February 2015

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A World of News and Perspective

■ MEDICAL SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE

MEDICAL ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ February 2015

A Maryland Boy Scout constructs an artificial hand out of colorful parts made by a 3-D printer. Hundreds of Baltimore Scouts gathered in several events last December to assemble 3-D-printed hands donated by volunteers from the group e-NABLE, to be shipped to a hospital in a Middle East war zone. The hospital is currently treating children who were born with no fingers and hands or lost them due to war, accident, disease or natural disasters.

■ VOLUME 22, NUMBER 2

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■ FEBRUARY 2015 NEW DI M EN SI ON

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North Korea’s Latest Kim as Mercurial As His Predecessors It took a bad Hollywood movie to transform Kim Jong-un from a tyrant known mostly to foreign policy wonks into a household name, but that doesn’t mean the world is any closer to figuring out North Korea’s latest enigmatic ruler. PAGE 8

UNITED STATES

Russia, Cuba: Post-Cold War Checkmate for U.S.? Barack Obama may very well be remembered by history as the president who confronted one Cold War enemy, Russia, while re-establishing full ties with another, Cuba — the latest moves in a geopolitical chess game that apparently didn’t end with the demise of the Soviet Union. PAGE 11

culture

Expanding World of 3-D Printing Brings

Tantalizing Medical Breakthroughs to Life

AFRICA

by Carolyn Cosmos

O

utsize medical “miracles” can come in very small On the other side of the world packages. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, in China last year, an a team of doctors orthopedics professor created a rotating and engineers saved an infant neck bone to and a toddler in the last two replace a cancerous one in years by inventing and implanting a young man’s spine. The artifitiny expandable splints cial axis, which was made that hold their damaged airways of powdered titanium and had open. Last Christmas in no screws, was a perfect São Paulo, Brazil, an engineer match. And in Stuttgart, Germany, and his daughters asseman international team of experts invented a bled and donated small artificial new microhands made out of plastic robot that is as wide as three for children who couldn’t buy human hairs and can swim prosthetics. through body fluids to deliver drugs.

MEDICAL

February 2015

Continued on next page

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NERVES HIGH IN NIGERIA As Nigerians head to the polls and Boko Haram continues its deadly rampage to impose an Islamic state on Africa’s most populous nation, the world wonders if Nigeria will hold itself together. But Ambassador Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye dismisses fears that his country would splinter, reassuring everyone that, “We’re up to the task.” PAGE 17 NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof.

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Mideast Scholar Sees Rough 2015

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Gérard Araud, one of France’s most The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 The initial euphoria of the Arab Spring has run dry outspoken diplomats, is now using his __________________________________________________________ in places like Approved Libya, which has quietly become a ambassadorship in Washington to speak Changes ___________________________________________________________ semi-failed state. But David Mack says Libya’s meltfor a saddened nation, which continues ___________________________________________________________________ down was long in the making and urges patience and to mourn an Islamist rampage that has perspective when it comes to any revolution. PAGE 4 reverberated across the West. PAGE 6

NMWA Surveys Many Sides of Virgin Mary “Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts offers a look at the Virgin Mary, in all her guises and glory. PAGE 30

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February 2015

CONTENTS tHE WasHINgtON DIPLOmat

February 2015

20 Global terrorism

[ news ] 4

6

“Choir Boy”

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TOLL OF TERRORISM The recent carnage in Pakistan and Nigeria is a reminder that terrorism is on the uptick — and countries least equipped to handle it are bearing the brunt of it.

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‘TYRANNY OF SILENCE’ The terrorist attacks in Paris brought back painful memories for Flemming rose, who’s been marked for death ever since he printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad nine years ago.

FRANCE MOURNS French ambassador Gérard araud has become an outlet for the grief and outrage many in the U.S. felt after the Paris terrorist attacks that stunned the world.

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Medical 3-D printing

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE The Middle East Institute’s David Mack, who worked in Benghazi in the 1970s, says that the under-the-radar unraveling of Libya is likely to re-emerge as a global priority in 2015.

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BANGLADESHI JUSTICE Bangladesh has launched an aggressive campaign to convince the U.S. to extradite a suspected war criminal accused of slaughtering the family of the country’s prime minister.

THE KIM ENIGMA Eccentric, enigmatic, buffoonish and dangerous: North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is a mass of contradictions — and a mystery to much of the world.

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COLD WAR REDUX Barack obama may well be remembered by history as the president who was forced to confront one cold War enemy, Russia, while re-establishing full diplomatic relations with another, cuba.

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[ medical ] 25

COVER PROFILE: NIGERIA Nigerians head to the polls as an Islamist insurgency and sectarian tensions threaten to divide africa’s most populous nation and its biggest economy.

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MIRROR ON MARY “Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea” is a landmark show that reveals the many faces of the virgin Mary, one of the most popular subjects in Western art for centuries.

COVER: Ambassador’s photo taken at the Embassy of Nigeria by Lawrence Ruggeri.

SINGING ITS PRAISES The age-old conflict between tradition and individualism plays out as a talented young man struggles to fit into a conservative prep school in “choir Boy.”

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DINING restaurateur reese Gardner recently abandoned the sports bar concept he developed in the Mighty Pint in favor of the more mature, cuisine-focused Second State.

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FILM REVIEWS Russia’s award-winning “Leviathan” depicts the soulcrushing experience of an everyday person who cannot win against The Man.

FILM INTERVIEWS French-Canadian filmmaking prodigy xavier Dolan talks about his latest film, “Mommy,” and what it’s like to have a prolific career at the tender age of 25.

From prosthetic hands to hip joint replacements to orthodontic braces, 3-D printing is offering patients high-tech hope.

[ culture ]

THREE GEMS Lisner auditorium, Wolf Trap and the Music center at Strathmore regularly attract an eclectic mix of international talent to the Washington area.

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3-D MIRACLES

THE NEW CONGRESS as republicans take over congress and obama looks to the last two years of his presidency, will U.S. politics be marked by cooperation or conflict?

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CINEMA LISTING

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EVENTS LISTING

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DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

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WORLD HOLIDAYS

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CLASSIFIEDS

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REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIEDS

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February 2015

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PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

David Mack

Former U.S. Mideast Envoy Sees Libya Spiraling Out of Control by Michael Coleman

F

our years removed from the initial optimism of the Arab Spring, you don’t have to look far to find reason for pessimism in the Middle East. From the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq, to Syria’s devastating civil war, to the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan, to lawlessness in Yemen, to the recent spate of deadly violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the region remains a cauldron of instability. Meanwhile, in neighboring North Africa, Libya is quietly falling apart, despite once being heralded as a beacon of Arab Spring success. Intense militia warring, a faltering economy and disturbing signs of a protracted power struggle that has turned the country into a semifailed state are keeping Libyans and their neighbors on edge. Since the mob killing of Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi in October 2011 and the subsequent murder of U.S.Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens by Islamic radicals in Benghazi in 2012, the oil-rich nation has gradually slipped into chaos. The tenuously elected government of Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, stationed for now in the eastern city of Tobruk, has been unable to contain fighting among well-armed militias across the country. A self-declared rival government led by Islamist-aligned groups has asserted itself in Tripoli. The clashes between a motley crew of tribes and towns have morphed into a regional proxy war, with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates reportedly helping progovernment forces beat back Islamic factions.At the same time, there are worrying signs that the Islamic State itself could be gaining a foothold in the midst of the power vacuum.

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U.S. citizens evacuate the country, although Ambassador Deborah Jones and other U.S. envoys continue to work in Libya. David Mack, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs and former U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, told The Diplomat that strategically important Libya is likely to re-emerge as a global priority in 2015. A former vice president at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington who worked in the U.S. mission in Benghazi in the 1970s, Mack has returned to the country many times and spent much of his diplomatic career crisscrossing the region on diplomatic troubleshooting missions. He’s now a senior scholar at MEI. In a wide-ranging interview over breakfast at the National Press Club, Mack discussed Libya’s turmoil and outlook, the struggle between U.S. security concerns and diplomatic missions abroad and other issues. Mack said one of Libya’s biggest problems is the absence of a strong — or even functional — government to help maintain stability. “It was weak institutionally when Qaddafi took over. The king [Idris, who preceded Qaddafi] wasn’t interested in

People in the U.S. government and other governments thought maybe Libya could pull this off…. They had a couple of elections, relatively peaceful turnovers of power. But you don’t get legitimacy just by winning an election; you get legitimacy by governing.

”

— David Mack, senior scholar at the Middle East Institute In mid-January, the terrorist group claimed responsibility for the abduction of at least 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, although conflicting reports said Islamist militias, including Ansar al-Sharia of Benghazi infamy, could be responsible. In either case, the news only served to confirm fears that Libya — already awash in Qaddafi-era weapons and violence — is spinning further out of control. The U.S. State Department has issued travel warnings strongly suggesting that

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building national institutions,” Mack said. “But when Qaddafi came into power in 1969, he took the old Ronald Reagan adage that government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem, to an extreme.” The only government institutions the Qaddafi regime nourished were the agencies that provided for his personal protection and the revenue-generating national oil company. The army and police were marginalized and starved. “He took authority away from the

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people,” Mack said. “It wasn’t that he actually closed government ministries; he would just take their authority away and cap their salaries. The employees were only showing up every two weeks to collect their paychecks.” That extreme laissez-faire attitude toward government fostered the disorder the world now sees plaguing the entire country. The opposition that deposed Qaddafi, with the aid of NATObacked airstrikes, actually had ambitious plans for governing, Mack said. They just weren’t able to carry them out. “The Libyans did a good job planning and preparing for [the overthrow],” Mack said. “They had done their homework, but they couldn’t implement their plans once they got on the ground.” Mack compared the opposition to Qaddafi to the one that surfaced against Saddam Hussein in Iraq around the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003, with one big difference: The Libyans felt more invested in their revolutionary uprising. “The Libyans had great optimism after the overthrow of Qaddafi,” Mack said. “The people who came into power in Iraq always knew it had been the U.S.

who had overthrown Saddam Hussein — they didn’t own their revolution.” Mack said the Libyan public’s hopefulness following Qaddafi’s ouster was “kind of infectious” and led the United States and other global powers to think — wrongly, as it turned out — that Libya might be on the path to democratic stability, especially given the fact that it was flush with oil money and didn’t need outside financial assistance. (Libya holds the largest amount of proven crude oil reserves in Africa and the continent’s fourth-largest amount of natural gas reserves.) “People in the U.S. government and other governments thought maybe Libya could pull this off,” Mack said.“They had a couple of elections, relatively peaceful turnovers of power. But you don’t get legitimacy just by winning an election; you get legitimacy by governing.” Instead, the central government — democratically elected but institutionally weak — had to farm out public security to the myriad militias and rebel groups nominally under its payroll. The result was a patchwork of newly empowered groups — from the Islamists in Misrata to February 2015

the pro-Qaddafi remnants in Zintan — that quickly turned on each other. But Libya’s devolution does not follow the simple, post-Arab Spring narrative of the old guard versus Islamists. As Frederic Wehrey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in the Washington Post last July,“At its core, Libya’s violence is an intensely local affair, stemming from deeply entrenched patronage networks battling for economic resources and political power in a state afflicted by a gaping institutional vacuum and the absence of a central arbiter with a preponderance of force. There is not one faction strong enough to coerce or compel the others.â€? Now, United Nations intervention might be the only hope. The top U.N. official in Libya, Bernardino LĂŠon, said a new round of U.N.-led political talks in Geneva, launched in mid-January, was a last-ditch effort to bring peace to the country. Participants, including powerbrokers throughout the nation, agreed in principle to form a “consensual national unity government and the necessary security arrangements to end the fighting,â€? but LĂŠon cautioned it would be a “long process.â€? “This is going to take time,â€? LĂŠon told journalists in Geneva.“There is a gap between the parties, which is becoming more complicated. There is more fighting on the ground, so we will try to ‌ help them to reach common ground. But it is not going to be easy.â€? In the meantime, the country is in real danger of devolving into anarchy. “Libya is falling really very deeply in chaos,â€? LĂŠon warned. “If all these elements — the political, the security — were not enough, now we have also the very serious economic and financial chaos,â€? LĂŠon said, alluding to reports that the turmoil, which has hurt oil production, may be pushing the country to the brink of bankruptcy. “Whatever is affecting Libya is affecting the whole region,â€? LĂŠon added. “It’s affecting the Mediterranean, the Middle East, it’s affecting the Sahel, Europe.â€? Mack agreed that Libya’s stability is important to its neighbors not only in Africa, but across the Mediterranean Sea in Italy, France and Greece, all of whom have struggled to handle an influx of refugees fleeing the war-torn nation, which was once a critical energy partner. “It’s important for the whole European Union because Libya, as well as Algeria, represents their way of removing the Russian power of intimidation through control of their gas and energy supplies,â€? Mack pointed out.“You could have a huge amount of gas and oil flowing from Libya and Algeria into the European market, which would enable them to deal with Russians without so much concern about economic consequences.That would be good.The Russians might become far more reasonable because there is a huge amount of oil and gas in Libya.â€? Mack also agreed with LĂŠon that the only way to restore stability in Libya is through a multilateral effort. “I really don’t think there is an answer beyond international mediation at this point,â€? he said.“One thing this last year has proved is that the Libyans, left to themselves, really cannot come to any kind of a consensus on a unity government. That’s the near-term objective. Then we’ll have something — an entity, a framework — that we can help succeed.â€? The former ambassador, whose diplomatic assignments included Iraq, Jordan, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, also warned that the unity government could include some characters that the United States and other Western powers may view as unsavory, to say the least. “That unity government is going to have to include not just the constitutionally recognized government in Tobruk,â€? he explained.“It’s going to have to include some people who have got enough power on the ground, but who at least are not jihadists who are out there trying to kill February 2015

credit: UN Photo / Iason Athanasiadis

A little girl attends a 2012 ceremony in Tripoli marking the 16th anniversary of the massacre at Abu Slim Prison by Muammar Qaddafi’s forces. Although many Libyans were happy to see the strongman go, the North African country has become a battleground for warring militias since his ouster three years ago.

us and kill a lot of civilians. These people may not be our first choice but they really represent something important and they have to be included.� Mack said the government will likely need representation from somebody like Khalifa Haftar, a controversial ex-general in the Qaddafi regime whom the BBC described as having been on “different sides of almost every power struggle in Libya since the 1960s.� After a stint in exile near Langley,Va., in the 2000s — when he was widely rumored to be working with the CIA against Qaddafi — Haftar is now back in Libya building support among disparate armed militias to push back against the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist-leaning groups. The military campaign Haftar launched to claw back territory from Islamists has further polarized the country, with at least 600 killed in Benghazi over the last three months alone; a tentative ceasefire was announced in January ahead of the U.N. talks in Geneva. “He has done some things that I don’t think are very pretty but we have to consider the interests of our allies — not just our European allies, but our Arab allies, as well,� Mack said. “They want to see a little more stability there and they are not so interested in legitimacy and elections.The Egyptians,Tunisians and Algerians have long borders with this country.� Mack turned reflective when the subject of Ambassador Chris Stevens’s death in Benghazi comes up. He recalled that the State Department had a mission in Benghazi in the early 1970s but closed it because of security concerns. “I closed that post in the summer of ’72 and I was certain then that we would never reopen a post in Benghazi, even though I had made a case for doing it because most of the oil was down there. It was very different politically than western Libya, but you couldn’t make the case in terms of splitting [the State Department’s diplomatic] presence that way. It would have been very insecure. “We didn’t have any protection — no guards at all,� he added. “There wasn’t even a Libyan policeman at the front door, just a receptionist.� Mack said he saw similarities between his younger diplomatic self and Stevens, an extraordinarily adventurous and well-liked ambassador who died at age 52 after a celebrated career. “I knew Chris well,� Mack said, noting that he first met Stevens when the younger diplomat took an assignment in Damascus, Syria. “When you’re young and idealistic, you think all you have to do is know the language well, understand the culture, keep a low profile, be nice to people, polite, keep your ears and eyes open and you’ll get along. That works actually pretty well for a young officer and that’s why guys like Chris Stevens are able to advance in the ranks.� But as the posts get more high profile, the

dangers increase — no matter how well you’re liked. “If you get to be an ambassador’s deputy or an ambassador, you suddenly become a symbol of something that only maybe 5 percent of the people in the country hate, but that’s all it takes.� Mack recalled his assignment in the Middle East in 1983 when an obscure group calling itself “Islamic Jihad� claimed responsibility for the deaths of 299 American and French service members in Beirut during Lebanon’s civil war. Mack said the incident recalibrated U.S. thinking about the nexus of diplomacy and security. “After that, for people in the Foreign Service, security issues — keeping yourself alive — became really important,� Mack recalled. “You didn’t go anywhere without varying your routes,

you didn’t go anywhere without telling someone. It just became much more complicated.â€? Mack suggested that today’s security concerns hobble the work of diplomacy. “It’s way too dominant in your thinking these days, and it makes it really hard for people on the scene to do their jobs,â€? he said. “[T]o have people assassinated or even worse, taken hostage, just distorts your politics toward a country. Your policy becomes dominated by it ‌ the American public is asking, ‘What are you doing about this?’ — it becomes a kind of inescapable reality of our politics.â€? Having said that, Mack stresses that security concerns should not eclipse the will to get the job done in Libya. “We know there are a lot of bad people down there,â€? he said.“We know there are a lot of nasty weapons floating around. But part of our job is to figure out where that stuff is and who those people are and how you can deal with them.We need diplomatic posts.â€? As for the Arab Spring in general, Mack said the initial euphoria should be tempered by patience and perspective. “It is natural that Americans want to see people succeed in freeing themselves from authoritarian rule,â€? he wrote in a Jan. 7 MEI analysis.“But demands for rapid change that start with sweeping idealism often end badly, as they did for early twentiethcentury Russia. Or, as was true for late eighteenth-century France, a positive outcome may not emerge before decades of bloodshed and destruction.â€? Democracy is hard and takes time, he argues, especially in countries like Libya that lack strong institutions to begin with. Moreover,“the United States has no magic answer for these problems,â€? he says, noting that the West was ready to declare victory in the Arab Spring before the battle had even begun. “Next time, hold the applause until the dust settles.â€?

Michael Coleman (@michaelcoleman) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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Diplomacy

United States

New French Ambassador Thrust Into Spotlight After Paris Attacks by Larry Luxner

T

he world’s eyes turned to France last month as an estimated 3.7 million people, including dozens of world leaders, took part in unity marches following three days of deadly terrorist attacks in Paris.

In Washington, D.C., the Islamic extremist rampage that left 17 people dead and an entire nation traumatized sparked an outpouring of emotions as well. On Jan. 11, Gérard Araud, the French ambassador to the United States, led close to 3,000 people on a silent march from the Newseum to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. The event also attracted Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund; U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland; German Ambassador Peter Wittig; and Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero. Many in the crowd held aloft signs reading “Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie),” in solidarity with the cartoonists and editors gunned down at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French magazine that had published caricatures lampooning the Prophet Muhammad. Some also carried “Je Suis Juif” placards in memory of the four people killed by terrorists at a Jewish kosher supermarket only two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack. “We organized this because the French community in D.C. asked the embassy to do something,”Araud told The Washington Diplomat following the event. “It was striking, when you

rial, where the crowd honored not only police officers and law enforcement officials who died in the threeday span of terror but also the thousands of men and women working to protect the French people from future attacks. Two policemen — one of whose deaths was brutally captured on video — were killed when brothers Said Kouachi and Chérif Kouachi stormed Charlie Hebdo’s office in a Jan. 7 siege that left nine journalists dead, including some of France’s most prominent cartoonists. In separate but related attacks, another gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, killed a policewoman and four hostages in a kosher grocery store. All three gunmen were eventually themselves killed in bloody shooting sprees. The attacks appear to have some links to al-Qaeda’s deadly affiliate in Yemen, and to some extent the Islamic State, though their exact connection is still being investigated. The cold-blooded massacre shocked the world and galvanized millions to stand in solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, whose remaining staff published a defiant issue showing the Prophet crying and holding the “Je Suis Charlie” placard. The edition was a hit — some 5 million copies were snatched up — but Muslims around

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Photo: Embassy of France

This is one of the biggest shocks I have ever received — not only as a diplomat, but also as a French citizen…. For my country, this is a bit like our own 9/11.

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— Gérard Araud, ambassador of France to the United States live abroad and your country is under attack. The French people here wanted to express their sorrow and unity. A lot of French-speaking Americans were also moved by what happened.” Upon reaching the memorial, participants paused for a moment of silence before singing“La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem.The route was highly symbolic; marchers began at the Newseum — an icon of press freedom — and ended at the memo-

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the world, many of whom view depictions of Muhammad as offensive, criticized the cover for needlessly stoking tensions. The debate over religious fanaticism versus free speech has gripped France, a nation that prides itself on secularism and democracy, and laid bare the West’s fears about the Islamic radicalization of its own citizens. At the same time, Muslims fear the backlash will worsen the Islamophobia

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Ambassador of France Gérard Araud holds a “We Are Charlie” sign as he leads a silent march in D.C. to commemorate the Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including journalists at Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French magazine that had lampooned the Prophet Muhammad.

that already pervades much of Europe. Stepping into this tempest is Gérard Araud, 61, one of France’s most respected and outspoken diplomats. Araud came here from New York, where he was Paris’s envoy to the United Nations. He bucked conventional diplomacy with his freewheeling, no-holds-barred style on Twitter and has earned plaudits from the likes of U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who called him a “diplomatic and bureaucratic samurai, and one of the most authentic and authentically decent people to ever practice diplomacy,” in a November

Vogue magazine piece. In that story, Araud talked about how he didn’t want to be defined as the only openly gay ambassador in Washington (his partner lives in New York). That shouldn’t be a problem — he’s earned far more coverage for his blunt talk on everything from Syria to France’s policy in the Western Sahara than for his personal life. All eyes were already on Araud as he switched roles with François Delattre, the previous ambassador in Washington who took Araud’s position in New York. But now, barely on the job for four months, Araud’s gift for communication is being tested February 2015

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Approved __________________________________________________________ Changes ___________________________________________________________ Photo: Pk4wp / Wikimedia Commons ___________________________________________________________________ Ambassador of France Gérard Araud joins envoys from Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Ukraine, along with 3,000 others, in front of the Newseum to honor those killed in the recent Paris terrorist attacks, which inspired condemnation and protests worldwide. Above, Indian journalists and cartoonists express solidarity with victims of the attack. Photo: Embassy of France

tion) or push for France to close its borders. “As you know, all over Europe there are anti-immigrant feelings, and most of the immigrants are Muslims,” he warned. “There have already been incidents against mosques, and anti-Muslim demonstrations in Germany. We have to integrate them better, because obviously there is a social problem. Things are going to change because we are obliged to wage a war against radical Islam.” Araud added: “One of our priorities is to convince French public opinion that we can ensure their security, safety and prosperity in the framework of the European Union. But this means the borders of the EU also have to be more protected.We want to be able to say to our people, ‘Europe is also protecting you.’”

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like never before. A steady stream of politicians and well-wishers has flocked to the embassy to pay their respects.The Washington Post’s Roxanne Roberts reported how Araud has been swamped with what he calls “incredible outpourings of solidarity, grief and friendship coming from the Americans, and I had to receive and answer these messages.” “This is one of the biggest shocks I have ever received — not only as a diplomat, but also as a French citizen,” Araud told us. “For my country, this is a bit like our own 9/11. I am moved and disturbed like any French citizen. And the fact that Jews are targeted by terrorists is for me personally devastating.” A Mideast expert, one of Araud’s previous assignments was Tel Aviv, where he served as ambassador to Israel.Two days after the silent march in D.C., Araud spoke at Washington’s Adas Israel synagogue, at an event organized by the American Jewish Committee. “As you know, I lived six years of my life in Israel, and I share the feelings expressed by our prime minister [Manuel Valls] that without the Jews, France wouldn’t be France. It would be totally normal and acceptable for the Jews to go to Israel if it’s their free choice, but if they’re obliged to do it because they’re afraid to live in France, that’s abominable.” France has between 500,000 and 600,000 Jews — the largest Jewish population in Europe — but last year, about 7,000 of them, or more than 1 percent of the community, moved to Israel. Others left for the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Even more are expected to emigrate this year, in the wake of the most recent attacks and increasing anti-Semitism. Even so, Araud cautioned against allowing the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket attacks to be manipulated by extreme rightwing parties to persecute Muslims (who make up nearly 8 percent of France’s popula-

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International Affairs

Asia

World Tries to Decipher Enigma Of North Korea’s Latest ‘Leader’ by Dave Seminara

N

orth Korea’s leaders — Kim Il-sung, known as the “Great Leader” (in power from 1948 until his death in 1994); his son, Kim Jong-il (19942011), the “Dear Leader”; and his son, Kim Jong-un (2011-present), the “Great Successor” — have established the gold standard for repressive dynastic rule. For decades, their pariah state has been a world leader in all the wrong metrics: most corrupt, most abusive, most belligerent, least free, least transparent, least democratic. But it took a bad Hollywood movie to transform Kim Jong-un from a tyrant known mostly to foreign policy wonks into a household name recognized by anyone who follows pop culture. The FBI believes that North Korea was involved in a devastating hack on Sony Pictures, which exposed embarrassing details about the company and delayed plans to release “The Interview,” a satire about a CIA plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un. We may never know the full extent of North Korea’s involvement in the affair — some experts doubt Pyongyang was behind the Sony attack — but the tsunami of media coverage moved the North Korea narrative, once covered only by serious publications, into the pages of People,TMZ and hundreds of other pop-culture media outlets.

Photo: Nicor / Wikimedia Commons

Photos of Kim Il-sung, the “Great Leader,” left, and Kim Jong-il, the “Dear Leader,” hang in the Grand People’s Study House library in Pyongyang. The Kim dynasty has maintained an iron grip on the communist nation since 1948.

rary world,” the report said. On Dec. 18, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a nonbinding resolution that denounced human rights abuses in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and urged the Security Council to consider sanctions against North Korean officials, while referring them to face charges in the International Crim­

“

Kim Jong-un has proven to be less predictable and more capricious in style than his father…. He has consolidated power by instilling fear and requiring absolute loyalty from his people. — Scott Snyder

”

director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations

Yet it was the pages of a landmark U.N. Human Rights Council report issued quietly a year ago that revealed a sobering picture of the “unspeakable atrocities” committed by North Korea, including forced starvation, systemic torture, extermination, enslavement and rape. “The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contempo-

8

inal Court (ICC). The vote was 116-20 with 53 abstentions. Days later, the Security Council held a debate on the human rights situation in North Korea dissecting the U.N. report, which estimated that between 80,000 to 120,000 people are being held in North Korean prison camps. China, backed by Russia, attempted to block the debate but failed. As a per-

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manent member of the Security Council, Beijing has veto power and will likely prevent a formal referral to the ICC. But the unprecedented international rebuke was enough to trigger a furious round of diplomacy and denials by North Korea, which released three Americans from captivity in a rare gesture of conciliation while also ramping up its bombastic rhetoric. Experts now wonder if the admittedly faint possibility of facing international justice infuriated Kim Jong-un enough that he launched the massive cyberattack on Sony. In response to the hack, Washington slapped sanctions against the North Korean government, in part to curtail the lavish lifestyles to which its top leaders have grown accustomed. But the country is already among the most economically isolated in the world, and sanctions have done little to curb Pyongyang’s appetite for nuclear weapons while serving as a convenient tool for Kim to demonize the West and galvanize support at home. Indeed, three years into his tenure as leader of the Hermit Kingdom, the West is perhaps even more mystified by the Great Successor than it was by his father or his grandfather. “Kim Jong-un has proven to be less

predictable and more capricious in style than his father,” said Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. “He has consolidated power by instilling fear and requiring absolute loyalty from his people.” Kim’s capricious, some would say reckless style of leadership was reflected in many of the public statements released by the government in 2014. In the wake of the U.N. vote, the official Korean news agency, KCNA, put out a series of articles threatening that the North would nuke South Korea’s Blue House (their equivalent of the White House) and obliterate Japan. In May, KCNA labeled President Obama a “crossbreed” and a “wicked black monkey” and referred to South Korean President Park Geun-hye as “an old prostitute” who took marching orders from the American president. In August, Secretary of State John Kerry was derided as a “wolf with a hideous lantern jaw.” And in December, after North Korea’s internet went down (the U.S. is widely believed to be responsible, acting in retaliation for the Sony hack), an official with North Korea’s ruling body, the National Defense Commission, asserted February 2015

that Obama was “the chief culprit” for the release of “The Interview” and once again called him a monkey. But in a New Year’s address to the country, Kim also suggested that he is open to a high-level summit with South Korea’s leaders. Kim’s personal conduct has also frequently been puzzling. In January 2014, he appeared at the grand opening of Masik Ryong, a glitzy new $100 million ski resort east of Pyongyang, in the shadow of Prison Camp Kyo-hwa-so No. 8, along with his pal, the retired NBA star Dennis Rodman. The portly, bordering-on-obese Swisseducated leader, who many believe turned 32 on Jan. 8, was subsequently seen limping in public and in September, North Korean state TV said that he was suffering from an “uncomfortable physical condition,” widely presumed to be gout. He wasn’t seen in public for weeks. But he quickly resurfaced and in early January, state media released a video of the young leader, who has previously boasted that he could drive a car by age 3 and fly a plane by himself, perhaps to reinforce the notion that he’s firmly in control of the opaque politburo. The youngest son of Kim Jong-il, Kim Jongun was reportedly chosen as successor after his older brother fell out of favor for bailing on Kim Jong-il’s birthday party in favor of attending an Eric Clapton concert in Europe. According to South Korean media reports, North Korean authorities issued a directive when Kim Jong-un came to power after the death of his father to reject birth certificates of babies named Kim Jong-un and to revise the identity cards of those who still had his name. He also reportedly had plastic surgery to enhance the resemblance to his grandfather, who is still beloved by many older North Koreans. Thanks mostly to defectors who have escaped to the West, we know enough about

Photo: Mark Scott Johnson from Sydney, Australia / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Kumsusan Memorial Palace has been turned into a mausoleum for Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea.

Kim Jong-un’s arbitrary, cruel leadership style that even the wildest rumors seem plausible. He may or may not have had an ex-girlfriend executed for making a pornographic video; he had his uncle and five of his aides killed but probably didn’t feed them to 120 starving dogs; a deputy within the Ministry of Public Security may have been roasted alive with a flamethrower; and a well-known director was supposedly kidnapped to build the North Korean film industry. “I was not among those who expected young Kim to be drastically different from those who went before him, and so far it seems he has made major changes in neither diplo-

macy nor economics and has modeled his image-building on his father’s and grandfather’s cults of personality,” said Bradley Martin, a professor at California State University-Fresno and the author of “Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty.” “I don’t know whether the youngest Kim is as hands-on as his micromanaging father, but it’s apparent that if anyone presumes to run things in an independent fashion, that person will be out.” In this and other regards, James Schoff, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Asia Program, sees plenty of similarities between Kim Jong-un and

his father. “They are similar in terms of the way that he’s kept the political leadership very centralized,” he said.“He has not pursued a ‘governing by committee’ or allowed for a collective leadership approach, and he’s been willing to administer strict punishments for perceived transgressions, as did his father. He has also paid careful attention to the military and seeing to many of their basic needs.” But Schoff also sees some noteworthy differences between father and son. “The cult of personality is there, but he’s also taking a more pragmatic approach of appealing to the material desires of the government and military elite in Pyongyang, and the high-profile investments in amusement, recreation and foreign goods and technology appear intended to show that he is a more modern leader who is capable of bridging to the future,” Schoff said. “He appears willing to allow most of the people to engage in private market activities so that they can survive, as long as strict limits are observed.” Schoff noted that Kim has also paid more attention to the Korea Workers’ Party as a vehicle for support, and he has been more extroverted and looser than his father — speaking in public and allowing photos to be shot of him in a more informal way. “[Kim] has been more image-conscious than his father in this respect,” he said. Martin said the young ruler was a “showman” inclined to steer the country in the same direction as his father.“For him to change policies must seem to him something like a betrayal of the ideological legacy he received,” he said. Snyder said Kim has prioritized economic development, noting that the country’s economy is now stable, even though its 25 million

Continued on next page

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Continued from previous page people still suffer from chronic malnutrition and rampant poverty. Tightly controlled tours of North Korea have expanded in recent years and a small number of foreign tourists continued to trickle into the DPRK until October, when it imposed a ban on foreign tourists in the wake of the Ebola scare. Nevertheless, the government unveiled a bizarre new tourism website in December, featuring photos of missiles, smiling medical personnel and children lying in bunk beds, among other things. The photos of the missiles may be a bellicose reminder that the DPRK isn’t about to give up its nuclear ambitions anytime soon. Hopes that Kim might abandon those ambitions were dashed when the country conducted its third nuclear test in 2013. Last September, the International Atomic Energy Agency asserted that the Yongbyon nuclear site may be operational again based on analysis of satellite imagery. “He is simultaneously pursuing nuclear and missile development and these policies are giving his country an expanded threat capability, building on his father’s legacy,” Snyder said. Kim has been aggressive in building up the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and provoking South Korea, but the discussion of his human rights record at the United Nations, though relatively toothless, seems to have spooked him. Martin said that North Korean representatives abroad have been working hard to lobby against the U.N. resolution to refer Kim and his cronies to the ICC, attempting to shore up relations with Russia and China, which both wield veto power on the U.N. Security Council. “Since North Korea’s political system is topdown in the extreme, this strongly suggests that Kim himself cares, that he doesn’t want to WD FS AD 2015_01_20 EMBED.pdf

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People bow to the statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il on Mansu hill in Pyongyang. Both leaders built up a cult of personality that they apparently passed down to the country’s newest leader, Kim Jongun, seen below in undated picture released by North korea’s official korean central News agency.

PhoTo: kcNa vIa kNS PhoTo: J.a. DE roo / WIkIMEDIa coMMoNS

see his reputation tarred,” Martin said. “Of course, if he really cared about his human rights record he’d do something in that regard, change policies in a serious way. I see no reason to believe he’s heading in that direction.” Schoff believes that Kim is troubled by the U.N. report and ICC threat but isn’t ultimately convinced that he’ll be held accountable in a court of law. “The case is unlikely to go to an international criminal court and Kim Jong-un would defy any such ruling if it were handed down,”

1/20/15

he said. “Kim Jong-un has bigger problems on the home front in terms of protecting himself, so I don’t think accountability in the international system is as big of a deal to him as the blow it causes to his image and that of his regime.” Schoff said the international community has few options for confronting Kim and preventing human rights violations in North Korea save for military intervention, which he believes will not happen. “But that doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time

to pursue the U.N. process and other means of criticizing, publicizing and sanctioning that behavior,” he said.“The more that this kind of information gets out there, then the harder it is for China or Russia to shield Kim Jong-un and the less sympathy the North will receive from certain political factions in the South. There is a cost even if he’s not physically stopped.”

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

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United States

Putin’s Russia and Castro’s Cuba Shape Obama’s Post-Cold War Legacy by Larry Luxner

B

arack Obama may very well be remembered by history as, among other things, the president who was forced to confront one former Cold War enemy, Russia, while re-establishing full diplomatic relations with another, Cuba. Exactly one year ago, the February revolution in Ukraine (branded a coup d’état by Moscow) sparked the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and finally its military intervention in eastern Ukraine, which is now effectively split off from the rest of the country. And it ended with Obama’s stunning Dec. 17 announcement that the White House — the same one that had recently imposed economic sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its aggression against Ukraine — would normalize ties with the Castro regime, loosen travel and trade restrictions, and seek to end the U.S. trade embargo of Cuba that’s been in place since 1960. Obama has won kudos from some quarters for discarding an outdated Cold War-era policy that had failed to rid the island of communism, while confronting an old nemesis whose belligerence is resurrecting Cold War-era jitters in Europe. The contrasting moves — pushing an economic rapprochement to pry Cuba open while tightening the economic noose around Russia — are the latest in a geopolitical chess game that apparently didn’t end with the demise of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, the president has been slammed by critics who say he’s being naïve in engaging the Castro brothers while not cracking down harder on Putin — abandoning America’s longstanding push for freedom on both fronts in favor of foes who still cling to a Cold War mentality. But are the two situations comparable, or even relevant to each other? In Obama’s TV address to the nation, which coincided with the simultaneous return of jailed U.S. contractor Alan Gross to Maryland and three convicted Cuban spies to Havana, the president said that for more than five decades, the United States had sought to uphold democracy and human rights in Cuba by isolating the Caribbean island. “Though this policy has been rooted in the best of intentions, no other nation joins us in imposing these sanctions, and it has had little effect beyond providing the Cuban government with a rationale for restrictions on its people,” said Obama, noting that Cuba is still governed by the Castros and the Communist Party that came to power in 1959. “Neither the American nor Cuban people are wellserved by a rigid policy that is rooted in events that took place before most of us were born,” said the president, who was barely a year old at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. “Consider that for more than 35 years, we’ve had relations with China — a far larger country also governed by a communist party. Nearly two decades ago, we re-established relations with Vietnam, where we fought a war that claimed more Americans than any Cold War confrontation.” Obama didn’t mention Russia once in his 15-minute speech, but he did pledge “to engage Congress in an honest and serious debate about lifting the embargo,”

February 2015

PHOTO: LARRY LUxNeR

the u.S. interests Section in havana, officially an annex of the Swiss Embassy, easily ranks as the largest foreign diplomatic mission in cuba. President Obama aims to upgrade this mission to a full-fledged embassy as soon as possible.

“

obama looks at each situation on its own terms, asks himself what works and then decides how to act.

”

— MiChaeL ShiFter

president of the Inter-American Dialogue

which can only be done by Congress since the embargo was codified into law in 1996. Domingo Amuchastegui is a former Cuban intelligence agent who spent much of the Cold War spying behind the Iron Curtain; during the 1960s, he was head of the European Socialist Countries Department at Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Today, he praises the administration’s policies on both Cuba and Russia, including a nuanced position on the crisis in Ukraine. Obama has supported Kiev’s shift toward Europe and away from Moscow’s orbit of influence, slapping economic sanctions against Russia for backing rebels in the east. But he hasn’t agreed to send Ukraine lethal weaponry to fight those rebels, a move that could dramatically ratchet up tensions with Moscow. Amuchastegui said the president would have been crazy to give in to “warmongers” by supporting a coup d’état clearly aimed at pulling Ukraine away from its longstanding neutrality and making it another member of NATO along Russia’s western border.The prospect of Ukraine, home to a sizable ethnic Russian population, joining the Western security bloc is a red line for Moscow, which promptly annexed Crimea after

Yanukovych’s overthrow. “Even though the Obama administration was very supportive of the unfolding of the Ukrainian crisis, especially the last stage, the Russian response showed the many dangers that could develop with such a reckless gamble,” Amuchastegui said, insisting that Obama’s attempt to engage both Moscow and Havana “is not playing soft or acting as a coward — it’s realpolitik, a sensible and pragmatic approach, welcomed in both instances by an overwhelming majority around the world and within the United States.” Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, however, argues that “the Obama administration must be more careful to treat engagement as a means, not an end” — whether it’s Russia, Cuba or Iran for that matter. “Diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union did not avert the Cold War (though they may have made it less dangerous than it otherwise would have been),” he wrote in a Jan. 12 Wall Street Journal op-ed. “More recently, the Obama administration’s own Russia ‘reset’ proved a failure. Engagement has not transformed relations with Venezuela, nor with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when it was attempted in the early 2000s or from 2009 to 2011.” Yet Venezuela’s relations with Cuba may have factored into Obama’s calculus. For years, Caracas has helped prop up the Castro regime with cheap energy, but now that oil prices have tumbled,Venezuela has had to cut back on its largesse, pressuring the island economically in much the same way the Soviet Union did when it stopped being its benefactor after the breakup of communism. The sharp drop in oil prices is also bol-

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 11

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama meets with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his dacha outside Moscow in 2009, when the so-called “Russian reset� offered the hope of improved ties between the former Cold War adversaries.

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stering Obama’s efforts to put the pinch on Russia. Whether the energy slump will dislodge either Putin or the Castros from power is another matter entirely. Fidel Castro, 88, made no comment about the dramatic developments coming from Washington; many speculate that he’s either dead or close to death. But his younger brother RaĂşl, 83, who’s ruled Cuba since 2008, said in his own speech that he has no intention of giving up communism or opening the country to free elections. “Fidel may or may not be dead, but history will likely hold him accountable for today’s Cuba,â€? quipped Vicki Huddleston, chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana from 1999 to 2002 and later U.S. ambassador to Mali.“But he did have a very good 15-plus minutes on the world stage.â€? Huddleston said Obama’s reset with Russia is “in no way a historic change of policyâ€? compared to his “decision to transform the U.S. relationship with Cubaâ€? — which she says is more akin to Richard Nixon’s opening to China in the 1970s. Michael Shifter, president of the InterAmerican Dialogue, said the restraint Obama has shown toward Russia’s Putin and his willingness to change course toward Cuba with only two years left in his presidency illustrate how hard it is to discern an “Obama doctrineâ€? on foreign policy. “Obama looks at each situation on its own terms, asks himself what works and then decides how to act,â€? he told The Diplomat. “While the effectiveness of the shift in U.S. Cuba policy remains to be seen, Obama reached the conclusion that the approach in place for more than half a century had not worked and needed to be changed. With this stroke — regardless of how conditions play out in Cuba — Obama secured his legacy in Latin America.â€? At the same time, Shifter said,“In reacting to the crisis with Ukraine and Russia, Obama has been firm and measured. His policy, which involves economic sanctions but avoids a bellicose posture, appears to be yielding results. Putin faces enormous difficulties, in part the result of sanctions but also plummeting oil prices. So far, Obama’s decision to resist a more aggressive reaction to Putin’s moves seems vindicated.â€? For Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), however, the 44th president isn’t “firm and measuredâ€? at all — but rather a pushover for tinpot dictators. A decorated Vietnam War veteran and longtime supporter of anti-Cuba sanctions, McCain has emerged as Obama’s loudest critic on

most issues, including the civil war in Ukraine and the administration’s reluctance to get involved militarily. In September — claiming that “Russia’s aggression threatens the entire global order� — he lashed out at the White House for not sending U.S. guns, missiles and bombs to Ukrainian forces battling pro-Russian rebels in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk. So far, the war has claimed more than 4,800 lives (including 298 people on board the Malaysia Airlines jet shot down over Ukraine last July) and has driven more than 1.2 million people from their homes, according to the United Nations. Fighting recently resumed and a tattered ceasefire has yet to take firmly hold. Putin, though, has recently taken a more conciliatory stance on the conflict, perhaps the result of sliding oil prices and Western sanctions that are beginning to take a real toll on Russia’s economy. U.S.-Russia trade is negligible, which is why Obama has turned to the European Union to put the squeeze on Moscow. So far, he has managed to present a united transatlantic front on sanctions, although EU members such as France and Germany are hesitant to impose additional economic penalties on Russia, a key trade and energy partner. Moreover, providing Ukraine — which has been accused of human rights abuses right alongside the Russia-backed rebels — with lethal weaponry would surely trigger a harsh response from Russia, one that many of America’s closest European allies don’t want to invite. McCain, however, doesn’t see it that way. “It is shameful that the administration still refuses to provide Ukraine the military assistance it desperately needs after it has already been dismembered by President Putin and invaded by Russian troops,� said the GOP’s 2008 nominee for president.“Ukraine is struggling to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and as President [Petro] Poroshenko said in his address to Congress, ‘One cannot win the war with blankets.’� Predictably, the same day Obama unveiled his new Cuba “reset,� McCain issued a similarly scathing statement, saying that “like the others before it, [this policy] is one of America and the values we stand for in retreat and decline. It is about the appeasement of autocratic dictators, thugs and adversaries diminishing America’s influence in the world.� McCain isn’t the only one in Washington who thinks the Cold War’s lessons have been lost on Obama. “What transformed the Soviet Union into a global threat wasn’t communism or even the Red Army. Rather, it was Moscow’s nuclear February 2015

arsenal that compelled the United States to fight or wage proxy battles on four continents for nearly five decades,â€? said Lee Smith, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank. Writing in the Dec. 29 issue of The Weekly Standard, Smith argues that “Cuba was a problem not simply because of the Castro regime and its efforts to spread revolution throughout Latin America, but because it was the satellite of a nuclear-armed superpower, one that decided to base missiles there in 1962. Cuba was the means by which the Soviets brought the threat of a nuclear attack to our doorstep, a mere 90 miles from Florida. This is the Cold War lesson apparently lost on Obama. If you believe the embargo was a failure, then it means you do not understand its original purpose — to push back against an expansionist totalitarian regime that threatened America at home.â€? At the moment, though, Russia is not exactly about to expand its presence off the shores of Florida and Smith’s view is not shared by most of the men and women who have headed the U.S. Interests Section in Havana over the years. Wayne Smith was a junior officer at the U.S. Embassy in Havana when President Kennedy broke relations with Castro in 1961. He was transferred to the Soviet Union and Argentina, served at a variety of posts in Washington and eventually returned to the Caribbean in 1979 to head the Havana Interests Section. He resigned three years later to protest the Reagan administration’s hard line against the Castro regime. Perhaps Smith’s sympathetic views toward the Pennsylvania-size island of 11 million can best be summed up by the defiant “Hands Off Cuba!â€? placard given to him by a student during a 1967 demonstration in Moscow marking the death of revolutionary Ernesto “ChĂŠâ€? Guevara. For years, the Russian-language sign has occupied a prominent place on the wall of Smith’s office at the Center for International Policy.

Photo: Đœиноова ĐŽ. (Julmin) / Wikimedia Commons

The Kremlin is seen from the Bolshoi Kammeny Bridge in Moscow. In recent months, the United States and European Union have hit Russia with economic sanctions in response to its involvement in Ukraine, reigniting Cold War-era tensions.

“If anything, the fact that Russia can’t really be of much assistance to Cuba these days — nor can Venezuela — is one reason Cuba is more interested in engagement with us,â€? said Smith. “Every other nation in the Western Hemisphere has relations with Cuba, except us. Our policy had reached a point where we were the ones who were isolated, not Cuba. So we’re beginning to move to restructure that.â€? Jay Taylor, who ran the Havana Interests Section from 1987 to 1990, said Obama’s dealings with Putin as well as with RaĂşl Castro prove that the current president has a “relative openness of mind.â€? “The reset with Russia hasn’t worked out for

a variety of reasons, but it was good to have made the effort,� said Taylor, now a research associate at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.“And everybody agrees that on balance, the embargo has been useful to Castro in terms of rationalizing Cuba’s economic situation and increasing his stature around the world. Being able to defy the Yankees only 90 miles away served his purpose. But it’ll be some time before the embargo is fully lifted. Having normal relations is not going to bring about democracy in any substantial way.� David Lewis, vice president of Manchester Trade Ltd. and an expert on the Caribbean, has a different take on things. He cautions against

overstating Cuba’s importance in the broader Cold War anti-communist strategy, then and now. “I’m one of those who have always believed that our policy toward Russia was really more driven by large-country realpolitik regardless of how communist ideology came into the fight. Russia is no longer communist, and it’s still a problem for us,� he said. “I don’t believe there was ever communism in Cuba.We just had Marxist-Leninist opportunism, but there’s no real socialism going on there,� Lewis added, predicting that after the embargo is lifted and relations with Cuba are normalized — even if it becomes a tourist paradise for awhile — “it’s just going to fall back into being another small country, no different than any other small country in the Americas. There’s no reason the U.S. should have any different policy toward Cuba, because it is not special.� In the end, he said, “We’re just a bunch of little tropical Caribbean islands, insignificant in the history of the world, while Russia was a great empire when we were still in caves and teepees,� he said. “Who talks about [Chile’s Augusto] Pinochet anymore today, or the Brazilian military, or [Haiti’s] Papa Doc or [the Dominican Republic’s Rafael] Trujillo? Cuba hit the jackpot getting into big-power politics, but that was a historical glitch. It wasn’t supposed to happen.�

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

Follow The Diplomat Connect at www.washdiplomat.com.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 13

PolitiCS

United States

Obama and New GOP Congress: Conflict or Cooperation Ahead? by John Shaw

I

n his final two years in office, President Barack Obama will have to deal with a Republican majority in Congress that is led by two men, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ken­ tucky, with whom he has a long and not entirely amicable history. Obama and Boehner have tussled over many issues since the president’s inauguration in 2009, including a bruising budget battle in 2011 that led to a downgrade in the nation’s credit rating and a bitter fight in 2013 over spending that resulted in a widely criticized 16-day government shutdown. For his part, McConnell famously said in 2010 that his top legislative priority was to ensure that Obama was a one-term president. He has been an unrelenting critic of the president for six years now and that is unlikely to change. Not surprisingly, many lawmakers and analysts anticipate that the final two years of the Obama presidency will be contentious on Capitol Hill. With Republicans firmly opposed to him on most major issues and his fellow Democrats no longer enamored with his agenda, Obama may be wondering what can be accomplished between now and 2017. Or he may feel liberated now that he’s no longer up for re-election and will decide to push the executive-action envelope to bypass congressional gridlock. The truth is, no one knows for certain.

“

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

ing too many regulations, such as the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law, and embracing too much government, such as theAffordable CareAct,i.e.Obamacare. Republican candidates hammered Obama as a passive, even incompetent, manager and cited the failed rollout of the health care law’s website. The GOP also blasted the president from the opposite direction, accusing him of overreaching and operating beyond the limits of his constitutional powers. Connecting their critique of Obama with their campaign opponents,

So yes, the American people elected divided government…. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want us to accomplish anything. If there’s a will to do so, we can come together and achieve great things. And if President Obama is interested in a historic achievement of his own, this can be his time as well. — Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate majority leader Throughout the 2014 midterm congressional campaign, Republican leaders tried to frame the vote as a referendum on Obama.They said the president was to blame for an economy that was sluggish and not producing enough jobs (though recent economic data show otherwise). They accused him of push-

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Republicans charged that Democratic candidates would defend and advance Obama’s policies if elected to Congress. In response, Democrats tried to emphasize middle-class economic issues on the campaign trail, citing the need to increase the federal minimum wage,

The Washington Diplomat

President Barack Obama reaches to shake hands with members of Congress as he arrives to deliver the State of the Union address in February 2013; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) applauds at left. Later that year, partisan animosity led to an unpopular 16-day government shutdown.

reduce interest rates for student loans and ensure pay equity for women. Few Democratic candidates tried to defend the president and many conspicuously sought to distance themselves from his administration. The result was a decisive Republican victory on Nov. 4, as the GOP expanded its majority in the House and regained control of the Senate. Republicans enter­ ed the 114th Congress with a 246-188 ma­­jor­­ity (with one vacancy) in the House and a 54-46 majority in the Senate. Before the new Congress began, congressional leaders from the two parties and the president tried to dispose of unfinished business during the lame duck session. Deliberations and negotiations were complicated by Obama’s decision in November to issue an executive order on immigration policy that, among other things, shielded millions of illegal immigrations from deportation. McConnell and Boehner vowed to respond forcefully in the next Congress to Obama’s actions, but they urged their angry GOP colleagues to nonetheless support a $1 trillion spending bill that funded most of the government for the rest of the 2015 fiscal year.This package was approved several weeks before Christmas.

Looking to the 114th Congress, there are four broad scenarios on how Obama and the Republican majority might govern. They could forge big agreements, craft modest accords, fall back into partisan gridlock or degenerate into a meltdown. Most congressional experts and lawmakers say it’s very unlikely the president and the GOP Congress will forge major compromises in the final years of the Obama’s presidency. There is too much history of failure between the president and congressional Republicans and too little trust between them to make this possible. Additionally, neither party’s political base is encouraging, or would even permit, its leaders to make significant concessions to the other side. However, there is also general agreement that a total meltdown scenario is unlikely. The American people may not have high expectations for their leaders, but they do want them to at least avert disaster. So the most likely scenario is that Obama and Congress will forge modest agreements in some areas, while remaining far apart on others (this is a hybrid of the modest accords and partisan gridlock scenarios). The president and Congress will probably tout their modest deals as evidence of bipartisanFebruary 2015

SIDEBAR

114th Congress: Who’s Who On the Senate side of the Republicans will enjoy a 54-46 Capitol, Republican leader majority in the Senate and a 246Mitch McConnell of Kentucky 188 majority in the House. John is now the Senate majority Boehner of Ohio was re-elected to leader and John Cornyn of another term as House speaker. Texas is the majority whip. Kevin McCarthy of California will The Democratic leader, Harry serve as the House majority leader Reid of Nevada, is the now and Steve Scalise of Louisiana will minority leader and Richard serve as House majority whip. On Durbin of Illinois is the the Democratic side, Nancy Pelosi of John Boehner minority whip. California will continue to serve as Bob Corker, a Republican from Tenn­ the House minority leader, while Steny Hoyer of Mary­land will serve as the House essee, will be the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Robert minority whip. Ed Royce, a Republican from California, Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, will be chairman of the House Foreign will be its ranking member. John McCain, a Affairs Committee, and Eliot Engel, a Republican from Arizona, will be the chairDemocrat from New York, will be the rank- man of the Senate Armed Services ing member. Mac Thornberry, a Republican Committee, and Jack Reed, a Democrat from Texas, will be the chairman of the from Rhode Island, will be the ranking House Armed Services Committee, and member. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington State, will be the ranking member. — John Shaw

ship and highlight their disagreements on high-profile issues as proof of their commitment to principle and their unwillingness to surrender to political expediency. The president, in remarks to the Business Roundtable at the end of last year, observed that while he and Republican leaders disagree on important issues, “there remain enormous areas of potential bipartisan action and progress.â€? He cited corporate tax reform, infrastructure and free trade as areas “where we have a common vision.â€? In his public comments since early November, Senate Majority Leader McConnell has also said there is a chance for agreements this year on business tax reform, trade and infrastructure. “Let’s look for areas of agreement where we can and — above all — let’s make Washington work again for the people we serve,â€? McConnell said in early January on the Senate floor. He added that divided government, with the president from one party and Congress led by the other party, can produce tangible accomplishments. But McConnell said bipartisan accords will require the president to “change course and move to the middleâ€? and predicted that Obama will face pressure from congressional Democrats not to compromise.“Now I appreciate that bipartisan compromise may not come easily for the president.The president’s supporters are pressing for militancy these days, not compromise.They’re demanding the comforts of purity over the duties of progress‌. We’re calling on the president to ignore the voices of reaction and join us,â€? he said,echoing the same charges that Democrats have lobbed at Republicans for years. As the 114th Congress begins, foreign policy challenges loom large for the nation and for lawmakers, although the president, as commander in chief, generally has more discretion to act abroad than he does at home. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) have scheduled wide-ranging hearings to define the challenges the United States faces and place them in a historical context; the first of the hearings was held in mid-January. While American lawmakers ponder the big international picture, they are likely to spend more time focused on specific issues.Disputes, or at least tensions, with the White House seem certain. February 2015

An early area of contention pertains to the threat arising from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also called ISIS or ISIL. In December, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in the final days of Democratic leadership, narrowly approved a resolution authorizing the president to use military force against the Islamic State. Many on the committee argued that Obama had been operating under authorities that were approved more than a decade earlier and therefore needed to be revised to be relevant to the conflict with the Islamic State. However, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee debate and vote in December served mostly to underscore the complex issues that still need to be resolved. There remains disagreement on the length of time for any Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), its geographical scope and whether it should allow for the introduction of American ground troops. Many Republicans and some Democrats argue that Obama still has not presented a coherent plan to defeat the Islamic State.“I have no earthly idea how the administration plans to go about degrading and destroying ISIS in Syria,� Corker said in early December. Both Corker and McCain have urged the White House to send a draft AUMF to Capitol Hill and said their panels will work intensely on the AUMF in the early months of 2015. Lawmakers will also be thrown back into another security-related debate, this one over NSA reforms, when a key portion of the Patriot Act expires in the middle of the year. The initial uproar over the security agency’s bulk collection of phone metadata revealed by the Edward Snowden leaks, which outraged liberals and libertarians alike, has been somewhat tempered by the January terrorist attacks in Paris, which resurrected the debate over security versus privacy and civil liberties. Congress is also certain to continue its keen interest in, and skeptical stance toward, the negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program. These talks, which have been extended until June 30, with a framework deal due March 1, are viewed with deep skepticism by many lawmakers who support imposing additional sanctions on Iran as a means of pressuring the longtime adversary into concessions. Another approach some

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Continued from previous page Republicans endorse is legislation that requires the administration to submit any agreement reached with Iran to Congress for its review and vote. Some Republicans also want to impose even tighter sanctions on Russia in the aftermath of its invasion of Crimea last year and its continuing support of anti-government forces in eastern Ukraine. Corker drafted several bills in the last Congress, including the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, which may serve as the basis for additional legislation to both punish Russia and bolster Ukraine. A number of lawmakers opposed Obama’s December decision to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba and are likely to hold hearings on the policy shift this year. Key Republicans seem certain to resist any effort to send an American ambassador to Havana or to allocate money to implement the landmark policy. Regardless, the changes won’t affect the longstanding trade embargo against the communist island, which only Congress can lift. GOP lawmakers are also casting a wary eye on the United Nations Climate Change Conference that will convene in Paris in November with the goal of negotiating a binding international treaty to curb greenhouse gas emissions. If such a treaty is concluded, it would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate to win ratification, a near impossibility in the current partisan environment.Republican lawmakers are instead likely to resist the administration’s domestic energy initiatives, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations that seek to limit carbon

Congress or make it past the president’s veto. The House voted last month to revoke the president’s executive actions on immigration as part of a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, but establishment Republicans in the Senate are hesitant to link immigration with the DHS budget — a move supported by tea party conservatives. The president has also said he would veto any such measure, which could result in a funding clash reminiscent of the government shutdown that damaged Republicans in public opinion polls. Another signature strategy for Republicans may be simply forcing the president to use his veto pen — something he hasn’t had to do much of in the last six years — to paint him as the real obstructionist in Washington. On that note, shortly after lawmakers filed back into town last month, the Senate voted 63-32 to kick off a debate over legislation to approve the is Keystone pipeline,infollowing NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad free of XL mistakes spellingaand House vote to approve the controversial and content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. long-delayed energy project with Canada. crEDIT: oFFIcIaL WhITE hoUSE PhoTo By LaWrENcE JackSoN Obama, who argues that more time is needed President obama delivers his State of the Union address in thetwo house in 2011. Despitewill years partisan The first faxed changes be ofmade at notocost to the advertiser, subsequent changes review the $8 billion pipeline, has threatacrimony, there is tentative hope that a Republican-controlled Congress some kindper of agreement will be billedcan at come a rateto of $75 faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. ened to veto the measure; the Senate vote fell with the White house on issues such as free trade and corporate tax reform. short of the 67-vote threshold needed to break possible Please check this ad carefully. Mark anyveto. changes to your ad. the White House will reach an accord in the that pollution from power plants. The dramatic slump in oil prices, however, Also on the domestic front, it seems unlikely next two years on comprehensive immigraof a touchstone issue, ad reform. is correct sign andlegislation fax to: (301) needs less changes Bipartisan that 949-0065 was has made Keystone that Obama and GOP leaders in Congress willIf thetion reach a broad budget agreement to restrain the approved several years ago in the Senate has and the steadily improving job numbers have bolstered Democrats’ claims that the recovery been acceptable Republican growth of entitlement programs and reduceThe never Washington Diplomat to House(301) 933-3552 longer-term deficits. Negotiations by Obama leaders — and is even less palatable now in is taking hold. But the economy is sure to conand Boehner to accomplish this goal collapsed the aftermath of the president’s executive tinue to play a critical role in the administraApproved __________________________________________________________ in the summer of 2011 amid partisan rancor order on immigration. It is unclear if narrower tion’s relations with the Hill. Changes ___________________________________________________________ immigration bills dealing with border security and recriminations. It also seems doubtful that Congress and___________________________________________________________________ or a revamped visa program will pass in this See GoP, page 44

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The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

COVER PROFILE

Ambassador Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye

Elections Come at Critical Time For Beleaguered Nigeria by Larry Luxner

T

umbling oil prices. Bloodthirsty terrorists on the loose. Rising tensions between Christians and Muslims. Allegations of human rights abuses by soldiers — and of callous indifference by government officials. The potential for post-election violence.

Just one of these scenarios would scare any multiethnic, peace-loving, petroleum-exporting nation. But Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and its largest economy, faces all of them — and with national elections beginning just two weeks from now, its future as a stable democracy is no longer a given. Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States, insists the balloting will take place in an atmosphere of calm. “Our defense forces are doing everything in their power to make sure the elections are conducted in a free, fair and credible manner,”Adefuye told us in a recent interview at his Washington office. “They’re dealing very well with the insurgency. We’re up to the task.” Yet the task is enormous. An Islamist insurgency driven by the terrorist group Boko Haram has ravaged the northeastern portion of the country, revealing the government’s weaknesses and exacerbating tensions between the mostly Muslim north and the wealthier,Christiandominated south. Those tensions could boil over when Nigerians head to the polls Feb. 14, especially if Boko Haram steps up its attacks and, as some experts fear, prevents sections of the north from voting (already those who have been internally displaced cannot cast a ballot outside their jurisdictions).

facing off again: President Jonathan, who heads the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Buhari, a former military man representing theAll Progressives Congress (APC), a coalition of several ethnically and regionally based smaller parties.This time, however, the potential for violence may be worse — a prospect Boko Haram is no doubt relishing. The country’s 2015 election cycle begins Feb. 14, when voters choose their president and senators. A week later, governors of Nigeria’s 36 states will be chosen (at present, the PDP controls 21 states while the APC has 14). Finally, on Feb. 28, members of the House of Assembly will be up for election. “Nigerians know that political integrity is very important. We cannot compromise,” the ambassador said. “Everybody knows we have to stick together, and live together as one country. Second, Nigerians are very aware that the only way to progress is to govern democratically.Third, we have a very efficient electoral commission established by Goodluck Jonathan when he took over in 2010.” Even so, two Washington-based nonprofits — the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) — are each sending 18-member observer missions to Nigeria.

“

It’s impossible that Nigeria would splinter. Nigeria will survive as an entity…. There have been several times when our stability was threatened, and we insisted on a democratic solution. We’ve gone through this before. — Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye ambassador of Nigeria to the United States

If that happens and the north’s Muslim candidate loses, chaos could erupt, ressurecting memories of the country’s last elections. Three days of communal rioting following the April 2011 presidential vote left more than 800 people dead, after Muslim supporters of the main opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, protested the reelection of incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south. Four years later, the same rivals are February 2015

”

“Certainly for Nigeria at this particularly important moment in history, it’s very important to have an international observer mission here,” said Gretchen Birkle, chief of IRI’s Africa division. Birkle, speaking to us from Abuja, the capital, said “it’s premature to start judging the level of violence” that might occur. But she said she was encouraged by a Jan. 14 meeting in Abuja hosted by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and attended by Jonathan and

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of ruggeriphoto.com/

Buhari. “They came together quite symbolically to talk about the need for peaceful, nonviolent elections,” she said.“This sent a very important message, because violence and insecurity are very important concerns, though it’s hard to say what it’s going to be like on Election Day.” Working in Jonathan’s favor is a relatively strong economy, now ranked the largest in Africa. Last year, Nigeria’s GDP grew to $521 billion, surpassing that of South Africa’s, according to the World Bank. But its annual per-capita income is still only $3,000 and life expectancy hovers in the low 50s. Moreover, Nigeria’s unemployment rate has doubled from 12 percent in 2006 to around 25 percent today, and general insecurity has grown dramatically in the wake of increasingly bloody attacks by Boko Haram terrorists. In early January, the Islamist extremist group went on a rampage, massacring an unknown number of villagers in the northeastern state of Borno. Reported death tolls vary from 150 people (according to Nigeria’s director of defense information) to as many as 2,000. Satellite imagery released by Amnesty Inter­na­

tional and Human Rights Watch seems to confirm widespread damage in the towns of Baga and Doro Gowon; Secretary of State John Kerry called the attack “a crime against humanity.” It’s probably not the only one. The Islamist group, whose name transALSO SEE: lates to “Western educaAs Global Terrorist tion is forbidden,” sparked Attacks Surge, international outrage last Governments year with the kidnapping Struggle of over 270 schoolgirls — for Answers some of whom may have been married off or even PAGE 20 forced to blow themselves up in suicide attacks. A few dozen escaped but not one of them has been rescued. The kidnapping in Chibok became a cause célèbre around the world, inspiring the #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign, but it’s far from the only atrocity the group has commited (it also regularly slaughters schoolboys). The Council on Foreign Relations estimates that Boko Haram killed over 10,000

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 17

Continued from previous page people last year alone. It now controls vast stretches of the northeast (roughly the size of Belgium), has threatened to destabilize neighbors such as Cameroon and has instilled fear among thousands, if not millions, that the military is no match for the group’s brutal tactics. But Adefuye tried to minimize both the geographic extent of the Islamist group and the uproar over the failure to find the kidnapped girls. “When we first heard the reports that the girls were abducted, the international community protested. The government is doing whatever it can to bring back the girls, since the very first day.The problem is that to bring back those girls you have to use covert means. You cannot tell the world, ‘We’ve captured them.’ You only say that after you’re successful.” He added: “To say we have not made any efforts to recover the girls is not true. We know where the girls are, but we want them alive.” But Jonathan’s lackluster efforts in prioritizing — or even commenting on — the Boko Haram crisis has drawn widespread condemnation, particularly after he waited three weeks to speak about the Chibok kidnappings. Adefuye, long a critic of U.S. media, pins the blame squarely on journalists for distorting the picture. He accused the New York Times of “reporting whatever the insurgents feed them” and said that “nobody knows anything” about the many terrorist attacks planned by Boko Haram fanatics that were foiled by Nigeria’s defense forces. “Boko Haram is present in only three out of Nigeria’s 36 states” — Borno,Yobe and Adamawa — and in those states, he claims “the government still controls the place” except for districts that border Niger, Chad and Cameroon. “If there’s a problem in Arizona, that doesn’t mean you can’t do business in New York,” he quipped. “Since Boko Haram’s kidnapping of the schoolgirls, there has been increased investment by Americans. It has not abated despite all

Photo: Peeter Viisimaa / iStock

People and yellow danfo taxis compete for space in bustling morning traffic in Lagos, Nigeria, one of the biggest cities in Africa.

these negative impressions.” Adefuye acknowledged that despite Jonathan’s popularity among Christians, “some people don’t like him for ethnic reasons,” he said. “But the ethnic and religious factor is a recent phenomenon. Nigeria is equally divided between Muslims and Christians. My father was a priest, and I have cousins who are Muslims.” Nigeria, about twice the size of California, suffers from deep ethnic divisions; as a result, its parties abide by power-rotation arrangements so that neither the more prosperous Christian south nor the poorer, largely Muslim north feels powerless or neglected. But Jonathan’s critics accuse him of reneging on this unspoken gentleman’s agreement by running again for re-election. Jideofor Adibe, a senior lecturer at Nigeria’s Nasarawa State University, noted in a recent paper for the Brookings Institution that under the PDP’s

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arrangements, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba from the south, served for two terms of four years each before power was “returned” to the north.The north’s “turn,” however, was interrupted after Obasanjo’s successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, a Muslim, died in office in 2010 and was succeeded by then Vice President Jonathan. “This result shortened the north’s turn in power and extended the south’s — frustrating many northerners,”Adibe wrote.“In 2011, influential people in the north argued that Jonathan should serve out only Yaradua’s remaining first term in office and not contest those presidential elections.” But Jonathan did run and won, triggering the post-election violence that ensued. “Jonathan’s supporters have a contrary argument,” Adibe said. “For them, in the 39 years between the time the country gained independence in 1960 and the inauguration of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the north ruled the country for about 35 of them and should therefore be patient for that ‘historical injustice’ to be redressed first.” At any rate, this election marks the first time since the switch to civilian rule in 1999 that the opposition has a realistic chance of wresting power from Jonathan’s PDP. That’s because in the past, opposition parties were mostly fragmented along regional and ethnic lines, making it impossible for them to mount a credible challenge to the ruling party. “Given the centrality of political power in Nigeria, the election — just like almost all elections in Nigeria — will be highly contentious and the losing side is likely to blame its fate on rigging,” Adibe wrote. “Post-election violence is therefore likely in the north if the APC loses, while renewed militancy in the restive Niger Delta is likely if Jonathan does.” The ambassador insists that it’s in the best interests of Nigerian voters to keep their president in power at least until 2019. “What Nigeria needs for the next couple of years is continuity of the transformational agenda, which Goodluck Jonathan started since he got into power in 2010,” Adefuye told us. “We’ve become Africa’s largest economy, and all aspects of our infrastructure are being improved. Development is a process and you don’t want to interrupt it. “Our president set up the task of rebuilding Nigeria, but restructuring the whole economy is something that can’t be done in four years. These weaknesses are deep-seated. He needs more time,” the ambassador insisted. On March 29, Adefuye will mark his fifth anniversary as Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States. The 64-year-old veteran diplomat was educated in both Nigeria and England. In fact, his thesis was on British rule in northern Uganda, and he taught at the University of Lagos

for 14 years; his business card still carries the title of professor. As a Fulbright scholar, he also did stints at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and the University of Florida in Gainesville, as well as at New York’s Columbia University. In 1987, Adefuye was appointed Nigeria’s high commissioner to Jamaica — with concurrent accreditation to Haiti and Belize — then moved to London as deputy high commissioner for Nigeria. Following a 13-year assignment with the Commonwealth, he moved back to Nigeria and became an adviser to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), headquartered in Lagos. “It’s a challenging time to be a Nigerian diplomat,” he conceded, adding, however, that his country’s successful eradication of Ebola, for now, “shows the resilient nature of Nigerian society. We are 170 million people, or one out of every five Africans. Lagos state is bigger than many African countries; it’s a whole country in itself.” Noting that U.S.-Nigeria trade now exceeds $40 billion, Adefuye says bilateral ties are excellent, despite an earlier brush-up between the two nations’ militaries that he claims was blown way out of proportion by the Western media. A Dec. 2 Foreign Policy article, for instance, titled “Nigeria to Washington:Take Your Military and Shove It,” said the ambassador “blasted the U.S. military for not offering enough assistance to weaken Boko Haram.” Adefuye did, in fact, sharply criticize the “scope, nature and content” of American military support in the fight against Boko Haram. Lecturing at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York last November, he accused the Pentagon of not providing his country the weapons it needs to crush the insurgents and said “there is no use giving us the type of support that enables us to deliver light jabs to the terrorists when what we need to give them is the killer punch.” Nigeriann soldiers are notoriously underequipped, but they are equally notorious for corruption and human rights abuses that range from extrajudicial killings to torture. The Asso­ ciated Press reported that the military could be responsible for the deaths of thousands of detainees as part of its heavyhanded response to Boko Haram, a crackdown that has fueled the very resentment on which the group thrives. The human rights abuses preventWashington from legally supplying arms to Nigeria’s military. Seemingly in retaliation, Nigeria cancelled the last stage of an effort by the U.S. Africa Command to train a newly established Nigerian Army battalion. Johnnie Carson, the State Department’s former top diplomat for Africa, told the New York Times that “tensions in the U.S.-Nigeria relationship are probably at their highest level in the past decade.” Since last year’s spat, however, Adefuye insists everything has been resolved. “Some misunderstandings arose in the implementation between our military and the U.S. military. I’m not going to give you details,” he said when asked how the two sides kissed and made up. “All these measures have been dealt with at the highest level. It was only in the details of implementation that we had a disagreement. Now relations are at an all-time high.” That’s a stretch, says J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. “I am not so sure I would go so far as to say that the relationship is ‘back to normal’ after recent contretemps, but getting it to that state ought to be a priority both for whatever Nigerian government emerges from the upcoming elections and for the United States,” he told The Diplomat.“There are too many shared interests, especially on the security and stability issues, for it to be otherwise.” Pham said that with Boko Haram’s increasingly vicious attacks, “we cannot afford for the Nigerians to fail any more than they can afford to be at odds with us. Cooler heads on both sides ought to recognize this reality.” February 2015

Without naming names, the scholar says there’s plenty of blame on both sides for last year’s “spat” — and that it’s ironic that it took a virtual cessation in U.S. purchases of Nigerian petroleum (Nigeria was until recently the fourth-largest source of imported oil) for Washington to realize that the country’s importance goes beyond hydrocarbons. “Some Nigerian officials do not help their cause by denying the obvious or making statements that defy credibility, as has been the case on a number of occasions in recent months when things weren’t going well,” he said. “On the other hand, some on the U.S. side seem to use corruption or human rights concerns as easy ‘outs’ from having to deal with a situation that calls for more, not less, engagement.” Corruption is a touchy issue. Last month, Transparency International ranked Nigeria 136th out of 174 countries surveyed in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. “It’s still bad, but it’s better than last year,” Adefuye said. “I don’t agree with TI’s assessment. Our government has been making efforts to combat corruption.This takes time.” A more pressing problem for Nigeria is the 60 percent drop in world oil prices since last June. With oil at one point dipping below $46 a barrel and no sign of an immediate recovery, the country has had to revise its budget downward several times. The government is now working on the assumption of $65 per barrel, even though it’s clear prices will stay well below that in 2015. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister, acknowledged that her country faces “tough challenges” in a Dec. 19 appearance at the Atlantic Council. “We will weather the storm,” Okonjo-Iweala assured her audience. “The rebasing of our GDP showed us that the economy is much more diversified than most Nigerians believe. Oil stands at 14 percent of GDP, even though it accounts for 70 percent of our fiscal revenue.A lot of our economy is also informal, but we are

Nigeria at a Glance independence: Oct. 1, 1960 Location: Western africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and cameroon Capital: abuja Population: 177 million Life expectancy: 52.6 years religions: Muslim 50 percent, christian 40 percent, indigenous beliefs 10 percent GDP (purchasing power parity): $478.5 billion (2013 estimate) GDP per-capita: $2,800 (2013 estimate) GDP growth: 6.2 percent (2013 estimate) unemployment: 23.9 percent (2011 estimate) Population below poverty line: 70 percent (2010 estimate) exports: Petroleum and petroleum products 95 percent, cocoa, rubber imports: machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals Source: CIA World Factbook

looking for ways and means to try to bridge that. So what we’ve decided to do is tap this non-oil diversified economy to raise our revenues. And it’s the non-oil sector that has been pushing the growth of this economy for almost the past decade, growing at 7 to 8 percent.” The ambassador is also confident that Nigeria can tough it out. “Because of Nigeria’s size, everything that happens is blown out of proportion. I’m not saying we don’t have problems, but we have a tremendous ability to survive. Measures have been put in place to assure that this doesn’t affect the smooth running of our economy,” Adefuye said. “We are trying to minimize the effect [of dramatically lower oil prices]. It would not be realistic to say it won’t have an impact, but the government is embarking on

some austerity measures and honoring our obligations to the people.” In fact, for the past three years, GDP growth in Nigeria has exceeded 5 percent, notes the Economist in a Jan. 10 article titled “The twilight of the resource curse?” “You might think its growth is being powered by oil experts. Nigeria has Africa’s secondlargest reserves, it is the fifth-largest exporter and, according to the IMF, oil accounts for 95 percent of all exports,” says the magazine. “But in recent years the Nigerian oil industry has stagnated. Growth has instead come from things like mobile phones, construction and banks. Services now represent 60 percent of GDP.” With that in mind, Adefuye has met with numerous senators, congressmen, think-tank

representatives and average people. And he tells everyone that, despite the obstacles, Nigeria is still a great place to invest, especially in telecommunications and the power sector. “When we privatized the telecom industry, the Americans exaggerated the notion of insecurity in Nigeria, and you guys left the field open for Europeans and South Africans,” he said.“MTA, a South African company, was almost tempted to move its headquarters to Nigeria because they made so much profit there. You only need to go there once and see for yourself that these reports have been grossly exaggerated.” So, apparently, are suggestions that Nigeria’s very existence as a nation is threatened. “Despite several more outlandish theories that Nigeria will disintegrate in 2015, chances are that the elections will come and go and the country remain with its political problems largely unresolved,” wrote Adibe in his Brookings paper. “The country is a master at teetering on the precipice: It has survived major crises, including a civil war (1967-70). Hanging on a cliff without falling over may indeed be the country’s comfort zone.” Adefuye agrees that Nigeria will be fine. “It’s impossible that Nigeria would splinter. Nigeria will survive as an entity,” the ambassador reassured us. “There have been several times when our stability was threatened, and we insisted on a democratic solution. We’ve gone through this before.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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February 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 19

International AffairS

Security

As Global Terrorist Attacks Surge, Governments Struggle for Answers by Sean Lyngaas

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akistan and Nigeria have in the last seven weeks suffered from horrific terrorist attacks that some analysts say are unprecedented in these countries’ violent recent histories. The carnage was a reminder that the countries that most frequently suffer terrorist attacks are often those with long-running problems of poor governance and religious strife. Their aftermath was also a reminder of the challenges activists face in sustaining global attention on this devastating violence, given how relatively quickly these stories faded to the back pages of Western newspapers. Pakistan is still reeling from a school attack in Peshawar last December in which Taliban gunmen slaughtered nearly 150 people, the bulk of them children. Meanwhile, in raids that began Jan. 3, gunmen from the terrorist group Boko Haram swept through the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga and nearby villages, reportedly massacring as many as 2,000 people. Corpses littered the streets of Baga and, according to one witness, some residents were burned alive in their homes.Amnesty International said it was possibly the deadliest attack in Boko Haram’s short and brutal history (also see this month’s cover profile). Elsewhere, hundreds have been killed in Yemen in recent months, as al-Qaeda-affiliated Sunni militants unleashed a wave of attacks in response to the power grab by Shiite Houthi rebels in the deeply fractured nation. Also teetering on the brink is Libya, where clashes between Islamist fighters and pro-government forces have torn the oil-rich country apart. And, of course, the January terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 17 people — and had links to an al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen — reinforced fears in the West about the reach of Islamic radicalization. As horrible as these headlines are, scholars such as Harvard University’s Steven Pinker point out that the world on the whole is significantly less violent than it was in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. But that is no comfort to the citizens of Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan and elsewhere who are bearing the brunt of a recent surge in terrorism.

Terrorist Spike The year 2013 was a grim one for deaths caused by terrorism (data from 2013 is much more complete than that from 2014).According to the Global Terrorism Index published in November by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), 17,958 people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2013, a 61 percent increase from 2012. Over 80 percent of those deaths took place in five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria, according to the report, which drew data from the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. The majority of the attacks were committed by the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban — all groups with “religious ideologies based on extreme interpretations of Wahhabi Islam,” it said. There were 2,345 deaths from terrorism in Pakistan

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The Washington Diplomat

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Photo: Kashif Haque / Wikimedia Commons

You have to make long-term investments in building more peaceful and sustainable societies or else you will experience problems like terrorism that spiral out of control. — Aubrey Fox

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executive director of the Institute for Economics and Peace’s U.S. office

in 2013, a 37 percent increase compared with 2012, the report found. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (the Pakistani Taliban) was the deadliest of the many terror groups operating in Pakistan in 2013, responsible for nearly a quarter of all deaths and nearly half of all attacks in which a group claimed responsibility. In Nigeria, the terrorist group Boko Haram, whose name translates to “Western education is forbidden,” killed at least 1,587 people in 2013 and claimed responsibility for nearly 90 percent of terrorist acts in Nigeria that year, according to the report (a recent Council on Foreign Relations study put the Boko Haram death toll at more than 10,000 for 2014). And while terrorist-related deaths have increased fivefold since 2000, the report aims to put the phenomenon into perspective, noting that 40 times more people are killed by homicides than by terrorist attacks. Of the over 100,000 people killed by terrorists since 2000, only 5 percent of those fatalities occurred in the developed countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the report. This discrepancy bolsters complaints that mainstream media disproportionately focuses on isolated

A candlelight vigil is held in London for the victims of the Peshawar school siege in Pakistan last December that slaughtered nearly 150 people, most of them children. A new report showed a 61 percent spike in terrorist attacks in 2013 compared to the previous year, mostly in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria and Pakistan.

attacks against the West, while paying less attention to the bloodshed in places like Nigeria. The January massacre in and around Baga, for instance, overlapped with a Jan. 7 attack by gunmen on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that eventually left 17 dead. The Charlie Hebdo tragedy dominated coverage in American news outlets for several days, while Boko Haram’s onslaught received far less attention. One important news story overshadowed another in an age of thinly staffed foreign bureaus. But there are other reasons for the discrepancies in coverage: Access to areas such as northeastern Nigeria — or Syria, Islamic State-controlled territory in Iraq or the federal tribal areas of Pakistan, for that matter — is notoriously difficult and dangerous for reporters. Also, unlike French politicians who quickly spoke to the press after the attacks, the Nigerian government has often been silent or evasive about Boko Haram’s campaign of violence (Abuja publicly condemned the Paris attacks, but said nothing of the assault within their own borders). The IEP report points out that countries suffering from terrorist activity tend to have gross human rights abuses by the state, high criminality and poor rule of law, in addition to hostility among different ethnic, religious and linguistic groups. It does not attribute the growth of terrorism to poverty, school attendance or other socio-economic indicators. The report underscores a clear need for governments to have patient, long-term strategies for counterterrorism, said Aubrey Fox, executive director of IEP’s U.S. office.“You have to make long-term investments in building more peaceful and sustainable societies or else you will experience problems like terrorism that February 2015

spiral out of control.” The study also found a striking mismatch in the counter-terrorism strategies often employed by governments — i.e. military force — and those that have historically succeeded, like incor­­porating insurgent groups into the political process or improving policing, according to Fox. Nigeria offers a case study in state struggles to effectively and consistently combat terrorism while addressing the grievances related to the violence.Though it is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that the implacably violent Boko Haram can be co-opted politically, the tactics employed by the Nigerian government against the group have left many Nigerians questioning its commitment to defeating the terrorist threat.

that “is a direct result of chronic poor governance by Nigeria’s federal and state governments, the political marginalization of northeastern Nigeria and the region’s accelerating impoverishment,” he writes.

Sensitivity to Media Glare

Boko Haram’s Beginnings The January massacre in and around Baga was the latest in a growing list of atrocities committed by Boko Haram over the last few years. The inflection point for that surge in violence was the 2009 police murder of Boko Haram’s founder, Islamist cleric Mohammed Yusuf. The cleric had formed the group in 2002 in Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern state of Borno. Its overriding goal is the establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria governed by Sharia law. Following Yusuf’s murder in police custody in 2009, Boko Haram unleashed a torrent of violence. The group was “transformed into the current murderous organization essentially by police abuses in 2009, including the police murder of Mohammed Yusuf,” said John Campbell, who was U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007. As ambassador, Campbell said his embassy was “aware of radical Islamic ideas in circulation in the north, but we were not focused on a

Photo: © Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons

Protesters in Strasbourg, France, march in support of Charlie Hebdo, a newspaper that was attacked in Paris last month by Islamic radicals.

specific group such as Yusuf’s followers.” The subsequent emergence of Boko Haram made clear that the group was a menacing threat to the Nigerian state. Paradoxically, Boko Haram’s rise has been aided by the state’s harsh crackdown, which allegedly includes extrajudicial killings, torture and other human rights violations. The dodgy reputation of the country’s armed forces has prevented Washington from offering weapons to Nigeria, despite its pleas for international assistance to defeat the insurgency. In part thanks to rampant corruption, Nigeria’s military does lack basic equipment for the battle against Boko Haram. There is a perception that

“the troops are not being supported well by the politicians in terms of having the necessary arms and … that some of the politicians are too busy preparing for [February national elections] to give their focus to combating the insurgency, which leaves the troops very vulnerable,” said Jacob Zenn, an analyst of African and Eurasian affairs at the Jamestown Foundation, speaking to The Diplomat from Nigeria. Campbell, in a recent report for the Council on Foreign Relations, argues against treating Boko Haram as another opponent in the war against terrorism. Instead, he said the United States should help the Nigerian government tackle the root causes of a localized problem

Nigerian officials have lashed out at criticism from the international community, complaining of media bias and outside interference, although their response at least suggests they’re listening. Successive administrations over the last several years have shown a pattern of “taking international attention very seriously and responding to it in some way, shape or form,” according to Darren Kew, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s McCor­ mack Graduate School. The Nigerian government is generally “very sensitive to international shame or anything that it sees as an embarrassment to its international reputation,” said Kew, a conflict resolution specialist who has been studying Nigeria for over two decades. Local civil society groups are aware of this. Global media attention thus “creates a moment of possibility for local actors to really hold the Nigerian government accountable,” he added. That sensitivity to international scrutiny is true of Goodluck Jonathan, president of Nigeria since 2010. His administration was uncomfortably thrust in the global spotlight last April when Boko Haram kidnapped as many as 276 schoolgirls from Chibok, a town in northeastern Nigeria. A subsequent global campaign, equipped with the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, was taken up by everyone from Michelle Obama to Pakistani Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai.

See Terrorism, page 44

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The Washington Diplomat Page 21

International AffairS

Free Speech

Author Slams ‘Tyranny of Silence’ Surrounding Islamic Cartoon Crisis by Larry Luxner

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artoons and the Prophet Muhammad do not seem to mix very well. Flemming Rose learned that the hard way nine years ago — long before anyone even dreamed that two masked terrorists, dressed in black and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, would storm the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and gun down 12 people after the irreverent French magazine published caricatures deemed offensive to Muslims. Rose knows what that special hell feels like more than most. In early 2006, violent riots shook the Islamic world after the Danish newspaper editor commissioned and published 12 satirical drawings that depicted Muhammad — including one showing the prophet with a bomb-like turban. He has been marked for death ever since. In the beginning, few people outside Denmark saw the offending cartoons, which had appeared in September 2005 in Rose’s Copenhagen daily JyllandsPosten. Local Muslims protested, claiming the drawings had insulted Islam (portraying the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemous), while fellow Danish newspapers joined in solidarity with Jyllands-Posten. (Charlie Hebdo also reprinted all 12 cartoons.) The controversy quickly spread throughout Europe, and efforts by the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to resolve it diplomatically failed when Danish officials refused to punish the newspaper, and in fact stood by the newspaper’s decision to publish the cartoons in the name of free speech. By January 2006, demonstrations

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autumn of 2005. “I don’t feel guilty for these people’s deaths, and I don’t think a cartoon is worth a single human life. The problem was, a lot of other people did feel that way,”Rose told The Washington Diplomat. “They were willing to kill because of a cartoon. Human beings are not robots or animals who are not able to reason. When violence is committed, it means individuals made a decision to commit violence.” Rose laments that the violence has succeeded in shutting down free speech and scaring journalists.After last month’s Paris attacks, dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites around the world reproduced the very cartoon that had so angered the terrorists who ultimately took the lives of 17 people. Notably, Jyllands-Posten, the Copenhagen paper where Rose works, wasn’t among them. “We caved in and we’ve been very honest about it,” Rose told BBC-TV on Jan. 14, a week after the carnage in Paris. “Sometimes, the sword is mightier than the pen. We have been living with death threats and several foiled terrorist attacks in my own office for the past nine years.

People said, ‘If you say we are violent, we’ll kill you.’ They don’t understand the irony of their own words. — Flemming Rose, author of ‘The Tyranny of Silence’

began erupting from Beirut to Benghazi, and furious Muslims — most of whom had never seen the caricatures — attacked Danish embassies in half a dozen countries. In India, a minister in the state government of Uttar Pradesh announced a cash reward for anyone who beheaded cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. An Arab boycott of Danish goods caused a 50 percent drop in exports to the Middle East. All told, the violence triggered by the newspaper’s cartoons killed more than 200 people around the world. But Rose — whose life was threatened numerous times — stands by his actions in the

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Perhaps if the reaction worldwide had been a little bit different in 2006 — if we had received stronger support from media organizations insisting that this is something we have the right to do, even though you may disagree with what we did — we would not have been in the situation we are now.” Rose said it’s obvious there’s still a lack of understanding of the reasoning that goes into editorial decisions. “One thing is to publish a cartoon as an act of solidarity. Another is to publish a cartoon because it’s news,” he said in the BBC interview.“Publication does not mean endorsement. And our cartoons

The Washington Diplomat

Photo: Larry Luxner

had nothing to do with mocking a minority. It was about targeting blasphemy. We’re losing a battle, but we’re not losing the war.” At the same time, in an early January article for Politico magazine, he lamented that “the intimidation has grown more murderous — more intimidating — than ever. Already, in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo killings, news publications in the United States and around the world were publishing blurred images of the Mohammad cartoons so as not to offend…. In this way we are, slowly but surely, watching our too-often ‘neglected principles’ of free speech eroding away.” Rose, 56, was speaking on the subject of free speech weeks before the Paris onslaught, when he visited Washington in mid-November to promote his welltimed new book,“The Tyranny of Silence.” Incidentally, none of the original 12 cartoons that Jyllands-Posten printed appear in the volume’s 240 pages. And that doesn’t bother Rose, whose main objective was not to ignite another controversy but to simply tell his side of

the story — in this case with the help of his publisher, the Washington-based Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. In fact, during his week in the United States, Rose did at least 15 interviews with a variety of media outlets including The Washington Post,Al Jazeera America, Fox Business, MSNBC, Foreign Policy magazine and Politico. “There’s been amazing interest in the book, far more than I expected,” he said. One reason, he muses, is that it touches on universal principles that affect all societies, like the protection of free speech versus fear of offending a particular minority, religion or ethnic group. “I think this is the basic debate,” Rose explained. “There are people in other countries who would like to determine what a newspaper in Denmark should be allowed to publish.The diversity in societies around the world means there is social pressure for passing laws, and even if you don’t pass laws, people submit themselves to censorship in order not to say anything that might be offensive.”

See silence, page 24 February 2015

International Relations

South Asia

Bangladesh Presses United States To Return Alleged War Criminal by Dave Seminara

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angladesh is a developing country with significant achievements but no shortage of problems to confront. One of the most densely packed places on Earth, Bangladesh has enjoyed impressive development gains and steady economic growth, although poverty and corruption remain rampant. The minimum wage for garment workers was increased in 2013 from $38 per month to a still-paltry $66 — only after 1,129 of them were killed when their factory in Dhaka collapsed earlier that year. The nation of 160 million has a healthy democracy, but also a turbulent history marred by military coups and friction between Islamists and secularists that shapes the political discourse to this day. Of all its problems, the one that hits closest to home for Sheikh Hasina, the country’s prime minister, isn’t a pocketbook issue — it’s political, and personal. Nearly 40 years after her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s first prime minister, was assassinated in a military coup, her government continues to pursue the killers. The coup plotters also killed her mother, three of her brothers and several other relatives. She and her sister escaped the bloodbath because they were in Germany at the time. Five of the assailants were hanged in 2010, one died in Zimbabwe while on the run from the authorities and six others are still at large 16 years after being sentenced to hang by a Bangladeshi judge. One, Noor Chowdhury, lives in Canada (reportedly as an illegal immigrant, at least as recently as 2012), which abolished capital punishment in 1976

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States to extradite him. Chowdhury isn’t the first person facing serious criminal charges to be granted asylum in the United States. Suspected war criminals and others accused of human rights violations have also been granted asylum. Some are still free; others have been deported or are still involved in legal proceedings. Last February, for example, Jorge Sosa Orantes, a Guatemalan who won asylum despite allegations of war crimes in his home country, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship. Unlike Canada, Mexico and most European countries, the United States doesn’t necessarily deny all extradition requests when the individual is facing a death sentence. In 2007, the United States handed Mohiuddin Ahmed, one of the co-conspirators in Rahman’s assassination, back to Bangladesh and he was hanged three years later. But given Bangladesh’s spotty record on human rights — Human Rights Watch and others have accused the government of using torture — and the fact that Chowdhury has already been granted asylum, which is rarely revoked, the U.S. may be hesitant to extradite him. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opened a Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, tasked with ensuring that human rights viola-

If the murderers and killers of the ‘Father of the Nation’ and his family cannot be brought to the dock of justice, then how will the rest of us fare against those who would and might usurp the rule of law?

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— Tahseen Ali, adjunct faculty at the University of Houston and won’t extradite him because he would face the death penalty upon return to Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Rashed Chowdhury, who is accused of being one of the key plotters, has been living quietly in the United States since at least 1996. He reportedly entered the country on a tourist visa and was eventually granted asylum. Now, the government is making an all-out diplomatic and lobby push to get Chowdhury back, pressing the United February 2015

tors don’t get safe haven in the United States. And in the last decade, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has arrested more than 275 individuals for human rights-related violations under various criminal and/or immigration statutes; denied some 139 individuals from obtaining entry visas to the United States; and created more than 66,000 subject records, which prevented human rights violators from entering the United States. ICE says that it has also success-

Photo: Larry Luxner

A bloodstained staircase at the Dhaka residence-turned-museum of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of modern Bangladesh, recalls his Aug. 15, 1975, assassination by a group of army officers. His daughter, now Bangladesh’s prime minister, is seeking the extradition of Rashed Chowdhury, who is accused of being one of the key plotters of the attack and has been living in the U.S. since 1996.

fully obtained deportation orders to remove more than 590 known or suspected human rights violators from the country. Neither DHS, which has the authority to revoke Chowdhury’s naturalization under certain circumstances, nor the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is considering the extradition request, would comment on this specific case. DOJ wouldn’t even outline its criteria for considering extradition cases. But Tahseen Ali, who teaches South Asian history at the University of Houston, says that DHS is reportedly reviewing how Chowdhury obtained residency. He believes that he should be extradited. “It [the extradiction] will serve as a much needed warning to those who would believe that they can commit murder and transgressions against the Bengali nation with impunity,” he said. “Chowdhury’s extradition would bring a

certain degree of closure to a national wound, some measure of justice.” That national wound has been festering for decades. After the 1975 putsch, the military junta that took power gave the assassins immunity from prosecution for 20 years. According to Mohammad Ziauddin, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the U.S., some of the assassins became diplomats and ambassadors and one was even elected to Parliament. A string of military coups and countercoups followed the assassination, until a fragile democracy was restored in 1991. Since then, power has seesawed between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), backed by religious conservatives, and Hasina’s secular Awami League. Hasina herself lived in self-exile in

See Bangladesh, page 45 The Washington Diplomat Page 23

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The Washington Diplomat

Two relatively new factors frame this debate, he said. “One has to do with technology, the fact that what is being published by a newspaper in a small country in a language very few people can read is immediately accessible by people all over the world.That creates a lot of room for misunderstanding and manipulation, because when information travels, quite often the context gets lost in transmission,â€? Rose said. “The other new factor is migration. People are moving across borders never before seen in the history of mankind. Every society in the world is getting more multicultural, more multiethnic and more multi-religious.â€? But intolerance is increasing as well. Barely two years after publication of Westergaard’s cartoon showing Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, Danish police arrested two Tunisians and a Moroccan-born Dane on charges of planning to murder the cartoonist. Two years after that, Westergaard was surprised in his own home by a Somali man wielding a knife and an axe. He fled to a recently installed panic room and called police, who arrested the intruder. It was later determined that the would-be assassin had links to the Somali terrorist group alShabaab; he was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by deportation from Denmark. Rose said that except for the attacks on Westergaard, the cartoons didn’t create a violent storm in Denmark. “All the violence that erupted in the aftermath of [their publication] took place in countries where citizens do not enjoy free speech, and where they do not have the right to criticize religion.â€? Westergaard, now 79, lives under constant, round-the-clock protection; police are camped out in his backyard, ready to foil the next assassination plot against him. “That’s the irony. People said, ‘If you say we are violent, we’ll kill you.’ They don’t understand the irony of their own words,â€? Rose observes. “All the threats and attempts on Westergaard’s life and terrorist attacks against the newspaper confirmed the content of that cartoon: that some Muslims commit violence in the name of their religion. It’s a fact of life. That’s why I don’t understand why people are so upset with those cartoons.â€? Rose told The Diplomat he’s been unfairly painted as a racist Islamophobe whose life’s mission was to denigrate Muslims in the eyes of the West. Nothing could be further from the truth, he insisted. “The publication of the cartoons, the reasons behind it, the sequence of events, my line of defense — it all makes sense to me. It fits my value system. I’m a liberal in the European sense of the word. I believe in freedom. I’m against hate speech laws, and I’m not anti-Muslim.â€? What he’s against is violence, intolerance and a refusal to see the truth, which is that other religions like Christianity can be freely criticized but Islam is singled out for special treatment. Rose argues this phenomenon is particularly acute in Scandinavian countries that have opened their borders to refugees from Iraq and other war-torn Muslim lands. “Sweden perceives itself as a humanitarian superpower. So they have this image that they are a very nice country, and it implies they should not accept any offensive speech,â€? he said, arguing that authorities often fear antagonizing the Islamic community. “A black man had been beaten severely in southern Sweden, and it created a huge uproar because people thought white supremacists were behind this. But it turned out they were Arabs. Then the human rights industry didn’t want to discuss it anymore.â€? But the rise of Islamic radicalism across Europe cannot be ignored, Rose warned. In the Swedish city of MalmĂś, for instance, there’s one Arab district where police officers, firefighters and emergency responders hesitate to enter.

“A few years ago, Sweden’s Ministry of Integration polled the population in this ghetto, and the women said they enjoyed more rights and freedoms in the Middle East than they felt in this ghetto in Sweden,� he said. “A country like Sweden is doing quite badly because they don’t want to confront these issues. They are living in a world of extreme political correctness, so the debate is being suppressed.� What many people don’t know is that besides the Muhammad cartoons that grabbed world headlines, Jyllands-Posten also reprinted a full page of cartoons from the Arab world that were clearly anti-Semitic in nature. Often depicting Jews with hooked noses, some of these illustrations denied the Holocaust, while others painted Israelis as bloodthirsty terrorists who killed Arab children with help from Uncle Sam.

“

All the threats and attempts on [cartoonist Kurt] Westergaard’s life and terrorist attacks against the newspaper confirmed the content of that cartoon: that some Muslims commit violence in the name of their religion. It’s a fact of life.

�

— Flemming Rose

author of ‘The Tyranny of Silence’

“The Muslims are so up in arms about these cartoons but then they endorse anti-Semitic cartoons that in many ways are more offensive,� Rose pointed out. “Our cartoons did not target individuals or Muslims as believers. It targeted religious doctrine. In a democracy, you should have the right to question and challenge ideas. This is about free speech in a globalized world. If it should be a criminal offense to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, it should be a criminal offense to deny the Holocaust. And if it’s a criminal offense to deny the Holocaust, it should be a crime to deny the Armenian genocide, or the crimes of communism or the Soviet occupation of Latvia.� Rose, whose wife is Russian, spent many years covering the U.S.S.R. as a foreign correspondent for a large Danish newspaper. He said the Soviet dissident movement of the 1960s and 1970s had a huge influence on him. “I used to work as a translator at the Danish Refugee Council, receiving refugees from the Soviet Union. Among them were dissidents. I was very influenced by them.They were struggling and risking their lives and welfare for the liberties we enjoyed in the West. Some of them went to prison camps. Their insistence on struggling for this human dignity really impressed me,� he said. In 2009, Rose attended a UNESCO conference in Qatar, marking his first visit to a Muslim country since the “cartoon crisis� four years earlier. Locals were so angry with his presence that Qatar’s Ministry of Domestic Affairs set up a special hotline for citizens to call in their complaints. Five years later, people in the oilrich Arabian Gulf emirate are still complaining he was let into their country. But that’s OK, too. Rose clearly doesn’t mind a little controversy now and then. “I like debate,� he said. “If you believe in something, you’ll want to defend it. You don’t need to talk to people with whom you agree. That’s boring.�

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat. February 2015

MEDICAL ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ February 2015

A Maryland Boy Scout constructs an artificial hand out of colorful parts made by a 3-D printer. Hundreds of Baltimore Scouts gathered in several events last December to assemble 3-D-printed hands donated by volunteers from the group e-NABLE, to be shipped to a hospital in a Middle East war zone. The hospital is currently treating children who were born with no fingers and hands or lost them due to war, accident, disease or natural disasters.

NEW DIMENSION Expanding World of 3-D Printing Brings Tantalizing Medical Breakthroughs to Life by Carolyn Cosmos

O

utsize medical “miracles” can come in very small packages. in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a team of doctors

PHOtO: JeN OWeN Of eNABliNGtHefUtURe.ORG

On the other side of the world in China last year, an orthopedics professor created a rotating neck bone to

and engineers saved an infant and a toddler in the last two

replace a cancerous one in a young man’s spine. the artifi-

years by inventing and implanting tiny expandable splints

cial axis, which was made of powdered titanium and had

that hold their damaged airways open. last Christmas in

no screws, was a perfect match. And in Stuttgart, Germany,

São Paulo, Brazil, an engineer and his daughters assem-

an international team of experts invented a new micro-

bled and donated small artificial hands made out of plastic

robot that is as wide as three human hairs and can swim

for children who couldn’t buy prosthetics.

through body fluids to deliver drugs. Continued on next page

MEDICAL February 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 25

Continued from previous page What do these astonishments have in common? They were all the result of 3-D printing, a process by which successive layers of material are sprayed out to produce three-dimensional objects from a computer program. In each case, the life-saving or life-enhancing device was crafted on a printer. Invented in the 1980s to make working models or “prototypes” for industrial manufacturing and researchers, this revolutionary technology uses special printers — either consumer-oriented desktop models or commercial ones — to spew out three-dimensional objects that range from trinkets and jewelry, to machine parts and body parts, to food for astronauts and, perhaps most controversially, guns. Computers guide the process, which often only requires a few hours and uses materials such as melted plastics, powders, metals, squishy concrete or even human tissue. “Imagine an ink jet printer that, rather than spraying out ink in the shape of letters, sprays out a plastic or metal gel or powder in the shape of a tooth, finger or a hip joint,” WebMD’s Sonya Collins explained in a special July 2014 report.“A typical printer receives a document to print, while 3-D printers take their commands from an MRI or a CT scan of a body part. Also known as ‘additive manufacturing,’ 3-D printing produces an object, layer by layer, from the ground up.” Business for 3-D printing in general is booming, and medical applications are one area fueling this global growth. According to Lux Research, the 3-D printing market as a whole should nearly quadruple to an estimated $12 billion in 2025, led by automotive, medical and aerospace NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and industries. PHOtO: WiNBO iNDUStRiAl CO. content is ultimately up to theofcustomer to make the prosthetics, final proof.where tradiMedical itdevices taking advantage the 3-D growth include tional artificial limbs costing thousands or tens of thousands of dollars can sometimes be The first two faxed changes will3-D beprinted mademodel at no that costcan to the advertiser, changes replaced by a simple, be had for $50 or,subsequent for something more will be billed at a rate under of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. sophisticated, $1,000. In addition to being more affordable, 3-D-printed prosthetics can also be more comfortable — even more stylish — than their traditional ill-fitting counPlease check this adprosthetics carefully. anyregulatory changes to your terparts. While printed raise Mark safety and concerns, theyad. have dramatically changed the landscape of limb loss. Other external medical devices such as dental fixtures, aids and even back If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs hearing changes braces are also part of the current 3-D printing mix. For example, Invisalign orthodontic braces, the clear, customized to clunky metal braces, was made possible by 3-D The Washington Diplomat (301)alternative 933-3552 printing. More stunning is the groundbreaking device invented at the University of Michigan that saved two infant lives with 3-D-printed splints inserted into their windpipes Approved __________________________________________________________ to hold their airways open, as first reported by the New England Journal of Medicine in Changes ___________________________________________________________ 2013.The custom-designed splints are made of a biopolymer that is absorbed by the body ___________________________________________________________________ over time. And then there are medical tools, some of them prosaic, such as a 3-D-printed suturing device with safety features. Others are more exotic, such as parts to replace fractured

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Marcelo Botelho, a Brazilian mechanical engineering student and volunteer for the nonprofit e-NABle, created printed prosthetic hands for children in São Paulo.

skulls, cheekbones and eye sockets. Likewise, the micro-robot invented by the international team in Stuttgart sounds as if it came out of the pages of a science-fiction novel. The tiny robot has the novel ability to swim like a scallop, opening and closing to move through liquids in the human body, including blood, joint and eye fluids, in order to deliver medicine to the body. Controlled by external magnets, the robot could be particularly useful in treating eye disease with drugs, said one of its key developers, Tian Qui, in an email to The Diplomat. The originator of the project and its team leader, Peer Fischer, told us that the little robot “opens up entirely new possibilities in designing and operating untethered micro devices” for medical uses inside the human body. Another fascinating area of growth is 3-Dprinted models of the human body, from the simple to the sophisticated, that are appearing in classrooms and operating rooms. Created from a patient’s CT scans or other imagery, 3-D maps can help surgeons practice on a body part before actually going in for a complicated procedure. Nicholas Giovinco, a professor of surgery who specializes in lower limb disorders at the University of Arizona, said in an interview that he uses 3-D-printed materials resembling bone to create replicas of a patient’s PHOtO: WiNBO iNDUStRiAl CO. foot for surgery rehearsals. Living 3-D-printed tissue could also help pharmaceutical compa- Baiyun Winbo 3D technology College in China, pictured above and at left, opened Nov. 28, 2014, nies test out drugs and vaccines. The field has grown so important that the becoming the first such school in the country. National Institutes of Health has created an Affiliated with the Guangdong Baiyun institute, the online public library of open-source medical new trade and teacher-training facility will offer coursmodels that includes biological entities large es in 3-D printing, award training certificates and conand small, from miniscule molecular structures duct research. the new college is sponsored by 3-D printer manufacturer Winbo industrial Co., which sells to major body parts. Another area that has piqued hopes and 3-D printers and printing supplies worldwide. interest is the 3-D printing of body parts and tissues for human implants, although the field is in its infancy and largely experimental. One of the most exciting and eyebrow-raising developments in 3-D printing is tissue printing or “bioprinting,” a field that one day may be able to print and implant entire human organs such as a heart or a liver, or at least enough of one to permit continued functioning and extend life. But the elusive Holy Grail of developing a human organ is a subject of fierce debate.“For years, researchers have dreamed of engineering kidneys, livers, and other organs and tissues in the lab, so that a patient who needs a transplant doesn’t have to search for a donor,” wrote the New Yorker’s Jerome Groopman in “Print Thyself” last November.“But growing usable tissue in the lab is notoriously difficult; the advent of 3-D printers that can print ink made of cells has offered a ray of hope.” One of the most advanced techniques developed so far involves artificial bone and bone substitutes, such as the printing in China of a vertebra to replace a cancerous one. The possibilities are intriguing companies around the world. In Vietnam, 3-D-printed jaw bones are being provided to hospitals by the country’s leading printer company, 3DMaker. In the state of Connecticut here in the U.S., Oxford Performance Materials is offering orthopedic implants made of its patented materials that are printed from CT or MRI scans to replace missing or diseased bones in the skull, as well as elements in legs and feet. Beyond being an emerging capitalist enterprise, 3-D printing is also ushering in a quiet social revolution as a democratizing breakthrough that benefits the average consumer — and patient. Many of the computed-aided designs used in 3-D printing are, in fact, open-source material — i.e. available on the internet, downloadable and free. Partly because desktop 3-D printers are relatively inexpensive — $300 to $3,000 — grassroots, do-it-yourself “3-D maker” communities, as they call themselves, have emerged and morphed into charitable endeavors and new research models, most of them in medicine.

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See 3-D PRINTING, page 28

MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

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The Washington Diplomat Page 27

from page 26

3-D Printing Professor Joshua Pearce of Michigan Tech is an open-source advocate and the author of “Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs.” He argues that 3-D printing technologies “promise previously unheard-of access to sophisticated instrumentation by … laboratories in underdeveloped and developing countries.” Such access will accelerate science worldwide, he argues. Similarly, the nonprofit Open BioMedical Initiative and the startup Sharebot, both based in Italy, have partnered to use 3-D printing and open-source software to create and disseminate not only low-cost prosthetic hands, but also medical technologies such as microscopes to hospitals in developing countries worldwide. Perhaps the largest and most influential group in the 3-D maker culture is the e-NABLE nonprofit. It grew out of a collaboration between Ivan Owen, an American inventor and entrepreneur, and South African Richard Van As. The two, supported by printer manufacturer MakerBot, invented an inexpensive, plastic, 3-D-printed “Robohand” to replace fingers Van As had lost in an accident. They also donated one to a small child, made their design openly accessible online and soon a charitable movement was born. E-NABLE describes itself as “a global community collaborating to make free 3D printed prosthetic hands available to all who need them.” Jon Schull, a professor and research scientist at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, dreamed up the idea of putting e-NABLE participants together on a world map in cyberspace. In 2012, he said “five or 10 people signed up” to put a pin on the map if they needed a prosthetic hand or if they had access to a 3-D printer and were willing to make one as a volunteer. By December 2014, the map had 3,200 pins on it. Volunteers around the world have 3-D printed, assembled and donated more than 700 prosthetic limbs, most of them hands for children without the resources for traditional prosthetics, which cost thousands of dollars. Schull describes e-NABLE as “a global volunteer network built on an infrastructure of electronic communication, 3-D printing and goodwill.” An evolutionary biologist, Schull told us he was surprised that the site’s map and videos had gone viral. He linked it to his own theoretical work on the collective intelligence of evolving populations, calling e-NABLE “a primal soup of innovation and creativity.” For example, Filipe Wiltgen, an engineer in São Paulo, is the e-NABLE volunteer who printed and assembled 3-D prosthetic hands last Christmas. His helpers, daughters Rafaela and Carolina, drew a multiethnic map that shows children hand in hand around the globe wearing 3-D-printed prosthetics. Another Brazilian, Marcelo Botelho, also created hands through the nonprofit, including one for a São Paulo child who had asked for money on the streets. Botelho now aims to get more 3-D printers and trained local users into Brazilian communities that need help with low-cost prosthetics. Dr. Albert Chi, a trauma surgeon and professor with Johns Hopkins Medicine, has facilitated e-NABLE meetings and calls its open-source, collaborative model a “humanitarian technology.”

Photo: University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital

In March of last year, a baby’s life was saved by doctors at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital after 3-D-printed devices were implanted to help the child breathe. Above, Garrett Peterson is shown after surgery with his parents at left, Natalie and Jake Peterson. He’s held by Dr. Glenn Green, who devised the splint with biomedical engineer Scott Hollister, right, while Dr. Richard Ohye, second from right, was the pediatric cardiac surgeon who placed the splint around Garrett’s airway.

But like any pioneering technology, 3-D printing has its drawbacks — and dangers, as illustrated by the debate over whether people can print handguns at home. Moral, ethical and simple feasibility and cost questions also plague the burgeoning industry. And major advances such as 3-D-printed organs are still years, if not decades, away. But the 3-D renaissance is already touching many lives, and may be the future of fields such as prosthetics. Chi has turned to the technology to make prosthetic limbs cheap, widely available and relatively simple. After reading a Baltimore Sun story about how Chi built a glow-in-the-dark artificial hand for a 5-year-old boy, a group of fifth-grade students in Maryland sent letters asking if the Johns Hopkins surgeon could build a hand for their teacher, who had lost hers in an accident as a teenager. Chi agreed, and even enlisted his wife to paint a zebra pattern on the hand, which the teacher had requested. He told the Morning Call newspaper that “receiving those letters has to be one of the highlights of my entire career.” Carolyn Cosmos is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

culture & ■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

arts

entertainment

■ FEBRUARY 2015

ART

EVENTS

Performance Trifecta Lisner Auditorium, Wolf Trap and Strathmore are three local treasures that for years have been bringing the richness of international performances to the Washington area. PAGE 32

MANY SIDES of

MARY “Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts is not just an inspired idea for an exhibition that is sure to draw large crowds, but a particularly impressive collection of iconic pieces that show the evolution of the Virgin Mary, arguably the second most-important person in the Bible and one of the most popular subjects in Western art for centuries. PAGE 30

THEATER

Stirring ‘Choir’ Tarell Alvin McCraney plops a closeted, effeminate black teenager in the midst of an elite, conservative boy’s prep school and sits back to watch the drama unfold in “Choir Boy.” PAGE 33

DINING

Mature State Restaurateur Reese Garnder grows up with his latest farm-to-table creation, Second State. PAGE 34

Luca della Robbia’s “Madonna and Child (Madonna col Bambino),” circa 1450

PHOTO: MUSEO NAZIONALE DEL BARGELLO, FLORENCE; INV. R031

FILM REVIEWS

FILM INTERVIEWS

“Leviathan” has earned plaudits for its sobering look at Russian life, and criticism back home. PAGE 36

At the tender age of 25, Xavier Dolan already has five feature films under his belt. PAGE 37

[ art ]

Multifaceted Mary Landmark Exhibit Pictures Virgin Mary as Woman, Mother, Idea by Michael Coleman

W

hen curators at the National Museum of Women in the Arts began planning a comprehensive exhibition representing the Virgin Mary last year, they had plenty of material from which to choose. After all, the mother of Jesus — arguably the second most-important person in the Bible — is one of the most popular subjects in Western art, and has been for centuries. “Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is not just an inspired idea for an exhibition that is sure to draw large crowds, but a particularly impressive collection of iconic pieces. The tightly focused but comprehensive exhibition combines more than 60 paintings, sculptures and textiles from the Vatican, major museums, churches and private collections throughout Europe and the United States.Well-known Renaissance and Baroque artists, including Botticelli, Dürer, Michelangelo, Pontormo, Gentileschi and Sirani, are represented in an array of immaculately preserved masterworks. Of course, female artists are also repreAbove, Elisabetta sented. Artemisia Gentileschi, widely conSirani’s “Virgin and sidered the most important woman painter Child”; at right, before the modern period, was the first Federico Barocci’s woman to run a large studio. Her “Madonna and Child” depicts Mary as a nurturing peas- “Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Il Riposo duranant, a remarkably humble conception in te la Fuga in Egitto); simple clothes. Elisabetta Sirani’s “Virgin and top, Nicolò and Child” also portrays Mary as an everyBarabino’s “Faith with day figure, not the ethereal image so often Representations of the associated with the mother of Jesus. She Arts (La Fede con i wears a turban favored by Bolognese peasRappresentanti delle ant women and gazes adoringly at her cheArti)” are among the rubic baby. over 60 works depict“Although women artists during the ing the Virgin Mary in Renaissance and Baroque periods were an expansive new expected to focus on still life or portraiture, show at the National ‘Picturing Mary’ demonstrates the intriguMuseum of Women in ing ways in which women artists engaged the Arts. with the narratives and symbolism that developed around the subject of Mary,” NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling said in a statement accompanying the exhibition’s opening. “Both female and male artists contributed to the rich and varied visualization of Mary in these periods.” The NMWA exhibition deftly reflects a range of identities associated with the Virgin Mary — the young, nubile and infant-focused mother; the active, bustling mother as part of a community; the suffering, bereaved mother; and even the angry, aggressive matriarch. “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” is the first large-scale work by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Caravaggio and one of the most visually arresting pieces in the exhibition. Working from a Middle Ages legend about Mary, Joseph and Jesus fleeing into Egypt to seek refuge from King Herod, who sought Christ’s death, the piece is placid in mood, but actually quite complex.An angel plays the violin as a drably dressed Joseph holds sheet music. Meanwhile, a serene Mary, dressed in a bright, flowing red robe, cradles baby Jesus. The juxtaposition of

30

The Washington Diplomat

PHOTO: MUSEO DELL’OPERA DEL DUOMO, FLORENCE; INV. N. 90.87.1028

workmanlike Joseph, who is flanked by an ox, and Mary, who is enveloped in lush flora, is striking. In one of the earliest works in the exhibition, Puccio Capanna, a student of Giotto di Bondone, depicted an enthroned Mary as Queen of Virgins surrounded by female saints, alluding to the enduring symbol of Mary as a model of virtue and faith for all women. Oddly, though, for a museum dedicated to empowering women, it fails to include any pieces that might critique patriarchal dogma surrounding Mary, who for centuries has been touted by the Church as the feminine ideal: a maternal giver who is sexually and morally pure. The exhibit does illustrate the evolution of Mary over the years, from the early regal depictions of her to the approachable, empathetic persona that began to take hold in medieval monastic communities. Andrea Pisano’s marble sculpture, “Madonna and Child,” is among the most intriguing pieces in the exhibiPHOTO: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS tion primarily because it shows some levity, as opposed to the endlessly solemn and reverent depictions of Mary and the Christ child. The sculpture depicts Mary not only holding her infant, but apparently tickling him.A smile is evident on the lips of both. When was the last time you

[

Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea through April 12 National Museum of Women in the Arts 1250 New York Ave., NW For more information, please call (202) 783-5000 or visit www.nmwa.org.

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saw a picture of a smiling Jesus? Never? The effect is intensely humanizing. PHOTO: VATICAN MUSEUMS, VATICAN CITY; INV. 40377 While most of the works in the “Picturing Mary” exhibition depict Mary as maternal and gentle, some show the mother of Jesus as a fierce warrior.The exhibition’s excellent accompanying book explains that Mary’s identity as Queen of the Virgins gave rise to the notion that female virgins have access to realms normally reserved for men, including warfare and hunting.“Madonna delle Milizie” on loan from the Church of Sant’Ignazio in Sicily shows Mary astride a rearing horse, with a golden sword unsheathed and people trampled underfoot. Perhaps not surprisingly, none of the works depicting Mary as an aggressor include an accompanying baby Jesus. “Picturing Mary,” a meticulously curated, academic look at centuries of art honoring the Virgin Mary that offers many exquisite, comforting images of the iconic biblical figure, but also some novel ones that challenge her rather staid image. Michael Coleman (@michaelcoleman) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

February 2015

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February 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 31

[ events ]

Putting on a Show Local Arts Venues Home to International Performances PHOTO: NICOLAS BARET / WOLF TRAP

by Molly McCluskey

W

ith so many performing arts venues in the Washington area and a citywide arts calendar packed to the brim, it can be all too easy to find a few reliable favorites and overlook the rest. Instead, break out of the rut by discovering new artists, new collaborations or a new way of experiencing music at some of the area’s best venues for showcasing emerging and established international performers. Here are three such local treasures — in D.C., Maryland and Virginia — that should be on any cultural aficionado’s radar.

LISNER AUDITORIUM Scheduling an eclectic mix of programming for one of the largest performance venues in Washington, D.C., is an ongoing challenge for the staff at Lisner Auditorium at the George Washington University, who are always working to bring renowned international acts to their stage, as well as highlight emerging artists.To ensure that ticket sales remain high at Lisner, which was built in 1943, Executive Director Maryann Lombardi has taken a novel approach. “There are certain names that people will just recognize, because they are at that iconic stature for their genre, their country, their culture.They are the no-brainers, and big coups for us to have here,” Lombardi told us. “This fall, we also started pairing artists together who have never worked together before. This way, we’re able to appeal to both artists’ fan bases, as well as introduce them to acts they might not otherwise know.” For instance, on Jan. 30, Zap Mama and Antibalas collaborated for the first time to celebrate the evolution of contemporary Afro music. Drawing on her Congolese-Belgian heritage, Zap Mama mixes African vocal techniques with European polyphony, while Antibalas blends Afrobeat with New York City Latin funk and the traditional drumming of Cuba and West Africa. These pairings tap into a broader trend in music and the arts, Lombardi said, in that the traditional boundaries no longer apply. How people consume their music is changing, and the standard genres of world music, pop, country and the like are not as clear as they once were.That leads to tremendous opportunity. “We have a strong history in the global market and in D.C., and we’re proud of that, but we also want to be agile in a changing world, and a changing method for how people are consuming their music,” Lombardi explained. “We have a young staff that’s really in tune with that, and it’s really thrilling to create an environment where the diversity of the world that we live in is all on one stage.” Upcoming performances include “20 Years of Freedom: Hugh Masekela and Vusi Mahlasela” (Feb. 22), blending the two South Africans’ deeply personal jazz and folk styles for an evening of reflective and celebratory music; “Elite 8 Bhangra Invitational 2015” (Feb. 28), a dance competition between the best Punjabi bhangra teams on the East Coast; and Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke, known as the father of Ethio-jazz (March 6).

WANT TO GO? Lisner Auditorium at the George Washington University is located at 730 21st St., NW. For information, please call (202) 994-6800 or visit www.lisner.gwu.edu.

WOLF TRAP Many people know the picturesque 7,000-seat Filene Center amphitheater at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., which hosts over 90 concert performances each year, along with a variety of outdoor and indoor events that showcase the 100 acres of sprawling Virginia farmland on which Wolf Trap was built.

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PHOTO: WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION

Singer, percussionist and dancer Dobet Gnahoré of Côte d’Ivoire, top, recently performed at Wolf Trap, seen above. At left, South African musicians Hugh Masekela and Vusi Mahlasela will perform together at Lisner Auditorium for the Feb. 22 performance “20 Years of Freedom.”

But fewer people know that the only national park dedicated to the performing arts also houses an intimate, 382-seat indoor theater, the Barnes. The two adjacent 18th-century barns were a gift from Wolf Trap’s founder, Catherine Filene Shouse, who was impressed by the acoustical quality of the wooden barn after attending a concert in Maine and wanted to bring the same informal setting to Wolf Trap. Here, ticketholders can see emerging artists, as well as international names in acoustic, coffeehouse-style performances. PHOTO: ERIK FORSTER “We have a lot more freedom on the smaller venue to reach out and bring something that is artistically viable, but maybe lesser well known,” said Peter Zimmerman, senior director of programming and production at Wolf Trap.“We have an audience here that trusts us and says, ‘If Wolf Trap is putting it on their stage, it must be worth it.’” Zimmerman says both venues will be filled with exciting new acts, as well as the returns of old favorites. Upcoming Wolf Trap performances include “International Guitar Night” on Feb. 4 and 5; HAPA, which infuses traditional Polynesian sound with pop and world-beat twists (Feb. 20 and 21); R&B soul singer Bettye LaVette (Feb. 24); “Prairie Home Companion” back for its 15th year at the Filene Center (May 22 and 23); the 10th anniversary of “Celtic Woman” (June 20); and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (June 24).

WANT TO GO? Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts is located at 1645 Trap Road, Vienna, Va. For more information, please call (703) 255-1900 or visit www.wolftrap.org.

MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE “In some ways, we’ve always catered to the diplomatic and international audience,” Strathmore Artistic Director Shelley Brown said of the music center and arts complex located in North Bethesda, Md. Strathmore, which opened its doors in 1983, presents a diverse program of art exhibitions, concerts, performing arts programs and literary lectures and other events at its

See VENUES, page 35 February 2015

[ theater ]

Lyrical Discovery ‘Choir Boy’ Belts Out Different Coming-of-Age Tune by Lisa Troshinsky

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arell Alvin McCraney’s latest thesboys’ inner worlds. Showing them engaged in a self-comforting, mundane, private act levels pian gem, “Choir Boy,” now playtheir playing field but makes them immensely ing at Studio Theatre, uses a simple more defenseless. but effective literary device — juxtaposition — to shed light on a diffiActing out these scenarios are a group of thespians all new to the Studio Theatre and all cult subject. In this case, it’s the great finds, for both their acting and singing age-old conflict between tradition abilities. and individualism. The playwright merely plops his protagoJelani Alladin portrays a multifaceted Pharus, confident and self-aware of his talents, yet vulnist, a closeted, effeminate black teenager, in nerable to outside and internal pressures that the midst of an elite, conservative boy’s prep make him feel he must somehow navigate his school and sits back to watch the drama troubled waters alone. Alladin seems comunfold. Unfortunately for the play’s characpletely natural in his role and does a fine job of ters, there are no clear winners or losers. communicating the simplicity of childhood Fortunately for the audience, this same overlain with fears of the future, with a dash of ambiguity challenges us to think again when put-on diva. trying to define morality. Likely drawing on his own experience as Jaysen Wright, who plays Pharus’ sympathetic roommate A.J., stands out as the closest a gay black male from the South, McCraney thing to a confidante that Pharus has, and gives us Pharus Young, an earnest, enthusiaslends some needed comic relief. He’s laid back tic, articulate and vocally talented young enough to tease Pharus about his sexuality and man struggling to fit into a regimented, acaemotionally strong enough to comfort him demic environment where his sexual preferwhen he most needs it. ence is an issue. The story takes place at the fictitious “Who you saving all that for?” Pharus asks A.J. (referring to A.J.’s toned muscles apparent Charles R. Drew Prep, an all-male, historically in a T-shirt and briefs). black boarding school that’s heavily steeped in tradition, hierarchy, financial politics and “Who YOU saving it for?”A.J. retorts back. promises of molding boys into accomplished “Jesus,” Pharus answers, to which A.J. quips, PHOTOS: IGOR DMITRY black men. It is here where Pharus “I don’t think Jesus is interested.” is told to ignore a gay slur in order The rest of the characters that round Jelani Alladin, to take his place as head of the out the cast are more caricature, which above, stars as school’s legendary gospel choir. isn’t necessarily negative. How we experiPharus Young, an Although he refuses to tattle on ence them in this world is how Pharus earnest, vocally the offender, citing the school’s perceives them, which is all we really talented young honor code, Pharus uses his power need to know. man struggling as choir lead to kick out the McCraney’s use of a rich, inspirational a to fit into an affronting student from the gospel cappella score helps to make this chalelite, regimented group. lenging script more palatable for both boys’ school Similar to McCraney’s previous Pharus and the audience. Like Pharus, we where his sexuplays, such as the acclaimed trilolet the music, wonderfully orchestrated by ality is an issue gy “The Brother/Sister Plays” and Music Director Darius Smith, wash over in “Choir Boy” at “Head of Passes,” “Choir Boy” and heal us, even when the songs are Studio Theatre. explores the intersection of culmournful and their relief is fleeting. ture and history. But unlike his The music — some of which is conearlier works, known for their heavy-handed temporary and sure to please D.C. audiences — also mannerisms,“Choir Boy” is less stylistic and more serves to pacify the onstage conflict, interweaving the Choir Boy spontaneous, although no less poetic. five distinct voices’ melodies and harmonies, as they The script doesn’t throw any punches; its messtand as one. through Feb. 22 sage is direct. On the Studio’s intimate stage, only The world McCraney portrays in “Choir Boy” is a Studio Theatre five boys, a headmaster and a teacher represent small, insulated one. It doesn’t deal with or mention the 1501 14th St., NW the entire school. Designer Jason Sherwood’s set many other newsworthy topics today for African — stately columns and headshots of historical American males like Ferguson or Trayvon Martin, or Tickets are $44 to $88. African American male leaders — is minimal and even President Obama (although his photo is disFor more information, please call (202) 332-3300 functional. The plot line — what you’d expect played). or visit www.studiotheatre.org. from a tale of tensions in the isolated bubble of a “There’s no part of me that wants to write a play boarding school — keeps up at a steady clip specifically about those incidents,” McCraney said in an thanks to Kent Gash’s direction. interview with Metro Weekly.“They are actual and biographical and biography isn’t But then something unexpected and magical happens, which is perhaps why what I do.” McCraney has racked up a slew of awards and nominations at the ripe age of 34. What McCraney does with “Choir Boy” is give us reality encased in realistic ficMcCraney bends our reality; he makes a gutsy move with a great emotional payoff. tion. Pharus doesn’t have to really exist to be real. We all know a Pharus. How do With no fanfare, in silence and low lighting, the students undress and individually we feel about him? The answer to this question is all the reality we need. step into steamy showers.Through this simple act, placed when the plot’s tension is peaking, McCraney draws away the curtain of preppy formalities and bares these Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 33

[ dining ]

Grown Up Gardner’s Mighty Pint Matures into Second State by Rachel G. Hunt

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ocated on the block made famous (or infamous depending on your perspective) by the local watering hole Sign of the Whale, the Mighty Pint recently closed up shop and ditched its frat-boy look for a suit and tie. Restaurateur Reese Gardner recently abandoned the Mighty Pint’s sports bar concept in favor of the more mature, cuisine-focused Second State. His restaurant group, the Wooden Nickel Bar Company, celebrated the first anniversary of its other farm-to-table eatery Copperwood Tavern in Shirlington, Va., last fall by opening Second State in the M Street rowhouse location. Gardner looked homeward for the inspiration behind his newest restaurant venture in the D.C. metro area (two more are pending for early in 2015). A native of Altoona, Penn., Gardner pays homage to his home state, the second to ratify the U.S Constitution (hence the restaurant’s name), by featuring a variety of seasonal, farm-to-table American dishes with a Pennsylvania twist. Gardner’s frequent design collaborator Maggie O’Neill of SwatchRoom has brilliantly transformed the formerly den-like space into a coolly elegant but surprisingly cozy spot. Exposed red brick, dark woods,Tudor beams and black-and-white floor tiles have been replaced with a palette of soft grays, metal blues and tans.The slick gray concrete floor mirrors the exposed silver ductworks. The wood is bleached pale, and glass and metal fixtures give off subtle but warm lighting that is reflected in the gleaming gray granite bar top.A few historical pieces lend understated thematic interest to the textured blank walls. While O’Neill has teamed up with Gardner before, this is by far the most striking of her designs. If the transformation of the space has been dramatic, the change to the menu is no less so. Almost all vestiges of the Mighty Pint’s bar have been purged from the menu (though the spicy popcorn that arrives at the table is a variation on the theme). Second State did, however, keep the cheese and potato pierogies, a staple of Pittsburgh Steelers game night. Prepared traditionally and topped with sautéed onions, they are a perfect rendition of the Polish classic brought to Pennsylvania by Second State Polish immigrants in the latter half 1831 M St., NW of the 19th century who came to work in Pittsburgh’s flourishing (202) 466-3010 steel industry. www.secondstatedc.com Gardner brought on the team that helped establish Copperwood Hours: Sun., 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; to develop Second State. Chef Mon.-Thu., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Allan Javery, a graduate of the Fri., 11 a.m.-12 a.m.; Sat., 4 p.m.-12 a.m. French Culinary Institute in New York City, served in kitchens in New York and D.C. under Starters: $3 - $24 renowned chefs including Nobu Entrées: $19 - $36 Matsuhisa and Alain Ducasse Desserts: $8 before joining Gardner’s Wooden Nickel team. He has developed a Reservations: Accepted and suggested menu that capitalizes on locally as the space is small available ingredients (he tries to Dress: Casual source fresh ingredients as much as possible from within three hours of D.C.) with an emphasis on Pennsylvania products. The dishes are mostly straightforward, protein-centric American fare and feature local game and meats, farm-raised wild fowl and poultry, as well as fish. Venison, bison, pheasant, duck and trout all appear on the menu, a nod to the hunting and fishing tradition in Pennsylvania.

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PHOTOS: DANIEL SWARTZ, REVAMP

Second State features farm-totable Pennsylvania-themed fare such as the red quinoa-stuffed peppers with mushrooms and spinach, top, as well as grilled swordfish, left.

Perhaps in a nod to the state’s earliest inhabitants, many of the game preparations bear echoes of Native American traditions. The venison, tender and not at all gamey, is rubbed with coffee and cocoa, grilled and served with blackberry compote. Lean ground bison is made into meatballs with garlic and onions and served with huckleberry gravy, while the pheasant is pan roasted with pearl onions, apples and a cider jus. Finally, a tea-smoked duck breast is roasted and served with poached pears and blueberry jus. Perhaps it is not so surprising that the movement toward local sourcing of seasonal ingredients in some ways approximates the conditions under which Native Americans cooked, before government surplus food and widespread poaching drastically altered their traditional diets. Another standout is the maple-brined double-cut pork chop, which Javery grills in ancho-chili rub and serves over fruit chutney. He uses Ossabaw pork, a rare heritage breed from Ossabaw Island, Georgia, that is descended from the pigs left behind on the island by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. Ossabaw pork has a more complex flavor and tender texture than domesticated pork (and possibly healthier fat — the research on this is ongoing), which Javery preserves with his simple preparation. Here and there Javery’s classical training peeks through to delicious effect. Short ribs, braised with root beer, are served atop a silken parsnip and garlic confit puree.The scallops and foie gras small plate is decidedly continental. Lightly smoked, the seared East Coast scallops are drizzled with a balsamic reduction and served on a slice of foie gras resting in a pool of sweet corn puree. Meanwhile, the swordfish, expertly grilled to avoid drying out, is prepared in an almost Mediterranean style with a salty dried tomato and Kalamata olive relish. Second State serves main dishes a la carte, but the menu offers an interesting variety of family-style sides. Mashed potatoes are prepared with smoked Gouda; crimini mushrooms are sautéed with butter and brown ale; and baked beans are cooked with root beer and bacon. The Brussels sprouts, fried and mixed with crispy shallots, bacon and maplemustard vinaigrette, are delicious but almost too greasy to eat. The ghost of the Mighty Pint would be happy to see you can still get fries here, and get them you should. Double fried and seasoned with garlic and parsley, they are light and not greasy.Accompanied by smoked tomato ketchup and truffle aioli for dipping, they might even tempt back fans of the old bar menu. On the other hand, dessert is somewhat of an afterthought at Second State.A brownie February 2015

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DINING GUIDE

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February 2015

THE NEW DIPLOMAT DINING GUIDE YOUR RESTAURANT HERE 123 Dining Way www.web.com • (123) 555-1234

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with house-made Nutella ice cream is simple but satisfying. There are also a few pie selections from the Acme Pie Co. in Arlington, Va., where baker Sol Schott shares Gardner’s focus on culinary handicraft and makes only a few types of pies at any one time that use local ingredients whenever possible. Recent choices have been pecan and shoofly pie, a classic Pennsylvania Dutch molasses pie. Though Gardner moved away from the previous bar-centered concept, Second State still offers a complete beverage menu. Bar manager Phil Clark has worked with Boris Stojkovic, corporate beverage program director of Second State’s parent group Wooden Nickel Bar Company, to develop a Pennsylvania-themed drink list. Signature cocktails evoke the history and geography of the state.The Betsy Ross is a blend of Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, orange liqueur, port wine reduction, aromatic bitters and nutmeg (one has to wonder how far she would have gotten with the flag after a few of these). Meanwhile, the inspiring Liberty Punch combines XXX Shine LiberTea corn whiskey from Pennsylvania, fresh lemon, ginger, honey and lavender bitters. The Appalachian features another Pennsylvania whiskey called XXX White mixed with not so local ingredients such as Milagro Reposado, grapefruit, lime and agave. All the syrups are made in house and the juices are all fresh squeezed, echoing the culinary approach of the rest of the menu. The menu also features half a dozen Pennsylvania craft beers on tap as well as a few bottled varieties. Rye whiskies also feature prominently, with over 30 white and dark varieties (including a few from Pennsylvania). A boutique collection of 64 wines by the bottle and more than a dozen by the glass round February 2015

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everything out. And, of course, there is root beer. Whether in the food or at the bar, no restaurant dedicated to Pennsylvania would be complete without it. Hires Root Beer was introduced as a commercial product at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition by Charles Hires of Philadelphia, who had begun marketing his version of the drink as a medicinal beverage after it was introduced as a substitute for beer in early days of the Prohibition movement in Pennsylvania. It is likely that credit is owed to Native Americans who taught Europeans how to make it in the first place. The Mighty Pint was beloved by Pittsburgh Steelers fans who for five years gathered on game nights to watch, drink and eat plates of the bar’s famed pierogies. In rebranding the concept for the location, Gardner continued his transition away from the party bar business that was once the hallmark of the Wooden Nickel Bar Company, to a more serious and upscale food-focused brand, reflecting perhaps the changes in his own personal tastes. Though sports fans may have been displaced, if the crowds on recent weeknight visits (in bad weather) are any indication, the neighborhood was just as ready for a change as Gardner apparently was. Rachel G. Hunt is the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

Plan Your Entire Weekend. www.washdiplomat.com

from page 32

Venues scenic 16-acre site. Brown said that the venue relies on its relationships with local embassies to help it find great artists.“If there is a performer with a strong tie to a geographic region, I always reach out to the embassy at the very beginning of the evaluation process.” She said the practice has yielded some great performances at Strathmore, including 10 cellists from the Berlin Philharmonic on the recent 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Other upcoming international include French-Dominican jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimee on Feb. 8; “Tango Buenos Aires: Song of Eva Perón” on Feb. 25; and “The Merchant of Venice” staring Sir Derek Jacobi on Feb. 27. “To stay abreast of who the important international performers are, you just have to stay open to new performers coming onto the scene every year; it’s just such a vast universe,” Brown told us. “But we also don’t want to waste money trying to speak to a potential performer who’s not interested.” Brown points to the large international community in the Washington area and says that the Music Center at Strathmore offers an opportunity for people far from home to connect with their culture, and each other. She said she is always striving to understand the many cultures in the region, and how each seeks entertainment, and then deliver programming tailored toward each. “It’s important to understand that you

PHOTO: RON SOLOMON

The Lockheed Martin Lobby of the Music Center at Strathmore features expansive glass windows.

are not part of that community, to head into it knowing what you don’t know, and to learn what the sensitivities are of that community,” Brown said. “I’m always looking for people who can educate me.”

WANT TO GO? The Music Center at Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md. For more information, please call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org. Molly McCluskey (@MollyEMcCluskey) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 35

[ film reviews ]

Soul-Crushing ‘Leviathan’ Russian Heavyweight Goes for Gold at the Oscars by Ky N. Nguyen

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s the 2015 Academy of Burgundy’ Awards ceremony British writer-director Peter quickly approachStrickland’s glossy third feature film, es, Russia’s “Levi“The Duke of Burgundy,” promotes him athan” can cerinto a higher league of filmmakers. His tainly be confirst two features, “Katalin Varga” and sidered one of “Berberian Sound Studio,” were genre the frontrunners for the Best reworkings with modest budgets and Foreign Language Film Oscar, distribution, though no doubt accomespecially after capturing the plished and acclaimed in a number of Golden Globe for Best Foreign quarters. Language Film. The master“The Duke of Burgundy” is a more piece from Russian writer-difully realized feature production that rector Andrey Zvyagintsev also pays homage to a genre film, the (“The Return,” “Elena,” “The European erotic sexploitation films circa Banishment”) paints a searing the 1970s. A key difference is that in picture criticizing modern Photo: AnnA mAtveevA / sony PiCtUres ClAssiCs Strickland’s film, most of the actual sex is Russian society, particularly not depicted by his roving camera, folthe corruption of the state and sergey Pokhodaev stars as roma in russian writer-director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “leviathan,” about an lowing the philosophy of less is more in everyday man’s struggle against a powerful bureaucracy. the Orthodox Church. terms of increasing mystery and sensualThe title “Leviathan” referity. He is focused instead on displaying rarer viewences the fatalist philosophical tome by points — as well as expressing ultra-crisp sound Thomas Hobbes and i loosely based on recordings — that convey his unique story. the Biblical tale of the Book of Job. The relatively restrained acting by the all-female Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin’s well-craftensemble cast, particularly the two leads, Italian ed script depicts the sinister machinaactress Chiara D’Anna (who played in Strickland’s tions that cruelly control the fate of an “Berberian Sound Studio”) and Danish actress everyday person, who cannot hope to Sidse Babett Knudsen, conveys significant emowin against The Man.Yet the film’s story tions with often minimal movments. Yet they are is not constantly a downer, as the dark having fun playing their characters, and the auditone is frequently leavened by strong ence is deriving plenty of pleasure from watching doses of humor. their actions. On the outskirts of a northwestern The film opens with a classic 1970s nature shot: Russian fishing village by the Barents A young woman (D’Anna) lounges at the edge of a Sea, working-class mechanic Kolya stream before taking a bike ride. She ends up at a (Aleksey Serebryakov) runs his vehicle Photo: the indePendent Film ChAnnel llC mansion, where we learn she is Evelyn, the new repair business on a remote property. housekeeper serving the middle-age lady of the His hilltop waterfront lot also holds the sidse Babett Knudsen, left, and Chiara d’Anna star in Peter strickland’s sensual house, lepidopterist Cynthia (Knudsen). In what house that he built with his own hands. “The Duke of Burgandy.” initially seems to be a power paradigm not atypiA chronic complainer and drunk, he resides with his surly son Roma (Sergey Pokhodaev), who resents his stepmother cal in a British period piece, the older woman cruelly bosses the younger woman Lilya (Elena Liadova), Kolya’s pretty, younger second wife. All three of them are around, who is excessively punished for her mistakes. The two lovers’ relationship then delves into sadomasochism, which is eventually unhappy with their life, which they show in different ways. Meanwhile, the town’s boorish mayor, Vadim Shelevyat (Roman Madianov), cov- revealed to be role playing that is repeated the next day. As time progresses, it ets Kolya’s land to build his own grand mansion. Vadim is sleazily employing the becomes less evident who is dominant and who is submissive. What is definitely municipal power of eminent domain to seize Kolya’s property for a pittance of its true for both parties is that the same old role play has grown tiresome and is no worth. Fortunately for Kolya, his old Army buddy Dimitri (Vladimir Vdovitchenkov) longer the turn on it was originally. Really, “The Duke of Burgundy” transcends happens to now be a sophisticated attorney practicing in Moscow. The Duke of Burgundy The big-city lawyer visits the provinces to defend Kolya in the final appeal of his its genre origins. It looks, feels and sounds (English; 106 min.; scope) legal battle against Vadim. When Dimitri’s legal arguments fail to sway the judges unlike anything you have seen before. West End Cinema already in the mayor’s pocket, he resorts to Hungarian editor Matyas Fekete’s stark cutting opens Fri., Feb. 6 blackmailing Vadim with a dossier of dirt he contributes to the surreal sensation. Shot in leviathan has dug up. The evidence is condemning Hungary, British director of photography (Russian with subtitles; 141 min.; scope) ★★★★✩ enough to threaten Vadim, who calms down Nicholas D. Knowland’s lush digital cinemaenough to ratchet up the cutthroat hardball tography evokes the soft focus of 1970s anaThe Avalon Theatre morphic film stock, updated with brighter colors that still feel retro. Plaudits go to against Kolya and his circle. ★★★★★ A strong ensemble cast delivers punchy Hungarian art decorator Renátó Cseh and Hungarian costume and lingerie designer performances to solidly inhabit their charac- Andrea Flesch for filling the set with vivacious scenery and outfits well worth photers, while Zvyagintsev’s steady direction takes its time to unspool the proceed- tographing. ings, allowing the harsh details to slowly seep into the world on screen.The bleak subject matter is juxtaposed in sharp contrast against a picturesque natural landAgeless ‘Paddington’ scape beautifully lensed by Russian director of photography Mikhail Krichman. A “Paddington,” from British helmer Paul King (“Bunny and the Bull,” “The Mighty powerful score by legendary American composer Philip Glass bookends the Boosh”) and producer David Heyman (“Harry Potter,”“Gravity”), is one of the rare motion picture, which has earned critical praise from just about everyone except Russia itself, where officials have panned the movie for sullying the country’s movies targeted to kids that is more than good enough for adults to enjoy. image. That likely won’t stop the plaudits — and possibly awards — from streaming in. see FilM rEviEWS, page 39

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The Washington Diplomat

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February 2015

[ film interviews ]

‘Mommy’ Wunderkind French-Canadian Filmmaking Prodigy Dolan Muses on ‘Mommy’ by Ky N. Nguyen

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t the tender age of 25, FrenchCanadian filmmaking prodigy Xavier Dolan, also an actor, has already made five feature films, four of which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The other one debuted at the Venice International Film Festival — not too shabby, either. His most recent film, “Mommy,” shared the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2014 with “Goodbye to Language,” 84-year-old French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard’s 39th feature. Dolan wrote, directed and produced “Mommy,” which vividly depicts the struggles of working-class, single mother Die (Anne Dorval) to raise her rebellious teenage son Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon) after he is expelled from a juvenile detention center for arson. At home, his severe ADHD causes misbehavior that seems completely uncontrollable until he comes under the soothing influence of their strange neighbor Kyla (Suzanne Clément), a teacher on medical leave. In Times Square, Dolan spoke at a roundtable with The Washington Diplomat about “Mommy,” currently in theatrical release. He commented on his dazzling film’s kinetic style: “‘Mommy’ was about the hysterical rhythms of these people’s lives, so the film had to mirror that. It’s literally just addressing what the film itself and the script are calling for, which is a fast-paced edit and constant motion.” The director also explained how he works with his actors.“I have a shot list…. I know that I want a certain shot and that I want a certain dolly, that I want this and that,” he said.“But, of course, I’ll always adapt myself to what the actors do. If they bring something that needs me to adjust the direction we are taking or the shot list, everything’s changeable. I’m not being psycho-rigid about what my needs are because the story is character-driven, and it’s always about the actors.” Dolan, who has already won various accolades for his work, responded to a question about how winning awards affected his confidence. “I was never insecure. I’m passionate about what I do. I love working with actors. I love acting and writing these stories. Some reviews have hurt me, but they’ve always been educational, at the least,” he said. The young filmmaker also reflected on his prolific career. “It’s been five [films] in five years, but not consecutively…. I just followed my need for films and sets and being in that adrenaline-driven journey of shooting a film. It feels like in between movies, I’m sort of waiting for something to happen.When I’m not working or creating, I’m standing by and just running in circles.” WANT TO SEE? “Mommy” is now playing at Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema.

Atom Egoyan Ponders ‘The Captive’ Decorated writer-director Atom Egoyan (“Ararat,” “Chloe”), a 54-year-old Canadian of Armenian descent born in Egypt, cemented his reputation with the unforgettable “The Sweet Hereafter” (1997). In addition to

Xavier Dolan directed, wrote and produced his fifth feature film, “Mommy.”

“

I was never insecure. I’m passionate about what I do. I love working with actors. I love acting and writing these stories. Some reviews have hurt me, but they’ve always been educational, at the least.

”

— Xavier Dolan, director of ‘Mommy’

Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, “The Sweet Hereafter” took home three awards from Cannes Film Festival, including the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics) Prize. In his latest film,“The Captive,” which Egoyan co-wrote with David Fraser, a young girl, Cassandra, mysteriously vanishes from the back of a vehicle parked at a restaurant while her father Matthew (Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds) dashes in to grab a pie.The investigating police partners (Canadian actor Scott Speedman and American actress Rosario Dawson) are suspicious of Matthew’s story. Eight years later, signs appear that Cassandra may be alive. At the Crosby Street Hotel in SoHo, Manhattan, The Washington Diplomat conducted a fascinating interview with Egoyan about “The Captive” and his filmmaking style. He reflected on his convoluted, non-linear narrative, which includes flashbacks of Cassandra’s disappearance juxtaposed with the present-day ongoing investigation:“To me, there’s a clarity based on the fact that it’s been eight years. We are always seeing it around Cassandra’s birthday. There’s always a meeting between the detective and the mother. Part of the pleasure of that is this idea that there is an investigation in the film. “The detectives are trying to put together pieces of the puzzle, trying to assemble it and form a narrative. The viewers are also aware that they are given these pieces. They have to determine what their relative value is as narrative information, in terms of how it’s shot, how it’s presented, what those images mean.That

seems to me a very natural way to tell the story,” Egoyan explained. “These narratives which I’m writing, directing and producing, are the result of a tremendous amount of consideration and planning. Not just in terms of the schedule, which any filmmaker does, but just the logic that governs these people’s behavior, especially when you’re dealing with this intersection of something of a realistic world with a world that seems more heightened, where people are transformed into a level of metaphor and myth,” he added. The director, who is also a proPhoto: Shayne Laverdière lific writer, producer and editor, described his production process.“In this film, it was pretty determined. I think where changes or other ideas are explored is during the editing. It is a structure. As you’re editing, you’re aware that there are certain things that need to be clarified,” he said. “As I’m editing, I’m just aware of the emotional place the viewer is as opposed to the intellectual one. There are viewers that may understand what that plan means that Cassandra’s giving the father, and others that don’t. “I know what my skills are as a director,” he continued. “I know what I’m doing on the set with my actors. I have a sensibility which is clear in terms of the material that I choose and the tone that I set to it. When I’m working with my own material, I have more sense that I’m creating material that I will use to then go into the editing room with and recalibrate, reform and reposition. I give myself a lot more luxury with that.

Writer-director Atom Egoyan’s latest film is “The Captive.”

Photo: A24 Films

“When I’m doing a film for hire, a lot of people are watching the dailies and coming back with feedback and input. I have to react to that. I have to have these conversations explaining what I’m doing. When it’s my own material, I don’t have to explain anything except to myself.” WANT TO SEE? “The Captive” is available through video on demand via cable, satellite, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes and Google Play. Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

February 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 37

[ film ]

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

Cantonese In the Mood for Love Directed by Wong Kar-Wai (Hong Kong/France, 2000, 98 min.)

In 1962 Hong Kong, neighbors Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai discover that their spouses are having an affair. Their shared grief leads to close friendship, and then temptation (Cantonese and Shanghainese). AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Feb. 13, 9:45 p.m., Sun., Feb. 15, 6 p.m.

(U.S./Taiwan/China, 71 min.)

(Canada, 2014, 139 min.)

Who was General Tso, and why are we eating his chicken? This feature documentary explores the origins and ubiquity of Chinese-American food through the story of an iconic sweet and spicy chicken dish.

A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor inserts herself into their household (French and English).

West End Cinema

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry Directed by Mary Dore (U.S., 2014, 92 min.)

This documentary resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women’s movement from 1966 to 1971. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Feb. 13

English

Still Alice

Black Sea

Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westermoreland (U.S./France, 2014, 99 min.)

Directed by Kevin Macdonald (U.K./U.S./Russia, 2014, 114 min.)

In order to make good with his former employers, a submarine captain takes a job with a shadowy backer to search the depths of the Black Sea for a submarine rumored to be loaded with gold. Theater TBA

Dalai Lama Awakening Directed by Khashyar Darvich (U.S., 2014, 120 min.)

Narrated by Harrison Ford, “Dalai Lama Awakening” presents the profound and life-changing journey of innovative Western thinkers who travel to India to meet with the Dalai Lama (English, Hindi and Tibetan). Angelika Mosaic Thu., Feb. 12, 6:30 p.m.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Alice Howland, happily married, renowned linguistics professor with three grown children, starts to forget words and must grapple with a devastating diagnosis, early-onset Alzheimer’s. Landmark’s E Street Cinema

What We Do in the Shadows Directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi (New Zealand, 2014, 96 min.)

In this hilarious comedy, an endearingly unhip quartet of flatmates — and vampires — squabble over household chores, struggle to keep up with the latest trends, antagonize the local werewolves and deal with the rigors of living on a very, very strict diet. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Feb. 20

Directed by Matthew Vaughn (U.K., 2014, 129 min.)

Farsi

A super-secret spy organization recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency’s ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

Bending the Rules

Theater TBA Opens Fri., Feb. 13

One Hour With You Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (U.S., 1932, 84 min.)

Parisian couple Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald’s happy union becomes threatened by mutual infidelities. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Feb. 7, 2 p.m., Thu., Feb. 12, 7:15 p.m.

Red Army Directed by Gabe Polsky (U.S./Russia, 2014, 85 min.)

This entertaining documentary shows the waning days of the Soviet Union and the most successful dynasty in sports history, the Red Army ice hockey team — potent patriotic symbols who were forced to train in a restricted camp for 11 months of the year, missing their families.

Directed by Behnam Behzadi (Iran, 2013, 94 min.)

An amateur theater troupe that has been invited to perform outside Iran. Most of its young members have lied to their families about where they are going, but when the lead actress tells her father the truth, he forbids her to leave. On the eve of their departure, she and her cohorts struggle with whether to confront or secretly defy him. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Feb. 1, 2 p.m.

Fifi Howls from Happiness Directed by Manohla Dargis (Iran, 2013, 96 min.)

Once known as the “Persian Picasso,” Bahman Mohassess was a famous artist in pre-revolution Iran until he was forced into a 30-year exile in Italy by the new regime. Filmmaker Mitra Farahani found the artist there and documented the verbal sparring matches that constitute this lively, lyrical portrait. Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Feb. 6, 7 p.m., Sun., Feb. 8, 2 p.m.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

French

The Search for General Tso

Mommy

Directed by Ian Cheney

Directed by Xavier Dolan

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THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit) Directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne (Belgium/France/Italy, 2014, 95 min.)

A young Belgian mother discovers that her workmates have opted for a significant pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal, and she has only one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so that she can keep her job. Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

Georgian The Day Is Longer than the Night (Dges game utenebia) Directed by Lana Gogoberidze (Georgia/U.S.S.R., 1984, 105 min.)

Known for beautiful location shooting, portrayals of traditions and appealing performances, this film follows the life of Eva from the turn of the century through many important milestones, personal and historic, with each one linked to the next by a troop of actors and musicians who offer their own counterpoint. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Feb. 7, 4 p.m.

Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird (Iko shashvi mgalobeli)

February 2015

This film on the life of the great Georgian primitive painter Nikoloz Pirosmanishvili avoids the usual clichés of films about artists’ lives, instead experimenting with color techniques based on the painter’s style and constructing a series of impressionistic tableaux from incidents in Pirosmani’s life (Georgian, Russian and French). Goethe-Institut Mon., Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m.

Repentance Directed by Tengiz Abuladze (U.S.S.R., 1984, 153 min.)

One of the most important censored films to come off the shelf with the cultural liberalization of the late 1980s, it was the first to deal with the terrors of the Stalin era. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Feb. 22, 2 p.m.

Some Interviews on Personal Matters (Ramdenime interviu pirad sakitkhebze) Directed by Lana Gogoberidze (Georgia/U.S.S.R., 1979, 95 min.)

A young newspaper staffer is passionately involved in her work — interviewing people who have sent letters of complaint to the editor. One of the women she interviews is her mother, and the pair’s onscreen relationship evokes the tragic early life of the filmmaker and her own mother.

finds much more than he had expected. Goethe-Institut Tue., Feb. 17, 6:30 p.m.

Italian Human Capital (Il capitale umano) Directed by Paolo Virzi (Italy/France, 2013, 110 min.)

The most acclaimed Italian film this year is told in three intersecting chapters from different character’s viewpoints, each revealing more layers of plot, character and a gripping tale of the ultra-rich and their would-be imitators, locked in a tricky social dance of status, money and ambition (Italian and English). Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Feb. 27

Japanese The Last: Naruto the Movie Directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi (Japan, 2014, 112 min.)

Hyuuga Hinata is kidnapped by the alien Ootsutsuki Toneri, and a disheartened Uzumaki Naruto must put himself together to save his new found love, and their budding romance. Angelika Mosaic and Angelika Pop-Up Sat., Feb. 21, 12 p.m., Mon., Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

Mandarin

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Feb. 8, 3 p.m.

Ilo Ilo

Directed by Otar Iosseliani (U.S.S.R., 1971, 83 min.)

German

In this wry comedy, an amiable musician who refuses to conform — forever late for his concerts, neglectful of appointments and continually finding ways to avoid work — wrestles with his destiny until every resolve goes astray (screens with “Akvareli (1958, 10 min.) and “Sapovnela (1959, 18 min.)).

Beloved Sisters (Die geliebten Schwestern)

Set in Singapore, “Ilo Ilo” chronicles the relationship between a family of three and their newly arrived Filipino maid, Teresa, who has come like many Filipino women in search of a better life. The entire family needs to adapt to the presence of this stranger, which further threatens their already strained relationship (Mandarin, Tagalog and Hokkien).

Embassy of France Wed., Feb. 4, 7 p.m.

Paradise Lost Directed by Davit Rondeli (U.S.S.R., 1938, 85 min.)

Director Davit Rondeli’s most lasting contribution to Georgian cinema is this hilarious satire loosely adapted from Davit Kldiashvili’s classical stories about the parasitic lifestyle of impoverished nobility. Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Feb. 20, 7 p.m.

Pastorali Directed by Otar Iosseliani (Georgia/U.S.S.R., 1975, 95 min.)

In a rural Georgian village, four young musicians, seeking the solace of a rural village for their summer rehearsals, become unavoidably entangled in local life (screens with “Tudzhi (Cast Iron)” (1964, 17 min.)). Embassy of France Fri., Feb. 6, 7 p.m.

Pirosmani Directed by Giorgi Shengelaia (U.S.S.R., 1969, 85 min.)

Directed by Dominik Graf (Germany/Austria/Switzerland, 2014, 170 min.)

“Beloved Sisters” depicts the unconventional romance between two aristocratic sisters and a rebellious poet who took the European literary world by storm in the late 18th century (German and French). Landmark’s E Street Cinema

For Eyes Only (Streng geheim) Directed by János Veiczi (East Germany, 1963, 103 min.)

A double agent tries to steal secret military plans from the headquarters of the American Military Intelligence Division in West Germany while his boss desperately tries to find the mole in his agency. Goethe-Institut Mon., Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m.

Hungarian Haber’s Photo Shop (Fotó Háber) Directed by Zoltán Várkonyi (Hungary, 1963, 108 min.)

A secret service man infiltrates a gang to uncover their operation. Behind the front of a photo shop, the group retrieves topsecret information on atomic weapons for a foreign client. As he gets closer to exposing the ring, the undercover agent

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

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Sun., Feb. 8, 10 a.m.

Russian Leviathan Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russia, 2014, 141 min.)

The latest drama from Andrey Zvyagintsev, “Leviathan” is a modern day retelling of the Biblical story of Job set in contemporary Russia. The Avalon Theatre

Silent Eliso Directed by Nikoloz Shengelaia (U.S.S.R., 1928, 89 min.)

This historical epic evokes the tragic fate of Georgia, a nation pacified in 1864 by the tsarist Russian Empire, as authorities begin to appropriate arable lands and the peasants are forced to evacuate under terrible conditions. Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Feb. 13, 7 p.m.

Nail in the Boot Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov

The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

(U.S.S.R., 1932, 54 min.)

the poor quality of a nail in a soldier’s boot leads to the defeat of a military unit. ostensibly an allegory on soviet industry, this film was banned, its symbolism lost on literal-minded authorities who felt it reflected poorly on the red Army (screens with “salt for svanetia”).

described by ruben Östlund as “a tragic comedy or a comic tragedy,” the director’s second feature examines group dynamics and the dark side of human nature in five tales of social discord. AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Feb. 12, 9 p.m.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Feb. 15, 3:30 p.m.

Play

Salt for Svanetia

this controversial record, inspired by actual court cases, of five black teenagers harassing white and Asian youths through scams and role-playing attracted controversy for its implication that political correctness debilitates society, as “good people” stand by and do nothing for fear of being thought racist.

Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov (U.S.S.R., 1932, 66 min.)

the film is a haunting portrait of difficult life in a village in the Caucasus cut off by snows from the outside world for most of the year, as patriarchal rituals favor men and death over women (screens with “nail in the Boot”). Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Feb. 15, 2 p.m.

Spanish Wild Tales (relatos Salvajes) Directed by Damián Szifrón (Argentina/Spain 2014, 122 min.)

love, deception, tragedy, violence and everyday detail push people into the undeniable pleasure of losing control. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Feb. 27

Swedish The Guitar Mongoloid (Gitarrmongot) Directed by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, 2004, 89 min.)

ruben Östlund’s feature debut is set in Jöteborg, a fictional swedish city resembling the director’s own hometown of Göteborg. his focus is on outsiders and nonconformists, in particular the titular musician, a young man facing dire obstacles in life (screens with “incident by a Bank” (2009, 12 min.) and “Autobiographical scene number 6882”(2005, 9 min.)).

Directed by Ruben Östlund (Sweden/France, 2011, 118 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Feb. 9, 7 p.m.

Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1955, 108 min.)

in frothy, fin-de-siècle sweden, stage actress eva dahlbeck arranges a weekend at her mother’s country estate. Guests include her former and current lovers, as well as the two men’s illmatched spouses and a moonstruck maid. AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m., Sat., Feb. 14, 11 a.m.

Turkish Winter Sleep (Kis uykusu) Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey/France/Germany, 2014, 196 min.)

A former actor runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife, with whom he has a stormy relationship, and his sister, who is suffering from her recent divorce. Angelika Mosaic Angelika Pop-Up

AFI Silver Theatre Tue., Feb. 17, 9:30 p.m.

involuntary (De ofrivilliga) Directed by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, 2009, 98 min.)

Plan your entire Weekend.

Jewish Lens on its 25th anniversary, the popular annual shoes of sholom Aleichem,” portraits of two Washington Jewish Film Festival (WJFF) expects beloved icons — sholom Aleichem and to draw over 12,000 attendees to more than theodore Bikel — are woven together in an 100 events spanning the Washington area. enchanting new documentary. From Feb. 19 to march 1, an eclectic lineup of israeli-Palestinian singer Mira Awad and films — accompanied by cultural and educasongwriter steve earle join legendary singertional events — showcases the best of interna- songwriter david Broza for a 45-minute musical tional cinema through a distinctly Jewish lens, set and Q&A following a screening of “east with many east Coast premieres and in-person Jerusalem, West Jerusalem” on Feb. 26 at appearances. sidney harman hall. “For 25 years, this festival has celebrated The 5th Annual Community Education Day international cinema in building the single largon Arab Citizens of israel is an all-day, inest Jewish cultural event in Washington,” ilya depth exploration of the daily lives and chaltovbis, WJFF director, said in a press lenges of israel’s Arab population. it For a complete list release. “With our most ambitious includes: a panel discussion among of films, visit festival to date, the 25th WJFF will middle east experts and the d.C. www.wjff.org. honor a quarter century of exhibiting premiere of the film, “dancing Arabs,” the full diversity of the Jewish experiwith its filmmaker eran riklis (Feb. ence.” 22); a state of the cinema address on israeli the opening-night film, “magic men,” chroni- documentary film (Feb. 24); and the third iteracles the journey of a 78-year-old Greek-born tion of “two Jews Walk into a Bar,” a cinematic atheist and his estranged hasidic rapper son as bar event (Feb. 8.) they travel from israel to Greece in search of Additional films of note include “Gett, the the magician who saved the father’s life during trial of viviane Amsalem” (Feb. 25), about a World War ii. woman’s seemingly unending battle with the the closing night features Uruguay’s entry for rules of orthodox marriage in israel; “the the Best Foreign language Film oscar, “mr. Farewell Party” (march 1), a dark comedy about Kaplin.” in the heartwarming comedy, 76-yeara group of friends at a Jerusalem retirement old Jacob Kaplan, fed up with his community home who build a machine for self-euthanasia; and his family’s lack of interest in its own heriand “next to her” (Feb. 23-28), about a woman tage, becomes convinced that his German who is forced to put her mentally disabled sisneighbor is a runaway nazi and secretly takes ter in a day-care center, only to then meet a on the role of a spy, although he is no match for man who leads to a relationship triangle the forces of age. between the three. other highlights include: the festival will also present two silent films with live original music: “Breaking home ties” The WJFF Centerpiece Evening, which (Feb. 23) and the 1920 German silent horrortakes place at the AFi silver theatre on Feb. 21, fantasy-expressionist film “the Golem” (Feb. will offer an extended Q&A session with 26), the tale of a 16th-century rabbi who made theodore Bikel, whose career spans more than a man out of clay to save the Jewish communi150 screen roles. in “theodore Bikel: in the ty of Prague from annihilation.

www.washdiplomat.com

from page 36

Film reviews Overcoming significant public apprehension about the potential perils of a cinematic portrayal of the iconic eponymous talking bear, the film turns out to be a tasty treat for young and old alike. Its solid foundation is a witty script co-written by King and Hamish McColl, based on Michael Bond’s popular children’s book series, first printed in 1958.The adapted screenplay successfully transposes the story to the modern era while maintaining its 1950s’ post-war British sensibility. King’s lively direction creates a boisterous world full of magical wonder and thrilling doses of danger. Framestore’s digital animators breathe refreshing CGI life into Paddington Bear, who is perfectly voiced with an appropriate naiveté by English actor Ben Whishaw (“Skyfall”). The mostly British all-star cast of live actors play their parts with gusto, including Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”), Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Nicole Kidman (a token Australian/American), Madeleine Harris and even Bond himFebruary 2015

FiLms highLight

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self in a cameo. In the vintage newsreel Paddington opening sequence, British ex(English; 95 min.; scope) plorer (Tim Downie) reaches Area theaters the depths of Darkest Peru, where he cultivates special ★★★★✩ linguistic gifts and inherent appreciation for marmalade in a rare family of bears, telling him sitting alone and forlorn, Mrs. them they would always be Brown (Hawkins) goes back to him. welcome in London. In conAfter hearing his story, she insists that tempory times, a young bear he go home with the family over the Photo: the Weinstein ComPAny inC. (Whishaw) lives happily in objection of straightlaced Mr. Brown Darkest Peru with his Uncle “Paddington” successfully transposes the iconic children’s (Bonneville). As the bear is nameless, Pastuzo (Michael Gambon) and book to the modern era while maintaining its 1950s’ Mrs. Brown dubs him Paddington. Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton). post-war British sensibility. The family seeks to help Paddington While the lad is gathering find the unknown British explorer oranges for marmalade, an earthquake destroys their home. who had offered his family a standing welcome mat. In the Now tragically left on his own, he sets out for London to look meantime, Paddington inadvertently and repeatedly wrecks for the explorer. havoc in the Brown household. Alas, the young bear is roundly ignored upon his arrival at noisy Paddington Station. After the Brown family passes by Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat. The Washington Diplomat Page 39

[ around town ]

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

ART Through Feb. 1

From Neoclassicism to Futurism: Italian Prints and Drawings, 1800–1925

The visual arts in Italy between the first stirrings of nationalistic sentiment and its corruption into Fascism — the long development of the modern Italian state — remained extraordinarily diverse and vital. The National Gallery of Art has in recent years begun to develop a collection of Italian prints and drawings of this period that is surpassed only by the holdings of Italy’s principal museums. National Gallery of Art Through Feb. 1

Modern American Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection

The final in a series of three exhibitions celebrating the generous bequest of Ruth Cole Kainen, this show explores the first seven decades of 20th-century American art. National Gallery of Art Through Feb. 1

Modern and Contemporary Art in the Dominican Republic: Works from the Customs Office Collection

This scenic view and historic sketch of 30 artworks showcases the consistency, quality and diversity of the Collection of the Directorate General of Customs, which stands as one of the more important creative spaces in the region. Art Museum of the Americas Feb. 1 to May 3

Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence

The first major retrospective exhibition of paintings by the imaginative Italian Renaissance master Piero di Cosimo features 44 of the artist’s most compelling paintings, including fanciful mythologies, powerful religious works (one on loan for the first time from the church in Italy for which it was created 500 years ago), and sensitive portraits. National Gallery of Art Feb. 1 to Aug. 2

From the Library: Florentine Publishing in the Renaissance

This exhibition presents a variety of books from the late 15th through the early 17th century and explores the development of publishing related to the artistic and scholarly community in Florence. National Gallery of Art Feb. 5 to March 29

Cutting-Edge Spanish Crafts

Curated by Tachy Mora, and based in her book “Cutting-Edge Spanish Crafts,” this exhibition invites you to discover the contemporary crafts from Spain through a selection of objects by individual crafters and designers, industrial innovators and large firms, including Loewe, Lladró, Cerabella, Apparatu and Peseta. Spanish Cultural Center

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Through Feb. 6

War from the Victims’ Perspective: Photographs by Jean Mohr

In partnership with the Swiss Embassy, Geneva-born photographer Jean Mohr presents images of war, from young refugees to destroyed buildings, to mark the 150th anniversaries of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the 1864 Geneva Convention.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT Organization of American States in 1948, its Visual Arts Section, under the direction of Cuban José Gómez Sicre, began an ambitious exhibition program that would further awareness of the art of the Caribbean and Central and South America in the United States. Sicre’s support for international modernism also allied him with U.S. Cold War Warriors, who used freedom of expression as a tool in the cultural and intellectual struggle against the Soviets.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Art Museum of the Americas

Feb. 7 to May 10

Through Feb. 20

Man Ray—Human Equations: A Journey from Mathematics to Shakespeare

Highlighting the multimedia work of the legendary Surrealist artist, “Man Ray— Human Equations” explores the intersection of art and science that defined a significant component of modern art on both sides of the Atlantic at the beginning of the 20th century. The Phillips Collection Through Feb. 13

Martin Karplus: Photographs 1953-2009

Martin Karplus is a chemist, professor emeritus at Harvard University and Nobel laureate who has spent the past 50 years consumed by a passion for documenting humanity in thousands of photographs. Taken in Europe, Asia and the Americas, his photographs capture societies at pivotal moments in their cultural and economic development in rich Kodachrome color. Embassy of Austria Through Feb. 15

Candela’s Shells: The Reinforced Concrete Shells of SpanishMexican Architect Félix Candela

Félix Candela rocked the world of architecture with his renowned concrete shells built in the 1950s and 1960s. This traveling exhibit commemorates the architect’s 100th birthday. Art Museum of the Americas Through Feb. 16

El Greco in the National Gallery of Art and Washington-Area Collections: A 400th Anniversary Celebration

On the 400th anniversary of El Greco’s death, the National Gallery of Art — with one of the largest number of the artist’s works in the United States — presents a commemorative exhibition of El Greco’s paintings.

Multi-lane H.O.V

This display of diverse visual, mixed media and sculpture art by four young artists from New York-based H.O.V Art plays on themes of individuality, emotion and the always changing, infinitely possible self. Korean Cultural Center Through Feb. 26

Decoding the Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the art and science of cryptography came into its own. The advent of printing, development of diplomacy and creation of postal systems created an obsession with encryption that produced some of the period’s most brilliant inventions, most beautiful books and most enduring legacies. This exhibition features the best collection ever assembled of early works on codes and ciphers. Folger Shakespeare Library Through Feb. 27

Light and Dar: Photographs from Germany by Barbara Klemm

Spanning forty years, Barbara Klemm’s works bear witness to Germany’s recent history, and to a country that was divided for decades. Many of her pictures have become “icons of contemporary,” shaping the cultural memory of several generations. Goethe-Institut Through March 6

Primal Connections: Paintings by Deanna Schwartzberg

Deanna Schwartzberg’s passionate concern for the environment and keen awareness of the destructive forces that threaten our ability to live in harmony with nature has been the impetus of her work for many years. In her paintings, we enter a world of color and light that inspires us to contemplate the shared presence of humanity and the natural world. Art Museum of the Americas

National Gallery of Art

Through March 15

Through Feb. 19

“Identidad” showcases the work of Argentinean glassmaker Silvia Levenson, featuring 116 intricate pieces of cast glass baby clothing, an homage to the social movement of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. The grandmothers led a campaign to reunite missing grandchildren with their families following the Dirty War, a dark chapter in the country’s history.

New Art Resolutions

Following the photography exhibition “Divinités noires” presented at the Embassy of France last fall during FotoWeek DC, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy is pleased to announce that part of this series by photographers Dany Leriche and Jean Michel Fickinger will be featured in a group exhibition that also includes Félix Ángel, Gaudí Esté, Ana Schmidt and many others. All We Art Feb. 19 to July 7

Libertad de Expresión: The Art Museum of the Americas and Cold War Politics Following the creation of the

Identidad

American University Museum Katzen Arts Center

century in Iran and remains one of the most expressive forms of aesthetic refinement in Persian culture to this day. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through April 12

Days of Endless Time

This exhibit presents 14 installations that offer prismatic vantage points into the suspension and attenuation of time or that create a sense of timelessness, with themes such as escape, solitude, enchantment and the thrall of nature. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through April 12

Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea

For millennia, Mary has been one of the most popular subjects in the history of Western art. This landmark exhibition of more than 60 beautiful depictions of the Virgin Mary explores the concept of womanhood represented by Mary and the power her image has exerted through time. National Museum of Women in the Arts Through May 15

Hands-On Urbanism. The Right to Green The research-based exhibition is dedicated to the history of the idea of appropriating land in urban space. Since the shockwave of modernization that accompanied industrialization, towns and cities worldwide have had to face some very significant challenges. City-dwellers, who have always found a number of solutions in crisis situations, are involved in bottom-up urban development, as fruit and vegetable gardens led to other forms of collective cohesion, neighborliness and fair distribution. Embassy of Austria Through May 31

Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Yuan Legacy

Landscape painting is one of the most outstanding achievements of Chinese culture. Key styles in this genre emerged during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) and are still followed today. Freer Gallery of Art

and geologist, headed one of the largest archaeological expeditions to remote South Arabia (present-day Yemen) from 1949 to 1951. Through a selection of unearthed objects as well as film and photography shot by the expedition team, the exhibition highlights Phillips’s key finds, recreates his adventures (and misadventures), and conveys the thrill of discovery on this important great archaeological frontier. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through June 14

Zen, Tea, and Chinese Art in Medieval Japan

Zen Buddhism, tea and ink painting — well-known expressions of Japanese culture — have their roots in Chinese arts and ideas brought to medieval Japan from the late 12th to the 16th century. Chinese and Japanese paintings, lacquer ware and ceramics illuminate this remarkable period of cultural contact and synthesis. Freer Gallery of Art Through Aug. 9

Jacob Lawrence: Struggle … From the History of the American People Produced between 1954 and 1956, Jacob Lawrence’s “Struggle … From the History of the American People” portrays scenes from American history, chronicling events from the Revolutionary War through the great westward expansion of 1817. The Phillips Collection Through Sept. 13

Chief S.O. Alonge: Photographer to the Royal Court of Benin, Nigeria

This retrospective showcases the work of noted Nigerian photographer Chief S.O. Alonge, the first indigenous photographer of the Royal Court of Benin, in conjunction with royal arts from the Benin kingdom. The collection of historic photographs was captured on Kodak glassplate negatives and documents more than 50 years of the ritual, pageantry and regalia of the obas (kings), their wives and retainers.

Through May 31

National Museum of African Art

The Traveler’s Eye: Scenes of Asia

DANCE

Featuring more than 100 works created over the past five centuries, “The Traveler’s Eye: Scenes of Asia” provides glimpses of travels across the Asian continent, from pilgrimages and research trips to expeditions for trade and tourism. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through June 7

Perspectives: Chiharu Shiota

Performance and installation artist Chiharu Shiota, Japan’s representative at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, will recreate a monumental yet intimate work in the Sackler pavilion that amasses personal memories through an accumulation of nearly 400 individual shoes, each with a note from the donor describing lost individuals and past moments.

Through March 22

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy

Through June 7

More than 20 works ranging in date from 1400 to 1600 form the first exhibition of its kind to focus on nasta‛liq, a calligraphic script that developed in the 14th

February 2015

Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips, a young paleontologist

Feb. 18 to 22

The Washington Ballet: Sleepy Hollow

An atmospheric thriller, Washington Irving’s classic tale is now being told through the expressive and lush language of ballet. Tickets are $45 to $145. Kennedy Center

MUSIC Sat., Feb. 21, 5:30 p.m.

Sizzling Sounds of Cuba Classical Movements is pleased to announce the next concert of its “Serenade! International Choral Series,” featuring one of Cuba’s leading a cappella choral ensembles, Camerata Vocale Sine Nomine, a rarity in the rich choral movement in Cuba, with only male singers employing countertenor voices (soprano and alto), tenor and bass. Tickets are $10 to $30. Church of the Epiphany – G Street

The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

Thu., Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m.

Hermès Quartet – Embassy of France

The French Embassy opens its doors to celebrate the luminous talent of the Hermès Quartet, whose members the Washington Post praises for their “world-class quartet playingâ€? and says “will likely take their place among the top quartets of our time.â€? Tickets are $75; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org. Embassy of France

RECEPTIONS Mon., Feb. 16, 3:30 p.m.

Traditional Viennese Concert CafĂŠ

Join Ambassador Hans Peter Manz, the Austrian Cultural Forum and the American-Austrian Cultural Society for a traditional wiener kaffeehausjause (Viennese cafÊ) prepared by Austrian master chef Wilhelm Jonach, with Viennese coffee, tea or a glass of delicious Austrian wine, traditional Belegte BrÜtchen (open sandwiches), as well as Apfelstrudel mit Schlagobers (apple strudel with whipped cream) and exquisite petit fours. This year’s program features musical entertainment by noted pianist and conductor Stan Engebretson of George Mason University and rising young soprano star Aundi Marie Moore. Tickets are $45. Embassy of Austria Fri., Feb. 20, 7 p.m.

11th Annual Viennese Ball at the Austrian Embassy

Experience a magical evening at the Austrian Embassy for an unforgettable Viennese celebration of music, food, wine and dancing. The Salon Orchestra of Washington will perform favorite Strauss waltzes, ballroom music from around the world and the famous Radetsky Grand March. This is also a great opportunity for a private viewing of the embassy’s artwork while enjoying the elegant atmosphere of a European Ball and meeting international professionals and members of the diplomatic community. Tickets start at $75; to purchase visit www.internationalclubdc.com. Embassy of Austria Thu., Feb. 26, 6:30 p.m.

Bella Notte: An Evening to Benefit Pediatric Brain Tumor Research

The third annual Bella Notte Benefit, held under the patronage of Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero and his wife, supports the launch of a national multi-center trial for children with mutated high-grade glimoas, a previously untreatable brain tumor. Together with the National Brain Tumor Society and Children’s National, this year’s committee has designed an Italian soirÊe featuring cocktails, live performances, exclusive silent auction items and a stage for the voice of our patients and families who have been touched by these difficult diagnoses. Tickets are $150; for information visit https://nbtsevents.braintumor.org/ washington/events/2015-bella-notte/ e38862 Embassy of Italy

Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company, playwright David Greig has taken Scotland’s real history and dramatically mixed it with the setting of Shakespeare’s play, one of the most famous landscapes in literature, even though Shakespeare himself never set foot on Scottish soil. Tickets are $20 to $110. Shakespeare Theatre Company Sidney Harman Hall Feb. 5 to March 1

Los EmpeĂąos de una Casa (House of Desires)

retelling of Sherlock Holmes’s most notorious case, “The Hound of the Baskervilles,� by the award-winning mastermind of mayhem, Ken Ludwig. Tickets are $45 to $90. Through Feb. 22

have changed, and the pressure on Drew’s legendary gospel choir is high. So when an ambitious and talented student is told to ignore a gay slur to take his place as the choir’s leader, he has to decide who he is and what he’s willing to fight for. Tickets are $44 to $88.

Choir Boy

Studio Theatre

Arena Stage

For 50 years, the elite boarding school Charles R. Drew Prep has stood by its traditions and prepared young black men to lead. But times and finances

Through March 8

Mary Stuart

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, has

been imprisoned under charges of attempted regicide. Her captor and cousin Queen Elizabeth I cannot bring herself to sign the death decree. In a society where women are considered inferior, these two queens charged with ruling as kings battle sexism, greed, lust and each other in Peter Oswald’s bold new translation of Friedrich Schiller’s “Mary Stuart.� Tickets are $40 to $75. Folger Shakespeare Library

Don Pedro loves DoĂąa Leonor who loves Don Carlos, who is desired by DoĂąa Ana in this romantic Spanish Golden Age comedy of intrigue that mixes lyrical poetry, puns, songs, cross-dressing, and mistaken identities. Please call for ticket information. GALA Hispanic Theatre Feb. 6 to March 8

King Hedley II

With an angry scar down the length of his face and seven years of prison haunting him, King has a chance to lock away his past and achieve an entrepreneurial dream, but Pittsburgh’s Hill District is an unforgiving place. Tickets are $45 to $90. Arena Stage Feb. 11 to March 22

Much Ado About Nothing

Confirmed bachelor Benedick and the equally spirited and unwed Beatrice will spar, court and conspire in Synetic’s 11th “Wordless Shakespeare� adaptation — a flirtatious and fiercely funny show set in 1950s Las Vegas. Tickets start at $35. Synetic Theater Through Feb. 12

Gigi

Starring Vanessa Hudgens, Eric Schaeffer directs a world premiere production of Lerner and Loewe’s musical comedy, where true love between a free-spirited young woman and a wealthy young playboy must overcome the conventions of turn-of-the-century Paris. Tickets are $45 to $145. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater Feb. 12 to March 8

No Hay Que Llorar (No Need to Cry)

Teatro de la Luna’s hilarious comedy, in Argentina’s Grotesque genre, unfolds as a family comes together at a reunion to celebrate their matriarch’s birthday. The mother’s greed and the nonconformance, selfishness and deceit at the gathering reveal the true and gritty feel of this middle-class family, with alarming hints at decay. Tickets are $20 to $35. Gunston Arts Center

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Feb. 21 to March 10

Dialogues of the Carmelites

Faith is put to the ultimate test in Poulenc’s powerful opera about an order of Carmelite nuns who refuse to renounce their beliefs during the French Revolution. Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello directs this company premiere, sung in English. Tickets are $25 to $300. Kennedy Center

THEATER Feb. 4 to 21

Dunsinane

In his majestic sequel to Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,� presented by the National

Through Feb. 22

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

Five actors deftly portray more than 40 characters in this fast-paced, comedic

February 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 41

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

France Mourns

photos: embassy of france

Ambassador of France Gérard Araud, fifth from right, is joined by Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero to his left and, to his right, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde and Ambassador of Germany Peter Wittig, along with 3,000 others, at a march organized by the French Embassy in D.C. to commemorate the recent terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 17 people.

From left, Sen. John Boozman, Leahy (R-Ark.), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ambassador of France Gérard Araud, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) attend a condolence-book signing on Capitol Hill following the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 17 people.

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde wears a “Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie)” sign in support of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French newspaper that was attacked by Islamist extremists in January, during a silent march organized by the French Embassy in D.C. (see story on page 6).

From left, Ambassador of France Gérard Araud, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) attend a condolence-book signing on Capitol Hill following the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 17 people.

Placards declaring “Not Afraid” and “Je Suit Juif (I Am Jewish)” are held up by hundreds of demonstrators in memory of the 12 people killed at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, as well as four hostages killed in a subsequent attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

photos: embassy of france

Ambassador of Lithuania Zygimantas Pavilionis, right, was one of several ambassadors who attended a silent march in D.C. to commemorate the Paris terrorist attacks.

Ambassador of France Gérard Araud, center, talks with Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, left, and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the committee’s ranking member, during a meeting and condolence-book signing on Capitol Hill following the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 17 people.

A demonstrator holds a “Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie)” poster at a D.C. rally to show his support for Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine that was attacked in retaliation for lampooning the Prophet Muhammad; the attack prompted an outpouring of support worldwide.

Ambassadors from Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Ukraine joined Ambassador of France Gérard Araud, center, at a Jan. 11 march that began at the Newseum, a museum dedicated to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, to honor those killed in an Islamist terrorist attack that targeted Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French weekly.

A demonstrator carries a “Je Suis Juif” placard in memory of the four Jews killed by terrorists at a kosher supermarket only two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris.

Omani National Day

Arab-American Day

Photo: Kaveh Sardari

From left, Ambassador of the Arab League Mohammed AlHussaini AlSharif; Ambassador of Kuwait Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah; Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel; Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-W. Va.); Ambassador of Egypt Mohamed Tawfik; and Andrew Gelfuso, director of the Office of Trade Promotion at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, attend the Arab-American Day reception, “A Thousand and One Journeys – the Arab Americans,” held at the Ronald Reagan Building.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the Pakistani Embassy Asad M. Khan, left, greets Ambassador of Oman Hunaina Sultan Ahmed Al Mughairy at the Omani National Day celebration held at the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center in D.C.

Ambassador of the Arab League Mohammed AlHussaini AlSharif, left, and Shireen Yousuf of the Embassy of Oman attend the Omani National Day celebration held at the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center.

From left, Ambassador of Lebanon Antoine Chedid, his wife Nicole Saba and Ambassador of Egypt Mohamed M. Tawfik attend the Omani National Day celebration held at the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center.

Holidays at France

From left, Joanna Breyer, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Chairman of Oceana Energy Co. William Nitze and Ambassador Gérard Araud attend a holiday party at the French Residence.

From left, former U.S. Ambassador Stuart Bernstein, Ambassador of France Gérard Araud and Andrea Mitchell of NBC News attend a holiday party at the French Residence.

Lawyer and lobbyist Heather Podesta, left, talks with Robert Barnett of Williams & Connolly LLP at the French holiday party.

U.S. Chief of Protocol Peter Selfridge and his wife Parita Shah of the Millennium Challenge Corporation attend a holiday party at the French Residence

From left, Paula Dobriansky of Harvard University talks with Nobuko Sasae and Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae at the French holiday party.

French Consul General Olivier SerotAlmeiras, left, and U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper attend a holiday party at the French Residence. photos: embassy of france

42

The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

Icelandic Farewell

Wounded Warriors

From left, Staff Sgt. Claus Soegaard; Master Sgt. Jacob Panton; Ambassador of Denmark Peter Taksøe-Jensen; and Lt. Gen. William T. Grisoli attend a “Creative Christmas” reception at the Danish Embassy to honor the country’s wounded warriors.

This year’s “Creative Christmas” event at the Danish Embassy was held in conjunction with the groups Wounded Warriors and Blue Star Families, which assists in delivering books and gifts to wounded soldiers and their families. The event raised $3,040 through the sale of gift cards and also collected 650 books.

Photos: Dakota Fine Photography/Embassy of Denmark

From left, Gitte Wallin Pedersen and Ambassador of Denmark Peter TaksøeJensen talk with injured U.S. service members as part of a Christmas reception to honor wounded warriors.

From left, Mrs. Dam, Maj. Gen. Henrik Dam of the Royal Danish Air Force and Christiane Laurtizen attend a “Creative Christmas” reception at the Danish Embassy honoring wounded warriors.

From left, Jerome Barry of the Embassy Series, his wife Lisette Barry, Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche and Ambassador of Iceland Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson attend a farewell reception for Ambassador Stefánsson at the Icelandic Residence.

Finland Celebrates

From left, Leniita Ståhlhammar, Finnish Embassy Defense, Military, Naval and Air Attaché Capt. Timo Ståhlhammar, Dr. Hidde Ronde and Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde attend the Finnish Independence Day reception at the embassy.

photos: gail scott

From left, Gitte Wallin Pedersen of the World Bank, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of PoliticalMilitary Affairs Puneet Talwar and Ambassador of Denmark Peter Taksøe-Jensen attend the Finnish Independence Day reception at the embassy.

Kayla Gatalica, left, and Njambi Wynn, both from the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Embassy Adoption Program, attend the Finnish Independence Day reception at the embassy.

U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter V. Neffenger, left, and Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde attend the Finnish Independence Day reception at the embassy.

photos: gail scott

Finnish Embassy chef Petri Hotti serves guests Finnish cuisine at the embassy’s holiday party.

Carl and Maria Ek enjoy the cuisine at Finland’s holiday party, held at the ambassador’s residence.

From left, Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, his wife Marie Thérèse Royce of Alcatel-Lucent, Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde and Dr. Hidde Ronde attend the Finnish Embassy’s holiday party.

From left, former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Laurie Fulton, Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde and Debbie Driesman attend the Finnish Embassy’s holiday party.

Ambassador of Denmark Peter Taksøe-Jensen, left, and Ambassador of Slovakia Peter Kmec attend a farewell reception for Icelandic Ambassador Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson

Ambassador of Brazil Mauro Vieira, who recently became Brazil’s foreign minister, left, and Guillermo Rodolico, first secretary at the Embassy of Argentina, right, and a guest attend a farewell reception for Icelandic Ambassador Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson.

Italy Celebrates From left, hostess Laura Denise Bisogniero, wife of the Italian ambassador, and Opera Pop singers Enrico Giovagnoli and Francesca Carli attend a holiday party at the Italian Residence, Villa Firenze. photos: gail scott

Former U.S. Ambassador Walter Cutler, left, and author Bruce Ross-Larson attend a holiday party at the Italian Residence.

February 2015

Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero, left, welcomes Martha Ann Alito, wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, to a holiday party at the Italian Residence.

From left, Marie Thérèse Royce, wife of Rep. Ed Royce, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife Martha Ann Alito attend a holiday party at the Italian Residence.

Chef Roberto Grazioli, the Italian Embassy’s executive chef, cooks authentic Italian fare for guests.

The Washington Diplomat Page 43

from page 21

Terrorism

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama meets with then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the Oval Office in 2010. McConnell became majority leader after the 2014 midterm election that saw Republicans regain control of the Senate while strengthening their majority in the House.

from page 16

GOP After the mid-term elections, both Obama and Republican leaders mentioned possible bipartisan agreements on trade and tax policy.There are two major trade agreements that could be concluded this year: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) involving the United States and 11 Asia-Pacific nations and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) involving the United States and the 28 members of the European Union. However, congressional approval of either of these sprawling trade agreements depends on whether Congress first grants the president Trade Promotion Authority that would allow him to send trade agreements to the House and Senate and have them considered in an expedited fashion,without amendments.Boehner and McConnell have called on the president to explicitly request such authority and aggressively lobby Congress for it, reaching out especially to Democrats who have been opponents of TPA in the past. So-called “fast-track authority,” though, would require a leap of faith from both Democrats, who argue that free trade erodes American jobs, and from Republicans distrustful of the president’s agenda and unwilling to hand him a legislative victory. On the question of corporate tax reform, Obama and the GOP leadership have said an accord is possible. But there are many skeptics on Capitol Hill and elsewhere who note that while almost everyone supports tax reform in the abstract, this consensus frequently breaks down whenever a specific plan is offered that lowers marginal tax rates by eliminating popular tax credits and deductions. Additionally, many Democrats believe that tax reform should generate additional revenues to reduce the budget deficit and fund new programs such as infrastructure, while Republicans want any changes to be revenue-neutral. While mercifully no major budget battle is expected this year, Republicans have vowed to use the annual appropriations process that funds the operations of the government to rewrite the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank law and the EPA’s regulatory policies.The president is certain to resist these efforts and a clash seems certain, but probably not one leading to a full government shutdown. Against this complex political backdrop is the further complication of early positioning for the 2016 congressional

44

and presidential elections, which has already begun and will intensify as the year unfolds. While Republicans seem to have a lock on their control of the House for the foreseeable future, there could be a tough battle for control of the Senate in 2016. The electoral map was favorable to Republicans in 2014 with a number of Democratic incumbents either retiring or running for re-election in Republicanleaning states. The opposite will be the case in 2016, as a number of Republican incumbents will be running again in Democratic-leaning states. The contest to succeed Obama is already capturing the attention of Capitol Hill. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains the prohibitive favorite to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, but she might get opposition from the left, including possibly Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The battle for the Republican presidential nomination will be sprawling and messy, with many candidates considering a run, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others. Some of the GOP candidates will want to weigh in on issues before Congress to define and drive their candidacies, a reality that will not make it easier for Boehner and McConnell to reach agreements with Obama. While few are expecting sweeping accomplishments from the 114th Congress, both McConnell and Boehner offered guardedly hopeful stances in the first days of the session. “So yes, the American people elected divided government,” McConnell declared on the Senate floor in early January. “But that doesn’t mean they don’t want us to accomplish anything. If there’s a will to do so, we can come together and achieve great things. And if President Obama is interested in a historic achievement of his own, this can be his time as well,” McConnell said. From the speaker’s podium on the opening day of the new Congress, Boehner acknowledged that few expect much to be accomplished. But he urged lawmakers to resist the impulse to see politics as merely shadow boxing or show business. “So let’s stand tall and prove the skeptics wrong,” Boehner declared.“Let’s make this a time of harvest.” John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

agenda of Islamist extremists over the corruption-addled, coup-prone central government. Likewise in Nigeria, there is some support for Boko Haram’s mission, if not its brutal tactics (there’s even speculation that the group has sympathizers among members of the military who would like to see the Jonathan government flounder). The largely Muslim north has long complained of alienation from the wealthier, Christian-dominated south. Now, fears have surfaced that due to the deteriorating security situation, northerners won’t be able to make it to the polls for the country’s upcoming election, exacerbating the northsouth split.

Yet in the 10 months since the girls’ abduction, Boko Haram has carried out many more kidnappings and critics have slammed Jonathan for dithering in taking on the group generally and prioritizing the rescue of the kidnapped girls specifically. More than 50 of the girls have managed to escape, but over 200 are still missing. The world’s attention in the aftermath of the Chibok kidnapping pressured Jonathan’s administration to bring the girls back, but that spotlight inevitably faded as time passed. The large-scale kidnapping of boys and girls All-Important Election “is now a fixture of the conflict in Nigeria,” Analysts say it is hard to exaggerate the said Campbell, who is a senior fellow for Africa importance of Nigeria’s national elections in policy studies at the Council on Foreign February. Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Relations. “And for that reason, the relative Christian and member of the People’s decline in Nigerian media attention to one Democratic Party, will face off against particular group, the Chibok girls, becomes Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim and understandable. In the U.S., though, and in the member of the All Progressives Congress. West in general, the focus has always been Jonathan has been dogged by the perceponly on the Chibok group and not the larger tion among some Nigerians that he has not problem, which is ubiquitous kidnapping.” done enough to tackle corruption or fight The Chibok girls’ kidnapping is a tragic, Boko Haram, yet he still stands a good chance relatable narrative that begs a resolution, against Buhari, a former military leader who which remains elusive. By contrast, Boko has run unsuccessfully in previous elections. Haram’s early January violence in Baga was Kew of the University of Massachusetts indiscriminate and therefore might feed a pre- Boston sees the election as a crucial exercise conception in Western media minds of end- in the development of Nigerian democracy. less, intractable conflict. Similarly, Western media outlets seem to have moved on from the horrific school massacre in Pakistan that killed 132 children, in part because a litany of tragedies have stretched the media’s bandwidth. But like the Boko Haram carnage, Pakistan’s troubles with terrorism stem from a long, convoluted history whose intricacies are understandably lost on Photo: VOA / Wikimedia Commons many outsiders.The United The parents of the Chibok kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria mourn the loss States and other governments have warned against of their daughters. the Pakistani government’s selective stance toward fighting terrorism, in “Nigeria has not had a viable [political] opposiwhich it targets groups that launch attacks on tion during the Fourth Republic [which began home soil while coddling those that serve its in 1999] until now,” he said. foreign policy interests in Afghanistan and At the same time, the election, which some India. Islamabad — perhaps in a sign that it, too, doubt will be free and fair, could deepen the is not immune from bad press — has pledged fault lines of Nigeria’s fragile political system. to go after terrorists of all stripes, although “The very thing democracy and political such promises have been made before. development need in terms of the rise of a The country’s incessant political turmoil viable political opposition is the exact thing and at-times antagonistic relationship with the that could also burn the house down because U.S. further muddy the picture for many ruling parties don’t give up easily,” said Kew, Americans. And like Boko Haram’s rampage in who recently returned from a research trip to the remote northeastern parts of Nigeria, the Nigeria. Pakistani military’s offensive in the restive Despite pledges from Attahiru Jega, head of North Waziristan tribal area is largely inacces- the Independent National Electoral sible to journalists, making on-the-ground Commission, that the elections will be better reporting impossible; militants have said the run than in 2011, some fear that the INEC may school attack was in retaliation for the be unable to “produce an updated and crediWaziristan offensive. ble voter register” before the polls open, Some observers say the unprecedented according to the International Crisis Group. wickedness of the violence has created an Many in Nigeria’s north feel the 2011 elecopportunity for political unity. tion, in which Jonathan defeated Buhari, was “In the past, there’s been ambivalence tainted, Kew said. For the polls to be skewed in toward the Taliban in the sense that political 2015 in favor of Jonathan would be “far less parties have said, ‘Well, perhaps it’s better to acceptable to people on the ground,” he said. negotiate rather than fight, [that] ultimately If Nigeria’s political system can get through there needs to be a political solution,’” said the upcoming election, it would offer the next Omar Waraich, a journalist covering Pakistan government an opportunity to recommit itself for Time magazine and the Independent.“But I to fighting Boko Haram, according to the think the point that’s been driven home this Jamestown Foundation’s Zenn.“I do think after time is that you cannot reconcile with the the dust settles from the election, no matter who wins — assuming that the dust does setmurderers of children.” While the Peshawar bloodbath prompted tle — then yes, they will be able to refocus on widespread revulsion in Pakistan, it remains to the insurgency,” he said. be seen if it will trigger a nationwide reckoning, given that significant segments of the Sean Lyngaas (@snlyngaas) is a contributing population support the conservative religious writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat

February 2015

AROUNDTHEWORLD

thE WAshington diPLomAt

February 2015

hoLidAys ANGOlA Feb. 4: Beginning of the Armed struggle day BANGlADESH Feb. 21: shaheed dibash day (martyrs’/ language day) BOliviA Feb. 13-18: Carnival BrAZil Feb. 13-18: Carnival BrUNEi Feb. 23: national day BUrUNDi Feb. 5: Unity day

CAMErOON Feb. 11: youth day DOMiNiCAN rEPUBliC Feb. 27: independence day ESTONiA Feb. 2: Anniversary of the tartu Peace treaty Feb. 24: independence day GAMBiA Feb. 18: independence day GrENADA Feb. 7: independence day

from page 23

Bangladesh India after the coup until 1981, when she returned home. She spent much of the next decade in prison or under house arrest. Bangladesh held its first election in 1991 and her BNP rival, Khaleda Zia, was elected. Five years later, she turned the tables, winning an election to become prime minister. Voted out of office in 2001 in what she called a rigged election, she survived an assassination attempt in 2004, a 2008 illness that caused her to seek treatment in the U.S. and allegations of corruption that resulted in several court cases before she returned to power in 2009. She then angered Islamic conservatives by launching war crimes trials against political opponents who had sided with Pakistan during Bangladesh’s bloody war for independence. Her secular supporters say she is fighting hard-line Islamists who want to impose Sharia law on the tolerant, Muslim-majority nation, while Hasina’s critics accuse her of using the threat of extremism to crack down on dissent. Re-elected to another five-year term in January 2014 amid a BNP boycott, Hasina’s government is now apparently making a renewed push to have Chowdhury extradited. It has hired an American PR firm to try to galvanize support for the extradition, and South Asia experts say that she’s prepared to devote considerable resources to bring those accused of killing her father and family members to justice. “It has always been the top priority for Sheikh Hasina,” said Teresita Schaffer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who was the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka in the ’90s, and also served as deputy assistant secretary of state for the Near East and South Asia.“The Bangladesh government has devoted huge amounts of time and resources to a process of trials for alleged war crimes in the February 2015

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independence war as well. This is, from Sheikh Hasina’s perspective, part of the same cause: punishing those who opposed Bangladesh and especially those who committed crimes in doing so. So it is utterly unsurprising that her government should throw resources at the problem.” The fact that Chowdhury hasn’t been extradited to date has led some conspiracy theorists in Bangladesh to speculate that he may have been a CIA asset or even that the ’75 coup had CIA backing. But analysts say that anti-American sentiment in Bangladesh is nowhere near what it is in neighboring Pakistan, so the Chowdhury case may not poison relations between the two countries. “Anti-American feelings in Bangladesh are not comparable to Pakistan’s,” although the country has resisted U.S. pressure to democratize, said Frederic Grare, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. As for Chowdhury, if he isn’t extradited,“it would perhaps bolster conspiracy theories, which in any case tend to flourish everywhere in the subcontinent, but the society is very divided over the issue.” Despite the dispute, bilateral ties are relatively strong. Ali of the University of Houston said that Bangladeshis still remember American support during their 1971 war of independence, and Schaffer noted that the United States has provided both aid and a huge market for goods made in Bangladesh. “There are strains from time to time — at the moment, the Bangladesh government is upset that the United States has restricted their access to a trade program that is supposed to benefit developing countries, for example,” said Schaffer.“But Sheikh Hasina has generally had pretty good relations with the U.S. leadership.” The extradition decision may come down to how certain U.S. offi-

MAlTA Feb. 10: Feast of st. Paul’s shipwreck in malta

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ST. lUCiA Feb. 22: independence day

SUriNAME Feb. 25: revolution day TAJiKiSTAN Feb. 23: Army day TUrKMENiSTAN Feb. 19: Flag day

cials are that Chowdhury is guilty of to secure American acquiescence. tic that Chowdhury would eventualthe crimes he was convicted of and But with the 40-year anniversary ly be extradited. how he’ll be treated if he is sent of the coup coming up on Aug. 15, “If the murderers and killers of back to Bangladesh. Meenakshi what is clear is that the government the ‘Father of the Nation’ and his Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and Ganguly, South Asia director at NOTE: of Bangladesh will ramp up pressure family cannot be brought to the content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. Human Rights Watch, said that those in the months to come. In a recent dock of justice, then how will the responsible for abuses should be The rest againstsubsequent those who editorial, Ambassador first two faxed changes will Ziauddin be made at no costofto us the fare advertiser, changes brought to justice but warned that will wouldSigned and might usurp the rule of argued thatatthe United States couldalteration. be billed a rate of $75 per faxed ads are considered approved. foreign governments need to assess “demonstrate real leadership” by law?” he asked. check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. claims and ensure that the person extraditing Please Chowdhury. extradited will receive a fair trial and “His well-recorded self-confession Dave Seminara (@DaveSem) is If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes will not be subjected to torture. She and conviction for the murders make a contributing writer for The noted that international law pre-The Washington him ineligible for asylum in(301) the U.S. ” Washington Diplomat. Diplomat 933-3552 vents governments from returning he wrote. “In addition, his failure to any person, including criminal sus-Approved disclose his crimes to American __________________________________________________________ pects, to a country where they areChanges authorities should, according to long___________________________________________________________ YOUr SOUrCE FOr likely to face torture or other ill___________________________________________________________________ established immigration law, prevent DiPlOMATiC NEWS. treatment. him from making the U.S. his safe www.washdiplomat.com The U.N. Convention against haven.” Torture (CAT) states that countries Ali said he was cautiously optimismaking such a determination “shall take into account all relevant considerations, including … the existence in the state concerned of a consisThe Washington tent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.” Diplomat has In a March 2014 report on asylum, the D.C.-based Center for Immigration more than Studies concluded that even war criminals or terrorists may be entitled to asylum protection based on the CAT. influential readers * “There have been numerous allegations that Bangladesh authorities have failed to ensure fair trials or prevent torture in custody,” said Ganguly. “Before an extradition, it is the responsibility of the sending countries to seek human rights protections.” Ganguly said that Human Rights Watch recommends a fair trial and protection from torture in Chowdhury’s case. She also pointed out that European countries seek protection assurances against capital punMake sure the publication you spend ishment before complying with your advertising dollars in is audited. extradition requests. But it would be much trickier for the United States to do so because it has no abolition on capital punishment. It’s also unclear whether Hasina’s government would consider making a compromise — perhaps agreeing not to hang * Based on a September 2013 audit by CVC. Chowdhury, for instance —in order

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