Diplomatic Connections Mar/Apr 2021

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A Business, Diplomacy & Foreign Policy Publication

MARCH – APRIL 2021 • $7.95

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BUSINESS • POLITICS • TRAVEL • ENTERTAINMENT • CONGRESS • MILITARY & DEFENSE

H.E. ROBERT RAE Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations

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Front cover photo: H.E. Robert Rae, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, Government of Canada

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Diplomatic

D I P L O M AT I C C O N N E C T I O N S BUSINESS EDITION

MARCH – APRIL 2021

H.E. ROBERT RAE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF CANADA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

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HOTELS, DINING and ACCOMMODATIONS The Benjamin New York . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Capital Hill Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 The Concordia Hotel . . . . . . . . . . . 52 & 53 Conrad New York Midtown . . . . . . . . . . .37 Conrad Washington, DC . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Courtyard Alexandria, Pentagon South. . . . . .77 The Darcy Washington, DC . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Dupont Circle Doyle Collection, Washington, DC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 EVEN Hotels Midtown East – New York . . . . .49 The Fairfax at Embassy Row . . . . . . . . . .79 Fairmont Washington, DC . . . . . BACK COVER Hampton Inn Downtown Convention Center, Washington, DC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Hilton Garden Inn Washington, DC/Georgetown Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 The Hay-Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 Hyatt Place Georgetown/West End . . . . . . .77 InterContinental Cleveland Clinic . . . . . . . .63 Kimpton Hotel Palomar Washington, DC . . . .35 LOTTE New York Palace . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Residence Inn Greenbelt, Maryland . . . . . . 77 St. Gregory Hotel – Washington, DC . . . . . .77 The Peninsula Chicago . . . INSIDE BACK COVER Washington, DC National Mall Hilton . . . . . .11 INSURANCE SAHOURI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 SECURITY SERVICES The Palatin Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 TRANSPORTATION - PRIVATE JETS Presidential Airwayz . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

F EAT URED ARTIC L ES CANADA – UNITED NATIONS H.E. Robert Rae Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations . . . . . . . . . 18 HUMANITARIAN Royal Goodwill . . . . . . . . . . . 65 UNICEF and LuisaViaRoma . . . . 82 TRAVEL Wyoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Virtual Diplomacy Ambassadors to the UK and Queen Elizabeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

From the Publisher

Diplomatic

Dear International Reader: Our leading article in this edition of Diplomatic Connections is an in-depth interview with H.E. Robert Rae, Canada's new Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

Canadian prime minister Trudeau appointed Rae, a Rhodes Scholar who attended Oxford University, to the prominent ambassador position in 2020. Diplomacy has deep roots in his childhood as his father, Dr. Saul Rae, was in the foreign service for decades and even represented Canada as permanent representative to the UN, himself, from 1972 to 1976. When the ambassador was a young child, his Dad also worked at the Canadian embassy in Washington. He has fond memories of going to the office with him on Saturdays; therefore, assimilating into the diplomatic corps seemed very natural.

Before joining the ranks of diplomacy, in 1984, he was distinguished as a Queen's Counsel (QC) to acknowledge his proficiency and expertise in practicing the law. During his university days, he was an activist and often found himself working on and towards the political campaigns of those who came before him. At that time, he couldn't have known that he'd be campaigning for his own political career as the years progressed. Between 1978 and 2013, he was elected to federal and provincial (Ontario) parliaments eleven times. In 2017, previous to his current posting, he was Canada's Special Envoy to Myanmar. While there, he was mandated to ascertain the susceptibility for the most assailable part of the population. The brutality demonstrated against this vulnerable group of people caused them to find refuge in Bangladesh. Rae found it difficult not to have a visceral reaction to the severity of the situation and wrote a subsequent report titled, "'Tell Them We're Human': What Canada and the World Can Do About the Rohingya Crisis." Read more about PR Rae's consummate career starting on page 18.

The pandemic has changed life for all of us, even Queen Elizabeth II. She’s been receiving new ambassadors via video to keep in order with the coronavirus rules and regulations that the medical professionals have instituted for the masses to adhere to day-to-day. Each top diplomat is taken to Buckingham Palace via carriage, driven by a formal coachman, led by two beautiful, white horses. Once there, the official credentials are presented to Her Majesty in front of a computer screen. They greet her precisely the same way, with all the protocols, as if she is actually in the room. However, Covid-19 has forced them to alter some of the traditional customs that are centuries old, like meeting in person.

Travel has become more of an activity we dream about during this trying time, but we have more options within the United States than we've ever considered in the past. Visit the state of Wyoming, and experience the lifestyle of the legendary wild west. The US is so vast that you can go to another state and quickly feel as if you're in an entirely different culture. It's rich with hot springs, mountains, National parks, and forests to explore in all its splendor.

Diplomatic Connections contributes to a wide variety of humanitarian efforts by giving coverage to many charitable endeavors.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, a valuable member of the British royal family, devotes an inestimable amount of time and effort to bring a much-needed spotlight to those less fortunate. She visits many schools and philanthropic organizations, participating with students right alongside them, cooking, baking, and doing arts and crafts. She's poised, gracious, and generous, always actively engaging with the many communities of her beloved country, continuously advocating and encouraging the English populace.

UNICEF, ever making strides to help the impoverished and disadvantaged. They didn’t stop their good deeds and hard work to assist the vulnerable during this past year when they could’ve easily acquiesced to doing nothing. UNICEF partnered with a commendable Italian luxury fashion retailer, LuisaViaRoma, to raise some much-needed funds and resources for the poor. Their unwavering, exemplary perseverance during such an unprecedented time is stellar and to be admired.

Continue to check our website throughout the year: Diplomatic Connections.com to see when our next event will take place.

Sincerely,

Dawn Parker Publisher

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A CONVERSATION WITH

H.E. Robert Rae

James A. Winship, Ph.D.

Ambassador Bob Rae and the man who named him as Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, share an unusual family history.

They are both the second generation in their family to hold their present positions. Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the current Prime Minister’s father, served as Canada’s Prime Minister for sixteen years (1968-1979; 1980-1984) with a brief interregnum as leader of the opposition. Bob Rae’s father, Saul Rae was a career diplomat who served as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations in both New York and Geneva (1972-1976).

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H.E. ROBERT RAE Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations

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Canadian Ambassador Saul Rae, the present Ambassador's father, signs the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents" for his country.

This parallel family history, however, only scratches the surface of the range of experiences Bob Rae brings to his position at the United Nations. To be sure, he has the pedigree of a diplomat but he balances that with musical talents and a sense of humor also inherited from his father, who was a vaudeville performer as a child in the 1920s part of a family act with his brother and sister billed as the “Three Little Raes of Sunshine.”

Bob Rae has the resume of a professional politician, the mind of a Rhodes Scholar, the training of a lawyer, the creativity of a sensitive and inventive policymaker, the heart of a human rights advocate, the conscience of a social critic, and the wit of a stand-up comedian paired with the satirical lyricism and musicality of Gilbert and Sullivan all leavened with the ability to laugh at himself and the occasional absurdities of the many worlds he routinely inhabits. It’s a long list of qualities that blends into a recipe for a politically astute diplomat and a diplomatically aware politician.

Born into a diplomatic family, Bob Rae remembers going into Canada’s foreign missions with his father. “From my youngest days in Ottawa and Washington, where he served for six years, and when he served in Geneva, my Dad brought his work home with him. And he took us to work with him. I remember as a kid going down to the embassy in Washington with him on Saturday mornings.

He would be sitting at his desk reading telegrams, and I would do my homework. I got to understand the business of diplomacy quite early.”

But that is not the direction his early life took. After earning an Honors B.A. in Modern History from the 20

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Bob Rae takes great pride in carrying a well-worn copy of the United Nations Charter that his father kept with him during his time as Canada’s U.N. Ambassador (1972-1976).

University of Toronto and an M.Phil. in Politics as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Bob Rae took a law degree at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. In 1984 he was named a Queen’s Counsel (QC) in recognition of his skilled practice of the law. Even during his university days, Bob Rae had been a student activist and a frequent volunteer in others’ political campaigns. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a 1978 by-election and then was elected to full terms in parliament in both 1979 and 1980.

Politics became Bob Rae’s career. Between 1978 and 2013 he was elected to federal and provincial (Ontario) parliaments eleven times. After his party won the 1990 provincial election Rae served as the 21st Premier of Ontario from 1990-1995. Re-elected from his riding in the provincial parliament, Bob Rae resigned the position 1996 and returned to the private sector resuming the practice of law, accepting academic appointments and advising various organizations. Though he left political office, Rae was never far from the workings of government serving on a variety of panels, writing a series of reports and authoring a book entitled “From Protest to Power: Personal Reflections on a Life in Politics.” During this time he also founded the Forum of Federations, a global network of (currently 10 countries) focused on issues of federalism and devolved government.

Ambassador Rae returned to the federal House of Commons from 2008-2013 where he served as foreign affairs spokesman, essentially shadow Foreign Minister, for his Liberal Party in opposition. In 2011, “Maclean’s” - Canada’s leading news magazine, celebrated Bob Rae

among its Parliamentarians of the Year as chosen by his parliamentary colleagues. He served as interim leader of the Liberal Party from 2011-2013, setting the stage for Justin Trudeau’s 2013 election as party leader and subsequent emergence as Canada’s Prime Minister in 2015.

When he left politics in 2013 Bob Rae announced that he would be serving as chief negotiator and counsel for the Matawa First Nations (Ojibway and Cree) included in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire mineral development project to ensure that their mineral rights were protected and that there was coordination between First Nations peoples and the federal and provincial governments. The following year he became a partner and senior counsel in the law firm Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP (OKT) specializing in indigenous law and constitutional issues. At the same time, Rae taught law and public policy at the University of Toronto and was named a distinguished senior fellow at its School of Public Policy and Governance.

It is impossible to fully synthesize the scope and diversity of Ambassador Rae’s career, but the effort gives clear evidence of his energy, insights, commitments and ability to transform these into fruitful negotiations and meaningful public policy initiatives not only in Canada, but across the world.

Ever the politician. Bob Rae won his first seat in the Canadian federal parliament in 1978.

Between 1978 and 2003 he was elected federal and provincial parliaments eleven times.

Here he is shown running for Liberal Party leadership in 2006.

These attributes led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to name Bob Rae as Canada’s Special Envoy to Myanmar in 2017. His mandate was to assess the crisis affecting vulnerable populations – the Rohingya Muslim community, other religious and ethnic minorities, and women and girls – in that country. Violence directed against these groups led to a mass exodus of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar to camps in Bangladesh.

Rae’s investigations resulted in a report with the affecting title, “’Tell Them We’re Human’: What Canada and the World Can Do About the Rohingya Crisis.” His humane yet critical insight comes through in the introduction to the report: “I have found myself dealing with a deeply intractable and, in many ways, tragic situation. It lends itself to moral outrage, anger and frustration. But as I have learned over many years, these emotions are not necessarily the best guide to action.”

That assignment led to yet a broader mandate in 2020 when Prime Minister Trudeau named Bob Rae as Canada’s Special Envoy on Humanitarian and Refugee Issues. His efforts resulted in a new “Rae” report, “A Global Pandemic Requires a Global Response” made public just before Bob Rae’s appointment as Ambassador to the United Nations in July 2020.

Ambassador Rae was kind enough to allow Diplomatic Connections a virtual interview over the year-end holidays while he was in quarantine at his residence in Toronto.

Diplomatic Connections: In what has to be a rare circumstance, your father also served as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations both in Geneva, Switzerland and in New York (19721976). What is the impact of his experience on your political career and on your approach to diplomacy?

Ambassador Rae: I took a different path when I went into politics, but there were certain things that he did . . . certain ways that he thought. His personality and his style had an effect on me. I learned early on to think globally, to think internationally, to think historically, to listen closely to what other people said, and to be curious about other peoples, other cultures, other languages. Those are things that were imprinted on me as a kid. They were just part of our family life.

Most people leave school and go into the family business, but I took a pretty substantial detour into the realm of Canadian politics. Now in a way I feel like I’ve come home.

Diplomatic Connections: You carry your father’s pocket copy of the United Nations Charter with you?

Ambassador Rae: Yes, I carry it in the pocket of my jacket.

Actually, I have three old copies of the Charter that my Dad carried that I keep in my pocket or on my desk in New York.

Diplomatic Connections: You recounted a story in your memoir about advice you received from your grandmother: “When you don’t know where to start, get all the facts, assess the situation

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces in a press conference at U.N. headquarters in New York (2016) that Canada is making a bid to take a seat on the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term beginning in 2021. That bid ultimately fell short with Security Council seats going to Norway and Ireland.

and just take the human footsteps.” How have you applied that advice in your diplomatic life and upon arrival in New York as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations?

Ambassador Rae: Pragmatism matters. It’s not about being perfect; it is about making things better. That is a very important lesson. It is all very well to know what the causes of a problem are, but then you’ve got to move on to asking the critical questions: “What can we do? What is the next logical step for us to take?” That approach has certainly been a substantial part of my political and diplomatic style.

People who have been around me for a long time know that I repeatedly ask: “OK, how do we take the human footsteps?”

Diplomatic Connections: Canada has twice failed - earlier in 2010 and again in 2020 – in its efforts to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council. What should Canada learn from those efforts that came up short? What should be done differently next time?

Ambassador Rae: We need to give ourselves time to prepare for a successful run. It is quite a complicated process, as we have learned. Canada has to respect that in a General Assembly of 193 countries, and coming from the 22

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group of which we are a part – Western Europe and Others – we are the “others.” It is challenging. When my Dad was here he was part of a very successful Canadian bid to win a seat on the Security Council. But, that was a different time.

Increasingly, when I talk to other diplomats about the process of seeking to win a Security Council seat and to people with experience at Global Affairs Canada – Canada’s equivalent of the foreign ministry, they reinforce the idea that the 21st century United Nations operates in a different world. It is tougher for Canada to campaign for a Security Council seat than perhaps it once was.

Diplomatic Connections: That said, what lessons should Canada draw for future efforts to gain membership on the Security Council?

Ambassador Rae: Canada is very well respected at the United Nations. We are not one of the top ten richest countries in the world, but we are among the top ten biggest donors to the United Nations overall. Here in New York, in Geneva and around the world Canada plays a very active role.

My advice is that Canada should start from that premise and then say: “What are the roles that we can effectively

play?” Canada was Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission last year, and we chair several other efforts. We teamed up with Jamaica to drive the agenda on “Financing for Development in the Era of Covid-19 and Beyond” with the goal of identifying key actions necessary to assist countries battered by financial crisis. I have had many meetings with the Secretary General and his senior staff. We have close relationships all the way around. Canada is establishing a robust presence at the United Nations, and we need to continue to do that.

Alice Chiche/AFP via Getty Images

Diplomatic Connections: This year (2020-2021) is the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. What are Canada’s top priorities for this anniversary year? What goals have you set for your time as Canada’s U.N. Ambassador?

Ambassador Rae: Five big priorities for me.

First, I am ambassador in the time of Covid. That is true every step of the way, not only because of the health impacts but because of the impact on the finances and the economies of the world and the dramatic impact on people’s livelihoods. This is a huge issue, and it’s going to continue to page 26

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for NLM

Both Ireland and Canada invited UN diplomats to concerts by their headline entertainers – Bono and U2 for Ireland and Celine Dion for Canada – in an effort to sway votes for their Security Council bids.

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Bob Rae visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh (2017/2018) in preparation for his report to Prime Minister Trudeau, “Tell Them We’re Human: What Canada and the World Can do About the Rohingya Crisis.” He concluded that safe return of the Rohingya to Myanmar would be difficult to achieve and that the Rohingya are in danger of becoming “stateless persons.”

continue to be a major issue for the next several years.

The world needs to be better prepared to face future pandemics. We need to build more resilience into our global institutions in order to help countries find better ways to cope with the impact of public health challenges like this.

Second is climate change. It is literally an existential issue for the life of our planet, the states of the United Nations, and all the people of the earth – no matter where they live.

Third is peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict resolution. That is the heart of the U.N.’s mission and the heart of the United Nations Charter.

Fourth is human rights and inclusivity. We continue to face challenges to diversity in the world, and human rights remain a big issue. Growing authoritarianism in many countries is a troubling thing and something with which we have to continue to deal.

Fifth is the health of the United Nations system and multilateralism generally.

Diplomatic Connections: How has Covid-19 impacted the dayto-day activities at the Permanent Mission itself?

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Ambassador Rae: The Mission is open as is the consulate.

We do not have receptions or other large group activities.

People do come and go, however. We are very careful to maintain all of the protocols recommended to mitigate the possibility of infection from Covid-19 – mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing and disinfecting surfaces and equipment.

We are constantly challenged by the difference the Covid threat makes in terms of diplomacy. It is hard to see people one-on-one. It is even harder to see people in groups. The normal events of a conference where you are meeting people and shaking hands are inadvisable, if not wholly impossible. Diplomacy is a contact sport. But, for the moment, that is all gone. Instead, you have to use ZOOM or another virtual meeting platform.

Diplomatic Connections: Virtual communications can bridge distance and separation, but does the lack of physical presence have an impact on the work of diplomacy?

Ambassador Rae: The disease affects travel, which is a big deal for us.

On the plus side, communications technology that allows people on-the-ground to speak directly to you

is great. So, for example, on the Peacebuilding Commission all of our meetings deal with different countries and various missions and projects.

With the wider use of these virtual technologies we have been able to talk, not just to the ambassadors here in New York, but we have been able to talk to the people who are on the ground. That means we can make our outreach more inclusive. We can have women from the Sahel talking to us directly. We can hear from the people who are actually on site. That is very helpful, and it is likely to have a permanent impact on the work of a wide variety of United Nations institutions.

Diplomatic Connections: There are multiple Covid vaccines in the world, and several of them are identified with individual governments. There is a Russian vaccine. There is a Chinese vaccine. There is an Indian vaccine.

What should be the role of the United Nations in trying to push forward and assure equitable global distribution of the vaccines?

Ambassador Rae: While the vaccines have been developed and gone through various trials to affirm safety Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Bob Rae as his Special Envoy to Myanmar/Burma to engage in diplomatic efforts to address the situation of the vulnerable Rohingya Muslim community in that country as well as in the refugee camps in Bangladesh where tens of thousands of Rohingya have sought safe haven.

Harjit Sajjan, Canada's Defense Minister speaks with actress Angelina Jolie, special envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, during the 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (2017). It was here that the “Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers” were formulated and endorsed.

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and efficacy, getting them distributed and into people’s arms is an entirely different logistical challenge. There are two other critical problems – making the vaccines affordable and available across the world to rich and poor alike; and the problem of trust-building. We need to encourage people across the world to overcome their fears, discount any disinformation being spread, and be willing to be vaccinated.

The developed countries need to help finance the production and distribution of the vaccines as much as possible. That question of financing is the next big Covid issue. We need to vaccinate the world and to do so relatively rapidly. That is going to be an increasingly difficult but very, very important international effort to ensure that the vaccines are widely available, widely distributed and provided without strings attached.

The pandemic is not only a global public health issue. It is also a threat to global security. We need to make sure that no country is left behind because, from a health point of view, it would be a human and an economic disaster.

We need to cover everybody, and we need to do it as quickly as we can.

Diplomatic Connections: What does Canada see as the future of the United Nations Security Council? Should the Security Council be expanded? And, if so, how?

Ambassador Rae: Canada is part of a group that believes the Security Council should be enlarged, but I don’t see

A limited contingent of Canadian troops was sent to Mali in 2018 on a one-year deployment as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission. They were part of an air support force including two medical evacuation helicopters, four armed helicopters and 250 soldiers. In 2020, Canada had roughly 65 military troops and police officers deployed in U.N. peacekeeping missions preferring instead to provide specialized equipment and technical support.

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how more vetoes will make the Council more effective.

And after many years of discussion, there is no indication that the five veto-wielding countries are willing to expand the club.

But I also understand the political sentiment behind that desire to increase the number of countries with veto power.

There is a great deal of political baggage, deep-seated resentments and historical arguments surrounding the question of Security Council enlargement. But we should be focusing on what is actually practical.

Expanding the number of seats to ensure regional representation is both realistic and pragmatic. Based on my conversations - during the time I’ve been here in New York – it also seems to be the option with the best chance of achieving the most support.

But we are very much open to discussing all achievable proposals that might make the Security Council more transparent, democratic and accountable.

Diplomatic Connections: You mentioned a focus on peacekeeping and peacebuilding in your list of objectives. Even in Canada, however, peacekeeping has fallen on hard times.

Canada was one of the leaders in helping the U.N. to develop its peacekeeping capabilities and was once a major contributor of peacekeeping forces. How can peacekeeping be reinvigorated and built back up again?

Ambassador Rae: Canada is one of the key countries on the C-34, the committee that looks constantly at peacekeeping operations. [NOTE: The C-34 is officially

In his role as Chair of the U.N. Peacebuilding Commission Bob Rae briefs a Security Council videoconference on Peace and Security issues in Africa and the difficulties confronting peacekeeping missions on the continent.

known as the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. It was established in 1965 under the aegis of the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee to review and provide recommendations on U.N. Peacekeeping Operations. Today the committee consists of 147 Member States involved in peacekeeping operations past and present as well as several observers such as the international courts, regional organizations, and Interpol.]

Canada is a major funder of peacekeeping operations.

We are looking at how we can do more on training. We are looking at how we can better respond to requests from the United Nations for our participation. And, we are looking as well at where Canada can play the most effective role in terms of both equipping and providing for missions in a way that reflects the modern reality.

The Vancouver Principles still apply. Canada continues doing a great deal with the issue of child soldiers, and we encourage others to join that effort. [NOTE: The Vancouver Principles are a set of political commitments focused on child protection in peacekeeping, including all stages of a conflict cycle. They focus on preventing the recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed forces and armed groups.] Canada has worked hard on assuring the presence of women in peacekeeping operations. We have taken a great deal of time to get that right and to encourage other member states to support that initiative.

Ambassador Rae: When my wife Arlene and I married 41 years ago I jokingly referred to it as “the union of the frozen people and the chosen people”. My book “The Three Questions” is based on Rabbi Hillel’s famous “If I am not for myself then who will be for me? But if I am only for myself then what am I? And if not now, when?” That continues to be an anchor of my political and reflective thinking.

I have had to deal with the consequences of religious zealotry and extremism in the course of my political life in Canada and my work on international human rights. My Rohingya report documents how racism and nationalism can mix with religious intolerance to create a lethal result. I can’t abide the assumptions of perfection and fundamentalist thinking. I am not an atheist. Like many I have come to appreciate the inspiration of faith without being intoxicated by it.

Diplomatic Connections: You come from a theatrical and musical family. Your father was an accomplished pianist, as are you. What role do music and humor play in your life?

Ambassador Rae: A big part. Sometimes people did not take my father as seriously because he had this other – theatrical – side to his life. I am very conscious of the same thing, but I worry a little bit less about it because I am not as funny as he was nor as talented at music as he was. He was a very brilliant and a natural musician.

But he was also very proud of the work that he did. His vocation was that of a diplomat, and he cared very deeply about that work. Humor and self-deprecation are very important ways of letting people in, of showing that you’re trying to inject another element into the conversation.

Ambassador Bob Rae, outgoing Chair of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, exchanges elbow bumps with Ambassador Mohamed Edrees of Egypt, newly elected Chair of the Commission. Cleaners at the dais indicate the current status of work at the United Nations - diplomacy at a safe distance, "meet but disinfect."

Diplomatic Connections: You are the product of both Anglican and Jewish heritages. How do you see the role of religion or faith traditions in international politics today - both as a source of conflict and as a source of core values that might facilitate peacemaking?

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Emotionally both music and humor have done a great deal for my own mental health. That’s true of the world as well.

Diplomatic Connections: Imagine you’ve been asked to speak to the newest class of Canadian diplomatic trainees. What lessons do you have for them?

Ambassador Rae: Listening is such a key element of diplomacy. Not just superficially listening, but really listening and trying to understand. I actually don’t mind sitting in the General Assembly and just listening to speeches, not because those speeches necessarily reveal a great deal, but you slowly but surely begin to understand where a particular country and its government are coming from.

Actively listening in a conversation is always important, but it is even more important as a diplomat trying to unpack the concerns of a country and government not your own. Equally important is for diplomats, when they are talking, to realize that they could be wrong. It is important to speak with an element of humility. But you also have to talk in a way that is real and that carefully articulates your own country’s concerns and values.

Work at learning languages. When you get to know a language, you get to know a culture and begin to gain insight into how people think. The structure of language is the structure of sentences, and that has everything to do with what is the mindset of a leader, of a diplomatic representative, of a people.

The last thing is to be curious. Never lose your curiosity.

That is one of the key features of a great diplomat. Always ask questions and try to find out how things work and why things are the way they are. The more you can maintain your curiosity in the world, the longer you are able to be useful.

Diplomatic Connections: Thank you Ambassador Rae for a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation. ■

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Covid-19 Prompts a Break with Royal Tradition:

Queen Elizabeth II Conducts 'Virtual' Diplomatic Audiences Formal diplomatic practice and long-established protocol have had to adapt to the realities of public health requirements, even at the Court of St. James in London.

Traditionally, Queen Elizabeth II has received newly named ambassadors to the United Kingdom in person and in the formal reception rooms in Buckingham Palace. Not so in 2020. Instead, the most recent diplomatic audiences have been conducted by computer with the Queen in residence at Windsor Castle and ambassadors presenting their credentials, or letters of credence as they are officially termed, before a computer screen in a remote, private conversation with the Queen.

Despite the introduction of this new technology necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a concerted effort to retain as many elements of tradition as possible. Each ambassador presented credentials, in formal dress accompanied by the requisite curtsy or bow, on a table above which was placed a computer screen and camera thereby enabling Her Majesty the Queen and each individual ambassador to converse privately and confidentially. No record of the discussion in a diplomatic audience is made.

The formalities of diplomatic audiences with the monarch have changed little since Victorian times. Royal Her Excellency Sophie Katsarava, Ambassador of Georgia to the UK, arrives at Buckingham Palace by carriage for a diplomatic audience via video link with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle. The Queen's first virtual audience began on December 4, 2020.

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Queen Elizabeth II appears on a screen by videolink from Windsor Castle during a virtual audience to receive Her Excellency Sophie Katsarava, the Ambassador of Georgia to the UK, at Buckingham Palace.

protocol extended to the new ambassadors included being collected from their residence or embassy in a State landau, a ceremonial horse-drawn carriage, and driven through the streets of London preceded by a second ceremonial carriage in which rode HM Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps, Alistair Harrison. Upon arrival at Buckingham Palace, ambassadors were met by the Queen’s Equerry, Major Tom White, and escorted into the palace.

As they entered the state rooms, ambassadors and their guests were formally announced by the Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps. Despite the technological requirements of this digital audience, all of these historic traditions were observed with only minor modifications.

Video screens and cameras provided the link between Windsor’s Oak Room where Queen Elizabeth is in residence and the Equerry’s Room at Buckingham Palace where diplomatic credentials were presented.

The Queen held several separate diplomatic audiences with Sophie Katsarava, Ambassador of Georgia; Gil da Costa Ambassador of Timor Leste; Ferenc Kumin, Ambassador of Hungary; and Bruno van der Pluijm, Ambassador of Belgium. Though these formal audiences had been delayed by the exigencies of Covid-19, these ambassadors assumed their posts in London earlier in the year. This ceremony represented the official presentation to the Queen of the letters credence written by the diplomat’s Head of State assuring Her Majesty that the

newly named appointment should be assumed to speak authoritatively on behalf of his or her government.

Prior to being named ambassador, Sophie Katsarava served as a member of the Parliament of Georgia (2016-2019). During her tenure as an MP she served as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee as well as Chair of the Friendship Group with the United Kingdom and Chair of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Wardrop Strategic dialogue between Georgia and the United Kingdom. Earlier in her career Katsarava joined the staff of the British Embassy in Tbilisi where she served

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as Project Manager, Head of Press and Public Relations, and ultimately as Political Secretary. In 2016, after 11 years at the British Embassy, Katsarava was appointed as Honorary Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to strengthening relations between Georgia and the United Kingdom in the education sector.

Ambassador Gil da Costa of Timor Leste has experience in the areas of management, coordination, and administration with links to international organizations.

Timor Leste, which unilaterally declared its independence in 1975 after which an extended period of conflict ensued, was recognized internationally as an independent state in 2002. The embassy in London, which also represents Timor Leste in the Netherlands, was opened in 2014.

Ambassador Gil da Costa now serves as his country’s second ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Ferenc Kumin, Ph.D., was trained as a political scientist but after a foray into teaching and research began his professional career in the Office of the President of Hungary. After another academic interlude he moved on to the Prime Minister’s Office as Deputy Spokesman for the government.

That was followed by a four-year term as Consul General of Hungary in New York that “turned me into

a practicing diplomat.” Prior to being named Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr. Kumin served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Budapest as Deputy State Secretary for the Development of European and American Relations.

Bruno van der Pluijm joined the Belgian Foreign Service in 1991. For the last five years, he has maintained a leadership role as Director-General of the Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid. Between 2018 and 2019, for just over a year, he was also acting SecretaryGeneral of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Previous to representing Belgium in the UK, he was ambassador to Canada and Tunisia.

In 1987, First Admiral Pengiran Dato Seri Pahlawan Norazmi bin Pengiran Haji Muhammad started his highly

H.E. Gil da Costa, Ambassador of Timor Leste to the UK

H.E. Dr. Ferenc Kumin, Ambassador of Hungary to the UK and his wife Victoria

H.E. Bruno van der Pluijm, Ambassador of Belgium to the UK and his wife Hildegarde Van de Voorde (page 37)

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accomplished career when he enrolled in the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. Subsequently, he graduated from the Britannia Royal Naval College of the United Kingdom.

From 2012 to 2015, he was promoted to Captain and appointed as Deputy Commander of the Royal Brunei Navy.

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This distinguished group of ambassadors now holds an unusual and, with the advent of effective Covid-19 vaccines, perhaps a rare distinction. They are the first group of Ambassadors to the United Kingdom to have met with the Queen in person . . . on screen. It is unlikely this will be the future of diplomatic audiences with the British monarch, but it is certain that the capabilities of videoconferencing have simultaneously rescued the work of diplomacy from the limitations of social distancing and quarantine and changed the tools of diplomacy forever. ■ Queen Elizabeth II appears on a screen via video from Windsor Castle during a virtual audience to receive His Excellency the High Commissioner for Brunei Darussalam First Admiral Pengiran Dato Seri Pahlawan Norazmi bin Pengiran Haji Muhammad and his wife, Pg Datin Noralam Binti Pg Hj Kahar. They were at Buckingham Palace on December 10, 2020, to present the new ambassador's credentials.

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w y o m Wild, Wide, Wonderful In pandemic times one’s thoughts tend to hover between memories of past trips and dreams of future adventures.

With no foothills the peaks of the Grand Teton Range rise straight out of the valley floor, casting reflections in the clear lakes of Grand Teton National Park.

Confined as we’ve been to our own back yards, the itch to be anywhere but here is probably as common as a pair of worn-out shoes. But where to go? According to a survey by National Geographic and Morning Consult, Americans would feel safest traveling to wilderness areas such as state parks or to destinations they have either traveled to before and/or places that regularly host tourists.

Wyoming appears to be a shoo-in.

The entire state has fewer than 500,000 residents—less than the number of antelope that graze on its ubiquitous sagebrush. Admittedly it’s one of the harshest states in the Union, but with some of the most dramatic natural attractions found anywhere on this planet. The two most popular national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, seasonally beef up Wyoming’s meager population with more than four million visitors to Yellowstone and 3.4 million to Grand Teton a year (2019 statistics).

But to truly appreciate Wyoming’s Wild West culture, one needs to follow the roads that grew out of the ancient trails used by Native Americans, early fur trappers,

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m i n g Wyoming

By Monica Frim Photography by John and Monica Frim

traders, homesteaders and the military administrators who established and ran the early forts and outposts. They crisscross the state over plains and deserts, follow rivers that cut through precipitous canyons and over forested mountains, and lead to diminutive cities that still look as if they belonged to a former era of law makers and breakers.

While Wyoming may not be as sophisticated as the coastal states, it rightfully claims bragging rights to many firsts: first national park in the world (Yellowstone, designated by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, eighteen years before Wyoming became a state), first national monument in the world (Devil’s Tower, designated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906), first national forest (Shoshone, designated in 1891), first state to grant women the right to vote (in 1869), and first state to have a female governor (Nellie Tayloe Ross from 1925 to 1927).

Still, pockets of glamor poke through the state’s cowboy veneer in places like Jackson Hole, where celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock and Julia LouisDreyfus maintain second homes. Known for its breathtaking natural setting between the Grand Tetons and Gros Ventres

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A street performance featuring a gunfight in the town of Jackson.

mountains, the Jackson Hole valley is the perfect gateway to Grand Teton National Park and the scenic sprawl beyond.

Jackson and Grand Teton National Park In Grand Teton National Park, jagged peaks and glacial lakes were born of a violent past that lasted millions of years. As forceful earthquakes shook the earth, phenomenal heaving and folding created the Grand Teton Range on one side of the fault line and the flat valley floor of Jackson Hole on the other. Over millions of years, glaciers, wind and water further eroded the landscape, carving canyons, hollowing out basins, and tumbling rocks into moraines. But the glistening glacial lakes (Jackson Lake is deepest at 400 feet) and knife-edged mountains (Mount Teton is tallest at 13,770 feet above sea level) that lure millions of hikers, climbers, boaters, photographers and general travelers to scenes of immense beauty and bucolic contemplation are not quite as still as they seem.

The ground still moves stealthily as, bit by bit, the Jackson Hole Valley continues to sink while the Teton Range rises.

The distance from the highest peak to the deepest hole is more than 30,000 feet—higher than Mount Everest.

At the foot of the mountains, Jackson is a touristy portal to the Teton Range, National Elk Refuge and Yellowstone National Park. It’s an oasis of rustic shops and galleries and a town square framed by elk-horn arches that emulates the spirit of the Wild West with street theater performances and historic wooden buildings. For people who need a kitschy fix or maybe just the comforts of consumer goods and services, Jackson makes for a perfect stop.

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One of four antler arches guarding the corners of George Washington Memorial Park in Jackson

Yellowstone National Park Only 31 miles north of Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park (photos on pages 20 & 23) delivers a fiery counterpunch to the Grand Tetons’ glacial footprint. Forged millions of years ago by a raging inferno that still roils deep within the bowels of the earth, Yellowstone is still an active underground volcano heating up some 500 geysers (roughly half the geysers in the world) and 10,000 hydrothermal features. As geysers erupt—some continuously, others unpredictably, and still others at quasi-regular intervals—mudpots, hot springs and fumaroles seethe, bubble and hiss in distinctive thermal areas known as basins. Hottest, most acidic and most active is the Norris Geyser Basin, but Midway Geyser Basin is arguably the most dazzling. Its Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest and one of the most colorful. The brilliant red, orange, green and yellow colorations that encircle this and other thermal springs owe their intense hues to heatloving microorganisms called thermophiles that somehow thrive in extreme conditions. While Old Faithful is one of Yellowstone’s star attractions, it is by no means the largest geyser. What it does have going for it is frequency and predictability, hence its name.

For a tiny town of only a few hundred people, Meeteetse has an abundance of museums: (top right) Bank Museum of the First National Bank, (middle right) sheepherders’ mobile homes in the Meeteetse Museum, (middle left), and a collection of saddles in the Belden Museum.

The Cowboy Bar and Café (bottom) has a colorful history of outlaws and renegades that include its most famous patron, Butch Cassidy.

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An outdoor reenactment of the infamous gunslingers of the Wild West takes place nightly in Cody.

But Yellowstone is not just about geysers and colorful springs. Waterfalls roar throughout the park, from the tallest—the 305-foot-high Lower Yellowstone Falls that tumble between the sulfurcaked cliffs that inspired the Yellowstone name—to the widest, the 250-foot-wide foaming fringe of Cave Falls on the Fall River in Yellowstone’s southwestern corner.

There are at least 45 named falls and cascades in the park, with many more smaller unnamed ones, and new ones still being discovered.

Roads and hiking trails wind and twist among cliffs and mountains with pullouts for the views, dip into broad valleys dotted with wildflowers or meander over sagebrush-covered plains roamed by bison, elk and coyotes. Yellowstone is truly a wildlife haven, and hikers and sightseers could encounter black bears, grizzly bears, lynx or foxes in the forests, or bobcats and cougars in rocky places. It’s obligatory for two-legged beasts to be watchful and stay on the boardwalks or trails. Bison have right of way.

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Cody and Shoshone National Forest Known as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody is connected to Yellowstone National Park by the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Highway, a route that follows the Shoshone River and the rugged tors and cliffs of the Absaroka Range. It cuts through the Shoshone National Forest and the sprawling ranch community of Wapiti to the Buffalo Bill Reservoir and Dam. At its completion in 1910 it was deemed the tallest concrete dam in the world. The dam is still an impressive piece of engineering with a complicated construction history owing to its difficult cliff-side perch. Next to the dam, Wyoming’s longest tunnel, the Shoshone Canyon Tunnel, and two smaller tunnels lead to an area of sulfuric fumaroles continue to page 51 The Cody Nite Rodeo boasts the longest running (since 1938) and only nightly rodeo (from June to August).

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Wild horses in the Big Horn National Basin

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Lower Falls in Yellowstone National Park Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

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and hot springs known as Colter’s Hell after John Colter who gave the Shoshone River here its erstwhile name of Stinking Waters. An early member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Colter also did his own exploring and reputedly became the first white man to enter the region of Yellowstone Park in 1807.

Colter’s Hell sits on the outskirts of Cody City, founded

by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1896. The original town site was laid out near DeMaris Hot Springs but lasted only about two years. The town’s few buildings were packed up and hauled two miles east and renamed simply Cody. Today the 2,500-foot-long Colter’s Hell Interpretive Trail loops over the old site between the Stampede Rodeo Grounds and the Old Trail Town—a collection of various historic log cabins, wagons and artifacts.

In the heart of the city, Wild West recreations take the form of street theater with staged gunfights by actors portraying historical characters in front of the historic Irma Hotel (named for Buffalo Bill’s youngest daughter). Inside, the hotel restaurant’s cherry wood bar was a gift to Bill Cody from Queen Victoria of England.

Cody is rife with Buffalo Bill memorabilia in the form of special exhibitions, statues, and museums such as the Buffalo Bill Center, which actually comprises five museums, though not all are related to Buffalo Bill.

But for a different aspect of western culture, Cody Nite Rodeo bills itself as the roughest nightly rodeos in the West, and Cody as the “Rodeo Capital of the World.”

Touristy yes, but it’s what one would expect of the largest city in the Bighorn Basin. continue to page 54

Buffalo Bill Dam near Cody

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Monument Hill in Thermopolis

Bighorn Basin: Meeteetse, Thermopolis and Hot Springs State Park North of Cody, the Japanese American Confinement Center at Heart Mountain offers a glimpse of the remains of the former internment camp with memorial stones and other markers along walking trails and overlooks.

Beyond the Center rolling lands of dry grasses and scruffy bushes dot a lonely landscape of badlands known as the Bighorn Basin. Fossils abound in this barren landscape with more dinosaur footprints than human ones, and ancient petroglyphs decorate sandstone cliffs and outcrops that stand up surprisingly well to winds and seasonal temperature extremes. Here and there quaint museum towns look like they’ve been plunked into the wilderness from another era. They offer a respite of history and culture in an area woefully devoid of creature comforts.

Thirty miles south of Cody is Meeteetse, a tiny hospitable town of some 300 people that’s barely a dust mote on a map, but brimming with relics of western history. Wooden watering troughs, hitching rails, wooden sidewalks and excellent museums with no admission fee complement old buildings with connections to Butch Cassidy and wealthy cattle barons.

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10,000 years in history. Located about eight miles west of Highway 120, the last three miles consist of a rough gravel road that truly evoke a time-traveling feeling. But what a reward at the end! Cliff walls decorated with more than 92 petroglyph “panels” and 300 figures of mythical horned creatures, thunderbirds and elk are set along an interpretive trail. Just watch where you step and listen for buzzing: rattlesnakes love these rocks!

Farther south the dramatic hills and sandstone canyons nestle the stunningly pretty town of Thermopolis, which is, curiously, part of Hot Springs State Park. Here millions of gallons of hot water gush out of the ground daily, channeled into swimming pools, soaking pools, steam rooms and waterslides. Over the years drippings of minerals from the spring water have formed the colorful travertine Rainbow Terraces that look like frozen waterfalls along the Bighorn River. Since legendary times, the hot mineral springs have been known for their healing powers.

Remarkably, they’ve remained an affordable luxury with free admission to a government-run bathhouse and reasonable admission costs to the adjacent TeePee Spa and Star Plunge Water Park.

Thermopolis is also the portal to the Wind River Canyon where one of the most scenic drives in Wyoming, the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway, winds among spectacular cliffs

and rock walls. After 14 miles, it culminates at the Boysen Reservoir, a popular sporting area in Boysen State Park.

Bighorn Mountains Surrounded by six mountain ranges, the Bighorn Basin covers an area that’s roughly 150 miles long and 80 miles wide. At its northeastern terminus its namesake mountains loom over the basin, studded with the pine, spruce and fir trees of the Bighorn National Forest. Scenic roads and hiking trails crisscross the Bighorn Mountains and lead to some of the most ruggedly beautiful lookouts in the country. A favorite is Devil Canyon Lookout in the Bighorn Canyon National Recreational Area, an elongated parcel of scenic glory shared by Wyoming and Montana (the Lookout is actually three miles into Montana). Along with

All around, a steep and craggy world of beautiful tors and sacred Native American circles stipple the Bighorn Mountains culminating at Bighorn Medicine Wheel atop Medicine Mountain east of Bighorn Lake. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970, Medicine Wheel is a mysterious circle of stones 80 feet in diameter with 28 lines or spokes radiating from its center to the outer rim. It is still a sacred place of ritual for Native Americans but can be visited by anyone willing to brave the steep gravel road that leads to a parking lot, then walk the 1 ½-mile trail to the circle. continue to page 59 Porcelain Basin in Yellowstone National Park

the dizzying views from the Canyon ridges into the winding gorge of the Bighorn River, it’s sometimes possible to spot wild horses, bighorn sheep and mountain goats straggling on the canyon walls.

Black Sand Basin in Yellowstone National Park

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Bighorn Canyon

Steamboat Rock in the Bighorn Mountains

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Devils Tower Monument Rising majestically where the forests of northeastern Wyoming meet the central prairie lands and the Belle Fourche River carves the sandstone into labyrinthine gorges, Devils Tower Monument stands out like a corn dog stuck in a pizza. You can see it for miles.

Every year more than 5,000 rock climbers scale the iconic butte where hundreds of parallel cracks on hexagonal columns provide finger- and foot-holds. For non-climbers, three walking trails loop around the base of the monument and provide views that show how the rock changes with its orientation: eroded columns on the south side, a smoother north side, and fallen broken columns on the west.

It takes about 45 minutes to walk the shortest loop around the base through a forest of ponderosa pine and scree.

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Sophie, Countess of Wessex, visits the Corps of Army Music for a renaming ceremony and short parade at Kneller Hall in Twickenham, England. The Countess of Wessex is Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment.

Humanitarianism is almost always at the top of the list of interests for many royals. Some of them spend their time and efforts contributing to others' well-being as if it's a profession. Although the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge get the most international attention, there are several royal family members who aren’t on the cover of magazines and in the news, when perhaps they should be. One of those people is Sophie, Countess of Wessex. She is married to Queen Elizabeth’s fourth child, Prince Edward, and could easily be likened to Princess Diana for her love of helping children.

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Sophie, Countess of Wessex, visits Disability Initiative's Resource Center to mark the International Day of People with Disabilities on December 3, 2020, in Camberley, England. She helped make flapjack and decorate Christmas decorations.

During the most recent holiday season, she participated in several school activities to extend encouragement and cheerful inspiritment, especially during this very trying time with all the uncomfortable surrounding circumstances of the coronavirus. One of her sojourns was to a military school called the Royal Corps of Army Music (CAMUS) for a renaming ceremony and short parade at Kneller Hall, at the headquarters in Twickenham, England, where she is the Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment.

In the early 1990s, The Queen noticed that the number of people in the “military music business” had dramatically diminished. Realizing that music is a critical component of any school’s curriculum for success and a solid musical education program for students is imperative through their early academic years, she officially summoned the new creation of the Corps of Army Music in 1994. Consequently, significant investments were made to reinvigorate the original school, 66

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which was established over a century ago by the Duke of Cambridge of 1857, Prince George, from the House of Hanover, who served as the forces’ commander-in-chief from 1856 to 1895.

Military musicians aren't at the forefront of people's imaginations when official ceremonies are taking place, but the background music's brilliant sounds and melodies are indeed theirs. Without the audio opulence of the trumpets, violins, and drums playing during some of the world's most significant celebrations, being a spectator wouldn't be as fun as it is! Music brings proclamation and heralds momentous commemorations of any occasion. It is also often used in diplomacy, including all branches: civilian, defense and government.

Continuing through the multitudinous lineup of her Christmastime schedule, the countess masked up and pressed on to her next destination, the Disability Initiative's Resource Center, to recognize the International Day of People with Disabilities in Camberley, a quaint

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Sophie, Countess of Wessex (in her role as Patron), meets 'Blitz,' a border collie dog, as she visits the Shooting Star Children's Hospices charity shop to help sort items for sale to dress the window display during the holiday season in Hampton, England.

English town in Surrey just a half hour's drive southwest of London. The center is known for its outstanding implementation of various vital and highly productive programs designed for disabled adults to grow and flourish in a safe environment.

Together, during the visit, they baked flapjacks, a sort of cookie, or something like an American granola bar, and subsequently made holiday decorations with the students to enjoy the annual festivities.

As a royal family delegate, Sophie's wintertime schedule progressed with bustling days of appointments to fulfill. The next stop was the Shooting Star Children's Hospices (SSCH) charity shop in Hampton, England. A beautiful dog named "Blitz" was part of the welcome committee as Sophie approached the entrance of the store and, as you

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Sophie, Countess of Wessex, visits the Shooting Star Children's Hospices charity shop to prepare for the holiday season in Hampton, England.

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The Count and Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward and Sophie peel and chop carrots as they visit FoodWise to help prepare Christmas dinners for local families at the Moorcroft Community Center in Woking. FoodWise is a small charity whose primary focus is teaching families how to cook inexpensive, nutritious meals on a budget.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, it has cooked and delivered more than 30,000 meals to over 300 families, who are self-isolating or struggling financially, in Guildford and Woking, England.

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can see from the photo – was delighted to greet her! The SSCH certainly deserves some demonstrable appreciation.

Its purpose is to provide palliative and consolatory care to families and children suffering from a severe illness where life expectancy is limited. The term "hospice" is a derivative of the word "hospital." Not everyone anticipating imminent death wishes for it to happen in a hospital; therefore, a hospice's comforting experience was incorporated to serve as reliable home care for those who prefer a less sterile environment when going through such difficult and very delicate transitions.

The Shooting Star Children's Hospices don't rely on government financing but upon the public's generosity and benevolent goodwill. They will often host walks and marathons and create different ways to attain funding. Sophie is the Royal Patron and enjoys engaging with the families while simultaneously contributing in any way she can to support this wonderful organization's endeavors.

Included in the month-long social activities, Prince Edward, Count of Wessex, joined the Countess as they collectively focused on a foundation called FoodWise. This charity instructs how to purchase and cook food on an allocated budget. Furthermore, they teach how to turn affordable, basic groceries into delicious, nourishing cuisine dishes to eat. The philanthropic group prepared and delivered more than 30,000 ancillary meals during the coronavirus to over 300 self-isolating and financially suffering families in the Guildford and Woking region of England. The royal couple isn’t above putting an apron on and participating in making a holiday banquet with the working members and volunteers of FoodWise to contribute to the joy, well-being, and health of those they proudly serve and represent.

Giving attention to international humanitarianism is an essential component of DiplomaticConnections’

mission. We highlight and emphasize the good works people worldwide attempt to do every day to make a difference for those less fortunate, and even more so during the pandemic. As an embassy, mission, consulate, or international organization, if there is a cause that you’d like to have the spotlight on, please email us for consideration: info@DiplomaticConnections.com ■

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UNICEF and LuisaViaRoma

Partner to Help Children measure; after all, its worth is altruistic and invaluable.

Who can put a cost on helping the needy and vulnerable?

Anything donated to those on the receiving end of such a highly esteemed philanthropic equation is of enormous significance!

As their mission declaration officially states, "UNICEF relentlessly works day in and day out to deliver the essentials that give every child an equitable chance in life: health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation,

Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Luisa Via Roma

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is an international non-profit organization that makes great strides to help those living in impoverished and disadvantaged circumstances. Their exemplary worldwide efforts to provide humanitarian aid to children is, without doubt, unceasingly praiseworthy. The magnitude of UNICEF's every day contributory actions and service are largely beyond calculation. Humanitarianism is in the category of "good deeds done," which no one can truly

Tommaso Chiabra, Alessandra Mastronardi, Andrea Panconesi and Paolo Rozera attend the LuisaViaRoma for UNICEF event at the La Certosa di San Giacomo on August 29, 2020 in Capri, Italy.

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Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images for Luisaviaroma

Andrea Bocelli performs during the LuisaViaRoma for UNICEF event at the La Certosa di San Giacomo on August 29, 2020 in Capri, Italy. The La Certosa di San Giacomo was a monastery founded several centuries ago, circa 1363, by Giacomo Arcucci, a secretary to Joan I of Naples. About 26 years later, he became a monk himself where he resided until his death. Today, the historical abbey is a museum that can be utilized for a variety of occasions.

nutrition, education, emergency relief and more." They are working diligently in nearly every nation, region, and territory in the world; theirs is legitimately a global operation.

In 2020, on the beautiful island of Capri, LuisaViaRoma (LVR), an Italian luxury fashion retailer headquartered in

of principled conscientiousness, and his generosity is to be emulated.

Add to that same graciously hospitable spirit of giving, Andrea Bocelli, the eminent opera singer with a brilliantly divine voice that is beyond human comprehension. He gave tribute to the charitable organization by making a much-

Florence, Italy, magnanimously collaborated with UNICEF to bring greater attention to their cause and assist in fundraising for those citizens who are most deprived. Andrea Panconesi, the grandson of Luisa Jaquin, who founded LVR in 1930, is at the business' helm. He and his colleagues certainly have their hearts in the right place as there couldn't be a more humane requisition of much-needed revenue and resources. If Panconesi's vision is to use his company's platform to elevate the world's constituents who are all too often lost and forgotten; then, it's a virtuous template with a high level

revered appearance as the topliner at the event. It was quite apropos for him to be there as Italy is the official birthplace of the megastar.

Joining the world-renowned artist also to give a ceremonious performance was the prominent British music band Clean Bandit featuring Grace Chatto. The apotheosized occasion was supported by luminaries from all over the world, making it a truly international celebration with its entire focus on philanthropy and serving those less fortunate, especially during the pandemic.

Many celebrities and guests gave in their own respective ways. The

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Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images for Luisaviaroma Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for Luisa Via Roma

UK music sensation Clean Bandit performs during the LuisaViaRoma for UNICEF celebration.

compassionate demonstration of in-kind benevolence towards a cause greater than one person is noteworthy and honorable. The collective noble ambitions of helping the world's afflicted, always continuing the pursuit of alleviating burdens while simultaneously providing comfort and sustenance, is a commission filled with tremendous purpose.

Ola Farahat and Hashim Hashim attend the LuisaViaRoma for UNICEF event held at the Certosa di San Giacomo on August 29, 2020 in Capri, Italy.

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UNICEF goes to great lengths to assist those residing in adverse conditions and are on a non-stop, relentless laser-focused path to comfort, advocate for, aid and sustain the plight of those who suffer privation.

Diplomatic Connections supports their goals in doing these commendable endeavors. If you'd like to participate by donating, go to: UNICEF.org ■ photos continue through to page 94

Andrea and Annagreta Panconesi attend the dinner for the LuisaViaRoma Window To a Fashion Future World book presentation held at the Giardini di Augusto (Gardens of Augustus) on August 28, 2020 in Capri, Italy.

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BIG ON LUXURY YET EASILY NEGOTIATES TIGHT SPOTS. The MINI Diplomatic Sales Program offers exclusive incentives to both foreign diplomats stationed in the US, returning US diplomats and staff, and qualified members of international organizations. Approved participants can choose from a variety of MINI vehicles, with exclusive savings off base MSRP. To learn more about the MINI Diplomatic Sales Program, please visit www.miniusa.com/tools/buying/diplomatic.html.

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