, anchored by Britain, France and Russia (also known as the Triple Entente), against the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary.The fighting eventually sucked in dozens of nations from Australia to Japan to the United States, which made its reluctant debut as a global power. In all, it caused an estimated 37 million military and civilian casualties and set the stage for the Second World War, which

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Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of Ruggeriphoto.com

“

Every family in Britain has an emotional connection to World War I. It’s a part of our national consciousness…. It was an enormous conflict in terms of the shared human scale of the sacrifice, and the millions who lost their lives.

”

— Sir Peter Westmacott

British ambassador to the United States

would claim another 60 million lives, if not more. And it all began almost by accident: A clumsy assassination, set against the backdrop of rising imperialism and a nationalistic backlash, triggered a domino effect of military alliances springing into action, seemingly oblivious to the destruction they would unleash. Ironically, this intricate web of alliances had been forged to maintain a balance of power in Europe, but would instead tear it apart. On July 28, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, backed by Germany, declared war on Serbia a month after the killing of Archduke Ferdinand in a bid to quash Serbia’s growing ambitions.The Russian Empire, wanting to preserve its influence in the Balkans, mobilized a day later. Germany, eager to flex its growing economic and military muscle, quickly initiated a plan to neuter the threat in the west before attacking Russia to the east. It invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before setting its sights on France, prompting Britain to enter the fray. After the German march on Paris was halted, a new form of trench warfare erupted along the Western Front, leading to a

bloody stalemate for the next three years. Finally, in the face of steady Allied gains, the Central Powers began to unravel. With the fall of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, Germany was forced to surrender and a ceasefire went into effect on 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918— “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.” Scholars continue to debate the underlying causes of the war. It may have been sparked by an assassination, but it was fueled by economic rivalries, an arms race, the colonial desire for more territory, geopolitical maneuvering, rising nationalism and — in no small part — a gross miscalculation that the war simply wouldn’t be that bad (most leaders thought the conflict would be over by the end of 1914). Westmacott, 63, said the Great War caught his people by surprise. “There was a very high level of volunteering early on to go and solve the problem in what everybody thought would be the space of a few months,” he told us. “Nobody knew what they were letting themselves in for.” Between 800,000 and 1 million British citizens died, the vast majority of them soldiers. That’s equivalent to roughly 2 percent of the country’s 1914 population. The fact that Britain has 22 Commonwealth war cemeteries in the Gallipoli peninsula of Turkey alone speaks to the bloodshed suffered by Allied forces in a horrific war Westmacott says no one either anticipated or wanted. “It was an indication of the strength of the alliances that had been put together before 1914. Some would say they were almost too complicated,” he said.“For the U.K., our commercial and cultural links with Germany right up until 1914 were actually quite strong. It was this network of alliances — plus, of course, Germany’s response to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand — which unleashed

The Washington Diplomat

See Great Britain, page 16 August 2014

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Bosnia, Cradle of World War I, Still Struggles with Ethnic Divisions by Larry Luxner

osnia’s claim to fame — at least before the 1990s, when it became synonymous with ethnic cleansing and genocide — had always been that it was the birthplace of World War I. It was along Sarajevo’s Appel Quay on the morning of June 28, 1914, that a 19-year-old Serb revolutionary named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. By the time the Great War was over four and a half years later, the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires had ceased to exist and 16 million people were dead, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in history. World War I also gave birth to a slew of nations — and sectarian divisions that fester to this day: Poland, Ukraine and the Baltics gained independence; European powers arbitrarily drew the borders of the Middle East, creating nations such as Syria and Iraq; Russia became the Soviet Union while the Ottoman Empire became Turkey; and Czechoslovakia and other countries emerged from the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was the decline of that empire, and the ascendance of Serbia, which had gained territory in the 1912-13 Balkan Wars and began to chafe under Habsburg rule, that precipitated the deadly chain of events that led to World War I (see related story on page 14). Austria-Hungary, with unconditional support and perhaps even prodding from Germany, seized on Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination to attack Serbia, activating a complex system of military alliances that would pit the Allies, led Britain, France and Russia, against the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. When the dust settled, World War I gave rise to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. However, this Balkan tinderbox of nationalist and sectarian passions that sparked World War I would reignite in 1992 with Yugoslavia’s collapse. Three years of fierce fighting led to the eventual establishment of seven independent states including today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina, which itself comprises two distinct political entities drawn up along ethnic lines. Those ethnic faultlines still pulsate with centuries of hostility and resentment between the mainly Orthodox Christian Serbs, the predominately Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks — a prism that colors how Gavrilo Princip, the instigator of World War I, is seen today. “Even now, 100 years after the war, our people cannot agree whether he was a terrorist or a freedom fighter,” said Jadranka Negodic, Bosnia’s ambassador to the United States. This past June 28 — the same day the Vienna Philhar monic performed at Sarajevo’s rebuilt City Hall to mark the 100th anniversary of the archduke’s assassination — we caught up with Negodic during a State Departmentsponsored “Experience America” trip to Seattle (see story on page 6). “Historians say it started in Sarajevo, but Bosnia was not the cause of the First World War. It was just a trigger,” Negodic told us.“Our main message is the need for peace, and that wars should stay in the past and should never happen again.”

August 2014

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of Ruggeriphoto.com

“

Some women lost not just one son but five sons. Some families lost 10 or more. How can you expect them to forget? They can try to forgive, but they can never forget…. We can talk about reconciliation, but it’s much easier to talk than to implement. — Jadranka Negodic

”

ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United States

She described with pride how Sarajevo’s City Hall — constructed when Bosnia was still part of the AustroHungarian Empire and later turned into the National Library — has been lovingly restored exactly as it was a century ago, with help from the Austrian government. However, it also bears a plaque condemning the “Serb criminals” who burned the building in a 1992 attack. In response, Bosnia’s Serbs boycotted the official ceremony and staged their own commemoration to honor Princip, including a reenactment of his shooting. “To Serbs, Princip was a nationalist hero striking a blow against the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg empire;to Bosnians, his actions helped unleashed the turbulence that came back to destroy their city during the Balkans civil war in 1990s,” London’s The Telegraph recently wrote. Marking the Great War’s centenary, French philosopher Bernard Henri Levy opened his play “Hotel Europa” in Sarajevo with a call to let Bosnia into the European Union, despite the lingering animosity.“Populism and nationalism are on the rise,” he warned.“The admission of Bosnia to the bloc means fresh flood, fresh air and Europe’s second

chance for redemption.” Bosnia’s turbulent history and ongoing tensions, however, make it unlikely that the 28-star, blue-and-gold EU flag will flutter over Sarajevo anytime soon. “Whenever people ask where I come from and I say Bosnia, people automatically think about refugees, war, genocide and dead people. But there is another side to the country called Bosnia,” said Negodic. “Before the war, Bosnia was the place where people of all nationalities and backgrounds lived together. It was a wonderful mixture of four religions — Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish — and three nationalities. “Before the First World War, when we became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, lots of engineers and teachers came to Bosnia and helped develop its economy,” she continued.“Through the generations, they mixed with the local population.We all lived in a kind of harmony, respecting each other. We managed to create our own culture from each of those religions and ethnic groups. Even now, within 100 square meters of each other in Sarajevo, you can find the country’s biggest mosque,its biggest Orthodox church and its biggest synagogue.” Negodic, an articulate, thoughtful woman with a deep sense of history, said that before 1992, some four in 10 marriages were ethnically mixed.“People didn’t ask what background you came from,” she said. “But then, all of a sudden, a terrible thing happened.” That terrible thing was the breakup of Yugoslavia and the unleashing of a war that killed some 100,000 Bosnians — marking Europe’s first genocide since World War II. “From 1945 to 1992, Yugoslavia was a dictatorship, although it was prosperous. After the Second World War, the country started from scratch.The economy was developing, jobs were created and people lived in peace and stability. They were not so concerned about the lack of democratic institutions,” Negodic said. But a backlash was brewing against the incendiary Serb nationalism propagated by leaders such as Slobodan

See Bosnia, page 18 The Washington Diplomat Page 15

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from page 14

Great Britain all the military activity.” The carnage had a deep and lasting impact on British society, where many still question whether their country should have even joined the war — and whether their leaders wantonly led Brits to slaughter. The bloody day that Westmacott referred to, when 20,000 soldiers died and 40,000 were injured, took place July 1, 1916 — the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, which ultimately took the lives of more than 1 million soldiers. Even today, it remains a symbol of the mindless inhumanity and futility of war. What, if anything, we asked Westmacott, did the world learn from this nightmare? “The supreme importance of diplomacy to try to resolve problems through negotiation, without having to resort to force,” he replied without hesitation. “War in general is a sign that diplomacy has failed, and that’s one of the lessons of the First World War — and to an extent the Second. People these days are obviously very cautious about foreign military interventions. That is partly because World Wars I and II were horror stories which none of us want to see repeated.” On the other hand, Westmacott said, public opinion in Britain “is still very much in favor of maintaining military capabilities so that we can act against aggression if we have to — or for reasons of humanitarian emergencies.” As an example, he cited NATO, which was formed to protect Europe against Soviet aggression following World War II but which also rallied in support of the United States after the 9/11 attacks. Westmacott added that even though war casu-

Photo: Imperial War Museums

World War I introduced chemical warfare: Above, soldiers from the British 55th Infantry Division are blinded by tear gas during the Battle of Estaires in April 1918, while below, a British machine gun crew wears anti-gas helmets during the Battle of the Somme.

Photo: Royal Engineers No 1 Printing Company / Imperial War Museums

Men from the Royal Irish Rifles sit in a communication trench during the 1916 Battle of the Somme, which ultimately took the lives of more than 1 million soldiers. In World War I, a new form of trench warfare emerged along the Western Front that led to a bloody stalemate for three years.

alties are no longer measured in the tens of millions — as was the case in World Wars I and II — today’s armies are dramatically smaller than those of 1914. “One soldier with modern weaponry can have much more effect than a soldier with a bayonet 100 years ago,” he said, referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in which British soldiers fought side by side with their American allies. These days, Britain’s biggest worry isn’t the outbreak of renewed hostilities, but rather the

Glashutte_WashingtonDiplomat_SenatorMoonPhase_DDF.indd 1

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rapid and alarming rise of extremist parties fueled by many of the same xenophobic fears that led to World War I. In the European Union’s May parliamentary elections, the decidedly euroskeptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) took a shocking 29.5 percent of the vote — marking the first time in a century that a national election was won by a party other than the Conservatives or Labor. Those far-right victories were replicated in France, the Netherlands, Hungary and elsewhere,

Photo: Imperial War Museums

as nationalist parties ride a wave of populist opposition to the centralized authority in Brussels. The anti-EU mood coupled with the ongoing economic effects of the euro crisis mark the biggest threat to the project of European integration since the continent emerged from the ashes of the Second World War. And while Europe isn’t likely to ever plunge back into the kind of warfare that marked much of its history, the EU backlash has shaken the post-war order. Yet for Westmacott, there’s a clear distinction between then and now. “Let us be quite clear.The rise of fringe parties in many European countries is not equivalent to the rise, in the 1930s, of extremist groups calling for war,” he said. “When we say ‘fringe parties’ now, yes, some of them are anti-immigrant, sometimes anti-Semitic, anti-EU and even racist. They are not pleasant. But they’re not pro-war.” Even so, the ambassador said it’s a “matter of concern” to see the rise of political groups that seek Britain’s secession from the 28-member EU. “Of course, everybody has the right to their own opinions, but personally, I believe Britain’s place is inside the EU. But as my prime minister has made clear, the rise of euro-skeptic parties — and not just in Britain — is an indication that Europe needs to change and reform.And so, all of our governments have a responsibility, and so do European institutions, to begin to put things right and counter this hostility which is growing at a worrying rate.” Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly said that if he wins the May 2015 general election, he’ll attempt to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Brussels ahead of a referendum on the issue by 2017. “Before putting the issue to a referendum, which he’s undertaken to do if he’s re-elected toward the end of 2017, he will need to see improvements,” said Westmacott, who was appointed to his current job by Cameron in January 2012, taking over from his predecessor, Sir Nigel Sheinwald. The irony, he claims, is that his country’s antiEU sentiments have absolutely nothing to do with the economy. “We have the fastest rate of growth of any G7 country. Our unemployment rate, currently below 6.5 percent, is half the European average,” he said, predicting the British economy will grow by at least 2.9 percent this year. “In the

12/19/13 10:12 AM

The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

The Great War : A Century Later U.K., where we have more people working than ever before, our deficit is half the level it was during the financial crash of 2008. So this euroskepticism is not about economic dissatisfaction.” Despite the relative economic stability, the United Kingdom is facing dissention within its own ranks. Tens of thousands recently protested against austerity measures imposed by the government. And Scotland will soon be deciding whether to leave its 307-year union with Britain — just as Britain itself is considering breaking away from the European Union. A referendum on Scotland’s independence is scheduled Sept. 18, and according to a survey carried out in early July and published by The Scotsman, 41 percent of voters support leaving the U.K., up from 39 percent in June.At the same time, 46 percent oppose independence — up from 44 percent a month earlier — with the remaining 13 percent undecided. Once the undecided are factored out of the equation, survey results point to a victory for the “no” vote. “Nothing can be taken for granted. The current polling suggests that the motion will be rejected, but it’s close,”Westmacott said.“We’re all very conscious that it could go either way on Sept. 18.” The ambassador conceded that Scottish unhappiness with London stems, among other things, from “years of neglect of Scotland by British mainstream political parties and the rise of the Scottish nationalist party in recent years. Scots have often felt, for whatever reason, that they wish to be even more Scottish and a bit less British.” Yet Westmacott says his government is working hard to persuade Scots not to dissolve the union.

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A German U-155 submarine is exhibited near Tower Bridge in London after the 1918 Armistice that ended World War I.

“I would like to see my country remain intact. There might well be some rebalancing of investment and economic activity, for example in financial services. Some 90 percent of the customers of Scotland’s financial sector are in the rest of the U.K. And nobody has made contingency plans about what happens to defense and our nuclear capabilities,” he warned. “If Scotland is no longer part of NATO, it’s hard to think things would go on as they have in the past. Most of the foreign investment to Scotland

goes there because it’s part of the U.K. and part of the European single market,” said Westmacott. “If it leaves the U.K., it leaves the EU. Scotland would then have to reapply like any other candidate country.They’d also have to take on some of the U.K.’s debt. Assets and liabilities would have to be divided. This could really happen.” Interestingly, the British Empire reached its nadir a century ago, just after World War I. But it never fully recovered from the shock of the war and began its military and territorial decline

shortly afterward. Even though Great Britain is no longer the vast empire “on which the sun never sets,”Westmacott thinks the future for his country looks bright. “We’ve got less than 1 percent of the world’s population, but we’ve got the sixth-biggest economy,” he said in a wide-ranging speech last year at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Our military is able to meet threats in the world wherever they arise, even very far away from home, on land, on sea, in the air and in cyberspace. “And of course we have an unparalleled partnership with the world’s most important and powerful democracy,” he added.“In the 20th century that partnership played a very important role in facing down fascism and in subsequently winning the Cold War.” President Obama also praised the partnership during a press conference with Cameron on June 5, the day before another major war-related anniversary: the 70-year commemoration of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France, that helped turn the tide of World War II. When peppered with questions about Scottish independence and whether Britain might leave the EU, Obama sought to put the disputes in historical perspective. “I think in light of the events that we’re going to be commemorating tomorrow, it’s important to recall that it was the steadfastness of Great Britain that, in part, allows us to be here in Brussels, in the seat of a unified and extraordinarily prosperous Europe,” he said.“And it’s hard for me to imagine that project going well in the absence of Great Britain.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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The Great War : A Century Later

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from page 15

Bosnia

Milosevic, and as communism’s grip in the region began to weaken, one by one Yugoslavia’s republics declared their independence. Just as Serbia had rebelled against Austro-Hungarian rule decades earlier, Slovenes, Croats, Kosovar Albanians, Bosniaks and ethnic Macedonians yearned for freedom from Serbian control. Yet freedom came at a cost, and the resulting inter-ethnic clashes became infamous for war crimes such as genocide and rape. Bosnia bore the brunt of it. “Sometimes, when a country is unstable or fragile in terms of its institutions and hasn’t reached a certain level of democracy, nationalists can misuse their influence as an instrument to divide the people. That’s exactly what happened in Bosnia,” Negodic said. “When Yugoslavia fell apart, Bosnia was the most mixed of all the republics. It’s a tragedy that the country that was the example of multiculturalism suffered the most.” Negodic moved to Sarajevo at the age of 3 and eventually graduated from the University of Sarajevo’s law faculty. When the war started, Negodic moved to the relative safety of neighboring Croatia — the country of her late husband — and stayed there until 1998, the year she returned to Sarajevo and joined Bosnia’s new Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “We didn’t have experience or the structure of a foreign ministry. Everything was in Belgrade.We had to start from scratch to establish an independent, sovereign country,” she recalled.“The other countries — Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia — were not as affected by war, but our state structure was totally destroyed.”

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Crowds gather in the streets following anti-Serb riots that swept Sarajevo on June 29, 2014, the day after a young Serb revolutionary assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, triggering a chain of events that started World War I.

In January 2008, Negodic was appointed Bosnia’s ambassador to the EU in Belgium, moved to London 11 months later as envoy to the United Kingdom, and came to the United States in July 2012. Her daughter still lives in London. “My first job was heading a division for neighboring countries, but ambassador in Washington? Even in my craziest dreams I didn’t expect that to happen,” said Negodic, who’s visited 18 states since her arrival here; the largest communities of Bosnians are in St. Louis, Chicago and Jacksonville, Fla. But the sheer complexity of representing Bosnia abroad — let alone governing it from Sarajevo — is a massive headache. The country is home to 3.8 million people, 62 percent of whom live in the predominantly Muslim and Croat “Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina” and 35 percent in the Serb-

dominated “Republika Srpska,” a division that dates back to the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the bloodshed nearly 20 years ago. Those accords stopped the fighting but instituted political paralysis by splitting power up along ethnic lines. This has led to a labyrinthine, multilayered governing structure dictated by ethnic quotas and defined by stasis and corruption. With two autonomous entities (the Federation and Republika Srpska), a tripartite presidency and dozens of municipalities and cantons, this awkward political arrangement has done little for the Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs it was intended to serve. Under the law, even Bosnia’s Foreign Ministry must employ minorities in the same proportion that’s found in the general population: Bosniak Muslims, 44 percent; Serbs, 33 percent; and Croats, 19 percent. “That principle is applied to our ambassadors abroad as well. In our eight biggest embassies abroad, we employ the principle of national rotation,” Negodic explained.“All our ambassadors are obliged to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state.... My predecessor was a Serb, and there was no problem at all.” But the country’s federalist system has led to plenty of problems. Earlier this year, thousands of Bosnians took to the streets in Sarajevo to protest political dysfunction and economic stagnation. “The international project to rebuild Bosnia has had success: war’s physical scars are largely gone, and the country is peaceful. The political agonies, however, show the intervention’s limits. Years of well-intentioned reforms, imposed or urged, have left a governing structure leaders circumvent, ignore or despise,” the International Crisis Group wrote in a July 10 report called “Bosnia’s Future.” “With growing frequency, Bosnians ask the questions that preceded the 1992-1995 war: shall it be one country, two, or even three; if one country, shall it have one, two or three constituent entities, and how shall it be governed?” It’s little surprise that the country is struggling economically as well. Even though it bounced back after the devastation of the 1990s wars — with GDP increasing by two-thirds and poverty falling from 20 percent to 14 percent — Bosnia remains one of the poorest countries in all of Europe, with unemployment at a staggering 44 percent. “Our major issue is the economy and creating jobs,” said Negodic. “For the time being, foreign investors are coming to Bosnia, but only in small numbers because they are not quite sure whether their investments will be protected. They are very cautious.” And even though the war ended in 1995, scars from the fighting remain everywhere. As of October 2013, there were still 103,353 registered internally displaced persons, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

“All people have their own stories and experiences from the war. Lots of them lost family members and it’s really hard for them,” Negodic said. “We can talk about reconciliation, but it’s much easier to talk than to implement. And it’s much easier for those who didn’t lose anyone. “Some women lost not just one son but five sons. Some families lost 10 or more. How can you expect them to forget? They can try to forgive, but they can never forget,” she said. “It would have been much more bearable to see justice coming from The Hague tribunal and putting all those responsible for mass murder in jail,” Negodic added.“The problem, from my point of view,is that justice has been too slow.[Radovan] Karadzic and [Ratko] Mladic were at large for a decade; they were transferred to The Hague only two years ago. But for thousands of people who expected justice to come, it was too late. And [former Serb President] Slobodan Milosevic died without ever being convicted for his role.” Karadzic, 68, faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity relating to the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995, in which Bosnian Serb forces under Mladic’s command killed an estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys. It ranks as Europe’s single worst atrocity since the Holocaust. Asked about the conflict’s parallels to another atrocity, Rwanda — where 800,000 minority Tutsis were slaughtered by Hutu tribesmen in a 100-day period in 1994 — the Bosnian ambassador reflected that “whenever the world is faced with such a horrific crime, we always say never again.We didn’t expect such atrocities to happen. But it seems to me that some lessons from the past were never learned.” Looking at the longer term, Negodic said she hopes her country can overcome its painful history and one day join the EU. In 2010, the Brussels-based club approved visa-free travel for Bosnians, though that’s only the first baby step in a very steep, difficult road ahead. “Croatia is already a member, Serbia is on the right path and Montenegro is also a candidate.We are the only country in the Balkans that hasn’t applied for candidacy status,” Negodic said.“It’s a long, long journey. It depends on political will, commitment and administrative capability.” The ambassador added: “People are much better than their political leaders. They’re coping with everyday life. It’s 19 years since the war ended, and the whole region has changed dramatically. We can’t be stuck in the past. We support Serbs on their way to EU membership because we know that the progress they make will help us as well. Croatia is also ready to share its experience.” On Oct. 12, Bosnians will elect a new president and parliament, but more than 30 percent of voters are undecided. And until Bosnia reforms its constitution and makes deep political reforms, the country cannot even begin accession talks with Brussels. Sofía Sebastián-Aparicio, author of “Post-war Statebuilding and Constitutional Reform in Divided Societies,” said such political will is a lifeor-death issue for Bosnia — and an opportunity for the West. “The tragic violence of Iraq and Syria might seem like it is spiraling beyond the ability of Western powers to influence events,” she wrote recently.“But the U.S. and Europe still have a viable opportunity to engage Bosnia in a way that will allow for a more stable future.They must not miss the opportunity.” Negodic agrees, and says Bosnia’s future must be as part of a united Europe. “It would be a huge change. It’s not important whether we’re members in five, 10 or 15 years,” she said.“What’s important is to accept the standards of the EU regarding democratic principles and the rule of law. It’s just a matter of time.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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August 2014

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International Affairs

Africa

Somaliland: An Oasis of Stability Makes Its Case for Independence by Michael Coleman

ention the word Somalia and many Americans think of a lawless Horn of Africa nation beset by poverty, piracy, conflict and perhaps even the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, recreated in vivid, dramatic detail in the film “Black Hawk Down.”

Yet Somalia has made concrete strides in recent years, with an internationally supported government that has brought a measure of normalcy to the war-wracked nation of 10 million, though its authority doesn’t extend far beyond Mogadishu. Outside the capital, the country remains plagued by domestic infighting, a stagnant, informal economy and the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab, whose reign of terror continues largely unabated. Meanwhile, the breakaway republic of Somaliland, a northern, Muslim-majority province that declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, is relatively stable, if not thriving. Bordered by Ethiopia in the south and west, a slice of Djibouti in the northwest, the Gulf of Aden in the north and the autonomous Puntland region of Somalia to the east, Somaliland’s fledgling economy is steadily growing. The self-declared republic is relatively unscathed by terrorists, pirates and the anarchy that afflicts the region, and it has a functioning, democratically elected government with its own constitution. But Somaliland is still regarded as an autonomous region of Somalia by the international community — not an independent state. Somaliland’s leaders are working hard to change that as they make an aggressive push for recognition as a sovereign state by the United Nations. Some argue — inside and outside of Somaliland — that recognition is long overdue.After achieving independence from British colonial rule on June 26, 1960, Somaliland was recognized as a sovereign entity by the United Nations and 35 countries, including the United States. Several days later, on July 1, the country of Somaliland voluntarily joined with its newly independent southern counterpart to create the present-day Federal Republic of Somalia. The union began to fray in the 1980s, when the Siad Barre regime massacred tens of thousands of Somalilanders. The longtime dictator’s increasing authoritarianism sparked a clan-based resistance that led to his downfall in 1991, plunging the country into chaos and civil war. At that point, Somaliland declared its independence. “Somalilanders rightfully note that they voluntarily joined a union after independence, and that, under international law, they should (and do) have the right to abrogate that union, as they did in 1991,” argued Peter J. Schraeder of Loyola University Chicago in an essay for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Examples abound in the second half of the twentieth century of international recognition of countries that have emerged from failed federations or failed states, including East Timor, Eritrea, Gambia, and the successor states of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The same legal principle should be applied to Somaliland.” Mohamed Yonis, Somaliland’s minister of foreign affairs, recently spoke to The Diplomat about the push for statehood, as well as Somaliland’s potential as a good bet for foreign investment. “The lack of recognition and independence for

Page 20

Photo: Middayexpress / Wikimedia Commons

Houses line a residential area of Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia that enjoys relative stability compared to its lawless neighbor.

“

We are a de facto independent state for 23 years and we have established our own institutions and government. We have maintained peace and stability throughout the years. And we cannot afford the same mistakes of the past. — Mohamed Yonis

”

foreign affairs minister of Somaliland

Somaliland is one of the major impediments to our foreign assistance; most of the development institutions are not keen to provide us loans,”Yonis said.“The legal framework does not allow them to give loans directly to Somaliland. They need to come up with creative ways of accommodating de facto independent states like Somaliland that is peaceful, stable and safe.” Somaliland’s inability to access funding from the World Bank, IMF and other major donors has forced it to tap its business leaders to provide the territory of 3.5 million people with some measure of financial stability. Ironically, some say the lack of direct financial aid from other countries has given Somaliland breathing space to negotiate its own political settlements and create a self-sufficient economy, unlike its aid-dependent neighbor Somalia. That economy, in fact, has done relatively well, although income disparity remains a stubborn problem. The livestock industry accounts for 30 percent of Somaliland’s

economy, followed by trade at 20 percent, according to a January report by the World Bank, which cautioned that estimates were shaky because of a lack of data. Thanks to an entrepreneurial private sector and remittances from the diaspora, Somaliland has built schools, established a central bank with its own currency and formed an effective security apparatus that has kept terrorist attacks and piracy at bay. The government has also handed out oil exploration licenses to a number of energy groups, and investors ranging from Google to China have expressed an interest in Somaliland. There’s even a $17 million Coca-Cola bottling factory. Despite its pioneer spirit, Yonis says Somaliland — which still suffers from widespread poverty and a dearth of infrastructure — would benefit immensely from the direct foreign assistance that would likely flow from statehood. “We need assistance and loans that are geared to development and have no political strings,” he said. “Assistance can also be in-kind or grants that can help in areas of good governance, fighting terrorism and piracy, rule of law and justice, etcetera.” Yonis — who holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University and a bachelor’s in political science from Miami University — previously worked in operations and management for the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur before being named Somaliland’s foreign minister in 2013. He says the notion of Somaliland returning as part of an inclusive Somalia, as the government in Mogadishu would like, is not going to happen — period. “We are a de facto independent state for 23 years and we have established our own institutions and government,” he pointed out. “We have maintained peace and

The Washington Diplomat

See somaliland, page 22 August 2014

International Relations

Energy

Canada and Its Keystone Supporters Optimistic Pipeline Will Eventually Pass by Eliza Krigman

mbroiled in a political and regulatory quagmire that has prevented Canada from acting on ambitions to supply the United States with more crude oil, the Canadian American Business Council (CABC) gathered top energy experts this June to talk about charting a path forward.

But the event was also meant to give Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer (and other like-minded pols and wonks) a platform to make the case for giving the green light to the Keystone XL pipeline, part of an aggressive, years-long lobbying and diplomatic push by the Canadian government. America “is a can-do country,” Doer said to a crowd gathered at the Canadian Embassy.“It just needs a can-do approval process.” Canada already pumps oil into the United States through Keystone pipes (the U.S. imports more oil from Canada than any other country in the world). What’s at stake here is a proposed extension to the pipes — the XL — that would ultimately allow the transport of 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico for refinery. In the eyes of the Canadian government, it’s a common-sense solution to help meet America’s energy needs. But a serious opposition, stemming mostly from environmental concerns that range from the risk of oil spills to higher greenhouse gas emissions, has successfully fought off the new pipes — so far, at least. To the chagrin of Doer and others, the Obama administration has largely punted on the issue. The White House claims to be letting the approval process run its course in advance of offering a final opinion. (Because the pipeline crosses international boundaries, the State Department must approve it.) But many interpret this as a convenient excuse to avoid rendering judgment on a politically divisive issue ahead of the November midterm elections, in which vulnerable Democrats stand to lose the Senate. The Canadian government, however, isn’t the only actor interested in seeing the additional pipelines approved. A number of American politicians on both sides of the aisle, particularly from states that stand to benefit economically from the project, are working to push legislation through Congress. “I think the Keystone pipeline should have been built a year ago,” Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said recently on “Morning Joe.” It will create thousands of jobs and make North America an independent “energy powerhouse,” she argued. Landrieu, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, is in the midst of a tough re-election battle and approval of the project could boost her campaign prospects. Landrieu did not attend the Canadian Embassy event, but a number of other elected officials who support Keystone did, including Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) and Rob Merrifield, a conservative member of the Canadian Parliament. Keystone proponents like to remind the public that August 2014

TransCanada Corp. pipeline construction in North Dakota Photo: © TransCanada Corporation

“

Projects that boost North American energy production like the Keystone XL pipeline are a key not only to creating jobs and a dynamic economy, but also to keeping our nation and our people safe.

”

— Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.)

the pipeline makes sense from a security standpoint. “The biggest winner if the pipeline is not approved is Vladimir Putin,” Doer claimed, arguing that Canada and Mexico offer a much more “predictable” supply of oil than other energy-rich countries around the world such as Russia. Shortly after returning from a Senate mission to Ukraine last spring, Hoeven argued that approving Keystone XL has become a strategic imperative. “Seeing how Ukraine and the European Union are dependent on Russia for energy, our delegation saw firsthand the importance of energy security,” Hoeven said in a statement.“Projects that boost North American energy production like the Keystone XL pipeline are a key not only to creating jobs and a dynamic economy, but also to keeping our nation and our people safe.” In his frequent public appearances touting Keystone (and most likely in his many meetings with Congress and the White House), Doer often recites the mantra that Washington is better off getting its oil from a close ally such as Canada than a country like Venezuela or a Middle East kingdom.

But that simplistic sound bite overlooks the fact that the oil from Keystone is not necessarily intended for U.S. consumption — some of it would go on the world market and be exported to places such as Asia. In fact, the United States doesn’t really need Keystone to become energy independent — the extraction of energy from shale rock is helping the country do that on its own.The United States is already overtaking Russia as the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world, and it will remain the world’s biggest oil producer this year after beating out Saudi Arabia and Russia. Nevertheless, the United States and Canada are critical energy partners. Canada is home to the world’s thirdlargest proven oil reserves (after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela) at 172.8 billion barrels, 168.7 billion of which are in oil sands (also referred to as tar sands). And while the International Energy Agency predicts America will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2020, it will still rely on oil imports to meet its energy needs. Proponents of Keystone also point out that Canada and Mexico have a greater commitment to protecting the climate than other would-be oil suppliers. Oil-rich countries in the Middle East “and members of OPEC are not part of the climate change strategy that Canada and Mexico have agreed to,” said Doer, a former three-term premier of Manitoba who, as an ambassador, has been unusually vocal in lobbying for Keystone. That enthusiasm has attracted criticism that Doer, who racked up environmental and climate change victories in Manitoba, should not be acting as a salesman for the energy industry. Doer though dismisses such criticism as uninformed, retorting that the Keystone blowback is driven by Hollywood celebrities and an “environmental industry” in Washington that has turned the dispute into a fundraising tool.

See keystone, page 44 The Washington Diplomat Page 21

from page 20

Mohamed yonis, foreign minister of somaliland, argues that his autonomous province deserves independence from somalia. “We are a de facto independent state for 23 years and we have established are own institutions and government,” he said. “We cannot be part of a failed state.”

somaliland stability throughout the years. And we cannot afford the same mistakes of the past. We cannot be part of a failed state that has committed crimes against its own people.” Yonis noted that Somaliland is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, which advocates for nonviolent and democratic territories that don’t receive recognition on the global stage. “It is a worthwhile organization and we benefit from their experience,” he said. “We share information and lessons from them and it’s mutually beneficial.” Yonis said the world could learn a few lessons from Somaliland as well. “We want to be part of the international community, and the world can benefit from our own experience in regards to peace, stability and conflict resolution,” he told us.“We are currently sharing our experiences with African states who are facing tribal and civil conflicts. We are providing a buffer zone to Ethiopia and Djibouti and protecting our borders.” The foreign minister says Somaliland is also actively courting its neighbors instead of sitting back and waiting for statehood to happen. “We are exploring avenues, in particular with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa and the African Union, to convince them that the independence of Somaliland is in the best interest of the region,” Yonis explained.“We are also reminding them that our situation is unique. Somaliland gained its independence from Great Britain and was recognized as a sovereign state by 35 nations including all five permanent members of U.N. Security Council. Five days later the government of Somaliland joined Somalia to create a greater Somalia, but this union proved to be catastrophic. “The central government of Mogadishu bru-

tally repressed the people of Somaliland, killing 50,000 of its citizens, displacing another 500,000, bombing its cities and laying over 1 million landmines on its territories,”Yonis said.“Due to such actions, the people of Somaliland revoked the act of union and declared the independent republic of Somaliland based on the borders of the former British protectorate.” The fact that Somaliland wants to stick to those old colonial borders may help its cause with the international community. But whether Somaliland’s neighbors will support its quest for independence is another matter entirely. “Unfortunately for it, Western governments, which are mostly impressed with its efforts, say that the first move [for recognition] should come out of Africa. The chances of that happening look slim,” the Economist opined in a January editorial. “The African Union is scared that acknowledging Somaliland could create momentum for other separatist bids, and none of its member states have shown any indication that they will recognise the territory. The current

A Legendary Hotel Located on Pennsylvania Avenue in the Nation’s Capital… Truly Inspirational

crisis in newly independent South Sudan makes this even more unlikely.” Yonis, though, isn’t discouraged and argues that Somaliland’s situation is “unique and different from other cases.” “Somaliland has developed into a dynamic and stable democracy,” he said. “We have a de facto independent state for 23 years and its constitution was approved in 2001 by 97.7 percent of the population in a national referendum assessed by the international observers as free and fair. “We have created a culture of peace and stability and every citizen supports the security apparatus of the country,” the foreign minister added. “Somaliland uses a lot of its resources in developing security structures that can provide a safety net for its citizens. We also get a lot of support from the international community and bilateral donors in the area of security and justice and capacity building.” Yonis argues that independence will further integrate Somaliland into the international com-

munity, allowing foreign navies to use its ports and enabling greater security coordination to combat trafficking and terrorism. But ultimately, if Somaliland wants independence, it will have to convince Somalia. Understandably, many Somalilanders feel that after fighting the Barre regime and struggling to build a haven of calm amid anarchy and tumult, they deserve recognition. Likewise for Somaliland’s politicians, there is real political risk in being seen as pandering to Mogadishu. However,Yonis says engagement with Somalia is necessary for Somaliland to legally define its status. “The route to recognition goes through Mogadishu and Somaliland should continue its dialogue with Somalia in Istanbul,” Yonis said, referring to ongoing talks being brokered by Turkey on Somaliland’s bid for independence. “The dialogue is continuing and we have managed to develop trust and confidence among ourselves. For the first time Somalia has acknowledged the atrocities that they have committed against Somalilanders.” Mogadishu, however, has given no indications it’s willing to give up such a sizeable chunk of territory — and with an unrelenting spate of attacks by al-Shabaab militants, the fragile Somali government has bigger things to worry about at the moment. Nevertheless, Yonis insists that the two sides, which have taken sharply different paths over the last two decades, can come together. “We are confident that the talks will eventually lead to a two-state solution,” he said. “We could be two good neighbors that cooperate and support one another in the fight against terrorism and piracy. We could also cooperate on issues related to trade, security and freedom of movement between the two independent states.”

Michael Coleman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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MEDICAL ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ August 2014

CHIKUN - WHAT?

Caribbean Grapples with Nasty Mosquito-Borne Virus

The aedes aegypti mosquito carries both the deadly dengue fever and the chikungunya viral infection that is now spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean.

Photo: JaMes Gathany / CdC

by Gina Shaw

ou might not be able to pronounce the name of the latest rampant mosquito-borne viral infection, but you’d have chikungunya (chi-koon-goon-ya) seared into your memory if you caught it. Commonly known as ChiKV (chick-vee), chikungunya first attracted notice last year in the Caribbean and has now spread to the

united states as a very unpleasant souvenir of island vacations. it’s spread by the aedes aegypti mosquito, the same culprit that carries the more deadly dengue fever. Chikungunya isn’t as virulent, but the joint pain and fever it causes can make sufferers pretty miserable. see moSQuiTo, page 26

■ inSiDe: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to involve diplomats in its life-saving work. pAGe 24 ■

MEDICAL August 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 23

[ developing world ]

Healthy Collaboration Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Talks Global Health with Ambassadors by Larry Luxner

EATTLE — The world’s largest private charitable foundation, established by the richest but arguably most generous man in U.S. history, hopes to involve Washington-based diplomats in its efforts to improve health care throughout the developing world. On June 27, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hosted a panel discussion and lunch for 29 ambassadors visiting Seattle as part of a three-day “Experience America” visit organized by the State Department (see related story on page 6). The panel’s theme: “Seattle as a Global Health Hub” and “How Ambassadors Can Be Partners Abroad.” The diplomats listened intently as topics ranged from the role of animals in food security to the development of vaccines to fight tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria. “We’ve already seen the world cut extreme poverty in half, so progress is possible,” Susan DesmondHellmann, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said during a welcome lunch for the ambassadors. “We’re inspired by that, but the past is no guarantee we’ll be effective in the future. We know that progress depends on thousands of NGOs doing work on the ground, and on the private sector investing in the poorest. And that depends on you — the representatives of govern- Health care worker Feroja Begum gives polio drops to a ments around the world — making that happen.” child during a house-to-house campaign in Balarampota, The Gates Foundation was established in 2000 by a village in India’s West Bengal state. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda. Its primary aim overseas is to enhance health care and reduce extreme poverty, and in the United States to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology. With an endowment of $38.3 billion, the foundation now ranks as the largest of its kind worldwide.As of May 2013, Bill Gates (who tops this year’s Forbes list of the globe’s wealthiest people, with a net worth of $78.9 billion) had personally donated $28 billion to the Seattle-based foundation. “Through the Gates Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates decided to devote their energies to achieving global health equity,” said Lisa Cohen, executive director of the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA), one of the many nonprofits that receive funding from the foundation. “What they’ve done is shine a light and inspire people to tackle these long-term, often — Susan Desmond-Hellmann astonishingly complicated problems.” CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Cohen said Seattle-based WGHA received a $1 million, three-year startup grant from the Gates state, working in 156 countries on more than 2,500 Foundation and is currently in the third year of a $250,000 grant. Her organization, operating on an projects,” explained Cohen, a former journalism proannual budget of $600,000, partners with World fessor. “There’s a culture of compassion in this state, Vision, PATH, Washington State University, the and a can-do sort of attitude that we want to address University of Washington and other entities to “lever- problems and that we want to do it together. But it has age the collective expertise of our 60-plus members” to be done with the countries as partners. It can’t just be lip service.” on global health issues. The Gates Foundation prides itself on its risk-tak“We’ve got 33 global health organizations within walking distance from where we are now. There are ing, results-oriented, business-like approach to tackmore than 200 global health organizations in this ling endemic problems in the developing world. It has

Photo: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

tapped scientists around the planet for innovative ideas and given grants to hundreds of groups, from the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to the United Negro College Fund. And it delves into the nitty-gritty hurdles of global health, from the lack of nutrition in tropical crops; to the transportation and storage challenges of delivering high-quality vaccines to poor areas; to the complexities of treating diarrheal diseases in young children. On that note, while the foundation is known for its work in areas such as childhood immunization and HIV/ AIDS, it also explores the complex, interconnected web of issues that hinder prosperity in the developing world. Guy Palmer, director of Washington State University’s Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, also leads disease control programs in East Africa and Latin America. He told diplomats that the health of animals and livestock is directly related to food and economic security throughout the developing world. “Women and children need a good protein supply, and for most people, the best sources of these are animal protein, whether it’s milk, eggs or meat. The ability of children to make an immune response is based on the ability to make protein,” he said. Guyana’s ambassador, Bayney Karran, asked the panel of experts what the Gates Foundation was doing to combat the spread of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

“We know that progress depends on thousands of NGOs doing work on the ground, and on the private sector investing in the poorest. And that depends on … the representatives of governments around the world making that happen.”

Page 24

MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. It’s a concern shared by Ambassador Neil Parsan of Trinidad and Tobago, who noted that 45 percent of his country’s 1.2 million people suffer from hypertension. In fact, NCDs, also known as chronic diseases that are often caused by tobacco, alcohol and obesity, are now the leading cause of death and disability in the world — and are on the rise as more countries become wealthier. “The foundation is investing in areas where we feel we can make the most difference,” Anita K.M. Zaidi, director of enteric and diarrheal diseases at the Gates Foundation, replied.“NCDs are preventable through tobacco control and diet. We’re taking baby steps toward tobacco control as a global issue, but it’s currently not our focus.” It is a prime focus for Steve Davis, president and CEO of PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) and Christopher J.L. Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who told the panel that the scourge of non-communicable diseases is of tremendous importance. “Chris [Murray] and I are on a Council on Foreign Relations task force on what American policy should be toward NCDs,” Davis told the ambassadors. “A lot of organizations are funding NCD work, and we’re doing work on low-cost diabetes treatment in poor countries. But in general, funding is way behind.” Added Murray, a former top official at the World Health Organization: “In Central America, there’s a huge upswing in chronic kidney diseases. But that shift in non-communicable diseases in 20 or 30 years took more than a century to happen in high-income countries. Most governments aren’t really prepared to deal with it.

He added: “Next year we’ll be tracking where the money goes. The underlying belief there is that richer debate in each country about what’s important will actually change the way we go about improving health. You can’t capture the world’s data and synthesize it in a meaningful way without it being a very broad undertaking.” Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

Photo: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

William H. Gates Sr., co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, watches as a nurse vaccinates a small baby at the San Felipe Hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

You see this in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and China.” Among other things, Murray is a founder of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) measurement, described as a systematic effort to quantify the health burden of diseases, injuries and risk factors by age, sex and geography over time. Several years ago, Murray launched a collaborative effort by 500 researchers from 50 countries that resulted in the 2010 GBD study. This latest iteration of the effort — which is funded by the Gates Foundation — generated nearly 1 billion

estimates of health outcomes for 187 countries and was published in the December 2012 issue of The Lancet. “Each year, we produce an assessment of more than 1,000 diseases and 68 risk factors for each country, and we deliver this through a whole series of mechanisms,” Murray told the ambassadors. “It’s built around a collaboration of more than 1,000 investigators who are helping us to understand what the strengths and weaknesses of different countries are. The whole process is done on an annual basis.”

Photo: Larry Luxner

D.C.-based ambassadors visited the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of a State Departmenthosted trip to Seattle in June.

The International Patient Program at the George Washington University Hospital

CARING FOR PEOPLE FOR 175 YEARS. OUR STAFF PROVIDES YOU WITH HIGH QUALITY HEALTHCARE AND OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE. A personal liaison assists you with: • Appointment Scheduling • Interpretation • Cost Estimates • Insurance Settlements • Travel and Hotel Accommodations

900 23rd Street, NW, Washington, DC Phone: (202) 715-5100 Helen Salazar-Fowler, Director helen.salazar-fowler@gwu-hospital.com www.gwhospital.com Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of the George Washington University Hospital. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians.

MEDICAL August 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 25

“The mosquitoes that transmit dengue and chikungunya are endemic in 31 U.S. states…. So it’s not difficult to realize how, if you get some infected people, that you will get a whole new infection cycle in the U.S.”

WERE YOU RECENTLY IN THE MOSQUITOES

— Malcolm Thomas, president and CEO of Arbovax from page 23

Mosquito Chikungunya is actually a very old virus that was first identified in Tanzania in the 1950s. Scientists believe it evolved much earlier than that, around the year 1700. It doesn’t kill very often, with a fatality rate of about .4 percent (infants and the elderly are most vulnerable) compared to 1 percent to 10 percent for dengue. But the weeks of symptoms can be quite miserable, and for some people, chronic joint pain can persist for years after the initial illness subsides. The name comes from an East African dialect and means “bend you up” or “to become contorted,” and on a research trip to the Dominican Republic in July, I heard it over and over again. “Chikungunya,” sighed a young man at a meeting, explaining why he hadn’t been in his office the past two weeks. “Chikungunya,” said a mother in a community health center, gently guiding her exhausted-looking teenage daughter to a chair. The Dominican Republic, which shares an island with Haiti, has had nearly 200,000 suspected cases of the viral infection since December, more than any other country in the current outbreak. Locally transmitted cases of chikungunya have cropped up on at least 22 Caribbean islands (the first was on St. Maarten/St. Martin in December 2013), and as of midJuly, nearly 200 “travel-associated” chikungunya cases had been reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the majority in Florida. In all, the Pan American Health Organization estimates there have been 350,000 suspected cases of the disease throughout the Americas. So far, there have been no cases of locally transmitted chikungunya reported in the United States. It’s not clear why — we certainly have the right mosquito population, especially in the southeastern United States. Some scientists think it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. gets hit as well. “The mosquitoes that transmit dengue and chikungunya are endemic in 31 U.S. states,” Malcolm Thomas, president and CEO of Arbovax, a North Carolina company now

tips for travelers The CDC recommends that travelers take the following precautions: • Use air conditioning or window and door screens to keep mosquitoes outside; if those are not available, sleep under a mosquito bed net. • Use insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, and oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol products. Apply sunscreen before insect repellent, if you are using both. • Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when you can; do not spray insect repellent on the skin under clothing.

Page 26

Watch for fever with joint pains or rash in the next 2 weeks. If you get sick, see a doctor.

trying to develop a vaccine for CHIKV, told local news stations in Raleigh. “So it’s not difficult to realize how, if you get some infected people, that you will get a whole new infection cycle in the U.S.” That’s not because people are spreading it directly to each other: Transmission of chikungunya requires a mosquito bite, and you can’t get it through contact with someone who’s ill.But if travelers to the Caribbean return home with the virus and are then bitten by local mosquitoes, those mosquitoes could pick it up and spread it more widely, something that may be more likely now that mosquito season is fully underway in most of the United States. But for now, the biggest concern should be protecting yourself from the virus if you’re traveling to an outbreak area. (In addition to the Caribbean, chikungunya is endemic in Central and Southern Africa as well as Southeast Asia.) The CDC recommends that travelers take the following precautions: • Use air conditioning or window and door screens to keep mosquitoes outside; if those are not available, sleep under a mosquito bed net. • Use insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, and oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol products. Apply sunscreen before insect repellent, if you are using both. • Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when you can; do not spray insect repellent on the skin under clothing. • Treat clothing with the insect repellent permethrin. If you’re camping, you can actually spray your tent with it as well. It will not damage fabric. • If you see standing water in containers like buckets or flowerpots, empty it. This limits breeding opportunities for mosquitoes. • If you do come home with chikungunya, take extra care to avoid bites from “homegrown” mosquitoes for a week or so, so as not to spread the virus to those local mosquitoes.

CARIBBEAN?

spread diseases such as

CHIKUNGUNYA and DENGUE.

2 WEEKS

Tell the doctor you traveled to the Caribbean.

For more information: call 800-CDC-INFO (232-4636) or visit www.cdc.gov/travel. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CS246591

GOING TO THE CARIBBEAN? MOSQUITOES

spread diseases such as

CHIKUNGUNYA and DENGUE.

Protect yourself by preventing mosquito bites.

Mosquitoes bite during the day and night.

If you experience a sudden high fever,

• Treat clothing with the insect repellent permethrin. If you’re camping, you can actually spray your tent with it as well. It will not damage fabric.

DON’T LET MOSQUITOES RUIN YOUR TRIP. For more information: call 800-CDC-INFO (232-4636) or visit www.cdc.gov/travel.

• If you see standing water in containers like buckets or flowerpots, empty it. This limits breeding opportunities for mosquitoes. • If you do come home with chikungunya, take extra care to avoid bites from “homegrown” mosquitoes for a week or so, so as not to spread the virus to those local mosquitoes. • If you experience a sudden high fever, debilitating joint pain and rash shortly after a trip to an outbreak area, see your doctor and be sure to share your travel history.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CS246591

debilitating joint pain and rash shortly after a trip to an outbreak area, see your doctor and be sure to share your travel history. That’s mostly to be sure of exactly what you have and to help track outbreaks because unfortunately, there’s no cure for chikungunya and no vaccine yet, despite the hopes of the North Carolina company. All you can

really do until the virus subsides is to drink lots of fluids to avoid becoming dehydrated, take over-the-counter pain relievers and fever reducers like ibuprofen, and burrow down in your bed to get plenty of rest. Gina Shaw is the medical writer for The Washington Diplomat.

MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

culture & ■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

arts

entertainment

■ AUGUST 2014

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

Recipe for Success Leila Beale has a lot on her plate: The Brazil native practices real estate in the U.S. and is the wife of the ambassador of Barbados, where she owns a jewelry shop. Another job: watching what she eats to avoid a long list of life-threatening allergies. PAGE 29

ART

Embassy Gems Some of the most fascinating art in D.C. is tucked away in the city’s embassies, where two homegrown talents take the stage this month at the Argentine and Italian missions. PAGE 30

THEATER

Big Giant Fun “The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)” combines flatulence and fun to teach children important life lessons served up with inventiveness, suspenseful plot twists and wit. PAGE 31

FILM REVIEWS Love blossoms in Michel Gondry’s surreally charming “Moody Indigo.” PAGE 34

PHOTO: CARLO NAYA

Andrea Mantegna’s “Scenes from the Life of St. James: Martyrdom” from Italy’s Church of the Eremitani was destroyed in the Allied bombing of March 1944.

ART

World War II caused untold destruction around the world, including the loss of priceless cultural artifacts. But World War II also became the first modern conflict where a concerted effort was made to rescue works of art imperiled by the fighting — a story of preservation and perseverance documented by the National Gallery of Art. PAGE 28

SURVIVAL

[ art ]

Art in War National Gallery Documents WWII Preservation of Cultural Treasures by Miranda Katz

[ Page 28

orld War II caused innumerable losses for nations around the globe, but a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art seeks to draw attention to an oft-overlooked area of destruction: the art and architecture damaged in the war. Hidden in the study center of the East Building,“In the Library: Preservation and Loss during World War II” details efforts to preserve and recover art during and after the fighting. The timely exhibition, coming on the heels of the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, also pays homage to works that were rendered irreparable by war. The foremost effort to protect works of cultural value was known as the Roberts Commission, a presidentially appointed commission that focused on artwork in Alliedoccupied parts of Europe. The commission formed the Monuments, Fine Art, and Archives (MFAA) military program, whose participants were known as Monuments Men. From 1943 to 1946, the commission and Monuments Men worked to protect and rescue pieces deemed to have cultural significance — a first in modern warfare. The MFAA program paid special attention to works that had been hidden or stolen by the Nazis. The mission to save these masterpieces — run by a motley crew of museum directors, curators and art historians — was recently dramatized in the George Clooney film “The Monuments Men.” “In the Library” features two albums assembled by MFAA Sgt. Gordon O. Chadwick, a prominent New York architect who voluntarily enlisted to serve in the war.The first album shows damage incurred in Württemberg; the second documents Baden. Both were former states in southwestern Germany that later merged to become BadenWürttemberg, which was part of West Germany prior to the country’s reunification. According to Chadwick’s album, because Württemberg was a relatively decentralized region, art was also decentralized: It was spread among various estates and galleries, rather than concentrated in a In the Library: Preservation and Loss single museum or area. As a result, during World War II Württemberg did not suffer terrible losses. One of the most prethrough Sept. 26 cious works, sculptor Tilman National Gallery of Art Riemenschneider’s Marien-Altar, was housed on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th in a church in the town of Creglingen and Streets on Constitution Avenue, NW was mercifully unharmed. For more information, please call (202) 737-4215 In Paris, meanwhile, the government had to move quickly to protect the treasures of or visit www.nga.gov. the Louvre as Hitler advanced on the city; the works were moved to Chateau de Valençay until the war was over.The National Gallery exhibition contains four photos depicting the evacuation of the Musée du Louvre in September 1939. The pictures look like something out of a movie, with tremendous works of art being wrapped with packing materials and ferreted out. The photographs, by French photographer Laure Albin Guillot, depict a surreal scene: a staircase in the museum covered with wooden planks to protect its surface; “The Winged Victory of Samothrace,” a marble sculpture dating back to the second century BC, being roped and stuffed into a packing crate; an empty pedestal, upon which the “Venus de Milo” once stood, and two workers transporting the ancient

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At left, an anonymous French photographer took a picture of the Grande Galerie in the Louvre in Paris, emptied of its artwork in September 1939. Below, scenes from Etruscan wall paintings in Berlin’s Altes Museum depict the progression of the world from chaos to civilization. The mural was destroyed in 1945.

Greek sculpture from the gallery. Most chilling, however, is a picture taken by an anonymous French photographer in which the Grande Galerie of the Louvre is completely emptied of artwork. Many sculptures, in fact, were hidden away for safekeeping during the war. The crypt of the Church of SaintSulpice in Paris safeguarded works such as Jean-Antoine Houdon’s bust of Voltaire and Jacques Sarrazin’s “Two Seated Angels.” Inspired by René Huyghe, the chief curator of the Louvre who oversaw the evacuation of artwork, the photographer Brassaï produced a series of pictures of the sculpture stored at Saint-Sulpice; some of these are on view at the National Gallery. The breathtaking photographs depict sculptures wrested from their homes and hidden deep within the historic church, where, thankfully, the equally historic pieces of art survived the war. Some works, however, were lost altogether during World War II. For example, the art that once filled PHOTOS: NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin was moved to the Friedrichshain flak towers, large anti-aircraft gun blockhouses, on the assumption they’d be a safe place for storage. Yet toward the end of the war as Berlin was being bombed, the towers became targets and many of the works inside were burned.Among the destroyed pieces were Caravaggio’s “Saint Matthew and the Angel” and works by Paris Bordone,Andrea Mantegna and Raphael. Then, of course, there were wartime efforts to restore looted works in Germany. The Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP) was the largest of four German depots for stolen works to be taken for restitution.After the MCCP ceased all restitutions in 1951, it sent its records to Washington, D.C., where printing of the 40,000 film negatives was only completed in 2006. They can now be seen in the National Gallery’s department of image collections and include treasures such as Henri Matisse’s “Pianist and Checker Players” and Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine.” “In the Library” offers a fascinating look at World War II through the lens of art, highlighting the extremes gone to by both sides to protect and restore cultural treasures. Its one-of-a-kind artifacts, such as the Monuments Men albums and MCCP photos, make it all the more engrossing. Though many protection and restoration efforts were successful, others failed, and this exhibition offers a rare look at works that have been forever lost to history. Miranda Katz is an editorial assistant for The Washington Diplomat.

August 2014

[ diplomatic spouses ]

Sunny Disposition Real Estate Agent Savors Three Homes: Brazil, Barbados, D.C. by Gail Scott

hey met on the beach in Rio de Janeiro. He was an honorary consul for Barbados and she was a tourist hospitality agent in town. “I had come after work, about four o’clock, just to relax and enjoy the beach, have some quiet. I am not a sun person. He was just leaving,” she remembered.“He came up next to me and put down his towel. I thought, ‘Who is this?’ It was his way to get close. We started talking.” From then on, John Beale rarely left the side of his future wife, Leila Mol Beale. “He came to my office, would find a table and eat his lunch, read the papers. I wondered what he was doing, if he ever worked. I thought we should give him a bill,” she joked. Instead, he put her on notice that she was the one for him.“He was in such a hurry; he asked me right away to marry him. He got it in his head and that’s what he wanted.” Today, John Beale is ambassador of his native Barbados and his wife Leila, a real estate agent, is by his side spreading the word about his picturesque Caribbean island.“I am still Brazilian but my job while we are here is to represent Barbados in the best way that I can. My husband has one passport, I have two and our girls have three since they were born in Arlington Hospital when John was assigned here before and we lived in Fairfax, [Va.].” The couple also has friends in Ohio and Arizona, where the ambassador earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, respectfully.“Now we have friends and family in Miami, Florida, too,” Leila noted,“with several properties there.” John Beale has 26 years of experience in the international banking and project-financing sectors, including stints with the Chase Manhattan Bank network and the International Finance Corp., the private-sector arm of the World Bank. The couple’s three daughters seem to have inherited their worldly outlook. Melissa, 26, finished her graduate studies in international affairs at American University in D.C. Paloma, 24, finished her master’s in international marketing and business at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island and is now is working for Marriott. Chantal, 22, is finishing her MBA at Hult International Business School in Massachusetts. Leila herself has two bachelor’s degrees: one in languages, including English, and the other in the literature of Brazil, Portugal, the United States and Britain. She taught for a while and “then I went to tourism because I have so many languages.” So which language is spoken at home? “When I met my husband I picked up his accent from I am still Brazilian but Barbados, where the English is spoken with a British accent,” Leila told us. “Of my job while we are here course, I speak Portuguese. I like foreign and mannerisms but we all speak is to represent Barbados in accents English at home.” being a real estate agent here, the best way that I can. My sheBesides has a jewelry shop in Barbados, “one husband has one passport, of the nicest on the island,” she said proudly. “We design custom-made pieces I have two and our girls in 18-carat gold. In Brazil, we mine lots of gems: aquamarines, tourmalines, emerhave three. alds, topazes, diamonds, citrines, amethysts and many more.” Leila said she finds real estate “a very — LEILA MOL BEALE competitive business.” wife of Barbadian Ambassador John Beale “You need to carve a niche for yourself and work hard. There is always someone selling and someone buying and, as an agent, you hope you’re lucky enough to get there in time.” Her card says “Hollywood Real Estate” because she works with broker James Hollywood. Leila, in fact, brings a little Hollywood style to D.C. In a city full of suits, where both men and women tend to dress conservatively, Leila often stands out at diplomatic receptions with bright flashes of color and chic outfits that complement her svelte figure. She works hard to stay in shape, jogging and working out seven days a week. She also enjoys dancing and has taught dancing classes:“I’ve always danced — I’m Brazilian.” Leila also plays tennis, golf and loves to swim. She even has a black belt in karate. As far as dieting goes, “I have good eating habits but I don’t count calories. I go for quality rather than quantity,” she said.“I go the natural way, organic.” Watching what she eats is actually a necessity because Leila has serious allergies to most fruits and vegetables, anything containing gluten, the outdoors and even their two cats, Oslo and Louro (she takes allergy shots for her feline friends). Her daughters are also allergic to a variety of foods. For Leila, avoiding a long list of life-threatening allergies is

“

”

August 2014

Ambassador of Barbados John Beale and his wife Leila Beale pose with Secretary of State John Kerry. At left, Leila Beale enjoys a trip to Paris with her three daughters: Paloma, Chantal and Melissa.

particularly difficult in a foreign country where you’re constantly expected to enjoy hors d’oeuvres, buffets and seated dinners on the diplomatic circuit. “I am seriously allergic to most fruits and vegetables and I am glucose-intolerant,” Leila explained, listing the types of foods she cannot eat, including anything with seeds, dairy or flour. Leila though has learned to live with dozens of allergies and created her own unique way of dealing with the limitations. Before she leaves for a reception, she packs dried figs, rice cakes other bite-size treats in her purse to help her make it through the evening’s probably off-limits cuisine. “My favorite kind of restaurant is Japanese. I have sashimi without the soy sauce because it has gluten, no cucumbers but rice and wasabi,” she said. Otherwise, she asks for poultry or fish, lightly grilled in oil, and steamed asparagus or mushrooms. “When I am flying I have to be very careful. One time I ate my meal on the plane and I collapsed. Now, I take my usual figs and rice cakes. I can also eat an apple or a banana.” She can’t even stop at the farmer’s market at the end of her street in Chevy Chase.“Just

See DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES, page 33 The Washington Diplomat Page 29

[ art ]

Secluded Shows Embassies of Argentina, Italy Feature Hidden, Homegrown Gems by Miranda Katz

ome of the most fascinating art in the District is tucked away in the city’s embassies, where rotating exhibitions feature works by artists hailing from the missions’ respective countries. These exhibitions may not always be as accessible as those in the city’s larger public museums — often, viewings require an appointment — but this in turn ensures that the spaces remain blissfully uncrowded, allowing viewers the privacy to fully engage with works they might not otherwise encounter. The embassies of Argentina and Italy each have exhibits this summer highlighting the techniques of two distinct artists: Helga Thomson, from Buenos Aires, and Marco Paoli, from Tuscany. The shows are small, each taking up no more than a single room, yet these intimate spaces demonstrate the breadth of each artist’s work.

‘MARKS AND TRACES’

[ Page 30

Helga Thomson has created a dreamscape in the Embassy of Argentina with complex, mixed-media work that verges on brilliantly nightmarish. The artist, who has exhibited internationally, is familiar with the Washington area, having studied in Maryland and at D.C.’s Corcoran College of Art + Design. Her work spans mediums and subjects and includes etchings, collagraphs, monoprints, digital prints, mixed media and installations.“Marks and Traces” is a retrospective that looks at her expansive talent as it has evolved over the past 45 years. “My artistic guiding thread has always been to create visual metaphors of events affecting our lives and transforming our surroundings,”Thomson writes in her artist’s statement.“The current exhibit shows some of these: the abuse of power; the darkness of our times; saving graces; and the traps in our current virtual world. I hope to lead the viewer into understanding art as a message, a telegram to inspire awareness and a questioning of the different dimensions of our reality.” Visual metaphors, indeed: With provocative titles such as “Transparent Society” and “New Dark Ages,” the pieces promise commentary, if not outright critique, of contemporary society.“Transparent Society,” for example, has the very words of its title written repeatedly against the background. In the center of the piece, divided into three Marks and Traces panels, we see sketched profiles, pieces of through Sept. 5 human faces and murky, indecipherable darkness. The piece seems to question the very Embassy of Argentina meaning of the word “transparent,” and its impli1600 New Hampshire Ave., NW. cations for the individual in such a society. For more information, please call (202) 238-6464 “New Dark Ages,” meanwhile, is a series of or visit http://embassyofargentina.us. four works — this exhibition includes numbers 27, 30, 33 and 34 — each of which contains disturbing and varied imagery, suggesting that these “New Dark Ages” are not singular in nature. In #33, a birdlike creature’s mouth is grotesquely open as it appears to consume a pile of human skulls; #30 depicts an ominous mass of humanoid creatures with somewhat alien faces; faceless soldiers loom over the silhouette of an infant in #27; and #34, perhaps the least immediately understandable of the four, is filled with faces, the largest of which is smeared with what looks like blood. This black-and-white series is notable not only in theme but also in medium: Thomson uses lithography, a form of printmaking, to create images whose intricacy is more akin to detailed sketches, a sign of her talent with the difficult technique. Curator Alfredo Ratinoff notes the unique nature of printmaking in the exhibition material, calling it “a medium that is beautiful and evasive.Through a complex

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PHOTO: MARCO PAOLI / EMBASSY OF ITALY

Marco Paoli’s “Jaisalmer Rajasthan,” above, taken from the photographer’s travels, is on display at the Italian Embassy while Helga Thomson’s “New Dark Ages #33” can be seen at the Argentine Embassy.

and iterative process, the artist develops the image slowly, adjusting the lines and the tones until a rich and refined piece comes out of the printing press.” Where some works in the exhibition are large and vibrant in color, such as “The Tower,” a mixed PHOTO: HELGA THOMSON / EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA media piece depicting a bright orange tower emerging from a muted backdrop of purples and reds, others are small, dark and demanding of scrutiny, such as a series comprising “Escape-Return,” “ShiftCommand,”“Control-Options” and “The Web-Virtual Meeting,” all of which are constructed of digital-wire mesh. Where Thomson does use color, she does so beautifully, creating distinct moods with specific palettes and not hesitating to limit herself to just one or two colors at times. “Marks and Traces” carries viewers through Thomson’s dreamscape, in which dark backgrounds, sharp angles and murky details leave much up to the imagination, prompting reflection on each piece’s many meanings. Most evident throughout the exhibition, however, is her remarkable skill as a printmaker and her ability to convey Marco Paoli Photography not only technical precision, but also the very through Sept. 30 visual metaphors to which she aspires.

‘MARCO PAOLI PHOTOGRAPHY’

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Embassy of Italy 3000 Whitehaven St., NW.

The Italian Embassy’s spotlight on Marco For more information, please call (202) 518-0998 or Paoli is a breathtaking exhibition of photogravisit www.iicwashington.esteri.it/IIC_Washington. phy taken from the artist’s collection “Silenzio” and his upcoming monograph “Ethiopia.” The works create a stunning world atlas of sorts, depicting dozens of locations from the artist’s travels in search of a modern Garden of Eden. Each scene is indeed paradisiacal, with Paoli condensing exquisite beauty into each frame. The first half of the exhibit, contained mostly to the rightmost wall, is a celebra-

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See EMBASSIES, page 33 August 2014

[ theater ]

Glorioumptious ‘BFG’ Big Friendly Giant is Big Giant Fun at Imagination Stage by Lisa Troshinsky

ith its exquisite puppetry, sweet fairytales and, yes, potty humor (this is a play for youngsters after all),“The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)” at Imagination Stage, downtown Bethesda’s sleek home for children’s theater, is sure to entertain the entire family. British author Roald Dahl (who wrote “James and the Giant Peach,”“Matilda” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) wrote the imaginative script, which David Wood adapted for the stage. “The BFG” shows children that not all giants are scary, even outcasts are special, and kids should always follow their dreams. But as heavy-handed as these maxims are, this production makes sure to serve them up with inventiveness, suspenseful plot twists and wit. Set in England, “The BFG” tells the story of how Sophie, an unhappy orphan, gets plucked from her bed by the world’s only benevolent giant and then helps him battle all other giants who gobble up humans. Sophie is the ultimate multitasker, since she does all this while narrating the story. This production is a visual delight. Giant Country, the home of the giants where Sophie gets whisked off to, comes alive through Eric J. Van Wyk’s vibrant, colorful set and large-scale puppets (the BFG himself stands a daunting 12 feet tall). In Van Wyk’s words, the BFG “is more like a sculpture” connected to a backpack worn PHOTOS: MARGOT SCHULMAN by actor James Konicek, the voice of the BFG. At the start of the play, young audience members At left, Hungry Fleshlumpeater (Matthew Schleigh), the might be alarmed by the BFG’s massive shadow (skeleton biggest, baddest giant in Giant Country, mistakes Sophie hands, large beak and elephant ears), but those fears soften (Megan Graves) for a snozzcumber in “The BFG” at when the gentle giant appears with his sloping gait, comfortImagination Stage. Fortunately, Sophie is able to enlist ing demeanor and made-up vocabulary and grammar. “I is the help of the Queen of England (Susan Lynskey, top hungry,” he announces to the world. photo right) and the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). The BFG uses his imposing features for the good of manIn their quest to beat out the evil giants, Sophie kind and is at once adored. His Goliath ears allow him to and the BFG approach the pinch-faced Queen of hear dreams and detect their contents — the good ones he England, portrayed by Susan Lynskey, to persuade blows into children’s bedrooms and the nightmares he detoher to help capture the giants so they won’t eat nates or uses to start fights with nasty giants. With his masmore people. A charmingly droll scene ensues that sive, movable jaw, he confides to Sophie, the unwanted begins with the BFG blowing a nightmare into the urchin, his similar isolation in his quest to save “youngins” queen’s ear while she sleeps to alert her of the from harm’s way. What’s more, we discover that not only is he the only giant who doesn’t eat chil- problem and ends with the evil giants captured and forced to eat snozzcumbers as dren, but the BFG also eats funny-sounding foods like the foul vegetable snozzcumber penance. Co-directors Van Wyk and Kathryn Chase Bryer add frequent amusing touches to (obviously related to the cucumber) and washes it down with frobscottle, an unusual drink infamous for causing noisy, rather exciting whizzpopping (flatulence). When an already lovable script. The evil giants doing the “Hokey Pokey” while gobbling up villagers and the queen identifying herself with her signaSophie protests, her new best friend retorts that if everyture hand-cupped wave are two examples of well-placed one is doing it (passing gas), why not talk about it? The BFG shtick. Perhaps the lighthearted additions are to make up for Sophie, after trying it out, agrees that whizzpopping is Roald Dahl’s controversial reputation for writing darkthrough Aug. 10 glorioumptious. humored, gruesome fiction where innocent children exact Another big appeal of the BFG is that he talks funny Imagination Stage revenge on cruel adults. “Nastiness was payback…. Beastly — something young children do all the time. Or as he 4908 Auburn Avenue Bethesda, Md. people must be punished,” the renowned children’s book puts it, “What I say and what I mean are two different Tickets are $10 and up. author once said. things.”“Am I right or am I left?” he often asks.To which Dahl, though, understood his audience. While adult chapFor information, please call (301) 961-6060 Sophie answers,“You’re right.” erones may cringe as Sophie and the BFG delightfully “break The BFG’s nemeses and Sophie’s new enemies are or visit www.imaginationstage.org. wind” all over the stage, children in attendance squeal with the human-eating giants, who are far less loquacious but delight. In other words, he writes for children, who enjoy his still entertaining. The oversized, hairy, gruff rogues — who spontaneously break out into benign line dancing when excited — resemble fantasies of redemption. One thing is certain. In our technology-driven world where texting starts early and vast cookie monsters. Megan Graves, no stranger to Imagination Stage (she performed in “Inside Out” and children talk and write in acronyms,“The BFG” might just become a household name “The Magic Finger”) portrays the vulnerable but spunky Sophie.Already diminutive in (LOL). stature, she is a comical and precious sight in her flannel pajamas, pigtails and glasses Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat. alongside her overgrown caretaker and partner-in-crime.

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August 2014

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[ opera ball ]

Having a Ball Revelers Soak Up Springtime Partying

s the social season slows down for the summer, the city’s glitzy parade of balls and galas goes silent until the fall. So to tide you over until the parties pick back up, here’s a look back at a pinnacle event of the spring calendar: the Opera Ball. The 2014 Opera Ball was hosted by Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae and his wife Nobuko at their residence on Nebraska Avenue on June 7.The intricately themed annual fundraiser benefits the Washington National Opera and is preceded by dinners at embassies and ambassadorial residences around town. The co-chairs of this year’s ball were Dr. Sachiko Kuno, co-founder of S&R Foundation, which recognizes young talent in the fine arts and science, and Phebe N. Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics, a leading aerospace and defense company based in Virginia. All of the proceeds of the pricey black-tie event benefit WNO’s award-winning artistic, educational and outreach programs. Recent Opera Balls have been hosted by the embassies of Italy (2013), the United Arab Emirates (2012), China (2011), Russia (2010), Germany (2009) and France (2008). Japan last hosted the Opera Ball in 2000. “We are very proud to host the 2014 Opera Ball at our residence,” said Ambassador Sasae. “With WNO’s new production of ‘The Magic Flute’ designed by the Japanese artist Jun Kaneko and with Opera Ball at our home, we look forward to seeing the opera take on a decidedly Japanese flavor next spring.” PHOTOS: KATE OCZYPOK

Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae and his wife Nobuko Sasae

Former State Department Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall, right, and her husband Dr. Robert Marshall

, Former Afghan Ambassador Said Tayeb Jawad and his wife Shamim Jawad

From left, Ellen Boer, Dr. Peter Boer and Bulgarian Ambassador Elena Poptodorova

From left, Nigerian-American lawyer Seun Adebiyi, Kristi Rogers and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)

From left, Hassan Massali, founder and CEO of Home Health Connection Shahin Mafi and Brazilian Ambassador Mauro Vieira

. Founder and CEO of HAIFinance Corporation Samia Farouki, left, and Grace Bender

Philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, left, and David Monn

, Dr. David Reines, left, and his wife NPR’s Nina Totenberg

Former Chief of Protocol Lloyd Hand and his wife jeweler Ann Hand

Page 32

The Washington Diplomat

From left, David Feinberg, Keith Bloom, President of CEO of Xenophon Strategies David Fuscus and government affairs consultant Sue Charlton

August 2014

The Washington Diplomat

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August 2014

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from page 30

Embassies tion of the detail the artist is able to capture in his photographs, which are a blend of landscape and portraiture. His pictures of the Bati market in Ethiopia, for example, seem to capture human subjects almost accidentally, with some people gazing at the camera like deer caught in headlights. Directly adjacent to these is a photograph titled “Rainforest,” depicting a lush tree canopy so precisely that it resembles an oil painting. Whereas the former is filled with human activity and expression, the latter is a quiet meditation on the intricacy of nature. Paoli pays similar attention to detail in nature in “Mandalay,” taken in Myanmar, which shows trees forming an awning over a dirt walkway whose dust seems almost to drift off the picture and into the gallery itself. Architectural detail, too, takes center stage in these photographs. In “Ouarzazate,” taken in Morocco, Paoli captures the rough texture of stone and clay, while in “Jaisalmer Rajasthan,” he portrays intricately patterned tiles that showcase the city beneath in a breathtaking feat of symmetry. The left wall of the exhibition differs noticeably from the first half, in that the photographs are marked not by an amassing of detail and texture, but rather by a strategic use of negative space and light. “Ionian Islands,” the photograph that is also August 2014

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the cover of Paoli’s book “Silenzio,” epitomizes this shift in composition: A single island fills the center of the frame, dark amidst a vast sea that fades almost to white at the picture’s edges. Water is similarly showcased in “Kandalama Lake,” in which dark twigs emerge from white water. Paoli is employing high contrast here, but he does so effectively, creating a stark, visually appealing effect that highlights the beauty of both the light and the dark. Where the frames in the first half of the exhibition are filled with information, every inch some new treasure to be discovered and examined, this second half asks viewers to step back and appreciate the artist’s sense of composition, symmetry and minimalism. In the first set of photographs, Eden takes its form in the chaotic beauty of nature and modern life; in the latter half, Eden is a singular entity, emerging into view through water and mist. Viewers can decide for themselves which version of paradise is more appealing, but the otherworldly quality to Paoli’s work is unquestionable.

Miranda Katz is an editorial assistant for The Washington Diplomat.

Plan Your Entire Weekend. www.washdiplomat.com

from page 29

Diplomatic Spouses the aroma of the fresh corn gives me trouble,” she said. Despite the dangers foods pose for her, Leila says she loves to cook. “I specialize in Mediterranean cuisine, especially Portuguese and Spanish; Brazilian too. I preferably like to cook seafood.” But “I don’t fry and I don’t have any butter in the house,” she said. “We just use Mediterranean rock salt at the table.” In addition to her other dietary restrictions, Leila has banned sugar from their home.“There is no sugar in my house. My husband buys his own sugar for a Caipirinha,” the national drink of Brazil that is made with Cachaça, a powerful distilled spirit made from sugarcane juice. But she preserves other mealtime traditions of her homeland, including late eating: “Since I’m Brazilian, we usually don’t eat until 10 or 11. I don’t go to bed until 2 a.m.” Leila said she calls all three countries she’s lived in — Brazil, Barbados and the United States — home, and appreciates each for its distinct attributes. “In Barbados, you have the sea and the lifestyle that goes with it. I especially like sitting around outside or going for a stroll. There’s always a sea breeze and you can hear the waves. I love the sunshine. Barbados is eternal summer. I especially enjoy jazz on the beach,” she said.

Brazil native Leila Beale is the wife of the ambassador of Barbados, where she has a jewelry store.

“Brazil’s beautiful landscape is so varied: the sea, the mountains and the prairie.You can find everything. I love the people and their culture. There is such a variety of taste and customs that are quite unique — and, of course, Brazil’s special rum.” D.C. also has its charms, Leila said. “A cosmopolitan city like Washington is more than one place — it has cultural diversity. There is such an influence of so many other cultures. It’s a little map of the world so you can experience a little bit of everything. Here, you can travel without leaving home. You can taste foreign lands. I love it.” Gail Scott is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 33

[ film reviews ]

Flowering of Charm Colorful, Complex Parisian Love Story Blossoms in ‘Mood Indigo’ by Ky n. nguyen

[

]

mood indigo he 2014 Marfa Film Festival in l’Écume des Jours Texas celebrated the Fourth of July with a boldly contrarian, non(French and English with subtitles; 94 min.) American programming choice for Landmark’s E Street Cinema its pre-fireworks evening feature, the unconventional French-Belgian ★★★✩✩ production “Mood Indigo” by maverick French filmmaker Michel Gondry Soon enough, however, the polished surface (“The Science of Sleep”). Gondry has made begins to reveal itself as a facade. English-language films based in the United Veteran Italian actress Margherita Buy States such as “The Green Hornet,” but (“Caterina in the Big City”) delivers a stirring, “Mood Indigo” is undoubtedly French. naturalistic performance that subtly portrays the Being a Gondry film, it is somewhat remiconflicting and developing emotions of an aging niscent of his imaginative American indie career woman who finally realizes that her sensation,“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless fierce independence does not provide all the Mind,” made a decade ago. freedom she thinks it does. Buy’s character Photo: DrafthoUse filMs In “Mood Indigo,” Gondry makes an moves through nearly all of the movie’s scenes, emphatic return to his Surrealist roots, audrey tautou, left, and romain Duris find love in an otherworldly Paris in french filmmaker filling the screen with an assured presence that building an engrossing world based on an Michel Gondry’s “mood indigo.” gradually becomes undone. elaborate, interconnected architecture. The screenplay rests on a meandering sto“Mood Indigo” is undoubtedly a visual feast worth partaking, with charming animation ryline that mirrors real life, which is messy and full of loose ends that are not always tied reminiscent of the now-simple special effects invented by the master tricksters of early up neatly. It turns out Irene is an incognito inspector sent on business to secretly rate the cinema, such as French illusionist Georges Méliès. The dreamy charms of “Mood Indigo” world’s finest hotels, pretending to be an affluent guest for several days. However, as her turned out to be a fitting match for the Marfa Film Festival, which took place in the quirky sister Silvia (Fabrizia Sacchi) points out, even though all of Irene’s expenses are paid, she small town of Marfa, set against a sweeping, stark West Texas landscape. only receives a normal worker’s salary.As she is nearly always on the road, she is essentially Co-writers Gondry and Luc Bossi adapted their intricate, pretending to be someone else nearly all of her witty screenplay from French author Boris Vian’s 1947 existence. novel, a cult hit. The story starts out seemingly very sweet, Silvia also worries that Irene is “no spring chickalmost saccharine, but it demonstrates its depth and range en” without a family. In turn, Irene does not see by shifting into a bittersweet melancholy at the end. The Silvia’s rocky relationship with her own husband talented ensemble cast’s vibrant performances bring the and two daughters as an ideal to strive toward. plot’s complex schematics to life. Irene’s only friend Andrea (Stefano Accorsi) turns “Mood Indigo” reunites leading man Romain Duris with out to be her ex-boyfriend — himself now involved the always adorable Audrey Tautou. Their easy-going chemwith another woman who wants to have a baby, istry belies their comfort previously starring together in causing him anxiety to which he turns to Irene for Cédric Klapisch’s trilogy. The leads are well supported by comfort. Moroccan-French comic Gad Elmaleh and SenegaleseWhile staying at a high-end hotel, Irene meets French actor Omar Sy. and is attracted to Kate Sherman (Lesley Manville in In an otherworldly Paris, Colin (Duris), an independently a scene-stealing turn), a charismatic British anthrowealthy bachelor, lives with Nicolas (Sy), a friendly live-in pologist who explains her theory that their surcompanion-chef-attorney. Colin passes his time tinkering rounding luxury environment is actually too priswith his pianocktail, a piano that creates cocktails, and tine to be real life and is therefore artifice. This Photo: MUsiC BoX fi lMs philosophizing with his best pal Chick (Elmaleh). Now that encounter and a subsequent shock lead Irene to Chick has found a new American girlfriend, however, Colin veteran italian actress Margherita Buy delivers a stirring, naturalistic have a revelation and reexamine her life. becomes aware of his loneliness.They attend a party, where performance as an aging career woman in “A Five star life.” Tognazzi’s steady, distant direction feels like cinéColin is set up with Chloé (Tautou) and recovers from an ma vérité, developing an underlying sense of verisiawkward first encounter. Boy meets girl, they make cute and militude that makes us believe in Irene and the A Five star life get married. The honeymoon does not last long though before trouble is people in her life. Ironically, the ultra-ritzy settings of actual fivebrewing — in the form of an unusual illness that causes a flower to grow viaggio sola star hotels do in fact seem almost too perfect to be real. We feel in Chloé’s lungs, prompting Colin to search for a cure. like we are looking at idealized sets not unlike those crafted by (Italian, French and English with Sitting in the more conventional art houses of D.C. and New York, an Hollywood’s finest production designers — a sensation that subtitles; 85 min.; scope) audience member’s satisfaction may depend on his or her tolerance for complements what is happening in the movie. The Avalon Theatre Gondry’s distinctive, peculiar cinematic style. For this writer, the film’s West End Cinema many precise moving parts were mesmerizing, but they did not quite add search for ‘siddharth’ up to be greater than their sum. I was left with a lingering sensation that ★★★★✩ something was missing to tie the finished product together. In fairness to Indian-Canadian writer-director Richie Mehta’s third feature, Gondry, that feeling of incompleteness could be attributed to the 36 minutes slashed in the multiple festival award-winner “Siddharth,” provides an interesting change of pace for American release from its 130-minute running time in France. Mehta, whose recently released English-language feature “I’ll Follow You Down” boasted Hollywood stars such as Gillian Anderson, Haley Joel Osment and Rufus Sewell.A Canadianfinanced, Hindi-language production filmed on location on the grimy streets of India with underrated ‘Five star life’ vivid cinematography,“Siddharth” gets down and dirty exploring the trials and tribulations Italian director and co-writer Maria Sole Tognazzi’s “A Five Star Life” shines as a fascinating of lower-class Indians. portrait of Irene, a chic, beautiful middle-age professional who initially appears to live a grand life as an international jetsetter crisscrossing the globe and staying in five-star hotels. see Film revieWs, page 37

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The Washington Diplomat

]

August 2014

[ film festivals ]

Marfa Mecca Tiny Texas Town Punches Above Its Weight on Screen and Off by Ky N. Nguyen

hen The Washington Diplomat was first invited to the Marfa Film Festival about a month before its July start date, this writer initially declined because of the short notice, a previous engagement, and the time and distance required to travel to the small West Texas town of Marfa. It’s a long three-hour drive from the nearest major airport, either El Paso or Midland, neither of which can be reached via a direct commercial flight from the East Coast. Upon reconsideration, I decided I could not pass up the opportunity to visit fabled Marfa, which punches well above its weight for a tiny town with a population under 2,000.To get a change of scenery from New York City, the late minimalist sculptor Donald Judd moved to Marfa in the early 1970s, setting in motion a chain of events that has turned a once-dying ranching town into a cultural mecca on the international art circuit, with three contemporary art institutions. I was picked up at the El Paso Airport by Marfa Film Festival Director Robin Lambaria, who told me that “2014 feels like a transformative year for cinema. Something positive has definitely shifted out there.” A highlight of this year’s festival was the filmmakers’ dinner, where guests sat on valuable chairs designed by Judd. The gourmet meal took place in the Chinati Foundation, the contemporary art museum Judd founded that displays many of his large-scale installations, which were a treat to view in the special light of the magic hour approaching sunset. The Marfa Film Festival’s intimate scale and easy-going nature distinguishes it from the more frantic, complicated, larger film festivals like Sundance,Tribeca,AFI Docs or Filmfest DC (which unfortunately ran this spring for the last time). Typically, only one film at a time is screened in

Repertory Notes

Photo: Marfa Film Festival

The tiny town of Marfa, Texas, has become a cultural mecca, with three contemporary art institutions and a popular annual film festival.

Marfa, though there were parallel screenings in nearby Alpine. A pre-release screening of Michel Gondry’s surrealist French-language “Mood Indigo” (see full-length review on opposite page) was imaginatively slotted to celebrate the Fourth of July. Afterward, the film schedule took a break for festival-goers to attend an Independence Day fireworks display. Marfa’s dusty small-town look along with the big skies and vast landscapes of West Texas — immortalized on screen in “Giant,”“There Will Be Blood” and “No Country for Old Men” — provide a unique backdrop for the film

festival. That is especially true for nighttime outdoor screenings at the Marfa Golf Course, where films were projected on a screen with the sweeping desert in the background, contributing a distinctive aesthetic to the experience. Watch future D.C. listings for the U.K./U.S. co-production “Buttercup Bill,” a mesmerizing Southern gothic psychosexual thriller character study by directors Émilie Richard-Froozan and Remy Bennett (also lead actress), which made its world premiere outdoors with the cast and crew in attendance. As Bennett noted, everything seems more surreal at the Marfa Film Festival. Other golf course screenings showcased repertory treasures: an opening-night event boasting “The Color of Pomegranates,” Soviet filmmaker Sergei Parajanov’s 1968 visually poetic biopic, accompanied by an original live score performed by the band Coco Rosie; Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s 2014 Oscar winner “The Great Beauty”; and a closing-night screening of 1959’s “Black Orpheus,” to Marcel Camus’s classic translation of the Orpheus myth to Brazil, followed by a samba party. For more information, visit Significant reprises from the much largwww.marfafilmfestival.com. er South by Southwest (SXSW) festival also made an appearance, including Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater’s much-lauded, revolutionary coming-of-age tale “Boyhood” (which recently opened in D.C.) and the Marfa Film Festival opening-night film “Impossible Light” (to be released in D.C.), Jeremy Ambers’s revealing documentary about the making of Bay Lights, the monumental public art installation on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. In a nice homecoming of sorts, Bay Lights LED artist Leo Villareal’s great-great grandfather Luke Brite was one of the founders of the town of Marfa.

learn

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

by Washington Diplomat film reviewer Ky N. Nguyen

Please see International Film Clips on next page for detailed listings available at press time.

American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre The “Alec Guinness Centennial” retrospective (through Sept. 15) reviews the work of the acclaimed British actor. The “Cinema and the Great War” series (through Sept. 17) showcase films about World War I. The “Mario Bava Centennial” retrospective (through Sept. 17) looks back at the Italian director’s range of horror films. The “70mm Spectacular, Part 3” series (Aug. 3-Sept. 2) provides rare chances to see film prints at their highest resolution in 70mm. (301) 495-6700, www.afi.com/silver

Freer Gallery of Art The 19th annual “Made in Hong Kong Film Festival” (through Sun., Aug. 17) concludes its showcase of Cantonese-language films from Hong Kong. The program “Meet the Star: Once Upon a Time in Shanghai” (Sun., Aug. 10, 2 p.m.) follows the screening with a video Q&A with action star Philip Ng.

(202) 357-2700, www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp

(Thu., Aug. 14, 7 p.m.) and “Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq” (Thu., Aug. 28, 7 p.m.), introduced by director Nancy Buirski.

National Gallery of Art

(202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/film-programs.html

The series “Broadcast Culture” screens “La Maison de la radio” (Sun., Aug. 10, 4 p.m.) and “Late at Night - Voices of Ordinary Madness” followed by “Silence Radio” (Sun., Aug. 24, 4 p.m.). Canadian co-director Jennifer Baichwal and artist Edward Burtynsky’s “Watermark” (Aug. 27, 31, 2 p.m.) is derived from Burtynsky’s modified large-format photographs of water. The series “From Vault to Screen: Canyon Cinema 16 mm” (through Aug. 31) concludes offerings of American experimental cinema from the Canyon Cinema Foundation’s archives. (202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/film-programs.html

Master Class: Pina and Tanaquil At the National Archives McGowan Theater, the National Gallery of Art series “Master Class: Pina and Tanaquil” plays Wim Wender’s “Pina”

August 2014

Goethe-Institut The series “Film Captures the Great War” (Aug. 18-Oct. 6) presents a pair of East German films about World War I: “Käthe Kollwitz – Images of a Life” (Mon., Aug. 18, 6:30 p.m.) and “The Lost Angel” (Mon., Aug. 25, 6:30 p.m.). (202) 289-1200, www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/kue/flm/enindex.htm

DCJCC The program “Kazablan - Tu B’Av Romantic Comedy Night” (Tue., Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m.) is a celebration of the Israeli Day of Love with a glass of wine. “A Place In Heaven” (Tue., Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m.) looks back at 40 years of Israel’s history through the prism of father-son relationships. (202) 518-9400, www.washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/film/

The Washington Diplomat Page 35

[ film ]

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

Arabic Return to Homs Directed by Talal Derki (Syria/Germany, 2014, 94 min.)

As the Syrian army acts ever more brutally and their city is transformed into a ghost town, two friends rally a group of brave but inexperienced insurgents determined to help captive civilians get out of the city. Primal and visceral, this extraordinary film dives into the reality of the Syrian resistance with a frenzied immediacy. Angelika Pop-Up Theatre Opens Thu., Aug. 7

Cantonese 3D Naked Ambition Directed by Lee Kung-lok (Hong Kong, 2014, 110 min.)

An overeducated writer of cheap erotic fiction and avid aficionado of Japanese adult videos decides he can make better porn than the pros do. The passivity and outright terror he displays in his very first sex scene make him a hit with female fans, and he inadvertently becomes one of the industry’s biggest stars — but will the pressure get to him? (Cantonese and Japanese) Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Aug. 8, 7 p.m.

A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora’s Box Directed by Jeffrey Lau (Hong Kong, 1995, 87 min.)

In part one of Jeffrey Lau’s two-part odyssey, the Monkey King, who was banished from heaven for trying to eat his master, finds himself reincarnated 500 years later as a clumsy bandit named Joker. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 17, 1 p.m.

A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella Directed by Jeffrey Lau (Hong Kong, 1995, 95 min.)

The second part of this comic-action epic finds the bandit Joker traveling back in time to discover his true identity as the Monkey King, save his immortal lover, and battle the evil King Bull and his army of giant fleas. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 17, 3 p.m.

Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons Directed by Stephen Chow and Derek Kwok (Hong Kong, 2013, 110 min.)

Xuan Zang is a naïve monk who tries, and mostly fails, to defeat demons through nonviolent means, much to the amusement of his rival, the rambunctious and beautiful Duan.

The Blue Max

The Dark Crystal

Directed by Tsui Hark (Hong Kong, 1984, 103 min.)

Directed by John Guillermin (U.K., 1966, 156 min.)

Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz (U.K., 1982, 95 min.)

Kwok-man and Shu-Shu meet in 1937 while sheltering from a Japanese bombing raid on Shanghai, but they are separated by World War II. Ten years later they meet again, but Kwok-man’s ditzy new girlfriend is determined to hang onto her man.

A lowly German infantryman moves up the ranks to lieutenant and becomes a decorated fighter pilot, but his crude ambition rankles the sensibilities of the various “vons” in the privileged officer class.

On a planet ruled by the evil, lizard-like Skeksis, an orphan raised by peace-loving wizards sets out to find the missing shard of the Dark Crystal, which may restore balance to the world.

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Aug. 1, 7 p.m.

The Way We Dance Directed by Adam Wong (Hong Kong, 2013, 110 min.)

A young woman’s daydreams propel her from her family’s humble tofu shop to college, where she joins a hip-hop dance crew and enlivens their routines with an injection of tai chi.

Directed by Richard Linklater (U.S., 2014, 164 min.)

Filmed over an astonishing 12 years with the same cast, this is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason who literally grows up on screen in this nostalgic ode to growing up and parenting.

Czech

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Burning Bush (Hořící keř)

Burma, 1943: Ordered by a Japanese prison camp commandant to construct a bridge, British POW Alec Guinness acquiesces, reasoning that the undertaking will provide a morale boost for his men. But in his obsession with detail and pride in his work, Guinness loses sight of the fact that the bridge will serve a deadly purpose — the transport of Japanese munitions.

Directed by Agnieska Holland (Czech Republic, 2013, 231 min.)

Based on real characters and events, this drama focuses on the personal sacrifice of a Prague history student, Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in protest against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1969, as well as the young female lawyer who became part of his legacy by defending Jan’s family in a trial against the communist government. Avalon Theatre Wed., Aug. 13, 6:45 p.m.

English 37 Days Directed by Justin Hardy (U.K., 2014, 155 min.)

This marathon screening of the three-part BBC miniseries covers the weeks before World War I, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914, to the United Kingdom declaring war on Germany on Aug. 4, 1914. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 10, 4 p.m.

The Agony and the Ecstasy Directed by Carol Reed (U.S./Italy, 1965, 138 min.)

Michelangelo and Pope Julius II clash during the painting of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 16, 11:05 a.m., Sun., Aug. 17, 4 p.m.

Around the World in 80 Days Directed by Michael Anderson (U.S., 1956, 197 min.)

Explorer Phileas Fogg (David Niven) and his valet Passepartout set out on a roundthe-world adventure in hopes of collecting on a £20,000 bet.

Atlantic City

Page 36

Boyhood

AFI Silver Theatre Through Aug. 28

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 10, 2 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Aug. 29 to Sept. 4

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 3, 2 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 31, 1 p.m.

Ma Yongzhen is a stunningly gifted martial artist from the sticks who moves to Shanghai, where he finds work with an ambitious crime lord who sees in Ma a way to take down a rival gang.

August 2014

Shanghai Blues

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Aug. 15, 7 p.m. Directed by Wong Ching Po (Hong Kong, 2014, 96 min.)

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

Directed by Louis Malle (Canada/France, 1980, 104 min.)

For aging gangster Lou Pascal, Atlantic City never lost its glory, despite its current seedy state. He takes a shine to his pretty neighbor and becomes drawn in to a new racket. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 2, 3 p.m.

Directed by Alec Guinness

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 16, 2 p.m., Tue., Aug. 19, 6:30 p.m.

Calvary Directed by John Michael McDonagh (Ireland/U.K., 2014, 101 min.)

The good-natured Father James receives a confession from a man who says he was molested by members of the priesthood during childhood, and, as revenge, is going to arbitrarily kill a good person: Father James himself. Theater TBA Opens Fri., Aug. 8

Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. Directed by Raoul Walsh (U.K., 1951, 117 min.)

Horatio and his 38-gun frigate HMS Lydia head to Central America to fend off the Spanish (allies of Britain’s enemy France), but when he arrives, the Spanish have switched sides, leaving Horatio at odds. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug. 22, 5:15 p.m., Sat., Aug. 23, 11 a.m.

The Captain’s Paradise Directed by Anthony Kimmins (U.K., 1953, 94 min.)

Facing a firing squad, Gibraltar ferryboat captain Henry St. James (Alec Guinness) reminisces about how good he had it when he was living large in blessed transatlantic bigamy.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Fri. Aug. 22, 11:59 p.m., Sat., Aug. 23, 11:59 p.m.

Gallipoli Directed by Peter Weir (Australia, 1981, 110 min.)

Australian director Peter Weir and star Mel Gibson rose to international prominence with this chronicle of the hard-fought and controversial Gallipoli campaign in Turkey, where troops from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps suffered enormous casualties fighting alongside British, French and Irish forces against the Ottoman army. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 23, 11:05 a.m., Wed., Aug. 27, 4:45 p.m.

Hamlet Directed by Kenneth Branagh (U.K./U.S., 1996, 257 min.)

In the Kingdom of Denmark, Prince Hamlet is instructed to exact revenge on his uncle Claudius, who murdered his own brother, Hamlet’s father, and then took the throne. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 3, 4 p.m.

Heroes for Sale Directed by William A. Wellman (U.S., 1933, 76 min.)

One of the most thrilling pre-Code melodramas, this film follows working-class hero Richard Barthelmess as he survives serious injury in WWI, overcomes a morphine addiction, faces unemployment and finds love. AFI Silver Theatre Aug. 10 to 14

Hitler: The Last Ten Days Directed by Ennio De Concini (U.K./Italy, 1973, 108 min.)

Guinness’ portrayal of the Führer during his grim final days in the bunker is instead an understated portrait of ordinary madness. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 23, 4:30 p.m., Wed., Aug. 27, 9:20 p.m.

Love is Strange Directed by Ira Sachs (Macedonia, 2014, 94 min.)

After Ben and George get married, George is fired from his teaching post, forcing them to stay with friends separately while they sell their place and look for cheaper housing — a situation that weighs heavily on all involved. Angelika Mosaic Theater Opens Fri., Aug. 29

cardinal standing up to persecution in an unnamed eastern European Communist regime. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug. 8, 5:15 p.m., Mon., Aug. 11, 7 p.m.

The Quiller Memorandum Directed by Michael Anderson (U.K./U.S., 1966, 104 min.)

Phoenix, a cell of former Nazis in West Berlin, has assassinated two British agents and young agent Quiller is tasked by his handler to root out the Reich diehards. AFI Silver Theatre Aug. 24 to 27

Royal Cousins at War: Parts 1 and 2 Directed by Richard Sanders (U.K., 2014, 120 min.)

At the outbreak of World War I, three cousins reigned over Europe’s greatest powers: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and King George V of Britain. This two-part BBC miniseries looks at the role played by the three monarchs and their relationships with each other in the outbreak of war, arguing that it is far greater than historians have traditionally believed. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 24, 7 p.m.

Ryan’s Daughter Directed by David Lean (U.K., 1970, 206 min.)

A British-occupied village in 1916 Ireland is scandalized when word gets out that the much-younger wife of staid schoolteacher Robert Mitchum is carrying on an affair with a British officer Christopher Jones. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug. 29, 12 p.m.

Tunes of Glory Directed by Ronald Neame (U.S./U.K., 1060, 106 min.)

Having served as acting commander of his regiment during WWII, clever Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) has come up in the world from his lowborn beginnings — but conflict erupts when a bureaucratic snob takes command in his beloved army. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 3, 11:30 a.m., Tue., Aug. 5, 7:30 p.m.

French Le Chef Directed by Daniel Cohen (France, 2014, 84 min.)

Alexandre Lagarde is the king of the kitchen at Cargo Lagarde, but his position at the top is threatened when the scheming CEO plots to have the restaurant’s Michelin star rating lowered in order to make room for a chef specializing in molecular gastronomy.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 9, 6:15 p.m., Wed., Aug. 13, 7 p.m.

Meatballs Directed by Ivan Reitman (Canada, 1979, 94 min.)

Angelika Pop-Up Theatre

Cromwell

This film follows the antics of head counselor Tripper Harrison and the counselors-intraining at Camp North Star.

Chinese Puzzle (Casse-tête chinois)

Directed by Ken Hughes (U.S./U.K., 1970, 139 min.)

King Charles I (Alec Guinness) matches wits and eventually armies with upstart Puritan Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell in Ken Hughes’s lavishly appointed, slightly onesided account of the English Civil War. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 24, 4:20 p.m., Tue., Aug. 26, 7 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 10, 9:45 p.m., Mon., Aug. 11, 9 p.m.

The Prisoner Directed by Peter Glenville (U.K., 1955, 91 min.)

Alec Guinness reprises his role as a stalwart

Directed by Cédric Klapisch (France, 2013, 117 min.)

A 40-year-old father’s life is complicated when the mother of his two children moves to New York. Since he can’t bear them growing up far away from him, he decides to move there as well. Avalon Theatre Wed., Aug. 20, 8 p.m.

The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) Directed by François Truffaut (France, 1962, 105 min.)

in the classic ménage à trois, best friends henri serre (the french “Jeem”) and oskar Werner (the austrian “Jules”) alternate in the affections of Jeanne Moreau before, during and after World War i (french, english and German). AFI Silver Theatre Aug. 15 to 21

mood indigo Directed by Michel Gondry (France/Belgium, 2013, 94 min.)

Bachelor Colin meets Chloé at a party and, before they know it, they’re dancing to Duke ellington and plunging headfirst into a romance. But their whirlwind courtship is tested when an unusual illness plagues Chloe and a flower begins to grow in her lungs. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Aug. 1

oss 117: cairo, nest of spies. (oss 117: le caire, nid d’espions) Directed by Michel Hazanavicius (France, 2008, 99 min.)

it’s 1955, franco-egyptian relations are tense, and the situation calls for a top-level operative. enter france’s answer to James Bond: secret agent hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, codename oss 117, who is sent to Cairo to investigate the death of his close friend and fellow agent. International Spy Museum Wed., Aug. 13, 6:30 p.m.

Wooden crosses (les crois des bois) Directed by Raymond Bernard (France, 1932, 110 min.)

raymond Bernard made one of the definitive World War i movies in 1932 with this portrait of a regiment made up of men from all walks of life united by a fraternité born on the front. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 2, 12:45 p.m.

German comradeship (Kameradshaft) Directed by G.W. Pabst (Germany/France, 1931, 93 min.)

even though the Great War is over, tensions run high in the towns along the frenchGerman border. But after a mining disaster on the french side traps some 600 french miners below ground, German miners volunteer to aid the french effort to rescue the men. AFI Silver Theatre Aug. 31 to Sept. 3

Käthe Kollwitz – images of a life (Käthe Kollwitz – Bilder eines lebens) Directed by Ralf Kirsten (Germany, 1986, 96 min.)

Käthe Kollwitz was a well-established artist in Germany and abroad when her youngest son volunteered to join the German army in WWi and was killed two weeks later. this painful tragedy changed Kollwitz’s life and art forever. Goethe-Institut Mon., Aug. 18, 6:30 p.m.

the lost Angel (der verlorene engel) Directed by Ralf Kirsten (Germany, 1966, 59 min.)

in 1937, when the expressionist German sculptor ernst Barlach learned that the Nazis had dragged his famous memorial for WWi victims out of the Güstrow cathedral, he started reflecting on his experiences in WWi and

August 2014

on his works, which the Nazis had either confiscated or denounced as “degenerate.” Goethe-Institut Mon., Aug. 25, 6:30 p.m.

Hebrew Kazablan Directed by Menahem Golan (Israel, 1973, 95 min.)

this israeli “West side story” unfolds when Kazablan, a dark sephardic Jew, takes time out from hassling the poverty-stricken tenants of the Jaffa ghetto to court the fairskinned rachel, an ashkenazi Jew. Washington DCJCC Tue., Aug. 12, 7:30 p.m.

Hindi siddharth Directed by Richie Mehta (Canada/India, 2014, 97 min.)

Mehendra is a chain-wallah, eking out a living fixing zippers on the bustling streets of New Delhi, who slowly begins to suspect that his 12-year-old son was kidnapped by child traffickers. With few resources and no connections, Mehendra desperately travels to Punjab and Mumbai with the hope that whoever took his son might return him unharmed. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Aug. 15

Italian 5 dolls for an August moon (5 bambole per la luna d’agosto) Directed by Mario Bava (Italy, 1970, 80 min.)

a wealthy industrialist invites a group of investors to his private island to discuss a top-secret new venture, but the greedy group’s scheming and backstabbing derails the meeting. after a series of mysterious killings, however, they must band together lest they all perish one by one. afi silver theatre Sat., Aug. 16, 10 p.m.

A Bay of Blood aka twitch of the death nerve (reazione a catena aka ecologia del delitto) Directed by Mario Bava (Italy, 1971, 84 min.)

looking for a love shack, four lusty teens break into a seaside cottage, not realizing that they’ve intruded not only upon a murderous squabble among a family of decadent aristocrats, but also a murder plot cooked up by greedy real-estate speculators. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 23, 9 p.m.

A Five star life (viaggio sola) Directed by Maria Sole Tognazzi (Italy, 2013, 85 min.)

stylish and independent, irene is a single career woman in her forties with a job to die for as a luxury hotel critic, but when irene’s small support network is fractured, she struggles to balance a glamorous career with the growing desire for something more. Avalon Theatre Opens Fri., Aug. 1

Baron Blood (Gil orrori del castello di norimberga) Directed by Mario Bava (Italy/Germany, 1972, 100 min.)

Baron otto von Kleist aka “Baron Blood” is resurrected after a spell is unwittingly read by his modern-day ancestor and an architect hired to turn the family castle into an upscale hotel. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 24, 9:20 p.m.

danger: diabolik (diabolik) Directed by Mario Bava (Italy/France, 1968, 105 min.)

an investigator and gangster pursue a super-thief who runs around stealing jewels, murdering innocent people, and being a nuisance to the government of a generic european country. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug. 15, 9:30 p.m., Tue., Aug 19, 9:40 p.m.

after being ordered on a series of suicide missions to attack the superior austrian forces on the Balkan front, italian troops mutiny against their reckless and tyrannical officers. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 17, 11 a.m., Wed., Aug. 20, 7:20 p.m.

Planet of the vampires (terrore nello spazio)

Directed by Mario Monicelli (Italy/France, 1959, 137 min.)

two slackers become friends, united in their efforts to avoid duty as much as possible. But with the austrian army approaching, their mettle will be tested nonetheless. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 16, 11 a.m., Mon., Aug. 18, 7 p.m.

on a deep space mission from earth, the crew of two spaceships become possessed by a mysterious force, first causing them to slaughter one another, and then reanimating their corpses. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 30, 10:30 p.m.

the handsome owner of an upscale bridal shop who suffers from crippling impotence that has left him unable to consummate his marriage begins luring women to his shop, dressing them in his wedding gowns, and then murdering them. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug. 15, 9:30 p.m., Tue., Aug 19, 9:40 p.m.

set in singapore during the 1997 asian financial crisis, this film chronicles the dayto-day drama of the lim family: troublesome grade-schooler Jiale and his overstressed parents, as well as the filipino immigrant they hire as a live-in nanny. Angelika Pop-Up Theatre

Silent the Big Parade Directed by King Vidor (U.S., 1925, 141 min.)

an idle rich boy joins the U.s. army and is sent to france to fight in World War i, where he befriends two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a french girl.

Kill, Baby, Kill (operazione paura) Directed by Mario Bava (Italy, 1966, 85 min.)

a transylvanian village suffers from a spate of strange murders, the victims found with silver coins embedded in their hearts. is the killer the town witch? the mysterious baroness? or the ghost of the baroness’ murdered daughter? AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug 1, 12 a.m. midnight, Sat., Aug 2, 12 a.m. midnight

J’accuse Directed by Abel Gance (France, 1919, 166 min.)

an arranged marriage between a young woman and a much older man separates her from her true love, a poet, while the cataclysm of the Great War turns their love triangle topsy-turvy.

Tagalog

Directed by Anthony Chen (Singapore, 2013, 99 min.)

Directed by Mario Bava (Italy/Spain, 1970, 88 min.)

the loving matriarch of a Bavarian family watches as her four boys grow up and go off to war — three in the Kaiser’s army, but one having immigrated to america, enlisting in the allied expeditionary force.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 9, 1:15 p.m.

Mandarin ilo ilo

hatchet for the honeymoon aka Blood Bribes (il rosso segno della follia)

Directed by John Ford (U.S., 1928, 100 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 3, 2 p.m.

Directed by Mario Bava (Italy/Spain, 1965, 86 min.)

the Great War (la grande guerra)

Four sons

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 23, 2 p.m.

norte, the end of history (norte, hangganan ng kasaysayan) Directed by Lav Diaz (Philippines, 2014, 250 min.)

after an embittered law student commits a brutal double murder, a family man takes the fall and is forced into a harsh prison sentence, while a mother and her two children wander the countryside looking for some kind of redemption. West End Cinema Opens Fri., Aug. 8

Turkish the long Way home (eve dönüs: sarikamis 1915) Directed by Alphan Eseli (Turkey, 2013, 115 min.)

the Four horsemen of the Apocalypse Directed by Rex Ingram (U.S., 1921, 132 min.)

many Wars Ago (uomino contro)

the spoiled scion of a wealthy international family enlists in the french army after a mystical vision of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, prophesied in the Book of revelation, convinces him to do his duty.

Directed by Francesco Rosi (Italy/Yugoslavia, 1970, 100 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 17, 1:15 p.m.

at the Battle of sarikamis in 1915, some 90,000 ottoman troops froze to death after an ill-advised offensive against the russian army. seven shattered survivors, soldier and civilian alike, find themselves huddled around a fire in an armenian village — desperate to survive but unable to trust one another. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Aug. 25, 7 p.m., Thu., Aug. 28, 7 p.m.

from page 34

Film reviews “Siddharth” also proves to be a gripping saga about a father’s epic search for his missing son, which Mehta based significantly on the true story of a real-life man’s quest-inprogress to find his own boy. Despite its harrowing subject matter, “Siddharth” avoids becoming overly melodramatic, restraining a temptation common to both Hollywood and Bollywood moviemaking. Mehta also gets credit for not resorting to pat, neat plot conclusions that would be gratuPhoto: ZeitGeist filMs itously crowd-pleasing, instead sticking to the complicated tannishtha Chatterjee, left, and rajesh tailang portray parents realities of life. On the chaotic streets of New Delhi, chain-wallah whose son has gone missing in “siddharth.” Mahendra (in a tour-de-force performance by Rajesh Suman (finely played by Tannishtha Tailang) repairs zippers, strugChatterjee) eventually reckon Siddharth gling to muster a living wage. siddharth has been kidnapped by human traffickNeeding more income to support (Hindi with subtitles; 97 min.) ers. Mahendra does not get any real his family, he puts his 12-year-old Landmark’s E Street Cinema assistance from the police, in part son Siddharth (child actor Irfan because he cannot even provide a picKhan) on the bus to Punjab, an Opens Fri., Aug. 15 ture of Siddharth or recall the boy’s adjacent state about 200 miles ★★★★✩ exact age. Scrambling to borrow money, away, to work for a distant relative Mahendra makes his way to Punjab and at a temporary factory gig for a Mumbai in a desperate search to recover his boy. month. After Siddharth fails to return home for the Diwali holiday, the Hindu festival of lights, Mahendra and his wife Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 37

[ around town ]

EVENTS LISTING **Admission is free unless otherwise noted. All information on event venues can be found on The Diplomat Web site at www.washdiplomat. com. Times and locations are subject to change. Unless listed, please call venue for specific event times and hours of operation.

Chuck Close to monoprints by contemporaries Richard Estes, Ventura Salimbeni, Thomas Frye, Adolphe Appian, Reinhard Hilker and Keiko Hara. American University Katzen Arts Center Through Aug. 17

ART Through Aug. 1

American States in Yuan Xikun’s Eyes: Preservation and Transformation

In this collaboration between China and OAS member countries, Yuan Xikun uses cross-disciplinary art and modern context to energize trans-Pacific dialogue. Organization of American States Sculpture Garden Through Aug. 2

Sandra Pani: My Intangible Self

Visions from the Forests: The Art of Liberia and Sierra Leone

The exhibition features some 70 artworks from the collection of William Siegmann (1943–2011) — a former curator of African art at the Brooklyn Museum who lived and worked in Liberia for more than two decades — that survey the traditional arts of Liberia and Sierra Leone. National Museum of African Art Through Aug. 24

Africa ReViewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT Through Sept. 5

Marks and Traces: Helga Thomson Retrospective

The work of Buenos Aires-born artist Helga Thomson, who studied in Argentina, Europe and the United States, encompasses etchings, collagraphs, monoprints, digital prints, mixed media and installations that are rich in color and content, reflecting a life story with deep symbolic references. Embassy of Argentina Through Sept. 7

Small Guide to Homeownership: Photography by Alejandro Cartagena of Mexico

This selection from Alejandro Cartagena’s “Mexicana Suburbia” series considers the interdependence of humans and landscape in the face of urban expansion.

Through Aug. 17

“Africa ReViewed” showcases the African photography of celebrated Life magazine photographer Eliot Elisofon and explores the intricate relationships between his photographic archives and art collection at the National Museum of African Art. Elisofon’s images had a huge impact in framing America’s perceptions of Africa and its diverse cultures during the 20th century.

An American in London: Whistler and the Thames

Aug. 27 to Oct. 1

Freer Gallery of Art

ApocalyptiCAT: Woodcuts and Papercuts by Franca Bartholomäi

Through Sept. 14

Celebrated Mexican artist Sandra Pani explores the body, its structure and its relationship with natural phenomena, using superimposed veilings that both invite deciphering and impede a definitive reading, opening up a variety of interpretations. Mexican Cultural Institute

American artist James McNeill Whistler arrived in London in 1859 and discovered in its neighborhoods and inhabitants an inexhaustible source of aesthetic inspiration. His images of the city created over the next two decades represent one of his most successful assaults on the contemporary art establishment. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through Aug. 17

Continental Drift

This survey of Washington artist Judy Byron invites the viewer to consider the visual and auditory environment that informs identity, acknowledging the artist’s drifting of visual influences among three specific countries: Brazil, China and Ghana. American University Katzen Arts Center Through Aug. 17

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund: Second Act

“Second Act” features paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Richard Cleaver, Emilie Brzezinski, Fred Folsom and other artists who received grants totaling $670,000 over the last 13 years from the Bader Fund. American University Katzen Arts Center Through Aug. 17

An Opening of the Field: Jess, Robert Duncan, and Their Circle

Jess Collins and his partner, the poet Robert Duncan, merged their personal and artistic lives by exploring their mutual interest in cultural mythologies, transformative narrative and the appropriation of images. American University Katzen Arts Center Through Aug. 17

Passionate Collectors: The Washington Print Club at 50

With almost 150 prints selected from Washington collections, this exhibit reveals a diversity of techniques — from relief printing by celebrated masters Durer, van Dyck, Carracci, Pissarro, Picasso and

Page 38

National Museum of African Art

Franca Bartholomäi’s woodcuts and papercuts are unique within German contemporary art. No other artist combines the tradition and iconography of woodcut with romantic and psychedelic motifs from the 19th and 20th centuries to form images with such expressive power. Goethe-Institut Through Aug. 29

Investing in Women and Girls: A Photography exhibit of winners of the Colors of Life photo contest

This exhibition of winning entries of the Colors of Life International Photo Contest, organized in conjunction with the World Bank Art Program, features international documentary and street photographers tackling issues such as women’s rights and the international movement toward a more just and humane world.

Art Museum of the Americas Through Sept. 14

Bountiful Waters: Aquatic Life in Japanese Art

This exhibition features a selection of prints, paintings, illustrated books and ceramics that depict the Japanese appreciation for the beauty and variety of fish and other species.

Meret Oppenheim: Tender Friendships

More than 20 artworks and archival papers by Swiss surrealist Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) explore friendship as a source of support and inspiration, as seen through two 18th-century poets, Bettina von Brentano and Karoline von Günderode. National Museum of Women in the Arts

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence

A community of women living and working together in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, has developed a new form of bead art — using black fabric as a canvas and different colored Czech glass beads as the medium of expression — to empower local women. The Anacostia Community Museum Through Sept. 26

Through Aug. 31

The loss of cultural patrimony in times of war is often a sad byproduct of military action, and until the modern era was rarely documented. But the National Gallery of Art Library contains thousands of photographic images that do just that: chronicle the loss and preservation of countless works of art and architecture that were in peril during armed conflict.

Following an acclaimed four-year world tour, the Phillips’s renowned collection of American masterworks returns to the museum to tell the story of American art from the late 19th-century to the mid-20th century, when it became a significant global force after World War II. The Phillips Collection Through Sept. 2

Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed

This exhibition journeys through civilizations from 1250 B.C. to 1450, learning through the ceremonial gold, silver, ceramics and textiles created by the complex Andean civilizations in ancient Peru that rival anything made by the ancient Egyptians. National Geographic Museum

Photo: National Gallery of Art

Anthony van Dyck’s 1625 “Portrait of a Woman” survived the fighting in World War II and now sits in the Louvre in Paris — see story on page 28.

Through Sept. 21

Art Museum of the Americas F Street Gallery

Made in the USA: American Masters from The Phillips Collection, 1850–1970

August 2014

In the Library: Preservation and Loss during World War II

National Gallery of Art Through Sept. 28

American Metal: The Art of Albert Paley

Spanning a remarkable 50-year career, this first-ever retrospective surveys the art of Albert Paley, one of the world’s most distinguished metalsmiths. Corcoran Gallery of Art Through Sept. 28

Mark Tribe: Plein Air

Nine large-scale images explore the

aesthetics and representation of aerial views in landscape photography through the virtual lens of computer simulation. Corcoran Gallery of Art Through Sept. 30

Marco Paoli Photography

Marco Paoli presents large black-and-white photographs from his collection “Silenzio (Silence)” and from his forthcoming monograph on Ethiopia, using his travels as metaphors for an artistic exploration around the concepts of silence, memory, emotion and inner journey (viewing appointments must be made by emailing iicwashington@esteri.it). Embassy of Italy Through Oct. 5

Degas/Cassatt

Although Edgar Degas’s influence upon Mary Cassatt has long been acknowledged, the extent to which Cassatt shaped Degas’s artistic production and prepared the way for his warm reception by American audiences is fully examined in this exhibition for the first time. National Gallery of Art Through Oct. 5

Femininity Beyond Archetypes: Photography by Natalia Arias of Colombia

This exhibit showcases Natalia Arias’ series “Venus,” which initiates a conversation on her vision of Venus and references the idea

of the goddess throughout history, and the series “Taboo,” which demonstrates that female bodies are charged with concepts prohibited by society, denying the inherent beauty in biological functions. Art Museum of the Americas Through Oct. 12

Total Art: Contemporary Video

The first museum exhibition to focus on women’s impact on the field of video art highlights the inventive processes and compelling subjects that sustain women artists’ position at the forefront of video. National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Oct. 26

Symbols of Honor: Heraldry and Family History in Shakespeare’s England

This show — the largest and most comprehensive of its kind ever mounted — explores the birth of genealogy in its modern form by examining the colorful world of heralds and their rivals, which competed to profit from the craze for coats of arms that seized England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Folger Shakespeare Library Through Nov. 14

The First Woman Graphic Novelist: Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová

Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová (1894–1980) was a Czech graphic artist whose 1929 novel “Zmého dětství (From My Childhood)” is

The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

widely acknowledged to be the first wordless novel created by a woman.

Fri., Aug. 8, 7:30 p.m.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

the austrian Cultural forum presents pianist Mark Damisch in concert playing a range of classic compositions by Bartok, Beethoven and schubert for friendship and peace. admission is free but registration is required at http://markdamisch.eventbrite.com.

Through Dec. 31

cartier: marjorie merriweather Post’s dazzling Gems

one of Cartier’s most important and enduring clients, Marjorie Merriweather Post commissioned some of the most exquisite jewelry sets, fashionable accessories and finely crafted jeweled frames of any american collector.

Pan Jazz legend: Ken ‘Professor’ Philmore

titian’s danaë from the capodimonte museum, naples

Through Jan. 4

one nation With news for All

ethnic newspapers, radio, television and online publications have helped millions of immigrants to america become part of their new country while preserving their ties to their native lands. this exhibit tells the dramatic story of how immigrants and minorities used the power of the press to fight for their rights and shape the american experience. Newseum Through Jan. 11

salvatore scarpitta: traveler

a fascinating and singular figure in postwar art, salvatore scarpitta (1919–2007) created a powerful body of work that ranges from nonobjective abstraction to radical realism. Hirshhorn Museum

DANCE Tue., Aug. 5, 6 p.m.

silk road dance company

the award-winning silk road Dance Company presents traditional and contemporary women’s dances from the Middle east, Central asia, and the Caucasus. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Tue., Aug. 26

Gina ling chinese dance chamber

founded in 2009 and based in howard County, Maryland, the Gina ling Chinese Dance Chamber is committed to promoting Chinese classical, folk and minority nationality dance and performing arts. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

DISCUSSIONS Sat., Aug. 2, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

the World of olive oil

for thousands of years, a liquid gold called olive oil has been produced, traded and cherished. With the widening recognition of its role in a healthy diet and annual global production reaching 3 million tons, the making of olive oil is branching beyond the traditional places, and investments are pouring into new operations just about anywhere in the world olives can grow. tickets are $150, including Mediterranean box lunch and olive-oil tasting; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. S. Dillon Ripley Center Mon., Aug. 4, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Al-tayyib salih symposium

sudanese author al-tayyib salih (19292009), whose literary works put him in the forefront of modern arabic literature, is the subject of an international symposium that

August 2014

Aug. 16 to Sept. 21

shining city / molly

Sat., Aug. 9, 8 p.m.

Through Dec. 31

National Gallery of Art

Signature Theatre

Embassy of Austria

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

one of the most sensual paintings of the italian renaissance, titian’s “Danaë” from the Capodimonte Museum in Naples will be on view to celebrate the commencement of italy’s presidency of the Council of the european Union.

past and present into beautiful, poignant truths about life, love and the creation of art. Please call for ticket information.

Pianist mark damisch

Photo: MarCo Paoli / eMBassY of italY

“Ionian Islands,” the cover of Marco Paoli’s photography book “Silenzio,” is on display this month at the Italian Embassy — see story on page 30.

Ken Philmore, one of the premier steel-pan soloists in the world, was born in the republic of trinidad and tobago, the birthplace of the “steel pan,” the only musical instrument invented in the 20th century. tickets are $25 to $50. Howard Theatre Fri., Aug. 15, 7 p.m.

will be followed that evening by a musical and theatrical program focusing on al-tayyib salih’s work and sudanese traditional culture. Library of Congress Mon., Aug. 4, 7 p.m.

colin Powell: on life and leadership few americans leaders know better than Colin Powell the axiom that war is a continuation of politics by other means. this evening, Powell, one of america’s most admired public figures, talks about what he has learned along the way of being a soldier on the ground in vietnam to the country’s first black secretary of state. tickets are $45; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. Lisner Auditorium Wed., Aug. 6, 6:45 p.m.

cuba today: history, heritage, and modern life Cuba has long held a special place in the american imagination, but the 52-year-old trade embargo makes it difficult, if not impossible, for us to travel to the island. still, many americans wonder how Cubans live today. how does the sense of their own history influence their choices? Join long-time Cuba researcher Michael atwood Mason as he discusses the many ways that history and heritage influence contemporary Cuba. tickets are $42; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. S. Dillon Ripley Center Mon., Aug. 11, 6:45 p.m.

Panama: crossroads of the World

Panama, bridging two continents and site of the only canal that connects two oceans, draws tourists with its tropical jungles, rich cultural heritage, and swashbuckling history. in this illustrated tour led by biodiversity specialist Bob szaro, explore the dazzle and variety of Panama City on the Pacific coast and the intriguing indian villages along Gatun lake. tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. Location on ticket Tue., Aug. 12, 6:45 p.m.

holy icons of medieval russia: reawakening to a spiritual Past

Thu., Aug. 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

inside the World of diplomacy

quraishi

scena theater presents two overlapping irish productions: “shining City,” by modern master Conor McPherson, and the world premiere of “Molly,” a play about the mistress of irish playwright J.M synge by George o’Brien. tickets are $20 to $40. Atlas Performing Arts Center Through Aug. 17

disney’s the lion King

Winner of six tonys including Best Musical, “Disney’s the lion King” returns with direction and costumes by Julie taymor and a score by elton John and tim rice that brings the african Pridelands to life. tickets are $40 to $190.

World-class afghan-american rubab player Quraishi offers a performance of original Members of the U.s. foreign service are Kennedy Center Opera House the face of america in countries around the compositions that carry a deep dedication to his native country’s artistic tradition globe. from ambassadors to embassy Through Aug. 17 and its national instrument. staffers, their posts are demanding, imporstupid F###king Bird Kennedy Center Millennium Stage tant and often difficult ones. how does an aspiring young director rampages someone enter the world of diplomacy — against the art created by his mother’s and what do they find there? take a rare THEATER NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad iswhile free aofnubile mistakes spelling and generation younginactress opportunity to get answers from men and content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the hollywood final proof. wrestles with an aging star women whose careers are spent in diploThrough Aug. 3 for the affections of a renowned novelist matic Washington as you go inside the the two tempest incost this to irreverent remix of Chekhov’s The first faxed changes will be made at no the advertiser, subsequent changes american foreign service association magical “the seagull.” Please for ticket approved. willshakespeare’s be billed at aglorious rate oftale $75ofper faxed alteration. Signed ads arecall considered and the U.s. Department of state. creatures, love and forgiveness on a farinformation. tickets are $135; for information, visit away islandPlease is sure check to captivate in our Woollyany Mammoth Theatre this ad carefully. Mark changes to your ad. www.smithsonianassociates.org. outdoor space, the root family stage. American Foreign Service Association

Please call forsign ticketand information. Aug. 19 to 31needs changes If the ad is correct fax to: (301) 949-0065 Olney Shakespeare Theatre the Winter’s tale Sun., Aug. 17, 6:45 p.m. The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552the shakespeare theatre Company’s “free Global Warming We can live With: Aug. 5 to Sept. 21 for all,” a beloved Washington tradition,

chili Peppers are hot

sunday in the Park with George Approved __________________________________________________________ brings back its imaginative and critically from the south african piri-piri to the signature launches its 25th anniversary acclaimed 2013 production of “the Winter’s Changes ___________________________________________________________ Mexican habanero to the vietnamese black season with stephen sondheim and J tale,” a story of two generations rising ___________________________________________________________________ dragon to the Jamaican scotch Bonnet, ames lapine’s Pulitzer Prize- winning above torment and obsession in the austere spicy peppers are a window into a play inspired by the painting “a sunday court at sicilia and the bright sea shore country’s climate, culture and cuisine. afternoon on the island of la Grande of Bohemia. Chili expert robb Walsh explains scientific Jatte” by Georges seurat that merges Sidney Harman Hall concepts like scoville units that measure pungency and the historic migratory patterns that helped spread peppers over the globe. tickets are $45, including tasting; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. Location on ticket

MUSIC Sun., Aug. 3, 8 p.m.

cultura Profetica

Cultura Profética, a Puerto rican reggae roots ban formed in 1996, stands out as one of the most influential bands in latin america, touring extensively in the biggest venues of the continent. tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.

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Howard Theatre Tue., Aug. 5, 8 p.m.

omar souleyman

omar souleyman is a syrian artist who changed the vibe of weddings throughout the Middle east with his shaabi street sound, bringing it to the West through his notorious late-night festival slots. tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

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Howard Theatre

scott ruby, associate curator of russian and eastern european art at hillwood Museum, examines how the appreciation and understanding of medieval icons developed, as well as some of the aspects of medieval iconography that differentiate it from the work of later centuries. tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

Aug. 6 and 7, 8 p.m.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Howard Theatre

Beres hammond and dJ inferno

Beres hammond is considered Jamaica’s greatest practicing singer/songwriter whose recent appearance at Jamaica’s premier music festival was unanimously hailed as the finest of the event, captivating an audience of nearly 20,000. tickets are $39.50 in advance and $45 at the door.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 39

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

Azerbaijan Republic Day

Phillips Gala

Photo: Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan

From left, Phillips Collection Director Dorothy Kosinski, art curator and collector Linda Lichtenberg Kaplan, fashion designer Reed Krakoff and gala chair Mariella Trager attend the annual Phillips Collection Gala to support America’s first museum of modern art.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, left, and fashion designer Reed Krakoff were among more than 400 high-profile guests who attend the Phillips Gala, which included dinner among the masterworks in the 92-year-old museum, followed by an after-party at Anderson House.

Members of Congress join Ambassador of Azerbaijan Elin Suleymanov in cutting the cake on stage at Azerbaijan’s Republic Day at a reception held at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. French Ambassador François Delattre, now France’s representative to the U.N., and his wife and Sophie Delattre joined more than a dozen ambassadors at the Phillips Collection Gala.

Photo: Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Ambassador of Azerbaijan Elin Suleymanov welcomes guests to the celebration of Azerbaijan’s Republic Day held at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium. Dancers from the Silk Road Dance Company performed at the Embassy of Azerbaijan’s Republic Day celebration at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.

photo: gail scott

After dining among the Phillips Collection’s masterworks by artists such as Renoir, Rothko and van Gogh, guests enjoyed dancing and dessert at the Phillips Gala afterparty at Anderson House.

Former CIA and NSA Chief Michael Hayden and his wife Jeanine Hayden attend the annual Phillips Collection Gala to support America’s first museum of modern art.

Ambassador of Monaco Maguy Maccario Doyle, left, and wife of the Italian ambassador Laura Denise Bisogniero attend the Phillips Collection Gala, which raised $800,000 for the museum’s awardwinning education programs that reach 48,000 children, teachers and families each year.

From left, wife of the ambassador of Azerbaijan Lala Abdurahimova; wife of the former Georgian ambassador Yana Fremer; wife of the Ukrainian ambassador Natalia Motsyk; and former Ambassador of Georgia Temuri Yakobashvili, now with the German Marshall Fund, attend Azerbaijan’s Republic Day reception.

Photo: Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan

4Elaborately dressed servers offer up a creatively designed table of hors d’oeuvres at Azerbaijan’s festive Republic Day reception. Photo: Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan

photo: gail scott

Guests enjoy Azerbaijan’s Republic Day celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.

Host of “This is America” Dennis Wholey, left, and Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche attend the Phillips Collection Gala, which celebrated the exhibit “Made in the U.S.A,” the most comprehensive presentation of the museum’s American art treasures in nearly 40 years.

Former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and his wife Rachel Goslins, executive director of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, attend the annual Phillips Collection Gala.

Luxembourg National Day

Senior Vice President at Albright Stonebridge Group Nicole Y. LambHale, left, and John Hale III, director the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at the Department of Energy, attend the annual Phillips Collection Gala.

Photo: Carol Bradford

3Recently appointed Ambassador of Indonesia Budi Bowoleksono, left, joins Ambassador of Laos Seng Soukhathivong and his wife Somdy at Luxembourg’s National Day reception.

The Embassy of Azerbaijan recently hosted a fundraiser to benefit The Hospitality and Information Service for Diplomats (THIS). Participants included, from left: Mde Hind Al Qatari, wife of Qatari Embassy defense attaché; Tehmina Khan; Christine Switzer; and Mde Nana Yao, wife of former Côte d’Ivoire Ambassador Yao Charles Koffi.

3Ambassador of Denmark Peter Taksøe-Jensen, right, and his partner Gitte Wallin Pedersen of the International Monetary Fund attend Luxembourg’s National Day reception.

photos: Gail scott

Ambassador of Luxembourg Jean-Louis Wolzfeld, right, and his embassy’s deputy chief of mission, Olivier Baldauff, left, welcome Ambassador of Ukraine Olexander Motsyk to Luxembourg’s National Day reception.

Page 40

4From left, Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson, Ambassador of Bulgaria Elena Poptodorova, Leila Beale, Ambassador of Barbados John Beale and Queenie Thompson attend Luxembourg’s National Day reception.

4Leila Mol Beale, left, wife of the ambassador of Barbados, joins Laura Denise Bisogniero, wife of the Italian ambassador, at Luxembourg’s National Day reception.

The Washington Diplomat

August 2014

Meridian Global Leadership Awards

Photo: Joyce Boghosian

From left, Janet Blanchard and Meridian International Center Chairman James Blanchard; former Airbus Chairman and CEO Sean O’Keefe and his wife Laura McCarthy O’Keefe; Gigi Gabr and Egyptian businessman Shafik Gabr; and Gwen Holliday and Meridian President and CEO Stuart Holliday attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards, which honored Gabr and O’Keefe.

From left, Ambassador of the Czech Republic Petr Gandalovic, Jiri Weigl of the Institut Václava Klause and former Czech President Václav Klaus attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards.

Former President and Ambassador of Colombia Andrés Pastrana Arango, left, and Leo A. Daly III attend the Global Leadership Awards hosted by the Meridian International Center at the Four Seasons.

Photo: Joyce Boghosian

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), left, congratulates Sean O’Keefe, former chairman and CEO of Airbus Group, for receiving the Meridian Corporate Leader Award.

Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, now with DLA Piper, left, and his son Sam LaHood attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards, which Ray LaHood chaired.

Former FBI and CIA Director William Webster, left, and Timothy “Bo” Kemper, executive director of the Robertson Foundation for Government, attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards.

Photo: Joyce Boghosian

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), left, and Judge Jeanine Ferris Pirro enjoy dinner at the Four Seasons as part of the Meridian Global Leadership Awards.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the Egyptian Embassy Yasser Elnaggar, left, and Khalifa Adham, deputy editor of the economic section of Al-Ahram newspaper, attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards.

photo: Gail scott

Singaporean Book Talk Singaporean author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, left, joins Ambassador of Singapore Ashok Kumar Mirpuri at the embassy to talk about her new book, “Singapore Noir,” part of a series of books that chronicle the darker side of fascinating places around the world.

From left, Egyptian Embassy Counselor Helmy Elborai and Alison Elborai, Marie Tandaq and Jim Morhard of Morhard & Associates attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards at the Four Seasons.

photo: Gail scott

Finnish Peacemaker From left, Gouri Mirpuri, wife of the Singaporean ambassador; Shahdan Gabr; Judge Jeanine Ferris Pirro; and Gigi Gabr, wife of Egyptian businessman and honoree Shafik Gabr, attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards.

From left, Kim and Alec Chester and Michael Petruzzello, president of Qorvis MSLGROUP, attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards hosted by the Meridian International Center, a nonprofit that promotes international understanding through professional exchange, educational and arts programs.

From left, Cathleen Pearl, president and CEO of the National Defense University Foundation, James Blanchard, Meridian chairman and former governor of Michigan, and his wife Janet Blanchard attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards, which honored the positive impact individuals and corporate leaders can have in their communities and the world.

From left, Egyptian diplomat Hani Nagi, Ahmed Kamal and Mohamed Nassar attend the Meridian Global Leadership Awards, where Shafik Gabr, chairman and managing director of the ARTOC Group for Investment and Development, was given the Global Citizen Award.

Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde, left, welcomes former Finnish President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Martti Ahtisaari for a reception in his honor at the Finnish Embassy following the 2014 Ahtisaari Symposium at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Victims of Communism 3Ambassador of Austria and event co-host Hans Peter Manz, left, welcomes Ambassador of Ukraine Olexander Motsyk to the Library of Congress luncheon to remember the victims of communism.

photo: Gail scott Photo: Larry Luxner

Photo: Larry Luxner

Lee Edwards, chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, right, presents the 2014 Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom to Myroslav Marynovych, vicerector of Kiev’s Ukrainian Catholic University.

August 2014

Former Czech President Václav Klaus denounces Russia’s recent aggression in Ukraine at a ceremony hosted by the Victims of Communism Memorial, whose statue on Massachusetts Avenue is a 10-foot-high bronze replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue erected during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China.

Photo: Larry Luxner

More than 200 spectators attend an event commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square massacre at a ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial, which was followed by a “Triumph of Liberty” luncheon at the Library of Congress hosted by the Hungarian and Austrian embassies.

4Ambassador of Hungary György Szapáry speaks at a “Triumph of Liberty” luncheon at the Library of Congress organized by the Austrian and Hungarian embassies and sponsored by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

photo: Gail scott

The Washington Diplomat Page 41

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

Italian Republic Day

Institute for Education

Titan’s ‘Danaë’

August 2014

photo: embassy of italy photo: Institute for education

To mark the Italian presidency of the European Union, the Capodimonte Museum in Naples loaned Titian’s “Danaë” (1544-45) to the National Gallery of Art. On hand for the opening were, from left: Franklin W. Kelly, deputy director of the National Gallery of Art; Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero; Massimiliano Cattozzi, executive vice president of Intesa Sanpaolo; Kelly Keiderling, U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs; Maria Serena Mormone, curator of the Museo di Capodimonte; and David Brown, curator of Italian paintings at the National Gallery.

From left, John Paul Farmer, director of technology and civic innovation at Microsoft; Jorge Moreira da Silva, minister of environment, spatial planning and energy for Portugal; coach Kathy Kemper, founder of the Institute for Education (IFE); and Ambassador of Portugal Nuno Brito, headline an IFE INFO panel on “Cutting-Edge Energy Innovation” held at the Portuguese Residence.

Photos: Joanne Ke

From left, Madeleine Lyrvall, wife of the Swedish ambassador, Jan Smith Donaldson, and former FBI and CIA Director William Webster attend a panel on energy innovation hosted by the Portuguese Embassy and Institute for Education.

From left, Gouri Mirpuri, wife of the ambassador of Singapore; Deputy Chief of Mission of the Portuguese Embassy Rosa Batoréu; Laura Perez, wife of the Mexican ambassador; Christine Sager, wife of the Swiss ambassador; and Dr. Joanna Breyer, wife of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, competed at an annual tournament hosted by coach Kathy Kemper at Congressional Country Club. Batoréu won, edging out Breyer with 17 games.

photo: embassy of italy

From left, Italian Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin, Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero and the former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Emma Bonino attend the Republic Day reception held at the Italian Embassy.

International Student House photo: embassy of italy

photos: gail scott

From left, former Assistant Chief of Protocol Lawrence Dunham, now senior associate with Protocol Partners, joins International Student House residents Kimberly David of American University and Ehsan Hosaini of George Washington University at a spring garden party hosted by the International Student House.

From left, Catarina Caldeira; Tom Hassenboehler, chief counsel for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; and Paul Nagle, chief counsel for the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, attend a panel on energy innovation hosted by the Portuguese Embassy and Institute for Education.

Photos: George Zaidan, IFE Fellow

The graduating class of White House Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) gather with their families and leaders of the Institute for Education (IFE) for a celebration at Congressional Country Club. IFE founder and CEO coach Kathy Kemper and John Paul Farmer, director of technology and civic innovation at Microsoft, decorated each PIF with a medal commemorating their tour of duty in Washington.

White House Presidential Innovation Fellow Geoff Mulligan, left, joins Ambassador of Singapore Ashok Kumar Mirpuri at the Congressional Country Club to celebrate the White House program that brings the principles, values and practices of the innovation economy into government.

Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero and his wife Laura Denise, left, welcome Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae to the Italian Republic Day celebration, which was dedicated this year to Expo Milano 2015, the world’s fair that will take place in Milan whose theme is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”

Japanese BBQ

photo: Gail scott

Kiyomi Buker, social secretary of the Japanese Embassy, left, and Sevtap Eyyubi, social secretary of the Turkish Embassy, attend a spring garden party hosted by the International Student House, a residential nonprofit that houses international students and scholars in D.C.

Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae and his wife Nobuko Sasae welcomes guests to their residence for Japan’s annual barbeque for neighbors, members of the Hill, the media and the local Japanese-American community.

photos: gail scott

Kiyomi Buker, social secretary of the Japanese Embassy, center, joins Georgetown University student Lindsey Fountain, left, and Georgetown grad Kevin Leahy for a barbeque held at the Japanese Residence.

Ambassador of Russia Sergey Kislyak brought his granddaughter Polina, who lives in Russia and is visiting for the summer, to Japan’s annual barbeque.

A Lamborghini welcomes guests to the Italian Embassy.

Fiji at Alice Deal

Haitian Documentary From left, Linda Harper, former director of Cultural Tourism DC, Director of Development for the International Student House (ISH) Judy Singer and ISH Board member Deborah Dunham attend the ISH spring garden party; Harper and Dunham will also co-chair the group’s 2014 Global Leadership Awards Dinner.

Page 42

photos: gail scott

Queenie Thompson, wife of the ambassador of Fiji, second from right, hands out colorful leis to students at Alice Deal Middle School.

Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson talks about his island homeland with students at Alice Deal Middle School as part of the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Embassy Adoption Program, which partners fifth- and sixth-grade D.C. students with local embassies that teach them about their respective nations.

Njambi, head of the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Embassy Adoption Program, enjoys the Fijian festivities along with the students at Alice Deal Middle School.

The Washington Diplomat

Ambassador of Haiti Paul Altidor, left, joins director Claudine Oriol for a screening and discussion of her documentary, “Resilient Hearts,” inspired by the catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, at the AFI Silver Theatre as part of the 2014 DC Caribbean Film Festival.

August 2014

Diplomacy

Washington, D.C.

Congress Goads China by Renaming Embassy Street After Jailed Dissident by Miranda Katz

International Place, the street in front of the Chinese Embassy, could be renamed in honor of a jailed Chinese dissident, a diplomatic snub aimed at Beijing’s human rights record.

ome fall, Chinese diplomats in Washington, D.C., may well go to work at 1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza: On July 14, the D.C. Council unanimously passed a resolution to rename a portion of International Place, NW, on which the Embassy of China sits, after a jailed Chinese dissident. The approval came on the heels of a similar vote by the House Appropriations Committee to honor Liu outside the embassy of the very government that imprisons him. Not surprisingly, Beijing is not amused with the diplomatic tweak, calling it “meaningless sensationalism.” Since 2009, Liu Xiaobo has been serving an 11-year sentence for subversion of state power for his role in Charter 08, a manifesto demanding human rights, free speech and an end to one-party rule in China. A writer, professor and activist, Liu won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 (news that China attempted to censor). While he serves his prison sentence in Liaoning province, his wife, Liu Xia, is under house arrest, though she has been convicted of no crime. In 2011, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo and house arrest of Liu Xia violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Those in favor of renaming International Place, which is a federally owned street, are hopeful the public snub might pressure China into freeing Liu and his wife and improving its human rights record. Spearheaded by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Dissident Squared, a project of the group Advancing Human Rights, the idea gained bipartisan traction in Congress and passed the House Appropriations Committee in June, just in time for the 25th anniversary of China’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. “By renaming the street in front of the Chinese Embassy after Dr. Liu, we would send a clear and powerful message that the United States remains vigilant and resolute in its commitment to safeguard human rights around the globe,” a bipartisan congressional group, including Wolf, wrote in a letter to the D.C. Council in May. “This modest effort would undoubtedly give hope to the Chinese people who continue to yearn for basic human rights and representative democracy and would remind their oppressors that they are in fact on the wrong side of history.” The effort is not without precedent: In 1984, the Senate passed a measure that changed the address of the Soviet Union’s embassy in D.C. to No. 1 Andrei Sakharov Plaza, in a nod to the Soviet dissident. Within two years, Sakharov and his wife were able to live freely in Moscow. In addition, New York City took a stand against apartheid by renaming a street corner by the South African consulate after Nelson and Winnie Mandela. “This approach definitely works,” Skip Winitsky, director of programs at Advancing Human Rights, told The Washington Diplomat. Renaming the street Liu Xiaobo Plaza, Winitsky and his colleagues believe, would not be a mere gesture, but rather a call for action. “In the grand scheme of things, it’s hard to get people

August 2014

Photo: Miranda Katz

“

By renaming the street in front of the Chinese Embassy after Dr. Liu, we would send a clear and powerful message that the United States remains vigilant and resolute in its commitment to safeguard human rights around the globe.

”

— Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.)

to pay attention to these individual victims of human rights abuses, but very often one individual story does get people’s attention,” Winitsky said. “Our organization exists to call attention to all human rights abuses in closed societies. If we can get people to focus on one particular story, people will get interested in the larger story, and people in the free world will start pressuring their governments to do something more about human rights.” The House measure was tacked on as an amendment to the State Department’s 2015 budget. However, the State Department itself has remained mum, declining to comment on pending legislation. “Publicly, we’re not taking a position on it at this time,” said State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf at a June 26 press briefing. Similarly, the Obama administration has been cool to the proposal. Although largely symbolic, renaming the street would be a pretty blatant slap in the face to America’s third-largest trading partner. Meanwhile,the Chinese Embassy has publicly denounced the potential renaming as a “smear” and a “farce.”

“Some people from the United States have used socalled human rights and the Liu Xiaobo case to engage in this meaningless sensationalism,” said Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying in a daily news briefing. A few people agree: Foreign Policy’s Isaac Stone Fish called the entire thing “a distraction” that’s seen as “Western meddling” by the Chinese. In a July 7 article, he points out that the U.S.-China relationship “encompasses much more than just human rights” and that renaming the street sets in awkward precedent for countries such as Saudi Arabia that have equally dubious human rights records. Above all, he argues that shaming China won’t work — Washington should focus instead on concrete measures such as greater human rights funding.“Beijing’s behavior toward Liu is absurd. But U.S. policy has never been to fight absurdity with absurdity,” Fish wrote. Advancing Human Rights and other groups, however, say the only thing that’s absurd is China’s misplaced outrage whenever Washington criticizes its treatment of political dissidents. “When the resolution was first passed, the Chinese government said, ‘We find this disrespectful,’” Winitsky said. “Well, we find it disrespectful to ignore the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Another spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, quoted by the Washington Post, asked how the United States would react if the situation was reversed. “We believe that the U.S. people will not like to see a U.S. street be named after a criminal.” Winitsky, though, doesn’t give any weight to possible Chinese retaliation. “They’re certainly free to do that,” he said. “I don’t think they will, because … any reasonable observer is going to say that the United States is certainly way ahead of the People’s Republic of China as far as preserving, protecting, defending human rights.”

Miranda Katz is an editorial assistant for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 43

from page 21

Keystone And despite what the opposition says,Keystone backers claim it is an environmentally sound choice. “If you are an environmentalist, you would be advocating for the Keystone pipeline,” Merrifield said, because transporting the oil through railway is less energy efficient, the Canadian parliamentarian and others pointed out.According to the State Department, using rail to transport the oil as opposed to the proposed pipelines would result in 28 percent to 42 percent more greenhouse gas emissions. Recent high-profile accidents involving trains carrying oil have also cast a light on the dangers of shipping oil via rail. All of these claims, however, have been ferociously disputed by the groups who oppose the expanded pipelines. They argue that Keystone will do little to make America energy independent while harming the climate and putting critical natural resources at risk. Nebraskan farmers, some of the most vocal critics of the project, worry that if (and perhaps inevitably when) the pipes leak, the spill would destroy the Ogallala Aquifer. One of the largest aquifers in America, the Ogallala is a primary water source to farmers and ranchers in Nebraska and neighboring states. “Keystone XL will pollute our water, pollute our air, and tarnish our American values by prioritizing Big Oil over American citizens,” Randy Thompson, a Nebraskan rancher who has become the poster child for the opposition, wrote in an open letter to the Senate in the spring. Major environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists oppose Keystone on the grounds that it will exacerbate climate change (by drilling for tar sands, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels around) and distracts from what should be the real focus: clean energy solutions. “Keystone XL is critical to the Canadian oil industry’s extreme pursuit to reach 6 million barrels per day production of destructive tar sands by 2030,” Sierra Club writes in an issue memo,“a level that would effectively destroy any chance of limiting the increase in global temperature to 2° C, the maximum increase recommended by scientists to avoid disastrous climate disruptions.” The State Department has said that oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta generates about 17 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional crude. At the same time, it issued a report in January concluding that Keystone XL would not significantly contribute to carbon pollution. It also said that even without the pipeline, the Alberta forests would still be mined for carbon-heavy oil, which could then be transported by rail. Similarly, TransCanada, the company behind Keystone, warns that if Washington doesn’t approve the project, the oil will simply go elsewhere. Indeed, Canadian companies are already trying to build new pipelines as an alternative to Keystone. Green groups, however, argue that there are no viable substitutes to Keystone because other proposed pipelines are deeply unpopular with local communities and rail transport is prohibitively expensive. Keystone is the most direct, cost-effective way to ship the landlocked oil from Canada to the U.S. and without it, TransCanada won’t have any other means of developing its oil sands and that in and of itself will help slow down climate change. TransCanada disputes that claim as a specious attempt to kill the project. Critics also point out that the number of jobs TransCanada claims Keystone will create is vastly inflated and that most of the benefits are on the Canadian side.

Page 44

Photo: Daniel Cima

Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer, center, and Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), left, talk about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline at a discussion hosted by the Canadian American Business Council.

TransCanada has funded a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign and pubic charm offensive to counter those claims and present Keystone as a job-boosting, bipartisan strategy to wean America off unfriendly oil. Green groups, meanwhile, have launched their own counterattack, with star-studded support from celebrities such as Daryl Hannah and Danny Glover. Despite those costly and glitzy efforts, the Sen ate has yet to clear a bill approving the project. As the debate over the pipeline drags on into its sixth year — TransCanada initially proposed the extension in 2008 — some argue that the amount of attention it has received is dispropor-

tionate compared to the impact it will have on the environment. In a story titled “The Keystone Fight Is a Huge Environmentalist Mistake,” Jonathan Chait argues that the Keystone battle only amounts to a symbolic fight against global warming.When cap-andtrade legislation collapsed, Chait suggests, activists used Keystone as a vehicle to keep the fight against climate change energized. “Keystone is at best marginally relevant to the cause of stopping global warming,” Chait writes, citing a Congressional Research Service survey that found the pipeline would add the equivalent of anywhere between 0.06 percent to 0.3 percent

from page 5

Burns Yet Obama scaled back the European missile defense program, which was first proposed by Bush, precisely to better counter what he called a more imminent threat from Iran’s short-range missiles (though Russian objections most likely factored in the decision as well). Moreover, Putin blames the expansion of NATO along Russia’s borders for prompting it to act in Ukraine to prevent further NATO encroachment in its backyard. Obama must now tread carefully to strengthen the security bloc, reassure nervous European allies and respond to Russian aggression in Ukraine without instigating a larger fight with Moscow that no one wants. But Obama has gotten flak for being too careful, with Republicans denouncing his foreign policy agenda as rudderless and reactionary. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a frequent Obama critic, argues that this perceived weakness has fueled conflicts around the world because countries know they can get away with defying the U.S. Yet governments defying Washington to act in their own interests isn’t exactly new.And it’s unclear what American military might or diplomatic cajoling could have realistically done to avert crises in Iraq, which couldn’t get its act together despite billions of dollars from the U.S.; or Syria, where the “good guys” battling the president are Islamist fanatics intent on attacking the West; or Ukraine, a geostrategic

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

A poster of the World Trade Center hangs on a wall at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan during President Obama’s visit in May. From Afghanistan’s disputed election to the fighting in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria and Israel, Obama has been hit with a barrage of foreign policy crises in recent months.

red line for Russia but not for the West. Given the toll of two wars and the complexity of these crises, the prevailing mood among Americans has been to stay out of other countries’ messes — and that includes Ukraine and the Middle East. But Burns, who has tackled some of the thorniest challenges in the world, says problems abroad inevitably hit home. “We’re seeing a more isolationist mood,” he said. “We’re certainly seeing in the tea party a ‘come home America’ spirit and we’re certainly seeing that in the extreme left of the Democratic Party. I think that is a recipe for failure in foreign policy.We live in a highly integrated global economy. People as far away as terrorists out-

The Washington Diplomat

of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions per year. And with the United States becoming a major global energy producer in its own right, other environmental battles — such as the health effects of fracking for shale gas and the Environmental Protection Agency flexing its regulatory muscles to curb greenhouse gas emissions — may eventually sideline the Keystone opprobrium. That, in part, is why politicians gathered at the CABC energy summit remained optimistic about eventually winning the war over Keystone. There are two reasons to believe that chances will be higher after the November elections: Republicans could take control of the Senate (the Republicanled House has already approved Keystone legislation) and Democrats will no longer be worried about how it affects their campaign prospects. Pressed to guess when Congress might actually see a Keystone bill clear both chambers, Hoeven, the North Dakota senator, said it’s only a matter of time. “When we have 60 [votes to prevent a Senate filibuster], we will attach it to something [Obama] won’t veto,” Hoeven said. That will happen “not too long after the first of the year.” For his part, Ambassador Doer was bullish on Keystone’s eventual passage, predicting a verdict by the spring of 2015 — when Obama “uses science” to make his decision.

Eliza Krigman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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side of Kandahar, Afghanistan, assaulted Washington and New York on Sept. 11, 2001. You can’t let problems fester until they get that severe or acute.The U.S. is the strongest global leader. We have to work globally every day to defend our country and to advance our interests in every continent.” Problems, though, have become acute in places like the Middle East and Russia, but interestingly, Burns told us that America should pay very close attention to China — and even suggested that parents enroll their children in Mandarin language lessons. “I tell my students that the most important country for our future of America is China in every way,” he said.“We are going to be China’s most important partner and China will be ours on global trade and investment, on climate change, humanitarian interventions and a whole host of issues about how the world works, from crime to terrorism. We’re going to have to be intensely engaged with China as a partner to try to work on these problems together.That’s one half of the equation. “But, we’re also going to be the largest competitor of China as a military power in Asia,” he added. “We have an important alliance system in Asia that we’ve been running since the end of the Second World War. We’re the predominant military power and China is beginning to challenge that. The most difficult challenge for us is how we balance that equation. How can we be a country’s most important partner and their strongest competitor at the same time?”

Michael Coleman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

August 2014

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august 2014

HOLIDAyS AFGhAnistAn aug. 19: independence Day AndorrA aug. 15: assumptio AustriA aug. 15: assumption BAhAmAs aug. 1: emancipation Day BArBAdos aug. 1: emancipation Day aug. 1: Kadooment Day BelGium aug. 15: assumption Benin aug. 1: National Day aug. 15: assumption BoliviA aug. 6: independence Day BurKinA FAso aug. 5: independence Day aug. 15: assumption Burundi aug. 15: assumption cAmeroon aug. 15: assumption cAPe verde aug. 15: assumption

centrAl AFricAn rePuBlic aug. 13: Proclamation of independence aug. 15: assumption chAd aug. 11: independence Day chile aug. 15: assumption colomBiA aug. 7: Battle of Boyacá aug. 15: assumption conGo, rePuBlic oF aug. 15: independence Day costA ricA aug. 15: assumption/ Mother’s Day cÔte d’ivoire aug. 7: National Day aug. 15: assumption croAtiA aug. 5: victory and homeland thanksgiving Day aug. 15: assumption cyPrus aug. 15: assumption

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dominicAn rePuBlic aug. 16: restoration Day

GAmBiA aug. 15: assumption

eAst timor aug. 15: assumption aug. 30: Constitution Day

GeorGiA aug. 28: assumption (Mariamoba)

ecuAdor aug. 10: independence Day

Greece aug. 15: assumption

equAtoriAl GuineA aug. 3: armed forces Day aug. 15: Constitution Day estoniA aug. 20: Day of restoration of independence FrAnce aug. 15: assumption GABon aug. 15: assumption aug. 17: National Day

indiA aug. 15: independence Day indonesiA aug. 17: independence Day

GrenAdA aug. 1: emancipation Day GuAtemAlA aug. 15: assumption GuyAnA aug. 4: freedom Day hAiti aug. 15: assumption

sri lanka Prasad Kariyawasam became ambassador of sri lanka to the United states on July 14, having previ-

August 2014

JAmAicA aug. 1: emancipation Day aug. 6: independence Day KAZAKhstAn aug. 30: Constitution Day KyrGyZstAn aug. 31: independence Day

icelAnd aug. 6: Commerce Day

leBAnon aug. 15: assumption

ously served as high commissioner for sri lanka to india with concurrent accreditation as ambassador to Bhutan and afghanistan since 2009. from 1998 to 2001, he served as the deputy high commissioner for sri lanka in india, holding the rank of an ambassador. from 2001 to 2004, he was sri lanka’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, while also holding the positions of consul general to switzerland, personal representative of the head of state of sri lanka to the G-15, as well as ambassaAmbassador dor to the holy see in the vatican. from 2005 to 2008, Prasad ambassador Kariyawasam Kariyawasam served as sri lanka’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York and was concurrently accredited as the high commissioner of sri lanka to Jamaica and the Bahamas, as well as ambassador to Chile and Colombia. ambassador Kariyawasam, who joined the sri lankan foreign service in 1981, has also held diplomatic posts in Geneva (1983-87), riyadh (1989-92) and Washington, D.C. (1995-98). at the Ministry of foreign affairs, he held assignments in the Divisions of United Nations and Non-aligned Movement (NaM), Political affairs, administration, economic affairs and as the special assistant to the foreign secretary. he was also director of the south asia Division, director-general of the economic affairs Division and the official spokesperson of the Ministry of foreign affairs as the director of publicity. ambassador Kariyawasam is married and has a daughter and a son.

Peru aug. 30: st. rosa of lima

mAcedoniA aug. 2: National Day (ilinden)

PolAnd aug. 15: the ascension of st. Mary

mAdAGAscAr aug. 15: assumption

PortuGAl aug. 15: assumption

mAlAysiA aug. 31: National Day

rWAndA aug. 15: assumption

thAilAnd aug. 12: hM the Queen’s Birthday

mAltA aug. 15: assumption

st. Kitts and nevis aug. 4: august Monday

toGo aug. 15: assumption

moldovA aug. 27: independence Day aug. 31: National language Day

st. luciA aug. 1: emancipation Day

trinidAd and toBAGo aug. 1: emancipation Day aug. 31: independence Day

morocco aug. 14: Commemoration of oued eddahab (reunification Day) aug. 20: revolution of the King and the People aug. 21: King’s Birthday nAmiBiA aug. 26: heroes’ Day niGer aug. 3: independence Day

liBeriA aug. 24: National flag Day

PAKistAn aug. 14: independence Day

liechtenstein aug. 15: National holiday (assumption)

PAnAmA aug. 15: the founding of Panama City

lithuAniA aug. 15: assumption (Zoline)

PArAGuAy aug. 15: founding of asunción

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st. vincent and the GrenAdines aug. 4: august Monday

tAnZAniA aug. 8: farmers’ Day (Nane Nane)

tunisiA aug. 13: Women’s Day

seneGAl aug. 15: assumption

turKey aug. 30: victory Day

seychelles aug. 15: assumption

uKrAine aug. 24: independence Day

sinGAPore aug. 9: National Day slovAKiA aug. 29: slovak National Uprising Day sloveniA aug. 15: assumption south AFricA aug. 9: National Women’s Day south KoreA aug. 15: liberation Day sPAin aug. 15: ascension of the virgin

united KinGdom aug. 25: summer Bank holiday uruGuAy aug. 25: independence Day veneZuelA aug. 15: assumption ZAmBiA aug. 4: farmers’ Day ZimBABWe aug. 11: heroes’ Day aug. 12: Defense forces’ National Day

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tigran sargsyan became ambassador of armenia to the United states on July 14, having previously served as the country’s prime minister since 2008. from 1998 to 2008, ambassador sargsyan was twice appointed to serve as Ambassador chairman of the republic of tigran sargsyan armenia Central Bank. he was also director of the transition society research institute from 1995 to 2008. Prior to that, he was chairman of the armenian Bankers’ association (1995-98) and a lecturer in banking management at Yerevan state University (1993-94). in addition, ambassador sargsyan was an MP in the armenian National assembly and chairman of its standing commission on financial-crediting and fiscal affairs, as well as a member of the Presidium of the supreme Council (1990-95). he was also chairman of the republican Council of Young specialists and scientists (198893) and head of the international relations Unit and senior researcher in the r&D institute of economy and Planning (1987-90). ambassador sargsyan graduated from the National economy, Planning and economy Department in Yerevan, the financialeconomic institute after N.a. voznesensky in the soviet Union, as well as the international institute of law and the institute of economic Development in D.C.

itAly aug. 15: assumption

hunGAry aug. 20: National holiday

APPOINTMENTS Armenia

irelAnd aug. 4: Bank holiday

sWitZerlAnd aug. 1: National Day aug. 15: assumption

luXemBourG aug. 15: assumption

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