August 2018 by The Washington Diplomat

Medical Special Section INSIDE

Medical

A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 8

Nations across Africa are experiencing dramatic, historic change that stands in stark contrast to the clichéd portrayal of a continent hobbled by strongmen and sclerotic regimes. Perhaps nowhere is this seismic shift more apparent than in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. / PAGE 10

August 2018

AUGUST 2018

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sonal BreakthrouInfl PeoplePerof World gh uence

Africa

Historic Transitions In Ethiopia, Zimbabwe Could Shake Up Africa

•

Targeted Immunotherapy

SOUTH ASIA

INDIA ON THE

Seems to Rid Woman of

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BY ALAN MOZES

udy Perkins was 49 and It worked beyond their battling breast cancer wildThe immunotherapy est expectations: Her was taibody that had spread, but lored to the particular was cleared of all signs genetic chemotherapy and hormone of mutations of Perkins’s cancer. tumor. treatments had failed In the end, the medical to rein And the research team team in her disease. So, her that identified 197 mutations. doctors tried the cutting-edge Of tried a highly sophisticated treatthose, 196 were characterized ment hopes the case but experimental, immunowill as “unique” to Perkins. herald a major breakthrough therapy. in cancer treatment.

Tierney : SEE IMMUNOTHERA PY • PAGE 26

TOP PHOTO: CI PHOTOS

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More Nukes Means More Dangers President Trump thinks the U.S. needs more and better nuclear weapons to counter growing geopolitical threats such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Former Congressman and longtime nonproliferation expert John Tierney says the last thing the U.S. needs is to tempt fate with another global arms race. / PAGE 4

Europe

EU Exercises Its Power of The Purse It’s the $1.5 trillion question. Can the European Union use its budget for 2021-27 to curb what many see as member states like Hungary and Poland riding roughshod over the rule of law, independent institutions and even democratic norms? / PAGE 13

Culture

Baselitz Captures Chaos of the Times The Hirshhorn looks back on German artist Georg Baselitz and the turbulent times that inspired him. / PAGE 28

President Trump has made enemies out of allies and friends out of autocrats, but Indian Ambassador Navtej Sarna has the fortune of representing the world’s largest democracy on Embassy Row at a time of unusually warm — and refreshingly uncontroversial — ties between Washington and New Delhi. / PAGE 17

Diplomatic Spouses

Bulgarian Wife Is Brains In the Family Neurologist Lubka Stoytcheva takes a break from medicine as she joins her husband, Bulgarian Ambassador Tihomir Stoytchev, for their third tour in Washington. / PAGE 29

Volume 25

Issue 7

August 2018

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A prescription with side effects you want. Blueberries and red beans, just a few of the many foods rich in antioxidants, are powerful remedies in the fight against cancer. Research shows that fruits, vegetables, and other low-fat vegetarian foods may help prevent cancer and even improve survival rates. A healthy plant-based diet can lower your cholesterol, increase your energy, and help with weight loss and diabetes. Fill this prescription at your local market and don’t forget—you have unlimited refills!

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Contents

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Manila, Philippines

17 15 PHOTO: LARRY LUXNER

NEWS 4

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE A former congressman says Trump’s nuclear weapons push is “dangerous and unnecessary.”

8 DEATH KNELL FOR WTO?

20 SUMMERTIME TRADITIONS America celebrates summer with a mix of Old World and odd new traditions.

The Bulgarian ambassador’s neurologist wife takes a break from medicine while in D.C.

BOOK REVIEW

“The Peacemakers” looks at statesmanship through the prism of 13 leaders.

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

SWAHILI CROSSROADS

Centuries of culture converge at the intersection of East Africa and the Indian Ocean.

Trump’s tariff war threatens to kill the multilateral global trading system.

10 CHANGE IN AFRICA

Norway vows consistency and reliability if elected to the U.N. Security Council.

At 82, British graphic artist Ralph Steadman is still as colorful as his savage cartoons are.

MEDICAL

Ethiopia and Zimbabwe undergo revolutionary change, sparking hope and fear.

THE EU’S PURSE STRINGS The EU may use the power of the purse to halt Hungarian and Polish backsliding.

NORDIC VANTAGE POINT

PERSONALIZING CANCER

Highly targeted immunotherapy may lead to a breakthrough in fighting cancer.

GEORGIA’S SAD ANNIVERSARY Georgia marks the 10th anniversary of its brief but enduring war with Russia.

CULTURE

COVER PROFILE: INDIA The warm ties between India and the U.S. move full speed ahead under Trump.

REFLECTION OF THE TIMES

The Georg Baselitz retrospective reveals six decades of inspirational turmoil.

NO-HOLDS-BARRED BRIT

CONTEMPLATING THE ‘INFINITE’

Women artists from Aboriginal Australia encourage viewers to stop and do some actual viewing.

REGULARS 34 CINEMA LISTING 36 EVENTS LISTING 38 DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT 46 CLASSIFIEDS 47 REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIEDS THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 3

WD | People of World Influence

The New Arms Race Nonproliferation Expert Tierney Calls Trump Nuclear Push ‘Dangerous and Unnecessary’ BY AILEEN TORRES-BENNETT

he realpolitik foundation of the new National Security Strategy emphasizes the idea of peace through strength. This underpins the Trump administration’s take on nuclear weapons. President Trump thinks the U.S. doesn’t have enough. It needs more nuclear warheads in its stockpile to counter what the administration sees as growing geopolitical threats, such as a renewed rivalry with Russia, China’s increasing global role and rogue regimes such as North Korea and Iran. The rebuilding of the U.S. nuclear arsenal is not isolated to Trump. Former President Obama had authorized upgrading the country’s nuclear arsenal at a $1.2 trillion price tag over 30 years. While Obama supported modernizing America’s existing nuclear arsenal, however, he also urged policymakers to reduce the overall stockpile to persuade other nations to do the same. Trump is moving in the opposite direction, preparing not only for an expansion of the nuclear arsenal, but also the development of a new generation of weapons — a marked shift from nearly three decades of efforts to wind down the global arms race precipitated by the Cold War. The end of the Cold War, of course, did not make the threat of nuclear war irrelevant. It just changed the nature of the players. At its peak during the Cold War, the U.S. had 13,002 strategic warheads in 1987; the Soviet Union had 11,320 in 1989. In 2018, the Arms Control Association estimates that the U.S. will have 6,550 nuclear warheads, Russia will have 6,850, China will have 280 and North Korea will have 15. Russia and the U.S. make up more than 90 percent of today’s global arsenal. Under Obama, the U.S. made overtures to Russia within its reset framework, spearheaded by former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. With Dmitry Medvedev as president at the time, Obama’s outreach was well received. Obama and Medvedev signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2010. As of February this year, the treaty dictates that the U.S. and Russia must each cap their deployed strategic warheads to 1,550 and deployed heavy bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles to 700. In August 2017, the U.S. met the limits imposed by New START, and Russia followed in February 2018, according to the Brookings Institution. Both countries can keep tabs on each other’s arsenal with a data exchange every six months. New START will remain in force un-

4 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

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CREDIT: U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY JUSTIN CONNAHER

We were lucky to escape a nuclear disaster in the 20th century. Why would we want to tempt fate again?

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Henry Cancinos conducts chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense training in Alaska on April 13, 2016. President Trump is seeking to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons to counter threats such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

FORMER U.S. REP. JOHN TIERNEY (D-MASS.)

Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which does not allow the U.S. or Russia to have ground-based ballistic or cruise missiles with 300- to 3,400-mile ranges. The culprit is an intermediate-range cruise missile that Russia has supposedly tested and deployed. Meanwhile, the U.S. wants submarines armed with low-yield nuclear warheads to deter Russia from using one of its smaller warheads in a limited attack against U.S. allies, which could force the U.S. to choose between a full-scale nuclear retaliation or a lesssuccessful conventional weapon. The administration has asked for $23 million more in the upcoming budget to flight-test low-yield warheads on a Trident submarine, particularly the new W76-2 warhead, Paul Sonne of The Washington Post reported on June 13. But arms control advocates disagree that the threats posed by Russia and other powers justify the staggering costs of expanding America’s nuclear arsenal, a move that could backfire by prompting other countries to follow suit. They also point out that the

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executive director of the Council for a Livable World and Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

til February 2021, with the possibility to extend it up to five years. If Trump refuses to renew the agreement, the U.S. and Russia would be free to enlarge their nuclear arsenals without any constraints. After Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last month, Russian officials claimed “important verbal agreements” were reached on New START and other arms control treaties, but White House officials haven’t confirmed (or seem to know) what took place during the closed-door meeting. Any agreement would mark a turnaround for Trump, who seems to bristle at the restrictions set by New START. Trump has also been positioning the U.S. to grow, not reduce, its nuclear arsenal by developing low-yield weapons that are smaller and more targeted in destruction. But critics say there is no such thing as a “small” nuke and that because these weapons are intended to be more precise, there may be a

greater temptation to use them, thus lowering the threshold for nuclear war. The administration has also suggested expanding the circumstances under which the U.S. could launch a “first use” nuclear strike — say, in response to a crippling cyber attack on the country’s infrastructure. The Defense Department’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), however, claims this new approach does not lower the nuclear threshold but in fact does the opposite. “Rather, by convincing adversaries that even limited use of nuclear weapons will be more costly than they can tolerate, it in fact raises that threshold,” the report says, warning that states like Russia are rapidly modernizing their militaries. Like the U.S., Russia is jumpstarting its nuclear buildup, presumably to counter NATO’s defense capabilities. Russia plans to upgrade its intercontinental ballistic missile systems, plus its nuclear bombers. The country is in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-

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The Trump administration is currently pushing for a low-yield variant to the Trident submarinelaunched missile. Congress is close to authorizing the creation of that weapon and approving the funds for it. The new warhead could be fitted on a missile within a couple years. There are considerable reasons not to go down this path, destabilization being but one.

Tierney CONTINUED • PAGE 4

U.S. already boasts the most wellfunded, powerful military in the world. Even if its conventional forces aren’t enough to deter an attack, the U.S. still has thousands of nuclear warheads capable of obliterating entire countries. Whether the U.S. responds with an 18-kiloton nuclear warhead or a newly developed 11-kiloton bomb, they say, will make little difference in an adversary’s strategic calculus. Beyond the renewed rivalry between the U.S. and Russia, other nuclear players are complicating the picture. North Korea has demanded global recognition as a nuclear power, and so far there appears to be no substantive progress on denuclearization following Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-un. Trump also abandoned the Obama administration’s landmark deal with Iran that curbed Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Most experts agreed that Iran was abiding by the terms of the deal, which significantly delayed the “breakout period” for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. While the European Union still backs the deal, without U.S. sanctions relief, it is all but dead, leaving Iran to potentially restart its nuclear program. Meanwhile, persuading North Korea to give up a nuclear arsenal that it believes is existential to its survival will be infinitely harder, especially considering that by some estimates, the North already has 20 to 60 nuclear bombs (compared to zero for Iran). To discuss the new global nuclear landscape, The Washington Diplomat turned to John Tierney, a former nine-term Democratic congressman from Massachusetts who is now the executive director of the Council for a Livable World and Center for Arms Control and NonProliferation. While serving in the House from 1997 to 2015, Tierney sat on the House Intelligence Committee and spent considerable time advocating on nuclear nonproliferation and national security issues. He shared his thoughts on the resurgence of the nuclear arms race and the new international playing field: THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT: Nuclear arms are returning to relevance. How would you characterize this new arms race versus the Cold War era? JOHN TIERNEY: Thankfully we are nowhere near the size and scale of the Cold War arms race, but as former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry has said, we are in danger of sleepwalking into a new arms race. The new weapons and/or capabilities that nuclear weapons states are seeking are dangerous and unnecessary. There does seem to be a current trend toward smaller, low-yield nuclear weapons. Such weapons are extremely destabilizing, as they might lower the threshold for use. What’s worse is that we already

THE DIPLOMAT: The nuclear option has expanded as a response to cyber attacks. Can you describe a hypothetical cyber attack scenario that might warrant a nuclear response and what that response might look like?

PHOTO: BY STEFAN KRASOWSKI - HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/RAPIDTRAVELCHAI/9465934852 / CC BY 2.0

A ballistic missile is displayed during a 2013 North Korea Victory Day parade. Last year, North Korea successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the continental United States.

know how this story ends. We were lucky to escape a nuclear disaster in the 20th century. Why would we want to tempt fate again? THE DIPLOMAT: Let’s focus on specific countries — the U.S., Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. What is the geopolitical rationale behind each country for building or bolstering its nuclear arsenal? TIERNEY: For the United States, there is a tendency to maintain the status quo. Our current arsenal is aging, so in order to maintain status quo, those weapons must be refurbished. It is in that process that some military planners like to push for new, enhanced capabilities. There is also concern that any Russian buildup must be met with a reciprocal American buildup. That is not, in the opinion of many, necessarily sound reasoning, but it is promoted by nuclear hawks who seem to have come out from hiding under this administration. For Russia, they are interested in new nuclear capabilities for both status and strength. They know they cannot afford to build a conventional military to match NATO, so they rely on their nuclear arsenal for deterrence purposes. While China has marginally expanded its capabilities, they continue to maintain a minimal deterrent. While that is preferable to a massive buildup, it is disappointing that China ignores its international commitments to engage in serious disarmament discussions. The rationale behind the North Korean program is regime survival. Iran does not have nuclear weapons and agreed to restrictions on their nuclear infrastructure through the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear agreement. Due to President Trump’s inexplicable choice to violate that agreement, those restrictions could collapse. Arguably, Iran’s

6 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

TIERNEY: The Trump administration’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review changed previous policy to include ‘significant non-nuclear strategic attacks’ as an extreme circumstance where the employment of nuclear weapons could be considered in response. Many experts, including myself, interpreted that language to include cyber attacks against the United States. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has not thoroughly explained their language, so it is unclear what type of cyber attack would warrant a nuclear response and what that response would entail. This lack of clarity is highly destabilizing and fuels uncertainty about when the United States would use nuclear weapons. THE DIPLOMAT: The Nuclear Posture Review came out earlier this year. What is your take on the Trump administration’s nuclear strategy?

CREDIT: U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY R.J. ORIEZ

From left, the Peacekeeper, Minuteman III and Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missiles are on display at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming in 2012.

interest in nuclear weapons capability was defensive in nature to ward off regional threats. THE DIPLOMAT: From observation, does adding or enhancing nuclear capabilities actually deter ‘bad behavior’ by countries? TIERNEY: No. It just encourages more arms racing. THE DIPLOMAT: Let’s talk about technicalities. Can you describe what the push to develop smaller nukes is yielding in terms of new and

developing technologies — their size, cost, amount of damage they can do, how long it will take to develop them, etc.? TIERNEY: Smaller nuclear weapons were originally developed for battlefield use. Military planners in the Cold War then came to their senses, understanding that a nuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon, no matter the yield. After all, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was technically a low-yield nuclear weapon. They may be smaller than today’s standard deployed strategic weapon, but they are still city destroyers.

TIERNEY: Overall, the Nuclear Posture Review is destabilizing and increases the chances of a renewed nuclear arms race. While some aspects of the Nuclear Posture Review reiterate previous policies, the document also significantly departs from the U.S. postCold War consensus about nuclear weapons. For example, the Trump administration has expanded the circumstances in which the United States would use nuclear weapons and/or explosively test nuclear weapons, which the United States has refrained from doing since 1992. Moreover, the Nuclear Posture Review pushes for a new low-yield nuclear option and a new sealaunched nuclear cruise missile, despite the fact that the United States has not built a new nuclear weapon since the end of the Cold War. Both are unnecessary, destabilizing and dangerous. The document also fails to even mention the word ‘disarmament’ in relation to U.S. commitments, despite an international legal obligation to pursue just that. THE DIPLOMAT: In your opinion, is there a ‘magical ratio’ of the number of nuclear weapons in a country’s arsenal necessary to enhance diplomacy? TIERNEY: There is no magic number for nuclear deterrence. SEE T IER N EY • PAGE 46

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WD | Trade

WTO KO’d? Trump’s Tariff War Threatens to Knock Down Multilateral Trading System BY JOHN BRINKLEY

resident Trump has said he doesn’t plan to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization, but he has expressed disdain for the organization, whose raison d’être, he reportedly believes, is to “screw” the United States. Consequently, “the whole WTO portfolio is in limbo,” said Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “There is no forward momentum in terms of negotiations. There’s no sign that that’s going to be reversed.” Consequently, all the progress the United States has made toward keeping the WTO relevant in the 21st century has ground to a halt. The White House has drafted a bill that would have roughly the same effect as withdrawing from the WTO. Titled the Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act, or FART Act, it would allow the president to impose tariffs of any level against any country of his choosing for any reason of his choosing — without congressional approval or regard for international rules. Trump has not submitted it to Congress. It would have zero chance of passage if he did. As one trade lawyer told Jonathan Swan of Axios, which first reported the leaked bill, “We think he’s nuts, but not that nuts.” Yet even if the FART Act never materializes, Trump’s tariff war has already shaken the multilateral global trading system espoused by the Genevabased WTO, which was founded in 1995 to resolve disputes among member countries and reduce trade barriers. The U.S. and China are already engaged in a titfor-tat $50 billion tariff war, with Trump threatening to slap duties on an additional $200 billion in Chinese goods if Beijing does not reduce its trade deficit with the U.S. The president also withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and is in the midst of contentious renegotiations with Canada and Mexico over NAFTA. In addition, he imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and the European Union under the pretext of national security. The move infuriated some of America’s closest allies, who responded with retaliatory tariffs and vows to lodge legal challenges at the WTO, particularly if the president moves forward with his threats to impose additional tariffs on imported cars. Those legal challenges may succeed, but disputes at the WTO take months or even years to resolve. And any victory could prompt Trump to either abandon the WTO or ignore its rulings, both of which could spell the demise of the embattled organization, whose 164 members together account for nearly 100 percent of global GDP and global trade. Moreover, the WTO’s Appellate Body “might be out of business next year,” because the Trump administration refuses to allow the reappointment of its judges, Hufbauer told us. The Appellate Body is a court within the WTO that considers appeals from the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body. Traditionally, in the interest of continuity, judges who are hearing cases when their terms expire have been allowed to stay on until those cases are finished. The Trump administration objects to that practice and has vetoed all Appellate Body reappointments that have come up since Trump became president. The Appellate Body has seven judges when it’s at full strength. It is now down to four. Two more departures will require it to cease operating.

8 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

PHOTO: ©WTO / JAY LOUVION / CUIKA FOTO

Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Roberto Azevêdo, second from right, and Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Group, second from left, lead a discussion on the WTO initiative “Enabling E-Commerce” at the World Economic Forum last year. Critics of the WTO say the group needs to be reformed to handle trade disputes in the digital realm.

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[The] WTO knows some reforms are needed…. But I think it’s a little premature to talk about simply withdrawing from it. WILBUR ROSS U.S. secretary of commerce

Nonetheless, the WTO is not in danger of collapsing, said Stuart Malawer, a professor of law and international trade at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. However, he said, “everyone at this point is very concerned” about what Trump might do next. While the president has flip-flopped on all kinds of issues since coming into office, his belief that free trade hurts American workers has remained steadfast throughout the years, and he repeatedly disparaged the WTO on the campaign trail. “I don’t know why we’re in it. The WTO is designed by the rest of the world to screw the United States,” Trump said, according to Axios, citing an unnamed source. In reality, the United States has historically done well in WTO dispute settlement proceedings. It is the most active participant in the system and has won about 86 percent of the cases it has filed since 1995, when the WTO was established. The U.S. has lost most of the cases that other countries have brought against it, but that is true of virtually all 164 WTO member countries; the complainant almost always wins. The “WTO knows some reforms are needed,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said July 2 on CNBC. “So, I think there really is a need to update and synchronize its activities and we’ll see where

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that leads. But I think it’s a little premature to talk about simply withdrawing from it.” Dennis Shea, Trump’s ambassador to the WTO, would lead any efforts to reform it, but he has almost no background in international trade. He was a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission for 11 years and has focused primarily on China’s trade practices since he arrived in Geneva. “It is amazing to watch a country that is the world’s most protectionist, mercantilist economy position itself as the self-proclaimed defender of free trade and the global trading system,” Shea said about China in his first speech to the WTO after taking office on March 1, 2018. China has been a source of frustration for the U.S. and other WTO members since it joined the body in 2001 and companies began flocking to the country to take advantage of its cheap labor. In fact, many economists say China’s entry into the WTO hurt American manufacturing jobs far more than the country’s current trade deficit with the U.S., which is due to a variety of macroeconomic factors. The U.S. argues that the WTO should no longer classify China as a developing nation, which lets it take on fewer WTO responsibilities, considering that it is now the world’s second-largest economy. Another complaint is that China has flouted the

rules-based system with its theft of intellectual property, support for state-run enterprises and insistence that foreign firms give up technology secrets to access its vast consumer market. But the WTO, which was built primarily around the trade of physical goods, is ill-equipped to mediate the growing number of disputes in the digital realm. The EU has pushed to reform the WTO to ensure a more level playing field, but finding consensus among the group’s disparate members has been elusive, especially in today’s era of increased opposition to globalization and free trade. Meanwhile, the United States has so far shown scant interest in continuing the nitty-gritty work of updating WTO rules that previous administrations worked on, such as writing stricter rules for state-owned enterprises. They also include efforts to limit WTO members’ veto power by encouraging so-called “plurilateral” agreements that don’t require the acquiescence of all 164 members, e.g., the Trade Facilitation Agreement, which streamlined bureaucratic red tape and took effect in February 2017 with the ratification of 110 members, including the United States. More recently, however, Trump has hinted he might be willing to work with allies to reform the WTO. The president seemed to walk back from an all-out trade war last month when he announced a deal with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to hold off on proposed car tariffs and work toward resolving the steel and aluminum dispute in return for the EU buying more American soybeans and liquefied natural gas. In addition, The Economist reported that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been quietly talking to the Europeans and Japanese about reforming the WTO to address China’s unfair trade practices. But the president has abruptly changed his mind before, and his record on multilateralism is not exactly encouraging. Trump has expressed nothing but disdain for international agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate agreement and the U.N. Human Rights Council. He has pulled the United States out of all of them.

PHOTO: MARTINELLE / PIXABAY

President Trump’s imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs based on the premise of national security is being challenged at the World Trade Organization.

If Trump pulled out of the WTO, he could slap tariffs on tens of thousands of goods, which would dramatically raise prices for American businesses and consumers and throw global markets into turmoil. While many doubt he would resort to such an extreme measure, economists also doubted Trump would move ahead with the controversial steel and aluminum tariffs that he has imposed on key U.S. allies. In a March 9 blog post, Edward Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations argues that those tariffs may have been the tipping point for the WTO, which he says “had been dying a slow death for a long time.” “China in particular never accepted the norms of the WTO, and its spectacular economic success pursuing policies that too often defied the organization’s market-based principles did more than any other country to weaken the legitimacy of the system. The failed Doha Round negotiations, launched in 2001 and never successfully completed, showed that member nations had no capacity to find the compromises needed to update the WTO’s rules. Trump only gave it the final nudge over the cliff ” when he imposed steel and aluminum tariffs under

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the guise of national security, Alden wrote. If the WTO rules in favor of Trump’s national security argument, Alden said it will open the floodgates for other countries to use security as an excuse to erect trade barriers. If it rules against the U.S., Trump would likely ignore the decision, he said, “rendering the dispute process null and void.” “Regardless of how any dispute plays out, the tariff fight — unlike every other major trade skirmish for the past quarter century — will not be resolved within the framework of WTO rules,” Alden concluded. “The real impact [of Trump’s hostility toward the WTO] hasn’t really been felt yet,” Malawer of George Mason University predicted. That may change, he said, if the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) rules against Trump’s invocation of national security in imposing steel and aluminum tariffs against other countries. It seems likely that it will, since Trump has said the tariffs against Canada were in response to its high tariffs against U.S. dairy imports — not about national security. (China has lodged its own separate WTO complaint to protest Trump’s plan to impose new tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.) With the EU, Canada, Mexico and Turkey challenging the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs in the DSB, the Trump administration has fired back, lodging its own legal challenges at the WTO in retaliation for those nations’ retaliatory tariffs. He has also launched a case to counter China’s tariffs. So ironically, while Trump may hate the WTO, he doesn’t mind using it for his own purposes. Malawer said that if the DSB rules against the United States, the gloves will come off. Trump could ignore the ruling and even double down on his protectionist agenda. Other countries could also use national security to protect their domestic industries. If Trump loses, allies would be empowered to impose even more punitive tariffs on the U.S. “You would see some significant fireworks occurring at that point,” Malawer said. WD John Brinkley is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat and was chief speechwriter for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama administration.

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THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 9

WD | Africa

Continent of Change Ethiopia, Zimbabwe Undergo Major Political Transitions, Sparking Optimism, Uncertainty BY RYAN R. MIGEED

ations across Africa are experiencing dramatic, and historic, change that stands in stark contrast to the stereotypical portrayal of a continent hobbled by strongmen and sclerotic regimes. As The Diplomat reported in February, political upheaval has touched many corners of the continent. Last September, Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos stepped down after 38 years in power. While many thought his handpicked successor, João Lourenço, would be a puppet of dos Santos, the new president has purged corrupt elements of the old guard and vowed to make the country more investment-friendly. In December, Liberia experienced its first peaceful democratic transfer of power when soccer star George Weah defeated the sitting vice president in the country’s presidential election. And in February, South Africa’s embattled president, Jacob Zuma, was replaced as leader of the African National Congress by Cyril Ramaphosa and resigned as president on the heels of a no-confidence vote. Two transitions on the continent, however, have been even more revolutionary and provide a study in contrasts. In Ethiopia, widespread protests eventually led to the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and the rise of his popular successor, Abiy Ahmed, 41, who has already been compared to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama and Mikhail Gorbachev. Meanwhile in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, 94, was pushed out of power after ruling the country for nearly four decades. His successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has pledged to help Zimbabwe shed its pariah status by re-engaging with the West and rebuilding the economy. Like Abiy, Zimbabwe’s new leader has raised hopes for much-needed reforms. Unlike Ethiopia’s transformative new prime minister, however, Mnangagwa is a product of the brutal dictatorship before him, not a break from it.

WHAT HAPPENED? Beginning in late 2015, rural farmers in Ethiopia’s Oromia region began protesting the government’s reallocation of land to a private developer, according to a report by Hamza Mohamed for Al Jazeera. The land grab was part of a larger plan by the government to dramatically expand the capital of Addis Ababa, at the expense of potentially displacing millions of Oromo residents. Even though the government backed down in the face of protests, demonstrators elsewhere were motivated to voice their grievances and protests quickly spread across the country. Those grievances were largely fueled by the Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, who were joined by ethnic Amharas. The Oromos have long complained of discrimination and repression at the hands of ruling elite, comprised largely of the Tigrayan minority. (The Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups make up 35 percent and 27 percent of the population, respectively, while Tigrayans account for just 6 percent.) The government cracked down on protesters, imposed a state of emergency and announced a series of reforms, but it failed to quell the threeyear uprising and in February, Desalegn abruptly 10 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

PHOTO: BY YEMANE GEBREMESKEL, MINISTER OF INFORMATION OF THE STATE OF ERITREA VIA TWITTER

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, left, and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki sign a joint declaration in July re-establishing diplomatic relations after 20 years of war.

“

Change has been able to happen peacefully in both cases…. The elites in power decided change was necessary. J. PETER PHAM director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center

resigned. In his place, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) elected Abiy Ahmed as its leader. Abiy, an Oromo, adapted to Tigrayan rule early on, learning the language and serving as a former army intelligence officer and minister within the coalition government. On April 2, Abiy was sworn in as Ethiopia’s first leader from the ethnic Oromo group. Since then, he has wasted no time upending the status quo. He promptly cancelled the state of emergency, released thousands of political prisoners, lifted censorship bans on websites and media, fired corrupt officials and ordered the partial privatization of massive state-owned companies. He’s also vowed to heal ethnic tensions that have threatened Ethiopia’s vibrant economy. While the nation of 100 million boasts one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies — with growth averaging about 10 percent between 2005 and 2015 — poverty remains a big problem and the recent ethnic unrest has crippled the tourism sector and foreign investment. But perhaps Abiy’s most enduring achievement will be his outreach to Ethiopia’s archrival, Eritrea, with which it fought a two-year border conflict that killed tens of thousands of people. The historic rapprochement could end 20 years of hostility and help authoritarian Eritrea emerge from interna-

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tional isolation. In Zimbabwe, history was also made when longtime dictator Robert Mugabe was forced out of office under the threat of impeachment in what has widely been described as a palace coup. In November 2017, Mugabe fired his First Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, which was seen as a move to elevate his wife, Grace Mugabe, as his chosen successor. The military moved quickly to take control of the capital, Harare, and placed Mugabe under house arrest. A week later, as parliament debated his impeachment, Mugabe resigned and Mnangagwa was quickly named president by the ruling Zanu-PF party. He now heads into elections scheduled for July 30 as the frontrunner. While Mugabe was revered by many as a hero in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle against British colonialism, in recent years his seizure of whiteowned land, economic mismanagement and cronyism decimated what was once considered the breadbasket of Africa. Mnangagwa has vowed to open Zimbabwe back up to foreign investment and protect democracy and human rights. But in this case, experts see more of the same. Mnangagwa, nicknamed “The Crocodile” by friends and foes alike, is considered just as ruthless as Mugabe — if not more so. A guerilla fighter alongside Mugabe during the

country’s independence struggle in the 1960s and ’70s, Mnangagwa led a group called the “Crocodile Gang” that staged attacks on white-owned farms and other targets (he was allegedly tortured by Rhodesian forces as a result). During Zimbabwe’s civil war in the 1980s, Mnangagwa, often described as Mugabe’s right-hand man, served as the country’s national security minister. As spy chief, he worked closely with the army, which carried out lethal campaigns resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians, according to the BBC. In short, “Mugabe’s gone but the regime is still there,” John Campbell, who served as U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007, told The Diplomat.

FORCES BEHIND THE CHANGE The recent transitions in Africa are not comparable to other mass uprisings like the Arab Spring, which saw one country have a domino effect on another. The changes in Africa have been localized and usually unique to each country’s individual politics. The changes in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and others seem “to be all tied up in local factors,” according to Campbell, who is now a senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. But there are common threads in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, according to J. Peter Pham, the director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. “Change has been able to happen peacefully in both cases,” Pham said. In Ethiopia, there were protests and then a resignation. In Zimbabwe, Mugabe resigned

PHOTO: GOVERNMENT OF PAUL KAGAME

Abiy Ahmed, seen above speaking at a reception hosted by Rwandan President Paul Kagame in May, became Ethiopia’s first prime minister from the ethnic Oromo group in April following several years of ethnic unrest. He’s pledged to heal the country’s ethnic divisions while ushering in democratic and economic reforms.

the day before he was to face impeachment charges. But transformative change often comes with inherent dangers, as entrenched elites feel threatened and push back. Already, both Ethiopia and Zimbabwe have weathered bomb attacks months after the new leaders took up their positions. On June 23, a grenade went off at a rally for Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party. Mnan-

gagwa suggested it was an assassination attempt by factions loyal to Mugabe’s ousted wife Grace. But others fear it was staged by the government to justify a crackdown on the opposition weeks ahead of the election, according to an op-ed by Tafi Mhaka for Al Jazeera. Abiy was also present at a large June rally in support of his reforms when a grenade exploded, killing two people and wounding

over 150. Speculation has swirled that disgruntled members of the Tigrayan elite were behind the attack, which will test Abiy’s efforts to bring together the Oromo, Amharic and Tigrayan ethnic groups. Ultimately, the failed assassination attempts likely solidify the two leaders’ positions whether they were meant to or not. A second common thread in the two countries’ transitions, according to Pham, is that the changes in leadership came from within the ruling parties in both countries. They were managed transitions. “The elites in power decided change was necessary,” Pham told The Diplomat. Even in Ethiopia, where the change has been more dramatic, Abiy’s rise to prime minister was an “internal change,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who served as the U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of African Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She made clear that it was not a peaceful transfer of power from one party to another, a historical marker seen in Ghana in 2016 and Liberia in 2017. Interestingly, no expert The Diplomat spoke to pegged the changes in Ethiopia or Zimbabwe on larger trends often discussed in regard to African politics: the large youth population, the rapidly growing digital economies on the continent, the threat of terrorism or the growing influence of Chinese investment. But there is a significant difference between the revolutionary changes that Abiy has brought to Ethiopia in his short time in power and the way in which Mnangagwa has sought to consolidate his own power. SEE AFR IC A • PAGE 12

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But the degree of change is exaggerated, said Campbell. “I haven’t seen evidence of private U.S. investors upping their participation,” Campbell told us. He also noted the large population flight from the country — a fourth to a third of Zimbabweans are living outside the country, he said. Other investment hurdles include endemic corruption, bureaucratic red tape, a severe lack of infrastructure and possible political turmoil surrounding the July 30 vote.

Africa CONTINUED • PAGE 11

LANDMARK RECONCILIATION On July 9, Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed an agreement formally declaring an end to their countries’ two decades-long war. With the agreement, Ethiopia and Eritrea reopened their embassies, resumed flights and restored telephone lines that have been severed for 20 years following a border conflict between 1998 and 2000 that killed an estimated 80,000 people. Since then, Eritrea has named its first ambassador to Ethiopia in two decades: Semere Russom, who once served as envoy to the U.S. Meanwhile, Abiy was scheduled to visit Washington in late July and has asked the U.N. to lift sanctions against Eritrea. As Justina Crabtree reported for CNBC, the breakthrough could help landlocked Ethiopia strengthen its role as a manufacturing hub by opening up new trade routes. It could also pry open Eritrea, one of the world’s most repressive regimes, whose forced military service and rampant poverty have led tens of thousands to flee the country, often to Europe. Experts agreed that Ethiopia’s opening to Eritrea was stunning. Talks had been ongoing for some time, according to Pham, but the speed with which Abiy has moved them forward was unexpected. “It’s surprising, but highly positive,” Campbell told The Diplomat. To end the hostilities, Ethiopia accepted an international ruling that handed over the disputed border town of Badme to Eritrea. While many Ethiopians and Eritreans cheered the end of one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts, not everyone was happy with the decision to cede disputed territory to Eritrea, according to Jennifer Cooke, director of the Institute for African Studies at The George Washington University. “Many lives were lost fighting on that border,” Cooke said. Indeed, there were reports of angry protests breaking out in Ethiopia’s northernmost region along the border. Abiy will also have to contend with the influential faction that dominated the ruling coalition government since 1991: the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which still wields considerable power within the military and intelligence services and will resist reforms that might erode its power. It was the TPLF’s clash with the Eritrean government that sparked the border war in the first place, and despite the recent reconciliation, thousands of Ethiopian troops remain stationed in Badme. It remains to be seen if Abiy can unilaterally withdraw those troops without triggering a confrontation with TPLF hardliners. Nevertheless, an Eritrean delegation was welcomed with a red carpet and a large crowd when it visited Ethiopia recently, said Thomas-Greenfield, who happened to be

AN ELECTION OF HOPE AND FEAR

PHOTO: U.N. / JEAN-MARC FERRÉ

Emmerson Mnangagwa — seen above at a March 5, 2014, session of the U.N. Human Rights Council while he was Zimbabwe’s minister of justice — is set to become Zimbabwe’s next president after 30 years of ironfisted rule by Robert Mugabe.

PHOTO: BY USER:DANDJKROBERTS - OWN WORK, CC BY-SA 3.0

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, seen above with his wife Grace in 2013, was forced out of office last November in what has widely been described as a palace coup after Mugabe fired his First Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in a bid to elevate his wife Grace as his chosen successor.

in Ethiopia on previously scheduled travel plans at the time. People in the street told her, “It’s been too long,” Thomas-Greenfield recalled to The Diplomat. Ethiopians had more or less forgotten the history of hostilities with Eritrea in the face of domestic concerns like the economy, said Thomas-Greenfield, who also served as U.S. ambassador to Liberia from 2008 to 2012. To many, reconciliation with Eritrea seems symbolic of a more significant shift underway in Ethiopia — and Abiy is an avatar of the political winds they have been wishing for. Ethiopians that Thomas-Greenfield spoke to referred to Abiy as “our new Obama” or “our Mandela.” As the regional hegemon, Ethiopia could “afford to be magnanimous [to Eritrea],” said Pham. “Ethiopia doesn’t face a threat from Eritrea,” he said, noting Ethiopia’s much larger population and more sophisticated military. However, Ethiopia stands to gain economically from access to an Eritrean port that was part of the peace agreement, he added. It is more difficult to make out what tangible benefit Eritrea gained from the deal.

12 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

The real question, according to Pham, “is whether Eritrea’s government will be able to cope with the change.” Eritrea had long exploited the threat from Ethiopia as a “bogeyman,” declaring a permanent state of emergency and drafting its young men into national military service, Pham said. When that threat disappears, the need for the draft will disappear with it — and then Eritrea will have many unemployed young men in search of work. If the oppressive regime can’t adapt to these changes, it could foment an economic crisis of its own on Ethiopia’s border.

RIGHTING ZIMBABWE’S ECONOMY Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s economy is also in urgent need of investment and reform. As Alec Russell reported for the Financial Times, “Years of government profligacy and the elite’s plundering of some prime economic assets have led to soaring indebtedness, fiscal imbalances and a chronic liquidity crisis.” Zimbabwe experienced hyperinflation twice between 2008 and 2017. Last year, the inflation rate was

348 percent, according to Forbes. Under Mugabe, the country also pursued a controversial program of land expropriation, seizing land from white farmers, violently at times, to return it to African farmers who had owned it generations before. The move led to widespread food shortages, but Mnangagwa defended the program in an interview with CNN. “We don’t regret the actions we took,” he said. “We fought a war of liberation for more than 15 years to regain our land — it was a situation where 1 percent of the population owned 75 percent of the land.” But one consequence was that Western investors, already skittish about business ventures in corruption-addled Zimbabwe, feared their investments could be seized. International sanctions further isolated the battered economy. In January, Mnangagwa traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos to deliver the message that Zimbabwe was “open for business.” It is part of a larger campaign by the new president at home and abroad to make clear that the economy is his top priority and that he plans to reopen Zimbabwe to the West. “The country needs to be open for business,” said Pham. “The country’s in desperate need for investment.” Mnangagwa realizes that, to maintain power, “the economy has to be functioning or [else] the patronage machine breaks down,” Cooke told The Diplomat. “It’s a calculation that if they don’t get the economy right, Zanu-PF will be in trouble,” Cooke said. Mnangagwa may be succeeding: The Zimbabwe Investment Authority has approved investment projects worth over $1 billion in the first quarter of 2018, according to a report by Victor Bhoroma for Newsday. There is a chance that net foreign direct investment into the country could surpass $500 million for the first time since 2014, according to the report.

Mnangagwa welcomed election observers from the Commonwealth and the European Union for the presidential elections set to be held as The Diplomat went to press. “We want fair, free, credible elections,” Mnangagwa told the Financial Times. As the newspaper noted in its report, “Free presidential and parliamentary elections, endorsed by a range of credible independent observer missions, are a critical demand of international donor bodies if they are to consider much-needed debt relief for Zimbabwe.” Experts who spoke to The Diplomat said they did not expect any dramatic upsets in Zimbabwe’s elections, with the Zanu-PF party — which enjoys control of the statesponsored media and backing of the military — all but assured of victory. But, if the elections proved to be legitimate, Campbell foresaw some hope for progress. “If the elections are seen as reasonably credible by Zimbabweans themselves, then there is the possibility of real change,” he said. The opposition, however, is not convinced that elections will be credible. While there has been no major violence so far, past elections have been marred by allegations of fraud, military interference, beatings and even death threats. This time around, voters worry about subtler forms of intimidation by the ruling party and ballot-rigging. Thousands have demonstrated in Harare calling for greater transparency in the election. The government only released the voter registration list to opposition parties and the public after intense pressure and a court ruling. For Mnangagwa, “there’s a recognition that change is coming with or without him,” Thomas-Greenfield said. But “we are not going to see a democracy come out of his government,” she cautioned. As in each country’s political transitions, unique local factors are at play. “I’m really positive about what’s going on in Ethiopia,” said ThomasGreenfield. “I’m guardedly positive about Zimbabwe. It is a government that knows it needs to make change.” According to Cooke, the real question in each case is, “When the ruling party is truly challenged, what will the reaction be?” “In Ethiopia, you wonder if the old guard who has lost out will push back,” she said. WD Ryan R. Migeed (@RyanMigeed) is a freelance writer based in Boston.

Europe | WD

Power of the Purse European Union Seeks to Influence Hungary, Poland Through Budget Funds BY ANDREW MACDOWALL

t’s the $1.5 trillion question. Can the European Union’s executive body, the European Commission, use the upcoming union budget for 2021-27 to curb what many in Europe see as member states riding roughshod over the rule of law, independent institutions and even democratic norms? Proposals tabled by the European Commission (EC) in May to link EU funding to member states’ adherence to the rule of law have gained traction among critics of the governments of Poland and Hungary, which are respectively the largest and fourth-largest beneficiaries of EU funds. The proposal is one of a mounting number of challenges from EU institutions to member states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and arguably the most potentially explosive. At stake is not just large sums of money — Poland and Hungary received €77 billion ($93 billion) and €22 billion ($26 billion), respectively, from so-called “cohesion funds” designed to support less affluent regions of Europe in the 2014-20 budget, according to Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the European Parliament’s liberal grouping. The battles between several CEE governments and leading Western European member states and EU bodies encompass the very definition of what “European values” entail; conflicting narratives of post-communist development; and the concept of sovereignty, which looms large in the Brexit era. The charges against Poland and Hungary in particular are fairly clear: They have rigged independent institutions of state including the judiciary to the benefit of ruling parties, undermined media freedom and mounted attacks on civil society that hold governments to account. The EU’s ability to censure its member states is limited, though, because of the veto power each member wields. That’s why some EU officials say the proposed new budget scheme — which would rely on majority voting, not the veto — is needed to preserve the democratic principles on which the bloc is based. They also point out that Poland and Hungary have disproportionately benefited from the EU’s largesse over the years, helping them become post-communist success stories, but are now flouting its rules. In short, they want the EU’s money without the strings attached. Poland and Hungary counter that tying funds to issues such as rule of law would come down to subjective judgments that would give bureaucrats in Brussels capricious new powers to punish those they deem unworthy of the funds. They also argue that those funds go both ways, benefiting not only post-communist governments, but also Western European nations that have profited from open markets in the East. And they say Brussels doesn’t have the right to infringe on decisions taken by democratically elected governments. Poland has been ruled by the conservative nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) since its unprecedented election landslide in 2015, while an election in Hungary in April gave another supermajority to Fidesz, a party of similarly populist and euroskeptic bent led by controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in power since 2010. Journalist and academic Timothy Garton Ash, who covered the region as communism atrophied and

PHOTO: MARIO SALERNO

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sits alone at a table during an informal meeting of the 27 European Union heads of state in June 2016. EU officials recently floated the idea of tying budget funds to meeting standards on issues such as the rule of law to counter what many see as democratic backsliding in Hungary and Poland.

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Europe’s next crisis over the rule of law and democracy could be its last. PIOTR BURAS

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head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations

collapsed in CEE, has warned of “creeping authoritarianism … inside the European Union,” while Piotr Buras, head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, says that recent moves by the Hungarian and Polish governments on civil society and the judiciary, respectively, risk precipitating a wider crisis in the EU. “Europe has moved a few steps closer to the brink,” he wrote in early July, adding: “Europe’s next crisis over the rule of law and democracy could be its last.” On July 9, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczynski, considered to be the effective power behind the Polish government despite being only a backbench MP, insisted that the administration would continue to push ahead with sweeping reforms to the judiciary despite the EC initiating a process that could, in theory, lead to Poland being stripped of its EU voting rights under Article 7 of the bloc’s Lisbon Treaty. Specifically, the Warsaw government has imposed a retirement age of 65 on its Supreme Court judges, with the effect that around 27 of the 72 judges should be ousted. The move has been resisted by Chief Justice Małgorzata Gersdorf, who has labeled the reform unconstitutional and returned to work in mid-July. Other judges have either com-

plied or applied to PiS-backed President Andrzej Duda for a term extension. The change would perhaps be less controversial if new judges were not due to be replaced by the National Council of the Judiciary — a body that, thanks to previous PiS legislation, is now under parliamentary control and thus, critics say, that of PiS, which has an absolute majority. The EC already has an active court case against Poland for reforms that it says give the justice minister excessive control over ordinary courts. PiS and its supporters argue that the changes are both necessary and popular — and indeed there is widespread support for judicial reforms of some sort. Kaczynski argues that his democratically elected government’s program is threatened by an unreformed judiciary that has the capacity to roll back popular policies. For years, some PiS sympathizers in Poland and beyond have talked of a so-called “uklad” (often translated as “system”) of communist and ex-communist figures in politics, business and state institutions that has carved up power since 1989 and needs to be uprooted for Poland’s transition to be complete. Similar arguments have been made by HunSEE EU R OPEAN U N ION • PAGE 14 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 13

European Union CONTINUED • PAGE 13

garian government figures — that much of the modern post-communist state architecture is tainted and compromised. Too often, the arrogant, conspiratorial and sometimes corrupt behavior of PiS and Fidesz’s predecessors, including ex-communist parties, lends these arguments some weight. A desire to uproot a “deep state,” beyond expediency, is the main reason that Donald Trump and his drain-the-swamp rhetoric have been embraced by governments in Warsaw, Budapest and Bucharest, as well as the rising right in Slovenia. However, opponents point out that the old structures and figures are merely being replaced by new ones more favorable to (or in some cases actively a part of) the ruling parties. They also accuse parties like PiS of hypocrisy, having built a large following in part by trafficking unproven conspiracy theories (most notably that a shadowy cabal of liberal intellectuals and “reds” threatens the country). But sympathizers of the reforms see Western criticism as exaggerated, even hypocritical. “You cannot find a single regulation in our legal system that does not have its equivalent in other EU member states,” says Krzysztof Kaminski, president of the Warsaw Institute, a conservative-leaning Polish think tank. “There are some minor differences here and there, but accusing Poland of breaching EU values is nothing else than applying double standards.” He adds that previous Polish governments have also, like those in other Western democracies, appointed their own people to positions of influence. Nonetheless, PiS’s actions are widely seen as going considerably further and being implemented more robustly (or even brutally) than those of its predecessors. Kaminski argues that the EC should take into account differences between legal systems before pushing forward its proposed rule-of-law link to funding, and that other governments should give pause, given that the principle could be used to punish member states in future disputes with Brussels. Zoltán Kovacs, a Hungarian government spokesman, argues that the rule-of-law link would require a change to EU treaties and “cannot be, as a matter of principle, a ground for discussion.” Kovacs and other CEE officials also say that the proposed budgetary rules reinforce a misguided and patronizing idea that cohesion funds are a gift of the benevolent West to Europe’s eastern fringe — “generosity” in Verhofstadt’s words. They point out that the price was opening their markets to Western European businesses with little protection for domestic ones, with substantial (though largely unmeasured) benefits to the older member states, and that the financing is

PHOTO: © EUROPEAN UNION 2012 - EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

European Union officials hold a high-level meeting on cohesion policy shortly before a heads of state summit in Brussels in November 2012 to strike a deal on the 2014-20 EU budget. For the 2021-27 budget, the bloc is considering proposals to link EU funding to member states’ adherence to the rule of law, a reflection of the growing divide between Western and Eastern Europe.

intended to close the gap between West and Central-East — a gap that is narrowing only slowly. This fits neatly with narratives promoted by the more euroskeptic governments in CEE that they are misunderstood, “lectured” or, worse, blackmailed by the EC and Western European leaders. This has been an emerging trend since the Orbán government started to push controversial reforms in Hungary to, for example, regulate media and pressure civil society groups, leading to widespread criticism. There are also hints that, having thrown off the shackles of Soviet dominance, CEE countries are reluctant to cede sovereignty to Brussels or Berlin. This narrative was exacerbated during the 2015 migrant and refugee crisis, which led to Hungary building extensive border fences and Orbán portraying himself as a defender of Europe while Germany’s Angela Merkel opened the floodgates. The anti-immigrant rhetoric resonated well beyond Hungary’s borders, including with populist conservatives in Western Europe. Orbán has continued to assume the mantle of Crusader, regularly emphasizing the Christian nature of Europe in speeches (and even going so far as to threaten jail time for those who help undocumented migrants). Officials from Poland, Hungary and other CEE states draw a distinction between their own societies — with historically low levels of nonEuropean immigration — and those of the West, usually portraying the integration and security problems faced by the latter in an unflattering light. CEE governments have had a degree of success domestically in arguing that they are defending “European values” of identity and social cohesion by refusing to accept migrants. This is set in stark contrast to insistence from Brussels and some Western European capitals that these values entail accept-

14 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

PHOTO: BY THE CHANCELLERY OF THE SENATE OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL

The Sejm, Poland’s lower house of Parliament, is seen above. Poland has been ruled by the conservative nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) since its unprecedented election landslide in 2015, with the party coming under fire for its crackdown on the judiciary and media.

ing refugees with compassion, and sharing the European burden from the crisis, as well as protecting the rule of law, freedom of media and the foundations of democracy. Indeed, the refusal of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to comply with EU decisions in 2015 to relocate or resettle immigrants has led to further EC action, with the commission currently moving to sue the countries at the European Court of Justice. “The EU has always placed a strong emphasis on ensuring the promotion of its values, but up until now this has always been an aspiration more than an actual command,” says Samantha Seewoosurrun, managing director of Acuitas, a Brussels-based public affairs and communications consultancy. “It is undoubtedly the case that recent developments in both Poland and Hungary stretch the limits of what the EU machinery would consider to be acceptable, but at the same time they are still democratic countries and the EU is a strong supporter of democracy, so again how far can it go?” One reason that the EC may be pushing the rule-of-law proposals is that serious action under Article

7 seems unlikely, given that Hungary has pledged to veto any move to strip Poland’s voting rights. Even EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and the commission’s top civil servant, Martin Selmayr, are said to be opposed to the move, reflecting wider concerns that the EU cannot afford to splinter at a time of internal and external threats such as Russian aggression and eurozone reform. Unlike action under Article 7, putting in place a rule-of-law link in the EU budget would be considerably harder for a single member to veto, requiring a larger coalition of member states to block it. Seewoosurrun says that much now rests on whether large Western European member states decide to back the EC proposal. Even with countries such as Bulgaria and Romania (entangled in their own mounting rule-of-law crises) in opposition, the measure could well pass. Even if it doesn’t, the EU has other ways to influence continental affairs through its budget. Britain’s impending exit from the bloc will deprive it of about €10 billion in annual funds. Faced with the loss of U.K. revenue and growing threats

such as migration and terrorism, the EU is considering redistributing cohesion funds based not only on per-capita GDP but other factors such as youth unemployment. This could divert money from CEE states to struggling southern economies such as Greece and Italy. On the one hand, the move could be seen as a subtler form of retaliation against Poland and Hungary; on the other, it could simply be an acknowledgement of a new reality in which Poland and Hungary are today relatively prosperous while their neighbors to the south are now the ones that need additional assistance. Despite the heated debates over who deserves a bigger slice of the EU budget, many experts say a clear split between West and East is exaggerated. CEE countries are not monolithic, with great differences on policy toward Russia and minority rights. A thaw in relations between Warsaw on one hand and Brussels, Berlin and Paris on the other thus may prove significant in protracted negotiations over the budget. The appointment of Mateusz Morawiecki as Polish prime minister in December 2017 has helped; the former banker is seen as a more moderate, technocratic face of the government. PiS has shown that it does bend to internal and external criticism (it backtracked on a controversial Holocaust law and a proposal to severely restrict abortion, for example). PiS is also starting to eye a wave of elections in Poland, in which it is likely to need swing voters as well as its core voter base to retain its parliamentary majority and the presidency, as well as to perform well in European Parliament and local polls. Nonetheless, Morawiecki has continued to push ahead with some of the government’s more controversial reforms, so any rapprochement will have its limits. To the south, Hungarian government officials, flush with victory, warn that by adding extra conditionality to EU funds, the EC risks not being able to pass a budget at all. A classic EU compromise at the eleventh hour is still perhaps the most likely scenario, given a strong desire by Brussels to preserve European unity and for CEE countries to keep the money flowing. This would arguably further undermine the EU’s ability to uphold its values, but avert a crisis in the short term. The budget could even theoretically be a way to bind the wounds of the past decade. But the past few years have exposed festering divisions that aren’t likely to heal any time soon. WD Andrew MacDowall (@andrewmacdowall) is a correspondent and analyst focusing on Central and Eastern Europe who has contributed to publications including The Guardian, Financial Times and Politico Europe.

Follow The Diplomat Connect at www.washdiplomat.com.

Caucasus | WD

Still Split Georgia Marks 10th Anniversary of Painful War with Russia That Left It Divided BY LARRY LUXNER

HURVALETI, Georgia — Twenty-seven years after Georgia declared its independence from the crumbling U.S.S.R. and 10 years after Russian troops invaded the former Soviet republic, Georgia’s 3.9 million inhabitants still live in fear of their giant northern neighbor. While Ukraine’s stalled civil war with Russian-backed rebels continues to be a source of contention between the West and Moscow (except for President Donald Trump, whose cozy appearance with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month baffled just about everyone), Georgia’s frozen territorial conflict with Russia has largely faded from the headlines. But the brief 2008 Russo-Georgian War, which raged from Aug. 7 to Aug. 12, was considered the first European war of the 21st century. It killed about 850 people in total, including servicemen and civilians, with the Georgian side suffering 412 losses, according to an official EU fact-finding report on the conflict. In addition, the war displaced an estimated 192,000 people, leaving Russia in control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in violation of the ceasefire agreement of August 2008. Long before then, however, the two territories chafed under Georgian control, agitating for their own independence since the fall of the Soviet Union and drifting ever closer to Russia. Violent clashes and ethnic tensions frequently broke out, including a costly war between Tbilisi and Abkhaz separatists in the 1990s that led to Abkhazia’s de facto secession. Following a buildup of Russian troops in Abkhazia in August 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili launched a barrage of artillery shelling on the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, citing an imminent attack by Russian forces. Most experts have concluded that while both sides committed violations during the five-day conflict, the brash Georgian leader triggered the war. Saakashvili’s miscalculation gave Putin the opening he needed to seize control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, leaving both territories financially and militarily reliant on Russia — and a wellspring of bitterness that remains to this day. I saw that with my own eyes during a recent visit to this mountainous, West Virginia-size republic in the Caucasus. Accompanied by Tamta Goguadze, a spokeswoman with the State Security Service of Georgia, I traveled under military escort to the divided city of Tskhinvali, about 70 kilometers from Tbilisi and only five kilometers from the main highway. As traffic zoomed by, modern shopping centers gradually gave way to little villages and crumbling huts. Then the dirt road on which we were traveling ended abruptly. There, looming ahead, was an expanse of barbed wire stretching 51 kilometers into the distance. This was the de facto “administrative border” thrown up by Russian troops in 2011 to separate Georgia from the self-declared republic of South Ossetia. I quickly gathered my camera bag and clambered down an embankment.

A sign in English and Georgian — erected by Russia’s military — marks the so-called border delineating Russian-occupied South Ossetia.

“

PHOTO: LARRY LUXNER

For us, this is not an independent country but an occupied region. TAMTA GOGUADZE

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spokeswoman for the State Security Service of Georgia

Goguadze, mindful of the nearby threat, warned me not to photograph Russian soldiers on the other side — or venture too close to the enormous bilingual sign declaring this to be a “border” in the first place. “Our main challenge is the presence of Russian military forces within the Tskhinvali region,” she said, pointing to a map for greater emphasis. “There are 19 Russian FSB bases along the occupation line. They detain locals who are living in the occupied region and want to have communication with family members [on the other side].” Before the 2008 war, South Ossetia was home to 60,000 people, while the larger region of Abkhazia, situated to the west, hosted 550,000 inhabitants. Together, the two regions comprised 20 percent of Georgia’s total land area. “Today, according to our estimate, 20,000 to 25,000 people live in the occupied Tskhinvali region,” said Goguadze, noting that only Russia, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru have officially recognized South Ossetia’s sovereignty. “For us, this is not an independent country but an occupied region.” On July 17, Georgia’s ambassador in Washington, David Bakradze, testified at a hearing of the U.S. Helsinki Commission on the worsening situation for ethnic Georgians in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “The human rights situation remains alarming, with fundamental rights of the local population

infringed on a daily basis in the occupied region,” Bakradze told Congress. “Against the backdrop of intensified ethnic discrimination, restrictions on free movement, illegal detentions and kidnappings, deprivation of property rights, prohibition of education in the native language and other ethnically based violations, the local population is deprived of minimal safeguards for their lives.” David Vanishvili certainly doesn’t need a politician to tell him that. A lifelong resident of Tskhinvali, the 85-year-old farmer is today virtually a prisoner in his own village, which has been isolated by the barbed-wire barrier. “I cannot even buy bread,” he shouted from the other side. As our guide translated the old man’s words into English, a golden retriever rolled in the grass nearby. “I’m hungry. I don’t have Russian money from over there, or Georgian money from here. Kind people who know my situation pass me food through the fence.” Not far away, a young man named Gocha Makishvili explained matter-of-factly how he was collecting firewood in the fall of 2012 when a Russian soldier with an attack dog detained him in his own backyard. “They told me I had crossed the border illegally,” said Makishvili, who looks far older than the 33 years listed on his government-issued ID. The RusSEE GEOR GIA • PAGE 16 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 15

Georgia CONTINUED • PAGE 15

sians forced him into a car and took him to an FSB station in Ghduleti, less than one kilometer away. He said they kept him there for three days, roughed him up and freed him only after his family paid 2,000 rubles (about $30). “Unfortunately, we cannot do anything,” said Goguadze, the state security spokeswoman. This past February, Russian troops detained three Georgian citizens in Akhalgori. One of them, Archil Tatunashvili, died while in detention under unclear circumstances. The man’s family believes Tatunashvili was tortured; South Ossetian officials claim he died of heart failure. The other two men were released, minus their ID or transport documents; as a result, they still cannot leave the occupied region. “They’ve created a so-called crossing point for the locals who are living within the occupied region to prevent them from crossing. That’s why they installed a barbed-wire fence,” said Goguadze. “If they don’t have documents, they can’t cross.” That occupation line is only 450 meters from the main E-60 highway — close enough to see in some places. Along the dirt road, a sign notes the presence of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is helping local authorities settle internally displaced persons. The 2008 conflict left about 25,000 homeless in all; here in Khurvaleti, about 300 people now live in

PHOTO: LARRY LUXNER

Georgian soldiers talk to a local man across a barbed-wire fence erected by Russian troops in South Ossetia.

110 USAID-built dwellings. Datuna Rakviashvili is secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia and advisor to the president. He says Georgia’s 2008 war with Russia is just one more sad milestone in his country’s troubled history. “Georgia’s national calendar is full of commemorations of unfortunate events — most of them relate to the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation aimed at weakening Georgian statehood,” said Rakvi-

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16 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

ashvili, who served as deputy chief of mission at the Georgian Embassy in Washington from 2011 to 2013. “One of the key instruments Russia is now using against Georgia is its narrative that Georgia should acknowledge there’s a new reality, which is three independent states on Georgian sovereign territory,” he told us. “They are prejudicing the morale of society by putting up artificial lines to separate communities to prevent interaction between war-torn societies and split communities.” The pain lingers for many Georgians today. “You know how hard it is when you are thinking about your childhood,” said Tina Zhamerashvili, a 22-year-old manager at Tbilisi’s Greetings Hotel whose family was forced from their native town, Nuli, at the height of the war. “I was only 11 and I loved my village,” she recalled through tears. “And one day, I heard my mom saying, ‘We have to go.’ Within a few days, we had lost everything. We didn’t even have one plate, one spoon, even one chair to sit on. I was crying because I hated Tbilisi and wanted my bed back.” At a local police station in Khurvaleti, uniformed officers invited me to have Turkish coffee with them. These are the cops who actually patrol along the occupation line. “We have cases where locals are cultivating their orchards and the Russians appear and say, ‘You violated the border.’ They’re then tak-

en to the Tskhinvali prison,” said one officer who declined to be identified. “Then the locals are alone, in front of an FSB officer, without any possibility of resisting. They’re released only after paying around 2,000 rubles. This is a lot of money — a whole month’s salary.” Rakviashvili says Russia has been fighting a “hybrid war” against Georgia since its very first day of independence. “Russia went to war with Georgia in order to prevent Georgia’s integration into NATO. This is only one component of its political aims. Back in 1992, there was no indication about Georgia’s aspirations to join NATO or the EU, yet the Russians were exercising the very same policies, which have never changed.” Agnia Grigas, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, says the 2008 invasion “marked a turning point” in Russian foreign policy and started Moscow’s aggressive revisionist campaign that persists to this day. “From 2008, the Kremlin was no longer satisfied with softer means of influence such as propaganda, corruption, intimidation and coercion, and turned to military campaigns, land grabs, information warfare and cyber attacks,” she told The Diplomat by email from Washington. “Unfortunately, with the 2008 financial crisis and the change in U.S. presidential administrations, the Russo-Georgian war was soon forgotten on the international stage.” Grigas, author of “Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire,” said it was only with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine that it became evident that Georgia was not an exception, but rather part of the Kremlin’s broader strategy toward the post-Soviet space. “The Kremlin’s playbook to grab land involves sowing ethnic strife in neighboring countries in the name of protecting so-called Russian compatriots all under the blitzkrieg of information and cyber warfare, and with the backing of Russian military force,” she said. “Today, the frozen conflicts created in Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Moldova’s Transnistria and now in Ukraine have made these countries hostage to the Kremlin and constrain their paths toward integration into the European Union, NATO and the West.” WD Tel Aviv-based journalist Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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Cover Profile | WD

India in Overdrive Warm Ties Between India, U.S. Move Full Speed Ahead Under Trump BY LARRY LUXNER AND ANNA GAWEL

ver since taking office, President Trump has been making enemies out of allies and friends out of autocrats. He labeled poor African countries “shitholes,” started a trade war with China, called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “dishonest and weak” and trashed the European Union. Most recently, after bashing NATO, he accused Germany of being “held captive” by Russia — before launching a bizarre performance where he himself seemed captive by the charms of President Vladimir Putin as he vigorously defended Russia at the expense of America’s own intelligence agencies. But India has somehow escaped both the 45th president’s wrath and his oddly placed adulation. Its top diplomat here, Navtej Sarna, has the fortune of representing the world’s largest democracy on Embassy Row at a time of unusually warm — and refreshingly normal — ties between Washington and New Delhi. “It’s a unique privilege to be India’s ambassador to the United States, because India is so well-regarded here,” Sarna told us proudly. It’s not all thanks to Trump, obviously, but the honeymoon between the second- and third-most populous nations on Earth has clearly intensified since his inauguration. “Our relations have been consistently improving for the last two decades,” Sarna said in an interview. “The administration here may have changed, but everyone seems to agree on India’s strategic importance — our fundamental affinities — and the economic, scientific and technological possibilities for mutual advantage, not to mention the growing Indian diaspora in the United States. We have very strong, bipartisan support for that relationship on the Hill.” But the ties go far beyond Beltway politics, encompassing the kind of relationship with which Trump is most familiar: business. According to a September 2017 report in Bloomberg, India now has the most construction projects with Trump licensing deals of any country outside the U.S. itself, including a 75-story Trump skyscraper in Mumbai. Furthermore, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first foreign leaders to visit Trump after his January 2017 inauguration; Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, then led a November 2017 business delegation to India.

UNIQUE CV Sarna, a 60-year-old career diplo-

PHOTO: LAWRENCE RUGGERI

“

[S]ince the end of the Cold War, there’s been a greater appreciation of India as a democracy — one which has not only survived despite its really unique diversity, but one that has actually thrived and overcome many challenges. NAVTEJ SARNA, ambassador of India to the United States

mat, plans to stay in Washington until the end of 2018. A former high commissioner in London and ambassador to Israel from 2008 to 2012, he came here in November 2016 — but because of a fluke in scheduling, he only became India’s envoy to the United States during the last 48 hours of the Obama administration. “I presented my credentials in a rather unique manner,” he recalled. “We arrived well in time to have credentials for President Obama, but somehow in the last two months of his tenure, we could not get a window. However, we had to be accredited just before Trump’s inauguration; otherwise we could not attend. So we were accredited by executive order of President Obama, and that enabled me and 13 other ambassadors to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Trump, who then gave each of us a photo opportunity with him.” For Sarna, this latest assignment is a return to Washington, where he

served as minister counselor for press affairs at the Indian Embassy from 1998 to 2002. “Each capital is unique, but Washington provides a tremendously large canvas on which to operate, whether you’re working with the administration, or on the Hill or with industry or media. There’s a rich cultural life here, too.” The same could be said of Sarna, who was recently seen meditating on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol as part of the U.S.-wide “First International Day of Yoga” organized by the embassy. This veteran diplomat also moonlights as an author (see “From HIV/AIDS Research to Fiction Writing, Indian Couple Defies Convention” in the August 2017 issue). His books include: “Indians at Herod’s Gate: A Jerusalem Tale,” about an Indian hospice in the Holy City established centuries ago; “The Exile,” a novel about the last Maharaja of Punjab whose end came in a cheap hotel

”

room in Paris; a 2016 book of essays on authors and “the writerly life”; and “Folk Tales of Poland,” which he wrote in 1991 following his posting in Warsaw. He’s even dabbled in romance with the 2003 novel “We Weren’t Lovers Like That,” which follows the life of a 40-year-old man whose wife leaves him for another man, forcing him to contemplate reclaiming a long-lost love. Sarna is unique in other respects as well. Asked if he’s India’s first Sikh ambassador in Washington, he quipped: “I don’t know, but I’m certainly the first with a turban.” Sarna is ethnically Punjabi, but spent most of his childhood in Delhi and in Dehradun, a town in the hills. Following his university education in the capital, he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1980 and was immediately posted to Moscow. Then came assignments in Poland and the HimaSEE IN DIA • PAGE 18 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 17

PHOTO: LARRY LUXNER

Despite having one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, India still struggles with poverty, with over 20 percent of the population living below the poverty line.

India CONTINUED • PAGE 17

layan mountain kingdom of Bhutan. He also served as an arms control counselor in Geneva and was later posted to the Indian Embassy in Iran as counselor. Before his current posting in Washington, Sarna also served as spokesman for the Foreign Office in Delhi. “I agree that two decades ago, our relationship did go up and down, and was episodic,” Sarna told us. “But since the end of the Cold War, there’s been a greater appreciation of India as a democracy — one which has not only survived despite its really unique diversity, but one that has actually thrived and overcome many challenges.” It definitely wasn’t always smooth sailing between the United States and India, which has 1.3 billion people and will likely overtake China in 2022 as the world’s most populous nation. A senior Indian official acknowledged as much at the prestigious 2nd India-U.S. Forum in New Delhi this past April, when he said: “Indians have very positive attitudes toward the U.S. today. There’s virtually no government agency which doesn’t talk to the other side. We have much easier conversations now. A gathering like this would not have happened 10 years ago — maybe not even five years ago.” Fred Kempe, CEO of the Atlantic Council, says the United States and India now enjoy “the warmest relations we’ve ever had.” “There were 3,000 Indians in the United States when then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited the U.S. in 1949, and 3.3 million at the time of Prime Minister Modi’s election —and probably more than that now,” noted Kempe in opening the Delhi forum. “That just changes the whole texture of the relationship. President Trump has been very positive since his election and has repeatedly stressed the importance of bilateral ties.”

THE THREAT OF ‘AMERICA FIRST’ But Trump also has repeatedly stressed the importance of his “America First” agenda, particularly when it comes to trade and immigration — two areas that strike at the heart of the U.S.-India relationship. Trump has vowed to crack down on the 85,000 H-1B visas given to skilled foreign workers each year; the overwhelming majority go to Indians in the tech sector. Silicon Valley says H-1B visas bring in talent that keeps America at the forefront of global innovation — and that there aren’t enough qualified Americans to fill these high-skill jobs. (Studies have confirmed there is a large shortage of American workers trained in highdemand STEM jobs.) Trump vehemently disagrees. He says the H-1B program is rife with abuse (many experts agree) and that tech companies take advantage of it to recruit low-wage, entrylevel workers to boost profits at the expense of American jobs. The president wants to force companies to prioritize the hiring of Americans; lower the cap and duration of H-1B visas; rescind temporary work permits for H-1B spouses; and distribute the visas based on merit, not by lottery (also see “Trump Looks to Overhaul H-1B Visa System for Skilled Foreign Workers” in the September 2017 issue). Indian IT companies, which have outsourced hundreds of thousands of Indian software engineers and computer programmers to the U.S., have been particularly hard hit. The IT sector and related industries employ about 10 million people in India, according to a March 12, 2018, article in Deutsche Welle. So far, the Indian government has not forcefully raised the issue with the Trump administration, opting instead to quietly highlight the contributions that Indian workers have made to the U.S. economy. Sarna shied away from directly commenting on Trump’s anti-immigrant bluster, even though Indians now comprise the largest single group of new immigrants to the United States — more nu-

18 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

PHOTO: RHIANNON / PIXABAY

With 1.3 billion people, India is set to overtake China in 2022 as the world’s most populous nation.

CREDIT: OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD

President Trump meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit in Germany last year.

merous, in fact, than Mexicans or Chinese. In fact, according to University of Pennsylvania political science professor Devesh Kapur, Indian American households now have the single-highest income level of any group in the country — more than twice as high as the general U.S. population. “Everything that happens impacts other relationships,” said the ambassador. “We have a very big diaspora community, so naturally we would hope that any changes that come take into account the tremendous contributions made by highly skilled Indian professionals coming to the U.S., and the role they’ve played in helping make U.S. companies globally competitive.” Sarna said his country and the United States share fundamental values, including a strong civil society and freedom of the press. In addition, India under Modi has been very pro-business and India’s tech savvy has benefited both nations. “One of the prime minister’s flagship programs is

PHOTO: PIXABAY

Dust blankets the bustling streets of Hyderabad, a high-tech hub that, like other Indian cities, faces increasingly polluted air from its rapid development.

called Skill India. Another is Start-Up India. Today, if you visit Bangalore or Hyderabad, you’ll see thousands of people working on startups in a new ecosystem that’s being created. These are the problem-solvers of tomorrow,” he said, adding that “India’s transformational reforms and its ability to contribute highly skilled professionals [to the U.S. economy] have all added up.” To that end, Sarna said he’s

optimistic about prospects for U.S.-India trade, despite the huge tariffs the Trump administration has slapped against the European Union, China and other trade partners in the wake of rising protectionist sentiment at home. “We are keeping our eye on the ball. In the last year, we actually increased our trade with the U.S. to $126 billion. We have reduced the balance of trade, which was in our fa-

vor, by about 5.7 percent. We have orders for hundreds of airplanes from U.S. companies, which will reduce this balance further,” he said, noting that India also plans to spend about $4 billion a year on U.S. oil and gas imports. “These major purchases will take care of the trade balance,” he said. “We are now in constant touch between our people and theirs to resolve any remaining issues of market access.” Nevertheless, India recently joined the EU and other countries in imposing retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. The amount, however — $240 million — is far less than the billion-dollar levies China and the EU have slapped on the U.S. Like all of America’s trading partners, India is treading carefully when it comes to Trump. One Indian official, speaking at the recent inauguration of the D.C. office of Indian think tank CUTS International, said India, like other countries, needs to weather the Trump-related turbulence while promoting open-market principles. “Hopefully we’ll ride out the current attitude toward trade,” said Subhash Chandra Garg, secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs within India’s Ministry of Finance. “But in the medium run, it’s up to countries like India to sustain an open global trading environment. The fact is that the Indo-Pacific will continue to be the world’s economic center of gravity for a very long time. We talk about this being the Asian century, but strictly speaking, it’s the ‘Asian-Pacific Century.’ Therefore, India has to be positioned to contribute to and take advantage of this most dynamic place in the world economy.”

ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE There is little doubt that India already boasts one of the most dynamic economies in the world. This year, the ambassador said, India’s economy will grow 7.3 percent, reaching $3 trillion by 2025. India, in fact, recently beat France to become the world’s sixth-largest economy, registering a GDP of $2.6 trillion at the end of last year. Narendra Modi was voted into office in 2014 on an ambitious platform of overhauling India’s vibrant but structurally troubled economy. Among other things, he pledged to cut India’s notorious red tape; loosen restrictions on foreign direct investment; privatize state entities; rein in costly subsidies; tackle corruption; help the poor; and deliver jobs to the country’s young masses. Modi’s record has been mixed. On the one hand, he’s presided over stunning economic growth, including a high of 7.9 percent in 2015. He instituted a nationwide sales tax to replace a byzantine system of local taxes; created a more business-friendly environment; attracted record foreign investment (albeit from a low base); overhauled archaic bankruptcy laws; invested in infrastructure; and jumpstarted highprofile projects like Clean India, which shames rural Indians for defecating out in the open and aims to install millions of toilets across the country. But Modi has shied away from unpopular reforms such as revamping the country’s rigid labor laws or making land acquisition easier for businesses. Meanwhile, his overnight ban in 2016 on high-value bank notes (which constituted nearly 90 percent of the cash in circulation) to curb the country’s illicit black economy led to widespread chaos and pain for ordinary Indians and small businesses. More recently, Modi has suggested boosting spending on health care, rural jobs and farm subsidies — moves that, while politically expedient, threaten to blow a hole in the country’s already-fragile finances. Despite criticism that Modi hasn’t lived up to his economic promises, his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains popular heading into the prime minister’s re-election bid next year. The current debate over Modi’s economic achievements is a far cry from the debate that raged during his first campaign in 2014, when the Hindu nationalist was criticized for looking the other way as Hindu extremists slaughtered hundreds of Muslims in communal violence that rocked Modi’s home state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister at the time. In fact, before his election, Modi was not even welcome in the United States; he was denied a U.S. visa for his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Many feared that Modi would stoke Hindu nationalism once in office, but he has largely stuck to economic issues, although he has occasionally bowed to extremist pressures. Recently, he slapped new restrictions on cattle purchases in deference to Hindus’ reverence for cows, threatening the livelihoods of Muslim meat traders. Since the BJP’s election in 2014, there has been a rise in Hindu nationalism that has exposed a culture of hate toward Muslims and other minorities, like the Dalit caste. In recent years, the country’s 180 million Muslims — who make up about 15 percent of the population — have increasingly faced discrimination and hate crimes such as lynchings and mob attacks. Some worry that if the economy doesn’t pick up ahead of Modi’s re-election campaign next year, he’ll revert to stirring up communal tensions as a way of energizing his Hindu base.

BENEATH THE BRIGHT SPOTS, A DARKER UNDERBELLY The longstanding rift between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority is just one of the deeply rooted problems that percolate beneath the surface of this South Asian success story. India is a dichotomy of forward-thinking

India at a Glance Independence Day Aug. 15, 1947 (from the U.K.) Republic Day Jan. 26 (1950) Location Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan Capital New Delhi Population 1.3 billion (July 2017 estimate) Ethnic groups Hindu 79.8 percent, Muslim 14.2 percent, Christian 2.3 percent, Sikh 1.7 percent, other and unspecified 2 percent (2011 estimate)

GDP (purchasing power parity) $9.4 trillion (2017 estimate)

GDP per-capita (PPP) $7,200 (2017 estimate) GDP growth 6.7 percent (2017 estimate)

Flag of India Unemployment 8.8 percent (2017 estimate) Population below poverty line 21.9 percent (2011 estimate)

Industries Textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software, pharmaceuticals SOURCE: CIA WORLD FACTBOOK

wave of mob attacks fueled by false rumors about child kidnappers spread by WhatsApp. Child rape has even been used as a religious weapon. In January, an 8-year-old girl who belonged to a nomadic Muslim tribe was held hostage in an Indian temple for days, gang raped and murdered to scare the nomads away. Disgusted protesters of all faiths fanned out across the country — yet right-wing Hindu nationalists in the community actually protested in support of the eight Hindu men arrested for the grisly crime. “Obviously, these issues pose dangers for India itself as a liberal democracy, and the Modi government’s inability to control extremist elements, such as the cow vigilantes, in India is troubling,” Ashley J. Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told India Abroad in a July interview. “For the moment, India’s well-wishers in Washington are hoping that these are all aberrations,” the Mumbai-born Tellis said. “But if they represent an illiberalism that makes India look similar to Pakistan or China, the difficulties of sustaining strong bilateral ties, even in a Trump administration that couldn’t care less about liberal values, will increase substantially.”

PAKISTAN: PERENNIAL THREAT

PHOTO: PIXABAY

Despite its economic and democratic advances, India remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a woman or a girl.

progress and stubbornly regressive attitudes. Alongside its dramatic democratic and economic gains is an uglier side of Indian politics and traditions, from its discriminatory caste system to its treatment of women to its glaring poverty. There is no doubt that India’s fast-paced development has lifted millions out of poverty. But it’s also left millions behind. Today, in exploding cities like Delhi, garbage-strewn slums stand in stark contrast to the gleaming skyscrapers that symbolize the country’s yawning inequality gap. Roughly 60 percent of India’s population lives on less than $3.10 a day, according to the World Bank. And Oxfam notes that the richest 10 percent of the country control 80 percent of its wealth. “Another way to look at it: In India, the wealth of 16 people is equal to the wealth of 600 million people,” wrote Moni Basu in an October 2017 CNN report. “One India boasts billionaires and brainiacs, nuclear bombs, tech and democracy.” In the “other” India, Basu writes, “almost 75% still lives in villages and leads a hardscrabble life of labor; only 11% owns a refrigerator; 35% cannot read and write.” Meanwhile, people of all stripes are choking on India’s runaway growth, literally. The World Health Organization now ranks Delhi as the most polluted megacity on the planet (Mumbai came in fourth). Air tainted by car exhaust, factory emissions and the illegal burning of crops has forced flight cancelations, shut down schools and was linked to up to 2.5 million deaths in 2015. It has even turned the white marble walls of the Taj Mahal green. Climate change has exacerbated the country’s extreme weather patterns, including heat

waves that have propelled temperatures in India to reach 118 degrees Fahrenheit. As the government tries to manage the negative byproducts of rapid development, its progress has been hampered by patriarchal beliefs and age-old hatreds. Despite India’s march toward modernity, it is one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and girls. The country’s National Crime Records Bureau says a rape occurs at least every 20 minutes. In 2012, the gang rape and fatal beating of a 23-year-old woman on a private bus in Delhi stirred global outrage, as thousands protested the country’s treatment of women. Despite vows to fast-track rape investigations, cases rarely lead to a conviction and sexual assault remains underreported. Moreover, a growing number of attacks involve children, including one girl as young as 7 years old who was recently raped and left to die with her throat slit open. In another gruesome incident, a group of 17 men — ranging in age from 23 to 66 — is accused of repeatedly raping and molesting an 11-year-old girl over the course of several months. “An entire community got together to rape a child. I cannot even fathom the depravity and horror of this act,” Indian journalist Rohini Singh lamented on Twitter. Modi has increased jail sentences for rapists and introduced the death penalty for those convicted of raping children under the age of 12, but the country’s courts are backlogged and prosecution is spotty at best. Some have even taken justice into their own hands — with deadly results. The government is fighting a

So far, that hasn’t happened. In fact, one reason U.S. ties with India have dramatically improved under Trump is the president’s antipathy toward India’s arch-enemy, Pakistan. The two nuclear powers have been at odds ever since Britain partitioned the subcontinent in 1947. Since then, India and Pakistan have fought three major wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Relations remain hostile in the wake of sporadic terrorist attacks, cross-border raids and violent flare-ups. Throughout much of the Cold War, the United States was firmly aligned with Pakistan, while India generally sided with the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, Washington gave the Pakistanis funding and weapons to help it train the mujahedeen fighters who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan. But in 1990, after the U.S. determined that Pakistan had a nuclear device, it cut off military and economic aid. That aid resumed after 9/11, when Washington urged Pakistan to join the “war on terror” in Afghanistan — but relations again took a nosedive following the Obama administration’s raid on Pakistani soil that killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. Relations have continued to take a turn for the worse under Trump. Back in January, the White House suspended $255 million in U.S. military aid to Islamabad, hours after Trump tweeted that “the United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Yet all this should be cause for concern, writes Charles Tiefer in a Jan. 2 article in Forbes titled “Beware Trump’s Clumsy Tilt Against Pakistan Toward Modi’s India.” “Frankly, Trump could drive Pakistan away from its warm Cold War relationship with America, toward full service to the Chinese,” he warned. “The Chinese want, and are getting, important ports for their expanding navy to use in the Indian Ocean, as well as economic ties. And, Pakistan can make it difficult logistically to support the American mission in Afghanistan.” More important, Tiefer warns, “Pakistan has a massive nuclear arsenal. In coming years, it may have the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Too much Trump tilting against Pakistan and towards Modi’s BJP India feeds the potential onset of paranoia that tinges Pakistani nationalist elements in the population, the military and the ISI (intelligence apparatus).” Sarna said the Trump administration has indeed issued “some really important statements” SEE INDIA • PAGE 21

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 19

WD | United States

American Summer Old World Traditions Meet Overeating and Cherry Pit Spitting BY KARIN ZEITVOGEL

n America, there are a few sure signs that summer has arrived. The smell of barbecuing meat wafts through the air. Beaches are crowded. Inner-city fire hydrants spew never-ending fountains of water. Movies are shown on big screens outdoors. Kids are packed off to their grandparents or summer camp. Dogs cower in basements as fireworks mark the Fourth of July. And people engage in pastimes that are little known outside America, like the corn-hole game, eating contests or even a cherry pit spitting contest. Because the U.S. is a nation of immigrants, Americans also get to take part in or watch as people who came here from other countries celebrate summer their way. Often, that involves a mixture of pagan and Christian rites to mark the summer solstice and remember the birth of St. John the Baptist several thousand years ago. The two dates — the solstice and the feast of St. John — happen to fall around the same time in late June, but it took a few hundred years after Christendom caught on in Europe to blend the two into one big celebration.

REIGNITING OLD TRADITIONS Back in the olde worlde, Europeans usually hold their big summer celebration on June 23, the eve of the feast of St. John and also very close to the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year. In many parts of Europe, St. John’s Day celebrations involve dancing, drinking, eating and often lighting bonfires and jumping over the still-glimmering embers when the flames have died down. In some towns in France, residents push wishes written on paper into the woodpile (before it’s lit) and watch (after the blaze has started) as their desires rise to the heavens with the smoke from the fire. This is supposed to guarantee that their wishes will come true Some say the bonfire tradition is a pagan rite that pre-dates Christianity, with the fire symbolizing the light and warmth of the sun. Others say the tradition began in 12th-century France — hundreds of years after King Clovis I, considered the founder of France, was baptized a Christian. Whenever and wherever it started, it caught on, spread and stuck. Danes celebrate the day, sometimes called Summer Christmas, with bonfires lit at dusk and often topped with an effigy of a witch. In Quebec, St John’s Day is also the national holiday and is marked by parades and fireworks, along with the occasional bonfire. In Florence, Italy, celebrations last for three days, giving everyone reading this an excuse to visit Florence and the town of Fiesole, which overlooks it. In Genoa, bonfires are lit on the beaches and a procession crosses the city, carrying the relics of St. John the Baptist, which were reportedly brought to the coastal Italian city in the 11th century (St. John is the patron saint of Genoa). In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico — which Christopher Columbus named San Juan Bautista, whose capital, San Juan, means St. John — water symbolizes baptism and is at the heart of the summer celebration. At the stroke of midnight, as June 23 becomes June 24, tourists and residents of Puerto Rico walk backward into the ocean and “dunk” themselves into it (fall backward) three, seven or 12 times. The water is said to be blessed and dunking 20 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

PHOTOS: KARIN ZEITVOGEL

Above, a Polish dance troupe performs in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in D.C. on June 23, 2018. Europeans have brought their tradition of marking the summer solstice and the Feast of St. John in one fell swoop to America. Below, Marielle Stratford wears a flower garland on her head at the summer solstice festival in Dupont Circle, organized by the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

“

In Latvia, this is bigger than Christmas. It’s a kind of free-spirit celebration with very good food and very tasty beer. ARVILS ZELTINS

Latvian Embassy Second Secretary

is supposed to cleanse partakers of bad things and bestow good luck on them. Mexicans celebrate in a similar way, according to a 1908 issue of the Sacred Heart Review, published by St. John’s prep school in Danvers, Massachusetts. “Everybody in Mexico takes a bath on St. John’s Day,” the publication says. “In Mexico City, the people flock to the different bath-houses to celebrate the day. High diving, swimming under water and various other aquatic feats are performed by the bathers, amidst the cheers, applause, laughter and criticism of an enthusiastic crowd. A small green pear is the favorite fruit eaten on that day. They are presented in large bunches by the gallants to their favored fair ones, who in turn toss them into the water for the chattering, shivering swimmers to pick up.” Everywhere the feast of St. John is celebrated, it involves copious amounts of eating and drinking, which might be the precursor to American foodeating contests, the best known of which is probably Nathan’s hotdog eating contest, held on the day

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of that big American summer festival, the Fourth of July, in New York City’s Coney Island. Repeat competitor Joey Chestnut of California won for the third time in a row this year — his 11th win in the competition — swallowing 74 hotdogs in buns in 10 minutes. Chestnut is ranked number one in the world in competitive eating by Major League Eating, the world body for professional eating contests. Yes, it really exists.

MIDSUMMER IN THE SWAMP Other countries’ festivals aren’t nearly as excessive as American eating competitions, but, like the American feeding frenzies, often feature specific foods. Latvia, along with its neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, brought a taste of Baltic summer solstice celebrations to D.C.’s Dupont Circle this year. The country produces a fresh curd cheese called Jani siers — John’s cheese — for the summer solstice celebration. Traditionally, the cheese flavored with caraway seeds and other Baltic specialties is

washed down with beer, but given U.S. liquor laws and the presence of minors, the beer on tap in Dupont Circle was alcohol-free. Bonfires were also out of the question in Dupont Circle, but in the Baltic states, fires, along with music, dancing and staying up until the wee hours, continue to be a key part of the summer solstice festivities. Dancers dressed in what looked like very hot traditional outfits performed Baltic dances in Washington’s heat and humidity, and folk singers sang in the square as people ate Jani siers and celebrated summer. This year, the Baltic states also fêted their 100th anniversaries, with all three founded in the aftermath of World War I. “In Latvia, this is bigger than Christmas,” said Latvian Embassy Second Secretary Arvils Zeltins. “It’s a kind of free-spirit celebration with very good food and very tasty beer.” A few miles away from Dupont Circle, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Poles clad in traditional dress and thick tights that looked wholly unsuited to the swamp-like temperatures of Washington, D.C., danced for tourists, residents and other Poles. On the grass off to one side of the memorial, women made wreaths, or wianki in Polish, which, according to Polish legend, are then thrown into a body of water. “In Poland, they put the wreath into the Vistula River with a wish that they will find a husband,” Polish native Maria Sender told The Washington Diplomat. “St. John’s is the shortest night of the year, and in parts of Poland, girls also go into the woods to find a special flower that only blooms on this night. If you find this flower — kwiat paproci, or flower of the fern — the saying goes you’ll find love, good health and prosperity.” If you’ve never seen a fern flower, it’s because ferns don’t produce flowers. They reproduce via spores. This may explain why love, good health and prosperity have never been found on a short sortie into the woods. In addition to the St. John’s Eve customs, Latvians are thought to have given the world the Christmas tree. An end-of-winter ritual in Poland, called Marzanna, is a little less exportable. It involves throwing a doll made of straw — a witch who represents the cold, snowy season — into a body of water, signaling winter’s death and spring’s rebirth. Sometimes, before dousing her in water, the effigy

India CONTINUED • PAGE 19

and taken a tough stance against Pakistan as part of its South Asia strategy — for good reason. “There is an expectation, particularly as part of efforts to resolve the situation in Afghanistan, that Pakistan must come down on all sanctuaries of terrorism on territory under its control,” he said. “Pakistan needs to do much,” Sarna continued. “When our prime minister came to power in 2014, he started off with an invitation to his swearing-in to all leaders, including Pakistan. He made several other gestures to foster dialogue. He also went to Pakistan to attend a function at the house of the prime minister. Unfortunately, every such gesture has been reciprocated with a terrorist attack. It is quite clear that terrorism and dialogue cannot be happening at the same time. So we will continue to work on our counterterrorism and look for international cooperation.” On that subject, Sarna appears to be particularly passionate.

just under 12.75 meters. His wife, Marlene, won the women’s division with a spit of 29 feet and 10.5 inches — just half an inch farther than 28-year-old Chelsey Torres. Torres’ sister finished second to “Pellet Gun” Krause with a spit of 36 feet and 8.5 inches. Incidentally, Krause’s son, “Young Gun, is the world record holder for pit spitting, at 93 feet and 6.5 inches. Pit spitting requires good lung capacity and the ability to “seal your tongue around the pit really good so you don’t have any air escape, other than when you want it to,” Krause explained. What you do with that talent is another question. Do you put it on your CV? Use it as a way to attract a partner? Master of ceremonies Lynne Sage pointed out that both “Pellet Gun” and “Young Gun” have appeared on different TV shows. “David Letterman, the Today Show, Jay Leno have featured them. I suppose I’d put that on my resume,” she said. The competition is billed as international, although this year, there was only one nonNOTE: Although every effort is made to assure American your ad ispresent, free ofand mistakes spelling and he wasinCanadian. content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. In the past, however, contestants from the PHOTO: KARIN ZEITVOGEL Philippines (where many people have the The Cherry first two faxedchampionship changes will made cost to thetoadvertiser, changes practice bysubsequent spitting out betel A competitor spits a cherry pit at the 45th International Pit Spitting in Eaube Claire, Mich.,at no opportunity on July 7, 2018. nuts after chewing them), Germany, approved. Egypt, will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered Israel, Spain and Honduras have taken part in a cherry pit farther than the is set on fire. While Poles enjoy the tradition again spitting this slice Americana. Please check this ad carefully. Mark anyofchanges to The yourwomen’s ad. winner, and some have tried to keep it alive in Amer- next guy or, as was the case this year, girl. Marlene Krause, is a member of the Navajo Because that’s a uniquely American charac- tribe. ica, it’s one of those activities that could easily If the adteristic is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes of the Cherry Pit Spit: If a woman can be misconstrued. This year was the 45th cherry pit spit. A Sender carried out the Marzanna tradi- spit as far as a man, she can compete against gusty wind prevented any new records from (301) pit 933-3552 him. In theDiplomat eclectic world of cherry spit- being set. Next year, the event will be held on tion when she first moved to America.The “WeWashington lived in a small town in Michigan and I was ters, men and women are created equal and July 6. Winners in all categories get a medal, a with the right to spit cherry pits as food hamper and the right to put on their CV so thankful that the police weren’t there be- endowed Approved __________________________________________________________ cause if they had seen a woman and two girls far as they can. that they can outspit just about anyone. WD Changes ___________________________________________________________ Krause, 64, successfully defended his title throwing something that looks like a body ___________________________________________________________________ in 2018, expectorating the last of his allotted Karin Zeitvogel is a contributing writer into the water, they might not have underthree cherry pits 41 feet and 8.75 inches, or for The Washington Diplomat. stood. We didn’t do that tradition again.”

AN AMERICAN TRADITION: IT’S THE PITS The cherry pit spitting championship at the Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, Michigan, has all the trappings of a traditional American festival. There are red, white and blue ribbons, a beauty queen, uncomfortable seating, food, a soprano singing the national anthem and more food. But there’s also the suspense of wondering if Rick “Pellet Gun” Krause will be able to defend his title by once

“For us, cooperation in counterterrorism is a very important aspect of the U.S.-India relationship,” he told us. “Terrorist organizations are known to morph from one to another. They have deep connections in funding, training and intelligence sharing. It’s very important that India and the U.S. — and for that matter, Israel — forge a common front against terrorism.” James Carafano, vice president of national security and foreign policy at the hawkish Heritage Foundation, agrees — and argues that the U.S. hasn’t gone far enough to strengthen ties with a natural ally in a volatile part of the world. “America is serious about the notion of a strategic partnership with India,” said Carafano, speaking at the India-U.S. Forum. “I don’t think [National Security Advisor John] Bolton or [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo were hired to rewrite foreign policy. These guys were brought in to move on Trump time. That’s good, because if anything needs Trump time, it’s the U.S.-India relationship. We are simply moving too slow.” WD Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat. Anna Gawel (@diplomatnews) is managing editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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WD | Book Review

What Is Statesmanship? ‘The Peacemakers’ Grapples with Leadership Through Personal Examples BY JOHN SHAW

flaws and wanted to reform communism and the Soviet Union. His agenda had three components: glasnost (political openness), perestroika (economic restructuring) and transformation to a post-Cold War world. Gorbachev’s revolutionary foreign policy included curtailing the nuclear arms race with the United States, withdrawing Soviet forces from Afghanistan, relaxing the Soviet grip on Eastern Europe and developing amicable relations with America. Gorbachev’s domestic reforms were substantial, but not enough to fundamentally change his country. He was assailed by conservatives for going too far and by liberals for not going far enough. Gorbachev’s bold experiment unraveled in 1991. A coup in August of that year by disgruntled security and intelligence officials, including members of his own government, failed but demonstrated Gorbachev’s shaky control over his country. Then a succession of Soviet republics declared their independence from Moscow and by the end of the year, the Soviet empire had disintegrated. Gorbachev’s resignation speech on Christmas Day declared that the threat of nuclear war had ended and that “work of historic significance has been accomplished.” But he lamented the demise of his nation. Jentleson gives Gorbachev much of the credit for the peaceful end of the Cold War and quotes his biographer William Taubman, who concluded that Gorbachev “almost single-handedly changed his country and the world.”

he concept of statesmanship has intrigued political thinkers since at least the time of Plato, with analysts grappling over the term’s conceptual complexity and the relatively scarce examples of this kind of elevated leadership throughout history. “The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship” by Bruce W. Jentleson looks at statesmanship through the prism of 13 case studies from the 20th century and considers what lessons can be drawn from these examples for our current time. Jentleson is well equipped to examine the issue. A professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, Jentleson is a leading scholar of American foreign policy, having written three books and numerous articles on the topic. He also has been a foreign policy practitioner. He was a senior advisor in the State Department’s Policy Planning Office from 2009 to 2011 and then worked on President Obama’s 2012 foreign policy campaign advisory committee. Before that, he advised Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign and served in the State Department during the Clinton administration. Jentleson contemplates statesmanship from the lens of personal profiles and specific historical examples rather than precise definitions. He says his book seeks to be a global companion to “Profiles in Courage,” which was written in 1956 by then Sen. John F. Kennedy about eight American senators who displayed unusual political courage. Jentleson posits that there is a need for “global leaders who are able and willing to be transformational, to break out of narrow tunnel-vision thinking and myopic focus on today but not tomorrow.” In deciding which 20th-century peacemakers to profile, he uses three criteria: They were involved in transformational statesmanship rather than transactional diplomacy, they were critical and distinctive actors who made a “big difference,” and they had a significant impact on events regardless of their formal title or position. Jentleson draws his 20th-century leaders from the realms of major power rivalry, international institutions, the struggle for identity, advancing freedom, protecting human rights and fostering global sustainability. He examines these statesmen over a defined period, not their entire careers, and notes that they had important partners who also shaped events. He acknowledges — and laments — that his profiles are heavily Western and male-dominated, but observes this was the diplomatic reality of the last century that is likely to change in

22 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD (1953 to 1961)

PHOT O: DU K

E PHO TOGR A

PHY

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[There is a need for] global leaders who are able and willing to be transformational, to break out of narrow tunnel-vision thinking and myopic focus on today but not tomorrow. BRUCE W. JENTLESON

”

author of ‘The Peacemakers: Leadership Lessons from Twentieth-Century Statesmanship’

the decades ahead. Jentleson examines each of the leaders in the context of who they were as individuals, why they made important decisions, how they pursued their goals and what they achieved. The result is an interesting array of profiles that describe compelling leaders and raise provoca-

tive questions about statesmanship. Several of my favorites are:

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV (1985 to 1991)

The last leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev understood his nation’s

An accomplished Swedish civil servant, Hammarskjöld was selected by the U.N. Security Council in April 1953 to be the U.N.’s second secretary-general. His more than eight-year tenure was deeply consequential. He understood the secretary-general had considerable global prestige but limited formal powers. So persuasion was essential. Hammarskjold regarded the U.N. as crucial for preventing crises and managing those that occurred. When necessary, he was willing to use the secretary-general’s “right of initiative,” the discretionary authority to act without the approval of the Security Council or the General Assembly. Jentleson examines Hammarskjöld’s diplomacy in three crises: tensions between the U.S. and China in 1953 and 1954 over American prisoners from the Korean War, the Suez Canal crisis of 1956 and the Congo crisis in 1960 and 1961. In all, Hammarskjöld undertook SEE PEAC EMAKER S • PAGE 24

Nordic Vantage Point | WD

Seat at the Table Op-Ed: Norway Pledges to Be Consistent Partner If Elected to U.N. Security Council BY NORWEGIAN AMBASSADOR KÅRE R. AAS

wo years from now, five nonpermanent members of the U.N. Security Council will be elected for the two-year term of 2021-22. Norway is a candidate for one of those five seats. We hope to convince the world that we are a strong one. Why is Norway seeking membership in the U.N. Security Council? And what can we bring to the table if elected? The Security Council is a core part of the United Nations. Acting on behalf of the U.N.’s 193 members, it is the only body with a mandate to make internationally binding decisions on issues related to the maintenance of peace and security. Only the Security Council can authorize the use of military force and sanctions in the name of the global community. The decisions of the council often have far-reaching consequences for many people. Norway is seeking membership on the council to promote multilateral cooperation based on international law as a foundation for global solutions. A The U.N. Security Council considers climate-related security risks during a meeting on July 11, 2018. rules-based multilateral world order has been important for Norway’s own security and economic growth for seven decades. We believe that strong, shared mechanisms for international cooperation are in everybody’s interest. Conflict combined with a lack of economic opportunities for large numbers of people is a recipe for a vicious circle toward more poverty, more violence and more human suffering. Norway is engaged and contributes substantially to efforts through the U.N. and other institutions to end or prevent conflict, promote sustainable development and meet humanitarian needs. with social and economic development, is key ago, a full renovation and technological upgrade As a member of the Security Council, Norway to reducing poverty and mitigating large-scale of the chamber was undertaken. would, in particular, focus on equal rights and migration. We see the gift as a symbol of our longstandthe importance of including both Throughout the years, Norway has ing commitment to the United Nations. Now we men and women in efforts to creplayed a prominent role as a trusted fa- ask to use one of these chairs for ourselves. ate lasting peace, reconciliation and As a member of the Security Council, Norcilitator in several international peace economic development. We would processes, including in the Middle way would do what we always do well: promote highlight security issues related to East, the Philippines and Colombia. what we believe in, while at the same time listen climate change and the links beOur experience from these processes to others and seek to reconcile positions. In dotween security and sustainable dewould be a contribution to the work of ing so, we build on networks and good relations velopment. And we would support with partners — traditional ones as well as oththe Security Council. initiatives for sustainable oceans Over the years, tensions have of- ers, large and small — and work in a consistent and forests. ten run high in the Security Council and predictable way to achieve agreed solutions, We would also strive to make the KÅRE R. AAS chamber. Meetings may last until the for a common future. WD Security Council more transparent, ambassador of Norway early hours. In such situations, the rest to the United States efficient and representative. of us should take some comfort in the Nordic Vantage Point is a series of columns More than 1 percent of Norway’s fact that at least the chairs are comfort- written by Kåre R. Aas, who has served national income is spent on development aid, able and the room functional. The chamber was as Norway’s ambassador to the U.S. since and we are one of the largest financial contribu- furnished and decorated by Norway, right down September 2013, prior to which he was tors to the U.N. We do so because we believe to the tapestry and drapes. It was initially pre- political director at the Ministry of Foreign that preventing or solving conflict, combined sented to the U.N. in 1952 as a gift. Five years Affairs in Oslo.

“

CREDIT: UN PHOTO / ESKINDER DEBEBE

As a member of the Security Council, Norway would, in particular, focus on equal rights and the importance of including both men and women in efforts to create lasting peace, reconciliation and economic development.

”

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 23

Peacemakers CONTINUED • PAGE 22

more than 75 international missions during his time as secretarygeneral and accomplished much. “To the extent that he had charisma, it was more about capability than color, more about determination than dynamism,” Jentleson writes. “His sharp political skills were quite the surprise for those who initially saw him as a standard bureaucrat. He was self-confident enough to engage in negotiations with formidable counterparts and skilled and savvy enough to keep coming up with political formulations and legal bases for mutually agreeable diplomatic resolutions. He also had his rough edges … with a touch of arrogance, engendering some resentment. Whether in spite or of or because of such imperfections, he was a truly extraordinary secretary-general.”

NELSON MANDELA

PHOTO: UN

Former U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld is seen in an August 1954 photo.

CREDIT: UN PHOTO / GREG KINCH

Then-South African President Nelson Mandela addresses the 53rd session of the U.N. General Assembly in September 1998.

(1956 to 1999)

Arguably the most remarkable statesman that Jentleson chronicles is Mandela, who emerged from more than 27 years as a political prisoner to help negotiate the end of apartheid and lead the first biracial democratically elected government in South Africa. Mandela was released from prison in February 1990 and elected president four years later following an extensive negotiation with President Frederik Willem de Klerk and then a successful campaign against de Klerk for the presidency. While he had a difficult personal life with two failed marriages and tension with his children, Mandela became the father of a new South Africa. He brought to his work a largeness of spirit. “I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity,” Mandela once wrote. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of their skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” His presidency was uneven in terms of administration, but he forged a societal reconciliation in South Africa that no one else could have achieved. He cared less about policy details than about national unity. From supporting the white Springboks national rugby team to establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in July 1995, Mandela was able to bring South Africa together far better than anyone else could have. “His persona even more than his policies legitimized reconciliation,” Jentleson declares.

YITZHAK RABIN (1992 to 1995)

Rabin was also, in Jentleson’s view, a statesman of the first order. A respected Israeli military leader, ambassador to the United

PETER BENENSON (1961 to 1967)

PHOTO: U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

From right, President-Elect George H.W. Bush and former President Ronald Reagan take Mikhail Gorbachev on a tour of Governors Island in New York City on Dec. 7, 1988.

PHOTO: BY GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE (ISRAEL), CC BY-SA 3.0

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, shakes hands with Jordan’s King Hussein as President Bill Clinton watches following a peace treaty signing between Israel and Jordan in 1994.

States and defense minister, Rabin launched a bold peace initiative in 1992 during his second stint as prime minister. A member of his country’s founding generation, Rabin was the first prime minister born in Israel and was viewed as “Mr. Security.” He believed that peace would not guarantee Israel’s security, but Israel could never be secure without peace. His motto blended idealism and pragmatism: “I will fight terror as if there were no peace talks and I will pursue

24 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

peace as if there were no terror.” Rabin’s handshake with Yasser Arafat in September 1992 on the White House lawn was a signature moment of peacemaking, as was his poignant speech with the plaintive plea, “Enough of blood and tears. Enough.” Rabin and Arafat signed a follow-on agreement in September 1995, but Rabin was assassinated about a month later. Jentleson believes that had Rabin lived, there may have been a broad Middle East peace agreement.

organized around a coherent and enduring concept: sustainable development. “Our Common Future” became the most widely read U.N. report in history, with a Google hit count of nearly 100 million. The report’s organizing theme was simple and even elegant: “meeting the needs and aspirations of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” She later served successfully as the head of the World Health Organization.

“The Peacemakers” is a strong, The founder of Amnesty Inter- compelling and valuable book. The national in 1961, Benenson was a profiles are clear and readable and British lawyer who helped launch the stories of successful diplomacy the human rights movement with are inspiring. Jentleson reminds his advocacy for “prisoners of con- us that high-level leadership is science” and his powerful essay not only possible but has occurred “The Forgotten Prisoners.” Jentle- relatively recently. His focus on son says that Amnesty Interna- determined and successful leaders tional went through three underscores the notion distinct phases: its launch that people can drive, and consolidation from or at least shape, history. 1961 to 1970; its rise to This is a healthy correcprominence in the 1970s tive to some academic and 1980s; and then its literature that places alreceding as other human most exclusive emphasis rights groups assumed ason what Jentleson calls cendancy in the 1990s. “systemic forces and He argues that Benensuch timeless dynamics son was a visionary who Peter Benenson as national interest and balance of power.” suffered from founder’s The book raises many questions, syndrome, in which the qualities that were needed to launch the some directly, others by implicaventure did not carry over to the tion and others by inadvertence. next stages of organizational de- For example, he describes Microvelopment. He argues that after the soft founder Bill Gates as a philanRwanda genocide in 1994, other thropic statesman and chronicles groups took the lead role in the hu- his hugely consequential work. man rights movement such as Hu- Here, I found this use of the term man Rights Watch, Doctors With- “statesman” confusing. Gates, to out Borders, International Rescue be sure, is a very influential person Committee and the Open Society and his foundation is a global powInstitute. Nonetheless, he argues er. But I’m not sure his leadership that Benenson was a pioneer and a constitutes statesmanship. I wish Jentleson had defined man of historical consequence. statesmanship more precisely beyond being “transformative.” As GRO HARLEM I see it, statesmanship involves at BRUNDTLAND least four qualities: a focus on the long term, a willingness to take (1987 to 2003) personal or political risks, comThe three-time Norwegian passion and effectiveness. This prime minister achieved global seems to mirror Jentleson’s thinkprominence with her chairmanship ing, but he never says so explicitly. of the World Commission on En- This raises a broader point: Is there vironment and Development, cul- any difference between strong and minating in the group’s 1987 report purposeful leadership and states“Our Common Future.” Brundt- manship? Are all strong leaders land skillfully led lengthy delibera- statesmen? If not, why not? These tions of the panel over four years, are questions that Jentleson might with its meetings lasting between wish to grapple with in future writsix and 12 days and including ings on this important topic. WD representatives from nongovernmental organizations and civil so- John Shaw is a contributing writer ciety. She crafted a report that was for The Washington Diplomat.

Medical A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

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August 2018

Personal Breakthrough Targeted Immunotherapy Seems to Rid Woman of Advanced Breast Cancer •

udy Perkins was 49 and battling breast cancer that had spread, but chemotherapy and hormone treatments had failed to rein in her disease. So, her doctors tried a highly sophisticated but experimental, immunotherapy.

It worked beyond their wildest expectations: Her body was cleared of all signs of cancer. And the research team that tried the cutting-edge treatment hopes the case will herald a major breakthrough in cancer treatment.

BY ALAN MOZES

The immunotherapy was tailored to the particular genetic mutations of Perkins’s tumor. In the end, the medical team identified 197 mutations. Of those, 196 were characterized as “unique” to Perkins. SEE I MMU NO T H E R A PY • PAGE 26

TOP PHOTO: CI PHOTOS / SHUTTERSTOCK

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 25

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Immunotherapy CONTINUED • PAGE 25

[H]ighly personalized treatments are likely to be necessary if we are to make progress in treating common cancers.

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DR. STEVEN ROSENBERG, chief of the surgery branch at the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research

The researchers then deployed a relatively novel intervention called adoptive cell transfer (ACT). Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that boosts the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer. It uses substances made by the body or in a laboratory to improve or restore immune system function. ACT is a specific type of immunotherapy that essentially enlists and enhances a patient’s own immune system by activating an army of T-cells to launch a highly targeted attack on those cancerous mutations. The result: Perkins remains cancer-free more than two years after her treatment ended. When Perkins, a retired engineer from Port St. Lucie, Fla., was first diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2003, she thought she’d beaten it, according to NPR. “I thought I was done with it,” she told the radio network. But she felt a new lump almost 10 years later, and her physicians discovered the cancer had spread throughout her chest. “I became a metastatic cancer patient,” Perkins said. “That was hard.” And although the treatment was grueling, Perkins is grateful. “I’m one of the lucky ones,” Perkins said. “We got the right T-cells in the right place at the right time. And they went in and ate up all my cancer. And I’m cured. It’s freaking unreal.” Her doctors are just as thrilled.

PHOTO: PIXABAY

“The message in this paper is twofold,” explained study author Dr. Steven Rosenberg, chief of the surgery branch at the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research. “One, that it is now clear that for multiple cancer types that are [resistant] to all known chemotherapies and immunotherapies, attacking the unique mutations in a patient’s cancer can result in dramatic durable cancer regressions,” he said.

The second message, he added, is that “we need a new paradigm for cancer therapy.” By that, Rosenberg said he means that “highly personalized treatments are likely to be necessary if we are to make progress in treating common cancers.” The researchers emphasized that while Perkins’s case revolved around breast cancer, the basis for treatment centered on mutation identification, rather than on cancer type. And that likely means there’s every reason to believe that her case can serve as a template for tackling a wide array of other cancers that have also proven impervious to standard treatments. Rosenberg goes so far as to suggest that “the development of this approach holds the best opportunities for finding effective immunotherapies for patients with the solid cancers that last year caused over 500,000 deaths in this country.” The research team noted that ACT has actually already been used to treat melanoma. However, while melanoma typically gives rise to a lot of cell abnormalities, that’s not the case with the sort of cancers that first take root in the lining of organs. Such so-called “epithelial cancers” include stomach, esophageal and ovarian cancer, as well as breast cancer, all of which are solid cancers with relatively low levels of mutations. In this latest case, published June 4 in the journal Nature Medicine, Perkins’s team

was able to sift through her immune system to find those T-cells best equipped to wage war on her disease. Those T-cells were then extracted, multiplied exponentially in a lab setting, and put back into Perkins to supercharge the desired immune response. Besides demonstrating an ability to eliminate breast cancer, Rosenberg and his team already have additional preliminary results suggesting that the technique is similarly effective against both liver cancer and colon cancer. “The complexity of the treatment scares away many oncologists who think that this is not practical,” acknowledged Rosenberg. But he suggested the ACT approach is exactly the “drastic change [that] is needed if we are to make substantial progress in curing patients with cancer.” WD Alan Mozes is a HealthDay reporter. Copyright © 2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

LEARN MORE: For more information on immunotherapy, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute at www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/ treatment/types/immunotherapy.

The International Patient Program at the George Washington University Hospital Caring for Our Diplomats and International Community We provide a boutique concierge program that offers personalized healthcare services for diplomats, international patients, and U.S. and non-U.S. citizens. The International Patient Program can help you and your family with: • Complimentary language interpretation • Physician and hospital appointment scheduling • A complimentary personal escort to medical appointments • Medical cost estimates

To learn more, contact the program director at +1-202-715-5028 or Helen.Salazar@gwu-hospital.com

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26 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

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DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

Mindful Diplomacy Dr. Lubka Stoytcheva, a neurologist and the mother of two sons, takes a break from medicine to join her husband, Bulgarian Ambassador Tihomir Stoytchev, on their third tour of Washington, D.C. / PAGE 29

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August 2018

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INSPIRED

CHAOS Chaos is the plumb line running through the work of renowned German artist Georg Baselitz, who twists familiar forms, inverts his images upside down and generally draws into his palette the scars left by the often-troubling times in which he’s lived. / PAGE 28

ART

Swahili Gateway For centuries, the Swahili Coast, where East Africa meets the Indian Ocean, served as a gateway between Africa and the outside world — the artistic fruits of which are seen in “World on the Horizon.” / PAGE 31

ART

Unflinching Cartoons British graphic artist Ralph Steadman, 82, is still as personally colorful as are his dark-humored illustrations, caricatures and cartoons, which veer from fantastical beasts to unflinching social commentary. / PAGE 32 Georg Baselitz’s “Orangenesser (IX) (Orange Eater (IX))”

PHOTO: © GEORG BASELITZ 2018. SKARSTEDT, NEW YORK. PHOTO: FRIEDRICH ROSENSTIEL, COLOGNE

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 27

WD | Culture | Art

Chaos on Canvas Georg Baselitz Retrospective Reveals Six Decades of Inspirational Turmoil •

BY MIKE CROWLEY

Baselitz: Six Decades THROUGH SEPT. 16 HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN INDEPENDENCE AVENUE AND 7TH STREET, NW

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

haos is the plumb line running through the work of Georg Baselitz, currently on view in a career retrospective at the Hirshhorn. The German artist, still active, trained on both sides of divided Cold War-era Germany. His work boasts similar divisions. Baselitz twists familiar artistic forms, inverts his images upside down and generally draws into his palette the scars left by the often-troubling times in which he’s lived. “Baselitz: Six Decades,” the first major U.S. retrospective of the figurative artist’s work in over 20 years, commemorates Baselitz’s 80th birthday and builds on a 1996 Hirshhorn exhibition of his art. Over 100 works chronicle every phase of Baselitz’s six-decade career, including his iconic paintings, works on paper and wood and bronze sculptures. They explore PHOTO: CATHY CARVER Baselitz’s innovative depictions of the human “Baselitz: Six Decades” commemorates the German artist’s 80th birthday figure and, for the first time ever, the influence American abstract with over 100 works, including his wood and bronze sculptures and expressionists had on his formative early work, as well as his ongoiconic inverted paintings such as “Maria und Franz Marc,” left, and ing impact on contemporary American painting and sculpture. “Fünfzinger Jahre Porträt–M. W.,” bottom. Born in 1938, a year before Germany invaded Poland, Baselitz’s PHOTO (AT LEFT): © GEORG BASELITZ 2018. COURTESY HALL ART FOUNDATION. PHOTO: ROBERT MCKEEVER father was a Nazi Party member who was banned from teaching after World War II. The artist’s lifetime spans Europe’s conflicted 20th century. He wound up embedded in its chaos throughout his career, as Cold War tensions overlapped with Germany’s struggle against domestic terrorism with the emergence in the late 1960s of the Baader-Meinhof Group. Even as he moved between media, the anxiety of ever-present conflict is present throughout. Baselitz came of age in post-war East Germany, where he studied the officially sanctioned art form of social realism in communist Berlin. In 1957, he was kicked out of East Berlin’s Academy of Fine and Applied Arts for “sociopolitical immaturity” — a term with heavy shadings of the Nazi label “degenerate art” — and continued PHOTO: CATHY CARVER his studies in West Germany. The move was fortuitous the “inversion” seems political: a nod to the fact because it brought Baselitz into more direct contact with that the 20th century quite literally turned the the works of Western artists that would influence him world on its head. heavily, starting with Jackson Pollock. Pollock’s signature The exhibition also features one of Baselitz’s drips and splashes quickly appeared in Baselitz’s work most notable and shocking works, 1962’s “The after the move, as did bold colors and blurred forms that Naked Man,” which was confiscated by authorisuggest he was also drawn to Willem de Kooning, Philip ties both for its lewdness and its critique of GerGuston and perhaps Mark Rothko. many’s socialist politics. Beyond the influence of specific artists, however, Political punishment early in life didn’t quash Baselitz developed his own distinct style during a seemBaselitz’s impulse for bold political statements. In ingly lifelong mission to shake up classical modes of “Finger Painting - Eagle” (1972), he renders the painting. Most artists push back against the prevailing PHOTO: © GEORG BASELITZ 2018. PHOTO: JOCHEN LITTKEMANN symbol of German (and American) nationalism conventions of their time. Baselitz, however, appears unique in doing so systematically and with the single-mindedness and care in a child’s hasty style — a statement in itself. The image is also inverted, but here of someone painstakingly setting up an elaborate domino display so they can with profound meaning: This eagle doesn’t soar; it plummets against a stormy sky that disintegrates into Pollock-like drips at the bottom edge of the canvas. knock it down with glee. He offers contorted approaches to still lifes, triptychs and, most famously, his The criticism of post-World War II nationalism is hard to miss. At the same time, Baselitz celebrates the postwar strength of the German peoseries of “inverted” portraits that earned him international acclaim. There is no great trick in turning a painting upside down, and for all of Baselitz’s stated in- ple in series such as “Heroes,” which reverberates with the violence of his time. tent to “free” his portrait subjects from their traditional context, at first glace His heroic figures — abandoned in what the exhibition calls a “post-apocalyptic little is gained from the tactic other than gimmickry. The images themselves, landscape” — are ragged but noble. In their ravaged world (even Baselitz’s trees however, are stark, and after a while, particularly in large works, the eye is drawn SEE BASELITZ • PAGE 30 to parts of an inverted canvas that a viewer might otherwise overlook. Overall,

28 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Diplomatic Spouses | Culture | WD

Brainy Bulgarian Neurologist Wife Takes Break from Medicine While in Washington •

BY GAIL SCOTT

s she waved me into her big circular drive in front of the spacious home, wearing a radiant smile, I instantly got a sense of the bedside manner that Dr. Lubka Stoytcheva, wife of Bulgarian Ambassador Tihomir Stoytchev, probably exudes back home. “Although this is our third time in Washington,” she told us, “this is the first time my husband is ambassador, anywhere.” Tihomir Stoytchev, a career diplomat, most recently served as foreign policy secretary to the Bulgarian president. Before that, from 2008 to 2011, he was deputy chief of mission of the Bulgarian Embassy here in Washingdifficult to enter than dentistry or ton, D.C., where he also was chargé pharmacology. “My parents were d’affaires for almost 10 months. He pharmacists but my father told me served in D.C. on another previous that being a pharmacist was too stint from 2003 to 2007 as counselor much like being a salesperson. So I for political and economic affairs durbecame a doctor,” she said. ing the time when Bulgaria became a “I studied medicine for six years member of NATO and the European and then had four more years of Union. residency. From the first day on, I It has been more difficult for knew that I wanted to be a neuroloStoytcheva to further her career durgist,” she told us. “It takes years to ing their three tours in Washington. build up a private practice and with She is a neurologist but is not allowed our traveling, it was impossible. I to formally practice in the U.S. From don’t know where I’ll be [working] 2003 to 2007, she was able to work as when I go home, but I probably will a health care specialist — but not a be hired by a hospital. That’s what I doctor — at the Neurology Center in did before.” Silver Spring, Md. This time around, Stoytcheva said her homeland she spends much of her time reading has a strong tradition of emphasizup on the latest research in her field, ing the importance of education accompanying her husband to diploand work, which is ingrained at a matic events and hosting them at the young age. Dr. Lubka Stoytcheva studied neurology in Bulgaria, focusing on the fields of movement residence. Her scientific affiliations are “In Bulgaria, students go straight disorders, headaches, pain management and clinical electromyography, before coming mainly in the fields of movement disorto graduate school. We don’t have to Washington with her husband, Bulgarian Ambassador Tihomir Stoytchev. ders, headaches, pain management and four-year colleges,” she explained. clinical electromyography. “Everybody is expected to work in She is also the mother of two grown my country. We don’t have many sons, neither of whom followed their unemployed Bulgarians or stay-atparents’ career trajectories, eschewing home moms. We are raised with the diplomacy and medicine in favor of idea that everyone should work, but business and technology. Svetoslav is 29 it is not always easy for the diploand works with a Baltimore bank. Anmatic and military spouses to work ton is 26 and works in IT in New York abroad. We are allowed to work City. Both studied economics. DR. LUBKA STOYTCHEVA but it depends if special permission “When we were in Brussels from from home is necessary first.” wife of Bulgarian Ambassador Tihomir Stoytchev 1996 to 2000, they were small, 4 and 7, Now that Stoytcheva is taking a and since Belgium is a French-speaking break from medicine, she has emcountry, they learned French and English in school. Then when we went back braced her informal diplomatic role promoting her homeland. to Sofia, they learned [Bulgarian].” “Bulgaria is one of the oldest states in Europe, having been established in Stoytcheva and her husband actually met in high school. They were in the 681. We are the only country in Europe that hasn’t changed its name since it was same class, spending four years together from 9th to 12th grade, although they established,” she said. “My country is situated at the crossroads between Europe weren’t high school sweethearts. and Asia. Many cultures left their mark on this land,” she added, noting influ“He was always the smartest guy in our school. He made the best speeches,” ences from the Thracian, Slavic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. “As a she proudly recalled. “I hate to make speeches. That way we are an example result of this multicultural interaction, my country is very tolerant.” of opposites attracting each other. We didn’t date in high school; we were just The country came under Soviet control from 1946 until the fall of commufriends. For the senior prom, we all go separately.” nism in 1989. They may have gone separately to the prom, but that is where they began to “At the beginning of the ’90s, Bulgaria started its unique process of transtake a romantic interest in each other, and from then on, they didn’t go their formation and transition [when the Eastern Bloc collapsed] from a one-party separate ways again. regime to a plural democratic system, from a state-owned economy to a free Each did pursue separate career paths, although medicine was not market,” she said. Stoytcheva’s first choice. “I always wanted to be an architect even though it’s The nation of over 7 million people has made dramatic advances since then, very tough and competitive. I liked math and drawing. One night when I was ushering in a period of steady economic growth with an open-market economy still in high school, my father and I were talking and he said, ‘You know, all that is now classified in the upper middle-income range. The financial crisis of the new buildings today are kind of the same. Would architecture be creative 2007-08 and subsequent belt-tightening took a toll on the economy, however. enough for you? Why not become a doctor?’” They discussed the possibility, knowing that the field of medicine was more SEE DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES • PAGE 30

“

I studied medicine for six years and then had four more years of residency. From the first day on, I knew that I wanted to be a neurologist.

”

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 29

Diplomatic Spouses CONTINUED • PAGE 29

Bulgaria also still grapples with serious problems such as corruption, crime, a weak judiciary and reliance on Russia for its energy needs. But growth recently returned thanks to sound fiscal management and an investment-friendly environment. Tourism in particular has been a major economic driver, as more people discover this hidden gem. “Almost 100,000 Americans visit Bulgaria each year,” Stoytcheva said. “We have beautiful resorts on the Black Sea and over 50 spas and wellness centers with hot mineral waters and holistic health.” In addition to its scenic destinations, many people may not be aware that Bulgaria is the largest global producer of perfumery essential oils such as lavender and rose oil. It also has a long tradition of winemaking. “Wine has been produced on our land for over 5,000 years and Bulgaria is the only place where you can find natural ‘lactobacillus bulgaricus’ — live bacteria used to make yogurt. This probiotic product has been known for at least 4,000 years,” Stoytcheva noted. She said Bulgaria also takes pride in its religious diversity and rich history. “After Greece and Italy, Bulgaria has the most valuable artifacts and archeological monuments of any European country. Instead of castles, we have monasteries — over 120,” Stoytcheva said. “In our capital Sofia, in the downtown area, you can see two Orthodox churches in the Byzantine style built by Constantin the Great in the fourth century; an Eastern Orthodox cathedral; a Catholic cathedral; a synagogue; and a mosque. All of them are well preserved

and functional. Different religious denominations have coexisted peacefully over the centuries. “This year, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the historic rescue of Bulgarian Jews,” she added. “In 1943, during the darkest times of the Holocaust, Bulgaria saved all its citizens of Jewish origin, numbering almost 50,000. Our Jewish community was the only one in Europe which not only survived during the war, but also increased its size. The critical role of the salvation was played by the Bulgarian Church, some intellectuals, members of Parliament and, most of all, the Bulgarian people. “My country is also well known for its rich cultural heritage and traditions, and folklore music with its unique rhyme and dances,” she continued. The embassy, in fact, hosts monthly concerts with the Bulgarian Music Society. This past May 12, “The Great Bulgarian Horo Washington 2018” concert was held at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial with more than 400 participants dancing together to traditional Bulgarian music. Stoytcheva likes one tradition in particular: the holiday of Martenitsa. “Every March 1, we welcome spring and celebrate the end of winter and snow by wearing and exchanging redand-white thread bracelets,” she explained. “We wear them until we see the first stork in a flying position. Then, we take the bracelets off and hang them on a blossoming tree…. We have lots of storks in Bulgaria.” Meanwhile, back in Washington, Stoytcheva goes to Crunch Gym’s Barre Bootcamp several times a week and enjoys walking and biking with her family. “It’s nice to meet new people and learn about their problems and what else is going on in their lives. When I say I’m from Bulgaria and tell them a few things about my country, they are often surprised. They say, ‘I knew nothing about Bulgaria before I met you.’” WD Gail Scott is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Dr. Lubka Stoytcheva and her husband, Bulgarian Ambassador Tihomir Stoytchev, are currently on their third posting to Washington, D.C.

Baselitz CONTINUED • PAGE 28

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bleed through bandages), his subjects stand up straight, defiant in their dignity, their outward glances suggesting a future beyond the present wreckage. They are survivors among the ruins, getting ready to rebuild — human symbols of a postwar Germany. Baselitz turned to sculpture later in his career, with controversial results. His “Model for a Sculpture” debuted in 1980 at the Venice Biennale, where some viewers saw in its outstretched arm the echoes of a Nazi salute. But that interpretation becomes harder to imagine after spending time PHOTO: © GEORG BASELITZ 2018. PHOTO: JOCHEN LITTKEMANN with the piece. The seated fig“Beginging, ” made in 2011, is one of Georg Baselitz’s ure’s right arm is raised upward and outward (once again defiantly, heroically) more recent works. in either a gesture of openness, greeting or perhaps an attempt at an embrace. He may or may not have a left arm. There’s a block where his legs should be. Far from an aggressor, it is a portrait of a wounded warrior, only this time in three dimensions. “I keep being surprised that new things are possible,” says Baselitz in a video near the end of the exhibition, where pieces completed as recently as last year wrestle with the artist’s mortality in more abstract images. It’s a welcome message to hear from anyone who has devoted decades to a career in any one craft, and seeing Baselitz’s most recent work last, one leaves the exhibition on a hopeful and vital note. In the video conversation, the artist has a cheerful and affable manner that belies the often-ominous mood of his work. It also underscores the optimism that runs alongside the chaos throughout it. WD Mike Crowley is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.

30 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Art | Culture | WD

Swahili Crossroads Centuries of Culture Converged at Intersection of East Africa and Indian Ocean •

BY KATE OCZYPOK

World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean THROUGH SEPT. 3 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN ART 950 INDEPENDENCE AVE., SW (202) 633-4600 | AFRICA.SI.EDU/

or centuries, the Swahili Coast, where East Africa meets the Indian Ocean, served as a gateway between Africa and the outside world. Merchants traded everything from gold and ivory to slaves from this 1,800-mile-long stretch of coastline, made up of the modern nations of Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. The region quickly became a commercial crossroads that gave rise to communities with their own distinct culture, religion, language and economy. It’s only fitting then that the new exhibition at the National Museum of African Art showcases the global exchanges that broke barriers between Africa and Asia in a space that physically connects the Smithsonian’s African and Asian art museums. “World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean” highlights this key crossroads through an array of objects that reflect the expansive network of trade that developed along the Swahili Coast over a millennium. This commercial and cultural convergence shaped the region’s identity, as goods and people traveled vast distances, empires came and went, and connections were forged that endure to this day. The exhibition is curated by Allyson Purpura, senior curator and curator of global African art at Krannert Art Museum in Illinois, and Prita Meier, assistant professor of art history at New York University. Purpura said she was drawn to the Swahili Coast because of its diverse history. “For me personally, I’ve always been interested in areas and regions of the world where places are sort of formed by a confluence of cultures, a coming together of different peoples and perspectives,” she told us. “The East African coast is a wonderful space that brings together so many different cultures to create a unique place.” The over 160 pieces of art on display from four continents attest to the broad reach of the Swahili Coast. The exhibit features pieces loaned from the National Museums of Kenya and the Bait Al Zubair Museum in Oman that will make their debut with North American audiences. Purpura said the exhibit is a great reminder that people have complex, multilayered origins, reinforcing “the idea that we can look both far and close by for thinking about who we are in the world.” The exhibit is organized by theme, with objects featured for both their artistic merit and historical relevance. There are stunning pieces of jewelry, carved doorposts and other intricately crafted pieces of furniture, sculptures, maps and even illuminated Korans, a reflection of the Islamic influence that dominated the coast. These beautifully illuminated Korans are among Purpura’s favorites. “There’s a special love and attachment to the beauty of devotional practices of the coast and their connection with Islam,” said Purpura, who has published essays on topics such as Islamic charisma and piety in Zanzibar, as well as script and imagery in African art. “Their calligraphic style and ornamentation is uniquely Swahili. There’s also the use of language to decorate things and to speak to people directly by using proverbs and riddles to communicate nuanced ideas; there are beautiful words written and encased in beautiful amulets.” Purpura said the exhibit not only illustrates how cultures converged along the Swahili Coast, but also demonstrates Africa’s enduring impact on the wider Indian Ocean world. “They extend way across the Indian Ocean into the Atlantic,” she said. “Swahili culture is a window into seeing how Africa has contributed to aesthetic styles and preferences across the Indian Ocean.” WD Kate Oczypok (@OczyKate) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

“World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean” features over 160 pieces of art from four continents, including, from top left clockwise: a mid 20th-century mask by a Makonde artist; a 17th-century drum from Wasini Island in Kenya; a 1708 Portolan Chart by Dutchman Frederick de Wit; J.P. Fernandes’s photograph “Ostafrikanische Schönheit (East African Beauty)”; and a late 19th-century dhow chest.

PHOTOS FROM TOP CLOCKWISE: QCC ART GALLERY OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK; MOMBASA FORT JESUS MUSEUM, NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF KENYA; THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN; PRIVATE COLLECTION;COLLECTION OF MOHAMED KHAMISA, MOMBASA, KENYA

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 31

WD | Culture | Art

Crazed Cartoons Steadman Retrospective Illustrates British Graphic Artist’s Wild, Wide-Ranging Career •

BY KATE OCZYPOK

Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective THROUGH AUG. 12 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MUSEUM 4400 MASSACHUSETTS AVE., NW (202) 885-1000 | WWW.AMERICAN.EDU/CAS/MUSEUM/

ritish graphic artist Ralph Steadman’s advice to young artists is that there’s no such thing as a mistake — only the opportunity to do something else. The 82-year-old artist is as personally colorful as are his dark-humored illustrations and caricatures, which veer from fantastical beasts to unflinching social commentary. The frenzied, whimsical nature of his work belies the technical mastery behind it. Steadman has honed his skills over the last 50 years, creating a distinct style that raises the bar on cartoon drawing. He advises young illustrators not to spend too much time pre-penciling — instead start right away in ink. “There’s a psychological nature in drawing,” he told us. “It’s a silent process — of course unless you do it to rock ‘n’ roll.” The eccentric artist’s illustrations will be on display at the American University Museum in “Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective.” The exhibit will explore the full breadth of Steadman’s work, including his earliest published cartoon from 1956 as well as a previously unknown piece created around the 1974 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. The collection of over 100 original artworks takes viewers on a wild ride through Steadman’s long and varied career, which ranges from prominent magazines to children’s books. Steadman is particularly famous for his longtime friendship and collaboration with writer Hunter S. Thompson, a counterculture icon who founded the gonzo journalism movement, which mixes firsthand narrative and fictional storytelling with traditional reporting. Steadman provided illustrations for Thompson’s cult novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” which examines the American dream through a drug-induced haze. The New York Times wrote that, “Steadman’s drawings were stark and crazed and captured Thompson’s sensibility, his notion that below the plastic American surface lurked something chaotic and violent. The drawings are the plastic torn away and the people seen as monsters.” Reflecting on Thompson, who committed suicide 13 years ago, Steadman said, “He wasn’t very diplomatic in a maneuverable, usable function; he never really was…. One thing he said was, ‘I’d feel real trapped in this life if I couldn’t commit suicide at any moment.’” But his collaboration with Thompson was just one piece of a wide-ranging career. Steadman has produced work for publications such as Rolling Stone and the New Statesman, as well as classic novels like George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and the 50th anniversary edition of “Fahrenheit 451.” The exhibit includes atmospheric wine drawings made for Oddbins, an online liquor and spirits collection, charming children’s book illustrations, humanitarian photos and savage political caricatures. Steadman in particular takes an unapologetic aim at President Trump, whom he calls an “awful character.” One drawing shows him as “Trumpelstiltskin,” a play on the greedy children’s fairytale character Rumpelstiltskin. “He is not a politician,” Steadman told us. “At least Tricky Dicky was,” he

32 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

PHOTOS: AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

The American University Museum explores British graphic artist Ralph Steadman, seen below, and a wide-ranging 50-year career that spans children’s illustrations to biting political cartoons, as seen in works such as “Rumble Jungle,” above, and “Donald Trump,” left.

added, referring to President Richard Nixon’s nickname. There’s another savage Trump satire where Steadman portrays him as a grotesque baby soiling his red, white and blue diaper. “He’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to this beleaguered country,” the artist declared. A noteworthy piece Steadman mentioned was “Francis Bacon Christmas Party.” “‘Francis’ was a wonderful, eclectic experiment,” he said of the print, which depicts a table of screaming, almost maniacal blobs around a bloody turkey. “Conventional portrait painting is rather unadventurous,” Steadman said. Accompanying the exhibit is a 160page color catalogue that includes a forward by Johnny Depp, journalist Carlo McCormick and artist Anita Kunz. As far as future projects, Steadman PHOTO: RIKARD OSTERLUND isn’t slowing down as he continues to experiment with unconventional techniques and imagery. He said he has begun a series of drawings using water that he washes his paintbrushes in. “The water gets dirtier and dirtier and older and older and it starts to smell a bit if you leave it long enough,” he explained. Steadman then tips the dirty water onto paper about three feet up and it splats onto the page. “You then shake it a bit and move it this way and that,” he said. “Then you leave it and it takes about three days to dry. The textures are really fantastic.” WD Kate Oczypok (@OczyKate) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Art | Culture | WD

‘Infinite’ Possibilities Women Aboriginal Artists from Australia Encourage Viewers to Slow Down •

BY MACKENZIE WEINGER

Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia THROUGH SEPT. 9 PHILLIPS COLLECTION 1600 21ST ST. (202) 387-2151 | WWW.PHILLIPSCOLLECTION.ORG

PHOTO: © NONGGIRRNGA MARAWILI / COURTESY BUKU-LARRNGGAY MULKA ART CENTRE, YIRRKALA / PHOTO: SID HOELTZELL

ines, dots and repetition yield to a meditative and contemplative experience at the Phillips Collection this summer, where the latest special exhibition focuses on the remarkable work of nine contemporary women artists of Aboriginal Australia. The artists featured — Nonggirrnga Marawili, Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati, Angelina Pwerle, Carlene West, Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Lena Yarinkura, Gulumbu Yunupingu and Nyapanyapa Yunupingu — showcase their unique cultural traditions and creative innovations through a variety of media, from traditional bark paintings to digitized images. With “Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia,” the Phillips has brought a summer art experience to Washington that demands viewers to take a step back and quietly reflect. “Even though we don’t understand a lot of the background, the symbolism and the content of these works … I think there are universal meanings in these works that can touch us,” curator Klaus Ottmann told The Washington Diplomat. “There’s this view about the human condition and connecting the earth with the sky that is really powerful in these works that I think can help anyone to reflect back to themselves and see themselves in the larger picture of the universe.” On a recent Sunday afternoon in a mostly empty gallery, large-scale canvases immediately grabbed the eye, as did the Larrakitj poles, striking memorial poles that stood in the center of two rooms. It’s a sparser exhibition than some of the more recently packed shows at the Phillips, giving the paintings — and visitors — space to take in the vibrant colors and imagery. “Marking the Infinite” has leaned into this feeling, encouraging visitors to take the contemplation audio tour to encourage slow looking. “There’s a lot of works that really have the potential to keep people in the galleries. For me, as a curator, for my entire life my number-one goal has always been to create exhibitions that keep people in the galleries. I would love people to stand still, to spend time — as much time as possible. That is my ultimate goal,” Ottmann said. Images are made with a variety of materials, with bark, palm leaves, wood, feather and paint all making appearances on canvases. Iconography is connected to specific clans, and the curators have highlighted quotes from the artists, making for a fuller experience by allowing museumgoers to read firsthand from the women, rather than only a curator or anthropologist. “My grandfather and grandmother used to make big fishnet, before Europeans came to Australia. We call it syaw. They used to make four or five and put them in the water. I forgot the stitch because the missionaries took us in, and my grandparents died,” Regina Pilawuk Wilson states in the caption to her work, “Syaw (Fishnet).” “My big sister told me to do the story on painting for our children and grandchildren, so they can remember what our ancestors used to do a long time ago. She drew it on the sand, on the dirt, and told me to paint it. I’ve got to paint the story on the canvas. It’s like our history,” Wilson said. The Phillips’s focus here on women artists is particularly welcome, given some of the recent blockbuster shows at gallery — like “Ten Americans: After Paul Klee” and “Renoir and Friends: Luncheon of the Boating Party” — that highlighted male artists. And this group is particularly fascinating, as women in Aboriginal Australia only started painting about 20 years ago, Ottmann said. Traditionally, it was only the men who were artists. This allowed the women, who “weren’t limited by the thousands of years of tradition that the men are committed to,” to be “much freer in expressing themselves,” he said. “The works are, in a way, more innovative, more experimental and more modern. Because modernism is really about breaking with traditions,” Ottmann told The Diplomat.

PHOTO: © REGINA PILAWUK WILSON / COURTESY DURRMU ARTS, PEPPIMENART / PHOTO: SID HOELTZELL

The Australian Embassy highlights the work of nine contemporary women artists from Aboriginal Australia, including, from top clockwise: Regina Pilawuk Wilson’s “Syaw (Fishnet); Wintjiya Napaltjarri’s “Women’s Ceremonies at Watanuma”; Lena Yarinkura’s “Yawkyawk”; and Nonggirrnga Marawili’s “Yurr’yun.”

PHOTO: © LENA YARINKURA / COURTESY MANINGRIDA ARTS AND CULTURE / PHOTO: SID HOELTZELL

PHOTO: © WINTJIYA NAPALTJARRI / ABORIGINAL ARTISTS AGENCY LTD. / COURTESY PAPUNYA TULA ARTISTS / PHOTO: SID HOELTZELL

Women artists not only offer a different perspective on 40,000 years of culture and history found in male-dominated Aboriginal art, they also help modern-day communities survive by controlling the artwork that is produced and sold around the world. The Phillips worked closely with the Australian Embassy for this show. Officials were “extremely helpful” in helping arrange Wilson’s visit to paint murals in the museum’s courtyard, Ottmann recalled. Diplomats assisted the museum not only in bringing Wilson to the gallery, but also in informing staffers about protocols for her visit — for instance, in making sure a representative of the Piscataway Indian Nation, the traditional owners of the land that the museum is on, would be there to officially invite her and welcome her to paint. An embassy official also “came to talk about protocols, pronunciation for our staff and our guards, so we all know how to speak about the art,” he said. “It was an incredibly positive experience working with the embassy,” Ottmann said. This show is “a first for the Phillips Collection,” Ottmann noted, as the gallery has never before held an exhibition of Aboriginal Australian art. “At the same time, the exhibition is very much in line with a very long tradition of fostering a global conversation between modern and contemporary art that goes back to our founder Duncan Philips, who very strongly believed in the power of art to promote peace and resolve conflicts,” he said. WD Mackenzie Weinger (@mweinger) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat. THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 33

WD | Culture | Film

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

CANTONESE I’ve Got the Blues Directed by Angie Chen (Hong Kong, 2017, 90 min.) This documentary centers around artist Yank Wong. A complex man who resists definition, Wong is a painter, art director, set designer, writer, musician and photographer — a true renaissance man who expresses his creativity in multiple forms. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 12, 2 p.m.

Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu Directed by Lau Kar-leung (Hong Kong, 1982, 109 min.) This cult classic Shaw Brothers film will be accompanied by a live score blending hip-hop, soul, funk and more, mixed live by Shaolin Jazz cofounder DJ 2-Tone Jones. The result is a new soundtrack that accentuates specific scenes and fight sequences. Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Aug. 3, 7 p.m.

The Secret Directed by Ann Hui (Hong Kong, 1979, 90 min.) Ann Hui, who went on to become a monumental figure of Hong Kong cinema, skillfully utilized the dynamics of the Hollywood suspense genre to tell a decidedly local tale. The story takes off from a horrific crime inspired by a real-life incident, turning sensational headlines into a map of social and psychological currents (Cantonese and Mandarin). Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 5, 2 p.m.

CZECH 8 Heads of Madness (8 hlav šílenství) Directed by Marta Nováková (Czech Republic, 2017, 107 min.) The film follows the life of the talented Russian poet Anna Barkova (1906-76), who spent 22 years of her life in the Gulags. She survived thanks to the help of her poetry, hope for better days and passionate love for a woman named Valentina. The Avalon Theatre Wed., Aug. 8, 8 p.m.

ENGLISH BlacKkKlansman Directed by Spike Lee (U.S., 2018, 135 min.) In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth is the first African American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a name for himself, Stallworth bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. Angelika Mosaic

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | August 2018 concert documentary captures their last live show in Vancouver, British Columbia, the culmination of a year’s work on the part of the band and their dedicated crew. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug. 24, 7:20 p.m.

Atlantic Plumbing Cinema Opens Fri., Aug. 10

Blindspotting Directed by Carlos López Estrada (U.S., 2018, 95 min.) Lifelong friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in this timely and wildly entertaining story about the intersection of race and class, set against the backdrop of a rapidly gentrifying Oakland. Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Landmark’s E Street Cinema

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Directed by Casey Wilder Mott (U.S., 2018, 104 min.) One of Shakespeare’s most beloved creations is the frolicking tale of lovesick young aristocrats, energetic but inept rustics and mischievous woodland spirits. This production is a fresh and stylish reinvention set in present-day Hollywood, making great use of the locations. Landmark’s Theatres Opens Fri., Aug. 17

Dark Money Directed by Kimberly Reed (U.S., 2018, 99 min.) This political thriller examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials. The film takes viewers to Montana — a frontline in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide — to follow an intrepid local journalist working to expose the real-life impacts of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. West End Cinema

PHOTO: MAGNOLIA PICTURES

Danish actress Trine Dyrholm stars as an aging singer who revives her career but still grapples with personal demons in “Nico, 1988.”

to San Francisco and the ways it looks and feels through the medium of cinema. AFI Silver Theatre Tue., Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m.

Eighth Grade

Hochelaga, Land of Souls

Directed by Bo Burnham (U.S., 2018, 93 min.) A rare film that perfectly captures the awkwardness of adolescence, this poignant comedy focuses on 13-year-old Kayla as she endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence and makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year. Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Directed by Francois Girard (Canada, 2017, 100 min.) This mesmerizing time-travel drama spans eight centuries of layered indigenous, colonial and contemporary histories. Uncovering artifacts and clues to Montreal’s extraordinary past, a young archaeologist of Mohawk heritage embarks on an incredible journey of discovery through the tangled history of his at-once-modern and ancient city (English, French, Mohawk and Algonquin). AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Aug. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Far from the Tree Directed by Rachel Dretzin (U.S., 2018, 93 min.) This life-affirming documentary explores the difficulties and rewards of raising and being a child whose experience is vastly different from that of his or her parents, featuring families coping with the challenges presented by Down syndrome, dwarfism, autism and having a child in prison. West End Cinema Opens Fri., Aug. 3

Juliet, Naked Directed by Jesse Peretz (U.S., 2018, 105 min.) “Juliet, Naked” is the story of Annie (the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan) and her unlikely transatlantic romance with once revered, now faded, singer-songwriter Tucker Crowe, who also happens to be the subject of Duncan’s musical obsession. Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., Aug. 24

Generation Wealth

Love, Cecil

Directed by Lauren Greenfield (U.S., 2018, 106 min.) Acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield puts the pieces of her life’s work together for in an incendiary investigation into the pathologies that have created the richest society the world has ever seen. Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland (U.S., 2018, 98 min.) Lisa Immordino Vreeland directs this documentary about Academy Awardwinning costume designer Cecil Beaton, a respected photographer, artist and set designer who was best known for designing on award-winning films such as “Gigi” and “My Fair Lady.” Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Green Fog Directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson (U.S., 2017, 63 min.) Using Bay Area-based footage from hundreds of sources, the filmmakers exert the inexorable pull of Hitchcock’s twisted tale of erotic obsession while paying tribute

34 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Directed by Ol Parker (U.K./U.S., 2018, 114 min.) Ten years after “Mamma Mia! The Movie,” return to the magical Greek island of Kalokairi in an all-new original musical

based on the songs of ABBA, as Sophie learns about her mother’s past while pregnant herself. Angelika Mosaic Angelika Pop-Up Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Mary Goes Round Directed by Molly McGlynn (Canada, 2017, 86 min.) Thoughtful and self-assured, Mary is an intelligent and compassionate substance abuse counselor. The trouble is, she has a serious drinking problem that she struggles mightily to conceal. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Aug. 20, 6:45 p.m.

McQueen Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui (U.K., 2018, 111 min.) “McQueen” is a personal look at the extraordinary life, career and artistry of Alexander McQueen. Through exclusive interviews with his closest friends and family, recovered archives, exquisite visuals and music, “McQueen” is an authentic celebration and thrilling portrait of an inspired yet tortured fashion visionary. Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Aug. 3

Meditation Park Directed by Mina Shum (Canada, 2017, 94 min.) An Asian-Canadian grandmother arrives at her own declaration of personal independence after discovering that her longstanding husband may not be as worthy of her reverential treatment as she once believed. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 18, 11:30 a.m.

Metric: Dreams So Real Directed by T. Edward Martin (Canada, 2017, 110 min.) In 2016, Canadian rock group Metric traversed the globe on the most significant tour of their career. This feature-length

Mission: Impossible – Fallout Directed by Christopher McQuarrie (U.S., 2018, 147 min.) Ethan Hunt and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies, race against time after a mission has gone wrong (English and French). Angelika Pop-Up Atlantic Plumbing Cinema

Nico, 1988 Directed by Susanna Nicciarelli (Italy/Belgium, 2018, 93 min.) Approaching 50, Nico leads a solitary, low-key existence in Manchester, far from her 1960s glam days as a Warhol superstar and celebrated vocalist for cult band The Velvet Underground. Her career seems over, but her new manager gives Nico some needed drive to hit the road again to tour Europe, although she continues to struggle with addiction and personal demons. Landmark’s Theatres Opens Fri., Aug. 31

Puzzle Directed by Marc Turtletaub (U.S., 2018, 103 min.) Agnes, taken for granted as a suburban mother, discovers a passion for solving jigsaw puzzles which unexpectedly draws her into a new world - where her life unfolds in ways she could never have imagined. Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., Aug. 3

RBG Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West (U.S., 2018, 97 min.) At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But without a definitive Ginsburg biography, the unique personal journey of this diminutive, quiet warrior’s rise to the nation’s highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans—until now. Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Serpent’s Egg Directed by Ingmar Bergman (U.S./W. Germany, 1977, 119 min.)

Ingmar Bergman’s second Englishlanguage production follows a week in the life of Abel, an out-of-work American circus acrobat living in poverty-stricken Berlin following Germany’s defeat in World War I. When his brother Max commits suicide, Abel seeks refuge in the apartment of professor Vergérus, an old acquaintance (English and German). AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 25, 11 a.m., Wed., Aug. 29, 7:05 p.m.

Three Identical Strangers Directed by Tim Wardle (U.K., 2018, 96 min.) New York, 1980: Three complete strangers accidentally discover that they are identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds’ joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but it also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives and could transform our understanding of human nature forever. Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

The Touch Directed by Ingmar Bergman (U.S./Sweden, 1971, 115 min.) Ingmar Bergman’s first English-language feature focuses on Karin, a Swedish housewife trapped in a stable but somewhat unsatisfying marriage to a small-town surgeon. When a lively, engaging Jewish-American archaeologist enters the picture, Karin gives in to her attraction and begins an affair. But Karin’s new relationship turns out to be less fulfilling than she had hoped. AFI Silver Theatre Wed., Aug. 15, 7:15 p.m.

Venus Directed by Eisha Marjara (Canada, 2017, 95 min.) At once hilarious and serious, smart and sassy, this lively gender-shifting comedy is the witty tale of Sid, a transitioning woman whose life takes a surprising turn when a 14-year-old boy named Ralph arrives at her door with the surprising announcement that he is her son. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Aug. 27, 7:05 p.m.

The Wife Directed by Björn Runge (Sweden/U.S./U.K., 2018, 100 min.) A wife (Glenn Close) questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her husband, where he is slated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., Aug. 24

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Directed by Morgan Neville (U.S., 2018, 94 min.) For over 30 years, Fred Rogers, an unassuming minister, puppeteer, writer and producer, was beamed daily into homes across America. In his beloved television program, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Fred and his cast of puppets and friends spoke directly to young children about some of life’s weightiest issues, in a

Film | Culture | WD

simple, direct fashion. Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Landmark’s E Street Cinema

FRENCH All You Can Eat Buddha Directed by Ian Lagarde (Canada/Cuba, 2017, 85 min.) At the Palacio, a rather forlorn, allinclusive resort somewhere in the Caribbean, there arrives an unusual guest, a gentle French-Canadian behemoth named Mike. His voracious appetite, mysterious magnetism and otherworldly talents combine to attract resort staff and tourists alike. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Aug. 13, 9:15 p.m.

Between Sweet and Salt Water (Entre la mer et l’eau douce) Directed by Michel Brault (Canada, 1967, 85 min.) Francophone country boy and aspiring folk singer Claude leaves his small fishing and logging village, and his girlfriend, to try his luck in the big city of Montreal. Initially moving from job to job, Claude eventually becomes a successful musician. But when he decides to return home after a failed romance and his burgeoning fame leave him disillusioned, he arrives back only to realize too late the value of what he left behind. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Aug. 13, 7:15 p.m.

Custody Directed by Xavier Legrand (France, 2018, 93 min.) This tense domestic thriller will keep audiences guessing and leave them with their hearts in their throats. It begins quietly at a judicial hearing to decide custody of 11-year-old Julien living with his divorced mother Miriam. His father Antoine claims he loves his son and just wants to keep in touch; Miriam says he is violent. Fatefully, the family law judge awards Antoine weekend visiting rights, but Antoine has not given up on his marriage and immediately begins to manipulate Julien to try to reach Miriam. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Aug. 3

GERMAN The Captain Directed by Robert Schwentke (Germany/Poland/Portugal/France, 2018, 118 min.) In the chaotic final few weeks of the Second World War, young German soldier

they are forced to confront the disintegration of their marriage. This film, shot in intense, intimate close-ups, chronicles the 10 years of turmoil and love that bind the couple despite their divorce and subsequent marriages. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 12, 2:30 p.m.

Willi Herold, a lowly enlisted man, deserts, desperately trying to survive. Stumbling on an abandoned military vehicle, he finds a captain’s uniform and puts it on, and is transformed by its allure and power. A parade of fresh atrocities follows in the self-declared captain’s wake, serving as a reminder of the dire consequences of social conformity and untrammeled political power. Landmark’s Theatres Opens Fri., Aug. 10

Sawdust and Tinsel (Gycklarnas afton)

HEBREW The Cakemaker Directed by Ofir Raul Graizer (Israel/Germany, 2017, 104 min.) Thomas, a young and talented German baker, is having an affair with Oren, an Israeli married man who dies in a car crash. Thomas travels to Jerusalem seeking answers. Keeping his secret for himself, he starts working for Anat, his lover’s widow, who owns a small café. Although not fully kosher and despised by the religious, his delicious cakes turn the place into a city attraction (Hebrew, German and English). West End Cinema

JAPANESE An Actor’s Revenge Directed by Kon Ichikawa (Japan, 1963, 113 min.) Set in the cloistered world of 19thcentury kabuki theater, this film charts a female impersonator’s attempts to avenge his parents, who were driven to suicide by three corrupt men. Freer Gallery of Art Wed., Aug. 1, 2 p.m.

KOREAN The Age of Shadows (Mil-jeong)

PHOTO: JULIA M. MÜLLER / MUSIC BOX FILMS

Max Hubacher stars as a young German soldier who impersonates a captain, only to be corrupted by the power he now wields, in “The Captain.”

In a long-planned collaboration, Ingrid Bergman returned to Swedish cinema after 40 years for her last feature film role, a concert pianist returning home to an anguished reunion with neglected daughter Liv Ullmann. AFI Silver Theatre Aug. 24 to 28

Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1972, 91 min.) Amid the blood-red backgrounds of a turn-of-the-century mansion, Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin keep a death-watch over spinster sister Harriet Andersson. Flashbacks tell of disappointed lives, meaningless marriages and sisterly conflicts. AFI Silver Theatre Tue., Aug. 14, 7:20 p.m., Thus., Aug. 16, 7:20 p.m.

Dreams

Directed by Jee-woon Kim (South Korea, 2016, 140 min.) Set in the late 1920s, a cat-and-mouse game unfolds between a group of resistance fighters trying to bring in explosives from Shanghai to destroy key Japanese facilities in Seoul, and Japanese agents trying to stop them. Korean Cultural Center

Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1955, 88 min.) Set in Gothenburg where the famous wooden roller coaster of Liseberg Park provides an emblematic backdrop, “Dreams” spans 24 hours in the lives of two women (a fashion mogul and model) at different points in their relationships with men. National Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 12, 4 p.m.

SWEDISH

Ego

Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten)

Directed by Lisa James Larsson (Sweden, 2013, 100 min.) For 25-year-old Sebastian, life is all about partying, one-night stands and satisfying his enormous ego. When things are at their best Sebastian suddenly loses his eyesight in an accident forcing him to re-examine what actually matters to him and what’s just superficial. Embassy of Sweden Sun., Aug. 12, 3 p.m.

Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1978, 93 min.)

Face to Face

PHOTO: KINO LORBER

A broken marriage leads to a bitter custody fight with an embattled son caught in the middle in “Custody.”

Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden/U.S., 1976, 176 min.) Liv Ullmann gives a gut-wrenching performance as Dr. Jenny Isaksson, a psychiatrist on the verge of a breakdown while staying with her grandparents and awaiting the construction of a new house. AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., Aug. 18, 3:45 p.m.

From the Life of the Marionettes Directed by Ingmar Bergman (W. Germany/Sweden, 1981, 104 min.) Made during his self-imposed exile in Germany, Ingmar Bergman offers a lacerating portrait of a troubled marriage as an unhappily married businessman nurses fantasies of murdering his wife, until a prostitute becomes his surrogate prey. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 26, 7:05 p.m., Thu., Aug. 30, 7:05 p.m.

Hour of the Wolf Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1968, 90 min.) Holed up together in a tiny cabin on a remote island, sensitive artist Max von Sydow recounts stories from his past to pregnant wife Liv Ullman. As the stories become increasingly lurid, Ullmann begins to wonder if these are real memories or nightmares. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Aug. 3, 7:30 p.m., Wed., Aug. 8, 9:30 p.m.

A Lesson in Love (En lection I karlek) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1954, 96 min.) After 15 years of marriage, David and Marianne have grown apart. David has had an affair with a young patient of his and Marianne has got herself involved with her former lover, who was once David’s best friend National Gallery of Art Sat., Aug. 4, 4 p.m.

The Magic Flute (Trollflöjten) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1975, 135 min.) Considered by many the greatest film version of an opera, Ingmar Bergman pays loving tribute to Mozart’s exquisite work, while adding some Bergmanesque touches. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 19, 12:30 p.m.

The Magician (Ansiktet) Directed by Ingmar Bergman

(Sweden, 1958, 101 min.) When Vogler’s Magnetic Health Theater comes to town, there’s bound to be a spectacle. Reading reports of a variety of supernatural disturbances at Vogler’s prior performances abroad, the leading townspeople request that their troupe provide them with a sample of their act. National Gallery of Art Sat., Aug. 18, 3:30 p.m.

The Passion of Anna (En passion) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1969, 101 min.) On the island of Fårö, reclusive Max von Sydow becomes involved with high-strung widow Liv Ullmann and cynical couple Bibi Andersson and Erland Josephson, and the foursome trade barbs and innuendos at a drunken dinner party. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Aug. 5, 4:20 p.m., Tue., Aug. 7, 9 p.m.

The Rite (Riten) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1969, 72 min.) When actors are brought in for questioning on an obscenity charge, a magistrate subjects them to group and individual interrogations. As a response, the troupe performs their “act” for him, with mortal results. AFI Silver Theatre Tue., Aug. 7, 7:20 p.m., Thu., Aug. 9, 7:20 p.m.

Scenes from a Marriage Part 1 Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1973, 300 min.) When Erland Josephson suddenly leaves his wife Liv Ullmann for another woman, they are forced to confront the disintegration of their marriage. This film, shot in intense, intimate close-ups, chronicles the 10 years of turmoil and love that bind the couple despite their divorce and subsequent marriages. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 11, 2:30 p.m.

Scenes from a Marriage Part 2 Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1973, 300 min.) When Erland Josephson suddenly leaves his wife Liv Ullmann for another woman,

Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1953, 96 min.) As an itinerant circus rolls through the countryside in turn-of-the-century Sweden, a coach driver recounts to owner Albert a tale of lurid humiliation from long ago involving Frost the clown, who must retrieve his naked wife before a crowd of leering, jeering soldiers. Later Albert finds himself reliving the episode within his own circus ring. National Gallery of Art Sat., Aug. 4, 2 p.m.

Shame (Skammen) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1968, 103 min.) Ingmar Bergman’s existential study of life during wartime begins like a chamber drama, with husband-andwife classical musicians Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann ensconced in a country farmhouse, quietly waiting out the faroff events of an unnamed war. But then the war comes to them, changing everything around them, inside them and between them. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Aug. 4, 4:45 p.m., Wed., Aug. 8, 7:20 p.m.

Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1955, 110 min.) In Sweden at the turn of the century, members of the upper class and their servants find themselves in a romantic tangle that they try to work out amidst jealousy and heartbreak. National Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 19, 4 p.m.

Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1953, 96 min.) The sensual, young, and freethinking Monika escapes with her new lover to the Swedish Archipelago, where the two spend the summer in a fragile idyll that eventually ends in loss of innocence and painful resignation. National Gallery of Art Sun., Aug. 5, 4 p.m.

Young Sophie Bell (Unga Sophie Bell) Directed by Amanda Adolfsson (Sweden, 2015, 80 min.) After high-school graduation, life is finally going to begin for real. At least that’s how best friends Sophie and Alice feel about the upcoming move to Berlin. But their plans are crushed when Alice disappears in Berlin under murky circumstances. Embassy of Sweden Sun., Aug. 26, 3 p.m.

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WD | Culture | Events

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

ART Aug. 3 to Sept. 4

Expanding Spacetime: Works by Chae Eun Rhee and Sky Kim The vivid and evocative paintings of Chae Eun Rhee and Sky Kim ask viewers to imagine how the human mind and body transcend the constraints of time and space. As female artists who have each lived in Korea and the United States, Rhee and Kim employ fundamentally different visual styles and subjects, but both aspire to integrate a sense of spirituality into their work by crossing traditional boundaries between imagination and reality. By examining what makes us who we are, from the cellular to the unconscious, both ask viewers to visualize their own inner worlds that are deeply personal, rarely seen and startling to behold. Korean Cultural Center Through Aug. 5 Do Ho Suh: Almost Home Korean-born Do Ho Suh (b. 1962) is internationally renowned for his immersive, architectural fabric sculptures that explore the global nature of contemporary identity. “Do Ho Suh: Almost Home” will transform the museum’s galleries through Suh’s captivating installations, which recreate to scale several of his former homes from around the world. Through these works, Suh investigates the nature of home and memory and the impact of migration and displacement on an individual’s sense of self. Smithsonian American Art Museum Through Aug. 5

The Prince and the Shah: Royal Portraits from Qajar Iran In our age of social media and selfies, it may be difficult to grasp the importance of painted portraits and studio photographs in 19th-century Iran. During this time, known as the Qajar era, rulers such as Fath-Ali Shah, a contemporary of Napoleon, and Nasir al-Din Shah, a contemporary of Queen Victoria, used portraiture to convey monarchical power and dynastic grandeur. Through a selection of about thirty works from the Freer and Sackler collections, this exhibition explores how Persian artists transformed modes of representing royalty and nobility. Freer Gallery of Art Through Aug. 5

Sharing Images: Renaissance Prints into Maiolica and Bronze Inspired by the acquisition of the important William A. Clark maiolica (glazed Italian ceramics) collection from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, this exhibition brings together some 90 objects to highlight the impact of Renaissance prints on maiolica and bronze plaquettes, the two media most dramatically influenced by the new technology of image replication. National Gallery of Art

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | August 2018

Through Aug. 10

Through Sept. 9

Intimate Cartographies: An Approach to Interpersonal Relationships

Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia

This contemporary photography features outstanding artists from OAS member states Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela, as well as OAS permanent observer states Italy and Spain. Cartography and photography are similar in that they both originate from a natural reality. But this representation is not exact; it is subjective. The images in this exhibition hold a subtle informative quality, closely connected with the lyrical documentation of Walker Evans, “where many of his landscapes were not documented but created by him.” Art Museum of the Americas F Street Gallery

Approximately 60 works, drawn from the collection of Miami-based collectors and philanthropists Debra and Dennis Scholl, spotlight nine leading Aboriginal Australian women artists. The artists are from remote Aboriginal communities across Australia, and the subjects of their art are broad, yet each work is an attempt to grapple with fundamental questions of existence, asking us to slow down and pay attention to the natural world. The Phillips Collection Through Sept. 16

Baselitz: Six Decades

Through Aug. 10

A New League: Shared Pastimes and the Story of U.S.-Japan Baseball To celebrate the 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Game coming to D.C. this summer, the Japanese Embassy presents an exhibit that celebrates the bonds between the U.S. and Japan forged through the game of baseball. Featuring baseball-related historical objects and artifacts from Japan, the exhibition will trace the history of the sport in Japan, from its introduction and rapid transformation into Japan’s national sport, as well as explore the fascinating history of sports exchange and “baseball diplomacy” between Japan and the U.S. — avenues of contact that have fostered friendship, goodwill, and reconciliation between the two nations. Japan Information & Culture Center Through Aug. 11

The Way Things Were: The Painted World of Hashim Al-Samarraie One of Baghdad’s premier fine artists, Hashim Al-Samarraie captures Iraqi and Kurdish culture through his unparalleled sensitivity to emotion and detail. Living with his family amid the chaos and danger of present day Baghdad, he persists in the work that has nurtured him for the past 25 years as an artist. Hashim’s work evokes an Iraqi past that is now lost to war and conflict, a remembrance of things past brought to life under his brush. Syra Arts in Georgetown

PHOTO: OAS ART MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAS COLLECTION

Armando Morales of Nicaragua is among the many Latin and Caribbean artists featured in an exhibition commemorating the collection at the OAS Art Museum of the Americas.

most important graphic artists of the last 50 years, this collection of more than 100 original artworks will take viewers on a journey through Ralph Steadman’s wide-ranging career, from sketches created in the 1950s, to book illustrations, to present-day work. Steadman is famous for his long collaboration with the writer Hunter S. Thompson, most notably providing the illustrations for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and helping to create what has since become known as “Gonzo” journalism. American University Museum Through Aug. 15

Mayas: Spaces of Memory Documenting Mayan sites throughout Mexico, photographer Javier Hinojosa clearly and forcefully reflects the intimate relationship that exists between the jungle and the Mayas. Over the centuries the Mayas populated, developed and tamed the jungle, leaving behind a vast visual record of their historical and archeological legacy. In the process, they experienced an enormous amount of change, developing from tiny agricultural communities and the first regional centers of power to eventually becoming masters of politics, war and the jungle. Mexican Cultural Institute

Through Aug. 15

Tomb of Christ Be virtually transported to Jerusalem and discover the fascinating history of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in an immersive 3-D experience unlike anything you’ve seen in a museum before. Groups will be able to virtually visit the church and learn about its storied history and enduring mysteries. National Geographic Through Aug. 24

1968: A Time of Uproar in Europe and the U.S. Riots in Washington, D.C., violent protests in Berlin, a national strike in Paris and the brutal end of the Prague Spring: The year of 1968 was shaped by protest movements and an atmosphere of massive change. On the 50th anniversary of the protests, the Goethe-Institut highlights these historic events with a photo exhibition, offering a view into the movements in these four major cities. Goethe-Institut Through Aug. 24

In the Library: The Richter Archive at 75 In celebration of the 1943 arrival of the

Does the Body Rule the Mind, or Does the Mind Rule the Body? “Does the body” is the museum’s first live performance exhibition, introducing the newest generation of American artists who blend the avant-garde legacy of performance art with pop culture, presented together for the first time. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective Celebrating the career of one of Britain’s

36 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Through Aug. 31

Constructing Mexico68 To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first Latin American Olympic games, this exhibit takes audiences through a simple and concrete exploration of the sporting venues built for the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics and their constant connection to design and urban art. The development of competition sites for the Olympics’ diverse sporting disciplines required not only the adaptation of existing structures, but also the rapid construction of new, modern and functional facilities. In these new spaces, it was possible to implement the use of an applied architecture that met both the needs of the audience and the functional requirements of each sporting event that occupied it. Mexican Cultural Institute Through Sept. 3

World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean

Through Aug. 12

George M. Richter Archive of Illustrations on Art — the founding collection of 60,000 photographs that formed the nucleus of the department of image collections — this installation presents the history and development of the photographic archives of the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art

PHOTO: JAPAN INFORMATION & CULTURE CENTER

“A New League” at the Japan Information & Culture Center celebrates the shared love of baseball between Japan and the U.S. throw a variety of baseball-related historical objects and artifacts.

The first major traveling exhibition dedicated to the arts of the Swahili coast reveals the diverse interchanges that break down barriers between Africa and Asia in a space that physically connects the Smithsonian’s African and Asian art museums. The Swahili coast, where East Africa meets the Indian Ocean, has long been a significant cultural, diplomatic and commercial intersection for Africa, Asia and Europe for millennia. “World on the Horizon” offers audiences an unprecedented opportunity to view over 160 artworks brought together from public and private collections from four continents. National Museum of African Art

The first major U.S. retrospective in more than 20 years of Georg Baselitz, one of Germany’s greatest living artists, marks the artist’s 80th birthday. With more than 100 works, including iconic paintings, works on paper, and wood and bronze sculptures, highlighting every phase of Baselitz’s six-decade career from the 1950s to today, this milestone exhibition features work never before seen in the U.S. and cements Baselitz’s reputation as one of the most original and inventive figurative artists of his generation. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through Sept. 16

Heavy Metal – Women to Watch 2018 Over 50 works made from silver, copper, bronze, pewter, aluminum and more highlight contemporary women artists working with a variety of metals and techniques to create pieces such as wallsize installations, exquisite jewelry and reinventions of familiar objects. National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Sept. 23

Form and Function: The Genius of the Book Dive deep into one of the world’s greatest technologies: the book. Discover a history beyond what’s printed on the page, seen in the structure, craftsmanship and beauty of this often-overlooked marvel. Folger Shakespeare Library Through Oct. 14

Collection of the Art Museum of the Americas The OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas announces the second in a series of exhibitions accompanying “Collection of the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States, curated by Adriana Ospina. Initiated five years ago, the project aims to rethink the study of the historical and cultural legacy of the Art Museum of the Americas, beginning with a comprehensive catalogue of the permanent collection. The catalogue highlights key pieces of the AMA art collection, representing fundamental artistic trends that have developed in Latin America, including new figuration, geometric and lyrical abstraction, conceptual art, optical and kinetic art. Over the years, the museum has provided valuable support in the expansion of the academic

Events | Culture | WD

field of modern and contemporary art of Latin America and the Caribbean in the United States. OAS Art Museum of the Americas Through Nov. 12

Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge For his first solo exhibition in D.C., acclaimed artist Mark Bradford debuts a monumental site-specific commission inspired by Paul Philippoteaux’s 1883 cyclorama depicting the Battle of Gettysburg. Covering the curved walls of the Hirshhorn’s Third Level Inner Circle, “Pickett’s Charge” presents 360 degrees of abstracted historical narrative. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through Nov. 25

Bound to Amaze: Inside a Book-Collecting Career Curator Emerita Krystyna Wasserman assembled NMWA’s collection of more than 1,000 artists’ books over a 30-year period. This focus exhibition celebrates her vision and features 20 notable artists’ books from the museum’s expansive collection. National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Nov. 25

Water, Wind, and Waves: Marine Paintings from the Dutch Golden Age

Through Jan. 6, 2019

Through Aug. 5

Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen

The Story of the Gun

Trevor Paglen is an award-winning artist whose work blurs the lines between art, science and investigative journalism to construct unfamiliar and at times unsettling ways to see and interpret the world. This is the first exhibition to present Paglen’s early photographic series alongside his recent sculptural objects and new work with artificial intelligence. Smithsonian American Art Museum

Mike Daisey returns to tackle our nation’s most intractable subject: America’s relationship with guns. Throwing easy answers and partisan bickering out the window, he delves into the history of the gun and its place in our national culture, cutting through the political static with hilarious comedy, brilliant observation, and pitch-perfect timing. Tickets are $20 to $75. Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Through Jan. 13, 2019

Fabergé Rediscovered

Aug. 10 to Sept. 2

Designed to delight and surprise, the treasures created by the firm of Carl Fabergé have inspired admiration and intrigue for over a century, both for their remarkable craftsmanship and the captivating stories that surround them. The fascination with Fabergé continues to uncover new discoveries about the storied jeweler to the tsars and his remarkable creations. This exhibit unveils recent research and explore how the 2014 discovery of a long-lost imperial Easter egg prompted new findings about Hillwood’s own collection. Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

Melancholy Play: A Contemporary Farce

Through Jan. 21, 2019

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man

PHOTO: SYRA ARTS

Artist Hashim Al-Samarraie captures Iraqi and Kurdish culture amid the chaos and danger of present-day Baghdad in “The Way Things Were: The Painted World of Hashim Al-Samarraie” at Syra Arts.

knowledge is the most effective key to affordable and comfortable travel. Learn his tricks as he discusses his book “Decoding Air Travel: A Guide to Saving on Airfare and Flying in Luxury.”Tickets are $140; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. S. Dillon Ripley Center Sat., Aug. 11, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Each year in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, a city of more than 70,000 people rises out of the dust for a single week. During that time, enormous experimental art installations are erected and many are ritually burned to the ground. Cutting-edge artwork created at Burning Man, the annual desert gathering that is one of the most influential events in contemporary art and culture, will be exhibited in the nation’s capital for the first time this spring. Renwick Gallery

The Buzz on Bees

Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa’s Arts

DISCUSSIONS

More than 300 works of art from the museum’s permanent collection are on view within this exhibition. Working in media as diverse as wood, ceramics, drawing, jewelry, mixed media, sculpture, painting, photography, printmaking, and video, these works of art reflect the visionary ideas and styles developed by men and women from more than half of Africa’s 55 nations. The installation is organized around seven viewpoints, each of which serve to frame and affect the manner in which African art is experienced. National Museum of African Art

Fri., Aug. 3, 6:45 p.m.

A new exhibition at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art examines fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism. Inspired by the exhibition, art historian Anne Higonnet surveys an unexpected range of style leaders, from the archangel Gabriel to Pope Francis I, and their influence on recent fashion. Tickets are $45; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. S. Dillon Ripley Center

The Dutch rose to greatness from the riches of the sea. During the 17th century, water was central to their economic and naval successes, but was also a source of pleasure and enjoyment. This exhibition explores the deep, multifaceted relationship the Dutch had with the water, including their gratitude for the sea’s bounty and their fear of its sometimes destructive power. National Gallery of Art Through Dec. 25

Through Jan. 6, 2019

Sense of Humor Humor may be fundamental to human experience, but its expression in painting and sculpture has been limited. Instead, prints, as the most widely distributed medium, and drawings, as the most private, have been the natural vehicles for comic content. Drawn from the National Gallery of Art’s collection, this exhibition celebrates this incredibly rich though easily overlooked tradition through works including Renaissance caricatures, biting English satires, and 20th-century comics. National Gallery of Art

New Frontiers and Old Traditions: Trends in South American and Australian Wines Argentine Malbec and Aussie Shiraz may still rule the export markets, but today’s producers in South America and Australia create a richly varied range of high-quality wines that deserve to be better known. Joined by a pair of wine experts, Taylor Parsons, a Los Angeles-based sommelier, guides a two-part exploration of the history, development, and diversity of these two pivotal axes of the wine world. Ticket are $65; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org. S. Dillon Ripley Center Sat., Aug. 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Decoding Air Travel: A Practical Guide for Frustrated Flyers Does each news report on the latest air passenger’s nightmare strengthen your resolve to never step on a plane again? Nicholas Kralev, a globe-trotting author and entrepreneur who has visited almost 100 countries and flown more than 2 million miles, decided that

In a day-long program, discover the ways humans and bees are inextricably linked, and how much we rely on them: When the hive thrives, we all thrive. Tickets are $140; for information, visit www. smithsonianassociates.org. S. Dillon Ripley Center Wed., Aug. 15, 6:45 p.m.

Heavenly Bodies at the Met: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination

MUSIC Aug. 2 to 5

WIPAC 2018 Piano Artist Competition The Washington International Piano Arts Council (WIPAC) — an organization dedicated to a renaissance of classical piano artistry that includes both professional and outstanding amateur pianists showcasing their many talents — will be holding its 16th annual piano competition for outstanding piano amateurs in the Music Department at The George Washington University starting at 10 a.m. on Aug. 2. Preliminary rounds will be on Aug. 2 and 3; the semi-final round will be held on Aug. 4, with finalists being announced at 6 p.m. that Saturday. The final round will be held on Aug. 5 at 1 p.m. at the Cosmos Club and will be followed by

cocktails, the awarding of prizes (including $3,000 for the first prize) and a celebratory dinner. Admission for the preliminary and semi-final round is $25.00; seating is between pianists. Admission for the final round is $25 for the concert; $50 for cocktails and awarding of prizes; or $150 for the celebratary dinner. Tickets may be purchased at the door, but reservations must be made in advance for the celebratory dinner. For more information, visit www.wipac.org. The George Washington University Cosmos Club Thu., Aug. 2, 6:45 p.m.

La Música de México: Recital with Mexican Composer Alfredo Sánchez As part of its 2018 Music Series, the Mexican Cultural Institute presents a recital titled “Mexico’s nueva canción” with Mexican composer Alfredo Sánchez. Sánchez will play a number of his songs from over the years, offering a panorama of his work as composer and sampling the many different musical genres that have influenced him throughout his career, including music from Mexico, Latin America, as well as rock, jazz and more. To RSVP, visit www.instituteofmexicodc.org. Mexican Cultural Institute Mon., Aug. 6, 8 p.m.

Dani Cortaza: Jazz and Latin American Folklore Composer and performer Dani Cortaza specializes in South American folklore, Brazilian and Latin jazz in nylon and electric jazz guitar. He returns to Blues Alley for the U.S. release of his album “Together/Oñondivé.” Please call for ticket information. Blues Alley Mon., Aug. 6, 6:30 p.m.

Tango Jazz Quartet in Concert Tango Jazz Quartet mixes the melodic and rhythmic patterns of tango with the improvisation of jazz, taking its unique brand of music to venues in Europe, Brazil, Russia, China and Africa. To RSVP, visit http://tjq.eventbrite.com. Embassy of Argentina

Mon., Aug. 6, 6 p.m.

Upbeat Strings: Jakub Trasak and Jiří Nedoma This is not your ordinary violin and piano duo but a groovy acoustic and electric experience across the genres. The concert, showcasing Jakub Trasak (violin) and Jiří Nedoma (piano), features virtuosic arrangements and an emotionally packed delivery of music by Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Coldplay and more. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Mon., Aug. 7, 8 p.m.

Angélique Kidjo’s Remain in Light In her newest project, Angelique Kidjo reinterprets The Talking Heads’s classic album, “Remain in Light” (1980), adding electrifying rhythms, African guitars and layered backing vocals. Cross-pollinating the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz, Kidjo is nothing short of exhilarating and transcendent. Tickets are $28 to $60. Wolf Trap Sun., Aug. 26, 8 p.m.

Bollywood Boulevard Bollywood Boulevard — a harmonious fusion of live music, dance and film — leads audiences from the birth of Hindi cinema to present day. Experience the spirit, artistry, and history of India’s famous film industry from the classics of the black and white era and the timeless songs of Bollywood’s Golden Era to the foot-tapping blockbusters of today. Tickets are $25 to $55. Wolf Trap

THEATER Aug. 4 to Sept. 2

Tilly, a bank teller, is consumed by a melancholy so exquisite that everyone she meets becomes infatuated with her. But when Tilly inexplicably discovers happiness, her joy wreaks havoc on the lives of her paramours. Please call for ticket information. Constellation Theatre Company at The Source Through Aug. 12

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz A wizard stuck in a land far away from home; a Scarecrow tied to a pole; a Tinman rusted in a forest; and a Lion afraid of his own shadow. Join Synetic Theater’s brand new adaptation of one of the most important cultural texts of the 20th century, L. Frank Baum’s American masterpiece “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”Tickets start at $35. Synetic Theater Aug. 14 to Sept. 23

Passion Set in 1860s Italy, this gorgeous musical ignites a fiery love triangle when a handsome army captain is transferred to a remote military outpost and into the blinding infatuation of Fosca, the ailing cousin of his superior. Fosca’s fervent longing draws him in as it threatens to upend his career in an exhilarating tangle of obsession, desire, madness and above all, passion. Please call for ticket information. Signature Theatre Through Aug. 19

Dave From a Tony and Pulitzer Prize Award-winning creative team and adapted from the Oscar-nominated film, “Dave” tells the story of high school teacher (and presidential lookalike) Dave Kovic, who is hired by the Secret Service as a stand-in for the commander-in-chief. Tickets are $40 to $90. Arena Stage

The Bridges of Madison Country

Through Aug. 26

A sweeping romance about the roads we travel, the doors we open and the bridges we dare to cross, this 2014 Tony Award-winner for Best Score and Orchestrations captures the lyrical expanse of America’s heartland and the yearning entangled in the eternal question of “what if?”Tickets are $55. Andrew Keegan Theatre

With a soul-raising score of jazz, gospel, ragtime, and blues, this joyous American classic has conquered Broadway in an all-new “ravishingly reconceived production that is a glory to behold” (The New York Times). Tickets are $69 to $149. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

The Color Purple

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 37

WD | Culture | Spotlight

Diplomatic Spotlight

August 2018

Philippine Ambassador Insider Series Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez joined The Washington Diplomat for its latest Ambassador Insider Series (AIS) and summer kickoff party on June 28 at the rooftop of the Apartments at Westlight in Georgetown. It was a fitting combination. Like the muggy D.C. weather, Romualdez has taken heat for his controversial boss, President Rodrigo Duterte, whose penchant for profanity and outrageous remarks have earned him the nickname “Donald Trump of the East.” Like his no-nonsense boss, Romualdez, a former media executive, was unapologetic about Duterte’s tough talk, which includes calling former President Obama a son of a whore, joking about rape and comparing himself to Hitler in expressing his desire to slaughter drug addicts and dealers. “We have a president who has been known to say what he always wants to say. And he has on many occasions, even during the elections, used cuss words,” Romualdez told the audience. “He says, ‘I can’t change. This is me and I’m going to be me.’” The ambassador added that the Duterte “gets very emotional with a lot of issues, particularly when it comes to corruption and crime,” which he calls an “evil scourge,” noting that the Philippines has over 1.4 million drug users and likening the drug problem to what Colombia faced in the 1990s. Romualdez said that despite the friction with Obama, Duterte now enjoys a close relationship with President Donald Trump, defending both leaders’ divisive rhetoric. “People just want to have change. These presidents … are just a product of the frustrations that people have, things that they want to say themselves but can’t say, and now they have somebody who’s saying it for them.” For full coverage of Romualdez’s discussion and Duterte’s aggressive war on drugs, be sure to like The Washington Diplomat on Facebook and check out the July 2018 issue. — Anna Gawel

Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez talks to moderator Anna Gawel, managing editor of The Washington Diplomat. PHOTOS: JESSICA KNOX PHOTOGRAPHY

Representatives from the Embassy of the Philippines: Mylo Fausto, Raymond Batac, Ivan Gonzales and Paolo Galang.

Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez.

Ambassador of Timor-Leste Domingos Sarmento Alves and Patrick Chuasoto of the Embassy of the Philippines.

The Washington Diplomat publisher Victor Shiblie, Will Bohlen of Cogent Strategies and Greg Shields of DHL Express.

The Apartments at Westlight feature expansive views of D.C.’s West End and amenities such as 24-hour concierge service, a chic rooftop pool and a futuristic fitness facility.

Steve Mukherjee and Amy Valenti, both of the State Department.

The Washington Diplomat publisher Victor Shiblie, Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez and managing editor Anna Gawel.

Miss District of Columbia 2018 Allison Farris and The Washington Diplomat sales manager Rod Carrasco.

Anna Johnson, Leslie Ashby and Stephen Ashby.

38 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Susan Sadigova of Foreign Policy and Frank Samolis of Squire Patton Boggs.

Lawrence Dunham of Protocol Partners and Leila Beale of Hollywood Real Estate.

Panpan Li and Adele Lyu Yongxiu, both from the Chinese Embassy.

Terézia Filipejová and Monika Sopkovicova, both of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic.

Ambassador of the Philippines and The Washington Diplomat managing editor Anna Gawel.

Spotlight | Culture | WD

The Washington Diplomat editorial intern Jeffery Miles and Ambassador of Malta Pierre Clive Agius.

Thomas Beline of Cassidy Levy Kent LLC and Emily Beline, senior attorney for FedEx Express.

PHOTOS: JESSICA KNOX PHOTOGRAPHY

Shahin Mafi of Home Health Connection LLC, Hassan Massali of Action for Democracy and Ambassador of Nicaragua Francisco Obadiah Campbell Hooker.

Ruben Duran of PhRMA, Meryem Benchekroun of Ladurée and Paul Kong of the Lugar Center. Kylie Ahalt of Buhl Electric and Debbie Beard of Windows Catering.

Robert Demers and Linda Harper.

Lauren From, senior community manager for the Apartments at Westlight, and Wynne Anderson, residential marketing manager for JBG Smith, welcomes guests to the Apartments at Westlight.

Jonathan Taylor and Trish Yan, both of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.

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WD | Culture | Spotlight

Diplomatic Spotlight

August 2018

Philippine Ambassador Insider Series FROM A IS • PAGE 39

Greg Shields of DHL Express and The Washington Diplomat operations director Fuad Shiblie.

PHOTOS: JESSICA KNOX PHOTOGRAPHY

Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez talks to managing editor Anna Gawel.

Deputy Chief of the Mission of the Philippine Embassy Patrick Chuasoto, Puru Trivedi of the Meridian International Center, Kriti Doval of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum and Frank Samolis of Squire Patton Boggs.

The Washington Diplomat publisher Victor Shiblie.

Janet Donovan of Hollywood on the Potomac receives a strawberry-pear vodka punch.

Catherine Rentschler of Hyatt Place DC/Georgetown/West End.

The rooftop pool at Westlight.

Simon Klink of the Department of Defense, Thomas Coleman of the Department of Homeland Security, Marissa Klink and Anna Gawel of The Washington Diplomat.

Dana Marshall of Transnational Strategy Group LLC asks a question.

Steve Mukherjee of the State Department and Luis S. Chang of the Peru Trade, Tourism and Investment Office.

At right, The Washington Diplomat managing editor Anna Gawel.

40 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Miss District of Columbia 2018 Allison Farris.

Spotlight | Culture | WD

Washington Ballet Raises the Barre

Austrian Presidency of the EU EunWon Lee and Brooklyn Mack perform.

The Washington Ballet (TWB) hosted its 2018 annual spring gala “Raising the Barre” at The Anthem, D.C.’s new industrial chic concert and event venue at The Wharf. German Ambassador Peter Wittig and his wife Huberta von Voss-Wittig served as honorary gala chairs of the evening, which honored centenarian Therrell Smith with the Mary Day Award in honor of her 70 years of dedication to advancing the art of ballet. Smith founded the Therrell C. Smith School of Dance in Washington and focused on making dance accessible to everyone. Former board member and developer W. Christopher Smith was also honored for his role in establishing The Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) in Southwest D.C., which since its inception in 2005 has served 10,000 students of all ages.

The Austrian Embassy hosted a celebration June 27 to mark Austria’s rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. Austrian Ambassador Wolfgang Waldner welcomed special guests Wolfgang Sobotka, speaker of the Austrian House of Representatives, A. Wess Mitchell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, and EU Ambassador David O’Sullivan. Mitchell acknowledged differences between the U.S. and EU on issues such as climate change, Iran and migration, but said, “The transatlantic relationship is old, deep and solid.”

Ambassador of Austria Wolfgang Waldner, Ambassador of Ireland Daniel Mulhall and Greta Mulhall.

TWB Artistic Director Julie Kent honors ballerina Therrell Smith, who, at 100, says she is “still dancing.”

Honorary co-chairs Huberta von Voss-Wittig and Sara Lange and TWB Board Chairman Sylvia de Leon.

Alexa Torres and Peyton Anderson perform.

Ulla Rønberg, Huberta von VossWittig and Ambassador of Denmark Lars Gert Lose.

Ambassador of Kosovo Vlora Çitaku, Ambassador of the European Union David O’Sullivan and Ambassador of Albania Floreta Faber.

Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Megan Beyer. President and CEO of Children’s National Dr. Kurt D. Newman and Amy Baier.

Representatives from Boeing share a table: Theresa Morrow, Jeffery Morrow, Hannah Park, Sun Jun Park, Kimberly Teague and Roger Teague. Developer W. Christopher Smith is honored for his work establishing THEARC, a 110,000square-foot cultural and social services campus in D.C.’s Ward 8.

Michael Goldstein and NBC4’s Wendy Rieger.

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Abby Blunt, Chris Morrison and Director of the GW Cosmetic Surgery Center Michael Olding.

Evonne Connolly, Robert Connolly, Sarah Cannova and orthopedic surgeon Chris Cannova.

Ambassador of Austria Wolfgang Waldner introduces the Vienna-based music trio Cobario.

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Chair Emeritus Dorothy McSweeny, Lou Davidson, Marketta Wright and Bryan Wright.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Wess Mitchell.

Jaguar at Britain British Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch hosted “A Musical Journey presented by Jaguar Land Rover” at his residence on June 19 to showcase the iconic British luxury car brand. “Tonight is a celebration of the United Kingdom’s tradition of innovative vehicles and outstanding education. Jaguar Land Rover is the largest vehicle manufacturer in the U.K., exporting 80 percent of their cars to major markets, including the U.S., and supporting 8,000 American jobs,” said Darroch. “Meanwhile, the Royal College of Music is an international hub of music excellence, ranked second in the world by 2018 QS World University Rankings. It too has a strong relationship with the U.S., through partnerships with Boston and Princeton Universities.”

Dino Mihanovic of the EU Delegation to the U.S., Lendita Haxhitasim of the Embassy of Kosovo and Andrea Catalano of the Embassy of Italy.

Elizabeth Plasai, Ambassador of Thailand Virachai Plasai and British Embassy Social Secretary Amanda Downes.

Midair Nishiura, an international ambassador from Japan for the Royal College of Music (RCM); Chris Newitt; singer Milly Forest of RCM; Lily Harris; Claire Edwards of RCM; and Amos Lustyik.

PHOTO: CARRIE DOREAN

Chris Marchand, Jaguar Land Rover vice president of government and industry relations for the Americas, joins British Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch and professor Colin Lawson of the Royal College of Music.

PHOTO: CARRIE DOREAN

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 41

WD | Culture | Spotlight

Diplomatic Spotlight

August 2018

14th Annual Embassy Golf Tournament

Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall welcomes golfers.

On June 8, The Washington Diplomat welcomed diplomats, government officials, members of the business community and others for its 14th annual Embassy Golf Tournament. The popular annual event was co-hosted this year under the diplomatic patronage of Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall and held at Bretton Woods Golf Course in Maryland, originally founded in 1968 as an escape for IMF staff and their families. In addition to lunch, a casual day of golf and dinner, the tournament featured an array of prizes, including local hotel stays, gift baskets and, of course, plenty of Irish whiskey. PHOTOS: JESSICA KNOX PHOTOGRAPHY

Watergate Hotel Executive Chef Michael Santoro, Ambassador of Ireland Daniel Mulhall, Caroline Croft of the State Department and Ernie Arias of the Watergate Hotel.

A 2016 Bentley Continental GT Twin Turbo W12 is on display. Over 100 people attended the 14th annual Embassy Golf Tournament.

Cross Oputa Nsofor of Citibank Nigeria Ltd., Ambassador of the Philippines Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez and Aaron Manaigo and Mark Cowan, both from Potomac International Partners.

Ambassador of Kazakhstan Erzhan Kazykhanov and former Ambassador of Libya Ali Aujali play a hole. Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall congratulates golfers after the tournament.

Mike Kelly, Kent Hagen, Edward Tafoya and Terry Blanton, all from the Northern Ireland Bureau.

The Washington Diplomat publisher Victor Shiblie and Valerie Meriot-Burn of Rochambeau French International School, one of the hole sponsors.

Players take a shot at the hole sponsored by Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants.

Jeff David of the Watergate Hotel, Dr. Susan Bennett of Bennett Health, LLC and former NBA player John Starks.

Qian Ding, sales manager of the Westin Washington, D.C. City Center.

Sam Ghanem Jr., Arman Sapargaliyev of the Embassy of Kazakhstan, Ursula McNamara of Kimpton Hotels and Dale Crammond of the Embassy of Ireland.

42 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

First-place trophies.

The Washington Diplomat publisher Victor Shiblie, former Ambassador of Libya Ali Aujali and Ambassador of Kazakhstan Erzhan Kazykhanov talk with representatives of the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel, one of the hole sponsors.

An Irish good luck charm hangs on one of the golf carts.

The Watergate Hotel served up candy and other goodies at their hole.

Bretton Woods, located on the banks of the Potomac River, is a 275-acre property designed by Edmund Ault.

The Doyle Collection’s Dupont Circle Hotel was one of the hole sponsors.

Mazin Eraifeg and Roni Murshed, both of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, The Washington Diplomat publisher Victor Shiblie, George Papakostas of Long and Foster Realtors and Mark Ajamian of BDO USA LLP.

Below, Kevin Taylor of the KMT Group LLC, Noah Stevens of Global Wines Maryland, Thomas Coleman of the Homeland Security Department and Todd Baker of Legacy Capital Planners.

Tim Connolly, Julie Woods, Claudia Eggspuhler and Peter Laufer play on the team from the Hilton Washington DC National Mall hotel.

At left, Lawrence Muraya of FrontPoint Group, Matthew Keelen of the Keelen Group and architect Don Pruett.

Matt Hurlburt, Todd Ryan, Ben Timashenka and Stephan Vogel play for the Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants team.

The George Washington University Hospital was one of the sponsors of the tournament.

David Field, Greg Shields, Dave Preston and Patrick Morrison play on the DHL Express team.

Bretton Woods, located on the banks of the Potomac River, is a 275-acre property designed by Edmund Ault.

Members of the The Washington Diplomat pose for a photo: From left are operations director Fuad Shiblie, managing editor Anna Gawel, publisher Victor Shiblie and sales manager Rod Carrasco. Second-place winners were Noah Davidson of LTS Home Improvements, Molly De La Rocha of Enterprise Holdings and Sean Ryan of Enterprise Holdings (seen with Shae Allen of the Department of Veterans Affairs), who won a bottle of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey compliments of the Embassy of Ireland and tickets to The Washington Diplomat’s Ambassador Insider Series on Sept 13 with the Tunisian ambassador.

The first-place winners were Kent Hagen, Mike Kelly, Edward Tafoya and Terry Blanton from the Northern Ireland Bureau, who won a bottle of Kavalan Whiskey — compliments of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office to the U.S. — and a weekend stay at a local Kimpton property such as the Carlyle Hotel Dupont Circle, Hotel Monaco, Glover Park Hotel or Hotel Palomar.

Third-place winners were Kurt Panchura, Chris King (seen with Shae Allen), Shawn Winhove and Rich Armstrong of Custom Towing and Auto Repair, who won a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey compliments of the Embassy of Ireland.

A player wins a Hyperglide Spinner Garment Bag compliments of Delsey.

Caroline Croft of the State Department, left, won a weekend stay at the Normandy Inn as part of the raffle prizes.

A Bentley 2016 Flying Spur Twin Turbo W12 sits alongside a Bentley Continental GT.

The post-tournament reception featured a full dinner buffet.

A golfer wears colorful Irish attire.

Noah Davidson of LTS Home Improvements took the prize for longest drive (men), winning a gift basket courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center that included a collapsible insulated picnic basket set for four with red and white wines, plates, glasses and flatware.

The Watergate Hotel served up candy and other goodies at their hole. THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 43

WD | Culture | Spotlight

Diplomatic Spotlight

August 2018

British Fête Wolf Trap

Bulgarian Gala Concert The Bulgarian Embassy hosted a gala concert at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center to commemorate several important occasions. The program, featuring prominent Bulgarian performers living in the U.S., was dedicated to the Bulgarian presidency of the council of the European Union; the 115th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and the U.S.; and the 75th anniversary of the rescue of Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust.

British Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch hosted supporters of the arts at a reception at his residence celebrating the upcoming Wolf Trap Ball in September. The British Embassy is partnering with Wolf Trap, America’s only National Park for the performing arts, for its annual gala. “Wolf Trap is a special place — a national park, an arts education center, a world-class concert venue,” Darroch said. “It’s a place that welcomes everyone, that is unpretentious and inclusive, but that also showcases excellence in the performing arts.” Pavlina Dokovska, director of the Piano Department at the Mannes Music School in New York; cellist Zlatomir Fung; U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce; Ambassador of Bulgaria Tihomir Stoytchev; pianist Lora Chekoratova; Embassy Series Director Jerome Barry; violinist Julia Angelov; and violinist Georgi Valchev.

Violinist Julia Angelov.

PHOTO: ZAID HAMID

Pianist Lora Chekoratova and Pavlina Dokovska of the Mannes Music School.

Wolf Trap Ball leaders and supporters pose for a photo: From left standing are Gideon Malone, Arvind Manocha, Dan D’Aniello, Don Irwin and British Ambassador Kim Darroch; from left seated are Angela Irwin, Teresa Carlson and Lady Vanessa Darroch.

Cellist Zlatomir Fung.

French International School Graduation Ambassador of Djibouti Mohamed Siad Doualeh gives the keynote speech at the Rochambeau French International School graduation, held at the French Embassy on June 9.

PHOTO: ABRAM E. LANDES

Richard Bynum, president of Greater Washington and Virginia for PNC, and Wolf Trap Ball co-chair Don Irwin.

PHOTOS: ROCHAMBEAU FRENCH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Connections To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission, the British Embassy hosted a reception at the ambassador’s residence attended by 175 guests from Capitol Hill, the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, education nonprofits and Fulbright alumni in the area. Over the last seven decades, 12,000 British students have earned Fulbright awards.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce welcomes guests.

PHOTO: ABRAM E. LANDES

John Mockoviak, Cerina Fairfax, Justin Fairfax and Ramona Mockoviak.

Penny Egan, executive director of the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission. PHOTOS: CARRIE DOREAN

British Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Lady Vanessa Darroch.

44 | THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018

Wendy Marquez, Dario Marquez and Margaret Gupta.

Croatian Statehood Day

NUSACC Annual Iftar Dinner The National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) hosted its seventh annual Ramadan Iftar celebration in honor of the Arab diplomatic community and the League of Arab States at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. More than 150 leaders of numerous faiths attended the high-profile gathering, including three dozen ambassadors from 16 nations. “Gatherings such as the NUSACC Iftar help to build bridges between the U.S. and the Arab world, and they promote tolerance and a more peaceful coexistence,” said Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates Yousef Al Otaiba.

Imam Yahya Hendi tells guests, “We need to lift each other up. That is the spirit of Ramadan.”

PHOTOS: NUSACC

NUSACC President and CEO David Hamod welcomes guests.

Thomas Kelly of Raytheon talks to Ambassador of Egypt Yasser Reda.

Ambassador of Croatia Pjer Simunovic welcomes Ambassador of Kosovo Vlora Çitaku to the Croatian Statehood Day and Armed Forces Day at the embassy on June 20.

Ambassador of Bulgaria Tihomir Stoytchev, Jason F. Isaacson of the American Jewish Committee and Ambassador of Austria Wolfgang Waldner attend a reception for the Croatian Statehood Day and Armed Forces Day. Over 30 Arab diplomats attended this year’s dinner. From left, Ambassador of Tunisia Fayçal Gouia, Ambassador of Yemen Ahmed Mubarak, Ambassador of Libya Wafa Bughaighis, Ambassador of Sudan Maowia Khalid and NUSACC President and CEO David Hamod.

NUSACC President and CEO David Hamod, center, shares a laught with Ambassador of Tunisia Fayçal Gouia, right.

Danes Celebrate Stanley Cup Win

At left, Ulla Rønberg, wife of the Danish ambassador, former founder and president of AOL Jack Davies and Kay Kendall.

Danish Ambassador Lars Gert Lose, a hockey fan, hosted a celebration at his residence to toast fellow Dane Lars Eller of the Washington Capitals and the team’s 2018 Stanley Cup victory. Eller became the first person born in Denmark to win the Stanley Cup, notably scoring the cup’s winning goal.

At left, Washington Capitals hockey player Lars Eller, nicknamed “The Tiger,” and Ambassador of Denmark Lars Gert Lose.

Capitals fans, including children, enjoy the Danish Residence’s backyard.

“Eller Special” was among the specialty cocktails.

Ambassador of Bulgaria Tihomir Stoytchev and Ambassador of Latvia Andris Teikmanis.

Ambassador of Greece Haris Lalacos, Ambassador of Malta Pierre Clive Agius, Ambassador of Montenegro Nebojša Kaluđerović and Ambassador of Slovenia Stanislav Vidovic attend the Croatian Statehood Day reception.

Indira Gumarova, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Slovak Embassy Jozef Polakovic and Ambassador of the Czech Republic Hynek Kmoniček. The Washington Diplomat managing editor Anna Gawel and Lendita Haxhitasim of the Embassy of Kosovo.

A cake celebrates Lars Eller.

Lithuanian Centennial Display On May 23, commuters walking through Union Station had the opportunity to experience traditional Lithuanian culture through a modern-day piece of art as part of the country’s centennial celebration. The event, organized by the embassy in partnership with the MO Museum in Lithuania, featured a large LED and aluminum mobile sculpture named “Gardens” created by Lithuanian American artist Ray Bartkus and inspired by Lithuanian folk art ornaments called “Sodai.”

PHOTOS: PETER ALUNANS / EMBASSY OF LITHUANIA

Lithuanian American artist Ray Bartkus.

Lithuanian Ambassador Rolandas Kriščiūnas introduces the “Gardens” sculpture. “It’s symbolic that the Union Station features this art installation,” he said. “Stations connect people. And we would like to further build our connections with the U.S.A.

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.).

“Gardens” reimagines traditional Lithuanian ornaments by using contemporary technology and materials such as aluminum, fashioning them into a slowly rotating, giant geometric kaleidoscope.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | AUGUST 2018 | 45

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Tierney CONTINUED • PAGE 6

However, in 2013, a Department of Defense review concluded that the United States could safely reduce its deployed nuclear arsenal by up to one-third. Unfortunately, the Obama administration wanted to make those cuts in coordination with Moscow. The Russians declined to engage and then proceeded to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Now, the Trump administration is pursuing new nuclear capabilities. Future administrations should seriously consider safely reducing the U.S. nuclear arsenal with the ultimate goal of the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons — the stated visions of Presidents Obama and Reagan. THE DIPLOMAT: Can you discuss some of the work your organization is doing with regard to nuclear arms control?

TIERNEY: On the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation’s agenda has been a concerted effort to work with members of the House and Senate and their office and committee staffs to inform on policy and present analysis of the policy options, including administration policy on the NPR, so-called ‘modernization’ and proposed new systems, the anticipated Missile Defense Review, Iran (JCPOA) and North Korea negotiations, and relations with Russia concerning nuclear matters. The Council for a Livable World is busy this election cycle determining endorsements of federal candidates — we have a questionnaire and interview process leading to a vote of our board of directors — assisting those endorsed with conduit fundraising via the Candidate Fund, and advising endorsees’ campaigns on related policy. Additionally, the council continues to lobby current House and Senate members and staff on legislative policy issues pertaining to nuclear weapons, the Pentagon budget and related matters.

THE DIPLOMAT: Any predictions on what will happen next with regard to nuclear posturing by the U.S., Russia, China, North Korea and Iran?

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TIERNEY: Predicting the future is difficult, but the United States and Russia, and to a lesser extent China, are all moving in the wrong direction with regard to nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia are spending vast amounts of money — $1.7 trillion in adjusted dollars over 30 years in the United States’s case — to modernize their nuclear arsenals, and both countries are openly pursuing new nuclear options. This is all occurring while relations between the two countries are at their lowest point since the Cold War. It doesn’t have to be this way. Both countries must prioritize increased dialogue about nuclear weapons and should, at a minimum, extend the New START Treaty, which equally limits the number of deployed nuclear weapons on each side and maintains broad support. The Trump administration made a major strategic blunder by pulling out of — and openly violating — the Iran nuclear agreement. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran was in full compliance with the agreement, which severely constrained its nuclear program. Without U.S. participation, the deal may collapse in the future, and all constraints on Iran’s nuclear

program would be lost. Under the current political situation, there is no indication that Iran would resume a nuclear weapons program, but that could change in the future. The bottom line is that the United States is far less safe now that we are not participating in the Iran deal. On North Korea, the Trump administration has made the right move engaging in diplomacy with Pyongyang. However, despite false statements by President Trump, the negotiations have produced no substantive gains, and North Korea remains a real nuclear threat. Now that the pageantry of the Singapore summit is over, it’s time for skilled, career diplomats to take over and attempt to come to a realistic agreement that severely constrains or eliminates North Korea’s nuclear and missile infrastructure. As I have noted before, for President Trump, the reality TV segment is over, and now the reality of diplomacy must take over, and the U.S. needs to engage the experts in the field to help navigate the path to successful resolution of differences. WD Aileen Torres-Bennett is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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