May 2014

A World of News and Perspective

■ INSIDE: EDUCATION AND MEDICAL SPECIAL SECTIONS

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ May 2014

ThErE’S A for ThAT

■ VOLUME 21, NUMBER 5

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

■ MAY 2014 Children take a bow during

Eclectic Programs Sneak In Learning to Prevent Summer Brain Drain

U.S. FOREIgN POLICY

Did USAID’s Push For Democracy in Cuba Go Too Far? USAID is defending the creation of a secret Twitter-like cell-phone service as part of its longstanding campaign to promote democracy in Cuba, but was this “discreet” program a covert attempt at regime change that will sully the humanitarian agency’s reputation in other countries? PAGE 7

DIPLOMACY

British, Spanish Social Secretaries Run Tight Ships For nearly 25 years, Amanda Downes, social secretary for the British Embassy, and her Spanish counterpart Diane Flamini have planned countless functions, navigated every diplomatic hiccup imaginable, and established themselves as gatekeepers to some of the most coveted events in town. PAGE 9

culture

by Stephanie Kanowitz

For 10 years, PostClassical Ensemble has been putting music into context with its signature blend of programming. PAGE 36

Camp Shakespeare.

S

ummer is synonymous with fun, friends and a break from the routine of school — at least if you’re a kid. But many parents worry about summer brain drain, or essentially three months away from structured learning.

Washington-area camps offer a happy medium — preserving the storied fun associated with summer camp while offering continued education, much of it focused on areas that kids are drawn to and want to learn more about.

The parks and recreation departments of most cities, counties

■ INSIDE: The Institute of International

May 2014

Education honored more than

a dozen universities for breaking

and the District provide typical summer day-camp activities such as arts and crafts, sports and water play, but other offerings are narrower in their curricula (also see “Area Offers All Kinds of Camps to Keep All Kinds of Kids Happy” in the May 2012 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

Whether you, or your children, want a traditional experience with outdoor activities and field trips or something more specific such as language immersion or robotics, there’s a camp for that. Here’s a look at some, organized by category.

Continued on next page boundaries around the world.

PAGE 27 ■

EDUCATION The Washington Diplomat

Page23

MoldovA Asks:

‘Are We Next?’

Moldova, one of the smallest, poorest and most obscure of the 15 republics that once comprised the Soviet Union, is suddenly being portrayed in world headlines as the next flashpoint in a Cold War that millions of people had assumed was long over. PAGE 15

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

Scholar Researches Return of Realpolitik

Dominican Wife: Economist by Nature

The concept of realpolitik — diplomacy based on practical power rather than lofty ambitions — has experienced a revival, one that John Bew is studying from his perch at the Library of Congress. PAGE 4

PostClassical Marks Decade of Mixing It Up

the finale performance at

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As an economist, Sylvia Charles has advised Caribbean nations on ways to boost their economies while preserving their natural resources. PAGE 37

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Page 2

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

CONTENTS THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

May 2014

7 USAID imitates CIA in Cuba?

Summer camps

[ news ] 4

12

23

27

18

31

36

Eat right and exercise — it’s a tried-and-true bit of advice that’s almost become clichéd. But years of research have shown just how important it is to get up and get moving, and how potentially fatal doing nothing can be.

40

37

diPlOmaTiC SPOuSES As a consultant and economist, Sylvia Charles has advised Caribbean nations on ways to boost their economies while preserving their environments.

ZEiTgEST TurNS TablE Contrary to popular belief, theater is not always a spectator sport — at least not when the Zeitgeist DC International Festival turns the tables on the audience.

41

THEOrETiCal arT “Territories and Subjectivities: Contemporary Art from Argentina” is a rich, tangled exhibition rooted in visual complexities accompanied by equally complicated theories and interpretations.

42

diNiNg The Southern-inspired Carolina Kitchen proves that while Washington has become a gourmet foodie mecca, it still gravitates toward good old-fashioned home cooking, the way grandma used to do it.

44

film fESTivalS The behemoth South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival took over Austin, Texas, with innovative films that are now making their way to the D.C. area.

dECadE Of POSTClaSSiCal This spring, PostClassical Ensemble marks 10 years of defying convention with a program on the Mexican Revolution that features its signature blend of music, discussion and film.

PaSSPOrTS fOr a PriCE

COvEr: Photo taken at the Embassy of Moldova by Lawrence Ruggeri.

gET mOviNg

TOkyO’S TraNSfOrmaTiON Self-trained Japanese artist Kobayashi Kiyochika explored — but did not necessarily celebrate — the modern transformation that engulfed Tokyo at the end of the 19th century.

HigHEr EduCaTiON iNNOvaTiON

[ culture ]

COvEr PrOfilE: mOldOva

From Malta to St. Kitts and Nevis, nations are selling citizenship to lure foreign investors with deep pockets in a bid to shore up their economies.

39

SummEr CamPS

The Institute of International Education recently honored 13 university and college campuses worldwide for taking faculty and students where they haven’t gone before.

OmaNi gENErOSiTy A $1.8 million gift from the Sultanate of Oman to the National Museum of African Art will shed light on the Gulf Arab state’s extensive ties to East African culture.

[ medical ]

THE rOTuNda

Moldovan Ambassador Igor Munteanu, who’s been thrust into the media spotlight ever since the crisis in Ukraine revived Cold War hostilities, warns that if Russian aggression is left unchecked, his tiny country might become its next victim.

38

PaCifiC PumaS

Local camps help children avoid summer brain drain by offering a plethora of mind-bending activities, from robotics and rock ‘n’ roll to archeology and making art out of junk.

After years of budget battles, President Obama is hoping his latest foreign affairs budget escapes the congressional chopping block relatively unscathed.

15

Omani generosity

[ education ]

SOCial SECrETary iCONS From late RSVPs to party crashers, Amanda Downes and Diane Flamini have seen it all and handled it with the consummate grace that comes from having nearly half a century of party-planning experience between them.

38

Move over, Asian tigers. It looks like the four so-called “Pacific Pumas” — Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru — have become the latest darlings of the investor crowd.

uSaid imiTaTES Cia? Revelations that USAID created a secret Twitter-like phone service to undermine the communist regime in Cuba has sparked a debate over whether the humanitarian agency crossed the line into CIA territory.

9

21

PEOPlE Of WOrld iNfluENCE John Bew is only 33 years old but has already been described as “the best historian of his generation,” and now the Belfast-born scholar is using his perch at the Library of Congress to study the resurgence of realpolitik in U.S. foreign policy.

7

23

46

CiNEma liSTiNg

48 50 53 54 55

EvENTS liSTiNg diPlOmaTiC SPOTligHT aPPOiNTmENTS / WOrld HOlidayS ClaSSifiEdS rEal ESTaTE ClaSSifiEdS

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

The Washington Diplomat assumes no responsibility for the safe keeping or return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other material. The information contained in this publication is in no way to be construed as a recommendation by the Publisher of any kind or nature whatsoever, nor as a recommendation of any industry standard, nor as an endorsement of any product or service, nor as an opinion or certification regarding the accuracy of any such information.

May 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 3

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

John Bew

Library of Congress Scholar Dissects Return of ‘Realpolitik’

by Larry Luxner

H

e’s only 33 years old but has already been described as “the best historian of his generation” by British Education Secretary Michael Gove.

He’s published two books on his own and has co-edited and co-authored four more; the Wall Street Journal and Sunday Telegraph named his most recent volume, “Castlereagh: A Life,” one of the best books of 2011.

Meet Belfast-born John Bew, a foreign policy expert and historian who enjoys watching the Netflix series “House of Cards” in his spare time. (“Most Americans prefer the BBC version, but I prefer the American version,” he says.“I suppose it’s escapism.”)

Bew’s official title is reader in history and foreign policy at the War Studies Department of King’s College London, where he’s also director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. For the past seven months, he’s worn another hat as well: that of Henry A. Kissinger chair in foreign policy and international relations at the John W. Kluge Center, a division of the Library of Congress.

Bew is the 13th scholar to hold that distinguished position since the center’s establishment in 2000. He arrived here last October, in the midst of the federal government shutdown and bitter sniping between Democrats and Republicans.

Yet for all the talk about political gridlock, cynicism and hypocrisy, Bew says he likes Washington.

“It’s a very intellectual town,” he told us. “It’s like a liberal European city in some respects, with lots of bookshelves — a very reflective place, not quite the caricature that’s painted of it.”

Bew talked with The Washington Diplomat at length following a March 27 event at the Kluge Center on realpolitik and American exceptionalism. The seminar — in which Bew and fellow scholar Robert Kagan discussed how the United States positions itself globally in the 21st century — was the second in a three-part series titled “The Return of Realpolitik: A Window into the Soul of AngloAmerican Foreign Policy.”A March 13 discussion examined America’s engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood since 1945, while on April 10, Bew talked about how realpolitik is ripe for rediscovery as it undergoes a renaissance in the English-speaking world.

The notion of realpolitik — that policies are formulated based more on practical geostrategic and national interests rather than lofty ideals — has experienced a resurgence of sorts as experts debate the Obama administration’s foreign policy in places like Syria, Ukraine, Egypt and elsewhere.

Bew is using his scholarship residence at the Kluge Center to examine the term in both the three-part lecture series that wrapped up last month and an upcoming history of Anglo-American realpolitik, to be published by Oxford University Press.

“My book will be the first on the concept of realpolitik in the English-speaking world: its origins as an idea; its practical application to statecraft; and its relevance to the foreign policy challenges facing the United States and its allies,” Bew explained.

It’s a topic that has long fascinated Bew, who did his

Page 4

Photo: Larry Luxner

“

What’s really struck me since I’ve been here is the appetite for history to inform foreign policy.

— John Bew

”

Henry A. Kissinger chair in foreign policy and international relations at the Library of Congress

undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Cambridge, as well as his doctoral thesis.

“I never expected to be a historian, but people presumed it was inevitable,” he told us, noting his father’s deep involvement in Irish politics. “Both my parents are historians, but that wasn’t really it. I think, in hindsight, that 9/11 was what kept me in academia. It sparked a greater interest in the world and foreign affairs — and also confirmed to me that ideas, knowledge and history mattered on the global stage.”

Growing up in Belfast, he said, “You get a sense of the resilience of history, and the grievances that have gone on for centuries.”

In fact, he said, people often think they’re living in a new era, watching as history is being made before their eyes.

“In October 1993, the Oslo Accords were signed, and people were talking about peace between Arabs and Israelis. That same month in Northern Ireland was one of the bloodiest and most horrific months ever,” Bew said.

“I was a teenager at the time,” he recalled,“and I remember people saying, ‘Why can’t you guys get along like the Arabs and Israelis?’ Five years later came the intifada — and the Northern Ireland peace accords.”

John Bew, who holds the Henry A. Kissinger chair in foreign policy and international relations at the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, speaks March 27 on “Realpolitik and American Exceptionalism” along with noted U.S. scholar Robert Kagan.

It was the tumultuous history of Ireland that gave rise to Bew’s first monograph, “The Glory of Being Britons: Civic Unionism in Nineteenth-Century Belfast.” That was followed the same year by “Talking to Terrorists: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country.”

“That book is a prime example of what I do, which is not to use history to offer simple lessons but to actually stress the importance of complexity and the messiness of history,” Bew said.

His most recent work is a 582-page account of the life of Irish aristocrat and British statesman Lord Castlereagh, who in the early 1800s dominated British politics. Bew’s deep interest in Irish issues serves as a backdrop to his larger overall study of realpolitik — a word he says is once again fashionable in Washington.

“It’s a term used by both scholars and practitioners in discussions of international affairs. Yet it is one of those words borrowed from another language that is much used but little understood,” he explained.

German in origin, realpolitik was first used in 1853 by the German revolutionary Ludwig August von Rochau, according to Bew, “to describe what he saw as a cynical and coercive form of domestic political statecraft.” In a modern context, realpolitik is the practice of diplomacy based primarily on power — and on practical and material considerations — rather than moral, ethical or utopian premises.

“Foreign policy has been a stick with which both parties

The Washington Diplomat

See Bew, page 6 May 2014

from page 4

Bew have beaten each other over the last 10 years or so,” Bew said.“It’s been a real sore wound for a long time, but that’s partly because it was an argument over what America should do in the world.”

While at the Kluge Center, Bew is tapping the extensive collection of presidential papers and other research material at the Library of Congress to write his history of realpolitik. He describes the library’s manuscripts as among “the best resources in the world” and says he’s used the Kluge Center just about every day since his arrival in the United States.

“What’s really struck me since I’ve been here is the appetite for history to inform foreign policy” — and not just in Washington, he said.“I’ve been to Mississippi and Texas, too, and there’s been a real growth of grand strategy courses that are precisely about this, with the archetypal model [being] the one at Yale, which used to be a training school for diplomats and statesmen.”

Photo: The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress With regard to foreign policy, Bew has found what he calls a “genuine plurality of voices and The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress brings together scholars and researchers from around the NOTE: Although every is made to assure ad is on free mistakes inresources spellingand and worldyour to capitalize the of library’s wealth of interact with policymakers and the public. positions” on both sides of effort the aisle. it is and ultimately up to “A lot of content shrill voices sometimes sillythe customer to make the final proof. things are said at the heat of the moment. But Chuck Hagel “is much more skeptical about as ‘enlightenment,’‘morality’ and ‘virtue,’” he wrote. there aretwo also deep of intelligence, reflec-at no Washington’s role in solving subsequent the world’s prob“In a world where great-power rivalries have The first faxedreserves changes will be made cost to the advertiser, changes tion and expertise, ” he told us.

“We seem to bealteration. lems.” Signed ads are considered approved. returned, however, realpolitik is once more diswill be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed entering a kind of managerial phase of foreign In an article published in the March-April 2014 covering a receptive audience. The chastening of policy rather than a solutions-oriented approach, issue of The National Interest, Bew explained why American ambitions in the Middle East also allows this carefully.

Mark isany changes to your ad. i.e., ‘WePlease must stopcheck genocide. ’ Thisadwill require realpolitik suddenly coming back into vogue. realpolitikers to point out, with some justification, patience, but also a certain degree of fortitude.”

“In the 1990s, some regarded realpolitik as a that idealism can lead to worse moral outcomes If the ad correct signthink and people fax to:are (301) 949-0065 changes He is added: “I don’t ignoring thing of the pastneeds — a relic of the Cold War and a than the cool, circumspect approach to statecraft suffering.We cannot ignore it.The question is, and ‘needs must’ approach to the world which could that they purport to employ.” always been, what can we do about You now be tossed into the dustbin of history. Even at This theme is particularly timely given Russia’s The has Washington Diplomat (301)it?933-3552 can see that it’s a recurring dilemma in Western the height of their influence, Western realpolitik- recent annexation of Crimea, the Kremlin’s increasforeign policy. You could even see this dilemma ers have often faced resistance and criticism from ingly belligerent threats against Ukraine and Approved __________________________________________________________ among individuals in the Obama administration.” within their own societies. As a foreign import, Moldova (also see cover profile), and the way Changes ___________________________________________________________ For example, he said National Security Advisor lifted from the heart of the great Anglo-American Obama has handled the situation. It was also a Susan Rice “has been a very strong voice in the bogeyman of the two world wars, the word does major topic during Bew’s well-attended discussion ___________________________________________________________________ prevention of genocide,” while Defense Secretary not sit comfortably alongside such soothing terms with Brookings scholar Kagan at the Kluge Center.

“There’s a Soviet aspect to this, but I don’t think this is a Cold War scenario,” Bew told us.

“The reality is that nations pursue what they perceive to be in their interests. However, the whole question of national interest is such a controversial, ambiguous term. So [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has made a calculation that acting in this way is in Russia’s national interest.”

And, he adds, there may not be much Washington can do about it.

“History tells you that any time a powerful nation is seen to pull away from one region of the world in any form, what normally happens is another powerful nation fills the void,” he observed. “So while we’d like to have independent, flowering, peaceful democratic nations, that’s not always possible. The sad reality of power politics is that democratic nations sometimes need a guarantor. You can’t prevent every scenario.”

Bew is now at the end of his 10-month fellowship. The next Kissinger chair will arrive in October, following the recommendation of a selection committee made up of academics and foreign policy experts.

After a vacation to Nicaragua with his fiancée, Bew plans to return to King’s College London, where he’ll resume work on not only his upcoming history of realpolitik but also a biography of Clement Attlee, who was Great Britain’s prime minister from 1945 to 1951.

Given Washington’s culture of news-obsessed immediacy, we asked Bew if the latest headlines are really important in the long view of international politics.

“I think the way to approach these things is to be historically grounded, but not scared of being present-minded,” he replied. “It’s a bit of a dilemma for academics. If historians vacate the debate over foreign policy, then they can’t complain later if [decisions] are not informed by history.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

ApplicAtions And nominAtions sought for librAry of congress Kissinger chAir The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress is now accepting applications and nominations for the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations.

The application deadline is November 1.

The Kissinger Chair is a distinguished senior research position in residence at the Library of Congress for a period of up to ten months. Using the Library’s facilities and services, the scholar engages in research on foreign policy and international relations that will lead to publication. The appointment ensures that the subject of foreign affairs, taken broadly, receives reflective and considered treatment each year in Washington by distinguished, experienced scholars and practitioners. A stipend of $13,500 per month supports the scholar.

h Interested parties may apply directly or nominate a colleague at:

http://www.loc.gov/kluge/fellowships/kissinger.html The scholar may be of any nationality and will have achieved distinction in the field of foreign affairs.

h Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world’s best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another, to distill wisdom from the Library’s rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington.

Page 6

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

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The Washington Diplomat Page 5

Diplomacy

Americas

Experts Debate Repercussions Of USAID’s Cuba Democracy Scheme

by Larry Luxner

A

lan Gross, a Maryland subcontractor who’s been jailed in Cuba since 2009, might have been a free man today had the U.S. Agency for International Development — which indirectly employed Gross at the time of his arrest — not continued its aggressive program to “promote democracy” on the communist island.

At least that’s what a former CIA expert on Latin America and Senate aide to John Kerry is telling the media.

In an interview with Newsweek, Fulton Armstrong claimed that in 2010, he — along with his counterpart on the staff of Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — had gotten USAID to agree to back off from some of its more aggressive Cuba programs. Such a deal, Armstrong expected, would entice Havana into finally releasing Gross, which in turn would substantially improve the chilly atmosphere that had come to define the U.S.Cuba relationship in recent years.

But that never happened. On the contrary, USAID stepped up its anti-Castro activities, which included the creation of a secret Cuban Twitter-like program known as ZunZuneo (Spanish for “hummingbird”). The Associated Press broke the ZunZuneo story on April 3, reporting that its users in Cuba were never told about Washington’s role in the text message-based cell-phone service aimed at undermining the Castro regime — “or that American contractors were gathering their private data in the hope that it might be used for political purposes.”

Those contractors, according to the AP article,“set up a byzantine system of front companies” from Spain to the Cayman Islands to hide the U.S. government’s involvement in the program and recruited unwitting executives to make the venture “look like a real business.”

Since the exposé, the White House and USAID have adamantly denied that the program was a covert campaign to overthrow the Castro regime. Rather, they say it was a “discreet” program aimed at breaking the government’s tight grip over information.

On April 10, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a vocal Castro opponent, said the program was a worthwhile endeavor that was in line with the U.S. government’s mission to promote democracy abroad and “create a free flow of information in closed societies.”Yet even he demanded that USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah turn over all records having to do with ZunZuneo as part of a broader review of the agency’s civil society efforts worldwide.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who advocates lifting the U.S. embargo against Cuba, said USAID’s involvement in the program was “ill advised” even though it might have been legal.“Do we want to continue to fund programs like this that, in my view, might put other USAID contractors or individuals from other countries, including

“

Photo: Larry Luxner

If you’re going to do a covert operation like this for a regime change, assuming it ever makes any sense, it’s not something that should be done through USAID. — Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)

”

Cuba, that participate in this program in danger?” he asked.

Other lawmakers flat out questioned why USAID would undertake an initiative more suited to a spy agency like the CIA, endangering its reputation as a humanitarian organization in countries such as Pakistan that are already skeptical of U.S. aid programs and their true intent.

“Dumb, dumb, dumb,” was how Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) described the program after Shah dodged his question about who initiated the idea for the social network, saying he did not “specifically know.”

“If you’re going to do a covert operation like this for a regime change, assuming it ever makes any sense, it’s not something that should be done through USAID,” Leahy said.

The fallout from the AP story was so great that USAID was compelled to post a counter-article, “Eight Facts About ZunZuneo,” on its website.

The AP story, it said, “contained significant inaccuracies and false conclusions about ZunZuneo, which was part of a broader effort that began in 2009 to facilitate ‘twitter-like’ communication among Cubans so they could connect with each other on topics of their choice.”

Protesters hold up signs during a rally at D.C.’s Lafayette Park, across from the White House, urging President Obama to act swiftly to bring about the release of USAID subcontractor Alan Gross from a Cuban jail. The December 2013 demonstration marked the fourth anniversary of his arrest.

Among other things, USAID said that at its peak, ZunZuneo had around 68,000 users — not the 40,000 reported by AP. It added: “The article suggested that USAID spent years on a ‘covert’ program to gather personal information to be used for political purposes to ‘foment smart mobs’ and start a ‘Cuban spring’ to overthrow the Cuban government. It makes for an interesting read, but it’s not true.”

Matt Herrick, a USAID spokesman who wrote the counter-article, also denied allegations that a shell company was formed in Spain to run ZunZuneo, or that funding was “publicly earmarked for an unspecified project in Pakistan,” implying that funds were somehow misappropriated.

“No one affiliated with the ZunZuneo program established a private company in Spain as part of this program.The project sought to do so if it was able to attract private investors to support the effort after USAID funding ended. Private investment was never identified, and thus no company was ever formed,” Herrick wrote.“All funds for this project were congressionally appropriated for democracy programs in Cuba, and that information is publicly available.”

USAID, which oversees an annual budget exceeding $20 billion, spends roughly $20 million a year — less than one-thousandth of the total — on its various Cuba democracy initiatives. Yet few things infuriate Havana’s communist regime more than U.S. taxpayer-funded

May 2014

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 7

Continued from previous page programs like ZunZuneo, which it claims seek to circumvent state propaganda by bringing news — with a decidedly anti-Castro point of view — directly to the Cuban people.

James K. Glassman, chairman of Public Affairs Engagement LLC and a visiting fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, knows all about beaming the U.S. point of view to a Cuban audience. During the last two years of the George W. Bush administration, he was chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which among other things directed the Office of Cuba Broadcasting — creators of the controversial Radio Martí and TV Martí.

Glassman told The Washington Diplomat that while “the Cubans do have access to some information, it’s a real shame what’s going on” given the outrage over ZunZuneo by certain members of Congress.

“In general, the program is a good one. The question of whether USAID ought to be involved is another matter,” said Glassman, who also served as Bush’s undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. “In my view, there are other government agencies as well as private organizations that are much more appropriate to handle this kind of venture. I don’t think this is USAID’s area of expertise.”

The Gross family is even more outraged.

Scott Gilbert, a Washington attorney representing Gross, said his client launched a weeklong hunger strike (that he has since ended) upon learning of the existence of the ZunZuneo program, which at any rate fizzled out in 2011 due to lack of funding.

“Once Alan was arrested, it is shocking that USAID would imperil his safety even further by running a covert operation in Cuba,” Gilbert said

Page 8

Photo: Angoira / Wikimedia Commons

Cubans gather at the San Cristóbal Cathedral, above, and walk the streets of Old Havana. Even though Cuba has liberalized its economy in recent years, Washington still spends roughly $20 million a year to promote democracy on the communist island.

in a statement released April 18. “USAID has made one absurdly bad decision after another.

Running this program is contrary to everything we have been told by high-level representatives of the Obama administration about USAID’s activities in Cuba.”

Gross, whose Maryland company had a USAID contract to provide Internet access to Cuba’s tiny Jewish community, was arrested Dec. 3, 2009, on suspicion of subversive activities. He had made four previous trips to Cuba on behalf of his employer, Bethesda-based Development Associates International, bearing sophisticated

computer gear designed to let Cubans communicate beyond the reach of state security. Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison and has reportedly lost more than 100 pounds behind bars.

The USAID subcontractor issued his own statement from prison, telling news media that “I am fasting to object to mistruths, deceptions and inaction by both governments, not only regarding their shared responsibility for my arbitrary detention, but also because of the lack of any reasonable or valid effort to resolve this shameful ordeal. Once again, I am calling on President Obama to get personally involved in ending this stand-off so that I can return home to my wife and daughters.”

Mavis Anderson, who heads the anti-embargo Latin America Working Group, said in an email that the White House and USAID “have made various public statements showing sympathy and kind thoughts for Mr. Gross and his family” while urging Cuba to unconditionally release him on humanitarian grounds.

“But they have yet to accept responsibility for placing Mr. Gross in Cuba in the first place. Alan Gross was carrying out a USAID-funded program to create a subversive Internet connection for Cubans. Unilaterally demanding Mr. Gross’s release has been unsuccessful for the past four years. Now is the time for the U.S. government to sit down with the Cuban government, without preconditions, and talk about securing Mr. Gross’s return to his family in the United States.”

The leftist Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) took things a step further.

“USAID’s ‘discreet’ democracy promotion programs are counterproductive, irresponsible and a waste of U.S. government resources,” said Marc Hanson,WOLA’s senior associate for Cuba.“They put at risk those that implement them — such as Alan Gross — as well as their beneficiaries in Cuba.They provide the Cuban government with a rationale to suppress dissent, claiming that all dissidents are mercenaries financed by the U.S. government. They weaken the standing of independent reformers inside of Cuba and achieve nothing in terms of change inside Cuba.”

Armstrong told Newsweek that Havana was fed up with Washington’s various attempts at regime change over the years under the guise of democracy promotion and humanitarian assistance.

“When Gross was arrested, Cuban officials gave pretty clear signals of two desires for his release,” he said.“That the programs be made less blatant and insulting to them, and that the Obama administration designate a serious, nonbureaucratic person to discuss this and other matters with them.”

But funding for Cuban democracy-promotion

Photo: Escla / Wikimedia Commons

programs has become a cottage industry in Washington, and a lifeline to many NGOs, regardless of their actual impact on the ground in Cuba.

And even though the island has gradually liberalized its economy in recent years, any talk of ending Washington’s nearly 55-year embargo, which has failed to dislodge either Fidel Castro or his brother Raúl from power, is considered heresy to Florida’s powerful, hard-line voting bloc of Cuban exiles. That, in turn, makes reforming U.S. policy toward Cuba a political nonstarter for Democrats and Republicans alike and why schemes like ZunZuneo, whether smart or not, aren’t likely to go away anytime soon.

Miami-based political analyst Domingo Amuchastegui isn’t buying the White House’s claims that USAID’s so-called Cuban Twitter program was a discreet but transparent operation.

“The way in which ZunZuneo was designed, organized, funded and implemented indicate the use of covert methods and techniques, using third countries such as Costa Rica, the Cayman Islands, Spain and even Pakistan; keeping congressional authorities in the dark and withholding information regarding such programs and even violating laws that prohibit the sending of messages without the consent of the recipient,” he said.“Yet hundreds of thousands of messages are being sent to Cuba, not to mention collecting personal data, including polling to gauge the political tendencies of the subscribers.”

Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence agent who defected to the United States in 1994, mocked USAID’s defense of ZunZuneo as just another democracy-promotion effort.

“It’s just a matter of facilitating access to harmless, inoffensive, innocuous information about the weather and sports — not at all a covert operation but ‘discreet,’” said the ex-spy, his words dripping with sarcasm.“In the context of WikiLeaks and the Snowden-NSA scandal, such wording seems like a gross attempt to manipulate a bunch of suckers, meaning the American public — including you and me.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat

Your Source for Diplomatic News. www.washdiplomat.com

May 2014

Diplomacy

Washington, D.C.

For Nearly 25 Years, British, Spanish Social Secretaries Make It Look Easy

by Anna Gawel

L

et’s be honest, we’ve all done it: RSVP’d to a reception and then, when life gets in the way — work, family or the perennial party pooper, a rainy D.C. night — we don’t show up. Or we’ve forgotten to RSVP, or just waited until the last minute to do so.

Amanda Downes and Diane Flamini have seen it all and handled it with the consummate grace and meticulous attention to detail that comes from having nearly half a century of experience between them.

Downes recently marked her 24th anniversary as social secretary for the British Embassy in Washington, while in November, Flamini will celebrate her 25th year as social secretary and protocol officer for the Spanish Embassy.

In those two and half decades, the two longtime colleagues and friends have planned countless luncheons, meetings, intimate sit-down dinners, large receptions, high-profile fundraisers and other myriad functions.They’ve each worked with seven different ambassadors; coordinated a steady stream of visiting delegations and dignitaries; and established themselves as gatekeepers to some of the most coveted events in town.

“

I mean they all say it must be very interesting and great fun, which it is. It’s also exhausting and … you have to be continuously on your toes.

”

— Diane Flamini social secretary and protocol officer for the Embassy of Spain

They’ve also seen the rules of party planning and protocol evolve drastically in an era of tight security and even tighter budgets, moving with the times while having to constantly stay on top of every detail to avert a diplomatic faux pas.

“It’s a wonderful job. I love my job,” Downes told The Diplomat, echoing Flamini, who said she never would’ve predicted that she’d be working at the Spanish Embassy for as long as she has.

In fact, neither woman ever planned on becoming a social secretary. In November 1989, Flamini and her husband Roland, who’d just retired as

bureau chief for Time magazine, were living in London when they happened to have dinner with the ambassador of Spain. She mentioned that, with her children now a bit older, she was interested in living in the United States.

“And he proposed that if it was going to be Washington, which it was because my parents at that time were living here, that they were looking for a social secretary,” she said.“And I proceeded to ask them what the heck was a social secretary?”

The duties — entertaining, organizing, planning — sounded much like what she’d been doing for years as the wife of a magazine bureau chief, so she interviewed for the position and was promptly hired for what she thought would be a three- or four-year posting.

Likewise, Downes was in Britain, where she’d trained and worked as a cook for 13 years, when she stumbled on an old family friend whose mother happened to be married to the British ambassador in Washington.

She mentioned that they were looking for a social secretary. “And I said, ‘What on earth is a social secretary?’

And she said, ‘You are!’ And that honestly is how it went,” Downes recalled.

“I mean it was being in the right place at the right time,” she told us. “I was supposed to be here for 22 months and I thought that was the end of the world — I’d never lived abroad.”

She certainly never anticipated staying in the United States for 24 years.

“No way. I would not have got on that plane,” she joked. “But it’s been the most wonderful experience.”

Downes’s cooking background helped prepare her for her new, unexpected role,“because with cooking you can tell no lies. It is what it is,” she said, explaining how critical timing is to both jobs. “You have to be ready, and also you are juggling many different things and you have to produce them at the right moment.”

And there’s plenty to juggle each day.

Downes said her main duties include organizing events at the ambassador’s residence,“inviting guests, following up with guests, reconfirming with guests. I do the seating plans. I do the place cards and the escort cards. And on the

Photo: Jessica Latos of Paired Images taken at the Willard InterContinental Washington

Amanda Downes, social secretary for the British Embassy, left, and Diane Flamini, social secretary and protocol officer for the Spanish Embassy, stand in the ornate Peacock Alley of the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel.

evening I’m there to greet people and help out.”

She also helps coordinate outside events at the residence, either hosted by a charity or other group, or by a separate department in the embassy, and she assists with visiting ministers and other officials. Similarly, Flamini is the go-to person for the ambassador’s social calendar.

“My general obligations are primarily to keep the schedule of the ambassador in order, make his appointments….

And apart from that there’s also arranging if he has meetings with others. I have to write the letters to request the meetings because, for example, the State Department is usually quite particular,” Flamini explained.“If we have a delegation arriving, it’s making sure that whatever and whoever they wish to see has been previously arranged.”

Then, of course, there are the events.

Flamini recently coordinated fundraisers at the Spanish ambassador’s residence for the Washington Performing Arts Society and WETA public radio station. “So we formulate the email invita-

May 2014

tions, put together the guest lists, send out the invitations. If it’s a dinner, we choose a menu with the chef, do seating arrangements, then we present the arrival of the guests, making sure that the guests who’ve accepted have come.”

On that note, there’s plenty that can and does go wrong throughout the process — party-crashers, missing plusones, late RSVPs, weather problems, sick ambassadors and, of course, noshows.

“I have to be sure that I do the seating following protocol and of course at the last minute if someone does not arrive, you have the annoying, necessary rush down to change tables,” Flamini said.

Another pet peeve? Flamini said the assistants of high-ranking officials occasionally ask her to send them a guest list prior to their RSVP. “That I find extremely annoying,” she said, laughing.

And she has a standard reply for such requests:“Unfortunately until the day of

See social Secretaries, page 11 The Washington Diplomat Page 9

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May 2014

from page 9

Social Secretaries the event, we’re not allowed for security reasons to release the names,” she said.“But it’s not terribly often that that happens. I think at this point people probably know that’s going to be my response.”

For sit-down dinners, if people haven’t responded, “I sort of just continually call or email and say that we need a reply by such and such date, usually 48 hours prior to the event,” Flamini said. But she understands how the invite decision-making game goes in a city as busy as Washington. “A lot of people have so many commitments that they tend to leave it to the last minute before responding, either because they have travel plans or perhaps are even waiting for a better invitation. You never know.”

Downes told us that she’s learned to take the hiccups in stride over the years.“I remember being very concerned if I had a lot of people that still hadn’t answered for a reception. But one of my ambassador’s wives said, ‘Please don’t spend your time chasing people on a reception,’” she recalled.

But for sit-down events, she “will keep going until I get every single answer. So receptions now I’m a bit easier on people, but I don’t like seeing 300 names on a list that people haven’t answered because who knows who’s going to come out of that, and you simply don’t know how to look after them — that’s the thing.”

It’s a matter of making sure guests are happy, Downes adds.“We want guests to have a good time and enjoy themselves and so you need to know how many people are coming and you need to know how to look after them properly.”

Downes said she knows her guest list “inside out,” so when someone appears at the front door without their name on the list, she usually knows who’s been genuinely invited and who hasn’t.

Sometimes, tragedy and crisis sideline the best-laid plans. Right after the July 2005 London bombings that killed more than 50 people, Downes had to personally call dozens of guests to cancel a dinner in Washington that evening.

But most cancelations are far less dramatic.

Flamini recently had to reschedule an exhibitrelated reception because of snow, contacting 140 guests to make sure they didn’t head out in the frigid temperatures. She also had to reschedule a series of meetings in New York after the ambassador fell ill.“So you have to be on top of practically everything at every moment,” she said.

Yet both women say the rewards far outweigh the headaches. Flamini recalled that a highlight of her nearly 25-year career was an elaborate sit-down dinner shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks attended by then Spanish

President José María Aznar and Vice President Dick Cheney. “[T]hat was one of the most impressive dinners I had to organize and to survive,” she said.

“We don’t have VIPs as often as my colleague Amanda does, who seems to have them all the time,” Flamini quipped. “The relationship between Great Britain and the United States is slightly more VIP’d than Spain and the United States, although we’re slowly getting there.”

Downes has indeed welcomed her fair share of VIPs from both sides of the pond over the years. The memory that stands out for her the most is the 2007 state visit of Queen Elizabeth II. “And working with Buckingham Palace, it really is an extraordinary experience. They are so detailed and one learns so much from them and you know you are in the hands of true professionals. And nothing is left to go wrong,” she said. “And also when [South African] President [Nelson] Mandela came here in the ’90s, that was a very exciting evening.”

It was also an instructive evening. Downes reflected that it was a mistake to hold the cocktail reception before the dinner because when it came time for everyone to be seated, no one wanted to leave.

“And if I lived my life again, I would have strongly recommended we did the dinner first and then invite people to join the after-dinner reception rather than trying to ask 300 people to leave, which was not easy,” she said. “There simply physically was not enough room to have everyone, but everyone wanted to be here to see the great man for just a short time.”

Demand to get into an illustrious gathering at the British Residence located off Observatory Circle is, not surprisingly, high. So are requests from outside organizations and charities to host events there.

Downes said it’s extremely difficult to vet through worthwhile requests because “everything is a good cause.”

The key, say both Downes and Flamini, is for the group to have a connection to their home countries and promote them in some way.

“It’s limited in the sense that if we do dinner for anything cultural or promoting business, it has to be directly related exclusively to Spain,” Flamini said. For instance, when WETA approached her about hosting an event, “We said fine, we’ll do a dinner for you with a performance, [but] the performance must be a Spanish performer and it has to showcase Spain in one way or another, and so they will be having on the radio new Spanish music for a couple of days. So that it’s continually an exchange that can be justified in Spain as we are spending but it is promoting Spain.”

Downes says the biggest misconception people have about her work is that she has no budgetary constraints. “People probably think

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The Washington Diplomat Page 11

The Rotunda

Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill

State Department Hopes Its Latest Budget Escapes Congress Unscathed

by Eliza Krigman

W

hen Secretary of State John Kerry and his top deputies start talking about the president’s fiscal 2015 budget request for diplomacy and foreign aid, they like to remind their audience first and foremost that American taxpayers only pay one penny on the dollar for the entire area of international affairs.

Reading in between the lines, it’s a plea to Congress not to give a haircut to the $50.1 billion — representing barely 1 percent of the full federal budget — that President Obama requested for foreign operations and assistance.

In past budget battles, diplomacy was often seen as low-hanging fruit — ripe for spending cuts. This time around, both the administration and the international community have reason to be cautiously optimistic that Congress will authorize a figure close to what Obama requested — which includes a base budget of $40.3 billion for the State Department and USAID plus $5.9 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations.

This is why.

In terms of absolute value, it’s a modest proposal: It’s slightly less — by about $700 million — from what was enacted for 2014, and as a consequence, it’s likely to be viewed as reasonable and realistic.

Expect the usual grandstanding and dramatic rhetoric that accompanies Beltway negotiations about money, but keep in mind that the rules of the road for this debate have already been set.

And of equal or greater importance, the government spending levels for fiscal year 2015 have already been set.

Hoping to avoid the acrimonious and unsuccessful negotiations that have characterized Washington’s attempts to fund the government in preceding years, Congress reached a budget deal last December, forged by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), that set spending caps for 2014

Page 12

Photo: U.S. State Department

Secretary of State John Kerry speaks with America’s top diplomats during the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference on March 11 at the State Department. The annual event brings together U.S. ambassadors from around the world.

and 2015.

With agreements in place on a spending ceiling, there is less to fight about, ostensibly.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be lots of politicking and posturing; this is Washington after all. Expect the usual grandstanding and dramatic rhetoric that accompanies Beltway negotiations about money, but keep in mind that the rules of the road for this debate have already been set.

While the parameters of the international affairs budget may be relatively clear, there is still plenty to chew over as to how the money gets distributed.

With this proposal, Obama is “clearly doubling down on his legacy issues,” said Casey Dunning, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Global Development, pointing to the planned investment for Power Africa and Feed the Future.

Announced in June 2013, the Power Africa initiative aims to double access to power in sub-Sahara Africa, where more than two-thirds of the population lacks electricity. The goal is to bring more than 10,000 megawatts of cleaner and more efficient electricity to six countries in particular: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania. Supported by six US government agencies, it calls for a $7 billion commitment over five years, with most of it coming from infrastructure

investment and little from direct appropriations.

As the name suggests, the Feed the Future program is an effort to end hunger worldwide. Back in 2009, Obama kicked off this effort by pledging $3.5 billion in American support over three years to advance food security globally.The request this year is up $1 billion, roughly 5 percent, from its previous allocation.

The Obama administration conceived of these initiatives and appears “keen to see some actual progress there by putting some resources behind them,” Dunning said.

In addition to fostering the development of his signature programs, the Obama budget places a new emphasis on Syria and the Arab Spring. Obama wants to expand the scope of the Overseas Contingency Operations account, which in previous years has been used only to help the“frontline states”of Afghanistan,Pakistan and Iraq, to address Syria’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.The plan provides $1.5 billion to support Syria and various transitions throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

“This shift away from a singular focus on the ‘frontline states’ represents a recognition that these three countries can no longer dominate U.S. foreign policy interests,” Dunning wrote in blog post.

The budget still requests $5.1 billion for

programs for Iraq,Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it admits the amount is “a significant reduction from prior years” as part of an effort to “right-size” financial commitments with the end of two wars.

Some other areas receiving notable increases include international peacekeeping, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and operational support for both USAID and the State Department. As part of the administration’s Asia pivot, funds for the East Asia and Pacific region have been bumped up to $1.4 billion.The fiscal blueprint would also invest $4.6 billion in securing overseas missions — seen as a critical area since the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans dead. That figure includes $2.2 billion to construct new embassies in Saudi Arabia, Mexico and elsewhere.

Not everybody can be a budget winner, however, and some programs are facing cuts. Funds for global health and general humanitarian assistance are being dropped 4.6 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

“If you look at the burn rate right now for everything going on around the world, and you assume that things will get a bit better through 2015, what they proposed [for humanitarian aid] is probably fine,” said a former congressional aide with expertise on foreign assistance budget matters. “The administration’s position is that there is enough money in

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

the pipeline.”

But Mercy Corps, a global development organization, is worried the proposed cuts are dangerous.

If enacted, these cuts “will put the lives of millions of people at risk,” Andrea Koppel, a vice president at Mercy Corps, said in a press release.

“We must preserve the ability of the United States to respond effectively to international emergencies … and support the tens of millions of people around the world who are driven from their homes each year by conflict and natural disaster.”

Experts interviewed for this story predict that Congress is likely to restore the humanitarian budget funds to what was authorized in 2014.

Apart from increasing and decreasing funds in different areas, the budget also includes ideas for new projects and programs.

Regarded as a legacy item of USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, the 2015 budget request includes support for creating a U.S. Global Development Lab, or simply “The Lab.”The idea is to bring USAID to the foreground of innovation by expanding the use of science, technology, innovation and partnerships to help people lift themselves out of poverty. A key part of the concept is an ongoing partnership with the private sector. According to USAID, the Lab has already secured 32 “Cornerstone Partners” representing $30 billion in investments.

The 2015 request also unveils some attempts at creative financing mechanisms. The Millennium Challenge Corporation, for instance, is exploring the idea of tying payments more directly to measurable policy results through pay-for-performance or cash-on-delivery schemes.

While the Obama blueprint gives the reader a lot to think about, it’s important to pause and remember that the administration merely makes a request. Congress does the actual work of haggling over the figures and appropriating the money.

If everything went according to plan, which it

Photo: U.S. State Department

Secretary of State John Kerry introduces President Obama during a trip to the Holy See in Rome. Obama recently requested $50 billion to fund the international affairs budget for fiscal 2015, a figure that Kerry often reminds Congress represents barely 1 percent of total federal spending.

never does, Congress would finish the budget process by the end of September. Instead, it has become customary for lawmakers to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government, as opposed to an appropriations bill, which is typically preceded by a nasty fight between Democrats and Republicans.

The deal cut by Ryan and Murray, however, should make the appropriations process somewhat smoother this year. Additionally, both sides of the aisle increasingly recognize that continuing resolutions are an ineffective way to fund government.

When Kerry testified before the House Appropriations Committee in March, Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY.) vowed to pass the individual

appropriations bills and save the international community from “the tyranny of continuing resolutions.” They are “herky jerky,” he said, and “your staff can’t make proper plans.”

That said, whatever Congress passes certainly won’t be the mirror image of the Obama request.

Everybody has their pet projects and preferences and some of them will be reflected in the final product.

Ryan is already shopping around a plan that gives foreign diplomacy and aid 11 percent less than what the administration wants. Other lawmakers will make their preferences known at budget hearings over the coming months.

Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, recently

criticized the administration’s proposal for its “failure to prioritize international basic education.”

In a similar vein, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) applauded the effort to trim spending on Afghanistan and Pakistan but lamented the fact that funding for Western Hemisphere affairs was taking a 21 percent hit from 2013 levels. “But along with my concerns about Western Hemisphere issues, I’m also concerned that there are significant reductions in humanitarian assistance and global health accounts,” he said.

Expect more grumblings from members of both chambers and both parties on what is and isn’t included in the proposal. They offer clues as to what the lawmakers may fight for as they wrangle over the appropriations bill.

Throughout the budget process, Kerry wants Congress not to lose sight of the critical role America still plays on the world stage.

“On issue after issue, people depend on American leadership to make a difference,” he recently testified. “[W]hether it’s South Sudan, a nation that many of you helped to give birth to and now a nation struggling to survive beyond its infancy; or Venezuela, where leaders are making dangerous choices at the expense of the people; or in Afghanistan, where this weekend millions defied the Taliban and went to the polls to choose a new president; or on the Korean Peninsula, where we are working with our allies and our partners to make sure that we can meet any threat and move toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

“People rely on the United States of America to lead in instance after instance,” Kerry said. It’s a fraction of the taxpayer dollar that goes to foreign diplomacy and aid and “I am amazed by the return on that investment.”

Eliza Krigman (@ekspectacular) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 13

from page 11

Social Secretaries that we do have a bottomless pit of money, which we don’t,” she said. “And I am brutally honest I’m afraid and just say I am terribly sorry but we just don’t have the money to be able to give a reception….There is this role of austerity and we have to cut the cloth accordingly.”

Another modern-day reality embassies must grapple with is security, which has dampened some of the traditional formality of party planning. Perhaps the biggest change is that after the 9/11 attacks, which were followed by the anthrax scare in D.C., many U.S. government agencies demanded that invites be sent electronically, not by snail mail.

“I was appalled that invitations were responded to by telephone when I first arrived. Can you imagine? And that was just the first shock,” Downes said. “I hate to say that I didn’t think I would ever do it but I do email invitations.”

Both women have also seen people at the embassy come and go over the years, including ambassadors.

“Seven of them — all dear friends, all completely different, which is extremely helpful because then they’re not trying to outshine one or the other,” Flamini said.

“Well it keeps me on my toes,” Downes said of the turnover,“which is a good thing, and I like to think that any nasty habits or bad habits that I’m forming and complacency get knocked out of the window.And so it is very similar to starting a new job.

“Nearly all of the ambassadors I have served have been in America before so that helps hugely,” she added. “And also they have a lot of contacts from their time when they were here.”

Flamini said she works with each ambassador to tailor the guest list for events, gathering any business cards he’s collected and filing them in a

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database by profession.“I’ve got a master list. So if I’ve got a dinner because the secretary of commerce of Spain is coming and he wants to meet important business-oriented people or people who are interested in investing in Spain, I will automatically go into my [list], choose a couple of names and run them through with the ambassador,” she explained.

“Oftentimes people think it’s only just partying what you do, but it’s also a lot of diplomacy and getting answers,” she said. “So you have to sort of sweep a lot of nonsense out of the way before it hits the ambassador’s desk.”

The job is exciting — neither woman would probably still be at it for nearly 25 years if it

weren’t — but it’s still work.

“I mean they all say it must be very interesting and great fun, which it is,” Flamini told us. “It’s also exhausting and … you have to be continuously on your toes. I find I have to check and double check and triple check many times the same thing, because you shouldn’t be too sure — because the minute you’re too sure, there’s bound to be a mistake somewhere. But on the whole, it’s pretty much what most people think it is, which is organizing special events to promote Spain in the United States.”

Anna Gawel is the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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May 2014

COVER PROFILE

Ambassador Igor Munteanu

Moldova Worries: ‘Are We Next?’

To read the extended interview with the ambassador, visit us online.

by Larry Luxner

M

oldova, one of the smallest, poorest and most obscure of the 15 republics that once comprised the Soviet Union, is suddenly being portrayed in world headlines as the next flashpoint in a Cold War that millions of people had assumed was long over.

The tiny country has been on edge since March, when Russian President Vladimir Putin engineered an independence referendum in Crimea that was overwhelmingly approved by Crimea’s Russian-speaking majority after protests in Kiev toppled Ukraine’s Russian-leaning president, Viktor Yanukovych (also see “Crimea: Failure of Diplomacy Becomes Russian Fait Accompli” in the April 2014 issue of The Diplomat).That led Moscow to annex the Black Sea peninsula and has sparked fears that Putin’s next gambit will be to dispatch his troops to eastern Ukraine under the guise of protecting the ethnic Russian population there.

While he’s at it, observers worry he might head westward to wrest the breakaway Transnistria region from Moldovan control.

“This is what frightens us,” said Igor Munteanu, Moldova’s articulate, urbane ambassador to the United States who has suddenly found himself in the media limelight. “If nobody will take the necessary steps to de-escalate this conflict, then nobody is protected against other attempts of deliberate aggression.”

Munteanu, who’s been in Washington since September 2010, compared Russia’s takeover of Crimea to the Anschluss, Nazi Germany’s bloodless occupation and annexation of Austria in 1938.

“We are very much ALSO SEE: worried about the recent Global Standing conflict in Ukraine,” he of U.S. Leadership said. “When part of a sovRebounded in ereign state is taken by 2013, Gallup Finds force, it’s a blow to the security of Eastern PAGE 16 Europe. The Russian Federation has occupied part of a sovereign nation in spite of the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki principles. This precedent can then be used in other places wherever there’s a group of Russian speakers.”

He added: “Instead of achieving harmony and building on consensual policies around delicate matters, such as language issues, religious differences and national minorities, one may get violence at a very large scale. I don’t believe we need this sort of Hobbesian ‘war against all’ model in modern global affairs.”

Munteanu,48,spoke toThe Washington Diplomat from his third-floor office,

whose windows overlook the intersection of Florida and S Streets near Dupont Circle. Hanging behind his desk are 18 framed photographs of the ambassador posing with luminaries such as President and Mrs. Obama; Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor, Hillary Clinton; House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio); and the State Department’s former chief of protocol, Capricia Marshall.

There’s also a certificate from Virginia State University thanking Munteanu for his attendance at an April 2011 forum on newly independent countries and a plaque from Lakeland, Fla., which maintains a sister-city relationship with Balti, one of Moldova’s biggest towns.

Yet expecting average Americans to be familiar with Moldova is asking a lot when they’re generally clueless about its much bigger neighbor, Ukraine — the largest country located completely in Europe. In a recent nationwide survey

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of ruggeriphoto.com

“

When part of a sovereign state is taken by force, it’s a blow to the security of Eastern Europe. The Russian Federation has occupied part of a sovereign nation in spite of the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki principles. This precedent can then be used in other places wherever there’s a group of Russian speakers.

— Igor Munteanu ambassador of Moldova to the United States

of 2,066 Americans, only one in six could locate Ukraine on a world map; some placed it in Kansas, Brazil or Australia.More tellingly,the lessAmericans knew about Ukraine (regardless of their political affiliation), the more likely they were to support U.S. military action there.

So here are some basic facts: Moldova produces excellent wine and measures just over 13,000 square miles, making it slightly bigger than Maryland and the District of Columbia combined. Its population is about 3.6 million, with 500,000 or so inhabitants in Transnistria (also spelled as Transnistria and Trans-Dniester), which is much poorer than the rest of Moldova.

”

“There are four or five important factories [in Transnistria], but before, there were hundreds,” Munteanu said, explaining the poverty that since its self-declared independence in 1990 has plagued this sliver of land wedged in between Ukraine and Moldova proper.

Transnistria’s bid for independence was driven by separatists who balked at becoming a part of Moldova, whose people are more closely related to their Romanian neighbors. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russianspeaking enclave has been in legal limbo, not recognized by anyone other than Russia — much like the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. In a 2006 referendum that

May 2014

had echoes of the recent Crimea ballot, the region voted overwhelmingly to join Russia. Moscow declined, though it maintains about 1,500 troops in Transnistria.

Moldova itself traces its modern roots to the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was cobbled together in 1940 from parts of neighboring Ukraine and Romania. As such, it was the secondsmallest republic in the U.S.S.R. (only Armenia was smaller). The forced collectivization schemes of the Stalinist era led to widespread famine in the late 1940s and early 1950s, though the Leonid Brezhnev years brought substantial Soviet investment to Moldova in the form of subsidized factories and public housing.

By 1991, the country’s annual percapita income was eight times higher than that of Romania. But once the U.S.S.R. collapsed, Moldova’s situation took a turn for the worse.

“During Soviet times, we had a lot of heavy industries — steel, textiles and machinery — under centralized planning,” Munteanu explained. “But in 1992, a year after independence, a civil war broke out in Moldova, and when Transnistria declared it wouldn’t be a part of Moldova, they took with them 40 percent of our economy and 56 percent of our factories.”

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 15

Continued from previous page Today, Romania’s annual per-capita income is roughly $13,000, while Moldova’s hovers around $3,600. More than 23 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Moldova has effectively replaced Albania as Europe’s poorest nation — a situation Munteanu says cannot endure.

Munteanu began representing his government in 1992 following independence. A longtime political commentator for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, he worked for Moldova’s first president, Mircea Snegur, for three years and also established the country’s first think tank, IDIS Viitorul, which he ran from 1996 to 2010.

“In 2009, we had a power shift, a new coalition of political parties that came out of nowhere.

Their main objective was to accelerate Moldova’s integration with the EU,” he said. The following year, Munteanu was sent to Washington as ambassador.

The government has followed through on its pledges, taking the bold step of seeking closer political and trade ties with the European Union despite the threat of blowback from Moscow, which banned wine imports from Moldova and hinted it might hold back Russian gas in response to the move.

Moldova’s turn toward the EU stood in stark contrast to ousted Ukrainian President Yanukovych’s decision to spurn those very same EU agreements in favor of $15 billion in loans and discounted gas from Russia. Moldova was rewarded with a brief visit last December by Secretary of State John Kerry, who drank a glass of Moldovan wine and said the U.S. “believes deeply that Euro­pean integration is the best road for both security and prosperity in Moldova.”

“This is a critical time for my country because we are about to take a very important decision: to move closer to the European Union,”Munteanu told us.“The EU is moving institutions, funds and political resources to Eastern Europe under the so-called Eastern Partnership — a policy of transforming borders into bridges and creating opportunities for nations of the former Soviet Union to develop their identity freely.”

In addition to lowering tariffs on Moldovan wine, in early April the 28-member EU formally agreed to lift visa restrictions on Moldova, allowing its citizens for the first time to travel throughout the Schengen passport-free zone as long as they have biometric passports.

But Moldova’s efforts to get closer to the EU have provoked threats from Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian deputy prime minister and Putin’s special representative to Transnistria. Last year, Rogozin warned that Moldova could lose Transnistria if it continued seeking warmer ties with Brussels.

At the moment, Russia has 440 “peacekeepers” along a narrow buffer zone that separates Moldova and Transnistria, along with several hundred soldiers guarding Soviet-era arms stocks.

It has also amassed an estimated 40,000 troops near Ukraine’s eastern border since the Crimea referendum.

“After events in Ukraine, it is of great urgency that the Europeans sign the association agreement with Moldova very quickly,” said JeanClaude Juncker, the former premier of Luxembourg and a candidate to become head of the European Commission, in comments to the German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag. “We have to steal a march on Putin. He has to know that he cannot do in Moldova what he did in Crimea. Otherwise, Moldova could be the next victim of Russian aggression.”

Meanwhile, NATO’s supreme commander in Europe, U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove, warned that Moscow could seize Transnistria and that the Russian buildup along its border with Ukraine was “very, very sizeable” and “very, very ready.”

“There is absolutely sufficient [Russian] force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Transnistria if the decision was made to do that,” said Breedlove, “and that is very worri-

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Related Story

Global Standing of U.S. Leadership Rebounded in 2013, Gallup Finds Since 2005, the Gallup polling firm has been asking average people around the world what they think of U.S. leadership.

The latest report offers even pessimists a glimmer of good news: While the image of U.S. leadership was weaker at the end of President Barack Obama’s first term than at any point during his first administration, the numbers rebounded in 2013 — despite foreign policy obstacles ranging from Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Syria’s civil war to stalled Arab-Israeli peace talks and outrage in Europe over NSA spying.

Worldwide, approval of U.S. leadership now stands at 46 percent, up from 41 percent in 2012.

“While not a full recovery to the 49 percent approval measured at the start of Obama’s presidency, it ended a downward trend,” according to a summary of the poll’s results. “Asia and Europe largely led improvements, with the 45 percent median approval rating in Asia the highest Gallup has measured in the region during either the Obama or the Bush administrations.”

The 20-page summary was presented during an April 10 breakfast at Gallup’s Washington headquarters, in conjunction with the Meridian International Center. The 100 or so attendees were representatives of 26 foreign embassies including two ambassadors: Moldova’s Igor Munteanu (see related cover profile) and Nigeria’s Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye.

“This is the most comprehensive project ever when it comes to attitudes toward the United States,” Jon Clifton, managing director of the Gallup World Poll, said of the U.S. Global Leadership Project, a joint effort between Gallup and Meridian to gauge international opinion.

This most recent leadership survey interviewed some 1,000 people in 130 countries last year. “Nearly every country from Bhutan to Swaziland to Turkmenistan was included,” Clifton said. “We even surveyed Somalis for the first time. We went out to all these countries and asked people how they felt about America.”

Clifton gave a slideshow explaining what lengths Gallup goes to in order to capture all that information.

“A lot of times, you read about surveys conducted online. But we went through a very robust process,” he said as images on an overhead screen depicted people being polled in such far-flung places as Costa Rica, Kyrgyzstan and Madagascar. “In China, we didn’t just do surveys in Beijing and Shanghai. And 80 percent of the time, they were done not by phone but face to face.”

Clifton added: “There are some countries where men cannot interview women. So we needed to come back

Photo: Meridian International Center

Moldovan Ambassador Igor Munteanu, second from left, joins, from right, Meridian President and CEO Stuart Holliday, Nigerian Ambassador Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye and former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy James K. Glassman to discuss the latest Gallup report assessing global views of U.S. leadership.

with a female interviewer. We go back up to three times if necessary. All the data that’s in here took about 10 months to collect.”

Nine of the 10 countries where U.S. leadership scored the highest are in Africa — led by Guinea (90 percent), Senegal (88 percent) and Mali (83 percent). Yet on the flip side, nearly all of the countries where U.S. approval ratings experienced double-digit losses in 2013 were in Africa — a reflection perhaps that, “given Obama’s Kenyan heritage, many Africans likely expected Obama to pay more attention to Africa than they perceive he has,” according to the report.

Adefuye echoed this view. In Nigeria, which with 170 million inhabitants is Africa’s most populous country, 60 percent of respondents viewed U.S. leadership favorably in 2013 — down from 71 percent a year earlier.

“There were very high expectations after Obama’s inauguration,” Adefuye said. “We thought the U.S. would pay more attention to Africa. We expected more.”

U.S. leadership also remained relatively unpopular in North Africa, with dismal approval numbers in Egypt (16 percent) and Morocco (15 percent).

Opinions about American leadership in Europe, however, recovered somewhat this year, up from 36 percent in 2012 to 41 percent. Approval numbers in Asia were also some of the highest recorded in recent memory, perhaps a sign that “the image of U.S. leadership may be benefiting from the administration’s attempts to strengthen its alliances and trade partnerships throughout the AsiaPacific region,” the report said.

some.”

Munteanu notes that Moldova’s 1994 Constitution steered clear of NATO membership to avoid inviting Russian aggression.“We are not ready to join NATO because Moldova is a neutral country by its Constitution. Instead, we care about enhanced cooperation with NATO on the basis of IPAP [Individual Partnership Action Plan],” he said.

The Obama administration is also quite popular in Albania (77 percent); Haiti (71 percent); Ireland (70 percent); Cambodia (67 percent); Canada (66 percent); Great Britain (63 percent); New Zealand and the Philippines (62 percent each); Italy and the Netherlands (60 percent each); Australia (59 percent); South Korea (58 percent); Belgium (57 percent); Costa Rica (55 percent), and Israel and Mongolia (53 percent each).

Conversely, the worst scores are found in the Middle East and South Asia, with approval ratings of 18 percent in Lebanon, 15 percent in Iran, 13 percent in the Palestinian territories and only 9 percent in Yemen. Interestingly, despite the civil war there and handwringing over whether the United States should become involved, Syrian approval of U.S. leadership jumped from only 4 percent in 2008 to 26 percent last year. Even the dismal approval figure in Iran was a big improvement over the 9 percent reported in 2011.

Perhaps not surprisingly, even before the Ukraine crisis, Russia continued to have a low approval of U.S. leadership, at 16 percent.

Yet if the Gallup numbers are to be believed, Ukrainians aren’t impressed with U.S. leadership either. Only 34 percent of those polled in that country approve of the Obama administration’s policies, compared to 47 percent who look upon the Kremlin favorably.

Munteanu, commenting on Moldova’s perceptions of the United States, praised Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent trip to his small country and noted that by the end of April, Moldovans would be able to take short trips within the European Union’s Schengen zone with-

NATO has been stepping up its cooperation with former Soviet states to ease their fears of a Russian incursion. Among other things, the bloc plans stronger military ties with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova, and it may open a liaison office in Moldova ahead of the country’s scheduled signing of a trade and political pact with the EU in June. NATO has also beefed up its presence in its 28 member states.

out the need for visas.

“We are the first country of the Eastern Partnership to receive this benefit,” he said. “Our people look with great admiration to the EU because they want the same level of certainty about their future, and they want a stable business environment. This kind of partnership is fully supported by the United States.”

Yet opinions in the region remain torn, according to experts with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) who recently analyzed a separate Pew Research Center poll on U.S. power released in December 2013.

“In the case of Russia, elite and public perceptions of the United States have been declining since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in May 2012,” said Andrew Kuchins, director of the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program.

“Other states in the ‘post-Soviet space,’ who feel more threatened by Moscow’s born-again assertiveness, find themselves in an awkward position. There is a natural inclination for them to desire stronger ties with the United States but skepticism that Washington is really prepared to deliver much of value to them.”

Echoing those doubts, James K. Glassman, chairman of Public Affairs Engagement LLC and President George W. Bush’s undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, told the Gallup audience that numbers praising U.S. leadership should be taken with a grain of salt.

“I would be hard-pressed to find too many observers of U.S. foreign policy who would say that our leadership is stronger now than it was 10 years ago. I think it’s more hesitant,” said the retired diplomat, who’s also a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a frequent Obama critic. “People around the world have less confidence in our leadership.”

Why then, he was asked, did the U.S. leadership approval rating rise over the past year?

“It seems to me that leadership is equated with general favorability,” Glassman replied. “A lot of it has to do with the way people feel in their own countries.”

On that note, the Pew poll reported that a growing number of Americans believe their own global power and prestige are in decline. “And support for U.S. global engagement, already near a historic low, has fallen further,” the survey said. “The public thinks that the nation does too much to solve world problems, and increasing percentages want the U.S. to ‘mind its own business internationally’ and pay more attention to problems here at home.”

— Larry Luxner

Political journalist Michael Totten argues that Russia’s support of Transnistria virtually guarantees that Moldova will never be accepted by NATO. “Putin did the same thing to Georgia in 2008 when he lopped off the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and he did it for the same reason,” Totten wrote in the World Affairs Journal online.

“Putin couldn’t care less about what happens in

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

moldova at a glance independence: Aug. 27, 1991 (from the Soviet Union) Location: Eastern Europe, northeast of Romania Capital: Chisinau Size: Slightly larger than Maryland Population: 3.58 million (July 2014 estimate) Life expectancy: 70 years religions: Eastern Orthodox 98 percent, Jewish 1.5 percent, Baptist and other 0.5 percent (2000) GDP (purchasing power parity): $13.25 billion (2013 estimate) GDP per-capita: $3,800 (2013 estimate) GDP growth: 8.9 percent (2013 estimate) unemployment: 5.8 percent (2013 estimate) Population below poverty line: 21.9 percent (2010 estimate) Exports: Foodstuffs, textiles, machinery

PhOTO: kALATORUL / WIkIMEDIA COMMOnS

imports: Mineral products and fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals, textiles Source: CIA World Factbook

Transnistria, but he keeps Russian troops there because they ensure Moldova stays out of NATO. That’s not one, not two, but three times Russia has pulled this stunt since the end of the Cold War. Putin is doing it to Ukraine because it worked in Moldova and Georgia.”

Munteanu agrees and says Moscow’s claims of protecting ethnic Russians are bogus. “More Russians live in the capital of Moldova, Chisinau, than in the whole region of Transnistria; thus, every single claim of ‘defending Russian speakers by creating a statehood of their own’ is a fake argument,” Munteanu told The Diplomat. “It is obvious that the real reason for a territorial conflict emerged as a tool to keep us outside of any potential integration with EU, to install fears, and increase vulnerability and various economic traps to Moldova.”

Yet Matthew Rojansky, director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, said he’s more concerned with local troublemakers in Transnistria than with any grand strategy by Putin.

“Any one of those leaders could sense a moment of opportunity with the Kremlin over a barrel, having set the precedent that if ethnic Russians appeal to Moscow for protection, then the Kremlin will act,” he said. “So if you are a local rabble-rouser with aspirations to greater power, now is your opportunity.”

He also cautioned that Moldova’s flirtation with the EU is a double-edged sword.

“Part of the provocation for Russia’s intervention in Ukraine was its geopolitical orientation against the will of the population of Crimea.That would be true in Transnistria as well,” said Rojansky, who warned that the economic strategies initiated by Moldova in 2009 have not been given sufficient time to work.

“Rushing that process, trying to artificially force Moldova into a Western mold without having brought the economy up to Western standards, isn’t going to do an authentic job of persuading Transnistria to come back to Moldova,” he said. “Those who are cynical will remain cynical, and those who are scared will remain scared.”

Munteanu remains firm that his country’s future lies with Europe and says his government must overcome Moscow’s “propaganda campaign against the EU, the West and the United States” to convey this message to the public ahead of November’s parliamentary elections.

“Identity is a very important force in my country, as it is in Georgia, Ukraine and the Baltics,” the ambassador said. “We want to call ourselves Europeans, but we also want to have a country that’s fully integrated with the European Union.

“Every step that we achieve in driving

Moldova closer to the EU is not a gift, but a result of laborious work, strategic vision and considerable sacrifices. The fact is that our close friends and neighbors — Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czechs and Slovaks — succeeded in joining the EU through an intense effort of national cohesion,” he added.“Poland is a brilliant example of how difficult their previous experience was. But it’s also shown very successful growth, a stable currency and responsibility for its neighbors.”

However, that hasn’t convinced everyone in Moldova that embracing Europe is the right course to take.“In the last few years, because of propaganda from Russia, there’s been an increase in the percentage of those who don’t want to be part of the EU,” Munteanu conceded, citing a recent poll showing only a 44 percent level of support for a Moldova-EU accord.That compares with 40 percent for a customs union with Russia.

“I don’t believe you can equate this customs union with the sophistication of the EU,” Munteanu argued.“It’s absolute nonsense, but if you repeat this nonsense enough times, it becomes reality in the minds of the public.”

He’s equally dismissive of Transnistria’s longstanding push to join Russia. In a 2006 referendum, 97 percent of the people of Transnistria voted for independence — but Munteanu insists this is simply a way for locals to extract money from the central government in Chisinau.

“In fact, they already held five consecutive referendums in the past two decades, and every time the effective result of their effort is to … stir public support for purely populist purposes.

Usually, they use the referendums to extort additional resources from Moscow, or attempt to get various concessions from the Moldovan government,” he said. “They trade as a legal entity of Moldova, since they are not recognized by anybody.They use Moldovan customs documents to export, but they don’t pay any taxes. We are happy to provide them legal status, because it is our policy to reintegrate Transnistria. This is a part of indivisible and sovereign Moldova. We cannot give up, because we have a legal responsibility to the citizens of this region.”

But Munteanu said crime is spiraling out of control in Transnistria because it’s not completely under Moldovan control. He charges that the region is plagued by gangs that regularly close down schools and extort money from local businesses. (To be fair, Moldova itself has a serious crime problem, with rampant corruption and human trafficking.)

“The gangs are protected by the Russian peacekeepers. We cannot go there and prosecute because this would be seen as a war. We

The Botanica District is one of the five sectors in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.

need to evacuate Russian troops and restore our authority in the region,” Munteanu said, adding that,“Moldova has a responsibility for its citizens living in Transnistria. But in practical terms, because it’s a separate entity, we cannot apply our laws.”

The ambassador also claims Putin is stirring up ethnic tensions to keep Moldova from reaching out to the West.

“As our friends in the U.S. say, a lot of propaganda and a little maskirovka [deception] incited the population to rebel,” he said. “It’s mainly about geopolitics. The aim of the Russians is to have control over the same space as the Soviet Union.”

See MoLDoVa, page 20

MISSION PARTNER OF

Pristine Seas Expeditions

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May 2014

That, of course, is precisely what Moscow accuses the United States and Europe of doing — using NATO to encircle Russia and erode its influence in its own backyard.

Moldova, though, doesn’t seem intimidated by Putin’s bluster. As if to thumb his nose at Moscow, Prime Minister Iurie Leancă visited Washington in March to launch a strategic dialogue with U.S. officials that focuses on three pillars: trade, energy and security. And in June 2012, seven lawmakers inaugurated the Moldova Congressional Caucus, which is chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Despite the growing ties,

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International Affairs

Investment

Passports for a Price: Nations Sell Citizenship to Rich Investors

by Karin Zeitvogel

A

round 10 years ago when I interviewed Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former Polish President Lech Wałęlesa, he let me in on his plan for bringing investors into Poland: Offer wealthy investors permanent residency in Poland or a Polish passport, i.e. citizenship, in exchange for $1 million up front, the purchase of property and the investment of a significant amount of zlotys per year.

I laughed.Wałęsa laughed, and I thought I detected a tongue in his cheek.

But less than a decade after that interview, which was conducted ahead of the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Solidarity trade union that Wałęsa helped to found, Wałęsa’s words are proving to be prophetic.

Indeed, the tiny nation of Malta — known for its knights, its medieval towns carved into hillsides rising from the Mediterranean Sea and a Humphrey Bogart Photo: Creative Shot Photography / iStock movie about a private eye (“The Maltese Falcon”) — States as well.

Applicants to the program have to go through an will sell you citizenship.

Freedom of movement within the EU is a big selling “authorised registered mandatary” such as the Chetcuti So, too, will the countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Cyprus, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Bulgaria, Grenada, point for European countries’ citizenship-through- Cauchi law firm.

They also have to invest €650,000, most of which Hungary and Slovakia, according to Henley & Partners, investment programs. Henley & Partners says Bulgaria although the last four do not come recommended by claims in its ads for its residency program — similar to goes into a development and social fund for the island the firm, which describes itself as a “global leader in a citizenship program but which only confers perma- nation, and buy a property for at least €350,000 or lease one for €16,000 a year — both of which residence and citizenship planning” caterseem very reasonable to someone who ing to the affluent of the world.

Initially, Malta wanted to sell citizenship to wealthy lives in the D.C. area. The property has to Henley pans Bulgaria’s citizenship probe held on to for at least five years. gram for being “unclear and untested” and investors for 650,000 euros ($880,000), but the Then … applicants have to invest at not giving applicants the benefits it claims least €150,000 in bonds or shares in Malta to, and the firm describes the country European Union complained that that cheapened and hold on to those for five years. They itself as the poorest in the European can’t simply choose the investments themEU citizenship and would likely bring less-thanUnion and “one of the most corrupt.” selves:They have to be “sanctioned by the Applicants for Hungarian citizenship have desirable types into Europe. government as beneficial to the island,” to take a test about Hungarian constituJean-Philippe Chetcuti says on his firm’s tional matters in the Hungarian language and have to live in the country for eight years before nent residency on successful applicants — that perma- website. “The total investment to be made by applithey can become citizens. Grenada’s program is only of nent residents of the country can travel visa-free cants for Citizenship by Investment would be of interest to people wishing to live in the Caribbean throughout Europe.“In fact, it does not give the right to €1.15m,” says Chetcuti Cauchi. travel in any EU country other than Bulgaria, as it is not But just having that sort of money is not enough to island state, and Slovakia’s program is “too expensive a Schengen member state,” Henley says. (Bulgaria said in buy you the right to Maltese citizenship. and onerous for most clients compared to other January that it expects to be ready to join the Schengen Applicants also have to prove they do not have a options.” contagious illness (they doubtless mean illnesses more Those “other options” include Malta’s new program, area in 2017, 10 years after it joined the EU.) Malta, however, is a Schengen country. Under pres- severe than the common cold, but it might be a good which has stirred some controversy among the Mediterranean island state’s European neighbors. sure from the EU to tighten up its citizenship-for-a-price idea to suck on some zinc lozenges before applying, Initially, Malta wanted to sell citizenship to wealthy offer, Malta, at the end of January, not only upped the just in case) and a clean criminal record. And, perhaps price of a Maltese passport but also added a new condi- most daunting, applicants have to undergo a “fit and investors for 650,000 euros ($880,000), but the European Union complained that that cheapened EU tion to what it calls its Individual Investor Programme proper” test to determine if they are the fine, upstandcitizenship and would likely bring less-than-desirable — namely that Maltese wannabes have to “provide ing citizens that Malta is seeking to attract to the types into Europe who, once in Malta, which is in the proof that he/she has resided in Malta for a period of at island.

That presumably does not include the thousands of EU’s visa-free Schengen borderless zone, could travel least 12 months” before they can be issued with a certificate of naturalization. refugees and asylum-seekers, many of them from Africa and work anywhere else in the Schengen area of The program is designed to attract “affluent persons and the Middle East, fleeing instability back home on Europe, without hassle. A Maltese passport holder could also in theory live in any of the bloc’s 28 mem- of impeccable standing and repute,” according to the rickety boats to find safety on the shores of Malta. In ber states and be afforded visa-free travel to the United Maltese legal and financial firm Chetcuti Cauchi. recent years, the tiny island has been swamped by

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May 2014

immigrants trying to reach Europe but has received scant help from European officials. Yet the country’s citizenship scheme hasn’t escaped the attention of human rights groups, who criticize the government for favoring the super-rich over desperate refugees.

Of course, Malta is hardly alone in trying to court lucrative investors. In addition to the countries mentioned earlier that also offer citizenship in exchange for money, more than a dozen — including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Dubai, Hong Kong, Austria and Switzerland — offer programs that allow investors with deep pockets to obtain permanent residency.

Henley & Partners singles out the two citizenship-by-investment programs in the Caribbean states of Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis for being the “only two countries which offer legal and clearly defined programs on a statutory basis.”

In Dominica, citizenship is available for $100,000 for a single person, or $200,000 for a family of four or more. St. Kitts offers potential citizens the option of investing in an “officially approved” real estate development, which has to be valued at $400,000 or more, or making a contribution of at least $250,000 (for a single person) to the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation.

Both would be beautiful places to live in but don’t come with the Maltese perk of visa-free travel in most of the EU. Nevertheless, Henley calls the citizenship-byinvestment program in St. Kitts & Nevis “clearly … the most attractive” option that’s currently available.

Antigua and Barbuda has also been wading into the business, welcoming its first citizen by investment when a Syrian businessman and his family were granted citizenship in the island nation. In a statement, the government of Antigua and

Photo: Erik1980 / Wikimedia Commons

The Blue Lagoon and Cominetto Island are picturesque tourist attractions in Malta. Another major attraction for foreigners: The tiny Mediterranean island recently began selling passports to wealthy investors, drawing the ire of European Union officials who said the move cheapens EU citizenship.

Barbuda said the family had been granted citizenship through a contribution to the National Development Fund (estimated to be around $250,000).

But if islands aren’t your thing, you could always consider Austria, Henley says.

Austria will grant citizenship to large investors, according to the firm. The Austrians deny this is the case and Henley admits that “only very few cases are approved each year.” But essentially the government can “reward foreign persons with citizenship in the event of extraordinary merit,” Henley says on its website.“This may take various

forms, including economic ones, and can include investment or other economic benefit brought to Austria. However, citizenship is not granted on the basis of investment alone.”

Investment is all it takes to get permanent residency in one of the most attractive locations of all, the United States. Under the EB-5 visa program, foreign investors who plunk down $1 million (or $500,000 in a high unemployment or rural area) toward a commercial venture that will employ 10 full-time U.S. workers can obtain permanent residency.

According to a report in the Washington Post,

the program has dispensed nearly 30,000 visas since it began in 1992, bringing in $6.8 billion in investment and supporting 50,000 American jobs.

The program’s popularity has been steadily increasing, with the bulk of visas going to wealthy Chinese investors looking for the stability, nice schools and general lifestyle that the United States has to offer.

Even the D.C. area has benefited from the program:The Marriott Marquis Hotel is one of several city projects that has received EB-5 funds. Cases of fraud, though, have been reported, and then there’s always the rather unsavory aspect of selling the American way of life to rich foreigners.

Then again, there are those who don’t pass go when they’re looking for a new passport, and don’t pay $200 to anyone.They’re movie stars and athletes like South African runner Zola Budd, who was given a British passport within weeks in 1984 so that she could compete for Britain in the L.A. Olympic Games, and, more recently, French actor Gérard Depardieu, who fled high taxes in France and ended up in Russia after President Vladimir Putin offered him citizenship.

Budd’s British passport came through in two weeks. For most applicants, the process took a year. The waif-like barefoot runner went on to crash out of the 3,000-meter race at the Olympics along with America’s sweetheart and gold-medal hopeful, Mary Decker Slaney.

Depardieu went from French to Russian in less than one month and was handed his certificate of nationality by Putin himself. And in February, Russia’s government drafted a bill that would grant citizenship to foreigners who invest at least 10 million rubles in the country — a relative bargain at $285,000.

Karin Zeitvogel is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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from page 17

Moldova

at present, Moldova’s annual trade with the United States comes to a paltry $100 million, compared to $1 billion in trade with Ukraine.

Still, Munteanu insists that his country’s relations with the United States are of “existential importance” to Moldova.

“It’s a matter of life or death for us,” said the ambassador. “With a longstanding history of supporting democratic transitions, the United States was seen as a true defender of the Credit: DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison, U.S. Air Force democratic West in two world wars, a At left, soldiers in the Moldovan Army stand at attention, recognized global counterweight to while above, a statue of Lenin sits in front of a government totalitarian andisamade clear to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and NOTE:Soviet Although everystate effort building in Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, a sliver of land victor content of the Cold Today, the it is War. ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. that declared its independence from Moldova in 1990 but is United States continues to project its power across the transatlantic rim not recognized by any nation.

The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes and is keen to defend its allies in will beEurope. billed” at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. because of this dependence. That’s why we want to Photo: http://www.marisha.net/tiraspol.htm / Wikimedia Commons become part of a network of energy suppliers in The ambassador said John Kerry’s Please2013 check this ad carefully. any changes Europe. We see a lot of benefit for U.S. companies comDecember visit to Moldova was “a sign of Mark solidarity” immeSometo55your percentad. of the country’s exports already go to the EU. diately after the Third Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Until 2006, about 80 percent of its wine went to Russia, but that ing into Moldova and developing this market. But we certainly Lithuania, in late November.

Moscow slapped a ban on Moldovan and Georgian wines to need to do more work to attract strategic investments.”

If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs year, changes Yet Munteanu, whose term as ambassador expires in four While that summit moved Moldova punish both countries for pursuing anti-Russian policies. Today, one step closer to the EU, Munteanu says, Moldovan wines go mostly to Western Europe, the United States months, is under no illusions that either Americans or Europeans The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 will go to war to defend tiny Moldova.

“There are no shortcuts for integrating and China.

“We understand that nobody will intervene in military terms to Moldova into the EU without making “We have shifted trade from East to West, now that the EU has necessary adjustments. Our counterparts lifted restrictions on our wine exports,” Munteanu said. In addi- stop an invasion,” he told us. “Our most important objective is to Approved __________________________________________________________ To read the extended in the State Department understand very tion,“we are building alternative gas pipelines with Romania as an create local capabilities to defend our countries and create a uniinterview with the Changes ___________________________________________________________ well that an invitation to join the EU will alternative to [Russian natural gas giant] Gazprom. Right now, 100 fied front.” ambassador, visit ___________________________________________________________________ transform the country, like it did for our percent of our gas comes from Russia and 70 percent of our elecus online.

Central European neighbors.” tricity from neighboring countries. Of course we are vulnerable Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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May 2014

Economics

Latin America

Four Latin American Envoys Tout Power of Pacific Pumas

by Larry Luxner

M

“

ove over, Asian tigers. It looks like the four so-called “Pacific Pumas” — Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru — have become the latest darlings of the investor crowd.

The four have joined forces as the Alianza del Pacifico (Pacific Alliance), a trade bloc boasting a combined population of 215 million and GDP of $2.2 trillion. Together, the four countries represent nearly 36 percent of Latin America’s total GDP and just over half of its foreign trade.

“Moisés Naím has called this the most important alliance you’ve never heard of,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society-Council of the Americas (AS-COA), quoting the prominent global thinker and syndicated columnist. “Direct, concrete steps have already been accomplished, and the United States recognizes the importance of developing an economic relationship with the Pacific Pumas.”

Farnsworth was one of eight speakers at a March 13 panel that analyzed why these four emerging markets are so appealing to foreign investors. The event, co-sponsored by AS-COA and the Bertelsmann Foundation, featured three ambassadors — Colombia’s Luis Carlos Villegas, Mexico’s Eduardo Medina Mora Icaza and Peru’s Harold W. Forsyth.

The puma is a powerful, fast, agile animal that’s efficient and resourceful…. We think it’s a fitting mascot for the emergence of Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile.

”

— Samuel George project manager for the Bertelsmann Foundation

Also on the panel: Mauricio Hurtado, chargé d’affaires at the Chilean Embassy; Annette Heuser, executive director of the Bertelsmann Foundation; Samuel George, the foundation’s project manager; and Antoni Estevadeordal, manager of the integration and trade sector at the InterAmerican Development Bank.

“The puma is a powerful, fast, agile animal that’s efficient and resourceful.

This new-world cat can thrive in mountainous highlands and humid rainforests.

We think it’s a fitting mascot for the emergence of Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile,” said George in introducing his

52-page study, titled “The Pacific Pumas: An Emerging (Pacific Alliance) Model for Emerging Markets.”

George said this new model contrasts sharply with Brazil’s disappointing growth, Argentina’s looming sovereign default and Venezuela’s worsening economic chaos, all of which have dominated regional news coverage in recent months.

“Let’s face it. Since the global financial crisis, areas of optimism have been few and fleeting. Whenever we hear about Latin America, it’s generally negative,” he said.

“This study suggests that quietly, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru have taken big strides toward stabilizing their macroeconomic foundations, making major inroads against poverty.The Pacific Alliance has created quite a buzz in Washington. If there’s one thing we can take from this conversation today, it’s that the momentum of these four countries is about more than an incipient integration pact. We believe these four have made advancements that go far beyond the scope of the Pacific Alliance.”

At present, 30 nations have official observer status within the alliance, including 10 European Union members. And in February, Costa Rica signed a declaration of intent to join the bloc, a procedure estimated to last about a year.

“It will mean a tremendous added value when Costa Rica joins,” said Peru’s Forsyth. “In digital technology, it’s probably the most advanced of all our countries, and its services sector has a lot to offer.”

Such regional integration has long been elusive for Latin America, where summits and groupings come and go with much fanfare but little measurable effect.

“The region is burdened by a heavy load of institutional debris accumulated over decades of speeches and summits.

The great majority of these multilateral organizations quickly faded into irrelevance, but only a few small ones have been closed or defunded,” Naím wrote in his February 2014 article on the Pumas for The Atlantic.

“The surprise, however, is that the Pacific Alliance has already yielded more

Photo: Dabackgammonator / Wikimedia Commons

results in its 20 months of existence than similar initiatives that have been around for decades,” he added. “The four countries have eliminated 92 percent of all import tariffs among them. Chile, Colombia, and Peru have linked their stock markets so that a company listed in one of the exchanges can be traded in the other two. Mexico is expected to follow suit this year, meaning this integrated stock market will rival that of Brazil as the largest in Latin America…. In a break with tradition, the joint communiqués of Alliance presidents tend to be brief and concrete in terms of goals, timelines, and roadmaps.”

The reason why investors are optimistic that this alliance will endure where others have failed is that the Pumas represent some of the most successful, stable and liberalized economies in the region.

Coining a new buzzword — “pumanomics” — George said that despite overall turbulence in emerging markets worldwide, the four signatories to the alliance have enjoyed low inflation and strong growth.

“In Mexico, we’ve seen their willingness to address long-term bottlenecks even at the expense of short-term growth,” he pointed out. “In Colombia, we’re seeing important steps toward establishing a lasting peace. For mid-size emerging mar-

May 2014

The Mexican Stock Exchange rises above Mexico City. A 2013 report by the World Bank found that Mexico was among the top 50 economies in the world that improved business regulation the most since 2005.

kets like Peru or Chile, it’s imperative to find a niche in global trade. Even as the Doha Round has sputtered, these countries have created linkages the world over.”

Significantly, all four have free trade agreements with the United States, Canada and the 28-member European Union, while China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and India have all concluded FTAs with at least two of the Pumas. In addition, Mexico, Peru and Chile are actively participating in current talks for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Since 2005, economic growth in the four countries (with the exception of 2009, a year of global economic chaos) has exceeded 5.5 percent.That compares favorably to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose 10 member states averaged 4.8 percent growth over the same period.

The four Pumas also take the top four slots in the World Bank’s latest “Ease of Doing Business” survey for Latin America,

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 21

Continued from previous page and inflation has remained quite low, ranging from 1.7 percent in Chile to 3.6 percent in Mexico last year.

“These countries are far from perfect.Violence, corruption, urban and rural poverty remain a fact of life for millions, and this study does not shy away from that. But thanks to good work and timing, these four countries have a golden opportunity,” George said. “It’s not about how many FTAs you have on paper, but how many jobs you can turn them into.”

Meeting Feb. 10 in the Colombian port city of Cartagena, the four nations’ heads of state agreed to abolish 92 percent of tariffs on goods and services traded between them within a year.

Tariffs on the remaining 8 percent — consisting of sensitive agricultural products like bananas, coffee and beans — will be phased out over a 17-year period.

“We have moved forward,”declared Colombian Ambassador Villegas, commenting on the Puma designation.“I want to be around when we move to the whales and lions.”

Animal mascots aside, Villegas says it’s hard to overestimate the weight of this alliance, which seeks to counter the protectionist policies of Latin America’s other leading trade bloc, Mercosur (consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela, with Bolivia as an associate member).

“This is the most important effort at Latin American integration in 100 years,” said Colombia’s envoy. “Fate brought together four heads of state who had the political will and internal muscle to take decisions that would open their economies in trade, investments and services. Now, for the first time, we’re trying to do business together in places like Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa — to have our trade officers work together and get investments for all four countries instead of just one.”

Page 22

Photo: AgainErick / Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Cantus / Wikimedia Commons

The Costanera Center, a business and commercial complex, looms over Santiago, Chile, above, while pictured at right are the Parliament building in Lima and the port in Puerto del Callao, both in Peru.

Added Mexico’s Medina Mora: “This is not a run-of-the-mill trade initiative. It’s not political, but it’s also no accident that we think alike. The Pacific Alliance members mean what they say, and then do what they say they’ll do.”

Forsyth said efforts to integrate have come in spurts since 1960, when seven countries established the Latin American Free Trade Association in Montevideo, Uruguay. By 1980 — with the addition of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela — it had reorganized into the Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración, or ALADI.

Photo: Alex E. Proimos / www.flickr.com/people/proimos/

But unlike the Pacific Alliance, ALADI sought the elimination of tariffs only on goods — not services — and its members did not coordinate policies.

“The reality is that tremendous damage caused by the debt crisis destroyed our options for integration in the 1980s,” Forsyth said. “We felt we had no future.”

Gradually, he said,“We began seeing the future as a challenge, and a few of us began to exchange views. As we began sound economic policies in our own countries, the next step was to think, ‘Why don’t we start working together?’”

It’s clear that efforts by the four Pumas to tap into global trade have paid off. Spurred by strong copper prices, Chile’s trade with China jumped from $1.34 billion in 2000 to $17.94 billion in 2012, according to the Bertelsmann report.

Peruvian exports to China, meanwhile, increased 42 percent between 2010 and 2012.

Mexican trade with the United States has risen more than 500 percent in the first 20 years of NAFTA, while Colombian exports are up nearly 50 percent just since 2010. It’s significant that the United States now exports more to Mexico than to China, Brazil, Russia and India combined. It also exports more to the Pacific Alliance countries than it does to the EU. Chile’s Hurtado said the alliance can act as an important bridge between Latin America and the entire Asia-Pacific basin, and he promised that Michelle Bachelet — who served as president from 2006 to 2010 and was inaugurated president in March for a second term — will continue its “pragmatic, non-antagonistic” approach toward other integration mechanisms while striving for social equality at all levels.

“For many years, there have been demands to achieve a fairer society, and the new Bachelet administration will allocate a great deal of effort to achieve those goals in coming years,” he said.

“Integration with Latin America is going to occupy a big part of our foreign policy efforts.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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Follow The Diplomat Connect at www.washdiplomat.com.

May 2014

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ May 2014

ThErE’S A for ThAT

Children take a bow during the finale performance at Camp Shakespeare.

Eclectic Programs Sneak In Learning to Prevent Summer Brain Drain

by Stephanie Kanowitz

S

PHOTO: CHris TAylOr-lOW

ummer is synonymous with fun, friends and a

and the District provide typical summer day-camp activities

break from the routine of school — at least if

such as arts and crafts, sports and water play, but other

you’re a kid. But many parents worry about

offerings are narrower in their curricula (also see “Area

summer brain drain, or essentially three months away from structured learning.

Offers All Kinds of Camps to Keep All Kinds of Kids Happy” in the May 2012 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

Washington-area camps offer a happy medium — pre-

Whether you, or your children, want a traditional experi-

serving the storied fun associated with summer camp while

ence with outdoor activities and field trips or something more

offering continued education, much of it focused on areas

specific such as language immersion or robotics, there’s a

that kids are drawn to and want to learn more about. The

camp for that. Here’s a look at some, organized by category.

parks and recreation departments of most cities, counties

Continued on next page

■ INSIDE: The Institute of International Education honored more than a dozen universities for breaking boundaries around the world. PAGE 27 ■

EDUCATION May 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page23

through the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria’s Summer Animal Camp (4101 Eisenhower Ave., Alexandria, Va.). Children in grades three through eight will learn about animal welfare and sheltering, local wildlife and careers with animals.The camp runs from June 23 to Aug. 29 and costs $250 per week.

Continued from previous page

Museum-Sponsored Camps At the National Building Museum’s summer camp (401 F St., NW), kids ages 8 to 10 (entering grades three through five in the fall) will learn how buildings stand and why bridges don’t collapse, how to design furniture and public parks, and plan a city of the future.

Electives include LEGO city building, terracotta tile making and designing with food.The camp runs for three two-week sessions from July 7 to Aug. 15 and costs $650 per session for museum members, $700 for nonmembers.

Language Immersion Camps

The Académie du Français (5749 Governors Pond Circle, Photo: Anne McDonough / National Building Museum Staff Alexandria, Va.) provides full-day Photo: International School of Languages Students learn about sustainability at the National Building French immersion camp for all levels of proficiency in June and Nature and Animal Camps The International School of Languages Museum.

July for $375. Each week focuses offers a Spanish immersion camp for The National Zoo’s Summer Safari Day children ages 3.5 to 12.

Camp (3001 Connecticut Ave., NW) provides a week of nature exploration on a different theme, such as art, soccer and theater.

The International School of Languages (7906 Woodmont for kindergartners through seventh-graders.

NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and Campers will examine animals by geography Ave., Bethesda, Md.) is offering a Spanish immersion camp program this content it is ultimately up to the and customer to make the final proof. summer for children ages 3.5 to 12. Campers practice the language habitat, learn about what they eat, learn through academic activities, songs, games, culture, cooking and outdoor how to care for them, and check out animals play. Prices range from $200 per week for a half day to $330 a week for The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, in the context of popular moviessubsequent such as “Ice changes a full day. Camp runs from June 16 through July.

Age” and “Dr. Dolittle. ” Sessions run from June will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration.

Signed ads are considered approved.

Kids and Culture Camp (33 Riggs Road, NE) was established in 2010 23 to Aug. 15 and cost $305 for zoo members to introduce children to international affairs at an early age. Kids ages 3 $382 for nonmembers for atofour-day Please check this ad carefully.andMark any changes yoursesad. to 12 will learn this year about Thailand, Southeastern U.S., Ghana and sion or $380 and $475, respectively, for five Puerto Rico through nature, music, history, language, art, science, math days.

If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes The Rock Creek Park Horse Center (5100 and literature. The weeklong sessions run from June 23 to July 18 and Glover Road, NW) lets adults and those as cost $170 each.

The Washington Diplomat

(301) 933-3552 young as 4 years old practice their equine

Photo: Animal Welfare League of Alexandria

The Animal Welfare League of Alexandria hosts a summer camp for kids interested in animals.

skills with demonstrations, hands-on barn activities and riding lessons. They also learn Approved __________________________________________________________ how to stay safe around horses and how to Changes ___________________________________________________________ care for the animals. Prices range from $350 to $800 based on age level and session. ___________________________________________________________________ Lovers of the four-legged kind can do good and learn at the same time

Sports Camps Circle Yoga’s Budding Yogis summer camp (3838 Northampton St., NW) is celebrating its 12th year of offering camp to kids who want to run and play but also spend time practicing yoga. A typical camp day includes mindful yoga and movement, arts and crafts, park playtime, camp games, relaxation and journaling. Camp counselors will create a

Photo: Kids and Culture Camp

Kids and Culture Camp was established in 2010 to introduce children to international affairs at an early age.

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EDUCATION

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yoga journal with pictures of the kids in the poses they learn to make practice at home easy. Sessions run June 23 to Aug. 22 and cost $250 per week for half days (ages 4 to 7) and $365 each for full days (ages 6 to 12).

Science Camps Dig archaeology? At the Alexandria Archaeology Summer Camp (105 N. Union St., Alexandria, Va.), offered by the city of Alexandria, kids ages 12 to 15 help archaeologists excavate a real archaeological site at Fort Ward Historical Park from July 21 to 25.

The site is part of a former African American neighborhood that included a schoolhouse, church and homes. Children will wash and analyze their findings in the laboratory at the Alexandria Archaeological Museum in Old Town, and on the last day of camp, they will explain their work and discoveries to their families.The cost is $400.

At the C3 Cyber Club’s summer camp (44710 Cape Court #118, Ashburn, Va.), kids will learn about robotics, game design and programming. The club also has the latest games and gaming consoles for kids to use during breaks, and more than 20 plasma Photo: Alexandria Archaeology screens connect to Wii and Xbox 360 for campers’ Children excavate a real archaeological site use, too.The half-day SummerTech program is open to at Alexandria Archaeology Summer Camp. kindergartners through eighth-graders for $225 per week from June 16 to Aug. 29. The full-day camp, for the same ages, offers the same as the half-day program but also laser tag, field trips, twice-weekly trips to pools and water parks, gymnastics, mini golf, self-defense, indoor and outdoor sports, and 40-minute sessions dedicated to one-on-one math or reading practice. The cost ranges from $225 to $275 per week depending on camp length.

For kids who want just robots, there’s Infamous Robotics summer camp (4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Va.), where kids ages 7 to 12 can earn a robotics certificate while working in a lab at George Mason University. At Robotics Engineering Expansion Summer Camp 1 and 2, kids need no previous experience to learn electrical, mechanical and software concepts with a focus on electrical circuits; each child will build and test an electrical robot. In the 3 and 4 group for ages

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Continued from previous page 8 to 12, students learn about motors, gears and torque in addition to programming a robot using C language. Each student will learn to build a robot and program it to accomplish a task.The camp runs from June 16 to Aug. 7 and costs $438 per session for level 1 and 2 and $610 per session for 3 and 4.

Creative Arts Camps This year, Camp Creativity at the Corcoran College of Art and Design (500 17th St., NW) accepts preschoolers as young as 3. Offered at four locations in D.C., students are exposed to traditional and contemporary art in addition to artists from various time periods and homelands. Kid Pan Alley is the final weeklong session for 5- to 16-year-olds where students participate in a songwriting workshop. The costs Photo: UpCycle Creative Reuse Center start at $250 per session.

Kids attending UpCycle Creative Reuse Children make art out of reusable materials at Center’s Fun with Junk camp (1712 Mount UpCycle Creative Reuse Center’s Fun with Junk Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Va.) make art out of camp. reusable materials.Activities vary by session and include sculpting, painting and sewing. Open to ages 3 through 8, Fun with Junk starts June 2 and ends Aug. 29 and costs $240 per session.

Music and Performing Arts Camps Bach to Rock, a soon-to-be nationwide music and voice school, offers music camps for ages 4 and up at its eight area locations, including Bethesda in Maryland and Herndon and McLean in Virginia. Options include Rock Band, which places students in a band depending on age and skill le vel. Weekly sessions end with a public performance and the recording of a CD. Other camp subsets teach students how to record a demo and set up a press kit, how to be a deejay, and how to use mixing technology.

Camp dates and costs vary by location and program.

Photo: Bach to Rock

Bach to Rock offers music camps for ages 4 and up at its eight area locations.

Budding ballerinas can train at the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and Academy’s camp (10076 Darnestown Road, Suite 202, Rockville, Md.).

Open to ages 4 to 18, students will learn about more than ballet, however. Jazz, hip hop, modern and international dances are also covered. The price starts at $120 per week for the littlest dancers and peaks at $395 per week for the more advanced. Camp runs from June 16 to Aug. 22.

If your child is destined for stage and screen, consider Camp Shakespeare at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. The $725 twoweek sessions (available June 16 to Aug. 9) plunge fans ages 7 to 18 into all things Bard. Actor wannabes work to understand Shakespeare’s plays and develop acting skills using voice, movement and improvisation work. Each session ends with a performance for family and friends.

Old-School Camps

A popular type of camp is a sleep-away one, but your kids don’t have to go far to get the experience. Camp Horizons (3586 Horizons Way, Harrisonburg, Va.) is situated in the Blue Ridge Mountains only two hours from D.C. and accepts kids ages 6 to 17.

Activities at this coed camp include aquatics, outdoor adventures, horseback riding, and performing and visual arts. Camp runs from June 22 to Aug. 16.The price for one week is $1,150; for all eight weeks, it’s $7,500.

If it’s good enough to educate both of President Obama’s daughters and the offspring of several other leaders dating back to Theodore Roosevelt, it’s probably well suited for camp, too. Sidwell Friends School’s Sidwell Summer (3825 Wisconsin Ave., NW) accepts students ages 3 to 18 at its D.C. and Bethesda campuses. Choose from day camps, sports camps, academic programs and specialty camps that focus on machine sewing, Lego engineering or community service. Rates start at $275 for halfday camp. Start dates vary by camp type.

Sleep (Far) Away Camp For kids ages 11 to 19 with a bit of wanderlust, there’s the ultimate sleep-away camp: CISV International Summer Travel Program (formerly Children’s International Summer Villages). Eleven-year-olds participate in a four-week-long Village program, which consists of a delegation of two boys and two girls who meet representatives from 11 other countries at a campsite somewhere in the world. Activities at the campsite include games, music and crafts, but each delegation also makes a presentation about its culture on National Night. Other perks include a home stay with a family in the host nation.

Options for older kids include the three-week Step Up program and Interchange, an exchange of four-week-long home visits in two consecutive summers.The objective of all the programs is to foster an understanding of and interest in different cultures.This year, Village will meet in Cebu, Philippines; Tromsø, Norway; or São Paulo, Brazil, depending on the dates (June 27 to July 31). Step Up will meet in Trondelag, Norway, or Lisbon, Portugal (June 20 to Aug. 16). Interchange will take place in Graz, Austria, between July 2 and 31. Each level costs $3,075.

Stephanie Kanowitz is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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[ collaboration ]

Winning Strategies Andrew Heiskell Awards Honor Innovators in International Education

Photo: Clemson University

Students from the Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries program work with their Haitian counterparts to develop a municipal water filtration and distribution system in Haiti’s Central Plateau.

T

by Carolyn Cosmos

he Institute of International Education (IIE) announced its 2014 Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education on Jan. 27, lauding 13 university and college campuses worldwide among more than 1,200 higher education institutions.

The four award categories honor outstanding initiatives in study abroad programs; internationalizing a campus; internationalizing a community college; and international partnerships. They are meant to draw attention to initiatives breaking boundaries and going, metaphorically and literally, where faculty and students haven’t gone before. Honorees included schools from Wisconsin, India, British Columbia, Michigan, Poland, Mexico,Texas and elsewhere.

Six of this year’s winners focus on STEM studies in science, technology, engineering and math. Another winning program offers MBA degrees for working adults who find it difficult to travel because of job or family commitments. And one honoree has created a successful but rarely attempted study-abroad program for college freshmen.

The chosen projects are meant to be models that provide adoptable strategies for colleges and universities worldwide.The awards were presented as part of a best practices conference — held in New York City on March 14 — where the winners offered practical program descriptions to an audience of campus leaders and education professionals.

Here are some highlights of this year’s honorees and what they’re doing to revolutionize international education:

EDUCATION May 2014

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Georgetown University

Continued from previous page

Clemson Brings Clean Water to Haiti

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The study abroad winner is Clemson University’s Haiti Initiative fielded by the Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries (CEDC) program. A public science and engineering institution that offers more than 100 graduate degree programs, Clemson is located near the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina.

Its study abroad director, Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, called CEDC’s Haiti Initiative “an innovative student-directed program that began as an applied engineering program, but now also integrates civic engagement and extends across disciplines to improve the quality of life and work toward a sustainable future for the village of Cange in Haiti’s Central Plateau,” he said, noting that the project has directly impacted over 10,000 Haitians and works with Zanmi Lasante, a local nongovernmental health-care provider.

“The program created its first service-learning experience in the fall of 2009 with seven civil engineering students, who focused on the design for a municipal water filtration and distribution system in Haiti’s Central Plateau,” Raychaudhuri explained.

“A few months later, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Port-au-Prince. The devastation resulted in thousands of Haitians relocating to the Central Plateau.

The surge in population, coupled with a subsequent outbreak of cholera, placed increased pressure on the student team to complete the water filtration system.”

As a result, CEDC branched out to form its first interdisciplinary collaboration with Clemson’s Department of Public Health Sciences and Biosystems Engineering.

Speaking at the New York City conference in March, Jennifer Ogle, an associate professor of civil engineering at Clemson, said that to date the Haiti Initiative has implemented $1.7 million in projects, including the largest municipal water system in the Central Plateau, which is “the first chlorinated system in all of Haiti.” Completed in 2012 with eight public fountains, it removes the need for the population of 3,500 to walk up a mountain to fetch all of their water.

The initiative is branching out into waste management, and students have developed a latrine system that cleans waste and produces methane gas as a byproduct, with the hope of using it as a local fuel source.

Funders for the initiative include the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South

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www.stjames.edu

May 2014

“We are like-minded partners [with Wyzsza Szkola Bankowa in Poland]….

We’re both extremely entrepreneurial and fast moving, and we learned from each other.”

— Doug Ross, Global MBA program chair at Franklin University in Ohio

Engineering a Successful Partnership

Photo: University of Michigan

The University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have been collaborating since 2006 to run a common engineering curriculum.

Carolina, students and industry partners. “One hundred percent of the money goes to projects, [which is] attractive to NGO partners,” Ogle noted.

The program is led mostly by students on the Clemson end, with help from industry and faculty partners, and has attracted 30 majors from all five Clemson colleges.

Students refine, research and propose solutions, then lab test them and work with the community on implementation, says Ogle. Student passion drives the program. They come up with the ideas and they are accountable for the results.

Two or three interns live in Haiti year round, and about a dozen travel there periodically, but the remainder of the 90 students meet weekly and interact with their peers in Haiti on a daily basis.

Ogle said Clemson has fully embraced the CEDC program, whose new slogan is: “We are serving the developing world and developing those who serve — our students.”

Top honors in the international partnerships category went to a collaboration between the University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China that dates to 2006 and runs a common engineering curriculum.

James Holloway, vice provost for global and engaged education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, described the ties between the two educational institutions as one of “intellectual sharing” of ideas and resources, rather than financial ties.

The result, called the Joint Institute, is an engineering-oriented college within Jiao Tong University that is home to 20 tenure-track faculty members. Most enrollees are Chinese but the two engineering degrees are offered in English and the curriculum is similar to that at Ann Arbor.

One notable feature of the program is what developers call “student mobility.” Holloway said there is a “tremendous flow of people back and forth” between the U.S. and China, in part because the programs have a common curriculum and language (English). About 350 students come into the program in China annually, and about 100 transfer to Michigan each year to complete their degrees. So far, about 300 American students have gone to China during the summer to take engineering classes at the Joint Institute.

The program is successful, Holloway says, because the two contributors have complementary values. He explained that Chinese personnel get the opportunity to see up close how Michigan organizes a college, a

Continued on next page

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Continued from previous page faculty and staff, as well as the autonomy and responsibility that a U.S. assistant professor has.The College of Engineering at Michigan also has an honor code that serves as a model for the Joint Institute.

“For us, Michigan wanted a place to engage in China for our students; we wanted engineering students studying abroad. They usually don’t,” Holloway said.“We learned that leadership participation is important. Our president has stayed engaged, which doesn’t always happen.”

His final bit of advice:“Keep it simple. Do a few things very well.”

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A partnership between Franklin University in Ohio and Wyzsza Szkola Bankowa (WSB) in Poland earned an honorable mention in this year’s international partnerships category.

WSB is a group of private schools in Poland that offer undergraduate and advanced degrees in business and finance, including an MBA at 10 locations throughout the country. Franklin University is a private university based in Columbus that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees online throughout the United States.

WSB and Franklin both focus on working adults and entered into an academic partnership in 2008 with the initial aim of offering a master’s degree program in business administration to adult students living in Poland. But the relationship evolved into collaborative course designs and faculty exchanges.

“We are like-minded partners,” Doug Ross, associate dean of the Franklin Global MBA program, told the audience in New York City. “We’re both extremely entrepreneurial and fast moving, and we learned from each other.”

He added that both schools are looking to serve the “huge market of individuals who need a different way to get their advanced degrees.”

The secrets to this transatlantic success story, according to Ross, in addition to having similar offerings and serving similar kinds of students, are location, communication and commitment to building a strong relationship with your partner school.

He noted that schools need to have key university officials at each location to get the resources they need. “Good communication is essential. We have ‘country coordinators’ who are in contact all the time,” he said.

Carolyn Cosmos is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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May 2014

MEDICAL ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ May 2014

MOVE ToLIVE research hammers home The Power of Exercise

by Carolyn Cosmos

E

at right and exercise — it’s a mantra doctors have been drilling into people for years. it’s also a tired refrain that most people probably tune right out. But an astonishing accumulation of research in recent years shows that exercise alone can add years and years to your lifespan — and that indolence and overeating are potentially far more fatal than anyone could have imagined.

Continued on next page

PHOTO: MOMCilO gruJiC / isTOCK

MEDICAL May 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 31

Simply sitting for hours, whether working at a desk, watching television or playing video games, can have a huge impact on how long we live and how well we live.

Photo: carlo franco / iStock

“Sitting is the new smoking….

Physical inactivity causes nearly 1 in 10 deaths worldwide, or over 5 million excess and preventable deaths each year.”

— Jeanne Marrazzo professor of allergy and infectious diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine

Continued from previous page When it comes to death and disease,“sitting is the new smoking,” warned Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, a professor of allergy and infectious diseases at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine in Seattle. Rivaling tobacco use as a killer, “physical inactivity causes nearly 1 in 10 deaths worldwide, or over 5 million excess and preventable deaths each year.”

Marrazzo was speaking at the annual Conference on World Affairs, a weeklong forum on global issues held at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She was the first panelist at an April 9 session on health and exercise titled “Walk, Bike, Dance, Bend, Stretch and Run for Your Life.”

Marrazzo did not mince her words: “I see a lot of critically ill people,” she told the gathering, “and the number-one predictor of mortality is obesity.”

A related predictor, she added, is metabolic syn-

drome, a group of risk factors that raises the chance for heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other diseases — factors such as a large waistline, high blood pressure and too much fat in the blood (triglycerides).

Inactivity combined with too much fat — or the wrong kind in the wrong place, such as your belly — make for a “metabolic disaster,” Marrazzo said.

Simply sitting for hours, whether working at a desk, watching television or driving a car — the very things most of us do each day — can have a huge impact on how long we live and how well we live.

More surprisingly, your risk doesn’t diminish with regular exercise, which can’t undo the damage done by being sedentary for long periods of time.

In February 2014, Dorothy Dunlop, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University, drew attention to the notion of “sitting disease” by demonstrating that sitting eight to 10 hours a day after the age of 60 puts you at risk of disability regardless of how much exercise you get. Dunlop found that every additional hour adults over 60 spend sitting increases their risk — by a stunning 50 percent — of being disabled for common daily activities such as bathing and dressing.

Similarly, in 2013, Richard Rosenkranz of Kansas State University along with researchers in Australia found that people who sit for more than four hours a day are more likely to develop cancer, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure no matter their height, weight, age, income, education or physical activity levels.

Harold Kohl, a researcher at the University of Texas School of Public Health and lead author of a study suggesting that physical inactivity should be recognized as a global pandemic, said the importance of

See Exercise, page 34

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instinct you hold on by your fingertips but unlike skiing, it’s a very slow and methodical process and one of self trust.

Social dance? That’s a shared mental space between two people, while yoga is the sport most explicit about guiding your thoughts and quieting your mind.”

from page 32

Exercise exercise deserves more notice.

“The role of physical inactivity continues to be undervalued despite robust evidence of its protective effects,” he wrote.“The effect of this tardiness has been to put physical activity in reverse gear compared with population trends and advances in tobacco and alcohol control and diet.”

There has been some movement on the issue — but not enough. Sales of so-called standing desks soared in the wake of this “sitting disease” phenomenon, but breaking up sitting with standing doesn’t help much, according to a March 2014 article in Sports Medicine Australia: Instead, you have to move or walk around to achieve real health benefits.

It seems like such a simple prescription for so many complicated ailments — just get up and move. But the benefits of simple, moderate physical activity should not be discounted or minimized. They are real and far-reaching — as are the dangers of sitting around doing nothing.

Brain Booster Jenny Seham, another panelist at the Conference on World Affairs, described the power of simple movement by recounting a personal story. Seham is a dancer and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

“A man walks into his neurologist’s office with his wife — with difficulty,” she said. “He has had Parkinson’s for 10 years. The doctor says to his wife, ‘Has your husband been using his wheelchair?’

“The man replies,‘No, doctor, I wake up two hours early, struggle to get dressed, walk to the bus stop, struggle to get on the bus, the bus takes me to 42nd Street and Times Square, where I get off the bus and walk to my office.

At then at the end of my work day I walk back.’

“The doctor says,‘That’s off the chart — you shouldn’t be able to walk anymore.’ And the man replies,‘Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t read that chart.’

“That man was my father,” Seham revealed.

“He passed away in 2006, was active until then, and was indeed off the Parkinson’s chart. He taught us the value of exercise.”

Research done by the Cleveland Clinic in November 2012 shows how ahead of his time Seham’s father was. Clinic neuroscientist Jay Alberts used brain scans to look at connections between brain regions before and after Parkinson’s patients underwent bicycle exercise sessions three times a week for eight weeks.Their brain connections visibly improved after exercise, his scans demonstrated, and faster pedaling created more significant results.

Other exciting research is equally revealing: Researchers in Taiwan found that exercise reversed age-related cell loss in the brain’s hippocampus, restoring the production of new neurons in middle-age mice.

But how can the hands of time be turned back? In 2013, Harvard Medical School researchers led by Bruce Spiegelman uncovered one possible explanation. They found that during endurance exercise, a hormone called irisin is produced in the brain that improves cognitive function and protects the brain against degeneration, turning on genes involved in memory and learning.

We’ve long known that fat cells pump inflammation chemicals into the body, but now we’re learning that exercise can tamp this mechanism down.This past February, researchers at Georgia Regents University in Augusta

Page 34

From Brain to Body

showed that a fat-generated protein caused brain damage and cognitive deficits in obese mice, but treadmill training alone prevented or reversed both events. That is, exercise neutralized the inflammation, normalizing damaged neurons and improving memory in obese mice.

Moving from mice to men and women has also led to promising results. In 2013, J. Carson Smith of the University of Maryland at College Park linked exercise to better cognition in people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease: Twelve weeks of exercise on a treadmill improved thinking and memory in adults with mild cognitive impairment.

“No study has shown that a drug can do what we showed is possible with exercise,” Smith said.

Exercise works wonders for brains of all ages, although mechanisms differ by age group and activity. Longterm aerobic exercise in young adults 18 to 30 improved both working memory capacity and cognitive control in thinking tasks, according to research published this March by the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain.

Studies have also shown that short-term and long-term exercise trigger different results.

Brief, intense bursts of exercise bring blood to the brain along with more endorphins and neuron activity. In contrast, long-term exercise routines create permanent brain change, including higher levels of new neurons, stronger learning capacities and bigger brain reserves.

Perhaps most arresting of all, researchers in Montreal and San Diego found that as little as 20 minutes of moderate exercise three times a week during pregnancy enhances the newborn brain. “The simple act of exercising during pregnancy could change your child’s future,” said study leader Dave Ellemberg of the University of Montreal.

Exercise can also affect widespread mental disorders found throughout a person’s lifetime.

Anxiety, depression and schizophrenia have all been to shown to respond positively to physical activity. For example, research presented at an American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Denver in 2011 found that 60 percent of study participants with generalized anxiety disorder got rid of their anxiety through a weight-training group — as did 40 percent of those doing aerobics. That year, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center also found that daily exercise can help depressed people whose symptoms aren’t

As Douglas’s comparisons suggest, exercise is a whole-body experience. It has been shown to help heal damaged nerve cells in the retina and slow the progression of macular degeneration, for instance, while weight-bearing exercise improves bone health, which starts to deteriorate after the age of 30.

But some of its most important and life-saving effects come from its impact on arteries, veins and the blood-pumping heart. For decades, the American Heart Association has recommended exercise to improve heart and vascular health, including for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD).

But until recently the range and sophisPhoto: Miodrag GAJIC / iStock tication of the exercise effect, not to menA February 2014 story found that for every additional tion the details of how exactly it works, hour adults over 60 spend sitting increases their risk — have been obscure. Now, a Harvard by a stunning 50 percent — of being disabled for comMedical School study led by Zoltan Arany mon daily activities such as bathing and dressing. has shown that exercise counters the narrowed arteries and reduced blood flow of PAD by triggering a chemical cascade that increases the supply of a particular molecule. This molecule senses circulation problems, spurs blood vessel growth and brings new blood to leg muscle.

“Even the best medical therapy available is less effective against PAD than simply walking daily,”Arany concluded.

Separately, researches have discovered that exercise helps heart failure patients by reducing inflammation and muscle wasting while improving strength and oxygen uptake.

Exercise is also key to curbing the risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome. A person who has metabolic syndrome is twice as likely to develop heart disease and five times as likely to develop Photo: simon mcconico / iStock diabetes as someone who doesn’t have relieved by a single antidepressant, working just the syndrome. as well as adding a second drug would.

A University of Mexico and New Mexico Christopher Douglas says he doesn’t need Veterans research program reported that exerstudies to convince him of the effects of exercise on the brain. An expert rock climber, cise doubled the benefits of a weight-loss proDouglas is a mathematics professor at Oxford gram for adults with metabolic syndrome.

University, where he co-founded the Centre for Exercise alone helped patients with type 2 diabetes, according to work conducted at Quantum Mathematics and Computation.

“I want to focus on the mental aspects of Leiden University Medical Center in the exercise,” Douglas said at the University of Netherlands. Even with no changes in diet, six Colorado conference, “and my reaction to our months of exercise that included endurance panel title is this: What are we running from? I and resistance sessions led to a significant think many people who exercise are running decrease in dangerous fat in the abdomen, liver from their thoughts and the mind’s supremely and around the heart.

Regular activity has also been found to evolved capacity for analytical chatter. Running reduce cancer risks for women, particularly is one way to calm it. It doesn’t eliminate the with breast and colon cancer, and improve the chatter but it does focus it.”

On that note, Douglas said that different quality of life for all cancer patients, both durforms of exercise test the brain in different ing and after treatment.

Clearly, getting moving is in your best interways. With running, the mind often rebels est.

Sitting is a necessary evil in today’s world of against the pain of jogging long distances.“But every time you don’t listen to it [and] push cubicles and long commutes, but that doesn’t yourself through discomfort,” Douglas said, you mean we can’t take easy steps to break the rut gain “surprisingly useful skills in other aspects of our sedentary lifestyles.These can be as simple as walking around the house when a comof life.”

Skiing is very different, he said. “If you drop mercial comes on the TV or just taking a break into dense forests to ski, you have to react from the computer every hour to walk around much more quickly than you can think so you the office. In a world of increasingly sophistidon’t hit a tree.Thinking is a fairly slow process cated medical treatments, it almost sounds trite but physical reactions can be faster.” This to offer up walking as a cure-all for disease. But requires laser-like focus,“which forces the mind movement really is what keeps us — and our health — going. to shut up.”

“Climbing generates an entirely different way of inhabiting the territory between the Carolyn Cosmos is a contributing writer body and the mind,” Douglas observed. “By for The Washington Diplomat.

MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

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■ MAY 2014

DIPLOMATIC SPOuSES

Economist by Nature Sylvia Charles is a consultant and economist who has followed her husband, Dominican Ambassador Hubert John Charles, throughout his career — along the way advising nations on strategies for sustainable development. PAGE 37

MuSEuMS

Oman to East Africa A $1.8 million gift from Oman to the National Museum of African Art aims to connect the “Gems of the Indian Ocean” and highlight the Arab sultanate’s ties to East African culture.

PAGE 38

MUSIC

ClassiC Milestone For any fledging arts organization, finding the audience, and funding, to endure is a perennial challenge. And it can be especially daunting for groups that challenge convention, as PostClassical Ensemble does with its brand of “experimental musical laboratory.” But this spring, PostClassical marks 10 years of defying both convention and expectation with a program on the Mexican Revolution that features its signature blend of music, discussion, theater and film. PAGE 36

ART

‘Master of the Night’ “Kiyochika: Master of the Night” presents a groundbreaking series of woodblock prints that recorded the birth of bustling Tokyo, capturing the national experiment of modernization that engulfed the city once known as Edo. PAGE 39 Photo: tom Wolff

DINING

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The Carolina Kitchen has brought down-home Southern cooking to downtown D.C. PAGE 42

The behemoth SXSW Festival took over Austin, Texas, with films that are making their way to D.C. PAGE 44

[ music ]

Defying Convention PostClassical Celebrates 10 Years of Putting Music in Context

by Kate Oczypok

F

[ Page 36

or any fledging arts organization, finding the audience — and funding — to endure is a perennial challenge.And it can be especially daunting for groups trying to challenge convention, as PostClassical Ensemble does with its brand of “experimental musical laboratory.”

But this spring, PostClassical celebrates 10 years of defying both convention and expectation to not only survive, but thrive in Washington’s competitive artistic arena.

Founded by Angel Gil-Ordóñez and Joseph Horowitz, PostClassical is marking the decade milestone with a series of events on the Mexican Revolution, featuring the group’s signature blend of thematic, crossdisciplinary programming that intertwines music with dance, discussion, theater and film.

The Mexican Revolution program was made possible in part by a $200,000, three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the ensemble’s ongoing partnerships with Strathmore, Georgetown University and the National Gallery of Art — proof of PostClassical’s staying power. (Altos Hornos de México, one of Mexico’s largest steel and mining companies, also supported the endeavor with a gift of $100,000 toward the production of a DVD recording.)

“I feel a mission that the concert experience should be broader than just a musical experience,” Gil-Ordóñez said. “Classical music is so romantic.”

Gil-Ordóñez, music director of the ensemble, is also an adjunct professor and music director at Georgetown University. A student of Romanian conductor and composer Sergiu Celibidache, he also served as associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Spain and has performed in concert halls throughout the world.

Joseph Horowitz, PostClassical’s executive director, is an author and former New York Times music critic who has created more than three dozen interdisciplinary music festivals since 1985. He co-founded the ensemble in part because he believed that classical music needed to reinvent itself and rethink the way it was presented in live performance.

“I actually think music can exert a moral force,” Horowitz said.“It’s not as popular of an opinion as it used to be, but I think music can improve people’s lives and make us more humane.”

It can also be an immersive learning experience, which PostClassical aims to do by offering a holistic examination of a particular composer, country or culture, from Indonesian gamelan music to Spanish flamenco (also see “PostClassical Delves Into Shostakovich’s Soviet Conflicts” in the October 2012 issue of The Washington Diplomat and “PostClassical Reignites Stravinsky’s Comprehensive Composition” in the April 2011 issue).

The group eschews standard repertoire and complements its musical performances with discussions, cinema and other artistic elements. To that end, the Mexican Mexican Revolution Revolution program features a book club may 7, 8 and 10 (April 5), conference (April 11), multimedia presentation (May 7), concert with cinematogMexican Cultural Institute raphy (May 10) and gala dinner (May 8). The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center events will give attendees a glimpse into how For more information, please call (202) 677-5773 Mexican revolutionaries such as composer or visit http://postclassical.com.

Silvestre Revueltas and painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera became agents of social and political change — and inspired Americans such as Aaron Copland, Paul Strand and John Steinbeck.

The centerpiece will be on May 10 at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, where Eugenia León will perform songs from the Mexican Revolution. León, an iconic singer, has recorded more than 20 albums. The concert will incorporate the 1936 Mexican film “Redes” with Silvestre Revueltas’ searing score performed live by a 50-piece orchestra and unforgettable cinematography by Paul Strand. (The orchestra is part of a core group of musicians that the ensemble regularly uses.)

“The film is a very socially charged film about fishermen in Mexico that are fighting against the owners of the companies and boats because they are exploited,” Gil-Ordóñez explained. “Like D.C., it is very politically charged; Mexico at the time

]

The Washington Diplomat

Photo: tom Wolff

PostClassical Ensemble, co-founded

by Angel Gil-ordóñez, right, fuses music with dance, discussion and cinema and is marking its 10th anniversary this spring with a program on the mexican Revolution featuring singer Eugenia león, top.

attracted artists and intellectuals throughout the world as a place of social and political change.”

Horowitz noted that there are large sections of the film that have no dialogue.

“Strand, who did the cinematograPhotos: PostClAssiCAl EnsEmblE phy, was a pioneering figure,” Horowitz said.“This is not a film the way Hollywood makes them where you finish the movie and then ask the composer to direct the music.The composer was an essential part of this movie from the moment it was born.”

“I feel this music deserves to be put into a concert,” Gil-Ordóñez added. “The composer is just fantastic.”

In addition to the concert, a multimedia presentation on “Revueltas and Mexican Identity” with scholar Roberto Kolb will be held at the Mexican Cultural Institute on May 7 and a black-tie gala dinner celebrating PostClassical’s 10th anniversary will be hosted by Mexican Ambassador Eduardo Medina Mora Icaza on May 8.

D.C. is a great city to hold an immersive experience such as this, Gil-Ordóñez said.

“I mean first of all, the city has changed — it’s changed enormously in the past 10 years,” he said.“PostClassical Ensemble has continued to attract an audience in a city that’s eager to experience classical music in new ways.”

Gil-Ordóñez added that Washington has become a hub of ambitious, thoughtprovoking artistic offerings. “D.C. is becoming a destination for creative artists and intellectuals. It’s an international destination and also growing immensely in activity and culture offered,” he said.

For those already wondering what’s next, Horowitz said the group plans to focus on Austrian composer Gustav Mahler next year.

Kate Oczypok is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

May 2014

[ diplomatic spouses ]

A Natural Fit Dominican Economist Advises on Sustainable Development

by Gail Scott

A

s a consultant and economist, Sylvia Charles has traveled throughout the Caribbean, advising governments on ways to boost economic development while preserving their countries’ natural resources. Each step of the way, she has followed her husband, Dominican Ambassador Hubert John Charles, throughout his long career with UNESCO, the U.N. agency charged in part with protecting World Heritage Sites around the globe.

Perhaps that’s why Sylvia Charles views the Caribbean as more than just a sunny tourist destination, but as an environmental treasure that must be respected.That includes Dominica, a small island of just over 70,000 people located in the Lesser Antilles chain above the Venezuelan coast.

“We are the ‘nature island’ of the Caribbean,” she proudly said.“We have a very lush country … with one of the highest rainfalls in the world.

“We have fewer people than any other Caribbean nation,” added Sylvia, a native of Antigua who has called Dominica home for years. “We take care of our environment, including our forests. The area is pristine and we cherish our national parks.”

Dominica has three national parks, including Morne Trois Pitons, a World Heritage Site, and Morne Diablotin, which was created in 2000 primarily to protect the habitat of the endangered Imperial Amazon parrot, also Dominican Ambassador Hubert John Charles and his wife Sylvia Charles pose with their two daughters Kaia and Shani. known as the Sisserou, Dominica’s national symbol.

“This island is very careful about how it is developed,” said Sylvia, a mother of two and grandmother of three. “Dominica promotes eco-tourism based on location’s economy wherever they lived.

“Once, while we were sent to South Africa by UNESCO, our older daughter its lush vegetation, rivers, flora and outdoor spas.The services sector — including tourism, private education and other business services — is the main for- Kaia stayed home in Dominica to finish her IB [International Baccalaureate degree]. She stayed with a very good friend. Otherwise, the whole family reloeign exchange earner.”

The island, a British Commonwealth, has successfully developed an offshore cated with my husband,” Sylvia told us.

Their girls are now grown and on their own. Older daughter Kaia, 34 — medical education sector while promoting itself as an ecotourism destination. whose name is Ghanaian and means The government is also working to build its “lovable” — lives in London with her offshore financial services and harness its geotwo children and works for the Victoria thermal energy resources.

We are the ‘nature island’ of the and Albert Museum. Shani, 32, works in “There is geothermal potential and producCaribbean…. We take care of our Dominica’s Ministry of Education and tion wells are being constructed,” Sylvia has one daughter. explained. “The intention is to supply the environment, including our forests.

Education runs in the family. When domestic market as well as to export energy to Sylvia was young, she was attracted to neighboring countries.”

The area is pristine and we cherish numbers and anything even faintly relatSylvia is intimately familiar with many of ed to economics. “Economics is what those countries, having worked with them our national parks. makes a country tick,” she said. “It is throughout her career. Among her positions, about scarcity and want and the allocashe was a macroeconomist/planner at the — Sylvia Charles tion of resources among competing Grenadian Agency for Reconstruction and wife of Dominican Ambassador Hubert John Charles alternatives to promote growth and Development; chief technical officer for the development and ultimately employDominican Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism; and research fellow at the Institute of Social and Economic Research ment and income creation.

“I was good in history too, just like my husband, but I picked economics for at the University of the West Indies.

Early in his career, her husband was a permanent secretary in the Dominican my master’s degree and my doctorate and he picked history,” she added.“I went Ministry of Education and president of Dominica State College. He also worked to the University of the West Indies in Barbados, then to Trinidad for my masfor UNESCO for nearly 20 years until coming to Washington in 2010 for his ter’s and to the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom for my Ph.D.” Meanwhile, her husband earned a bachelor’s in history and economics at first-ever ambassador posting.

With grown daughters, it’s now easier for Sylvia to travel as a consultant. the University of the West Indies — where the two met — and a master’s in While in Washington, she has returned to Dominica and Grenada for consult- Atlantic history and culture from Johns Hopkins University in the United ing assignments. Over the years, this seasoned economist has also been hired States.

Sylvia says part of their jobs now is teaching Americans about their island

by St. Lucia, Antigua, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Nigeria for advice on sustainable economic development and other matters. As her husband traveled for his UNESCO postings, she found a job pertaining to each See Spouses, page 43

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[ museums ]

Arabian-African Synergy oman’s Million-Dollar Gift Aims to Connect ‘Gems of indian ocean’

by Stephanie Kanowitz

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$1.8 million gift from the Sultanate of Oman to the National Museum of African Art began with a dance.

After seeing Al Najoom, a traditional Omani dance troupe, perform in 2011, Nicole Shivers, education specialist at the museum, realized that the connections the Gulf Arab state has to East African culture needed to be shared.Those ties date to the 17th century, when the Omani empire ruled Zanzibar and reached into other parts of the region. Shivers set to work on a way to bring that history to Washington, and the result is the museum’s largest gift to date.

“It is important to highlight these connections because they give a better understanding of the region and the historical development of its multiethnic and multicultural civilizations,” said Hunaina Sultan Ahmed Al-Mughairy, ambassador of Oman to the United States.“This is a rare opportunity to see and learn about this region through its art and culture.”

“This connection between the two regions shows the great outreach of Africa across the world, which is an important element to the museum’s mission in telling Africa’s diaspora stories,” Shivers added. “This topic was new and less known for our museum demographic, focus and again to most people not in the scholarly world. I saw it as an opportunity to bring a new voice to the museum.”

She and Johnnetta Betsch Cole, director of the museum, contacted the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (SQCC), which brought Al Najoom here three years ago, about establishing an exhibit and the sultanate agreed to fund it. The gift was announced last November and will underwrite a

From left, Johnnetta betsch Cole, director of the smithsonian’s national museum of African Art, welcomes Ambassador of oman hunaina sultan Ahmed Al-mughairy and tony Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad to a dinner celebrating oman’s $1.8 million gift to launch “Connecting the Gems of the indian ocean: from oman to East Africa,” a series celebrating omani and East African arts and culture.

two-year program called “Connecting the Gems of the Indian Ocean: From Oman to East Africa,” a series celebrating Omani and East African arts and culture.

“One of the SQCC’s missions is to introduce the people of the United States to Omani culture, so this project was the perfect fit and we are very proud to be a part of it,”Al-Mughairy said.

see OMAn, page 43

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Photo: GlEnn ViRGin

Connecting the Gems of the Indian Ocean: From Oman to East Africa throughout 2014 and 2015 national Museum of African Art 950 independence Ave., sW For more information, please call (202) 633-4600 or visit http://africa.si.edu.

A hammock by the Mende people of Sierra Leone is among 70 artworks in “Visions from the Forests: The Art of Liberia and Sierra Leone.”

Expansive Visions of Africa A far-reaching picture of Africa — both from an outsider looking in, and traditional objects from within — emerges at the national museum of African Art with two major exhibitions that run until August.

“Africa ReViewed: the Photographic legacy of Eliot Elisofon” is the first retrospective in 40 years of the wellknown life magazine photojournalist, who captured the people, culture and landscapes of Africa. Elisofon (1911-73) is remembered as the first photographer to popularize postWorld War ii images of Africa and its leaders in the American media.

“Visions from the forests: the Art of liberia and sierra leone” features some 70 works that survey the traditional arts of liberia and sierra leone, including an array of masks and other objects that provide an overview of the region’s traditional art forms. both shows have their roots in the dedication of art collectors: “Art ReViewed” celebrates the 40th anniversary of the vast Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives that Elisofon bequeathed to the national museum of African Art, while

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“Visions” hails from the collection of William siegmann (19432011), a former curator of African art at the brooklyn museum who lived and worked in liberia from 1965 to 1987.

Among the many pieces siegmann collected during his time in liberia were objects used in men and women’s initiation ceremonies; jewelry and other items made of cast brass and horn; small steatite figures dating from the 15th to 18th centuries; and woven and dyed textiles. on display, for example, are horn prestige objects inscribed in Arabic and Vai, a rarely illustrated indigenous script from liberia. the exhibit will also emphasize connoisseurship and the identification of objects to particular artists or workshops in an effort to counter the anonymity often associated with traditional African art.

Just as siegmann forged a deep connection with the artists whose work he avidly collected, so too did Elisofon form

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a lasting bond with the continent he chronicled in stunning detail and vibrancy. from 1947 to 1972, Elisofon undertook 11 expeditions to Africa and produced five photo feature stories for life. he pioneered color photography in the 1950s and directed and produced motion picture films and television programs on Africa during the 1960s and early 1970s. the fordham University graduate also collected hundreds of objects of African art over his lifetime.

Elisofon bequeathed this expansive collection of African art and photography — including more than 700 works of art, 80,000 color slides, negatives and photographs, and 120,000

feet of motion picture film and sound — to the museum of African Art. “more than any other photographer of his time, Eliot Elisofon shaped American perceptions of Africa during the mid-20th century,” said Amy staples, the museum’s senior archivist. “he focused his camera on traditional cultures as well as emerging artists and leaders during a time of major transition and independence movements in Africa. his photographs and art collection contributed to what became the national museum of African Art.” “Africa ReViewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon” runs through Aug. 24 and “Visions from the Forests: The Art of Liberia and Sierra Leone” runs through Aug. 17 at the National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave., SW. For more information, please call (202) 633-4600 or visit http://africa.si.edu.

— Anna Gawel

May 2014

[ art ]

Tokyo, Modernized ‘Master of the night’ sheds light on a City’s transformation

by Sarah Alaoui

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ust in time for the highly anticipated National Cherry Blossom Festival that celebrates Japan’s gift of 3,000 cherry trees to D.C., the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery unveiled its new exhibition “Kiyochika: Master of the Night” last month.

Through a series of woodblock prints, self-trained artist Kobayashi Kiyochika essentially recorded the birth of bustling Tokyo, or the “Eastern Capital.” His work explores the national experiment of modernization that engulfed the city previously known as Edo (until Sept. 3, 1868, when the Tokugawa Shogun resigned).

A fan of Western art, Kiyochika was intrigued by the effects of modernity on traditional settings. The son of a government official, Kiyochika was a minor retainer (samurai) of the recently deposed shogun who followed his master into exile. In 1874, he returned to Tokyo after an eightyear absence only to a find a rapidly changing city filled with locomotives, steamships, Western-style brick structures, telegraph lines and other hallmarks of modernity.

In “Master of the Night,” Kiyochika Photos: ARthUR m. sACKlER GAllERy explores the results of Japanese woodblock artist Tokyo’s transformation Kobayashi Kiyochika was a through themes such as isomaster at playing with light, lation, detachment and anoas seen in prints such as, nymity in dozens of woodfrom clockwise top, “View of block prints. For example, takanawa Ushimachi under “Sumida River by Night,” one a shrouded moon,” of the main prints featured “suspension bridge on on the Sackler’s website, Castle Grounds,” “fire seen depicts a man in a Westernfrom hisamatsu-chō” and style hat and a woman wear“fireworks at ike-no-hata.” ing a Japanese kimono (his geisha) shrouded in shadow as they look out at a dark distinct elements of modernity that punctuate his land landcity embedded with interscapes. mittent lights that shimmer across a body of water.

While Kiyochika’s original vision was to create 100 woodblock prints encap encapKiyochika, who often used the cover of night to blanket his prints in quiet sulating the changes taking place in his city, he stopped at 93 when a major fire solitude, was particularly adept at manipulating light. He blended manmade broke out in 1881.The flames engulfed Tokyo and reached the base of Ryogoku sources such as gaslights and fireworks with the natural hues from moonlight, Bridge.Apparently, the artist left his home with his sketchbook in his pocket and dusk and dawn — a reflection of his ability to fuse sketched the fire throughout the night, returning only in the past with the present. the morning to find his home destroyed.

Kiyochika: Master of the night Yet his prints don’t enthusiastically applaud all Kiyochika continued creating woodblock prints of through July 27 the changes sweeping Tokyo; rather, they convey a other subject matter, but his Tokyo series faded into relacertain sadness at the loss of a life he once knew. tive obscurity after he abandoned the project in 1881.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery “Kiyochika upends the celebratory role of the Interest in his work was revived in the early 20th centu1050 independence Ave., sW cityscape in Japanese art and instead creates a nagry, and the Sackler exhibit features about half of For more information, please call (202) 633-1000 ging sense of unease,” James Ulak, exhibition curator Kiyochika’s 93 Tokyo prints.They are part of the gallery’s or visit www.asia.si.edu. and senior curator of Japanese art at the Freer and Robert O. Muller Collection, which has among its 4,000 Sackler Gallery, said in a press release.“His view is a Japanese woodblock prints the most comprehensive stark one, of men and women on the verge of a world with all the old props survey of Kiyochika’s body of work, including the largest collection of his citykicked away.There are no heavens or hells; no intercessory gods or troublesome scapes. demons. Some viewers say they can feel the silence in his prints.”

The nocturnal themes in the Kiyochika display also surface in a related exhibiTo capture this complex, uneasy coexistence of old and new, Kiyochika used tion, “An American in London: Whistler and the Thames,” showcasing James subdued colors and traditional woodblock-printing techniques but incorporated McNeill Whistler’s images of London’s iconic waterways and its dramatically copperplate engraving and oil painting for a final result that resembles Western changing urban environment. photographs. His prints show Japanese surroundings captured mostly in twilight and nighttime, using the light to silhouette his figures and spotlight the Sarah Alaoui (@musingsdiffused) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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May 2014

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[ theater ]

Nowhere to Hide in transatlantic Zeitgeist DC Festival, Audience takes Center stage Photo: GoD’s EntERtAinmEnt

by lisa Troshinsky

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ontrary to popular belief, theater is not always a spectator sport. At least not when the Embassy of Switzerland, Austrian Cultural Forum, Goethe-Institut in Washington and Georgetown University get together to turn the tables on the audience.

Daring souls who don’t just want to go to a show, but actually “be” a part of the show should check out “Participatory Theater: The Intersection of Theater and Social Action,” the theme of this year’s Zeitgeist DC International Festival and Symposium on May 10 to 12.

The festival,which takes place at the Goethe-Institut and Georgetown University,will showcase theater innovators from Germany,Switzerland and Austria who will collaborate with D.C. actors and directors on audience-interactive performances and a hands-on symposium.

Although participatory theater is considered cutting-edge in the United States, it is a regular staple of theater in Germany and a reflection of German culture, Wilfried Eckstein, director of the GoetheInstitut, told The Washington Diplomat. “What theater means for our culture is a reflection about political and social issues. It’s always been … with the hope that the energy displayed on the stage goes beyond the stage and brings people to action.”

Participatory theater originated in the 1960s with the theater genre called Fluxus, a name taken from the Latin word meaning flow or fluid, and it involved an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciThe Zeitgeist DC international festival plines. The art form almost always touched the spectator, either talking to or will feature participatory theater perfordirectly confronting the audience, and it often involved avant-garde performances mances including, from top, “love Club” that spilled out into the street, explained Eckstein. by the Austrian theater collective God’s The Zeitgeist festival, now in its fourth year, will explore and play with the Entertainment, “15’000 Gray” by machina topical theme of what is private and what is public. Privacy in today’s hypereX of Germany, and “Coffee & Prejudice” connected world has been the source of much debate lately, sparked in part by by switzerland’s mercimax. the NSA snooping revelations and the pervasiveness of social media such as Facebook, for example. Zeitgeist DC will reflect on this phenomenon as it performing.” explores new concepts of the individual, Eckstein said.

Austria’s theater collective, God’s Should an audience member’s identity remain private in the safety of a darkEntertainment, will produce “Love Club” in ened theater where only the stage and actors on it can be seen? Not according to collaboration with Georgetown University’s Eckstein.

Photo: JEssiCA hUbER Laboratory for Global Performance and “As a participant, you are as much an expert of life as are the actors who have com studied the text of somebody else’s life and performed that,” he argues. “The last 20 Politics.The “show” takes on social issues by pushing the boundaries of what is comyears of German theater shows that you, as a layman, can be enough qualified to fortable and entertaining. It is an interactive performance based on the videogame “Fight Club,” but with lovers instead.This one could contain adult content, warns the perform on stage, and to directly interact with the actors.”

Zeitgeist DC will host three European theater companies and four productions that press release.

Dog & pony dc, a D.C.-based ensemble of artists, will present “Toast,” an audienceaudience members will rotate in and out of over the course of two hours.

MerciMax, a Swiss theater collective that playfully experiments with the spectators’ integrated theatrical work that explores “what’s possible?”Toast creates a game show for audiences around social and civic action issues whereby the perspective, will collaborate with the audience helps to create its own theater piece.The goal is to take Shakespeare Theatre Company to produce The 2014 Zeitgeist DC International a second look at common technology that, when adapted or “Coffee & Prejudice.” Each audience member of harnessed, can alter everyday life.Whereas the other productions a small group will sit in a silent, draped cubby, Festival and Symposium explore the issue of privacy, the piece by dog & pony dc moves opposite a person who might be another audimay 10 to 12 the audience into a more public arena. ence member or an actor. The audience memFor more information, please call (202) 289-1200 Also exploring the public realm will be the video “Urban ber will listen, via headphones, to the other’s or visit www.zeitgeistdc.org or Performances: The Intersection between Art and Politics,” which story, which will end in a twist that will defy www.zeitgeistdc.eventbrite.com. highlights times when theater has taken to the streets for politithe viewpoint of the listener and actor. cal or social causes. Drake cited as an example the punk music “This performance confronts identity issues and explores intimate versus public space,” explains Gillian Drake, the festival’s artis- collective Pussy Riot, which has been an outspoken critic of the Russian government. tic director.

On the final day, a symposium titled “The Performer/Audience Relationship: A group of young German media and theater artists known as machina eX, in collaboration with Studio Theatre, are producing “15’000 Gray,” a piece in which audi- Politics, Intimacy and the Barriers Between Private and Public” will alternate between ence members use computer-gaming technology to direct the actors.“Eight audience planned audience integrative experiments and reflective response sessions.

According to Drake, participatory theater is more than entertainment. “Taking members will go into a laboratory and are confronted with a problem they have to solve by finding clues and solutions in a technological environment with lights, applied theater techniques into communities to help them solve problems like discrimination and poverty” is one of its ultimate goals, she said. sounds and a radio,” Drake explained.

“This changes the idea of where a performance can take place,” she added. “It doesn’t have to be on a stage; it can be in any environment. All of the sudden you are Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

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May 2014

[ photography ]

Boundless Curiosity ‘territories and subjectivities’ erases lines, Raises Questions

by Gary Tischler

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[ May 2014

erritories and Subjectivities: Contemporary Art from Argentina,” now at the Art Museum of the Americas, is a rich, tangled exhibition of photography by 33 Argentinean artists that is rooted in visual complexities accompanied by equally complicated explanations.

Looking at the striking, enigmatic images, there’s a temptation to just ignore the text and thesis-like interpretations presented by co-curators Fernando Farina and Andrés Labaké, who examine how subjectivity can define and determine notions of territory. But these ideas add a thought-provoking layer of depth to the work of these contemporary artists — and the country they call home.

“The ideas of territory and of subjectivity are interconnected,” the exhibition material states. “Identities of boundaries and belonging are formed through affiliation and familiarity. Art itself often appears in terms of issues dealing with the borders and limits of speech and the limitations of written or spoken language,” it adds, noting that the work on display hails from artists of varying backgrounds and ages, all at different stages of their careers.

All of the artists, though, are Argentinean, with each of the country’s 23 provinces represented here.Thus, much of the imagery resonates as Argentinean themes, memories, places and even obsessions. But the theoretical base that underpins the work hints at something larger, more universal, as most art strives to be. How do humans, whether in Argentina or Antarctica, create the space they call their own and thus fill the void of their surroundings? As a community, how do we define territory, with all its inherent subjectivity? Territories are more than lines on a map — they’re points in our lives, from our birthplace to resting place.

These narrative and textual themes permeate the physical world, mutating and reconfiguring the structures that give us meaning and identity,“suggesting existence as a set of determined circumstances and contexts,” according to the exhibit.

All of this gets into the realm of philosophy, introducing dense, abstract concepts that don’t necessarily elucidate the subject matter, some of which consists of very specific photographs that capture snapshots of reality, while other images are staged and surreal. If anything, the theories on the meaning of territory make you ask even more questions about the artwork — and Argentina.

Argentina has limited recognition in our universal imaginations — maybe a gaucho here, a tango there, a vague notion of modern-day economic woes or a continent-wide history of caudillos that kept an iron grip on politics. Traces of this identity, of course, crop up among the photographs, but the picture they form is much more nuanced and complex, just as the character of any nation is.

Territories and Subjectivities: In this way, history becomes a kind of territory. Memory is a territory. Diversity is a Contemporary Art from Argentina territory. These ideas surface in Martin through July 7 Weber’s sly and haunting photograph of “The OAS Art Museum of the Americas Peronist,” in which a thin, cautious-seeming 201 18th st., nW man holds plastic grocery bags in a room For more information, please call (202) 370-0147 that’s a shrine to Juan Perón and his glamoror visit www.museum.oas.org. ous wife Eva, the iconic Argentinean leader known as Evita. The room and the man become a kind of territory of memory, with specific borders delineating a critical time in Argentina’s history.

The photographs in this exhibition are remarkable, but it’s not always clear how they fit into the stated schematic. More often they seem on the verge of escaping their territory, though they certainly convey a glimpse of Argentina that is both unique and universal.

There’s Luciano Lombardi’s striking portrait of an angelic young man in a darkblue blazer, a pretty poseur in front of a ragged wall of gaucho tools. Sebastian Ingrassia suggests diversity in odd places — echoing Argentina’s European influences — as the young son of German immigrants works in a slaughterhouse, blond and bloody.

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Photos: ARt mUsEUm of thE AmERiCAs

From clockwise top, Alejandro Chaskielberg’s “lancha Almacén (supply boat),” Arturo Aguiar’s “Pieta” and “Graciela sacco’s “bocanada (mouthful)” are among the striking photographs by 33 Argentinean artists in “territories and subjectivities” at the Art museum of the Americas.

Edifices — buildings and homes — form another kind of territory, ranging from Gustavo Groh’s noirish apartment building to Rodolfo Hecker’s hotel awaiting a storm on a dark, windy night. Most amazing is Valeria Conte Mac Donell’s “Conquest of the Useless,” a construction of icy weavings that form a temporary home, with the end result disappearing under a bright sun.

In “Rabbit House,” a house is not a home but rather a sinister reminder of a violent past, as Hugo Aveta depicts a rundown, almost haunted building, with a hole blasted through it, where “four people were assassinated, victims of the last military repression.”

Other images defy any attempt at explanation — a garishly over-colored riverboat, a sad, terrifying sculpture of a beached whale in a forest, a woman wrapped completely in fur called “Foxy Lady.”

There are no ironclad answers in any of these images, just as the notion of territory does not provide us with definitive answers about who we are.We can call ourselves citizens of a place with boundaries, but markings on a map cannot constrain the human heart that transcends these boundaries — nor, apparently, can it constrain the imagination of Argentina’s artists.

Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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[ dining ]

Down Home in D.C. southern-inspired Carolina Kitchen lends Creativity to Comfort Foods

by Rachel G. hunt

S

pring has finally sprung and, despite the mid-April burst of chilly temperatures, believe it or not summer is just around the corner, with its long, hot days and warm evenings perfect for picnics and barbeques. Just in time, chef-owner Lance London has opened up his first D.C. location of the Carolina Kitchen in the Rhode Island Row complex in Brentwood, NE. London’s Southern cooking-inspired Carolina Kitchen concept has been picking up steam after an initial setback in 2003 when the first restaurant, a carry-out in an office building in downtown Silver Spring, Md., fizzled out. He reopened two years later in Largo, Md., followed by another Carolina Kitchen in Hyattsville, Md., that’s twice the size of the Largo restaurant.

A local businessman, London was born in the District and raised in Prince George’s County.

Though he began studying dentistry and marketing at Morgan State University, he soon felt the entrepreneurial pull and established a number of successful, and very diverse, businesses before finally heeding the call of the kitchen.The rapid success of his Carolina Kitchen brand and the growth of his comfort food empire — London has developed a new brand, TKO Burger, that is the beef lovers’ answer to Carolina Kitchen — proves just how well London understands what many people really want to eat, and how wise he was to leave the insurance business behind and follow his father’s footsteps into the restaurant industry.

Inspired by the authentic Southern cooking London grew up on in his grandmother Ma Pearl’s kitchen, he developed Carolina Kitchen a versatile concept that honors his roots Rhode island Row by marrying Ma Pearl’s down-home reci2350 Washington Place, nE pes with dishes from across the spec(202) 733-1216 trum of Southern cuisine. The menu is wide ranging with a variety of homewww.thecarolinakitchen.com made appetizers, soups, salads, sandwichhours: sun. - thu., 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.; es, and plain or fancy main courses. Some fri. and sat., 11 a.m. - 12 a.m. are familiar staples; others not so much.

But they all require big appetites because Appetizers: $5.99 - $15.99 while the dishes are not huge, they are Entrées: $11 - $59 hearty and substantial. You know you’re in for something special when the cupDesserts: $1.99 - $8.49 cake-like cornbread doused with honey and cinnamon arrives piping hot at the table. You also know you’re going to be very full by the time you get up from the table.

Although a lot of Southern food is fried, the fare at Carolina Kitchen avoids being excessively greasy.You can have your pick of fried okra, fried green tomatoes, sweet potato fries, onion rings, calamari and chicken fingers, and the fresh ingredients aren’t drenched in fried batter. For example, the catfish tenders — whole filets that are breaded and lightly fried — have only a hint of spicing that allows the fish to stand out. Most unusual of all these starters are the eggplant fries, which are delightful, but these are a bit on the greasy side. Pick several starters and you can sample all the different dipping sauces, which mix and match nicely.

The main courses include many of Ma Pearl’s Cajun and Creole specialties

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Chef-owner lance london recently opened his third Carolina Kitchen in D.C., featuring dishes inspired by his grandmother, such as the southern-fried pork chops, above.

such as the Creole-grilled salmon. A thick filet topped with lump crabmeat, shrimp and a New Orleans-style cream sauce is served with garlic mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and collard greens, rivaling anything you can get in that Louisiana mecca of fine Southern cuisine. The Cajun-grilled pork chop is simpler but equally delicious, with the pork particularly well prepared; a country version of the pork chops is fried and smothered in gravy. A complementary pairing of blackened chicken and fettuccini in a garlic, mushroom and white wine sauce also echoes the New Orleans influence and underscores the complexity and adaptability of Southern cooking as a whole.

Southern coastal cuisine is in abundance at the Carolina Kitchen with a raw oyster bar, crab claws and a wealth of shrimp dishes. A nice version of the bynow-ubiquitous shrimp and grits shares space on the menu with fried shrimp; firecracker shrimp; shrimp curry; kale and shrimp soup; and Cajun chicken and shrimp skewers. (The interesting variations on the shrimp theme remind you of that delightful scene in “Forrest Gump.”)

The menu offers more than a dozen home-style meals as an economical alternative to the more elaborate specialties. In addition to the old standards such as meatloaf, there are plenty of more unusual choices, including fried croaker and whiting, two fishes that are not often found in more formal restaurants. But with the fresh seafood the chef procures and the deft hand at the skillet, these humble dishes deserve special attention.

Classic Southern cuisine also makes an appearance among the many sides, including: macaroni and cheese, collard greens, baked beans, black-eyed peas, butter cabbage, candied yams, string beans, corn, potato salad and coleslaw.

Each entrée comes with set pairings but staff have been flexible in letting customers swap things around so they can sample widely from the sides.

Photo: GRoVER WhitE

May 2014

Not surprisingly, Southern favorites make their way onto the dessert menu as well, including red velvet cake, banana pudding and sweet potato pie made in the traditional style. Other classics have been updated. The croissant bread pudding, with orange, cranberries and a white chocolate Grand Marnier sauce, is superb. And for once, it may not be hyperbole when the menu brags that it has the best milkshakes in town. Carolina Kitchen’s shakes are not the thick kind that you can barely suck up the straw.

They are just the right consistency to make your mouth work just a little harder than usual. But it is the flavors that rise above the crowd — nothing exotic or pretentious, but not what you might expect either. For instance, the peach cobbler shake is actually made with cobbler; ditto for the banana pudding and sweet potato pie shakes. The lemon custard shake, silken and sweet, is a creamy citrus dream.

London’s first foray into D.C. is huge.

At more than 6,000 square feet, the Carolina Kitchen is a lavish palace of Southern cooking, full of quirky design elements that eschew subtly for their effect. London collaborated with Tom Mulhern of 2 Scale Interiors to design the contemporary country atmosphere that melds modern and rustic touches.

The restaurant, which is broken into several dining spaces, includes a tunnel-like room with vaulted ceilings that is vaguely reminiscent of a futuristic subway station, as well as a second-floor mezzanine area watched over by King Kong and the long-suffering Fay Ray. The front of the restaurant offers seating in a more homey space that evokes a country kitchen, while an eclectic collection of vintage whiskey bottles, beer steins and a classic model car collection reflects London’s fondness for antiques. A full-service bar tucked away behind the tunnel room turns out classic and creative cocktails, a sampling of boutique and imported beers, and some nice wine choices.

While the Brentwood Carolina Kitchen is definitely a sit-down kind of place, it

from page 38

Oman

Photos: CARolinA KitChEn

The mixed platter at Carolina Kitchen features lobster tail, fried chicken and other southern-inspired favorites.

has a big carry-out section that can be as busy as the tables are. As the days lengthen and the outdoors beckon, it is a perfect place to pick up a bag of favorites to dine al fresco at the nearby National Arboretum or to enjoy some excellent comfort food in the comfort of home.

London has devoted his efforts to supporting the local community, which in turn is helping make his vision a reality.

He has opened his newest restaurant in the rapidly revitalizing Brentwood neighborhood — one of many in an everchanging city — while successfully staying true to his Southern roots. And Carolina Kitchen’s popularity speaks to the fact that while Washington has become a foodie’s paradise with discerning palates and pricey gastronomic tastes, it still likes good old-fashioned cooking, the way grandma used to make it.

Rachel G. Hunt is the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

from page 37

Spouses nation, which many people confuse with the Dominican Republic, located northwest of Dominica.“A lot of people get us mixed up but we are very different. We are much smaller with only 290 square miles and only 71,000 people,” she said.

To promote its volcanic peaks, waterfalls, rainforest canopies and other natural wonders — including the 115-mile Waitukubuli National Trail, the longest hiking trail in the Caribbean — Dominica held its annual Nature Island Challenge last month.Teams from different countries are invited to compete in the one-of-a-kind challenge, in which they race across Dominica, talking with islanders and experiencing local sports and culture.

The tourism campaign is intended to diversify Dominica’s economy, which has long been dependent on agriculture, primarily bananas, the country’s main export.

“Banana production has declined because of the removal of the preferential marketing arrangements with the United Kingdom,”Sylvia explained.

“More recently, a leaf-spot disease — Black Sigatoka — has affected the industry. The government is promoting the diversification of the agricultural sector and the expansion of coffee production and processing,” she said, noting that several natural water sources are also being tapped for bottled water.

“There is a variety of manufactured items, but most are small scale,” she continued. “Soaps constitute the largest manufacturing export. A factory formerly owned by the government is now owned by Colgate Palmolive.

There are also cottage-type soap-making operations. Dominica exports essential oils, sauces and paints.”

May 2014

The first event was “Hamdan: Through the Gates of Tears,” a ballet commissioned by the museum with Howard University’s Theatre Arts Department that was performed April 11 and 12.

The show is based on a folktale that tells the story of one man’s decision to leave his homeland of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula and move to Zanzibar in East Africa.

The next program in the series is an opera in September that will star mezzo soprano Denyce Graves and will also include musical performances, cultural discussions and a documentary, according to Shivers, project manager for the series.

Other programs include performances, workshops and web-based elements. For instance, there will be a lecture series featuring Omani artists and cultural scholars, a virtual exhibition of 19th- and 20th-century Omani postcards, as well as hands-on art workshops.The public will get the chance to try calligraphy or Majmar craft painting, a popular Omani activity that involves decorating frankincense burners.The series will also examine Swahili traditions and establish an art educators’ exchange program between the museum here and three locations in Oman.

Washington may be half a world away from both East Africa and Oman, but it’s an ideal setting to showcase the region’s relationship,Al-Mughairy and Shivers said.

“The U.S. capital, aside from the obvious, has many world-renowned academic institutions, think tanks and research centers that attract students and people with various interests from around the world, which adds to the attraction of this great city,”Al-Mughairy said.

“It’s an international city that embraces its cultural offerings,” Shivers added. “The area has a thriving artistic community that is always in search of new means of cultural expression that tells an exceptional story.”

To that end, they hope the series of events leaves visitors enlightened.

“We hope that they will learn something new and amazing about that part of the world and maybe even see some of those influences in the culture here,”Al-Mughairy said.

Photo: RUny PsWARAyi

Choreographer Ray mercer, left, and national museum of African Art Director Johnnetta betsch Cole celebrate “hamdan: through the Gate of tears,” a modern ballet staged in April by howard University as part of the museum’s cultural collaboration wth the sultanate of oman.

Shivers said she hopes it will encourage people to continue learning about both the Gulf region and East Africa.

“I hope this introduction will lead them to explore connections in their own lives,” she said.

“I hope it makes them think differently of Africa and the importance of the continent — and of course make them want to visit and study both Oman and East Africa.”

This collaboration sets the precedent for future work, she added.

“We are only scratching the surface of what we can do with this story,” Shivers said.“The historical connections between Oman and East Africa are so dense that elements can be continually explored.

And the new contemporary relationship between the regions is emerging so I see great potential in this story as well.”

Stephanie Kanowitz is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

In 2003, the government began a comprehensive restructuring of the economy, including the elimination of price controls, privatization of the state banana company and tax increases, in part to meet IMF demands.

“We need more investments in order to retain our young people,” Sylvia said, noting that many college-age students go to other countries, set down roots and don’t come back.

For her part, while her home is Dominica, Sylvia is enjoying life in the Washington area and is busy with events showcasing her island.

On May 3, Dominica, along with the Embassy of St. Kitts and Nevis, will welcome guests to the historic Fraser Mansion, now run by the National Affairs Office of the Church of Scientology, as part of Passport DC’s annual day of embassy open houses known as the Around the World Embassy Tour. The embassy building that Dominica shares with St. Kitts on New Mexico Avenue is being refurbished, so both countries are working from rental space in Rosslyn, Va., and hold occasional events at Fraser Mansion.

Then, on May 18, she will be working at the Food Festival of the Americas, held at the Organization of American States and organized by the Organization of Women of the Americas, of which Sylvia is a member.

But she also enjoys slowing down from diplomacy to work in her garden and practice yoga every day she can.

Because the couple lives in Germantown, Md., she sometimes comes into D.C. with her husband and keeps her own schedule for the day. She and her husband also love to go to the ballet (“our daughter danced for a long time,” she said) and all types of performances and art shows.“You have such a rich cultural life in Washington — you can’t get bored here,” Sylvia said.“There is so much to do.”

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

Get the latest diplomatic news. sign up at www.washdiplomat.com.

Economist sylvia Charles, right, and friends Robert shumake and natalie King enjoy the waters of Dominica.

The Washington Diplomat Page 43

[ film festivals ]

SXSW Nexus Music, Film, Creativity, Politics Merge at South By Southwest

by Ky N. Nguyen

T

he sheer scope of South By Southwest (SXSW), an annual extravaganza of music, film, technology and all-around creativity, is hard to describe and impossible to comprehensively distill. From March 7 to 16, the behemoth multidisciplinary festival and conference took over downtown Austin,Texas, with thousands of artists, experts, VIPs and wannabes spread out over more than 800 events.

SXSW has evolved from a music and cultural festival to a launching pad for innovation, attracting everyone from hipster pilgrims to tech startup entrepreneurs to veteran directors — many of whose films are making their way to D.C.-area screens this month.

Renowned surrealist ChileanFrench filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (“El Topo,” “The Holy Mountain”), still going strong at 85, gave one of the most highly anticipated keynote addresses at SXSW Film. The festival presented the American prePhoto: Pascal Montandon miere of his latest film, “The Dance of Reality,” which documents his childhood as a displaced “The Dance of Reality,” which documents filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s childhood as a displaced Ukrainian Jew in Chile, Ukrainian Jew in Chile and opens May 30 at opens May 30 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema in D.C. Landmark’s E Street Cinema in D.C.“Jodorowsky’s Dune,” Frank Pavich’s revealing documentary about the cult director’s ambitious but failed attempt to adapt Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel “Dune” into a motion picture, opens May 2 at Landmark’s E Street Cinema.

Another highlight was the world premiere of first-time filmmaker Jeremy Ambers’s eye-opening behind-the-scenes documentary “Impossible Light,” about a massive LED light installation that illuminated San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, with artist and “Bay Lights” brainchild Leo Villareal in attendance.

Many of the films at SXSW embodied the festival’s cross-disciplinary fusion of cinema, art, technology and social issues. The beautiful visual poem “Yakona” created a dreamy journey down the San Marcos River in Texas. Surprisingly on a Tuesday morning, over 1,000 guests packed the film’s world premiere in the Photo: Lucas Saugen Paramount Theatre. Afterward, one of my SXSW highlights was a special Jeremy Ambers’s documentary “Impossible Light” chronicled a massive LED light treat for invited press and guests to installation that illuminated San Francisco’s Bay Bridge. the San Marcos River itself, a pleasant, relaxing break from the urban gence between “music, interactive and film.” At SXSW Interactive, Nas Photo: Pascal Montandon madness of SXSW. interviewed Ben Horowitz, co-founder of the famous Silicon Valley Renowned surrealist Chilean-French filmmaker Other screenings included Wes venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and former CEO of cloudAlejandro Jodorowsky gave one of the most highAnderson’s dazzlingly idiosyncratic computing startup Loudcloud. At a later concert, Nas performed a ly anticipated keynote addresses at South “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Welsh selection of songs from his classic 1994 debut album “Illmatic” to proBy Southwest. director Gareth Evans’ sensational mote the documentary “Time Is Illmatic,” which follows Nas’s breakIndonesian martial arts flick “The Raid 2” and Mexican director Diego through album and was honored as the recent opening night film at Luna’s respectful biopic “Cesar Chavez,” all of which were covered in the Tribeca Film Festival. depth in last month’s issue of The Washington Diplomat.

Bridging SXSW’s interactive and film realms, corporate sponsor The SXSW participation of legendary hip-hop artist and media entre- American Express introduced its new technology initiatives to propreneur Nas provided a perfect illustration of SXSW’s stated conver- mote financial inclusion for underserved communities, including

Page 44

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

Bluebird, an alternative to traditional checking accounts and debit cards.

It also promoted the documentary “Spent: Looking for Change,” which follows the stories of everyday Americans who earn, save and spend money but don’t have access to some of the financial tools many of us take for granted, often turning to predatory services to make ends meet.

“Not having a bank account makes it incredibly difficult to manage your day-to-day finances,” said “Spent” executive producer Davis Guggenheim (Oscar winner for “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Waiting for Superman”).“It often means you can’t establish credit, and therefore you can’t buy a The film “Yakona” creates a dreamy journey down the San Marcos River in Texas. home, finance a car, or take out a student loan. Multiply that by tens of millions of people Snowden (granted temporary asylum by Russia).

Author and essayist Bruce Sterling, who made his and you can start to see how it’s possible that entire communities in the U.S. are systemically excluded from annual closing remarks to SXSW Interactive, pointed economic freedom that most of us take for granted. My out the different technologies used by the people who hope is this film will shed light on this important issue weren’t physically at the festival, but whose presence and inspire everyone to work toward finding better was strongly felt.

“Out in the Ecuadorian library [is] our Mr. Assange, solutions at a time when new technologies are opening on a scratchy and blurry connection, with the sound up new possibilities to help fix this issue.”

SXSW often latches onto the latest headline-generat- dropping out periodically, while somebody holds up a ing issues, and this year it made headlines of its own by cheap webcam and kind of scans the audience. And hosting — albeit remotely via video link — two of the he’s like rambling on and ranting at the assembled most infamous leakers of government secrets in mod- masses,” Sterling said.

“And then there was Snowden. Snowden was almost ern times: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (currently holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for fear here, except on Google Hangout — a lot better conof U.S. extradition) and former NSA contractor Edward nectivity, kind of smoother, more professional … short,

Repertory Notes

Photo: spentmovie.com

“Spent: Looking for Change” follows everyday Americans who earn, save and spend money but don’t have access to common financial tools.

Photo: Yakona

purposeful, to-the-point sentences, meaningful, no rambling, super-organized guy.

“So there was the kind of homemade net connection that Assange was on, then there was this sleek, high-tech Google thing that Snowden was using, and then there’s some congressman from Kansas [Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Republican] who sends an open letter [criticizing the virtual appearances by Assange and Snowden],” Sterling told the packed audience, laughing at the decidedly non-high-tech means of communications.“I mean, at least he puts it on a website, but really it’s a letter. He doesn’t show up himself. But he’s just sending his shot across the bow there.”

And in that way, Sterling and SXSW sent their shot across the bow to the establishment that times are changing.

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

by Washington Diplomat film reviewer Ky N. Nguyen

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

“Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema” Co-presented by the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and the National Gallery of Art, the series “Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema” (through June 29) features pristine restored prints of Polish classics.

(301) 495-6700, www.afi.com/silver (202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/filmprograms.html

“Independent Reality: The Films of Jan Němec” Co-presented by the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and the National Gallery of Art, the retrospective “Independent Reality: The Films of Jan Němec” (through June 29) looks back at works by the seminal but lesser-seen Czech New Wave filmmaker.

(301) 495-6700, www.afi.com/silver (202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/filmprograms.html

National Gallery of Art Presented with assistance from the embassies of Poland, Croatia and Serbia, the series “Artists, Amateurs, Alternative Spaces: Experimental Cinema in Eastern Europe, 1960-1990” (through June 14) looks at seldom-seen work by avant-garde filmmakers in the former Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition “Garry Winogrand,” the film series “On the Street” (through June 15) showcases cinéma vérite works about the streets of New York City. The first three films unspool at the American University’s Malsi Doyle and Michael Forman Theater.

(202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/programs/film

American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre The film series “Studio Ghibli Encore” (through July 2) presents classic anime films. The retrospective “Charlie Chaplin: The Tramp Turns 100” (through June 29) commemorates the 100th birthday of the beloved British filmmaker-actor. The series “Shakespeare Cinema, Part I” (through June 29) presents major cinematic adaptations from works by the iconic English playwright. The retrospective “Jane Fonda AFI Life Achievement Award Retrospective” (through June 25) honors the American leading lady. And the retrospective “Burt Lancaster, Part 2” (through July 2) continues AFI Silver’s review of

May 2014

the American movie star’s career.

(301) 495-6700, www.afi.com/silver

Freer Gallery of Art The Sackler exhibit “Kiyochika: Master of the Night” (through July 27) includes a number of accompanying films: “Night and the City” (Fri., May 2, 7 p.m.); “Lost in Translation” (Sun., May 4, 2 p.m.); “Friday Night” (Sun., May 11, 1 p.m.); “Night and Day” (Sun., May 11, 3 p.m.); and “Naked” (Fri., May 16, 7 p.m.).

The program “Tea and a Movie: ‘Rikyu’” offers a pre-screening tea tasting (Sun., May 18, 1 p.m.) before the film (3 p.m.), introduced by “Chigusa and the Art of Tea” exhibit curator Louise Cort.

During “Meet the Filmmaker: An Evening with Charles Lim Li Yong” (Fri., May 30, 7 p.m.), Singaporean sailor-turned-filmmaker Yong introduces and discusses a number of his shorts, including selections from his “Sea States” project. ((202) 357-2700, www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp

Goethe-Institut The series “Film|Neu Presents” (through July 7) continues with the best of new films in the German language.

(202) 289-1200, www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/kue/flm/enindex.htm

The Washington Diplomat Page 45

[ film ]

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

English Alan Partridge Directed by Declan Lowney (U.K./France, 2013, 90 min.)

When famous DJ Alan Partridge’s radio station is taken over by a new media conglomerate, it sets in motion a chain of events in which Alan must work with the police to defuse a potentially violent siege.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Belle Directed by Amma Asante (U.K., 2013, 105 min.)

Inspired by a true story, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is raised by her aristocratic greatuncle, affording her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing.

Theater TBA Opens Fri., May 9

Castle in the Sky (Tenkû no Shiro Rapyuta) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 1986, 124 min.)

When a girl mysteriously falls from the sky and directly into his arms, a boy becomes involved in a wild adventure involving a secret floating city, pirates, giant robots and amazing flying contraptions (Englishdubbed version).

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., May 30, 4:30 p.m.

The Cat Returns (Neko no Ongaeshi) Directed by Hiroyuki Morita (Japan, 2002, 75 min.)

After helping a cat, a young girl finds herself involuntarily engaged to a cat prince in a magical world where her only hope of freedom lies with a dapper cat statuette come to life (English-dubbed version).

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., May 23, 5:20 p.m., Sun., May 25, 11 a.m., Tue., May 27, 5:20 p.m.

City Lights Directed by Charles Chaplin (U.S., 1931, 83 min.)

In possibly the Tramp’s greatest tale, Charlie Chaplin falls in love with a beautiful young blind woman who has mistaken him for a millionaire and resolves to raise the funds to pay for the operation that will restore her sight.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., May 17, 3:45 p.m., Sun., May 18, 9:45 p.m.

Dancing in Jaffa Directed by Hilla Medalia (U.S., 2013, 90 min.)

Renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine takes his program back to his city of birth, Jaffa, to teach Jewish and Palestinian Israelis to dance and compete together (English, Arabic and Hebrew).

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema

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THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

May 2014 2013, 123 min.)

Eastern European Experimental Cinema The Soviet Union’s suppression of political freedom didn’t fully stifle the cinematic creativity in the former Eastern Bloc, where film and video makers made independent and experimental work on their own terms. To honor that tradition, the National Gallery, along with the embassies of Poland, Croatia and Serbia, present the series “Artists, Amateurs, Alternative Spaces: Experimental Cinema in Eastern Europe, 1960-1990” featuring the following screenings in May: Balázs Béla Studio (Budapest) Sat., May 3, 3:30 p.m.

Established in 1959, the Balázs Béla Studio is known for producing films by such directors as István Szabó and Béla Tarr. Much less known is the studio’s support from the early 1960s to the 1970s of experimental films ranging from cinéma vérité documentaries to structuralist and abstract works made not only by professional filmmakers, but also by artists, writers and sociologists (total running time is 110 minutes).

City Scene / Country Scene Sat., May 10, 1 p.m.

Though in some countries, such as Romania and the U.S.S.R., the state exercised tight control over public space, in places such as Poland, Hungary and the former Yugoslavia, even amateur filmmakers could take their cameras to the streets. This selection of short films showcases works that use Ljubljana, Belgrade, Budapest, Łódź, Berlin and Tallinn as protagonist, backdrop or site of encounters (total running time is 110 minutes).

Dirty Pretty Things Directed by Stephen Frears (U.K., 2002, 97 min.)

A medically trained Nigerian forced to juggle two low-paying menial jobs in order to survive and a Turkish asylum seeker make a gruesome discovery and their already perilous, uncomfortable lives take a macabre turn for the worse.

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., May 19, 7:30 p.m.

Don Hemingway Directed by Richard Shepard (U.K., 2013, 92 min.)

After spending 12 years in prison for keeping his mouth shut, notorious safe-cracker Dom Hemingway is back on the streets of London looking to collect what he’s owed.

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Workshop of the Film Form and Beyond: Shorts from 1970s Poland Sat., May 17, 2 p.m.

The Enthusiasts Archive – Polish Amateur Films Sat., May 17, 4 p.m.

“Workshop of the Film Form” examines how an established Polish avant-garde cinematic tradition continued under Socialist rule in Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań and especially Łódź, where the National Film School made it possible in the 1970s for a whole generation of young filmmakers and artists to investigate film’s formal conventions (total running time is 75 minutes).

Artists Marysia Lewandowska and Neil Cummings created the Enthusiasts Archive in 2004, collecting the legacy of Poland’s popular amateur film clubs, a selection of which is screened (total running time is 50 minutes).

Experimental Film in Croatia and Serbia Sat., May 24, 4 p.m.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the former Yugoslavia saw a burst of experimental filmmaking thanks to a network of state-supported amateur film clubs, competitions, film publications and international events. This selection of short films presents some of the most innovative and influential works made at the largest amateur film clubs in the Serbian capital of Belgrade and the Croatian cities of Zagreb and Split (total running time 90 minutes).

and Emmy Award-winning conflict Journalist Mike Boettcher, and his son, Carlos, provide unprecedented access into the longest war in U.S. history.

Theater TBA Opens Fri., May 16

Jodorowsky’s Dune Directed by Frank Pavich (U.S./France, 2013, 90 min.)

Cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky embarks on an ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.

Theater TBA Opens Fri., May 2

Lost in Translation Directed by Sofia Coppola (U.S./Japan, 2003, 101 min.)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

(Japan, 1984, 116 min.)

Warrior-pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet (English-dubbed version).

AFI Silver Theatre May 16 to 19

Night and the City Directed by Jules Dassin (U.K., 1950, 96 min.)

An American grifter who prowls the London night pulling small-time scams tries to set himself up for a big payday as a professional wrestling promoter, but the gangster who controls the racket proves to be a dangerous foe.

Henry V

A faded movie star and a neglected young wife form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh (U.K, 1989, 137 min.)

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., May 4, 2 p.m.

Objective, Burma!

Kenneth Branagh rocketed to international stardom with this winning screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s rousing “Henry V.”

Naked

On a dangerous mission to destroy a Japanese radar station in the jungles of Burma, Errol Flynn must lead his team of paratroopers on a 150-mile march out of enemy territory to safety.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., May 10, 4:45 p.m., Thu., May 15, 6:45 p.m.

The Hornet’s Nest Directed by David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud (Afghanistan/U.S., 2014, 97 min.)

Armed only with their cameras, Peabody

Directed by Mike Leigh (U.K., 1993, 131 min.)

A troubled, motor-mouthed rogue on the run from Manchester shows up at a friend’s London apartment, seduces and abandons her roommate, and roams the city in search of stimulation for his addled brain.

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., May 16, 7 p.m.

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., May 2, 8:30 p.m.

Directed by Raoul Walsh (U.S., 1945, 142 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre May 26 to 29

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

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

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Poroco Rosso (Kurenai no Buta) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 1992, 94 min.)

A swashbuckling tough guy aviator who just happens to be a pig battles pirates and other evildoers in this eccentric adventure set in 1920s Italy (English-dubbed version).

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., May 31, 11:05 a.m.

Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 1997, 134 min.)

A pack of wolf-gods and their titular warrior princess, a girl they raised from a foundling, defend their forest home from the encroachment of humans and the malefaction of marauding demons (Japaneselanguage version with English subtitles screens May 29).

AFI Silver Theatre May 23 to 29

The Railway Man Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky (Australia/U.K., 2013, 108 min.)

A former British Army officer, who was tormented at a Japanese labor camp during World War II, discovers that the man responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and sets out to confront him.

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Romeo and Juliet Directed by Franco Zeffirelli (U.K./Italy, 1968, 138 min.)

Franco Zeffirelli’s lush, romantic and wildly popular 1960s adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet,” at the time the most successful Shakespeare screen adaptation, struck a chord with youth audiences around the world, breaking with stage tradition to cast younger actors.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., May 4, 8:45 p.m.

Salt of the Earth Directed by Herbert J. Biberman (U.S., 1954, 94 min.)

Originally banned by the U.S. government, this film tells the story of MexicanAmerican workers who strike to attain wage parity with Anglo workers and the pivotal role their wives play in the strike.

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., May 5, 7:30 p.m.

The Train Directed by John Frankenheimer (U.S./France/Italy, 1964, 133 min.)

With the Allies on the march to Paris in August 1944, things become personal for French Resistance fighter Labiche after France’s priceless art treasures, looted from museums, are ordered to be loaded on to a train and spirited off to Germany.

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

At a roadside inn (austeria) in Galicia, a group of Jews fleeing an invading army of Cossacks in 1914 is joined by a Hungarian hussar, an Austrian baroness, and sundry Ukrainians and Poles.

Spain in 1739.

Under the Skin

A young couple, Jack and Julie, moves to Paris. While he drives a cab at night, she wanders the city, infatuated with its nocturnal wonders — until she meets and falls for the daytime driver of Jack’s taxi.

Directed by Jonathan Glazer (U.K., 2013, 107 min.)

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., May 11, 3 p.m.

National Gallery of Art Sun., May 11, 4 p.m.

A Short Film about Killing

Japanese

Black Cross (Knight of the Teutonic Order)

A new lawyer must defend a young man who brutally murdered a taxi driver in this grim meditation on both the act of murder and the ordeal of capital punishment.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., May 11, 5 p.m., Wed., May 14, 7:10 p.m.

A voluptuous woman of unknown origin combs the highways of Scotland in search of isolated or forsaken men, luring a succession of lost souls into an otherworldly lair.

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Watermark Directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky (Canada, 2013, 90 min.)

This feature documentary brings together diverse stories from around the globe about our relationship with water: how we are drawn to it, what we learn from it, how we use it and the consequences of that use (English, Mandarin, Bengali, Hindi and Spanish).

Jellyfish Eyes (Mememe no Kurage) Directed by Takashi Murakami (Japan, 2013, 101 min.)

Takashi Murakami introduces and discusses his first feature, which blends his celebrated mash-up of cute, trippy animated imagery with live action. Developed as a fable spun around childhood fears — monsters, ostracism, bullying — this metaphorical phantasmagoria also references the Fukushima catastrophe.

Hirshhorn Museum Ring Auditorium Thu., May 22, 8 p.m.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Ponyo (Gake no Ue no Ponyo)

French

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan, 2008, 101 min.)

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

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

The Avalon Theatre

The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay) Directed by Bertrand Tavernier (France, 2013, 114 min.)

A human whirlwind and a man confident in France’s importance on the world stage, a French foreign affairs minister takes on American neocons, corrupt Russians and the opportunistic Chinese while his hapless speech writer endures the eccentricities of his megalomaniacal boss.

The Avalon Theatre Wed., May 21, 8 p.m.

Friday Night (Vendredi soir) Directed by Claire Denis (France, 2002, 90 min.)

A young woman about to move in with her boyfriend is stuck in gridlock on her way to dinner with friends. After offering a ride to a handsome stranger, she embarks on an all-night adventure with him.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., May 11, 1 p.m.

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

A stage actress is drawn toward a mysterious English professor on a train to Paris, following him and loving him for a few hours before facing what could be a new life.

In the magical world of Ponyo, a goldfish princess forms a friendship with a landdwelling boy.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., May 3, 11:05 a.m., Sun., May 4, 11:05 a.m., Mon., May 5, 5:15 p.m.

Rikyu Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Japan, 1989, 116 min.)

Legendary tea master Sen no Rikyu becomes the tea instructor to a warlord who rose from peasant roots to become Japan’s second “great unifier.” (Screening preceded by a tea tasting of the same variety of whisked green tea (matcha) that is prepared in “Rikyu.”)

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., May 18, 1 p.m.

The Secret World of Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty) Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Japan, 2010, 94 min.)

A mouse-size family of four-inch people lives in the shadow of a human home, occasionally surfacing to borrow simple items, but the two worlds collide when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.

AFI Silver Theatre May 9 to 12

Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jô) Directed by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1957, 110 min.)

A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he will take the throne in this feudal Japanese adaptation of “Macbeth.”

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., May 12, 9:20 p.m., Wed., May 14, 9:45 p.m., Thu., May 15, 9:30 p.m.

The Avalon Theatre Opens Fri., May 2

Polish

Night and Day

Austeria

Directed by Chantal Akerman (France, 1991, 92 min.)

Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz (Poland, 1982, 107 min.)

Directed by Aleksander Ford (Poland, 1960, 173 min.)

A young impoverished nobleman returns from a war against the order of the Teutonic Knights in Lithuania, falls in love with a beautiful woman, and pledges an oath to bring her “three trophies” from the Teutonic Knights.

National Gallery of Art Sat., May 31, 2 p.m.

The Hourglass Sanatorium (Sanatorium pod Klepsydrą)

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., May 3, 7:15 p.m.

Sun., May 4, 5:15 p.m.

Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski (Poland, 1988, 84 min.)

National Gallery of Art Sun., May 25, 4:30 p.m.

The Wedding (Wesele) Directed by Andrzej Wajda (Poland, 1973, 106 min.)

An intellectual from a big town comes to marry a simple country girl, as families and

friends from both sides regard the alliance with skepticism and curiosity.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., May 25, 7 p.m., Mon., May 26, 7 p.m.

Spanish The German Doctor (Wakolda) Directed by Lucía Puenzo (Argentina/France/Spain/Norway, 2013, 93 min.)

In 1960 Patagonia, a family starting a new life in a small town welcomes a German doctor into their home, not knowing they are harboring one of the world’s most dangerous criminals (Spanish, German and Hebrew).

The Avalon Theatre Opens Fri., May 23

Directed by Wojciech Has (Poland, 1973, 124 min.)

Set in the pre-World War II, a young man is on a strange train to see his dying father in a decaying sanatorium in this visionary, poetic reflection on the nature of time and the irreversibility of death.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., May 17, 5:30 p.m.

Ida Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski (Poland, 2013, 80 min.)

Anna, an 18-year-old sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when she first meets her only living relative, a Communist Party insider who shocks Anna with the declaration that her her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation.

Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema Opens Fri., May 23

Innocent Sorcerers (Niewinni czarodzieje) Directed by Andrzej Wajda (Poland, 1960, 87 min.)

A love story and a portrait of young Poles in the 1950s, this film tells the tale of two people who meet at a bar and go home together, but as dawn approaches, what starts as a simple one-night encounter grows in meaning.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., May 11, 9:45 p.m., Mon., May 12, 7:15 p.m.

READIN’

Pharaoh

ART

Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz (Poland, 1966, 152 min.)

Young Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt’s clergy in this dramatization of ancient Egyptian intrigue that mixes archeologically precise reproduction with a riveting narrative of raw power politics.

’RITING ’RITHMETIC

Royal dukes are squaresville.

They have no rhythm.

And they wear crowns.

Give your kids a chance to succeed. Up their daily dose of art.

National Gallery of Art Sun., May 18, 4 p.m.

The Saragossa Manuscript (Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie) Directed by Wojciech Has (Poland, 1965, 182 min.)

In Spain during the Napoleonic Wars, two enemy officers form an uneasy truce at a deserted Saragossa inn as they pore over a mysterious book recounting the amazing tales of a Walloon officer who came to

May 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 47

[ around town ]

EVENTS LISTING **Admission is free unless otherwise noted. All information on event venues can be found on The Diplomat Web site at www.washdiplomat. com. Times and locations are subject to change.

Unless listed, please call venue for specific event times and hours of operation.

ART May 2 to May 31

A Latvian Voice in Glass

The fascinating glasswork of Latvian artist Artis Nimanis plays with the multifaceted nature of glass — its plasticity, graphics, contrast, optics, reflection and mirroring.

An award-winning glass designer and creator of the glass brand an&angel (Angel Glass Design Ltd), Nimanis uses minimalism and strict geometry with the latest technology to create striking objects that blend form, function and fun. The exhibit, part of “Riga 2014 - European Capital of Culture,” is open on Fridays and Saturday.

Embassy of Latvia Art Space May 2 to 30

Paper: Korean to American

Two artists explore the diversity of artistic expression possible through Korean traditional paper, known as Hanji. Lee Jongkuk uses humorous and witty folk subjects like birds and wild animals on Hanji made from Korean Mulberry tree fibers, while professor Lee Yongtaek works with modern, sensuous colors to show Hanji’s infinite contemporary artistry.

Korean Cultural Center May 3 to Aug. 17

An American in London: Whistler and the Thames

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

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through May 16

Through June 21

Through Aug. 31

Light Touch

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

Man at the Crossroads: Diego Rivera’s Mural at Rockefeller Center

This exposition centers around the mural that Mexican artist Diego Rivera painted in New York City, reconstructing its history with unedited material, including reproduced letters, telegrams, contracts, sketches, and documents, following Rivera’s commission, subsequent tension and conflict, and finally, the mural’s destruction.

Mexican Cultural Institute Through May 22

Unanswered Prayers

The photographs of Anna Paola Pizzocaro, a renowned New York-based artist from Milan, carry traces of her collaborations with Luc Besson and David La Chappelle and tell the story of a dream-like trip between reality and imagination, as oceanic images combined with wildlife and human figures in urban settings become one.

Embassy of Italy Through May 23

Retrato en Voz Alta

Portraits of contemporary Mexican artists by photographer Allan Fis includes subjects such as revered Mexican visual artists Pedro Friedeberg and José Luis Cuevas in a resounding visual essay on those who have dedicated their lives to art.

Embassy of Colombia

The first in-depth exploration of the theme of destruction in international contemporary visual culture, this groundbreaking exhibition includes works by a diverse range of international artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation and performance.

Organization of American States Sculpture Garden May 11 to Oct. 5

Degas/Cassatt

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

National Gallery of Art

Page 48

Through June 29

Modern German Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection

Through May 17

Through May 26

In this collaboration between China and OAS member countries, Yuan Xikun uses cross-disciplinary art and modern context to energize trans-Pacific dialogue.

BWI Airport

Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center

Critters and Doodles (Alicángaras y Mamarrachos)

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

The Cultural Service of the Embassy of France, in partnership with Maryland Art Place (MAP), features the work of five artists who explore aspects of the physical world through the lens of light as both a medium and a resource of value to our natural environment.

Paintings by 16 of Brazil’s most wellknown 20th-century abstract artists — eight women and eight men — were done purely for aesthetic reasons using practiced painting or printmaking skills, creating visually interesting and thoughtprovoking works that search for a deeper understanding of light, color, textures and technical processes.

OAS Art Museum of the Americas

May 9 to Aug. 1

May 2014

Abstraction, Abstracción, Abstração

May 8 to 24

Marta L. Gutierrez’s playful drawings, paintings and characters, whose suggestive names tell us stories, invite audiences to experience the ordinary as extraordinary in a whimsical alternative universe.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through May 30

Latitude Malbec: A Journey through Rouge Senses

Argentinean artist Miguel Perez Lem combines several mediums with images from the Andes to recreate the immense beauty of the mountain range through deep reds, evoking the various hues of the distinctive Malbec wine that is produced in that particular region of Argentina.

Embassy of Argentina Through June 1

Double Mirror

Paintings, drawings, photography, reliefs, video projection and other installations by 30 Korean and Korean-American artists

Photo: Embassy of Latvia

The glass art sculptures of Artis Nimanis will be on display at the Latvian Embassy until May 31.

convey the complexity and richness of being a creative wanderer in the mainstream art world, while also exploring the challenges of being a minority in the United States.

Ruth Kainen’s love of German expressionism, first displayed at the gallery in the 1985 exhibition “German Expressionist Prints from the Collection of Ruth and Jacob Kainen,” will be celebrated with 123 works recently donated to the gallery through her bequest, as well as with a few of her earlier gifts.

National Gallery of Art

American University Katzen Arts Center

Through July 13

Through June 6

From the late 19th century to today, dance has captured this nation’s culture in motion, as seen in photos that showcase generations of performers, choreographers and impresarios.

Sequester

Six Australian contemporary artists working out of New York City and London were selected based on an empirical set of rules.

In an act of sequestering the artists, each has adopted a system of constraint to structure their experiments, elucidating the vast complexities of lived experience with a remarkable economy of means.

Embassy of Australia Art Gallery Through June 8, 2014

Perspectives: Rina Banerjee

Born in India and based in New York City, artist Rina Banerjee draws on her background as a scientist and her experience as an immigrant in her richly textured works that complicate the role of objects as representations of cultures and invite viewers to share her fascination in materials.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through June 15

Gravity’s Edge

One of a series of exhibitions drawn from the collection of the Hirshhorn in celebration of the museum’s 40th anniversary, “Gravity’s Edge” offers an expanded view of Color Field painting, which spanned from 1959 to 1978.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through June 15

Rineke Dijkstra: The Krazyhouse

“The Krazyhouse” is a four-channel video installation by Rineke Dijkstra created in 2009 at a popular dance club in Liverpool that presents a group of five young people in their teens and early 20s dancing and singing.

Dancing the Dream

National Portrait Gallery Through July 27

Chigusa and the Art of Tea

“Chigusa” tells the story of a 700-year-old ordinary tea jar that rose to become one of the most famous and revered objects in the Japanese “art of tea” — so much so that it was granted a name, luxurious accessories and a devoted following.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through Aug. 17

An Opening of the Field: Jess, Robert Duncan, and Their Circle Jess Collins and his partner, the poet Robert Duncan, merged their personal and artistic lives by exploring their mutual interest in cultural mythologies, transformative narrative and the appropriation of images.

American University Katzen Arts Center Through Aug. 17

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

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

National Museum of African Art

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Through Aug. 24

Through June 15

Africa ReViewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon

Shakespeare’s the Thing

Marking the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, this exhibition presents a miscellany of treasures in the Folger collection from Shakespeare’s 1623 First Folio to modern fine art prints, revealing the Bard’s influence on performance, adaptation, scholarship, printing, fine art and even in mild obsession.

Folger Shakespeare Library

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

National Museum of African Art

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

Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed

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

National Geographic Museum Through Sept. 7

Small Guide to Homeownership: Photography by Alejandro Cartagena of Mexico

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

Art Museum of the Americas Through Sept. 14

Meret Oppenheim: Tender Friendships

More than 20 artworks and archival papers

by Swiss surrealist Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) explore friendship as a source of support and inspiration, as seen through two 18th-century poets, Bettina von Brentano and Karoline von Günderode.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Sept. 21

Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence

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

The Anacostia Community Museum

DANCE Through May 3

Urban Corps 2014: A Transatlantic Urban Dance Festival

The Alliance Française’s annual transatlantic urban dance festival comes back to D.C. for its third year with powerful performances from urban dancers, musicians and speakers whose distinct backgrounds in arts such as miming, acrobatics, DJ, video and American urban dance present an unrivaled vantage point on metropolitan culture and identity. For information, visit www.francedc.org.

Various locations May 20 to 25

Bolshoi Ballet: Giselle

Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet returns with “unparalleled intensity and brilliance” (Washington Post) to the Opera House to dance “Giselle,” one of the most roman-

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

tic and visually striking works in the classical canon. Tickets are $34 to $165.

Kennedy Center Opera House

DISCUSSIONS Wed., May 7, 7 p.m.

Beneath the Lion’s Gaze

Ethiopian-American writer and human rights activist Maaza Mengiste discusses her debut novel, “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze,” the story of a family’s struggle for freedom in 1974 on the eve of the Ethiopian revolution and the larger plight of sub-Sahara immigrants arriving in Europe. Admission is first come first served.

University of the District of Columbia Theater of the Arts Wed., May 7, 6:45 p.m.

Revueltas and Mexican Identity

As part of the PostClassical Ensemble’s Mexican Revolution programming, Roberto Kolb of the National University of Mexico, today’s leading Revueltas authority, discusses the legacy of Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez, a Mexican violinist, conductor and composer of classical music.

Admission is free; reservations can be made by emailing rsvp@instituteofmexicodc.org.

Passport Is Back!

It’s lucky number seven for Passport DC, as the monthlong showcase of all things international marks its seventh year of opening the doors to the city’s embassies. More than 70 embassies, in fact, will offer events ranging from tango lessons and henna applications to Dominican rum tastings and Thai massages.

The annual event is sponsored by Cultural Tourism DC, a nonprofit whose mission is to diversify the city’s arts and heritage. “Passport DC is a profound way for people to learn by experience,” said Cultural Tourism DC Executive Director Steve Shulman. “As a young man, I had the opportunity to travel internationally and those experiences inform my actions today.

Passport DC is the next best thing to international travel — and For more information, visit www.culturaltourismdc.org because you never leave D.C. — or www.euopenhouse.org. there’s no jet lag.”

In addition to embassy open houses, Passport DC features a variety of cultural performances and exhibits throughout May. Here are some highlights:

more

Modernism in 1914

Embassy of Austria

Shortcut to Europe: European Union Embassies’ Open House Sat., May 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visitors get a rare look inside the embassies of the Euro­pean Union and a unique opportunity to enjoy the cultural heritage

Thu., May 8, 7:30 p.m.

To mark the centenary of World War I, Steven Beller discusses how the violence of the First World War kick-started many of the changes that created the modern world we live in today.

Synetic Theater Through May 11

Tender Napalm

Photo: EU in the US / Momenta Creative

to learn

Around the World Embassy Tour Sat., May 3, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

More than 50 embassies representing six continents invite Washingtonians to travel the world by experiencing their nation’s food, art, dance, music and more.

Mexican Cultural Institute

tury, Jerome K. Jerome’s delightful travelogue tells the story of three young men suffering from a severe case of “overwork” who take a boating holiday through the English countryside, getting into one satirically hilarious predicament after another. Tickets start at $35.

European Union Ambassador João Vale de Almeida greets children during last year’s “Shortcut to Europe,” the EU’s annual open house showcase in May.

and national traditions of the 28 EU member states.

Embassy Chef Challenge Thu., May 15, 6 p.m.

Cultural Tourism DC’s annual fundraiser offers access to one of D.C.’s best-kept secrets: world-class embassy chefs.

More than a dozen embassy chefs will present their country’s signature delicacies and battle it out in this unique culinary competition at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

National Asian Heritage Festival Sat., May 17, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fiesta Asia Street Fair brings together more than 1,000 performers from over 20 cultures on five stages for a day of pan-Asian cuisine, a shopping bazaar, kid-friendly activities, a talent competition, parade, Bollywood street dancing, and traditional arts and crafts.

— Anna Gawel

GALAS Fri., May 2, 6:30 p.m.

Roger Nakazawa Art Reception

Join alumni from Princeton University, Johns Hopkins and other universities for an evening of wine and hors d’oeuvres that features the art of physiognomy (face reading), a silent auction and the work of six artists. Tickets are $35; 30 percent of all art sales will be donated to Charlies Place, a homeless service center in D.C. For information, visit http://mcbarnette.com/events.html.

including a classical music and opera concert performance featuring rising stars of the operatic stage. Tickets are $65; for information, visit http://acfdc.org.

Embassy of Austria

MUSIC Mon., May 5, 7 p.m.

Peace Through Music

Georgetown University and a coalition of partners from around the world will present a historic musical celebration of the canonizations of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII in the spirit of Pope Francis. Italian Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero will attend together with Cardinal Donald Wuer and the ambassadors of Poland and Argentina. To register, visit www.iicwashington.esteri.it.

DAR Constitution Hall

Embassy of Austria

Wed., May 7, 7:30 p.m.

Sat., May 10, 6:30 p.m.

To mark the centenary of the start of World War I in 1914, pianist Aima Labra-Makk and violoncello Florian Kitt play a selection of music that was written just before and after the war, along with more recent works. Admission is free but registration is required and can be made at http://labrakitt.eventbrite.com.

WPAS Annual Gala and Auction

A highlight of the spring gala season, the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) Gala and Auction raises funds to support the organization’s main stage and education programs. This year’s gala is hosted by South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool and features Vusi Mahlasela. Known as “The Voice” of South Africa, Mahlasela’s songs, themed around the struggle for freedom, forgiveness and reconciliation, inspired many in the South African antiapartheid movement. Tickets start at $1,600; for information, call (202) 2939325 or Helen Aberger at (202) 533-1891.

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel Fri., May 16, 6:30 p.m.

Viennese Opera Ball

Enjoy a delightful evening of Austrian music as you indulge in the cuisine, culture, art and wine of Vienna hosted by the International Club of DC and Lyrica Artists,

May 14 to June 22

Cock John breaks up with his long-term boyfriend. Two weeks later, he’s grateful to be accepted back — and haunted by a passionate and unshakable encounter with a woman that detonates a love triangle of attraction, ambivalence and commitment.

Please call for ticket information.

Studio Theatre Through May 18

Living Out Ana, a Salvadoran nanny and a mother of two, and Nancy, a lawyer challenged by fulfilling both personal and professional goals, are two working mothers who make difficult choices so they can provide a better life for their children. Please call for ticket information.

GALA Hispanic Theatre

Tango Turco (Turkish Tango)

Tarfia Faizullah

Library of Congress James Madison Building

Signature Theatre

Through May 18

Wed., May 21, 4 p.m.

Bangladeshi-American poet Tarfia Faizullah discusses her first collection of poetry, “Seam,” which explores the history of the Birangona, Bangladeshi women raped by Pakistani soldiers during the Liberation War of 1971, and the ethics of interviewing.

A pair of young lovers creates a fantastical, often violent world through an interweaving dialogue of increasing perplexity. At the heart of their fantasies lies an unimaginable tragedy that both bonds and breaks the two. Please call for ticket information.

Aima Labra-Makk and Florian Kitt

Embassy of Austria Sat., May 10, 2:30 p.m.

Eurovision Song Contest Join the Embassy of Denmark to celebrate the grand finale of the World’s largest music contest, featuring 37 countries and 600 million viewers — all broadcast live from Copenhagen, the host city of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Tickets are $15; for information, visit www.

EurovisionUSLive.eventbrite.com.

Embassy of Denmark Thu., May 15, 7:30 p.m.

Fri., May 16, 7:30 p.m.

Operetta Evening

Hungarian soprano Krisztina David teams up with Austrian tenor Michael Heim in a thrilling array of arias and duets from beloved operettas in this two-night event hosted by the Embassy Series. Tickets are $65, including reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Austria Tue., May 20, 7:30 p.m.

The Arabella String Quartet

At their debut concert in Boston two years ago, the Arabella Quartet received a glowing review from the Boston Musical Intelligencer, which said, “The group played like they had been together for years … with freedom, drive and risk-taking that were quite astonishing in a debut performance.” Tickets are $150, including buffet; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

European Union Residence Thu., May 22, 7:30 p.m.

Chamber Music of Ravel and Debussy

Pianist Ann Schein — whom the Washington Post says “reaches right into the heart of whatever she is playing and creates music so powerful you cannot tear yourself away” — joins violinist Earl Carlyss and cellist Darret Adkins in a program of Debussy and Ravel. Tickets are $65, including reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of France

THEATER May 3 to 18

Washington National Opera: The Magic Flute

A love-struck prince sets out on a fantastic adventure to rescue the Queen of the Night’s daughter in Mozart’s final opera.

Tickets are $25 to $305.

Kennedy Center Opera House

May 2014

Through May 4

Camp David

Nestled in Catoctin Mountain Park lies the clandestine retreat known as Camp David, where for 13 tumultuous days, President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn host Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in an attempt to create the impossible: peace in the Middle East. Please call for ticket information.

Arena Stage Through May 4

Moth

Anime-obsessed Sebastian and emo-Wiccan Claryssa survive high school with a mix of imagination and belligerence, but then a horrific event sends Sebastian on an apocalyptic mission, changing their friendship forever. Tickets are $30 to $35.

Studio Theatre May 7 to 18

The Václav Havel Project

Alliance for New Music-Theatre presents “The Václav Havel Project,” a double bill that pairs the irreverent “Unveiling,” one of the Czech playwright’s most popular plays, with the world premiere of “Vaněk Unleashed,” a hilarious companion piece of original music-theatre by D.C.’s Maurice Saylor and Susan Galbraith. Postperformance discussions at all performances will allow audience members to share their interpretations of Václav Havel and these works. The production will also be accompanied by an exhibit of photographs by Jan Kašpar, a family friend of Havel’s. Tickets are $30; for information, visit www.newmusictheatre.org.

In this comedy by Teatro de la Luna, two lovers and tango dancers from Argentina must escape after committing an uncertain and painful act, eventually teaming up with a Lebanese guitarist. Tickets are $25 or $35.

Gunston Arts Center – Theater Two Through May 25

Fiasco Theater’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona New York’s inventive Fiasco Theater has established its reputation for bringing Shakespeare’s most whimsical and timeless tales to the stage. This dizzying romantic adventure is a comedy filled with bandits, mistaken identity and also the “sourest-natured” dog Crab. Tickets are $30 to $72.

Folger Shakespeare Library Through June 1

The Threepenny Opera

The haves clash with the have-nots while MacHeath, the ultimate sneering antihero, perches in the middle of the storm in this futuristic dystopia set in London’s gritty underworld. Please call for ticket information.

Signature Theatre Through June 7

Henry IV, Part 1 A young prince must decide between tavern roughhousing and the burden of his father’s legacy in the coming-of-age story of heroism, corruption and war, directed by Shakespeare Theatre Artistic Director Michael Kahn and starring Stacy Keach.

Tickets start at $20.

Shakespeare Theatre Harman Hall

Artisphere Black Box Theatre May 8 to June 8

Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog)

For a complete list of events, please visit our Web site at www.washdiplomat.com.

Still fresh and witty after more than a cenThe Washington Diplomat Page 49

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

Global Education Gala

Prevent Cancer Gala

Photo: Ned Dishman / World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

From left, Ambassador of Brazil Mauro Vieira; Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia; Chairwoman, President and CEO of Lockheed Martin Marillyn A. Hewson; and President of Hamad bin Khalifa University Sheikh Abdulla Bin Ali Al-Thani attend the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.’s Global Education Gala, where Vieira was given the Distinguished Diplomatic Service Award and DeGioia received the Educator of the Year Award.

From left, Colleen and James Armington of Boeing sit with Ambassador of Brunei Dato Paduka Haji Yusoff bin Haji Abdul Hamid and his wife Datin Mahani Abu Zar at the 2014 Global Education Gala at the Ritz-Carlton.

May 2014

From left, Middle East and North Africa Regional Director for Raytheon Jason Colosky, recently appointed Ambassador of Qatar Mohammed Jaham Al Kuwari, and Raytheon International President Matthew Riddle attend the 2014 Global Education Gala hosted by the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C., a nonprofit that aims to expand awareness of geopolitical, business and civil society issues in an interconnected world.

Virgil Griffin, left, and Jennifer Berman of Boeing attend the World Affairs Council of Washington’s Global Education Gala, sponsored

by Boeing, ExxonMobil, Lockheed Martin, Leo A. Daly III and other corporations.

From right, Ambassador of Turkmen­ istan and Mrs. Meret Bairamovich Orazov join Amadou Kilkenny Diaw of Winston & Strawn LLP at the Global Education Gala hosted by the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

Photo: Ned Dishman / World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

Photo: Ned Dishman / World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

From left (top row), Managing Editor of The Washington Diplomat Anna Gawel; Katina Rojas Joy of the Commerce Department; Nancy Santiago Negrón of the Education Department; former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Chase Untermeyer; (bottom row) current U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Susan Ziadeh; Director of Middle East/North Africa International Government Relations for ExxonMobil Rochdi A. Younsi; Murali M. Krishnan of ExxonMobil; Jan Du Plain; and Diana Untermeyer attend the 2014 Global Education Gala.

Ambassador of South Sudan Akec Khoc Aciew Khoc talks with a guest at the Global Education Gala hosted by the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C., part of a 98-council nationwide network and a recognized leader in professional development programs for educators.

Photo: Ned Dishman / World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the Mexican Embassy Mabel Gomez Oliver, left, congratulates Ambassador of Brazil Mauro Vieira for receiving the Diplomatic Service Award at the Global Education Gala.

From left, Bill Ibsch, Stacey Wrazen of Sodexo, Erika Ibsch and Ambassador of France Françoise Delattre attend the World Affairs Council of Washington’s Global Education Gala.

Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson and his wife Queenie were among more than a dozen ambassadors who attended the Global Education Gala hosted by the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C., a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1980 that hosts discussions and debates that attract over 5,000 people each year.

Photo: Ned Dishman / World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

From left, Leo A. Daly III, President of the World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C. (WAC-DC) Heidi Shoup, WAC-DC Chairwoman Edie Fraser, and Sheikh Abdulla Bin Ali Al-Thani, vice president of education for the Qatar Foundation, attend the Global Education Gala, where Al-Thani accepted the Global Education Award on behalf of Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.

Photo: Tony powell for the prevent cancer foundation

From left, Laura Denise Bisogniero, Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero, Prevent Cancer Foundation President and founder Carolyn “Bo” Aldigé, former Ambassador of Monaco Gilles Noghès, Ellen Noghès, Nobuku Sasae and Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae attend the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s 20th annual spring gala. The Sasaes served as diplomatic patrons of the event, where Ellen Noghès, a three-time cancer survivor, was given the 2014 Cancer Champion Award; Italy and Monaco have served as past gala patrons.

Photo: Gail scott

From left, Shaista Mahmood, Nobuku Sasae, Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae and Ray Mahmood attend the Prevent Cancer Foundation 20th annual spring gala at the National Building Museum.

Photo: Ned Dishman / World Affairs Council of Washington, D.C.

From left (top row), American University adjunct professor Katherine Goldgeier; Dean of the American University School of International Service James Goldgeier; Kerri Briggs of ExxonMobil; Deputy Chief of Mission of the Brazilian Embassy Ernesto Henrique Fraga Araújo; (bottom row) former U.S. Ambassador to Chile Craig Kelly; Robert Fardi; Martin Sieff; Hugh Grindstaff; Joan Keston of THIS for Diplomats; and Howard University Dean Kurt L. Schmoke attend the 2014 Global Education Gala.

Photo: Tony powell for the prevent cancer foundation

The Japanese-themed Prevent Cancer Foundation’s spring gala at the National Building Museum raised $1.7 million to support cancer prevention and early detection.

Liechtenstein Visit Matthew Keller of the Liechtenstein Embassy, left, welcomes former Rep. Don Bonker, now with APCO Worldwide, to a reception for Liechtenstein Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Zwiefelhofer.

Etihad at Children’s

Photo: J. David Buerk

From left, Etihad Airways Chief People and Performance Officer Ray Gammell; United Arab Emirates Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba; President and CEO of Children’s National Medical Center Kurt Newman; and Fox News anchor Bret Baier attend the unveiling of the Etihad Airways Room at Children’s National Medical Center in D.C.

Page 50

Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche, left, welcomes Thomas Zwiefelhofer, Liechtenstein’s deputy prime minister and minister for home affairs, justice and economic affairs, to the country’s embassy in Georgetown during Zwiefelhofer’s recent D.C. visit.

From left, Swiss Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Daniel Hunn, Tamara Brunhart of the Liechtenstein Embassy, Ambassador of Austria Hans Peter Manz, Sabine Schleidt and Andrew Loeb Shoenig, both of the Congressional Study Groups, attend a reception for Liechtenstein Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Zwiefelhofer.

Former U.S. Assistant Chief of Protocol Lawrence Dunham and his wife Deborah attend a reception for Liechtenstein Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Zwiefelhofer.

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

World Cup at Brazil

photos: Kate Oczypok

Ambassador of Brazil Mauro Vieira poses with Fuleco the Armadillo, the official mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, at a VIP reception held at his residence to celebrate the World Cup, to be held in Brazil in June.

From left, Jim Travis, Brazilian diplomat João Paulo Ortega Terra and ‎Industry Affairs Manager at Monsanto Brazil Otávio Concado attend a reception at the Brazilian Residence celebrating the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

From left, former American soccer player Cobi Jones, Bradley Phillips and former American soccer player Julie Foudy attend a reception to celebrate the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Diane Flamini, social secretary and protocol officer for the Spanish Embassy, left, and Michele Giacalone, public relations officer for the Italian Cultural Institute, attend a reception to celebrate the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

From left, Deputy Chief of Mission of the French Embassy Frédéric Doré, Juan Manuel Molina and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Mexican Embassy Mabel Gomez Oliver attend a reception to celebrate the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Ruth Gamarra, left, and Commercial Attaché at the Paraguayan Embassy Jorge Ruiz-Diaz attend a reception to celebrate the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Paolo Rossi, left, and Brazilian Deputy Sports Minister Luis Fernandes attend a reception co-hosted by Coca-Cola at the Brazilian Residence celebrating the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

A band plays traditional music at the Brazilian Residence to celebrate the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Francine and Brantley Vitek, an orthopedist, attend a reception at the Brazilian Residence celebrating the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

From left, Regina Seixax, Carlos Seixax and Ricardo Magalhaes attend a reception at the Brazilian Residence celebrating the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Canada Israel Hockey School

Colombian Art

photos: gail scott

From left, Ambassador of Colombia Luis Carlos Villegas, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Colombian artist Alexandra Agudelo attend an exhibit of Agudelo’s silver sculptures at the Colombian Residence.

New York art gallery owner Cristina Gra­jales will host an ex­­hibit of Alex­an­­dra Agud­elo’s striking sculptures made from Colom­bia’s famous silver deposits.

Photo: gail scott

Polish NATO Anniversary From left, Polish Embassy Defense Attaché B.G. Jarosław Stróżyk, Polish Undersecretary of State for Security Policy Bogusław Winid, retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, and Ambassador of Poland Ryszard Schnepf attend a reception at the Polish Embassy celebrating the 15th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO.

Grenadian PM

Ambassador of Canada Gary Doer, third from left, holds the team shirt he was given by the Canada Israel Hockey School (CIHS). He’s joined by members of the Canadian Parliament as well as women’s hockey Olympic Gold medalist Tessa Bonhomme of Canada, fourth from right, and Silver medalist Lisa Chesson of the United States, second from right, at an event to celebrate the D.C. visit of CIHS, which was established in the northern Israeli town of Metula to bring Arab and Jewish youth together through hockey.

Embassy Series

photos: larry luxner

From left, Ambassador of St. Lucia Sonia Johnny; Ambassador of Grenada Angus Friday; Prime Minister of Grenada Keith Mitchell; and Ambassador of Guyana Bayney Karran attend Mitchell’s speech on “Building Sustainable Nations and a Competitive Hemisphere: Harnessing the $6 Trillion Market for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Industries” at the Center for Strategic and International Studies during his April visit to Washington.

photos: misato nakayama

Members of the Canada Israel Hockey School don their new gloves featuring the Canadian maple leaf atop the Canadian Embassy, which overlooks Capitol Hill, during their visit to the United States in March.

From left, Carlos Pascual, special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs at the State Department; Todd M. Johnson, lead energy specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank; and Albert Ramdin, assistant secretary-general of the Organization of American States, discuss building sustainable nations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

photos: morris simon for the embassy series

From left, Russian cellist Adrian Daurov, Chinese pianist Di Wu, Embassy Series Artistic Director Jerome Barry, and Ambassador of Russia Sergey Kislyak attend a concert by Daurov, a St. Petersburg native, and Wu, who is based in New York, hosted by the Embassy Series at the Russian Embassy.

May 2014

From left, pianist Edvinas Minkstimas, Saul Lilienstein, Embassy Series Artistic Director Jerome Barry, violinists Anna Knopp Milan Milojicic and Bozena Angelova, and violoncelloist Leonhard Roczek pose after the Minetti Quartet concert hosted by the Embassy Series at the Embassy of Austria.

From left, violinist Emanuel Salvador, pianist Ronaldo Rolim, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Portuguese Embassy Rosa Batoréu, and Ambassador of Portugal Nuno Brito attend an Embassy Series concert held at Brito’s residence.

The Washington Diplomat Page 51

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

Jazz at Turkey

‘Peruvian Gold’

photo: embassy of turkey

Ambassador of Peru Harold Forsyth and his wife María Verónica Sommer Mayer attend the opening of “Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed,” a new exhibit on Peru’s pre-Inca heritage at the National Geographic Museum.

National Geographic’s Terry Garcia, left, and Izumi Shimada, an anthropology professor at Southern Illinois University, attend the opening of the National Geographic exhibit “Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed.”

From left, guest curator Frederik Hiebert and Cecilia Bakula Budge, director of the Museum of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, join Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal at the opening of the National Geographic exhibit “Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed.”

A Peruvian band welcomed guests to the opening of “Peruvian Gold: Ancient Treasures Unearthed,” which showcases ancient gold and silver artifacts excavated from Peru’s legendary royal tombs.

Photos: gail scott

photo: embassy of turkey

The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Quartet performs works by Charlie Parker as part of the Ertegün Jazz Series at the Turkish Embassy.

Director of the Eurasia and Africa Group for Coca-Cola Gürtay Kipçak, left, and Turkish Embassy Economic Counselor Refi Ozgen attend a jazz concert at the Turkish Embassy sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Beacon Martini Contest

From left, legislative assistant Daniel Hervig, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), and curator of American music at the National Museum of American History John Edward Hasse attend a concert at the Turkish Embassy as part of the Ertegün Jazz Series.

Conductor and saxophonist Charlie Young, left, and trumpeter Tom Williams perform at the Turkish Embassy’s Ertegün Jazz Series, which celebrates the embassy’s history of hosting the first integrated concerts in D.C. in the 1930s and ’40s under Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegün and his two sons: Nesuhi and Ahmet Ertegün, who later founded Atlantic Records.

From left, Jeff Weintraub of Weintraub Communications, consultant Brian Forni, and Washington Representative for the Turkish Industry and Business Association Baris Ornarli attend a concert at the Turkish Embassy as part of the Ertegün Jazz Series.

From left, Rhoda Septilici, philanthropist Susan Lehrman, and Anita A. Kondoyanidi of Georgetown University attend a concert at the Turkish Embassy by the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, which has performed at the White House, Kennedy Center and 1996 Olympics.

Finnish Concert

photos: gail scott

Jo-Jo Valenzuela of City Tap House pours his “World Peach” martini, which took top honors for the second year in a row at the Beacon Hotel Bar & Grill’s seventh annual Best Martin Contest, where a dozen top area bartenders compete for $1,500 in prizes.

Bartender Brian Bachley of Occidental Grill & Seafood restaurant creates a martini using Skyy Peach Vodka at the Beacon Hotel Bar & Grill’s seventh annual Best Martin Contest, where The Washington Diplomat served as one of the celebrity judges.

Mixologist Marco MaffeoRobinson of Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab restaurant took third place in the Beacon Hotel Bar & Grill’s seventh annual Best Martin Contest.

Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde, right, and her husband Dr. Hidde Ronde, left, welcome well-known Finnish pianist RistoMatti Marin to their residence for a concert.

Former Finnish Ambassador and founder of Finland’s Institute of International Affairs Jaakko Iloniemi, left, joins Michael Haltzel, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic Relations, at a concert

by Finnish pianist Risto-Matti Marin.

Innovation Fellows From left, Dr. Amy Geng, Ambassador of Switzerland Manuel Sager, coach Kathy Kemper of the Institute for Education (IFE), and former White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra attend an IFE INFO salon on “Trickle-Up Innovation: How Governments Can Support Grassroots Science & Technology.”

Omani-African Art Dinner

photo: Glenn Virgin

From left, Undersecretary for History, Art and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution Richard Kurin; National Museum of African Art Director Johnnetta Betsch Cole; Ambassador of Oman Hunaina Sultan Ahmed Al-Mughairy; National Museum of African Art Education Specialist Nicole Shivers; Executive Director of the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center Kathleen Ridolfo; and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy for Near Eastern Asian Affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to Oman Richard Schmierer attend a dinner to celebrate a new cultural collaboration between Oman and the National Museum of African Art.

Page 52

Photos: kevin Allen

Tom Patton, left, and Ambassador of the Netherlands Rudolf Bekink attend a discussion featuring the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows at the Swiss Residence. According to the 2013 U.S. Innovation Index, Switzerland ranks first in science and technology cooperation with the United States.

From left, Ambassador of Mexico and Mrs. Eduardo Medina Mora Icaza join Christine Sager, wife of the Swiss ambassador, at an Institute for Education (IFE) INFO Public Policy Roundtable on innovation held at the Swiss Residence.

The Washington Diplomat

May 2014

AROUNDtheWORLD May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension

HOLIDAYS AlBANiA May 1: Labor Day AlGeRiA May 1: Labor Day ANDoRRA May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension ANGolA May 1: International Workers’ Day May 25: africa Day ANTiGuA and BARBuDA May 1: Labor Day ARGeNTiNA May 1: Labor Day May 25: anniversary of the May Revolution ARMeNiA May 1: Labor Day May 9: Victory and Peace Day May 28: Republic Day

BoliviA May 1: Labor Day AuSTRiA May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension AZeRBAiJAN May 9: Victory Day May 28: Republic Day BARBADoS May 1: Labor Day BelARuS May 1: Labor Day May 9: Day of national emblem and national Flag May 9: Victory Day BelGiuM May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension BeliZe May 1: Labor Day May 24: commonwealth Day BeNiN

APPOINTMENTS Barbados n. simone Rudder departed the post of minister-counselor/deputy chief of mission on March 31, having also served as alternate representative of Barbados to the organization of american states.

Gambia sheikh omar Faye assumed the post of chargé d’affaires on March 31, replacing Babucarr Jallow, who departed the post March 31.

Ghana Jojo Bruce-Quansah became information counselor on March 4, having previously served as counselor in the Information section of the ghana high commission in London.

Vanessa Mensah adu departed the post of ministercounselor on March 31.

indonesia Budi Bowoleksono presented his credentials to serve as ambassador of Indonesia to the united states to the state Department on april 1, having most recently served as secretary-general of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign affairs. he also previously served as Indonesia’s ambassador to kenya, with concurrent Ambassador accreditation to seychelles, Budi Bowoleksono Mauritius, uganda, the u.n. environment Program and unhcR (2008-10). In addition, ambassador Bowoleksono was assigned to various offices in the Ministry of Foreign affairs, including the Directorate general of Foreign economic Relations; Directorate general of asean cooperation; Directorate general of Multilateral affairs; and the secretariat general. he started his diplomatic career at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in 1986 and since then has held postings at the Indonesian Permanent Mission to the united nations in new York, the Indonesian Permanent Mission in geneva, and the Indonesian Permanent Mission in Vienna. ambassador Bowoleksono graduated from krisnadwipayana university in Jakarta in 1984.

Malaysia Datuk Dr. awang adek Bin hussin presented his credentials to serve as ambassador of Malaysia to the united

May 2014

BoSNiA and heRZeGoviNA May 1: Labor Day BoTSWANA May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension

May 29: ascension cAMBoDiA May 1: Labor Day May 13: Royal Ploughing ceremony cAMeRooN May 1: Labor Day May 20: national Day cANADA May 23: Victoria Day

BRAZil May 1: Labor Day

cAPe veRDe May 1: Labor Day

BulGARiA May 1: Labor Day May 6: st. george’s Day/ Day of the Bulgarian army May 24: Day of the slavic alphabet and Bulgarian culture

ceNTRAl AfRicAN RePuBlic May 1: Labor Day May 25: africa Day May 29: ascension

BuRKiNA fASo May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension BuRMA (MyANMAR) May 1: May Day BuRuNDi May 1: Labor Day

chAD May 1: Labor Day May 25: africa Day

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension

DJiBouTi May 1: Labor Day

euRoPeAN uNioN May 9: soloman Day

coNGo, DeMocRATic RePuBlic May 1: Labor Day

DoMiNicA May 1: May Day

fiNlAND May 1: May Day

leBANoN May 1: Labor Day May 6: Martyrs’ Day May 25: Liberation of the south

DoMiNicAN RePuBlic May 1: Labor Day

fRANce May 1: Labor Day May 8: Victory Day of 1945 May 29: ascension

leSoTho May 1: Workers’ Day May 25: africa Day/ heroes’ Day May 29: ascension

GABoN May 1: Labor Day May 26: Mother’s Day May 29: ascension

liechTeNSTeiN May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension

coNGo, RePuBlic of May 1: Labor Day coSTA RicA May 1: Labor Day cÔTe D’ivoiRe May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension cRoATiA May 1: Labor Day cuBA May 1: International Workers’ Day cyPRuS May 1: Labor Day

chile May 1: Labor Day May 21: Battle of Iquique

cZech RePuBlic May 1: Labor Day May 8: Liberation Day

chiNA May 1: Labor Day

DeNMARK May 1: Workers’ Day May 7: store Bededag May 29: ascension

coloMBiA

states to the state Department on april 11, having served as a senator in the Malaysian Parliament since april 2009 and deputy finance minister since april 2013. ambassador awang adek won the Bachok Parliamentary seat election in 2004 and was then appointed deputy rural and regional development minister. he began his career as a lecturer at the universiti sains Malaysia (usM) from 1983 to 1985, later joining the Bank negara Malaysia from 1985 to 2001, concluding his tenure there as assistant governor. ambassador awang adek holds degrees in mathematics and economics from Drew university in the united states and a master’s and Ph.D. from the Wharton school of the university of Pennsylvania.

Malta sandro curmi assumed the position of deputy chief of mission on Jan. 1, replacing stephen staines, who departed the post Dec. 31. curmi previously held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign affairs since 2009, most recently as european correspondent.

Republic of china (Taiwan) Lyushin shen became the representative (ambassador) of the taipei economic and cultural Representative office (tecRo) in the united states on april 1, Representative 2014. Representative shen prelyushin Shen viously served as head of the taipei Representative office in the united kingdom (2011-14); deputy minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of china (2009-11); head of the taipei Representative office in the european union and Belgium (2008-09); and director-general of the Délégation culturelle et economique de taipei in the Bureau de genève (2003-08). he also has extensive experience working in the united states, including postings at tecRo in Washington, D.c., as deputy representative (1999-2003) and director of the Public affairs (congressional Liaison) Division (1994-96). In addition, he was director of the secretariat (Political affairs) Division with the coordination council for north american affairs (ccnaa) in the u.s. (1993-94), director-general of the ccnaa office in kansas city (1991-93), and staff consultant for the congressional liaison of ccnaa (198288). Representative shen was also a senior specialist and chief of the First section of the Department of north american affairs at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in taipei (1988-91); a visiting adjunct professor of international studies at the university of kansas (1992-93); a research associate with the university of Maryland school of Law in Baltimore (1981-82); and a pre-doctoral

May 2014

eAST TiMoR May 1: Labor Day May 20: Independence Day ecuADoR May 1: Labor Day May 24: anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha el SAlvADoR May 1: Labor Day eQuAToRiAl GuiNeA May 1: May Day May 25: africa Day eRiTReA May 24: Liberation Day eSToNiA May 1: spring Day eThioPiA May 28: national Day

fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia (1980-81). Born nov. 12, 1949, in taipei, ambassador shen holds a bachelor’s in law degree from the national chung-hsing university in taipei, a master’s and a Ph.D. in international relations from the university of Pennsylvania, and an honorary Ph.D. in international affairs from Park university in Missouri.

Romania gabriel Rotaru assumed the position of counselor in January. Rotaru, who joined the Ministry of Foreign affairs in 1999, previously served as consul in Madrid, spain. stefana Rotaru assumed the position of counselor in January. Rotaru, who joined the Ministry of Foreign affairs in august 2000, previously served in Romanian embassies to the holy see, Ireland and spain.

Slovenia col. Ivan Mikuz assumed the position of defense attaché on March 3, replacing col. Ladislav graber, who departed the post Dec. 15.

Turkey serdar kılıç presented his credentials to serve as ambassador Ambassador of turkey to the united states to Serdar Kılıç the state Department on april 16, having most recently served as ambassador to Japan since april 2012. he also previously served as secretary-general of the national security council (2010-12) and ambassador to Lebanon (2008-10). In addition, ambassador kılıç held various postings in the Ministry of Foreign affairs, including deputy general director and minister-plenipotentiary of the Deputy general Directorate of nato and euro-atlantic security and Defense affairs (2006-08); head of department of the Deputy general Directorate of the Balkans and central europe (2003-06); chief of section and acting head of department of the nato and euro-atlantic security and Defense affairs Directorate (1997-99); first and second secretary with the gulf and Muslim countries Department (1992-93); and attaché and assistant attaché with the eastern europe and asia Department (198487). he was also a counselor (1999-2003) and first secretary (1993-97) with the turkish Permanent Delegation to nato, deputy consul general of the turkish consulate general in Los angeles (1989-92), and attaché and third secretary at the turkish embassy in kuwait (1987-89).

Born in 1958 in samsun, ambassador kılıç is a graduate of ankara university’s Faculty of Political sciences and is married with one child.

GAMBiA May 1: Labor Day GeoRGiA May 26: Independence Day GeRMANy May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension

liThuANiA May 1: Labor Day luXeMBouRG May 1: May Day May 29: ascension MAceDoNiA May 1-2: Labor Day

GhANA May 1: May Day

MADAGAScAR May 1: Labor Day May 25: africa Day May 29: ascension

GReece May 1: Labor Day

MAlAWi May 1: Labor Day

GuATeMAlA May 1: Labor Day

MAlAySiA May 1: Labor Day

GuyANA May 1: Labor Day May 5: Indian heritage Day May 26: Independence Day

MAli May 25: africa Day

hoNDuRAS May 1: Labor Day

MAlTA May 1: Labor Day MARShAll iSlANDS May 1: constitution Day MAuRiTANiA May 1: Labor Day May 25: africa Day

huNGARy May 1: Labor Day icelAND May 1: Labor Day May 29: ascension iNDoNeSiA May 29: ascension iRelAND May 6: May Day iSRAel May 14: second Passover May 18: Lag B’omer iTAly May 1: May Day JAMAicA May 24: Labor Day JAPAN May 3: constitution Memorial Day May 4: national holiday May 5: children’s Day JoRDAN May 25: Independence Day KAZAKhSTAN May 1: Day of unity of Peoples of kazakhstan May 9: Victory Day

MAuRiTiuS May 1: Labor Day MeXico May 1: Labor Day May 5: cinco de Mayo MicRoNeSiA May 10: constitution Day MolDovA May 1: Labor Day May 9: Victory Day MoNTeNeGRo May 21: Independence Day MoZAMBiQue May 1: Workers’ Day NAMiBiA May 1: Workers’ Day May 4: cassinga Day May 25: africa Day May 29: ascension NeTheRlANDS May 5: Liberation Day May 29: ascension NicARAGuA May 1: Labor Day

KeNyA May 1: Labor Day

NiGeR May 1: Labor Day

KyRGyZSTAN May 5: constitution Day May 9: WWII Victory Day

NiGeRiA May 1: Worker’s Day May 27: children’s Day

lAoS May 1: Labor Day

NoRWAy May 1: May Day May 17: national Day May 29: ascension

lATviA May 1: Labor Day May 4: Declaration of Independence

see holiDAyS, page 55

The Washington Diplomat Page 53

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foGGy BoTToM — For Rent. Furnished studio apartment in Dc, Foggy Bottom. $2,150 per month. all utilities included. close to georgetown. call cathy, Re/MaX executives, (703) 969-1691.

DiPloMAT ReAl eSTATe clASSifieDS — get superb results! Place your real estate classifed today in D.c.’s leading international newspaper, the Washington Diplomat. call (301) 933-3552.

McleAN, vA —

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May 2014

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Very elegant, architecturally-unique McLean home: 3 BR, 3.5 Ba, (4,200 sq. ft.) with hardwood floors throughout. Recently installed - gourmet kitchen and cabinets, new pantry, and new butler’s pantry, granite counters, with all new gourmet appliances (1 month old for all). Large, carpeted family room with 2nd kitchen (granite counters) suitable for 4th BR or mother-in-law suite. the home is 2 blocks from all McLean shops, stores and minutes from tysons corner. outstanding schools. $4,200 per month. available May or June 2014.

Larry (703) 927-2400.

To place your ad here.

(301) 933-3552

RocK cReeK PARK — absolutely stunning large, elegant custom built home 10 minutes from downtown Dc, minutes from georgetown, in beautiful area nestled in Rock creek Park.

Breathtaking three-story foyer, light filled, two workable fireplaces, gourmet chef’s kitchen, living room and dining room, private library, theater area and walk out basement perfect for entertaining. 5 BR and 4 Ba, professionally designed interior available with or without furniture. gorgeous lot with expansive terrace and deck, outdoor kitchen/barbeque and garage/guest house with 2-car garage, professional landscaping. state-of-the-art monitored infrared security system. Perfect for expatriate families. First time rental. $5,900 per month. Will not last long. Please call (202) 280-7834 for viewing. available april 15, 2014.

Luxurious three-level spacious 7,000 sq. ft. estate home built (2002) for entertainment. Main level hardwood floors, high ceilings, large living, dining and family room with fireplace. granite counters, island kitchen, extra master BR with jacuzzi, large room lower level to entertain and butler’s kitchen with additional washer and dryer.

5 BR, 3.5 Ba, deck, 3/4 acre lot, detached 3-car garage, circular driveway. Langley schools, two miles from tyson’s corner, one mile to McLean downtown, walking distance to silver line Metro, eight miles from Dc. Rent: $5,995 per month. available May/June. contact gopala t: (202) 378-4900 or email: krishnahoy@gmail.com

Diplomat Classifieds (301) 933-3552.

WAShiNGToN, Dc — apartment for rent Washington, Dc (cathedral area) Modern Furnished (1) BR (1) Ba apartment (1,150 sq.ft.)

4101 cathedral ave., nW -12th floor (top floor). Fully and contemporarily furnished with balcony, 24-hour security and front desk. Indoor garage parking, outdoor private guest parking for entertaining. outdoor swimming pool (June-september). Five minutes to georgetown/embassy Row. $3,500 per month includes utilities, parking. guy R. d’amecourt (202) 415-7800. email: gdamecourt@summitcre.com

FOR SALE WAShiNGToN, Dc — stately residence with commanding views of national cathedral, renovated retaining its historic integrity. grand interior proportions both livable and inspiring. $3,495,000.

J Livingston - s Daves (202) 321-2600.

Long and Foster christie’s International Real estate

SOLD!

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The Washington Diplomat Page 55

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The Washington Diplomat

May 2014