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After Complaining for Years, Congress Passes Law to Reform OAS For years, U.S. lawmakers have griped that the Organization of American States — which is based in Washington and is largely funded by U.S. taxpayers — has become bloated, unwieldy, irrelevant and even anti-American. This autumn, Congress finally did something about it. PAGE 7

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Grenada Goes Green

RELIgIOUS CONfLICT

Christians in Line Of Fire as Sectarian Tensions Engulf Region From Egypt to Pakistan to Syria, as sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites play out across the Muslim world, Christians and other religious minorities are increasingly finding themselves in the crosshairs — squeezing a population whose numbers have already dwindled over the past century. PAGE 8

culture

Yoga: Trendy Fad Has Ancient Depths The Sackler Gallery recently unveiled the world’s first yogic art exhibition to showcase a practice that stretches back 2,000 years. PAGE 26

Exactly 30 years after a U.S. invasion put grenada on the world map, grenadians today are more focused on fighting climate change, rising seas and other natural forces that threaten to wipe them off that map. That includes Angus friday, grenada’s new ambassador who bikes to work and believes his tiny island should set an environmental example at home. PAGE 11 PEOPLE Of WORLD INfLUENCE

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

Scholar Lays Dysfunction On GOP’s Doorstep

Kazakh Couple Knows Thing or Three About D.C.

clear about which side is to blame for the current dysfunc-

During her husband’s last two postings in D.C., Galiya Umarova was busy helping her school-age son. Now, as wife of Kazakhstan’s envoy, she’s busy teaching

tion, pinning the blame squarely on Republicans. PAGE 4

Americans about her homeland. PAGE 27

Over the last four decades, Norman Ornstein has become the go-to guy for clear-eyed congressional analysis. And he’s

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The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

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N IO AT V R SE RE

CONTENTS THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

December 2013

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19

14 Arab energy

[ news ] 4

2013 holiday gift guide

Vincent van Gogh

17

30

PEOPlE Of WOrld iNfluENCE

CONGrESS TakES ON OaS After years of complaining that the Organization of American States has become a bloated, unwieldy, irrelevant bureaucracy, Congress finally managed to come together to put its money where its mouth is.

8

[ luxury living ] 19

ENErGy maTrix

27

Four decades after the Arab oil embargo realigned the geopolitical map, another seismic shift is changing the energy landscape.

16

THE rOTuNda Hyperpolarization. It sounds like a science fiction plot device or a molecular term in biology class, but it’s a very real phenomenon infecting Washington, with no cure in sight.

yOGa’S ENduraNCE

28

immiGraTiON uPfrONT The contentious issue of illegal immigration to the United States has all but vanished in the deadlocked halls of Congress, but it’s occupying a prominent place at the French Embassy.

32

diNiNG Piola is a little slice of Naples in Columbia Heights, but it’s so much more than just another pizza place in a city full of them.

34

film rEViEWS “The Great Beauty” has attracted great hype — and is consistently compared to “La Dolce Vita,” Italian auteur Federico Fellini’s 1960 masterpiece that’s typically regarded as one of the top films of all time.

Many Washingtonians flock to yoga classes, but few know just how far back this ancient discipline stretches, which is partly why the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery recently unveiled the world’s first yogic art exhibition.

COVEr PrOfilE: GrENada Grenadians today are less focused on the 1983 U.S. invasion that put their country on the map, and more on fighting the forces that threaten to wipe their tiny island off that map.

14

31

[ culture ] 26

VaN GOGH’S mETHOd Vincent van Gogh was known for his intense, emotionally unbridled masterpieces. Less known is his careful, repetitive approach that reveals a method to the Dutch painter’s madness.

2013 HOliday GifT GuidE New shops have sprung up throughout the Washington metro area in the past year, providing lots of new, locally owned places to find great holiday gifts — and plenty of inspiration for The Diplomat’s annual gift guide.

CHriSTiaN PErSECuTiON? As political turmoil in the Muslim world exacerbates sectarian tensions, religious minorities such as Christians are finding themselves increasingly in the line of fire.

11

mEdiCal It’s the one cancer screening test that’s been universally shown to be effective. Yet it’s also the one test most people prefer to avoid — one out of every three people, in fact.

Political go-to pundit Norman Ornstein says he’s never seen Washington this broken in his entire lifetime, and he doesn’t mince words over who’s to blame for the sabotage.

7

30

36

CiNEma liSTiNG

Galiya Umarova and her husband, Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov, are intimately familiar with American life, having served in D.C. three times, but now she’s working to familiarize Americans with her Central Asian homeland.

38

EVENTS liSTiNG

40

diPlOmaTiC SPOTliGHT

45

WOrld HOlidayS / aPPOiNTmENTS

SuburbaN aNGST

46

ClaSSifiEdS

In “Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill,” Paul Downs Colaizzo strives to present a familiar theme — the trappings of suburbia — in a fresh and innovative way, but comes up short.

47

rEal ESTaTE ClaSSifiEdS

diPlOmaTiC SPOuSES

COVEr: Photo taken at the Embassy of Grenada by Lawrence Ruggeri.

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, Rachel Hunt, Saba Imtiaz, Stephanie Kanowitz, Luke Jerod Kummer, Dena Levitz, Kat Lucero, Ky N. Nguyen, Gail Scott, Dave Seminara, Gina Shaw, Gary Tischler, Lisa Troshinsky Photographer Jessica Latos, Lawrence Ruggeri account managers 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.

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December 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 3

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

Norman Ornstein

Scholar Pins Congressional Dysfunction Squarely on GOP

by Michael Coleman

O

ver the last four decades, Norman Ornstein has cultivated a reputation in Washington as the go-to guy for journalists in need of astute, cleareyed congressional analysis. From his perch at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, Ornstein regularly dispenses quotes and context that have helped legions of reporters, and their readers, better understand the Byzantine world of congressional politics and policy. And for 30 years or so, Ornstein had Congress’s back.

“In the final analysis, I’m a defender of Congress,” Ornstein told the New York Times in the mid-1980s. “If [American founding father] James Madison were here today and looked at Congress, he’d say, ‘This is what we envisioned.’”

Oh, how times have changed. Today, Ornstein churns out blistering critiques of Congress — and especially Republicans — in his role as columnist for the Atlantic and National Journal, as well as in frequent radio and television interviews. Ornstein recently teamed up with Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution, to write the 2012 book “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.” In the tome, the two left-leaning but typically even-handed experts place the blame for Congress’s current abysmal state squarely on the shoulders of Republicans.

Republicans “have become more loyal to party than to country,” the authors charged.

“The political system has become grievously hobbled at a time when the country faces unusually serious problems and grave threats.”

Ornstein and Mann conclude that, “The country is squandering its economic future and putting itself at risk because of an inability to govern effectively.”

The New York Times bestseller was named one of 2012’s best books on politics by the New Yorker and one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post.

In a recent interview with The Washington Diplomat shortly after the government shutdown ended and Congress finally agreed to raise the debt ceiling so America could pay her bills (for now), Ornstein said the partisanship has effectively sabotaged the nation.

“I’ve never seen our system this dysfunctional in my lifetime and in 44 years of being directly immersed in it inWashington,” Ornstein lamented, his brightly striped socks adding a splash of color to a conservative suit. “This is worse than I’ve ever seen it.”

Hailing from Minnesota, Ornstein earned an undergraduate degree from the

Page 4

University of Minnesota and his master’s and doctorate from the University of Michigan before landing in Washington. His lifelong fascination with Congress began in the early 1970s, when he arrived in the nation’s capital on a fellowship with the American Political Science Association. He went on to work for several members of Congress and eventually migrated to the American Enterprise Institute, part time in 1974 and then full time in 1980. AEI is solidly conservative and considered fairly “establishment,” but Ornstein said he’s never been scolded by his bosses for espousing left-leaning political sensibilities.

“Nobody here ever says anything to me that is the equivalent of ‘you can’t write or say that,’” Ornstein told us, adding that he has “nice and congenial relations” with his colleagues, although they sometimes write rejoinders to op-ed pieces he publishes around town.

“

Photo: Jay Westcott / American Enterprise Institute

I’ve never seen our system this dysfunctional in my lifetime and in 44 years of being directly immersed in it in Washington.

— Norman Ornstein

”

resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute

“That’s fine — that’s the way it’s supposed to work,” he said. “I’m still happy here even if I know I give a lot of heartburn to some of the powers that be.”

Ornstein (not known as a political bombthrower) asserted that the most recent congressional crisis — a 16-day partial government shutdown in early October, coupled with a near default on the nation’s credit — was almost entirely the Republicans’ fault. The seeds for the current congressional gridlock were planted when President Obama was sworn into office in 2009, he said, and the time-honored tradition of compromise went out the window.

“Republicans decided at that point that

they were going to unify and vote against anything Obama wanted to do, even if they agreed with him,” Ornstein asserted. “You saw it right away with [GOP opposition to] the economic stimulus package.”

Ornstein said that at the height of the banking and foreclosure crisis, Rep. David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat who was then chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, called the ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, into his office. Obey asked Lewis what Republicans wanted to see — or not see — in a stimulus package.

“Obey said,‘The economy is on its back.

Go work with your leaders and rank-andfile members and ask what they want or

don’t want,’” according to Ornstein.

Lewis replied that House Republican leaders had instructed him to resist any deal on a stimulus package.

“You have smoking guns here that are very clear,” Ornstein said, adding that the GOP’s refusal to negotiate in good faith extended to the crafting of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “It turned into a desire to use Obamacare as a sort of catch-all to channel a hatred of Obama and disaffections with what’s going on.”

(Ornstein blames the administration for the rocky rollout of Obamacare, although he also points out that the law — with its individual mandate and private insurance exchanges — is fundamentally a conservative plan.)

Ornstein said Republicans devised new ways to thwart Obama’s agenda, including an unrelenting wave of filibusters and, most recently, ransoming the debt ceiling to extract social spending cuts and a flurry of other demands.

The Washington Diplomat

See Ornstein, page 6 December 2013

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from page 4

Ornstein “They were using this in ways they had not been used before, [as] real hostages, not as levers where you are negotiating and where in the end you’re not going to play games with the full faith and credit of the United States,” Ornstein said.

“But you had one side saying,‘Oh, yes we will.’”

The political scholar ditches academic niceties to blast Republicans for embracing tactics that he said would’ve been unthinkable not that long ago.

“The idea of threatening default in a real way — demanding outlandish concessions with a loaded gun to the country’s head — only emerged in 2011,” Ornstein argued in a recent National Journal piece, in which he said that any concessions by Obama on the debt ceiling or continuing resolution would ensure that basic government functions would “become regular instruments of extortion in the future.”

Ornstein says Democrats — widely viewed as having won this last round of brinkmanship for not caving into GOP demands to defund Obamacare — have actually capitulated a great deal, in particular by agreeing to trillions of dollars in spending cuts that he says are disastrous for America’s long-term economic health.

Beyond the downgrade in credit and reputation that America has suffered over the debt ceiling and government funding fights, Ornstein says the effects of the sequester budget cuts (which, he points out, were deemed so harmful that no one ever thought they’d go into effect) are far more insidious. “The FBI has had to reduce its focus on white-collar and organized crime to deal with the higher, immediate priority of cybersecurity. The food-inspection infrastructure has been hit, reducing the number of inspectors in the U.S.

and in foreign plants that ship food to the United States,” he wrote in an Oct. 16 column. “Basic research, as I have written before, is taking devastating hits…. Some of the damage will never be repaired. And the nation’s economy will grow more slowly, adding to our deficits and debt.”

That epic battle over deficits and debt has given rise to what Ornstein bluntly calls zealots and ideologues.

“No matter what the damage is in the short run, [Republicans] unleashed a set of forces that pragmatism couldn’t control,” Ornstein said of about 80 tea party and ultra-conservative Republican House members that spearheaded the most recent funding showdown.“The radical fringe of the party has become the driver.”

The tea party, a fiscally conservative wing of the Republican Party, obviously doesn’t see it that way. Many argued fiercely that raising the debt limit should not happen unless there was a corresponding reduction in federal spending.

“In a sane Washington, hitting the debt ceiling over and over would cause a change in behavior on spending,” said a statement on the Tea Party Patriots’s website as the government shutdown came to a close in mid-October. “However, that takes political courage, and as we’ve seen in recent months, bravery in Congress is an endangered species.”

Ornstein, though, levels similar charges against mainstream conservatives for bowing to “radicals” who aren’t interested in limiting government, but are out to demolish it altogether.

On that front, he says House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is in a particularly difficult position. Ornstein said Boehner’s instinct is to cut pragmatic deals to avert fiscal crises, but he faces mutiny by a sizeable minority within his caucus. The elimination of earmarks a few years back also prevents Boehner from enticing wayward members with pork barrel projects in their

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home districts.

“Boehner has a relatively small majority, 231 to 200, but in effect he has about 80 members who distrust their own leadership,” he said, calling Boehner’s leadership “passive-aggressive.”

Ornstein said the speaker can’t force his troops to chart a moderate course with him, so he has to work with Democrats to get anything passed through the chamber at all — something he’s been reluctant to do because it weakens him in the eyes of his own party (and breaks the informal Hastert rule, whereby the House speaker won’t introduce legislation that doesn’t have the backing of the majority of the Republican Party).

The result is that the House has increasingly become the place where legislation goes to die.

“There are only so many times you can bring up bills where you lose the vast majority of your own party and are passing them on the back of the other party,” Ornstein noted.

He said Boehner will typically let the House’s far right flank make noise and obstruct, and then he occasionally — at the last minute in the case of the recent debt ceiling debacle — makes a deal with Democrats. In this case, tea party Republicans in the House gave the speaker a pass.

“It’s a weird dynamic. It keeps him in power and keeps his own party from wanting to tar and feather him and ride him out on a rail, but it also costs the country $23 billion in the process,” Ornstein said, referring to the estimated losses that the 16-day government shutdown cost the national economy.

Despite House Republicans’ general ineffectiveness — and they’re getting hammered in national approval polls — Ornstein said Boehner is likely to hold onto his leadership post, at least until the 2014 midterm elections.

But that doesn’t mean the tea party wing will particularly care if the speaker continues to stumble politically.

“They get elected individually so the speaker’s endorsement [of their re-election campaigns] or lack of it will make no difference to them. They are far more worried about a challenge from the right,” Ornstein pointed out.

On that note, he criticizes the redistricting that has created “homogeneous echo chambers” and made House Republicans immune to larger political trends and public opinion. Rather, their main concern is losing their jobs to a more hardline candidate in a primary challenge.

He also decries the flood of outside money from groups such as Heritage Action and the Koch brothers to cleanse the party of moderates, fueling a toxic environment where some Republicans are only interested in attacking the administration on anything from Benghazi to Obamacare, rather than working with it to break the legislative standstill.

In addition to genuine GOP antipathy toward Obama, Ornstein cited the party’s aversion to taxes as the root of current government dysfunction. Since 1986, Americans for Tax Reform, a taxpayer advocacy group led by Grover Norquist, has convinced a large swath of Republicans in Congress to oppose any new taxes, under any circumstances. (In 2011, all of the Republican presidential hopefuls famously said they would reject a deficit deal that gave them $10 worth of tax cuts in return for $1 in tax increases.)

In the 112th Congress of 2011 and 2012, all but six of the 242 Republican members plus two Democrats in the House of Representatives — a majority of that body — signed Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge. All but seven of 47 Senate Republicans, plus one Democrat, also signed the pledge.

“The key to any agreement that would have really moved us much further along to getting the economy revitalized and stabilizing the debt at a reasonable level was blocked by a rigid pledge that basically paralyzed the possibility of compromise,” Ornstein argues.

He told us that some modest “revenue” — tax increases, user fees or closing international banking loopholes — would have helped stabilize the American economy more quickly after the eco-

nomic crash of 2008.

“It’s become almost religious among the activist rank and file,” Ornstein said of the Republican anti-tax mantra.“You also have the [conservative, anti-tax] Club for Growth ready to pounce and primary anybody with a lot of money who decided to support anything defined as a tax increase. It’s this mania — no taxes at any time, no matter what, whether you’re in good times or bad times.”

Ornstein suggested that this intransigence missed a prime opportunity to turn the recent bad times around.

“The great frustration for me is that we were not far away, in 2009 to 2011, from recovering dramatically from this economic malaise,” he said.

“A little bit of movement on revenues also would have stabilized to some degree the big programs — Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security — that are going to be the drivers of government growth for several years simply because we’re growing older and living longer.”

Ornstein said that if the U.S. government had added some tax revenue “and put some money into infrastructure and getting the economy moving in the short run, we would have seen the economy take off.”

He also suggested it could have helped pull other countries out of their economic doldrums.

“Corporations had almost $2 trillion in cash they were holding onto and not investing out of uncertainty,” he said.“It would have had a sort of upward spiral effect. It also would have had a dramatic impact on the global economy. It was only political dysfunction that kept us from doing that.”

Despite his dismay at the polarization and paralysis of today’s Congress, Ornstein said the United States is actually faring pretty well compared to other top-tier economies.

“We’re doing better than European countries, including Britain,” he said. “We’re finding that even some command-and-control economies like China are struggling now. We’re at least getting some growth even if it is sluggish growth.

“European countries that have doubled and tripled down on austerity have discovered that it doesn’t work, but they keep doing it,” Ornstein said, adding that government gridlock is not endemic only to the United States. “Divided government is becoming sort of the norm around the world in Western countries.”

Nevertheless, the world is increasingly worried about America’s broken Congress.

“From what I can see, including my own discussions with ambassadors around town, it matters,” he said. “They understand this isn’t just politics as usual.”

And it’s not just amusing political theater to them, either.

“They’re worried for a number of reasons — our allies, particularly, but other countries are as well,” Ornstein said.“If you’re looking realistically at who is going to be a force in the world, no one is going to fill that vacuum if the United States leaves it.That’s not a good thing for stability, freedom, democracy and all kinds of other values.

“They also recognize that given the size of the American economy, if we keep doing things out of political dysfunction that hampers growth and adds to our own unemployment and our known economic inequality, it’s going to be bad for the rest of the world,” Ornstein added. “We now live in an interconnected global economy, so you can’t root for other countries to crater because it will bring you down as well.”

Michael Coleman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat

Your Source for Diplomatic News. www.washdiplomat.com

December 2013

Diplomacy

Organization of American States

Congress to OAS: Shape Up Or Face Consequences

by Larry Luxner

F

or years, U.S. lawmakers have griped that the Organization of American States (OAS) — which is based in Washington and is largely funded by U.S. taxpayers — has become increasingly bureaucratic, unmanageable, irrelevant and even anti-American.

This autumn, Congress finally did something about it.

In early July, the Senate approved the Organization of American States Revitalization and Reform Act of 2013 by unanimous consent. On Sept. 17, the House of Representatives passed the bill by a 383-24 vote, and it was signed into law by President Obama two weeks later — thereby becoming the first piece of legislation to be signed by the president since Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who introduced the bill, took over as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“The OAS is the Western Hemisphere’s premier multilateral institution, and yet its effectiveness has declined in recent years,” Menendez said in a prepared statement after the bill’s passage. “For Western Hemisphere nations to truly thrive, urgent reforms are required to enhance the OAS’s strategic planning processes, and improve administration and financial management.”

Yet the wording of this new law is relatively bland — and it doesn’t mention any country by name other than the United States. Not Cuba, which was suspended from the OAS in 1962 following Fidel Castro’s rise to power and allowed to rejoin in 2009 (though it declined). Not Venezuela, whose late firebrand president, Hugo Chávez, spearheaded a wave of anti-American sentiment throughout the region. And not Ecuador, which under Chávez protégé Rafael Correa has become one of the most repressive nations in Latin America for journalists trying to report the news.

Simply put, the legislation asks the OAS to review its core functions at least once a year, reduce the number of mandates not directly related to those functions — and accept new mandates only after completing an analysis of the financial costs and describing how that specific mandate would advance the orga-

December 2013

“

Photo: Juan Manuel Herrera / OAS

Now comes the hard part. We all know the OAS needs to reform. What does that mean? And to what extent will the U.S. really be engaged in that process and shape a constructive result?

— Michael Shifter president of the Inter-American Dialogue

nization’s core mission. That mission is to promote democracy, human rights, security and development.

The law also urges the OAS to adopt, within five years, an assessed fee structure “that assures the financial sustainability of the organization” so that no single member state pays more than 50 percent of the total (the United States currently provides about 60 percent). It also calls for “merit-based, transparent hiring, firing and promotion standards and processes.”

In addition, said lawmakers, the 35-member OAS should work more closely with another Washington-based body — the Inter-American Development Bank — on issues related to economic development, and it should combine its General Assembly and Summit of the Americas events geographically and chronologically in the years in which they coincide.

The law — co-sponsored in the Senate by Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Tom

”

Udall (D-N.M.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — gives Secretary of State John Kerry 180 days after its enactment to present Congress with a “multiyear strategy” progress report outlining exactly how the organization will be reformed.

“Key OAS strengths,” it says, “lie in strengthening peace and security, promoting and consolidating representative democracy, regional dispute resolution, election assistance and monitoring, fostering economic growth and development cooperation, facilitating trade, combating illicit drug trafficking and transnational crime, and support for the Inter-American Human Rights System.”

The bill is a far cry from a Republicansponsored proposal passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2011 that voted to defund U.S. contributions to the OAS altogether, accusing the bloc of promoting anti-democratic regimes.

“The House wisely refused to take up the underlying legislation defunding the

Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech at the Organization of American States (OAS) on Nov. 18 in which he declared that the “era of the Monroe Doctrine is over” and that all nations in the Western Hemisphere are “equal partners.” But for all the lofty talk, Kerry now has 180 days to come up with a multiyear strategy to reform the OAS under a recent bill passed by Congress.

OAS at the time, but the sheer recklessness of that bill did much to erode our influence and credibility at the regional body,” Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the senior Democratic member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a recent statement applauding the Revitalization and Reform Act of 2013.

“While the OAS can certainly improve, it has clearly demonstrated its importance and utility as a multilateral body charged with promoting human rights and democratic governance.”

Yet Albert Ramdin, assistant secretarygeneral of the OAS, doesn’t see this most recent legislation as particularly helpful either.

“In a sense, this is a disappointment because it will not serve the purpose of the OAS. It will make it more difficult for us to strengthen democracy and foster peace,” Ramdin warned in a phone interview from his native Suriname. “If they’re going to cut resources from the OAS, there will be a budget issue. I think we are coming

See OAS, page 44 The Washington Diplomat Page 7

International Affairs

Religious Conflict

Threats Against Christians Intensify Around World

by Saba Imtiaz

A

t churches in Karachi, there are banners draped on the boundary walls. With depressing familiarity, they are replaced every so often to feature the church’s denunciation of a blasphemous act that has transpired elsewhere in the world, or its condemnation of a violent act against Christians in Pakistan.

But this hasn’t spared Christians from becoming a target for militant groups, extremists and those who profiteer from exploiting Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. In the last five years alone, there have been numerous cases of Christians being falsely accused of blaspheming against Islam and subsequently persecuted by mobs that have vented their anger by burning down Christian neighborhoods.

In 2011, the governor of Punjab province, Salmaan Taseer, and Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated. Taseer’s assassin, one of his security guards, said he had been driven to murder Taseer for his apparent support of a woman who’d been sentenced to death after being falsely accused of blasphemy. Bhatti, a vocal Catholic activist, was killed two months after Taseer, also reportedly for criticizing Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws, which carry the death sentence for anyone found guilty of insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

The attacks targeting Christians underscore the sectarian fault lines in the Arab world and beyond.

However, this violence predates the events of the Arab Spring.

For Pakistan’s Christians, it isn’t just the blasphemy laws that are a constant threat. They are increasingly being targeted by groups and individuals enraged at events far away from home.

In 2006, images of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish cartoonist sparked protests in several Muslimmajority countries. Similar protests took place when Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders produced an anti-Islam film or when American pastor Terry Jones declared he wanted to burn

Page 8

Qurans, the Islamic holy book. In September 2012, a trailer for “Innocence of Muslims,” a crudely made film deemed to be blasphemous against Islam, triggered a wave of violence in several countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. While U.S. diplomatic missions were targeted in many of these countries, protestors in Pakistan also took aim at a church in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and set it on fire. In September of this year, extremists bombed one of Peshawar’s most historic churches, killing more than 80 people. One militant group that claimed responsibility for the attack said it was in retaliation for drone strikes, a hugely contentious issue in Pakistan.

But while Christians in Pakistan have nothing to do with state policy or the drone program — they have almost no representation in parliament or in political circles — that hasn’t spared them from retribution and deadly rampages.

Elsewhere, threats against Christians are also on the rise. As political turmoil in countries such as Egypt and Syria exacerbates sectarian tensions, religious minorities such as Christians are increasingly in the line of fire, squeezing a population whose numbers have already dwindled over the past century in the region.

Take, for example, Egypt, home to the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Coptic Christians, who are also the largest religious minority in the country, comprising roughly 10 percent of the population, are perceived to have supported the coup that ousted former President Mohamed Morsi’s government. This perception persists because the Coptic Christian pope was present when military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Morsi’s ouster. Coptic Christians have felt the repercussions ever since. After the Egyptian military cracked down on Morsi’s supporters, killing hundreds and jailing thousands, Christians were targeted: More than 40 churches and over 200 properties owned by Christians were damaged in the ensuing violence. While Morsi’s party, the Muslim Brotherhood, has condemned the attacks, there have been

Photo: Kobby Dagan / shutterstock

An Egyptian Christian Copt makes a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem during Easter. Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population but have come under attack recently because of allegations that they supported the military coup that ousted former President Mohamed Morsi.

reports that many party leaders incited violence against Egypt’s Christians.

“There is essentially an expression of anger by the Muslim Brotherhood toward Christians, seen as the largest single minority that is colluding with the state and resisting an Islamic government,” Vali Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Inter­ national Studies and author of “The Dis­­ pen­sable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat,” told the Diplomat.

“They are a soft target in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is trying to promote violence, making it difficult for the military to consolidate power.”

Nasr noted that the violence has not spread to Muslims, which could erode

support for the Muslim Brotherhood protestors (although the group’s Muslim supporters have been attacked by military forces).

In a statement in October, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said it was “deeply disturbing that the Christian community across Egypt was singled out for revenge attacks over the events in Cairo by some supporters of the deposed president.” Sahraoui added that “a backlash against Coptic Christians should have been anticipated, yet security forces failed to prevent attacks or intervene to put an end to the violence.”

That violence continues. On Oct. 20,

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

gunmen opened fire outside a Coptic Christian church where a wedding was being held, killing four people, including two young girls.

Hostility toward Christians is resonating elsewhere in the region, such as in Libya and Syria, with far-reaching effects for the future and status of minority faiths. While Christians lived in relative peace under Syrian President Bashar alAssad’s regime, the civil war there has ensnared Christians into its net as well, especially as Islamic extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda increasingly join the rebel ranks. Blasts have occurred in Damascus’s historic Christian quarter as well as the ancient Christian town of Maaloula, and reports have emerged of en masse immigration of Christians from cities such as Homs.

The attacks have played into al-Assad’s longstanding claim that Christians will fall prey to the rebels, whom he characterizes as hard-line religious extremists and terrorists. But a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom published this April highlighted the widespread risks to Christians in Syria coming from all sides amid the ongoing chaos.

“With the conflict breaking along religious and political lines, it is unclear how many of these displaced persons and refugees fled because they were targeted specifically because of their religious faith or perceived religious identity,” the commission stated. “With the numbers continuing to swell, Syria’s religious diversity risks being lost. In addition, the possibility of inter-religious violence in refugee camps increases, as these communities increasingly intermingle in the overpopulated camps. In response to this fear,Turkey announced plans to build a refugee camp specifically for Syriac Christians and other Christians, and a second one for Kurds and other minorities.”

The attacks targeting Christians underscore the sectarian fault lines in the Arab world and beyond. However, this violence predates the events of the Arab Spring. Sectarianism — whether it’s directed at religious minorities such as Shiites,Ahmadis or Copts — reflects deep-seated divisions that have percolated in countries such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and elsewhere for years and even centuries.

However, it would be unfair to suggest that the threat to Christians — or any religious minority for that matter — is part of an organized, monolithic campaign. Christians have lived for centuries throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, from Bahrain to Jordan to Iran to Oman. Violence against them is caused by different reasons, ranging from political and economic grievances to a larger backlash against all religious minorities (and, of course, Christians have not only been the victims but also the perpetrators of violence throughout the region’s history).

For example, religious strife and power struggles have long plagued Nigeria, which is split between the Christian-dominated south and largely Muslim north. The brutal tactics of Boko Haram Islamists against Christians are the latest symptom of the country’s tit-for-tat religious reprisals. Protected for generations in Iraq, Christians have fled in recent years to escape the unrelenting violence that’s gripped the country as a whole and killed Shiites and Sunnis alike. In other countries ruled by strict conservative governments, Christians can be sentenced to death for converting from Islam. Each nation where Christians face danger has its own unique set of issues and militancy trends, as well as historical, religious and political contexts.

“The issues are not identical to one another,”

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Nasr said.“We’re seeing that upswing of anger in the Arab world toward the U.S. and their own governments, and anger at minorities viewed to be powerful in the economic sector and who are viewed to be natural allies of the military.”

In countries such as Pakistan, however, violence against Christians is an expansion of a broader campaign against religious sects and minorities, whereby militant groups are repeating a well-established pattern of fueling violence to create an environment of fear that pushes minorities to the fringe of society.

As Christians gathered in Karachi’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the city, for midnight mass last Christmas, Archbishop Joseph Coutts spoke of

the darkness that prevailed when Jesus Christ was born, and how Christ’s mission to spread light in the world was still incomplete.Referencing the assassinations of men such as Taseer and Bhatti, Coutts reminded his flock that the darkness still existed and that every person must carry out the work of spreading light and speaking out against injustices. But for Christians in Pakistan, and elsewhere in the region, there is little light amid the growing shroud of bloodshed and intolerance that is putting their faith in society to the test.

Saba Imtiaz (http://sabaimtiaz.com) is a freelance writer in Pakistan who reports on politics, culture, militancy, human rights and religious movements.

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December 2013

COVER PROFILE

Ambassador Angus Friday

Grenada’s New War: Battling Climate Change

by Larry Luxner

I

n the annals of American warfare, the 1983 invasion of Grenada — which caused only 19 U.S. casualties — amounts to little more than a controversial blip on the Pentagon’s radar screen. But for this English-speaking Caribbean island, Operation Urgent Fury meant the end of a Marxist revolution that had begun with high hopes and gradually descended into murderous anarchy.

In October, Grenada’s 110,000 inhabitants marked the 30th anniversary of that invasion, even as they begin the countdown to celebrate the island’s 40th anniversary of independence on Feb. 7, 2014.

Angus Friday, Grenada’s affable new ambassador to the United States, was 14 years old in 1979, when the leftist New Jewel Movement — with assistance from the Soviet Union and Cuba — toppled Prime Minister Eric Gairy and brought Maurice Bishop to power. Only four years later, Bishop turned against his former comrades and was executed by a radical communist faction, triggering the Oct. 25, 1983, invasion by the U.S. Army’s Rapid Deployment Force, Marines, Navy SEALs and a regional Caribbean force.

President Ronald Reagan feared the tiny former British colony, where Cuba was building an airstrip that U.S. officials suspected might be used for military purposes, could become a communist beachhead in the Caribbean. The invasion marked the only time that U.S. and Cuban forces directly clashed. In addition to the 19 Americans who died, casualties also included 45 Grenadians and 25 Cubans.

In all, nearly 8,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines participated in the invasion; U.S. troops remained on the island for another two months.

“I remember quite a lot of it,” Friday recently told The Washington Diplomat.

“Just before the Americans came in, the entire island was basically put under curfew, with shoot-to-kill orders.When half of the cabinet were killed along with the prime minister on that tragic day, it was basically the end of a dream for many Grenadians.”

The U.N. General Assembly, led by the Soviet Union and China, overwhelmingly condemned the invasion “as a flagrant violation of international law.”When asked for his reaction to the lopsided 108-9 vote, Reagan famously quipped:“It didn’t upset my breakfast at all.” (In fact, Reagan’s critics say the Grenada intervention gave him a much-needed chest-thumping moment at home, just as U.S. troops were leaving Lebanon after the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 Americans.)

Ultimately, Operation Urgent Fury December 2013

marked the re-establishment of democracy in Grenada, leading to Washington’s passage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative to prop up the region’s shaky economies and thwart Cuba’s influence in the region.

It also left an indelible mark on Grenadian society, said Friday, who in May took over as Grenada’s ambassador in Washington.

“We learned that freedom of expression and democratic principles are vital to maintaining equilibrium in society,” he said. “The other lesson is that national unity is really important.There’s an African saying: If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.”

Those values served tiny Grenada well in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, which in 2004 swept across the tropical island, destroying 90 percent of its structures and leaving thousands of people homeless.

These days, with memories of Ivan still fresh on their minds, Grenadians seem less focused on the 1983 invasion that put

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri

“

Grenada was so devastated by climate change that we don’t want to just talk about it. We want to show the world what can be done about it.

— Angus Friday ambassador of Grenada to the United States

their country on the map, and more on fighting climate change, rising seas and other natural forces that threaten to wipe it off that map.

One of the smallest nations in the Western Hemisphere, 133-square-mile Grenada was discovered by Columbus in 1498 and settled by the French in 1650.

After oscillating between French and British rule for 130 years, it was ceded to Great Britain in 1783, finally achieving independence in 1974.

Traditionally an agricultural economy, Grenada is the world’s second-largest exporter of nutmeg after Indonesia. Until recently, it was also a major source of bananas, but that industry fell apart after

”

the World Trade Organization ruled against banana subsidies for former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Despite years of those preferential quotas and similar benefits under the Caribbean Basin Initiative, this tourist paradise with lush rainforests and white-sand beaches is still a poor country, with a percapita income of just over $10,000, according to the World Bank. Roughly one in four adults of working age is jobless.

“Grenada has had to diversify. We’ve moved into tourism, which is now the mainstay of our economy,” Friday explained. “The key issues for Grenada today relate to building a green economy

and building a knowledge economy. In addition to tourism, conserving our marine environment will form the ongoing basis of our economy. Grenada wants to become a leading example for green technology.”

Just as the U.S. invasion of Grenada was a wake-up call that the hemisphere would become a frontline in Washington’s ideological battles during the Cold War, the devastation wrought nine years ago by Hurricane Ivan serves as a daily reminder of nature’s destructive force, and how humans might be inadvertently contributing to it.

“We had two powerful hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 [Ivan and Emily] which we felt were, statistically speaking, highly abnormal and unusual,” Friday said. “The overall picture that emerges — the floods, hurricanes and storm surges — we see those all as the impact of climate change.”

In economic terms, Ivan was one of the most damaging storms in Caribbean history, causing $800 million in losses to Grenada alone — more than the country’s entire gross domestic product that year.

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 11

Continued from previous page By comparison, Hurricane Katrina shaved 2 percent off U.S. GDP, and last year’s Hurricane Sandy — bad as it was — came to only 0.5 percent of U.S. GDP. “Grenada was so devastated by climate change that we don’t want to just talk about it. We want to show the world what can be done about it,” the ambassador told us.“Our emissions of greenhouse gases are minimal, but if we can show how electricity generation, building solutions and transportation can all be made greener, then we think that’s going to be an important example. That’s partly why I ride a bicycle to work.”

Friday may be one of the few ambassadors in this town who do — and he pedals his bike to and from the Grenadian Embassy on New Hampshire Avenue every day, weather permitting. In fact, the ambassador tweeted Sept. 8: “Completed first week at Grenada Embassy to US. Great cricket yesterday and refreshing bike ride this morning.”

His next tweet is a photograph of Friday presenting his credentials to President Obama on Sept.

17.

Before taking on his current assignment, the 48-year-old diplomat was a senior climate policy specialist at the World Bank. Prior to that, as Grenada’s permanent representative to the United Nations, he served as chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States.

A graduate of Grenada’s St. George’s University School of Medicine, Friday also holds an MBA from Strathclyde Graduate Business School in Scotland.

“I have a passion for international development,” he said. “Growing up on an island, it occurred to me that we have much more resources in the sea than we do on land. And so my first love was actually marine biology. But there were no scholarships for marine biology at the time, so I studied medicine. That provided a professional grounding and deepened my understanding of life sciences.”

As Grenada’s ambassador to the United Nations,

Grenada at a Glance independence: Feb. 7, 1974 location: Caribbean island between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, north of Trinidad and Tobago Capital: Saint George’s size: Twice the size of Washington, D.C. Population: 110,000 (July 2013 estimate) life expectancy: 73.5 years religions: Roman Catholic 53 percent, Anglican 13.8 percent, other Protestant 33.2 percent gDP (purchasing power parity): $1.46 billion (2012 estimate) gDP per-capita: $13,900 (2012 estimate) gDP growth: -0.8 percent (2012 estimate) Population below poverty line: 38 percent (2008 estimate) Exports: Nutmeg, bananas, cocoa, fruit and vegetables, clothing, mace imports: Food, manufactured goods, machinery, chemicals, fuel

Source: CIA World Factbook PHOTO: LARRY LUxNER

grenada is looking to ramp up high-end boutique tourism to the island, with a number of projects planned for Grand Anse Beach, one of its most famous beaches.

he frequently advocated for small Caribbean and deal that could pave the way for a global agreePacific island nations threatened by rising ocean ment at the 2015 talks in Paris.

But there seems to be little momentum to limit levels.

“Grenada is used to punching well above our the increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees In the meantime, Grenada, like many small weight,” he said.“We were able to do that with the Celsius (as agreed to at the 2009 climate confer- nations disproportionately impacted by climate climate change negotiations and debt manage- ence in Copenhagen) — despite a mountain of disruptions, is trying to at least do its part by setment. Our prime minister is taking an increasingly evidence that the steady rise in temperatures is ting an example at home. For example, the island wreaking havoc on weather patterns and sea has decided to abolish state-run electric utility leading role in emerging issues like that.”

That’s a good thing, because most leaders seem levels.

Grenlec, whose monopoly was not supposed to In addition to the destruction leveled by end until 2073. to be taking an increasingly shrinking role in fighting climate change, if the recent summit in Typhoon Haiyan on the Philippines and the “Climate change is here, but we still need to Warsaw is any indication. In the Polish capital last increasing ferocity and frequency of such mega- speed up the rate of innovation and the adoption month, representatives from more than 190 storms, the year 2013 will possibly go down as of technologies that can reduce greenhouse nations essentially punted on the issue of curbing the seventh warmest since records began in gases. Our electricity costs, which are based on Although isrecord madeinto of mistakes in spelling 1850 (2012 was theevery hottesteffort year on theassure greenhouse gas emissions — yet again. Instead, NOTE: fossilyour fuels,ad are is notfree working for our citizens and and content is ultimately to thebusinesses,” customer to make the complaining final proof. that In it September, theup U.N. they were expected to formulate the outline of a United States). said Friday, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said Grenadians pay roughly 45 cents per kilowattscientists are faxed 95 percent confident moretothan times thesubsequent U.S. residential The first two changes willthat be humans made at hour, no cost the four advertiser, changes are the main culprit behind the recent warming. average of 11¢/KWh. will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved.

They also warned that if emissions continue to “The focus of our government is to dismantle climb unchecked, that the Arctic Ocean could be the Grenlec monopoly and create a level playing Please checkbefore this ad carefully.field Mark any changes your We’ve ad. done a nearly ice-free during summers mid-centufor providers of greentoenergy. ry and sea levels could rise 10 inches to 32 inches lot of testing, and the resources are clearly there,” If the sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes by ad the is endcorrect of the century. he said.

That could spell the end of low-lying island At present, fossil fuels supply 90 percent of like the Diplomat Maldives and many(301) others933-3552 — Grenada’s electricity, but the government’s goal is The states Washington which is why these governments have been at for renewables like solar and wind energy to the forefront of sounding the climate alarm. So account for 50 percent of the total by 2030. AirApproved __________________________________________________________ far, though, their pleas have largely fallen on deaf conditioning alone consumes large amounts of ears.

Emerging nations such as China, the world’s electricity, Friday noted, “so we’re looking at takChanges ___________________________________________________________ current top carbon polluter, and developed ones ing cold water from the sea for A/C systems.” ___________________________________________________________________ like the United States, which were historically Grenada is lucky, Friday said, because the tourThe International Patient Program at the George responsible for spewing greenhouse gas into the ism industry is concentrated along the country’s atmosphere during their industrial growth, can’t west coast, while the strongest winds are on the Washington University Hospital agree on who should do more to rein in future eastern coast, making it unlikely that wind turemissions. There’s also little consensus on who bines would interfere with hotels or ocean CARING FOR PEOPLE FOR 175 YEARS. OUR STAFF PROVIDES YOU WITH should foot the bill for a $100 billion fund to help views.

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helped host the 2007 World Cricket Cup — has stayed away from the mass-market, all-inclusive Caribbean resorts so common in places like the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Bahamas and Mexico. Rather, it’s opted for more expensive boutique tourism.

“Grenada is one of the best sailing destinations in the world, and our tourism is being fueled mainly by yachting and diving,” Friday said, noting that 194,000 foreigners visited Grenada last year.

Sandals Resorts has invested $100 million to reopen the 100-room LaSource Resort following a government decision to grant the chain a 25-year holiday on corporate taxes and import duties, among other perks. Separately, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris plans to construct three five-star hotels on Grand Anse Beach, with investment likely to total in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Friday said Grenada cannot depend on tourism alone.

“We want to support our existing manufacturing base and do more agro-processing, more value-added products,” he said. These include jams, jellies, fruit juices, spiced rums and nutmeg products such as Nutmed — a topical application of an analgesic available in spray form. “The nutmeg is still an important part of our economy, and our identity,” the ambassador noted.

In addition, he said Grenada is focused on three areas: health care information technology services such as call centers; offshore medical services; and medical products such as herbs with medical potential. Friday said about half the 6,000 students at his alma mater, St. George’s University, are Americans; the rest are from neighboring Caribbean islands and other countries.

“St. George’s is the best offshore medical school in the Caribbean,” he said.“It has become a center of learning not just for Grenada but for the world.”

Not everyone, though, is thrilled with Grenada’s efforts to attract foreign business and investment,

Photo: Sgt. M.J. Creen / USMC

A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter hovers above a Soviet anti-aircraft weapon before picking it up during the U.S. invasion of Grenada 30 years ago, a conflict that was sparked by American fears that the tiny former British colony might become a communist beachhead in the Caribbean.

including its reputation as an offshore tax haven and its controversial practice of selling citizenship to wealthy foreigners. In 2001, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) placed Grenada on an international blacklist after determining it was uncooperative in the fight against money laundering. It was later removed from the list after the Paris-based body determined that Grenada had sufficiently reformed its anti-money laundering laws.

“These are difficult issues,” Friday conceded.

“Understandably, the OECD countries want to retain as much of their tax base as possible. But they haven’t made it easy for our islands to participate in the area of financial services, including internet gaming for example.The tax haven issue is related to that, but Grenada is seeking to estab-

lish double taxation treaties with as many countries as possible and is taking all steps to comply with international standards.”

Grenada has also gotten into the lucrative business of selling citizenship. A Grenadian passport costs $500,000 — far more than what most of its Caribbean neighbors charge. The program, less than two months old, has already attracted the attention of several wealthy Arabs and Asians.

Bernard Wiltshire, a former attorney general of nearby Dominica, said he’s disappointed with Grenada’s decision and warned that such schemes undermine security while cheapening the value of Caribbean passports.

“The present crop of Caribbean leaders is among the most unimaginative group of leaders in the world,”Wiltshire told the AP recently.“What

they are doing with these citizenship programs at the moment is going to prepare the ground for great problems later on with our larger, more powerful neighbors.And this is apart from the fact they are endangering, in my view, the long-term security and safety of the Caribbean islands.”

Friday, however, bluntly defended the program — as well as the $500,000 price tag.

“Grenada has one of the lowest crime rates in the Caribbean, so we have the most expensive passport,” he quipped. “We think our low crime rate and the lifestyle opportunities that Grenada offers, from health care to education, make Grenada an attractive investment. We’re looking for people who want to commit to the island.”

Today, 30 years after the last of thousands of American troops left the small island after kicking the Cubans out, Grenada enjoys close relations with the United States. But, the eco-friendly ambassador said, that doesn’t mean the two countries agree on everything.

“We’d like to see the U.S. be more aggressive on the climate change agenda, and to do a thorough review of its policy toward Cuba,” Friday said.“We think the economic blockade of Cuba is a relic of the Cold War, and that Cuba has a lot to contribute as a full member of the international community. They are leaders in areas such as health care and disaster risk management. The world can learn a lot from Cuba, and we think this relationship should be normalized as soon as possible.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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International Affairs

Energy

Experts Debate Mideast’s Future As Worldwide Energy Supplier

by Larry Luxner

H

ow relevant will OPEC be 10 years from now? Does the rapid expansion of new technologies like fracking threaten the future of eco-friendly energy alternatives such as wind and solar energy? And would the possible lifting of sanctions against Iran depress oil prices enough — at least in the short term — to hurt the many Arab states that depend on petroleum exports for revenue?

These are among the key issues facing politicians, pundits and corporate bigwigs throughout the Middle East — and all were fodder for discussion during the 22nd Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference hosted by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) and held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

An energy panel held on the first day of the Oct. 22-23 event brought together five experts: Herman Franssen, executive director of the Energy Intelligence Group; Sarah Ladislaw, co-director of the Energy and National Security Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies; Thomas Graham, executive chairman of the board of directors of Lightbridge Corp.;Shihab Kuran,president of SunEdison Advanced Solutions; and Kevin Book, co-founder of ClearView Energy Partners LLC. The panel was moderated by Randa Fahmy Hudome, general counsel for the American Egyptian Strategic Alliance and former U.S. associate deputy secretary of energy.

“This month, we marked the 40th anniversary of the Arab oil embargo,” said Fahmy Hudome.“What has happened since then with U.S. energy policy vis-à-vis the Arab world? Not much, except for this past year.We are now witnessing the most profound changes in energy production and relationships since 1973 — not only in the U.S.-Arab relationship but across the world.”

Franssen agreed with that assessment.

“In the United States, we have made enormous progress that would have been thought impossible 10 years ago.The technology that already existed was perfected, and prices of $100 a barrel made shale gas possible.

Today, more than a fourth of our gas production is shale gas,” said the Dutch energy expert, a former adviser to Oman’s minister of petroleum and minerals. “We are now in a situation where the United States — instead of being a massive importer of liquefied natural gas — will most likely be an exporter of LNG, perhaps even a very large one. We could even rival Qatar.”

For a “very long time to come,” said Franssen, the United States will be self-sufficient in gas and will be able to produce it at relatively low prices compared to many of its rivals. That’s quite a switch from 40 years ago, when American consumers were literally at the mercy of the Arabs and the multinationals that did business with them.

“Prior to 1973, two-thirds of global oil reserves were in the hands of seven giant energy conglomerates known as the ‘seven sisters.’The events that took place in 1973 and ’74 led to a complete revolution,” Franssen said, referring to the Arab oil embargo sparked by U.S.

Page 14

Photo: National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations

“

We are now witnessing the most profound changes in energy production and relationships since 1973 — not only in the U.S.-Arab relationship but across the world.

”

— Randa Fahmy Hudome

president of Fahmy Hudome International

support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) called off the embargo in early 1974, but things were never the same again.

“By then, Middle East oil producers and other OPEC countries had nationalized their resources, so instead of two-thirds of all oil in the hands of the seven sisters, two-thirds were now controlled by national oil companies. That marked the emergence of OPEC as a real power,” Franssen said.

Yet whether the 12-member OPEC is still a “real power” four decades later is debatable.

As Amy Myers Jaffe and Ed Morse wrote in Foreign Policy, the 1970s politicized the oil market and witnessed “a profound and unprecedented transfer of wealth” to the Middle East that continues to reverberate today — fueling democracy movements, terrorism and civil wars.

“The region’s leaders failed to set up long-term mechanisms to distribute the benefits of that wealth

From left, Herman Franssen, executive director of the Energy Intelligence Group; Shihab Kuran, president of SunEdison Advanced Solutions; Randa Fahmy Hudome, former U.S. associate deputy secretary of energy; Thomas Graham, executive chairman of the board of directors of Lightbridge Corp.; Sarah Ladislaw, co-director of the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Kevin Book, co-founder of ClearView Energy Partners LLC, participate in a panel on U.S.-Arab energy cooperation at the 22nd Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference hosted by the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

transfer broadly to their populations and to establish an equitable stake in governance of resource proceeds that would have brought a newfound stability to the region,” the authors argued. “For decades, they squandered the opportunity to use oil wealth to modernize their societies and train their populations for future global economic competition. The result — unfolding not just in the Middle East but in other oil-producing countries as well — is a crisis of governance that is itself triggering a round of oil-supply disruptions.”

At the same time, growth in renewable energy is expected to rise by more than 40 percent over the next five years, according to the International Energy Agency, which says that power generated from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources worldwide will outstrip gas and nuclear energy by 2016 (though renewables will still lag behind oil and coal).

In addition, technological advances such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — commonly known as “fracking” — have allowed the United States to boost production of shale oil and gas from places like North Dakota and Pennsylvania. In fact, this October marked the first time in nearly two decades that the United States produced more crude oil than it imported, partly because of fracking but also because consumption has dipped. Meanwhile, abundant U.S. natural gas is spawning new American-designed technologies to readily use natural gas as a fuel in trucks, trains and

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

ships, ending oil’s monopoly in transport.

So, is OPEC “over a barrel,” as a recent Bloomberg article put it?

Absolutely, writes the article’s author, Meghan O’Sullivan, who says OPEC’s most powerful members have neither the desire nor the ability to cause huge spikes in oil prices or inflict shocks on the world as they once did. “[M]ost OPEC countries today need all the revenue they can get to meet their budgets. In the wake of the Arab revolutions, governments are wary of measures that would require reining in the generous social and other expenditures seen as necessary to stave off political unrest,” she wrote, adding that “OPEC has no self-interest in tanking the fragile economic recoveries of today with high oil prices — or in further catalyzing the already vigorous pursuit of non-oil energy sources.”

And that subject is of major concern to the Arab world, which is why energy was the focus of the first panel at last month’s Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference.

Photo: Larry Luxner “The world is moving to a low-carbon frameWorkers Faregh in gasspelling complex near NOTE: Although every is made to assure yourrepair ad isa valve free atofLibya’s mistakes andJalu, deep in the Sahara Desert. Despite Libya’s trework, complicating oil, gaseffort and coal, ” explained mendous energy potential, ongoing Ladislaw ofcontent the Center for Strategic it is ultimately up toand the customer to make the final instability proof. since the 2011 revolution, including groups targeting oil and gas International Studies. “We are currently living infrastructure, has severely limited the country’s output. through the faxed spectrum of this will unconventionals The first two changes be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes revolution. This has reordered the global land- region in the world with the ability to export most OPEC dead, others warn that America’s supposed will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration.

Signed ads are considered approved. of what it produces — makes it the most impor- energy boom might not be as explosive as conscape for new energy investments.”

One of the biggest questions, she said, is how tant region for the oil industry. It will not be ventional wisdom suggests.

Please check this will ad respond carefully.

Mark inany to what yourwead. that changes role, no matter do in For one thing, Saudi Arabia, which produces governments around the world to replaced roughly 10 million barrels of crude oil a day, is still domestic economic difficulties as a result of such North America,” said Franssen.

“The Saudis and others remain the key element able to dictate the average price of crude. Energy massive shift insign the global oil market.

“A lot of If thea ad is correct and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes countries are reassessing their own ability to insu- in the world of oil. What we are achieving now independence is largely a myth in an interconlate themselvesDiplomat and become more (301) resilient933-3552 to a depends on a number of things,” he added. For nected global oil market. Even if the United States The Washington wider array of potential energy futures,” Ladislaw example, oil must be priced at a minimum of $80 does become a major energy exporter, the price a barrel for “unconventional” oil to be profitable. of oil would remain vulnerable to external said.

Approved __________________________________________________________ Another paradigm shift: In 1973, OPEC export- Secondly, the technology used by the United shocks.

Those shocks come in many shapes and sizes. ed two-thirds of its total oil production to Europe States must continue to be stable (and already Changes ___________________________________________________________ and North America.Today, two-thirds of its exports there’s been pushback against fracking by local At the moment, Iran is the biggest question mark. ___________________________________________________________________ communities concerned about its environmental Book, a member of the National Petroleum go to Asia — mainly China.

Council, spoke of a “possible pivot to Persia” — a “But the very fact that 50 percent of the world’s effects).

Indeed, while some experts are busy declaring reference to what might happen if Congress oil is in the Middle East — and that it’s the only

imposes even more stringent sanctions against Iran in an effort to force the regime in Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.

Book said that in the event Congress passes a measure that imposes economic sanctions against the remaining buyers of Iranian oil — China, South Korea, Japan and India — roughly 1 million barrels would be removed from the world market, pushing up prices to around $114 a barrel from the current $100. On the other hand, he pointed out that oil production in Iraq has skyrocketed by nearly 40 percent since the end of the Iraq War and could reach 6 million barrels a day by 2020, adding to a potential oil glut.And Iraq can produce oil at a far lower cost than unconventional oil anywhere in North America.

“We can benefit as a producer nation, but we stand to suffer far more than we benefit,” Book warned. “As a result, we are ill positioned for all this loose talk about energy independence, in my view. Think about what the world will look like when you yank out 10 million barrels of production a day?”

Still, Arab countries know their black gold will run out some day and have already begun looking for alternative energy supplies for their own rapidly growing populations. Two options being aggressively pursued are nuclear and solar power.

“In the past, there’s been virtually no use of peaceful nuclear power in the Middle East,” said Graham of Lightbridge Corp, whose company is based in McLean, Va. “Egypt flirted with the idea, and Turkey twice asked for bids to build nuclear power plants, only to have the bidding process fail. Recently, Turkey went ahead and signed an agreement for Russia to build the plant with no money up front, and operate the reactor for 30 years.”

In addition, Jordan, which is completely dependent on oil and gas imports, just announced a $10 billion deal with a Russian firm to build two nuclear reactors in the desert east of Amman.

See Energy, page 44

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The Washington Diplomat Page 15

The Rotunda

Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill

Hyperpolarization Plagues U.S. Politics, Freezes Policymaking

by Luke Jerod Kummer

H

yperpolarization. It sounds like a science fiction plot device — after a supernova bombards the spaceship with cosmic rays, the crew is gradually paralyzed by a mysterious condition. It is, in fact, a real biological term for the increase in a negative electric charge in a cell’s membrane.

But in politics, it carries a different negative connotation. When The Diplomat spoke with political scientists during the 16-day government shutdown in October, they warned that the United States is confronting real peril as our democracy becomes hyperpolarized, a process by which the electorate and our politicians have increasingly gravitated toward the far reaches of the political spectrum, crippling good governance.

G. Bingham Powell Jr., a comparative politics professor at the University of Rochester, called severe polarization in a governmental arrangement such as ours “a devil to deal with” and said it has been on the rise in the United States.

Washington is stuck in a morass because of high levels of polarization in America’s political system, Powell said, citing both formalized coalitions and a balance of power among diverse branches of government — and rules blunting the wills of simple majorities in those institutions (also see “Minority Rule: Democratic Safeguard or Source of Political Dysfunction?” in the November 2013 issue ofTheWashington Diplomat).The combination means it is “really hard to make policies,” he said.

Powell is hardly alone in this diagnosis.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote during the government shutdown that the nation may have entered a “new normal” of hyperpolarized politics that could “shape elections and legislative battles” for years to come.

The recent crisis, then, is “the latest manifestation — an extreme one by any measure — of divisions long in the making and now deeply embedded in the country’s politics,” he wrote.

But this “new normal” may be showing signs of cracking. After months of hedging on the issue, Democrats finally took aim at the Senate filibuster to rein in what they say is excessive Republican obstructionism. On Nov. 21, Senate

Page 16

“

Photo: Fresh Idea / Fotolia

House Republicans are so divided that there’s a complete breakdown in leadership — there’s a lack of direction…. It is what’s causing our government to have difficulty enacting legislation.

— Matthew Green

”

associate professor of politics at Catholic University Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) invoked the so-called “nuclear option” edented level in recent years, as Obama to do away with filibusters for execu- himself pointed out. tive and judicial nominees, meaning a “Over the six decades before I took simple majority of 51 votes is now office, only 20 presidential nominees to needed for confirmation (Supreme executive positions had to overcome Court nominees and other legislation filibusters. In just under five years since can still be filibustered).

I took office, nearly 30 nominees have Republicans say Democrats will been treated this way,” the president regret the move when they’re in the said, noting that this is “not what our minority; Democrats counter that they founders envisioned.” had no choice, given that the ongoing While the new rule only applies to GOP refusal to confirm any of Obama’s judicial and executive nominees, it appointments had nothing to do with could herald the end of the institutional their qualifications and everything to comity for which the Senate is known do with wanting to keep the president — and the end of the filibuster itself. from filling court vacancies. While the That’s because Reid has shown that all move upended Senate tradition, the use it takes is 51 votes to undo the longof the filibuster has reached an unprecstanding practice. As Ezra Klein of the

Post pointed out, “The moment one party or the other filibusters a consequential and popular bill, that’s likely the end of the filibuster, permanently.”

It’s also likely the start of a new wave of hyper-hyper polarization. First, a caveat, though: It is important to make a distinction between “polarization” and “partisanship.”They are not exactly the same, though they are closely related, and there is much interplay between them.

Matthew Green, an associate professor of politics at Catholic University, told The Diplomat that the two major American political parties “are absolutely as divided as they’ve been in over 100 years,” but he also emphasized that the Republican Party itself appears to be increasingly fragmented, in part, due to the same forces. This, he said, has posed an even greater impediment recently than the gulf between the parties. In other words, polarization hasn’t just increased partisanship, but it also has created rifts within the party structures, particularly in the lower chamber

See Polarization, page 18

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

MEDICAL

Colorectal Cancer

The Cancer Test You May Want to Skip, But Shouldn’t

by Gina Shaw

T

he last several years have been punctuated with a series of headlines about two common cancer-screening tests: mammography for breast cancer and PSA (prostate-specific antigen) testing for prostate cancer.

Should women with no major risk factors for breast cancer get regular annual screening mammograms starting at age 40, as the American Cancer Society recommends, or biennial mammograms starting at 50, as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends? Should men over 50 get yearly PSA tests, or not? The answers you get to these questions often depend on which medical professional you ask.

But there’s one cancer screening test universally acknowledged to be effective — and yet, one out of every three people who should be getting it does not.

I’m talking about screening for colorectal cancer in people ages 50 to 75. Colorectal cancer kills 50,000 Americans every year and is the leading killer of nonsmokers in the United States.

The latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released Nov. 5, found that only 65 percent of men and women in the 50-75 age group have been screened for colon cancer. That translates into 23 million people skipping an important test, despite the fact that colon cancer screenings have been found to cut the risk of developing colon cancer by some 40 percent.

(Some 90 percent of colorectal cancers are curable if caught early.)

The most common screening test for colon cancer is the colonoscopy. It has several advantages: It only has to be done every 10 years (as compared to annually for the other primary screening exam, a fecal blood test), it examines the entire colon, and it is unlikely to produce “false positive” test results when no cancer or precancerous polyps are present in the colon.

Colonoscopy is also more expensive than fecal testing, but because nearly 75 percent of the people who aren’t up to date on their colon cancer screening have insurance, it’s probably not the expense that is the big hurdle for most people. For many people, the deterrent is far more likely to be the “yuck factor” of the test itself. It’s not fun having your breasts squeezed between two mammography plates, but a colonoscopy is a different matter entirely.

The colonoscopy itself — although it’s taken under sedation or anesthesia — isn’t the part of the test that most people dread. Instead, it’s the preparation, which requires taking a powerful “purgative” drug to clean out your bowels, and then spending most of the day within dashing distance — if not actually in — your bathroom. (This

December 2013

Photo: Chris Pole / Fotolia

A flexible medical endoscope is used during a colonoscopy. As much as the cancer screening test itself frightens patients, the preparation involved — including a powerful “purgative” drug to clean out your bowels — can be just as intimidating.

The latest figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that only 65 percent of men and women in the 50-75 age group have been screened for colon cancer. That translates into 23 million people skipping an important test, despite the fact that colon cancer screenings have been found to cut the risk of developing colon cancer by some 40 percent. is necessary because the rectum and lower intestines have to be totally empty so that the intestinal walls can be seen.)

well chilled, but not frozen.

• Don’t be embarrassed — stock up on diaper cream and use it early and often.

But if you still just can’t stand the thought of a colonoscopy (or its prep), then there’s another alternative: a fecal occult blood test (FOBT), done annually. It must be done every year, and it obviously doesn’t scan the entire colon for polyps, but when done correctly, it is equally effective at saving lives. If your doctor doesn’t mention it, ask him; don’t assume a colonoscopy is your only option.

Choose whichever test you prefer — just choose one, and schedule it.“We encourage health care providers to talk to their patients about getting tested and about the choice of tests,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“The bottom line is, the best test is a test that gets done.”

• Cold goes down easier. If your doctor says it’s OK, refrigerate your prep drink so that it’s very

Gina Shaw is the medical writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Colon Cancer Alliance offers a set of tips on its website to make this process a little bit less unpleasant. A few highlights: •Drink as much water as you can in the days before prep, and on the day of.

• Start a bland, low-fiber diet a few days before “prep day.” Avoid tough meat, whole-grain foods, fruit with skin, nuts and seeds, and fatty foods.

The Washington Diplomat Page 17

Polarization where the GOP is in the majority.

“House Republicans are so divided that there’s a complete breakdown in leadership — there’s a lack of direction,” Green said.“It is what’s causing our government to have difficulty enacting legislation.”

Powell explained the effects of this phenomenon in terms of the government shutdown this way: “If the two big parties were fairly close together, then even if you didn’t have [the tea party] wing in the Republican Party, the rest of the legislators could work out an agreement. But this faction inside the [House] Republicans are able to wag the dog because their colleagues in the rest of the party are more willing to go along with them than they are willing to compromise with the Democrats.”

To further complicate matters, on some particular issues, such as national security, there have been recent signs that the parties are less clearly divided now than in the past decade. In the push for armed U.S. intervention in Syria, for example, both Republicans and Democrats came out strongly for and against airstrikes, which made for some strange bedfellows.

So, as is always the case in politics, there are currents and then there are countercurrents.

Now, let’s round up the usual suspects for what might be causing polarization.

For one, gerrymandering is often blamed for the paralysis gripping the House, and it may be contributing to some of the party fragmentation in the GOP, especially as extremist elements defy party leaders.

Unlike the Senate, where each state sends exactly two legislators to Washington, the House is composed of 435 representatives from districts that can morph into new shapes every 10 years after a national census, as long as those districts have approximately the same number of citizens residing within their boundaries.

In practice, the drawing of these districts is

very often politically motivated to benefit one party or the other. In many cases, the resulting — and sometimes bizarrely contoured — boundaries create congressional seats that are considered “safe,” or that are highly unlikely to produce an election in which both parties’ nominees really stand a chance. What this means is that the decisive contest for that congressional seat is not the general election in November, but the party primary. And this can cause representatives to be fearful that straying from partisan orthodoxy will invite a more ideologically pure candidate to pillory them in the next nomination contest.

Gerrymandering can thereby lead both to a party sending its most extreme members to Congress and to representatives already in office who see little incentive to reach across the aisle.

This issue has been an especially sore spot for many Democrats since 2010, when Republicans had a bumper year in the harvest of seats in state legislatures across the country — the local elected bodies that are, in many places, responsible for drafting the shapes of U.S. congressional districts.

Recent gerrymandering has made it more difficult for Democrats to win elections, they say, and more likely that hidebound conservatives and tea party radicals will be elevated. Of course, gerrymandering is a practice that’s almost as old as the United States, has a long bipartisan tradition, and has artificially boosted loyal Republicans and Democrats for years, though at times disproportionately.

David Carr, media columnist for the New York Times, recently suggested that what we read and watch has mutated over time to mimic the safe seats in Congress. “The polarized political map is now accompanied by a media ecosystem that is equally gerrymandered into districts of self-reinforcing discourse,” he wrote, mentioning thinly veiled partisan cable channels and the proliferation of one-sided political websites that help make up the so-called media echo chambers, amplifying convictions people already hold.

James Carville, the Democratic strategist and political commentator, voiced a similar criticism in an op-ed in the Hill: “Today, conservatives can

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Luke Jerod Kummer is the congressional correspondent for The Washington Diplomat.

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Page 18

politics is — like everything else in the polarization debate — of the chicken-or-the-egg variety.

Gallup polling has shown that in each of Obama’s first four years in office, he has recorded some of the highest disparities in approval ratings between the two parties — last year, 86 percent of Democrats approved of Obama compared with only 10 percent of Republicans. The previous three years showed similarly astounding gaps. To add credence to the argument that polarization is bigger than any one man, however, the 2012 numbers tied Obama with President George W. Bush’s fourth year in office for the largest discrepancy ever recorded by Gallup. The last two presidents, in fact, both consistently had record-high disparities in approval ratings by party.

As the nation’s first black president, it seems extremely likely that the issue of race has affected the political climate since Obama took office, but to what degree is very hard to quantify, though anecdotes abound.

What is clear is that the two parties have become starkly divided along color lines, as Balz pointed out.

“The Republican Party is almost entirely dependent on white voters,” Balz wrote, citing exit poll statistics revealing that 90 percent of the votes that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney received last year were from white voters, while 44 percent of Obama voters were nonwhites.

It’s no secret that the Republican Party is grappling with ways to expand its base beyond older white voters, a shrinking demographic, to attract minorities, younger voters and women.

But it is impossible to pinpoint which of these factors has led to what many call a state of hyperpolarization, or even whether we can accurately measure just how polarized the electorate and politicians have actually become compared to other points in American history. But we do know that the startling dysfunction in Washington is weighing policymaking down. The nation looks like a sick man.What is the cause? Is there a cure?

Is it really ill, or is it all in the head?

That remains a mystery. But we may not be alone in suffering from this elusive ailment: Our neighbors to the north have reported similar symptoms.

Eight years earlier, fewer than half of Canadians identified with a particular political orientation, Frank Graves, the president of EKOS Research Associates, a polling firm, told the Montreal Gazette last year in an article about deepening political divisions in Canada. He noted that now, seven out of 10 Canadians define themselves as on the political right or left.

“In terms of the whole panoply of issues, from foreign policy to economic policy to crime and justice policy to issues about parliamentary democracy, I have never seen Canadians this polarized,” Graves said.

Maybe what’s sapping the United States is contagious.

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get all their information from conservative outlets, and liberals can get all their information from liberal outfits. And you can spend your whole life never being challenged, never having to hear or think about or confront viewpoints that are different from your own.”

Carville’s piece, like Carr’s, was reacting to a profile of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in New York magazine in which the conservative judge revealed that he restricts his news intake to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times and talk radio, which lean rightward. Carr and Carville see this as emblematic of how people today burrow into a media cubbyhole where dissenting views seldom reach.The rapid rise of social media seems to have greatly enhanced this tunnel vision.

Perhaps the greatest direct change in politics recently, though, also may be the fiercest driver of polarization. The laws governing campaign funding have been thoroughly upended by new legislation and rulings in just a few short years.

Campaign finance was a big issue as recently or as long ago as the 2000 presidential election — “soft money” as a buzzword sounds almost quaint now. The discussions ultimately resulted in the reformist McCain-Feingold Act a couple of years later. This measure was meant to curtail the influence of special interests — such as corporations, unions and nonprofits — by limiting the ways that the money they donated to a party could be used and by setting new limits on advocacy ads.

However, much greater change came after the Supreme Court ruled on a series of cases that challenged portions of the law and other Federal Election Committee regulations, most prominently in the Citizens United case in 2010.

Today, corporations, unions, organizations and individuals with deep pockets can pay to play in elections more than ever before because they can contribute unlimited amounts of money to outside special committees, or super PACS, that can influence voters through a variety of means, including advertisements directly targeting candidates, which was prohibited before.

This means that any citizen or group with a lot of cash can have a tremendous impact on the political discourse, even if they have a very narrowly focused agenda that doesn’t line up with either the mainstream elements of the party or the majority of the voting public.Advocates called the turnaround a victory for free speech, while others fear it will lead to oligarchy. Because campaign spending overall has skyrocketed in recent years, politicians are learning to live with (and off of) these funders to stay competitive.

Green of Catholic University sees today’s political polarization and the breakdown in cross-party cooperation as “being driven by outside groups that actively recruit and fund extreme candidates,” among other factors, including an increasingly partisan media. “To raise more money, the more extreme you are,” Green said.

“Another major factor in the current stalemate,” wrote Balz, “is the degree to which the country has polarized around the Obama presidency.”

The question of how much Obama has shifted

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The Washington Diplomat

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December 2013

LIVING L U X U R Y

■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ December 2013

On the

Holiday Hunt

by Stephanie Kanowitz

A

Stores Galore Offer Bounty of Gift Options

s the holidays approach, things on Capitol Hill start to wind down for recess, but the rest of the District

Don’t MiSS: Diplomatic Shopping Snapshot: What’s on Ambassadors’ Wish Lists?

is starting to pick up. New shops have sprung up throughout the D.C. metro area in the past year, providing lots of new, locally owned places to find great holiday gifts at a variety of prices.

“Whether I’m in Georgetown, Bethesda or Tysons Corner, I’m consistently surprised by how much is

available,” said Arnaud Guillois, press counselor and spokesman for the Embassy of France. “From large department stores to one-of-a-kind boutiques, the average Washingtonian is spoiled for choice — and that’s a good thing.”

If none of these ideas in The Washington Diplomat’s annual Gift Guide crosses something

off your list, see what the fates have in store for you and buy a D.C. Lottery ticket.

The Holiday Bonus Bingo 2nd Chance Contest runs from Dec. 1 to Jan. 11, 2014.

Anyone who buys a ticket during those six weeks will get instructions on how to play. Prizes range from a $100 Amazon gift card to $25,000.

Continued on next page

LUXURY LIVING December 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 19

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Continued from previous page

Women

Low: The way to a woman’s heart may be through her feet. Booties are hot this season, and the black Milena covered wedge booties from Michael Antonio ($69.95 at South Moon Under) hover between trendy and classic. Made with a vegan leather upper, the shoe’s heel measures about 4.5 inches. www.southmoonunder.com MeDiuM: When Drybar opened its doors in October 2012 in Georgetown (1825 Wisconsin Ave., NW) and Bethesda (4840 Bethesda Ave., Md.), women flocked there for expert hair styling. Now you can replicate the experience at home — or at least try to — with Drybar Blowout In A Box ($220). It includes Buttercup, the Drybar signature ionic blow dryer, Full Pint round hairbrush, Happy Hour Shampoo and Conditioner, Hot Toddy Frizz Fighter, and the Chaser Shine Pomade. www.thedrybar.com

Booties from

HigH: Time may pass too quickly, but with this on her wrist, few women would mind.

NOTE: Although every effort isSouth made toUnder assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and Moon The 34-millimeter Omega De Ville Ladymatic Co-Axial ($24,600) is one of the brand’s content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final newestproof. watches. Made of steel and 18-karat yellow gold, it features a pure white motherof-pearl dial marked with diamond-set indexes and a diamond-covered bezel arranged in a

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The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser,snow-set subsequent changes pattern. Find it at the Omega Boutique at Tysons Galleria (2001 International Drive, will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved.

McLean, Va.). www.omegawatches.com Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad.

If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 The Washington Diplomat

Men

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Low: The 11-inch pocket squares ($20) from Hugh & Crye, which speApproved __________________________________________________________ cializes in slim-fit dress shirts and men’s casual shirts, come in a variChanges ___________________________________________________________ Hugh & Crye pocket square ety of colors and patterns designed to ___________________________________________________________________ start conversations, the website states. Made of various fabrics and gold thread, they Drybar Blowout In A Box can be as simple as the Copenhagen in basic cream with white polka dots or as exotic as a vibrant pink-and-green tile print called Versailles. The shop is a startup online retailer that launched in 2009 in Georgetown, where buyers can visit a showroom (3212 O St., NW, #5) before making purchases. www.hughandcrye.com

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MeDiuM: The Frye Co. was founded in Massachusetts in Frye Logan Briefcase 1863 by a man who wanted to make comfortable, durable boots.

Today, 150 years later, the company still makes boots closely based on the original styles. Over time, Frye, which opened a flagship store in Georgetown (1066 Wisconsin Ave., NW), added in accessories such as the Frye Logan Briefcase ($528). The briefcase measures 15.75 inches wide, 11 inches high and 3.75 inches deep. It includes a padded laptop compartment in addition to a large main compartment, two slip pockets and a key ring clip, as well as a double push-lock closure.

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HigH: Amsterdam-based Suitsupply (2828 Pennsylvania Ave., NW) opened its Washington shop last year to offer a stylish take on D.C.’s standard uniform: the business suit. The store also sells shoes, bags and accessories. One item to think about as temperatures dive is the light brown parka ($999). Made of pure cashmere, the down-filled jacket has a double-zip closure, four button-flap pockets and a removable fur hood.

Where he shops: Eastern market

LUXURY LIVING The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

Children

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Low: Children and their parents can attend a royal ball for $25 at Tea with Mrs. B., a new etiquette training studio that opened in September (136 W. Jefferson St., Falls Church, Va.). At the ball on Dec. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m., Rebecca Czarniecki, otherwise known as Mrs. B, hosts dress-up time, dinner and a big-screen movie. Can’t get to the ball before your coach turns back into a pumpkin? Mrs. B also has Toddler Tea for $25 on Thursdays through Dec. 19 featuring a mannersthemed story, crafts, tea and treats. She also teaches manners classes for children ages 4 to 6 and teenagers for $175. www.teawithmrsb.com

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Gu id

e

Medium: For the preschool set, no one quite gets kids excited like Elmo. On many gift watchers’ lists this year is the Playskool Sesame Street Big Hugs Elmo ($49 at Toys ‘R’ Us). Aimed at tots 18 months to 4 years old, the soft red monster moves his arms to give and receive hugs, performs songs, dances with your child, and plays games such as astronauts. Elmo also sings a lullaby to help with bed or naptime. www.toysrus.com High: Give the gift of culture with singing, dancing and acting classes at Adventure Theatre Musical Theater Center in Glen Echo Park, Md. Classes are available for preschoolers through 12th-graders ($185 to $397) in subjects such as Broadway Baby and ballet, tap and jazz. http://adventuretheatre-mtc.org/academy/atmtcacademy.html Photo: Ryan Maxwell

Adventure Theatre classes

Big Hugs Elmo

Diplomatic Shopping Snapshot:

What’s on Ambassadors’ Wish Lists?

Ambassador Elin Suleymanov of Azerbaijan

Food & Drink

Holiday wish list: “Since I am very clumsy with touch-screen phones, I hope that phones with keyboards will still be available. This is on the top of my holiday wish list.”

Low: The D.C. location of P.J. Clarke’s restaurant (1600 K St., NW) will celebrate the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on Dec. 6 with $5 Irish coffees, $5 spiked ciders and free regular cider from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Home of the Cadillac of Burgers, as named by singer Nat King Cole in 1958 when he tried one, the eatery will also serve $5 Cadillacs starting at 10 p.m. Christmas carolers will entertain in the restaurant between 6 and 8 p.m. http://pjclarkes.com/dc/

Where he shops: “I like to shop at Barnes & Noble and am some­­what disappointed not to be able to do so in Georgetown any longer.”

Medium: Marcus Johnson, a Chevy Chase resident and an NAACP Image Award-nominated jazz keyboardist and pianist, recently founded FLO Wine, available from locally based Thankfully Yours, an online gift store. Made from California grapes, the FLO chardonnay has flavors of citrus, green apple and pear; the red blend has hints of black cherry, ripe plum and spice; and the new moscato tastes of ripe apricots and rose petals. Can’t decide on a bottle? Get the FLOing for the Holidays gift pack ($75) and get a chardonnay and red blend in addition to a cheese knife and treats such as cookies, cheese spread and crackers. www.thankfullyyours.com/wine.html

High: Bourbon Steak, a Michael Mina restaurant at the Four Seasons in Georgetown (2800 Pennsylvania Ave., NW) is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a special dinner on FLOing for the Holidays gift pack Dec. 16 ($165 per person without wine pairings or $250 per person with them). It will feature all of the chefs who have contributed to the restaurant so far. A cocktail reception kicks off the event at 7 p.m. and is followed by a six-course dinner at 7:30. For reservations, call Toni Jackson at (202) 944-9173 or email BourbonSteak.WAS@fourseasons.com. Throughout the month, the restaurant is also serving its five most popular cocktails. www.fourseasons.com/washington/dining/restaurants/bourbon_steak/

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P.J. Clarke’s restaurant

LUXURY LIVING December 2013

Photo: Daniel Swartz

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Skincando Combat-Ready Kit

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Health & Beauty

Low: Local businesswoman Sara Damelio started Skincando in 2007 to provide healthy skincare products free of petroleum byproducts and parabens. When troops to whom she had donated her signature cream reported that it soothed eczema, sunburn, insect bites, diaper rash and blisters, she named it Combat-Ready Balm. Today she also sells lip balms, products for babies and a luxe line.

Give your dry skin a break with her Holiday Survival Kit (on sale for $38.50), which includes two ounces of her signature Combat-Ready Balm (made of apricot kernel, coconut oils, beeswax, black tea and more), Combat-Ready Lip Balm and a four-ounce Combat-Ready Bar of soap. Another option is the Mini Miracle Holiday Kit ($60, normally $87), which comes with a half-ounce Mini Miracle Cream, Eye Balm and Brew Lip Balm. Both come packaged with a red bow. www.skincando.com Photo: Benjamin Benschneider

Medium: For fans of perfumer Jo Malone, a new fragrance, Velvet Rose & Oud (3.4 ounces for $145), is flying off the shelves at

Red Door Spa at Willard InterContinental Washington

Bluemercury locations around the region, including the newest spot at Fairfax Corner, Va. It’s made with damask rose, smoky oud wood, clove and praline, and it comes in the brand’s signature sleek rectangular bottle. www.bluemercury.com

Jo Malone Velvet Rose & Oud

High: The weather outside may be frightful, but the hot stone massage is delightful. The Glamorous Life package ($512-$558) at the Red Door Spa at the Willard Intercontinental Washington (1401 Pennsylvania Ave., NW) includes an oxygen-infusion facial, 50-minute hot stone massage, olive oil mani and pedi, a shampoo and blow dry, makeup refresher, and a spa lunch. Hold onto the pampering with products from the Red Door Spa Professional line, which launched in May. The skin and body care line uses active botanicals, antioxidants and vitamins in items such as a calming gel cleanser, Age Defense Multi-Peptide Moisturizer and Milk & Honey Sugar Scrub. http://washington.intercontinental.com/services-amenities/red-door-spa

Home Goods

Low: Whether you have pets or your guests do, the

M29 Lifestyle at Four Seasons

Photo: Don Riddle

canvas dog bowl from Found My Animal ($40) is available at M29 Lifestyle at the Four Seasons in Georgetown. The collapsible bowl is five inches around and comes in dark gray with a solid brass clip for attachment.

www.fourseasons.com/washington/services_and_amenities/m29_lifestyle_store/

Medium: American artist Michael Aram’s White Orchid snack dish ($69) is a work of art meeting functionality.

Made of nickel-plate and silver-plated glass and sold at Urban Country (7117 Arlington Road, Bethesda, Md.), it seems almost vandalistic to cover it with cashews. http://urbancountrydesigns.com High: D.C. interior designer David Mitchell not only

Michael Aram snack dish

Photo: www.michaelaram.com

designs spaces, but items to fill them. One of note is the octagon rectangle coffee table ($7,000). Sold at Salvations Architectural Furnishings, AmericanEye at the Washington Design Center and David Mitchell Interior Design, the table is made of three centimeters of limestone (or another stone, glass or wood) sitting on legs in any of 40 finishes, such as painted bronze. It measures 48-by-30 inches and is 17 inches high. www.salvationsaf.com; www.americaneyewdc.net; www.davidmitchellinteriordesign.com

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David Mitchell coffee table

Diplomatic Shopping Snapshot:

What’s on Ambassadors’ Wish Lists?

PERFECT FOR: Retail, Auto, Travel, Spas, Restaurants, Gift Cards And Much More!

Ambassador Neil Parsan of Trinidad and Tobago Holiday wish list: Watches,

business suits and pens Where he shops: Brooks Brothers

and Charles Tyrwhitt

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December 2013

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The Washington Diplomat Page 23

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Diplomatic Shopping Snapshot:

What’s on Ambassadors’ Wish Lists?

from page 22

PERFECT FOR: Retail, Auto, Travel, Spas, Restaurants, Gift Cards And Much More!

Ambassador Björn Lyrvall of Sweden

Gift Guide

Holiday wish list: “Time with family, friends and a good book!”

Gadgets & Technology

Where he shops: “Politics & Prose on Connecticut Avenue is a wonderful store. Apart from that I buy quite a lot of gifts online.”

Low: You know that crazy-looking technology in movies when someone waves their hand and things magically seem to happen? Google Glass is kind of like that. Still under testing and development, Google Glass is a headband that sits just above your eyes with a small rectangular window near one eye. Say, “Take a picture,” to take a picture, get directions to appear in front of you, send messages or ask it a question à la Apple Inc.’s Siri. It comes in charcoal, tangerine, shale, cotton and sky.

To get one, apply to the Explorers program online. www.google.com/glass/start/how-to-get-one/.

Medium: For more wearable technology, look into Samsung’s Galaxy Gear ($299), a smartwatch released in September. The 1.6-inch screen shows you the current temperature and Samsung weather, while the rest of the Galaxy Gear device lets you make phone calls and stay connected to texts and email. Also able to take pictures with a 1.9-megapixel camera, the high-tech watch comes in lime green, oatmeal beige, rose gold, orange, mocha gray and jet black. www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote3-gear/ Google Glass

High: For the ultimate gadget lover, there’s Tesla Motors, creators of high-end electric cars since 2003. The starting price of $63,570 for the basic Model S gets you a zero-emissions car that goes from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5.4 seconds, reaches speeds of 125 mph, has a 17-inch touch-screen interior display, seats five adults, and features rain-sensing windshield wipers. Three battery options let you go 230 miles to 300 miles at 55 mph before needing to be charged. To check one out, visit the new Tesla Motors showroom at Tysons Corner Center in Virginia or buy one at the D.C. dealership, which opened in 2011 (1050 K St., NW. To get ahead of the game, pre-order a Model X utility vehicle, coming out next year. It starts at $62,400. www.teslamotors.com

Rye Bar at the Capella Photo: Robert Reck / Capella Hotels and Resort

Travelers

Low: Traveling can be fun but also a commitment, especially when the journey is long. To stay awake and hydrated on the go, try the Bodum Travel Press ($30.50) from Capital Teas, which recently opened a location at the new Mosaic District (2910 District Ave., Suite 168, Fairfax, Va.). The press/mug holds 15 ounces and is made of stainless steel to help liquid stay hot. A silicone band around the middle of the travel press makes it easier to hold and comes in a variety of colors. www.capitalteas.com

Medium: For people who love to travel — or look like they have — consider the solid-wood-framed Destination Tag Prints ($329 each) at Room & Board (1840 14th St., NW). Measuring 29-by-37 inches, the silkscreened luggage tags are in fact pieces of art meant to be hung on walls, not attached to luggage, and feature the airport codes for Paris, New York, Amsterdam, London, Toronto and Chicago. www.roomandboard.com

Tesla Model S

Diplomatic Shopping Snapshot:

What’s on Ambassadors’ Wish Lists?

Ambassador Mike Moore of New Zealand Holiday wish list: “When I was the director general of the World Trade Organization, I was asked what I wanted for Christmas (by a newspaper). I said that a bottle of wine would be nice. I was mortified to read the story, when published, that ambassadors and heads of U.N. agencies had asked for world peace, the abolition of child poverty and a cure for AIDS.”

High: One of the world’s poshest hotel chains opened a new location right here in Georgetown in April. Experience the individualized attention — there’s almost nothing your personal assistant won’t be able to make happen — with a staycation at Capella (1050 31st St., NW). Try the One Night Christmas Package (starting at $626) on Dec. 25, which includes two tickets to the Washington Harbour Ice Skating Rink, welcome drink for two, a five-course dinner at the Grill Room on Dec. 25, breakfast for two the next day and late check-out. Or double it up with the Two Nights Christmas Package (starting at $638.50 per night), arriving Dec. 24 and offering the same perks plus Christmas Day brunch. One more option: Usher in 2013 with the New Year’s Package (starting at $1,496 per night), which includes cocktails and canapés in the Rye Bar at 7 p.m. on Dec. 31, a five-course New Year’s Eve meal at the Grill Room, live entertainment and dancing, a Champagne toast on the rooftop at midnight, an after-midnight supper, brunch all day Jan. 1 and late check-out.

How he shops: “I do one-stop shopping and [my wife] Yvonne does all of the shopping for family and friends.”

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www.capellahotels.com/washingtondc/georgetown/

Destination Tag Prints

Stephanie Kanowitz is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

LUXURY LIVING The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

culture & ■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

arts

entertainment

■ DECEMBER 2013

DIPLOMATIC SPOuSES

Quick Study

HISTORy

During her husband’s previous two postings in D.C., Galiya Umarova was often busy helping her school-age son. Now, as the wife of Kazakhstan’s ambassador, she’s busy teaching Americans about her homeland. PAGE 27

Long before spandex pants became de rigueur on American streets and “downward dog” became a household term, disciples practiced yoga for thousands of years in a never-ending quest to attain spiritual enlightenment — a history that the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery illuminates with the world’s first yogic art exhibition. PAGE 26

ART

Methodical Van Gogh “Van Gogh Repetitions” at the Phillips Collection reveals a calculated method to the Dutch painter’s seeming madness — a process that apparently shaped but did not tame his artistic ferocity. PAGE 30

Photo: the Cleveland MuseuM of art

PHOTOGRAPHy

Humanizing ‘Roots’ “Broken Roots – Illegal Immigration into the U.S.,” a photography exhibit at the French Embassy, captures a human face to a polarizing political debate. PAGE 31

Yoga’s

Flexibility

DINING

FILM REVIEWS

Pizza places are a dime a dozen in D.C., but Piola comes out on top with its winning combos. PAGE 32

A charming high-flyer roams the streets of Rome in search of … something in “The Great Beauty.” PAGE 34

[ history ]

Exercise in Enlightenment landmark ‘yoga’ exhibit is a Spiritual Stretch back in time

by Sarah Alaoui

M

any Washingtonians flock to yoga classes to escape the stress of daily life, but few know about the roots of this trendy yet ancient discipline.

That’s partly why the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery recently unveiled the world’s first yogic art exhibition, “Yoga: The Art of Transformation,” to showcase the origins and evolution of the practice over the past 2,000 years.

“This exhibition looks at yoga’s ancient roots, and how people have been trying to master body and spirit for millennia,” said Julian Raby, the Dame Jillian Sackler director of the Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art.“By applying new scholarship to both Photo: vICtorIa and albert MuseuM, london rarely seen artworks and recognized masterpieces, Yogini sculptures, left, paintings such as “vishnu we’re able to shed light on practices that evolved vishvarupa,” above, and folios such as “three over time — from yoga’s ancient origins to its more aspects of the absolute,” below, are among more modern emergence in India, which set the stage for than 130 objects on display in “Yoga: the art of today’s global phenomenon.” transformation,” the world’s first exhibition about The first of its kind, the exhibition brings togeththe discipline’s visual history that explores how its er more than 130 objects from 25 museums and meaning changed over centuries as yoga became private collections in India, Europe and the United a global phenomenon.

States. The pieces include three monumental stone yogini goddesses from a 10th-century south Indian temple; 10 folios from the first illustrated compilagiven, these yoga masters were despised by the tion of asanas (yogic postures) that were made for a British during their colonization of India and Mughal emperor in 1602; and the first movie ever were often the object of smear campaigns in produced about India. which they were depicted as strange and Various activities surrounded the high-profile uncivilized. launch of the exhibit, including the gala “Some “These works of art allow us to trace, often Enlightened Evening,” with none other than actor for the first time, yoga’s meanings across the Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria (a yoga devotee), diverse social landscapes of India,” said Debra and, for the masses, a free public festival to celebrate Diamond, the museum’s associate curator of Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. Other highlights South and Southeast Asian art. “United for the include tours, yoga-inspired art workshops, musical first time, they not only invite aesthetic wonperformances and free yoga classes throughout the der, but also unlock the past — opening a day — all of which was made possible thanks in portal onto yoga’s surprisingly down-to-earth part to the Smithsonian’s first major crowdfunding aspects over 2,000 years.” campaign. Called “Together We’re One,” the appeal Modern yoga, as we know it in the West, Photo: san antonIo MuseuM of art for funds was launched in May and raised more than came to fruition only in the late 19th century. $174,000 over six weeks — a reflection of yoga’s endurThis was in large part due to an Indian Hindu by the name ing mainstream popularity. of Swami Vivekananda, who is also featured in the exhibiYet long before “downward dog” and “namaste” became tion. Before spandex yoga pants and mats were a common household terms, Indian spiritual leaders were exploring site on trendy urban streets, the Indian monk arrived in physical, mental and spiritual states as early as 500 BC. Chicago from Bombay in 1893 to speak at the launch of Over time, the practice became encompassed in various the Parliament of the World’s Religions. He captivated schools of thought, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Americans audiences with his repetition of mantras (tellJainism. While yoga today is commonly associated with a ing Americans to not focus as much on “doing” as opposed Photo: Mehrangarh MuseuM trust series of physical movements, the yogic poses — “asanas” to just “being”) and philosophy of “work and worship.” in Sanskrit — did not emerge until the mid-18th and 19th He even caught the attention of well-known writers Yoga: The Art of Transformation centuries.Yoga in ancient India consisted of deep meditation such as Henry Miller, Aldous Huxley and Leo Tolstoy, and ascetic practices to relieve the mind and body of misery who wrote:“Since 6 in the morning I have been thinkthrough Jan. 26 associated with the endless cycle of reincarnation. ing of Vivekananda.” The famed Russian novelist also Arthur M. Sackler Gallery While yoga is a transformative experience for those who once observed,“It is doubtful if in this age man has ever 1050 Independence ave., sW practice it, the tradition itself has undergone various reincarrisen above this selfless, spiritual meditation.”

For more information, please call (202) 633-1000 nations over the years that helped shape culture, religion and Whether the swanky cult — and multibillion-dollar or visit www.asia.si.edu. history. The Sackler takes museum-goers back in time to a industry — that has built around yoga today qualifies as world where limits were tested and yoga was practiced the same kind of selfless, spiritual meditation practiced everywhere from mountains and hermitages to charnel grounds (an above-ground site for ages is a subject of debate, but there is no doubt that for centuries, man has sought for the putrefaction of bodies). It was a time when yogis, who were part of exclusive out enlightenment both on and off the mat. groups with other yogis, were recruited as spies because they traveled independently and could evade suspicion. Because of the power and special reverence they were Sarah Alaoui is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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December 2013

[ diplomatic spouses ]

D.C. Déjà Vu Third Time’s the Charm for Kazakh Couple

by Gail Scott

T

he first time she accompanied her husband to his post in Washington, D.C., their son Gaimi attended John Eaton Elementary School; the second time, as a 14-year-old, he went to Sidwell Friends; and now, as a graduate of the University of Essex, 24-year-old Gaimi is working as an international consultant back in Kazakhstan.

“We have been very lucky to have had three postings in Washington. It’s a great honor to be back,” said Galiya Umarova, the wife of Ambassador Kairat Umarov of Kazakhstan.

As empty nesters in their roomy residence close to Rock Creek Park, they are no longer needed to help with homework or attend parent-teacher conferences, although these days, Umarova is on the road more than ever.“This time I started driving in Washington,” she told us. “Drivers are so patient here.”

Some native Washingtonians, of course, might be surprised by her flattering assessment of area drivers. But Umarova has had plenty of opportunities to experience D.C. living.

She initially came here when her husband served as first secretary and counselor from 1994 to 1996. They returned from 1998 to 2003 when Umarov was appointed minister counselor at the embassy. In between his stints in the United States, Umarov also served as an ambassador-at-large in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ambassador to India and Sri Lanka, as well as the country’s deputy foreign minister — the post he held before returning to Washington earlier this year.

The two met long before the ambassador’s diplomatic career took off.“We were in school together, in English class,” Umarova recalled.“He always told funny stories in English. There were 500 girls at the school and I was the lucky one. I’m so happy that he chose me.”

As familiar as the couple is with American life, most Americans are probably far less familiar with Kazakhstan, even though Umarova says the two countries share some similarities.

Both are large — Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world, is roughly the size of Western Europe, although it is far less populated, with barely 18 million inhabiting its mountains and vast flat steppes.

“Kazakhstan,” Umarova said, “is otherwise much like the United States, with multiple cultures of 140 nationalities living in peace.”

Nearly two-thirds of the country is Muslim, with Christians making up much of the remainder, and is home to a mix of Kazakhs (63 percent), Russians (23 percent) and a smattering of Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Uighurs, Tatars and even Germans.

“Our language and culture are closest to the Turkish language and culture, not Russian,” Umarova noted.

This former Soviet republic still cherishes its heavily nomadic traditions but since gaining its independence in 1991, it has worked at breakneck speed to build a modern society, We have been very lucky including a new capital city, Astana, under the direction of Kazakhstan’s to have had three postings longtime president, Nursultan in Washington. It’s a great Nazarbayev. The country’s growing economy is driven by its enormous honor to be back. energy reserves and supplies of minerals and metals such as uranium.

— Galiya Umarova The biggest city in Kazakhstan wife of Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov though is not the capital but Almaty, about a 12-hour drive from Astana.

“Almaty is well known,” Umarova said.

“It is where I grew up and it is the foremost historical, financial and cultural center.”

“Astana,” she said “is growing rapidly” and is known as “the city of the younger generation.Thirty percent of the city’s population is under 25.”

That’s partly why Kazakhstan has tried to make a name for itself in education. Each year the government gives high school students college scholarships to study outside their country — in the United States, the United

“

”

December 2013

Photo: Gail Scott

Galiya Umarova and her husband, Ambassador of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov, met in school during English class. They’ve now been posted to D.C. three times since the early 1990s.

Kingdom or in Europe — for the full four years. Recently, Kazakhstan added a program for college graduates to pursue their master’s degrees at the new Astana University, free of charge.

“This was one of the smartest decisions of our president,” Umarova said.“He understands the importance of raising intellectual generations and has made education a top priority for Kazakhstan.”

The image of Kazakhstan as an up-and-coming nation contrasts sharply to the fictional, sarcastic portrayal in “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” the “mocumentary” comedy by British actor Sacha Baron Cohen.

The government of Kazakhstan at first denounced the popular film, angry that it ridiculed the Central Asian nation as an ignorant backwater. Eventually, though, Kazakhs learned to laugh at the satire and realized that any publicity is good publicity.

For her part, Umarova chuckled at the film.“We benefited from this movie.

It has brought tourists from all over the world and increased interest in my country. The movie is a comedy. As long as it is a comedy, we can laugh. Why not? In the movie, there is nothing similar to Kazakhstan.”

That’s because the Kazakh portion of the satire was actually filmed in a rural Romanian village, which bears little resemblance to the gleaming skyscrapers that punctuate the booming skyline of Astana.

The shiny new capital stands in stark contrast to the dome-shaped, portable tents (called “yurts”) built by Kazakh nomads that have dotted the vast steppes for centuries.

See diplomatic Spouses, page 33

The Washington Diplomat Page 27

[ theater ]

Suburbia on Crack Colaizzo tries too Hard to break Façade of Privileged Angst by lisa Troshinsky

A

[ Page 28

fter Paul Downs Colaizzo’s haunting triumph,“Really Really,” at Signature Theatre last year, fans would likely expect an equally gripping follow-up by one of the youngest playwrights on the scene. His newest production, the world premiere of “Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill,” also a compelling dark commentary on contemporary life, doesn’t deliver as satisfying a punch.

“Write what you know,” Mark Twain’s advice to novice penmen, could be good advice for the 20-something playwright. While “Really Really” exposed the college-age “Me Generation,” Colaizzo’s likely peers, “Autrey Mill” shines a light on the shattered life of a housewife, albeit one living in an imaginary community close to that of his own childhood.

The production’s most difficult obstacle is how to present such a familiar theme — the trappings of suburbia — in a fresh and innovative way. Colaizzo achieves this goal with drama and humor, and with the help of Michael Kahn, the Shakespeare Theatre’s artistic director who returns to Signature for the first time in nearly 20 years to direct the production. But in his attempt to be creative, Colaizzo goes overboard, rendering his plot a bit overstretched.

His world is suburbia on crack. The façade is a lavish home in a rich Southern neighborhood — “the most desired zip code in town” — complete with Roman column porches and exquisitely manicured lawns. Behind the pretense lives a tormented cast of characters: long-suffering wife Carly (Christine Lahti), her unresponsive husband Louie (Wayne Duvall), and their adult, adrift offspring Chad (Anthony Bowden) and Tommy (Christopher McFarland). They all convene for one weekend to pose as the happy family for a photo in the neighborhood newsletter to celebrate Carly’s prize-winning flower arrangement. This is a recipe for disaster that inflates their differences, tests their co-dependencies, and turns volatile.

Although Colaizzo sets the stage for intrigue, he mistakenly peppers the plot pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill with too many psychoses. Bulimia, cheating, homophobia, incest — the list goes through dec. 8 on. Although they all might be feasible, Signature Theatre there simply isn’t enough time to fully 4200 Campbell ave., arlington, va. develop each character’s problem. By the For more information, please call (703) 820-9771 time the audience digests one crisis, or visit www.signature-theatre.org. they’re hit with another.

How the script deals with the tension between Chad, who’s struggling to come out of the closet, and older brother Tommy, a compulsive binge eater, is one example. In Act I, Chad goes ballistic on Tommy for something as menial as buying an unpopular ice cream flavor, without a hint of prior friction between the two siblings. An explanation for the eruption is given in Act II, but by this time the subplot feels contrived for lack of build-up. Similarly, when Carly reacts to Louie’s rejection by inducing herself to vomit, viewers can’t fully feel her unimaginable pain because they’ve been already subjected to pathos overload.

Although the playwright uses the extremes for satirical symbolism — while the family’s stability comes crashing down on their heads, the actual kitchen ceiling keeps falling and crushing Tommy’s arms — this success happens only

]

The Washington Diplomat

Photos: Margot sChulMan

Family dysfunction lurks behind the picturesque suburban façade of Paul downs Colaizzo’s “Pride in the falls of autrey Mill,” starring, above from right, Christine lahti as a long-suffering wife, Christopher Mcfarland, Wayne duvall and anthony bowden.

in spurts.

Even though the plot meanders, thankfully, in Colaizzo fashion, the play’s end delivers the emotional goods. Kahn brings the show to the fevered pitch pinnacle required for Carly’s transformation and for a brief moment, the characters find catharsis and the audience can exhale.

In large part, we buy into the story because of Lahti, who plays Carly. Lahti, an Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy winner, manages to remain the center of her world of tangents and keeps the audience rooting for her, even though her character is unlikeable. In doing so, she gives the script its needed depth as the central figure.When she is ridiculously clueless, we laugh; when she ignores red flags, we cringe; when she accepts painful reality, we utter a bittersweet sigh of relief.When Carly begs Louie not to abandon her fantasy of domestic happiness, we pray she can get perspective. The play is ultimately about her. Though she begins the story with the least amount of dignity — she’s trying to keep three men who don’t value her — she is the only character who, in the end, may glimpse hope. In this way, Colaizzo cleverly succeeds in getting the audience to identify with a character we find despicable.

In the end, “Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill” gels because every character holds on to a destructive inner demon until they implode.The fact that none of the characters can trust each other with their secrets is the disturbing message that Colaizzo succeeds in telling. Scratch just below the surface of American “ordinary” life and one finds the fairytale fleeting and that pride in materialism eventually has to fall.

Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

December 2013

SAVE THE DATE

Friday October 17, 2014 Meridian International Center’s

Global Leadership Summit followed by the

46th Annual Meridian Ball

THANK YOU To the Embassies who hosted pre-Ball dinners and members of Washington’s diplomatic community who attended the 45th Annual Meridian Ball on October 18, 2013.

To host pre-Ball dinners or for more information on the 2014 Meridian Ball, please call 202-939-5892 or visit meridian.org

December 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 29

[ art ]

Singular ‘Repetitions’ Phillips Collections Reveals Method to Van Gogh’s Madness

by Kat lucero

P

ractice makes perfect. Or it fuels an obsessive drive to perfect a subject over and over and over again.

Vincent van Gogh was one of those people who had a penchant for creat creating more than one version of a subject, a practice he called “repetitions.” But what about those masterpieces stricken with rough, unbridled, emotional strokes for which the postimpressionist painter was so renowned?

Oftentimes they were actually the result of a calculated, methodical process that helped van Gogh become a highly prolific artist known for his intensity, technical acumen and sheer speed during his brief 10-year career.

Aptly titled “Van Gogh Repetitions,” the latest exhibition at the Phillips Collection examines the Dutch painter’s artistic process by displaying variations of the same subject, often side by side.

With more than 30 paintings and works on paper, the exhibition — the first in the gallery’s history to focus on van Gogh — reunites several versions of his works that have been dispersed all over the world.

Windmills, weavers, landscapes, rooms, magazine covers, friends and their families — it seems like none of van Gogh’s subjects got by without his constant artistic tweaking.

Photo: the PhIllIPs ColleCtIon But the most notable of these subjects is pervincent van Gogh haps the Roulin family. Van Gogh was reportedly often painted more very fond of the clan, who were among his few friends during his time than one version of a in Arles in the south of France, where his productivity flourished. The subject, a practice he Roulins welcomed van Gogh to their home and accommodated his called repetitions, as requests to become the subjects of his portraits. He painted several seen in works such as, versions of Joseph and Augustine and their young children, revealing from clockwise top, both his deep admiration and deft skill in portraying them as his ideal “the road Menders,” family.

“Portrait of Marcelle Van Gogh especially honed in on his good friend and drinking comroulin” and “the panion Joseph Roulin, who attended to the artist at a local psychiatric Postman Joseph hospital in the aftermath of his notorious ear-cutting incident. Fascinated roulin,” which are by the patriarch’s strong physical features, which he described as more among 30 pieces on Russian than French, van Gogh created several colorful variations of the display in “van gogh full-bearded family man decked in his postman office uniform and cap. repetitions.”

(More than a decade ago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York also Photo: van gogh MuseuM, aMsterdaM paid homage to one of the artist’s favorite subjects with the exhibition “Van Gogh’s Postman:The Portraits of Joseph Roulin.”

Matriarch Augustine Roulin, van Gogh’s epitome of motherhood, is painter at age 37. He sold only one also a leading figure in the exhibit at the Phillips Collection, which painting during his lifetime, but he has features her in various repetitions, along with two sets of varying porsince gone down in the annals of hisPhoto: ColleCtIon Kröller-Müller MuseuM, otterlo traits of her children Marcelle and Camille. The portraits are executed tory as a brilliant, if emotionally trouin vivid colors, reflecting his fondness for the family and each member’s bled, genius. van Gogh repetitions unique personas.

Now the Phillips is revealing a lesserAnother prominent painting in the exhibition is a Phillips Collection piece known aspect of van Gogh’s personalithrough Jan. 26 that started it all, “The Road Menders,” which museum founder Duncan ty that shines a new light on his iconic phillips collection Phillips praised as “among the best” of van Gogh’s masterworks. A second art. The show also marks the first van 1600 21st st., nW version of the same subject, “The Large Plane Trees,” was brought over from Gogh exhibit in D.C. in 15 years. And iFor more information, please call (202) the Cleveland Museum of Art to be reunited with its Phillips counterpart.The the city has certainly taken a strong lik387-2151 or visit www.phillipscollection.org. two almost mirror-like pieces depict a street underneath immense trees in ing to this new side of the painter.“Van Saint-Rémy, France, where van Gogh admitted himself to an asylum.

Gogh Repetitions,” which requires visiAs the museum’s source of inspiration for “Van Gogh Repetitions,” the pair of tors to book tickets in advance, drew at least 22,000 reservations — not including paintings, both composed in 1889, is a fitting introduction to the exhibition, while gallery members who don’t need to reserve — since it opened in mid-October. the rest of the works are organized in chronological order.

Some might even be repeat visits.

A highly prolific artist during his 10-year career, van Gogh produced 864 paintings and almost 1,200 drawings. His work stopped after a gunshot killed the Kat Lucero is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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December 2013

[ photography ]

Face of Immigration ‘broken Roots’ Captures Different Side of Political Debate

by Dena levitz

T

[

he contentious issue of illegal immigration to the United States has all but vanished in the deadlocked House of Representatives, but it’s occupying a prominent place at the French Embassy.

That’s where “Broken Roots – Illegal Immigration into the U.S.,” a powerful photo exhibit by José Hernández-Claire, is on display in conjunction with FotoWeek DC. The approximately three dozen photos are presented in black and white and show a wide array of men, women and children trying to cross over into the United States. In 2010, Hernández-Claire received financial support from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico to obtain a journalist visa that allowed him to photograph the U.S. border in Laredo, Carrizo Springs and McAllen, Texas, accompanied by border patrol officers.Together, the stark images represent the plight of many modern-day immigrants.

“In this moment it’s important to this country,” Catherine Albertini, cultural attaché at the French Embassy, said at the opening reception for the exhibition.

The tone of the photographs is often bleak and poignant, interspersed with moments of hope and unity as families take great risk in search of new lives. For instance, one image shows a legless migrant in a wheelchair in a shelter in Tapachula, Mexico.

Many portray the physical struggles of trying to smuggle into the United States, with immigrants latching rides on trains and paddling boats. Other photographs are more vague and visually striking, such as an up-close look at one man’s tattoos, which cover most of his back.

The collection is just a small sample of the photographer’s enormous body of work on the topic of immigration. Eventually, Hernández-Claire hopes to compile all of the pictures into a book. For now, though, the exhibition is circulating around the country. His goal is to take a human approach to the political hot-button issue and help the public put a face to the debate. Artistic beauty is inherent in the well-executed photographs but is secondary to conveying a powerful narrative through the visuals.

“I’m just trying to be as direct as I can, to take straight photographs,” Hernández-Claire said. “I don’t manipulate the images in any way. I have Broken roots – been a documentary photographer for 30 years. illegal immigration into the U.S. My theme is pain, the human condition…. This through dec. 12 is what I love doing.”

French embassy (la Maison Française) Previously, his photo essays focused on blind Mexicans, the countryside and workers in plan4101 reservoir road, nW For more information, please call (202) 944-6000 tations and fields. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, or visit www.frenchculture.org.

Hernández-Claire received a master’s in urban design from the Pratt Institute of New York.

After working for the Manhattan Office Department of City Planning as a community liaison to East Harlem in the early 1980s, Hernández-Claire returned to Mexico to do street photography and documentary work.

He began chronicling the plight of immigrants more than a decade ago in both the United States and Mexico. Before appearing at the French Embassy, “Broken Roots” has been shown at the University of Texas at Austin and in Los Angeles at the Mexican Consulate.

Hernández-Claire tries to visit each location to interact with exhibit-goers.

December 2013

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Photo: José hernández-ClaIre

Photos: eMbassY of franCe

José Hernández-claire’s 2007 photograph “the sisters at suchiate river” was taken along the border with Mexico and guatemala. “I’m just trying to be as direct as I can,” said the Mexican photographer, pictured far left, at the opening of his exhibit, “broken roots – Illegal Immigration into the u.s.”

Reaction to his work has varied. But the most heartfelt dialogue he said he’s had so far was with migrants in Los Angeles.

“They were moved and at the time cried,” he recalled.“They reacted to the photos because it reminded them of that adventure, that experience they had. It was valuable feedback to me.”

Hernández-Claire has been exhibited in more than 60 individual and group shows in more than a dozen countries. Over the years, he has been mentored by and worked with influential photojournalists including Philip Perkis, Marvin Hoshino and famed Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo.

see iMMiGrATion, page 33 The Washington Diplomat Page 31

[ dining ]

Slice of Everything italian Global brand Piola Churns Out Pizza, Plus So Much More by rachel G. Hunt

W

eekend brunch options in Columbia Heights got a little more continental this summer when Piola, the newly opened D.C. branch of a well-established Italian pizzeria brand, began offering an endless pizza special.

The brunch is a happy solution to one of the biggest problems with Piola: trying to figure out what to order. There are so many enticing options from a menu that offers 44 varieties of pizza, 11 pastas and a healthy sampling of salads, meat courses and small plates. Given extra time and a big appetite, the weekend brunch offers a hearty taste of what Piola is all about.

And what it’s about is, of course, pizza — but this is so much more than a simple pizzeria, although simplicity is part of its charm.

The brunch menu includes smaller versions of many of the same pizzas as the regular menu, such as the Capricciosa — a balanced combination of ham, artichoke and mushrooms on a thin bed of tomato sauce and mozzarella — as well as other breakfast-themed varieties such as the Cancun, which features smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers on a traditional base.

Bottomless sparkling drinks and sangria (for an extra charge) can make for an extra enjoyable, and lengthy, weekend outing.

If you miss the brunch, Piola also offers a daily L’Aperitivo Italiano, a happy hour when guests can sample complimentary small bites of whatever the chef feels like whipping up, along with discounted drinks.

The Piola concept is organic, growing and changing as it absorbs elements from the locales in which the restaurants open. One of the most intriguing ingredients on the menu, arrived there by way of Piola’s South American locations, is catupiry cheese. Catupiry is a soft, mild cheese with low acidity that hails from the requeijão, or creamy cheese family, that was developed in piola Brazil by an Italian immigrant at the 2208 14th st., nW beginning of the last century. At Piola, (202) 986-8729 the cheese is used effectively in both www.piola.it a white pizza, the Salvador — with oven-baked pulled chicken breast, Hours: Mon. - thu., 11:30 a.m. - 11 p.m.; mozzarella and spinach — and a red fri., 11:30 a.m. - 1 a.m.; sat., 11 a.m. - 1 a.m.; version, the Rio de Janeiro, made with sun., 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. pulled chicken breast, mozzarella and a dash of parsley. Both are delicious Antipasti: $6.50 - $18.50 with the dollops of this buttery sweet delight.

Salads: $5 - $14.50 In a nod to his Lebanese heritage, individual pizzas: $9.50 - $15.50 owner Nabil Ashi has also created the pastas: $12 - $14 Breakfast in Beirut for the brunch entrées: $12 - $17 menu. Made with za’atar spices and olive oil and served with labneh, olives, Desserts: $6 - $7.50 tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh mint, it reservations: accepted is an interesting take on “pizza” from the other side of the Mediterranean.

Dress: Casual While the menu offers an extensive array of different varieties (many designated by place that suggest the origin of the combos), overall the pizzas are simple and rely on the interplay of just a few flavors for their effect. Nor are the pies overloaded with too many toppings. There is no assault to the senses that can come with the attempt to do too much. Combinations range from the traditional Margherita — tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil — to the very

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Piola, which opened in June, now serves a no limit Pizza weekend brunch that highlights it signature Italian-style, thin-crust pizza. but the more than 40 pies aren’t the only interesting things on the menu: other unique choices include the roka Cabana, above, a layered tower of arugula, mozzarella, tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, pistachio nuts and pomegranate dressing, as well as the homemade gnocchi.

contemporary Odessa, a superb white pizza topped with caramelized onions, goat cheese and paper-thin slices of prosciutto crudo.

Piola specializes in Northern Italian pizza, which is distinguished from the Neapolitan style by a uniformly thin crust and minimal edge.The key to the pies here is the wood-burning oven that runs continuously at the very high temperatures required to get the crispy crust and blistered edges that are typical of this classic variety. (Alfresco diners on the roof are treated to the tantalizing aroma of wood smoke and baking bread, an unbeatable combination to whet the appetite.)

The oven was a central element in the transformation of the building on 14th Street that had stood empty and boarded up for many years. Just to get the oven into the space, traffic had to be stopped and the bay window removed.After that effort, everything must have seemed easy to Venetian designer Oscar Scomparian, who worked with Ashi to transform the old row house into a delightful space full of light and color.

A long bar and large staircase dominate the first floor, while exposed brick and ductwork, knotty, grainy low-grade plywood and recycled materials create an aura of a space in process. Rather than feeling unfinished, however, Scomparian’s design evokes an ambience of lively movement.The space glows with the blond plywood and Murano-type glass lighting fixtures that are a central design feature shared by all Piola restaurants.The cylindrical shades in all the colors of the rain-

December 2013

bow, made by hand in Brazil for Piola, lend a festive and almost tropical feel to the space.

The 14th Street spot, which opened in June, is the second for Ashi, who started the first U.S. franchise of this international Italian restaurant brand in Arlington, Va., in 2006. The Piola concept originated in 1986 in the Northern Italian town of Treviso, just north of Venice, as an effort to reinvent one of the most quintessential Italian creations, the pizzeria, by going back to the basics — simple, fresh ingredients, straightforward preparations, and an emphasis on a comfortable and inviting atmosphere. The brand quickly flourished in Italy and spread throughout the world with locations in Central and South America, the United States, Canada and Turkey.

While pizza may be at the heart of the Piola menu, it is not the only thing worth trying. An array of interesting salads that don’t share the same emphasis on simplicity are a good complement to the pizzas. The most dramatic, the Roka Cabana, is a layered tower of arugula, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, pistachio nuts and pomegranate dressing. The more protein-rich Topo Gigio — a mixture of greens, arugula, tuna, cherry tomato, cucumbers, palm hearts, onions, fresh bean sprout, carrots and walnuts, tossed in a Dijon mustard dressing — works particularly well with the simpler white pizzas. On the other hand, the Calvino — made of sautéed New York strip steak, mixed greens,

exposed brick and ductwork, knotty plywood and recycled materials give Piola its quirky charm and have transformed a space that had been boarded up for many years.

walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, cherry tomatoes, onions and sweet peppers, tossed with red wine vinaigrette dressing — is a meal all by itself.

If you prefer your carbohydrates boiled rather than baked, the pastas are a delicious alternative.

The gnocchi, handmade daily in Piola’s kitchen, is a specialty of the house. Perfectly light, they are served simply in either a red sauce or four-

cheese cream sauce. A particularly good pasta is the Penne Cividale, made of prosciutto crudo, cream, diced tomatoes, grated parmesan cheese and fresh rosemary — with the latter giving the rich dish a powerful aromatic appeal. The meatballs are another house-made specialty of note.

Served with spaghetti or by themselves in the house tomato sauce, they are finely textured,

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Diplomatic Spouses

from page 31

immigration He has also known Albertini, the French cultural counselor, as well as Mabel Gomez Oliver, deputy chief of mission of the Embassy of Mexico, for years.

Both embassies joined forces to get the exhibit to D.C.While most of HernándezClaire’s family remains in Mexico, distant relatives from his mother’s side are French, which is another reason why the exhibition was brought to the French Embassy.

The debut of “Broken Roots” also marks the first time the French Embassy has partnered with FotoWeek DC, a nonprofit that promotes photography in the nation’s capital.

Theo Adamstein, founder and executive director of the organization, who was at the exhibit’s opening reception, said FotoWeek DC’s popular annual festival is now in its sixth year and regularly attracts tens of thousands of visitors. During the citywide photographic showcase, which concluded in November, his nonprofit works with museums, galleries and embassies to expose Washington audiences to diverse, high-quality and dynamic photography, both from the United States and abroad.

Some of the photographic works are more commercial or artistic in nature while others, like Hernández-Claire’s, are more journalistic in pursuit.There’s not an overall theme so that FotoWeek DC does not limit subject matter, Adamstein noted.

In the case of the French Embassy, the two groups began planning for “Broken Roots” in the spring. Albertini said she

December 2013

Photo: José hernández-ClaIre

José Hernández-claire’s 2007 photograph “Jump to the american dream” depicts a migrant leaping from a freight wagon in veracruz, Mexico.

thought it was critical that the embassy work with other institutions to spread the message as far and wide as possible.

Adamstein said he, too, was thrilled to expand partnerships with the embassy community in D.C. and was personally inspired by Hernández-Claire’s images.

“I think it’s very powerful work related to the immigration issue in the United States,” he said.“Not only is it powerful but it’s also tragic, sad — it’s the reality of the immigration plight.”

Dena Levitz is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Despite the progress of the last two decades, Kazakhs continue to revere their nomadic past, which some say dates to the days of Genghis Khan, as well as their other traditions.The country is also renowned for its beautiful felt designs, apples, equestrian sports and kefir, a fermented yogurt drink that is now sold in our grocery stores.“We make a lot of milk products.

From cow and goat milk, we make cheese, cottage cheese and our own yogurt,” Umarova said.

That’s not the only delicacy Kazakhstan specializes in. “Because of the purity of our water from our wonderful lakes, we have one of the best vodkas in Central Asia. It’s the quality of the water that makes the difference in vodkas,” Umarova proudly declared.

“Apples come from Kazakhstan and we were the first to domesticate horses,” she added. “I don’t ride but my husband and son do.”

Instead, she enjoys playing tennis and golf with her husband and practicing yoga. She also loves to grow and cook her own food, much like she did back home, where she tended her own garden. This summer, Umarova started a new garden in D.C. “I grew them from seeds,” she said, “tomatoes, cucumbers, which lasted until the end of October, eggplants, onions and greens. I love fruits and vegetables.”

Her lean figure certainly does not betray a love of food. I asked how she keeps so trim when the two of them have so many receptions and elaborate sit-down dinners on their schedule every week? Besides fruits and vegetables, she has one other secret: “It’s not what you eat but how much you eat. If you take care of quantity, you don’t have to go on a special diet.”

Although she appreciates Washington, Umarova said that New York City is her favorite town.“I just like being there. New York is modern, dynamic, fast paced, the food is so good and

highly flavorful little bites. The tomato sauce, which appears as an ingredient in many of the dishes, is made daily in house as well. It is a light and bright version that relies on just a few ingredients for its flavor, making it a highly flexible to work with.

There is so much to like packed into this little pizza spot. The food is excellent, the specialty drinks are refreshing, and the desserts are thoroughly satisfying. (Try anything that has the chocolate sauce. It is made with Belgian chocolate and is excellent.) The atmosphere is inviting and the service appealingly low key. Ashi is an excellent host with a gentle sense of humor and a real passion for what he is doing. His original professional background was in information technology before he opened his first Piola in Arlington, Va., but he seems to have a natural affinity for what it takes to make a restaurant work. Piola is altogether a welcome addition to Columbia Heights — a pizza place, to be sure, but so much more.

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

the people are so fashionable,” she said. “You can see fashion trends on the street by just being there.”

While she tries to go to New York at least every month to shop, Umarova, one of the bestdressed diplomatic wives in town, also showcases her native Kazakh felt outfits during the country’s National Day celebration and Nowruz, the Persian New Year that is celebrated throughout Central Asia.

She’s proud of Kazakhstan and equally proud of her countrymen.

Umarova notes that in early November, boxer Gennady Golovkin won the middleweight title against American Curtis Stevens at Madison Square Garden, where the crowd waved Kazakh flags to cheer Golovkin on. She also points out that writer, poet and activist Olzhas Suleimenov has been called one of the greatest thinkers in the world.“He is one of our great Kazakhs.”

Suleimenov was a leader in the movement to close the Soviet Union’s primary nuclear testing site, Semipalatinsk, where hundreds of nuclear tests were conducted by Moscow in Kazakhstan.

That legacy is why, upon gaining its independence, Kazakhstan made the bold move to voluntarily rid itself of its nuclear weapons (it held the world’s fourth-largest atomic arsenal) and has since been a vocal proponent of nuclear disarmament.

Umarova said that Kazakhstan’s potential is limitless, given its investment in its people bolstered by its natural oil and gas wealth, as well as sound economic management. “We are the world’s leader in uranium and magnesium, the largest producers of lead and tungsten, and the second largest in chromate, silver and zinc,” she also notes.

And as a crucial link along the ancient Silk Road, Kazakhstan understands the importance of being a conduit for trade — not only of economic goods, Umarova said, but “for progressive scientific and cultural ideas.”

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

The Washington Diplomat Page 33

[ film reviews ]

‘Dolce’ Redux ‘Great Beauty’ Pays Tribute to Fellini’s Roman Epic

by Ky N. Nguyen

“T

he Great Beauty,” the latest from Italian writer-director Paolo Sorrentino (“Il Divo,” “This Must Be the Place”), has been consistently compared to “La Dolce Vita,” Italian auteur Federico Fellini’s 1960 masterpiece typically regarded as one of the top films of all time, for their broad structural similarities in story and character. Does “The Great Beauty” live up to all the hype? Well, only time will tell its place in cinematic history, but it’s safe to dub it a must-see film of the year.

Sorrentino’s sweeping direction, extravagant backdrops, surreal subject matter and bitingly witty social commentary all recall Fellini. Like “La Dolce Vita,” “The Great Beauty” benefits from dazzling cinematography shot in Rome (as well as Tuscany), credited to skilled Italian director of photography Luca Bigazzi. Sorrentino’s Rome is full of overwhelming sensations, indulgences and contradictions, pulling the camerawork, non-linear story and eclectic score in all kinds of directions.

The great, magnetic Italian actor Toni Servillo (“Il Divo,” “Gomorrah”) dominates the screen as aging Roman journalist Jep Gambardella, a mischievously charming, elegant socialite disenchanted with his life — in a respectful homage to Marcello Mastroianni’s similar protagonist in “La Dolce Vita.”

Photo: GIANNI FIORITO / janus films For some four decades, Jep has ridden the repuItalian actor Toni Servillo plays a disenchanted playboy who searches the streets tation of his first and only novel, the award-winning Philomena “The Human Apparatus,” making a lucrative if intel- of Rome for meaning in “The Great Beauty.”

(English; 94 min.) lectually undemanding career as a reporter. These Now a senior citizen in her 70s living in days, he’s really famous for being famous and traveling in high circles, kind of like Angelika Mosaic an elder Italian Paris Hilton. In the Roman era defined by Silvio Berlusconi’s domi- London, Philomena Lee (Dench) confesses to her Landmark’s E Street Cinema nation of politics and media, the resilient players stay in the game of endless social daughter that as a teenager, she became pregnant ★★★★✩ events, parties and nightlife well into their 70s, with the fountain of youth replen- outside of marriage and was banished by her Irish-Catholic family to a Magdalene convent, ished by plastic surgery.

Around Jep’s distastefully lavish 65th birthday party, a stranger appears at his where she was forced into four years of slave labor and cruelty, seeing her baby door with a surprise from the past, leading Jep for only one hour per day. When her son was 3, he was suddenly taken away for to look back at his life, his loves, his accomplish- adoption by an American family before she could even say goodbye.

The Great Beauty Aware that her son has turned 50, Philomena wonders about him and yearns to ments and his unfulfilled promise.

(La Grande Bellezza) Increasingly, Jep becomes openly disdainful (Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese of the faults of his peers. He develops selfwith subtitles; 142 min.; scope) awareness of his own flaws as well, but he Landmark’s E Street Cinema doesn’t know how to change them. He slips into an ephemeral romance with an over-the★★★★✩ hill stripper, Ramona (Sabrina Ferilli), drawn to her straightforwardness, until he finds she’s just as shallow as his socialite friends. He wanders around his beloved city of Rome looking for … something.

He also wonders where all the time went — and if there’s more to life beyond his fundamentally insubstantial existence, searching unsuccessfully through nightlife for “la grande bellezza,” or the great beauty.

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Poignant ‘Philomena’ Based on a true story, the poignant comedy-drama “Philomena” marks a return to form for versatile, veteran British director Stephen Frears, whose career has spanned films made in Britain, Ireland and Hollywood (“The Queen,” “Dirty Pretty Things,” “High Fidelity,” “Dangerous Liaisons”). The smoothly intelligent screenplay, adapted by lead actor Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope from BBC reporter Martin Sixsmith’s 2009 book, “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee,” includes witty dialogue and elements of humor that lighten up the dark tale. Coogan and Dame Judi Dench, a living legend, shine as an odd couple who find common ground to work and grow together.

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Photo: Alex Bailey / The Weinstein Company

Steve Coogan, right, is a BBC reporter who helps a mother, played by Judi Dench, find the son who was taken from her in “Philomena.”

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

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track him down. She encounters Martin Sixsmith (Coogan), a former BBC reporter turned fallen political spin doctor who’s looking to get back into journalism to earn a buck.Though he’s disdainful of “human interest” stories, Philomena convinces him, a fallen-away Catholic, to help her find her son in an epic quest that takes them to Northern Ireland and Washington, D.C., over five years.

Though its world premiere was a critical favorite at the 70th Venice Film Festival, “Philomena” lost the Golden Lion to Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary “Sacro GRA,” and Dench didn’t claim the Best Actress prize many anticipated for her. “Philomena” did take home the Best Screenplay trophy for Coogan and Pope as well as a bevy of collateral awards.

For the U.S. Academy Awards, expect “Philomena” to be a major competitor for the top categories, backed by the full force of the Weinstein Company’s notorious Oscar campaign machine.

Enzo Avitabile Music Life (Italian and English with subtitles; 79 min.)

The Avalon Theatre

★★★★✩

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ished area in northern Naples where he grew up.

Enzo has gathered well-deserved acclaim for his frequently experimental work, a unique fusion of jazz and world music, including Neapolitan, Arab, African, South Asian, Latin, and American rhythm and blues influences.

He delightfully demonstrates his favorite software that makes composing music much easier, enabling him to play his compositions even when a critical mass of fellow musicians is not readily available.

“Enzo Avitabile Music Life” is at its best showing Enzo making his glorious music, collaborating in jam sessions with world music gods and goddesses such as Photo: Andrea Emma / Shadow Distribution Demme’s ‘Enzo’ Pakistani sitar master Ashraf Sharif Khan Poonchwala, Palestinian songstress Amal Murkus, Mauritanian singOscar-winning American director Jonathan Demme Italian singer and instrumentalist Enzo Avitabile is the subject of American director Jonathan er-songwriter Daby Touré, Armenian “master of the is best known for his narrative features (“The Demme’s documentary “Enzo Avitabile Music Life.” duduk” Djivan Gasparyan and Cuban guitarist and Manchurian Candidate,” “Silence of the Lambs”, singer Eliades Ochoa (of the Buena Vista Social Club).

Anthology 1978-2000,” “The Pretenders: Greatest Hits,” “Kenny “Philadelphia”), in which he often coaxes careerIn his music documentaries, Demme’s direction tends to be changing performances out of Hollywood movie stars. Yet he’s Chesney:Unstaged”).Demme moves beyond mainstream American also put together an impressive nonfiction body of work (“Jimmy music with his portrait of charismatic Enzo Avitabile, a gifted more observant than critical. As the helmer follows his main subCarter Man from Plains,” “The Agronomist”), for which he was saxophone player turned instrumentalist, singer and composer ject around, the audience learns some interesting random tidbits about Enzo’s life story, but we are left wanting to dig deeper. honored at the 2007 Guggenheim Sym­posium of Silverdocs, the from Naples, Italy.

Enzo is pretty much anonymous in the United States even though Fortunately, Enzo’s loquaciousness, energy and musical talents are Amer­ican Film Institute’s annual documentary festival.

“Enzo Avitabile Music Life” serves as a solid addition to the he’s played with the likes of James Brown and Tina Turner, as he deep in abundance. director’s expansive portfolio of music documentaries (“Neil recollects on screen. In contrast, he’s a major celebrity in his native Young: Heart of Gold,” “Bruce Springsteen: The Complete Video Naples, where crowds gawk when he visits Marianella, the impover- Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

Repertory Notes

by Washington Diplomat film reviewer Ky N. Nguyen

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

EU Film Showcase at AFI Silver Theatre Buy your tickets early to the perennially popular 26th annual AFI European Union Film Showcase (Dec. 5-22), which returns to the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre with more than 50 films from EU member countries. The EU showcase is presented with the support of the cultural officers of the D.C. embassies of EU member states as well as EU Ambassador João Vale de Almeida and his staff.

The opening night film honor goes to Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda’s “Walesa. Man of Hope” (Thu., Dec. 5, 7:15 p.m.; also Sat., Dec. 7, 1 p.m.). The closing night film is British director Declan Lowney’s “Alan Partridge” (Sat., Dec. 21, 8 p.m.). Special presentations boast Spanish director Eugenio Mira’s “Grand Piano” (Fri., Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m. screening followed by Q&A with Mira and reception sponsored

by Embassy of Spain; also Sat., Dec. 7, 10:30 p.m.); British director Roger Michell’s “Le Week-end” (Sat., Dec. 7, 8:30 p.m.); French director Daniel Cohen’s “The Chef” (Fri., Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 15, 4:15 p.m.); British director David Frankel’s “One Chance” (Sat., Dec. 14, 8 p.m.); and Romanian filmmaker Calin Peter Netzer’s “Child’s Pose” (Fri., Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.).

Regular screenings include the following, ordered by country: Austria: Daniel Hoesl’s “Soldier Jane” Belgium: Marion Hänsel Tenderness ; Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani s The Strange Color of Your Body s Tears ; Jan Verheyen s The Verdict Bulgaria: Svetoslav Stoyanov’s “The Last Black Sea Pirates” Croatia: Vinko Bresan “The Priest’s Children”; Elvis Bosnjak’s “Night Boats”

Sylvie Pialat s Stranger by the Lake Germany: Christian Schwochow s The Tower Parts 1 and 2; Ramon Zürcher s The Strange Little Cat ; George Maas and Judith Kaufmann s Two Lives Greece: Judith Kaufmann’s “The Daughter”; Yorgos Tsemberopoulos’s “The Enemy Within” Hungary: Péter Bergendy s The Exam Ireland: Stephen Brown’s “The Sea” Italy: Marco Bellocchio’s “Dormant Beauty”; Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Me and You”; Silvio Soldini’s “Garibaldi’s Lovers aka The Commander and the Stork”; Salvatore Mereu’s “Pretty Butterflies”; Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s “Salvo” Latvia: Janis Nords’s “Mother, I Love You” Lithuania: Kristina Buožyte’s “Vanishing Waves” Luxembourg: Christophe Wagner’s “Blind Spot” The Netherlands: Michiel Ten Horn’s “The Deflowering of Eva Van End”; Peter Greenaway’s “Goltzius and the Pelican Company” Poland: Katarzyna Roslaniec’s “Baby Blues”; Marcin Krzysztalowicz’s “Manhunt” Portugal: Rita Azevedo Gomes’s “A Woman’s Revenge” Slovakia: Mira Fornay’s “My Dog Killer” Slovenia: Nejc Gazvoda’s “Dual” Spain: Jonás Trueba s The Wishful Thinkers Sweden: Per Hanefjord’s “The Hidden Child”; Lukas Moodysson’s “We Are the Best!”

Cyprus: Kyriacos Tofarides’s “Cyprus Block 12”

U.K.: Ben Wheatley’s “A Field in England”; Ralph Fiennes’s “The Invisible Woman”

Czech Republic: Jirí Menzel s The Don Juans

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

Denmark: Mikkel Nørgaard s The Keeper Of Lost Causes Estonia: Ilmar Raag’s “A Lady In Paris” Finland: Ulrika Bengts’s “The Disciple (Mon., Dec. 9, 7:10 p.m. screening is followed by a Q&A with director Bengt and a reception sponsored by the Embassy of Finland) France: Philippe Le Guay s Cycling with Molière ; Arnaud des Pallières s Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas ; Nicolas Philibert s La Maison de la Radio ; Asghar Farhadi s The Past ; Farès Ladjimi s Our Heroes Died Tonight ; Frédéric Dubreuil s 2 Autumns, 3 Winters ;

National Gallery of Art In the illustrated lecture “Viewing History Through the Filmmaker’s Lens” (Sun., Dec. 1, 2 p.m.), Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland talks about her most recent narrative feature, “In Darkness,” and her HBO Europe miniseries “Burning Bush,” followed by the D.C. premiere of “Burning Bush” (Sun., Dec. 1, 3:30 p.m.), presented with help from the Embassy of Poland and the Embassy of the Czech Republic.

December 2013

The series “Réalité Tales: Young French Cinema” offers six contemporary documentaries by French filmmakers, presented through the independent filmmaking collective Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion (ACID), with thanks to the Embassy of France: Claus Drexel’s “Au bord du monde” (Sat., Dec. 7, 2 p.m.); Emmanuel Gras’s “Bovines” (Sat., Dec. 7, 4 p.m.); Jean-Loïc Portron and Gabriella Kessler’s “Braddock, America” (Sun., Dec. 8, 4:30); Dominique Marchais’s “Time of Thanksgiving” (Sat., Dec. 14, 2 p.m.); Manuela Frésil’s “Entrée du personnel” (Sat., Dec. 14, 4:30 p.m.); and Andrew Kötting’s “Swandown” (Sun., Dec. 15, 4:30 p.m.).

Other screenings include Philippe Béziat’s documentary “Becoming Traviata” (Sun., Dec. 22, 2 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 29, 2 p.m.) and JeanLuc Godard’s “Contempt” (Sun., Dec. 22, 4:30 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 28, 2:30 p.m.).

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

Richard Wagner Revisited The retrospective “Richard Wagner Revisited,” commemorating heavyweight German composer Richard Wagner’s 200th birthday, concludes at the National Gallery with Italian auteur Luchino Visconti’s “Ludwig” (Sat., Dec. 21, 2 p.m.).

At the Goethe-Institut, the series “Wagner Revisited / Wagner 200” (through Jan. 6) continues with Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s “Ludwig – Requiem for a Virgin King” (Mon., Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m.), Joachim Herz’s “The Flying Dutchman” (Mon., Dec. 9, 6:30 p.m.) and Helmut Käutner’s “Ludwig II” (Mon., Dec. 16, 6:30 p.m.).

(202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/film-programs.html (202) 289-1200, www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/enindex.htm

Freer Gallery of Art The film series “Power, the Spirit, and the Flesh” (Dec. 8-15) — screened to coincide with the exhibit “Yoga: The Art of Transformation” — features three films from different parts of India that explore the clash of religious traditions with modern society: Bengali auteur Satyajit Ray’s “Devi (The Goddess)” (Sun., Dec. 8, 2 p.m.), Kerala filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s “Shadow Kill” (Fri., Dec. 13, 7 p.m.) and Kannada director Girish Kasaravalli’s “The Ritual” (Sun., Dec. 15, 2 p.m.).

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

The Washington Diplomat Page 35

[ film ]

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

to find that she might still be alive.

Bengali

Dutch

Devi (aka The Goddess)

The Deflowering of Eva van End (De Ontmaagding van Eva van End)

Directed by Satyajit Ray (India, 1960, 93 min.)

Set in rural Bengal in 1860, the father-inlaw of a young wife becomes convinced she is an incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali, which sets off a confrontation with her worldly husband.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Dec. 8, 2 p.m.

Bulgarian The Last Black Sea Pirates (Poslednite chernomorski pirati) Directed by Svetoslav Stoyanov (Bulgaria, 2013, 72 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 7, 7:20 p.m., Thu., Dec. 12, 7:10 p.m.

Directed by Michiel ten Horn (Netherlands, 2012, 98 min.)

Eva van End is a 15-year-old loser, ignored by her dysfunctional family and laughed at by the kids in school. But things change after a strapping German exchange student joins the family (Dutch, English and German).

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 6, 5:15 p.m., Thu., Dec. 12, 7:15 p.m.

English Alan Partridge

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 7, 11:10 a.m., Wed., Dec. 11, 9:20 p.m.

Directed by Declan Lowney (U.K., 2013, 90 min.)

Steve Coogan’s signature comic creation, the cringe- inducing, self-aggrandizing media personality Alan Partridge, has seen his career trajectory rise and fall, from regional radio presenter to national TV talkshow host and back again.

Croatian

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 21, 8 p.m.

In this documentary, Captain Jack and his ragtag bunch of chancers roam a remote Black Sea beach, hoping to scavenge — what else? — lost treasure.

Night Boats (Nocni brodovi) Directed by Igor Mirkovic (Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia, 2012, 101 min.)

Senior citizen Helena has settled into her twilight years at a sleepy nursing home in Zagreb, but sparks fly after a chance encounter in the elevator with a new arrival, and soon both yearn to break out.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 8, 3:15 p.m., Mon., Dec. 9, 5:20 p.m.

The Priest’s Children (Svecenikova djeca) Directed by Vinko Bresan (Croatia/Serbia/Montenegro, 2013, 93 min.)

A young Catholic priest takes subversive action to enforce the church’s position on birth control among his flock, and soon has a baby boom on his hands.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 7, 3:15 p.m., Sun., Dec. 8, 8 p.m.

Czech The Don Juans (Donsajni) Directed by Jirí Menzel (Czech Republic, 2013, 100 min.)

When a small-town opera company mounts a production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” passions run high both on stage and behind the scenes.

AFI Silver Theatre Tue., Dec. 17, 7:10 p.m., Sun., Dec. 22, 3:40 p.m.

Danish

The Book Thief

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 8 p.m.

Saving Mr. Banks Directed by John Lee Hancock (U.S./U.K./Australia, 2013, 125 min.)

Author P.L. Travers reflects on her difficult childhood while meeting with filmmaker Walt Disney during production for the adaptation of her novel, “Mary Poppins.”

Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., Dec. 20 Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Dec. 13

The Sea Directed by Stephen Brown (Ireland/U.K., 2013, 86 min.)

A man struggles with the cottage let by Miss Vavasour, the very same one at which he spent a fateful summer some 50 years earlier in this probing meditation on love, memory and loss.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m., Sat., Dec. 7, 10:30 p.m.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Directed by Peter Jackson (U.S./New Zealand, 2013

The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim their homeland from Smaug the dragon.

Area theaters Opens Fri., Dec. 13

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Directed by Justin Chadwick (U.K./South Africa, 2013, 141 min.)

Based on the 1994 autobiography of the same name, “Mandela” chronicles the inspirational life of Nelson Mandela as an international icon and one of the world’s most revered leaders (English, Afrikaans and Xhosa).

Angelika Mosaic Opens Wed., Dec. 25

Directed by Roger Michell (U.K., 2013, 93 min.)

A middle-age academic couple from England celebrates their 30th anniversary in Paris, the site of their honeymoon, but after a series of mishaps, will the City of Lights rekindle their love, or snuff it out?

The Verdict (Het vonnis) Directed by Jan Verheyen (Belgium, 2013, 112 min.)

A successful businessman with a loving family becomes consumed by revenge after a random street crime leads to the deaths of his wife and daughter.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Dec. 17, 9 p.m., Wed., Dec. 18, 5 p.m.

French 2 Autumns, 3 Winters (2 automnes 3 hivers) Directed by Sébastien Betbeder (France, 2013, 93 min.)

A 33-year-old hipster half-gallantly, halfaccidentally saves the beautiful Amélie from a pair of muggers, paving the way for love to bloom.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 20, 5:20 p.m., Sun., Dec. 22, 7:40 p.m.

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas Directed by Arnaud des Pallières (France/Germany, 2013, 120 min.)

In 16th-century France, an enterprising horse farmer runs afoul of a venal baron and raises an army to wage a war against the baron, who soon sues for peace.

One Chance

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 7, 3:45 p.m., Tue., Dec. 10, 9:15 p.m.

Directed by Mikkel Nørgaard (Denmark/Germany/Sweden, 2013, 97 min.)

Directed by David Frankel (U.K./U.S., 2013, 103 min.)

After being shot in the line of duty, Mørck is sent to work in the dingy basement office administrating cold cases, where he revisits the “suicide” of a successful politician, only

In this inspiring true story, Paul Potts, a cell phone salesman in Wales, realizes his long-held dream to make it as an opera singer after he wins “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Bovines

The Keeper of Lost Causes (Kvinden i buret)

Page 36

A seasoned chef is the famous face of Paris staple, but the meddlesome son of his deceased business partner wants to modernize the chef’s classic French cuisine, and cut costs and corners to turn a profit.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m., Sun., Dec. 15, 4:15 p.m.

Contempt (Le mépris) Directed by Jean-Luc Godard (France/Italy, 1963, 102 min.)

National Gallery of Art Sun., Dec. 22, 4:30 p.m., Sat., Dec. 28, 2:30 p.m.

Flemish

Lured out of retirement, disgraced pianist Tom Selznick attempts to conquer his nerves and rejuvenate his career with a tribute performance to his mentor.

Directed by Daniel Cohen (France/Spain, 2012, 84 min.)

Le Week-End

While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, a young girl finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others.

Directed by Eugenio Mira (Spain, 2012, 90 min.)

The Chef (Comme un Chef)

A screenwriter is weighing an offer to jazz up “The Odyssey” for a Hollywood mogul and trying to fathom why his wife no longer likes him.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 7, 8:30 p.m.

Grand Piano

Normandy have made a deep impression.

National Gallery of Art Sat., Dec. 7, 4 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 21, 6 p.m., Sun., Dec. 22, 1:45 p.m.

Directed by Brian Percival (U.S./Germany, 2013, 135 min.)

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

December 2013

Directed by Emmanuel Gras (France, 2011, 62 min.)

By the end of “Bovines,” the placid pastoral lives of the white Charolais cows of

Cycling with Molière (Alceste à bicyclette) Directed by Philippe Le Guay (France, 2013, 101 min.)

Philippe Le Guay reunites with star Fabrice Luchini in this inspired comic riff on the acting profession, actorly egos and the genius of Molière.

AFI Silver Theatre Dec. 6 to 11

Entrée du personnel Directed by Manuela Frésil (France, 2011, 59 min.)

Employees at an abattoir and meatpacking plant on the margins of a semi-industrial French city talk about working conditions, their daily lives, and why and how they got there in the first place.

National Gallery of Art Sat., Dec. 14, 4:30 p.m.

A Lady in Paris (Une Estonienne à Paris) Directed by Ilmar Raag (France/Estonia/Belgium, 2012, 94 min.)

A woman is charged with caring for a curmudgeonly Estonian ex-pat living in Paris who recently attempted suicide (French and Estonian).

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 7, 1:10 p.m., Tue., Dec. 10, 7:10 p.m.

My Best Holidays Directed by Phillipe Lellouche (France, 2012, 93 min.)

During a heat wave in 1976, Claude, who is Jewish and originally from Algeria, and his Brittany-born wife Isabelle spend their summer vacation with their two young sons, Isabelle’s mother and two other couples. At first, the coexistence is not easy but, gradually, old resentments and prejudices are swept away.

Washington DCJCC Tue., Dec. 24, 7:30 p.m.

Our Heroes Died Tonight (Nos héros sont morts ce soir) Directed by David Perrault (France, 2013, 100 min.)

David Perrault’s arty, black-and-white hom-

age to the French crime thrillers of yesteryear is set in the mob-controlled world of Parisian professional wrestling in the early 1960s.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 13, 10:15 p.m.,

Sat., Dec. 14, 7:40 p.m.

The Past (Le Passé) Directed by Asghar Farhadi (France/Italy, 2012, 130 min.)

Returning to Paris after four years away in Tehran to give his estranged wife a divorce so she can remarry, a man becomes reintegrated into this unconventional family structure as an honest broker, slowly unraveling a tangled web of grudges, secrets, half-truths and misunderstandings (French and Farsi).

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 8, 3:30 p.m.

The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps) Directed by Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani (Belgium/France/Luxembourg, 2013, 102 min.)

Dan returns home to Brussels after a business trip to discover his wife is missing and questions the neighbors, including an elderly woman whose own husband disappeared years ago (French, Danish and Flemish).

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 10:15 p.m., Thu., Dec. 19, 9:35 p.m.

Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac) Directed by Alain Guiraudie (France, 2013, 100 min.)

Franck is a regular at a secluded lakeside beach, a popular hotspot for gay men to sunbathe and sneak off for casual sex in the nearby woods, where he witnesses a shocking crime and finds himself attracted to the perpetrator.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 20, 10 p.m., Sun., Dec. 22, 9:45 p.m.

Tenderness (La tendresse) Directed by Marion Hänsel (Belgium/France/Germany, 2013, 80 min.)

After their ski instructor son breaks his leg in the Alps, a Belgian divorced couple must share a car trip to France to bring him home in this heartwarming and beautifully observed drama.

AFI Silver Theatre Dec. 12 to 15

Time of Thanksgiving (Le Temps des graces) Directed by Dominique Marchais (France, 2010, 123 min.)

Dominique Marchais creates an unusually thoughtful and beautiful survey of farmers in France, revealing aspects of their practice through interviews and observation of a variety of sources.

National Gallery of Art Sat., Dec. 14, 2 p.m.

German The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer) Directed by Joachim Herz (E. Germany, 1964, 101 min.)

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

Based on Richard Wagner’s opera, this became one of the first complete Wagner operas on film — and the only East German film ever made that includes elements of horror and vampire genres.

Goethe-Institut Mon., Dec. 9, 6:30 p.m.

Ludwig Directed by Luchino Visconti (U.S., 1972, 235 min.)

This film about the life and death of King Ludwig II of Bavaria portrays the romantic king struggling between reality in Bavarian aristocracy and Wagnerian fantasy, as unrequited love and his homosexuality plunge him into madness (Italian, German and French).

National Gallery of Art Sat., Dec. 21, 2 p.m.

Ludwig – Requiem for a Virgin King (Ludwig – Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König) Directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (W. Germany, 1972, 140 min.)

This imaginative interpretation of the life of Ludwig II of Bavaria stars Harry Baer as the so-called “mad king,” who was the patron of Richard Wagner, the man who sold Bavaria to Prussia, and the builder of many a mythical castle in the Rhineland.

Goethe-Institut Mon., Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m.

Ludwig II (Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs) Directed by Helmut Käutner (W. Germany, 1955, 115 min.)

King Ludwig II of Bavaria is frustrated, having to accept Parliament’s will to join Bismarck in wars and not finding satisfaction in love, so he seeks comfort in art.

the home of a dysfunctional Cypriot family kicks off an international bidding war in this zany social satire.

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Dec. 9, 9:15 p.m., Wed. Dec. 11, 9:45 p.m.

A precocious, perceptive young Sardinian teen imagines she’s the star of her own reality show, narrating scenes and confiding to the camera about the chaotic life of her family.

The Daughter (I kori)

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 15, 5:40 p.m., Mon., Dec. 16, 7:15 p.m.

Directed by Thanos Anastopoulos (Greece/Italy, 2012, 97 min.)

Salvo

A 14-year-old girl is angry that her father, recently bankrupted by the Greek economic crisis, hasn’t been seen in days, so she kidnaps the 8-year-old son of her father’s business partner, whom she blames for their troubles.

The Enemy Within (O ehthros mou)

Kannada

Directed by Yorgos Tsemberopoulos (Greece, 2013, 107 min.)

A husband and father with a successful garden supply store in the Athens suburbs is forced out of his comfort zone after a gang of hoodlums ransacks his house and tortures his family.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 5:25 p.m., Thu., Dec. 19, 7:20 p.m.

Hebrew Israel: A Home Movie Directed by Eliav Lilti (Israel, 2012, 93 min.)

An impressive assemblage of home movies shot from the 1930s through the 1970s are strung together to form a mesmerizing history that documents a living memory of Palestine and Israel’s formation.

The Strange Little Cat (Das merkwürdige Kätzchen)

Hungarian

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 1 p.m., Tue., Dec. 17, 7:20 p.m.

Soldier Jane (Soldate Jeannette) Directed by (Austria, 2003, 80 min.)

Posh fortysomething Fanni takes a sports car for a test drive — on a one-way trip from Vienna to the Alps, where she finds work on an organic farm, alongside other dropouts from the rat race.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 8, 6:15 p.m., Mon., Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m.

Two Lives (Zwei Leben) Directed by Georg Maas, Judith Kaufmann (Germany/Norway, 2012, 97 min.)

A German-Norwegian lawyer builds a case against the Norwegian government for not allowing the children fathered by German troops to return to their Norwegian mothers after World War II (German, English, Norwegian, Russian and Danish).

AFI Silver Theatre Dec. 15 to 18

Greek

The Exam (A vizsga) Directed by Péter Bergendy (Hungary, 2012, 92 min.)

In 1956 Budapest, following the failed revolution, Soviet domination of Hungary’s secret police creates an unprecedented level of institutional paranoia, with the spies spying not only on the citizenry, but on each other.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 15, 9:30 p.m., Tue., Dec. 17, 9:20 p.m.

Italian Dormant Beauty (Bella addormentata) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy/France, 2012, 115 min.)

Italy’s real-life Eluana Englaro case, where a young woman injured in a car accident lived in a vegetative state for 17 years while her father fought to have the plug pulled, is the backdrop for this thoughtprovoking drama.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 8, 1 p.m., Wed., Dec. 11, 7:25 p.m.

Me and You (Io e te)

Directed by Girish Kasaravalli (India, 1977, 110 min.)

In this dark tale about life in the highest Hindu caste, a child widow becomes pregnant by a local schoolteacher and is condemned by a social system that also accepts the remarriage of her elderly father with a girl young enough to be his daughter.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Dec. 15, 2 p.m.

Latvian Mother, I Love You (Mammu, es Tevi milu) Directed by Janis Nords (Latvia, 2013, 83 min.)

His doctor mother works long hours, so a Riga kid has free rein to ride his scooter around the city and get into mischief with his pal, but what begins as childish tomfoolery spirals into a hard lesson about the complexities of the adult world.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 21, 11:05 a.m., Sun., Dec. 22, 5:45 p.m.

Lithuanian Vanishing Waves (Aurora) Directed by Kristina Buožyte (Lithuania/France/Belgium, 2012, 120 min.)

A research scientist volunteers for a sensory deprivation experiment, hoping to tap into the consciousness of and communicate with a young comatose woman.

AFI Silver Theatre Tue., Dec. 10, 9:15 p.m., Thu., Dec. 12, 9:15 p.m.

Luxembourgish Blind Spot (Angle Mort aka Doudege wénkel) Directed by Christophe Wagner (Luxembourg/Belgium, 2012, 96 min.)

Inspector Hastert is a seasoned Luxembourg City cop on the cusp of retiring. But when a fellow officer is murdered in cold blood, he takes on one last case (Luxembourgish, English and French).

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 8, 9:40 p.m., Tue., Dec. 10, 7:15 p.m.

Malayalam

The unexpected arrival of his older junkie half-sister spoils a disaffected Roman teen’s plans for solitude, but offers the opportunity for two needy souls to connect.

Directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan (India, 2002, 91 min.)

Block 12

Directed by Kyriacos Tofarides (Cyprus/Greece, 2013, 94 min.)

Pretty Butterflies (Bellas mariposas)

The discovery of a rich oil deposit beneath

The Ritual

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy, 2012, 103 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 6, 9:30 p.m., Wed., Dec. 11, 7:10 p.m.

(Οικόpedο 12)

A Palermo hitman has a change of heart after he lays eyes on his target’s blind sister.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Dec. 19, 9:45 p.m., Sat., Dec. 21, 10 p.m.

Washington DCJCC Tue., Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m.

Ramon Zürcher’s inventive debut film finds the surreal humor inherent in the mundane details of the family home, closely observing three generations of a Berlin family gathered in their cramped apartment before a family meal.

Directed by Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza (Italy/France, 2013, 104 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Dec. 8, 7:40 p.m., Thu., Dec. 12, 9:20 p.m.

Goethe-Institut Mon., Dec. 16, 6:30 p.m.

Directed by Ramon Zürcher (Germany, 2013, 72 min.)

(Italy, 2012, 100 min.)

Directed by Salvatore Mereu

Shadow Kill In 1941, just as Gandhi’s freedom movement is taking shape, an aging hangman haunted by the many men he’s executed prays to the Goddess Kali to remove his sins, and drinks to soothe his troubled conscience.

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Dec. 13, 7 p.m.

Polish Baby Blues (Bejbi blues) Directed by Katarzyna Roslaniec (Poland, 2012, 100 min.)

A 17-year-old mother is a wannabe fashionista who treats her 7-month-old son like an adorable accessory, when she can be bothered to give the infant attention at all.

AFI Silver Theatre Dec. 16 to 19

Manhunt (Oblawa) Directed by Marcin Krzysztalowicz (Poland/Serbia and Montenegro, 2012, 96 min.)

In a forest in occupied 1943 Poland, a highly skilled resistance fighter routinely takes on his squadron’s most dangerous assignments, dispatching rough justice to the Nazi collaborators, but he has a mysterious history with his latest target.

women, each trying to control her own destiny against the background of a rapidly changing Spain.

GALA Hispanic Theatre Fri., Dec. 13, 7 p.m.

Lost in Time (Perdida) Directed by Viviana García Besné (Mexico, 2010, 93 min.)

This film traces the unbelievable true story of the Calderón family, which built grand movie palaces in Mexico and the U.S. and employed thousands to produce incomparable, hugely successful, often reprehensible populistgenre films utterly and uniquely Mexican.

GALA Hispanic Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 7 p.m.

María Candelaria Directed by Emilio Fernández (Mexico, 1944, 102 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Wed., Dec. 18, 7:20 p.m., Sat., Dec. 21, 1 p.m.

This poignant story of a young girl who is mercilessly persecuted by her townspeople introduced Mexican cinema to Europe in the 1940s.

Walesa. Man of Hope

GALA Hispanic Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 2 p.m.

Directed by Andrzej Wajda (Poland, 2013, 128 min.)

Andrzej Wajda brings the story of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement to the big screen with a plot that hinges on Walesa’s landmark 1981 interview, just months before Poland declared martial law, with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, recounting in flashback the previous decade and a half of activism.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Dec. 5, 7:15 p.m., Sat., Dec. 7, 1 p.m.

Romanian Child’s Pose (Pozitia copilului) Directed by Calin Peter Netzer (Romania, 2013, 112 min.)

Detained at the local police station after being involved in a fatal traffic accident, intoxicated thirtysomething Barbu (gets bailed out by his formidable mother, who over the coming days continues to bully, cajole and wheedle all those involved in deciding her son’s fate.

Nora’s Will (Cinco Días Sin Nora) Directed by Mariana Chenillo (Mexico, 2010, 90 min.)

When his ex-wife Nora dies right before Passover, José is forced to stay with her body until she can be properly put to rest.

He soon realizes he is part of Nora’s plan to bring her family back together for one last Passover feast.

GALA Hispanic Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 9 p.m.

She Doesn’t Want to Sleep Alone (No Quiero Dormir Sola) Directed by Natalia Beristain (Mexico, 2012, 82 min.)

Amanda’s dull life is suddenly interrupted when she is forced to take care of her alcoholic grandmother, a retired actress who lives on her past glories.

GALA Hispanic Theatre Wed., Dec. 11, 7 p.m.

Swedish

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.

The Disciple (Lärjungen)

Slovak

Directed by Ulrika Bengts (Finland, 2013, 93 min.)

My Dog Killer (Môj pes Killer) Directed by Mira Fornay (Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2013, 90 min.)

Living on a struggling vineyard on the Slovak-Czech border, an 18-year-old skinhead is surprised to discover that he has a young gypsy half-brother.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat,. Dec. 14, 11:05 a.m., Mon., Dec. 16, 9:10 p.m.

Slovenian Dual (Dvojina) Directed by Nejc Gazvoda (Slovenia/Croatia/Denmark, 2013, 102 min.)

A free spirited Dane, stopping through Slovenia on the way to a holiday in Greece, crosses paths with the straitlaced bus driver who picks her up at the airport.

In 1939, 13-year-old Karl is an eager-toplease orphan, sent by the state to work at an isolated Baltic island lighthouse, where the lighthouse master cruelly begins to favor the hard-working new boy over his own son.

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Dec. 9, 7:10 p.m., Tue., Dec. 10, 5:20 p.m.

The Hidden Child (Tyskungen) Directed by Per Hanefjord (Sweden, 2013, 105 min.)

After the tragic death of her parents, a crime novelist moves back to her childhood home in a sleepy seaside village, where a stranger shows up at her doorstep, claiming to be her long-lost brother.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Dec. 13, 8:05 p.m., Sun., Dec. 15, 6:15 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 11 a.m., Mon., Dec. 16, 9:45 p.m.

We Are the Best (Vi är bäst!)

Spanish

In 1982 Stockholm, 13-year-old best friends are united by their feelings of outsiderness—embarrassed by their parents, repulsed by the conformity of the school’s popular kids and hating gym class.

Chrysalis (De tu ventana a la mía) Directed by Paula Ortiz (Spain, 2011, 95 min.)

First-time director Paula Ortiz creates a chronicle of three generations of Spanish

December 2013

Directed by Lukas Moodysson (Sweden/Denmark, 2013, 102 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Dec. 14, 5:40 p.m., Sun., Dec. 15, 1 p.m.

The Washington Diplomat Page 37

[ around town ]

EVENTS LISTING **Admission is free unless otherwise noted. All information on event venues can be found on The Diplomat Web site at www.washdiplomat. com. Times and locations are subject to change.

Unless listed, please call venue for specific event times and hours of operation.

ART Dec. 2 to 13

Moods – Young Austrian Photography

The works of the six Austrian artists selected for this exhibition examine the perception and manipulation of our daily surroundings, providing a cross section of young, enterprising artists shaping the country’s contemporary photography scene.

Embassy of Austria Tue., Dec. 3, 6 p.m.

A ‘Munch’ Christmas Tree

Will it be a “scream” Christmas tree? We don’t know, but the famous Norwegian artist Edward Munch is set to play a key role at the annual Norwegian Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Union Station this year to mark the 150th anniversary of Munch.

Union Station Dec. 3 to 17

Seeing With Spiral Eyes: An Artist’s Journey through South and Central America

Photos and abstract paintings inspired by the artist Madeline Lynch’s recent travels through Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico re-imagine organic forms and iconic symbols — pulled from ancient myths, religions and folklore — to evoke a meditative state infused with the healing energy of bright colors and recurring designs.

El Mueso Fondo del Sol Through Dec. 8

Different Distances: Fashion Photography Goes Art

Five artists — whose images are a game of balance between art and fashion photography, rooted in cultural history as well as personal experiences — overcome the difference between the intimate and the distant to create atmospheres that bewitch us.

House of Sweden Through Dec. 8

The Third Room

Children enter a playroom that serves as a set on which they will be the leading characters in a theater piece of their own interpretation. Through headphones, they are instructed to find things in the room, to quiet a talking suitcase, and to fly through space. Exactly how they do this is completely up to them.

House of Sweden Through Dec. 8

United Stockholms of America

Using figures and facts, design and photography by Charlie Bennet, “United Stockholms of America” tells the story of the migration of 1.3 million Swedes who left their home for a better future in the Promised Land.

House of Sweden

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THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

Dec. 14 to May 4

Through Jan. 5

In Focus: Ara Güler’s Anatolia

A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Ara Güler, the “Eye of Istanbul,” is famous for his iconic snapshots of the city in the 1950s and ’60s, but with an archive of more than 800,000 photographs, Güler’s body of work contains far more than these emblematic images — as seen in this exhibition of never-before-shown works by the legendary photographer.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through Dec. 20

Camus in a Digital Age

Scannable QR codes create a virtual bridge between physical media and digital content, connecting gallery displays with online videos, photographs, newspaper and audio archives that explore the life of Albert Camus, a French Nobel Prize-winning author, journalist and philosopher. The exhibit is part of “Celebrating 100 Years of Albert Camus,” a series of events that includes author talks, a panel discussion and mixed-media performance; for information, visit www.francedc.org.

Alliance Française of Washington, D.C. Through Dec. 20

Fabriano 1264: 750 Years of Western Papermaking

The first 750 years of the city of Fabriano’s tradition of papermaking will be celebrated in D.C. as part of “2013: The Year of Italian Culture in the United States.” Papermaking is a still flourishing tradition that began in the 13th century and has made this historic town in the Marche region known throughout the world as the City of Paper.

Viewings are by appointment; for information, visit www.iicwashington.esteri.it.

Italian Cultural Institute Dec. 20 to April 27

Workt by Hand: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts Over time, quilts have been revered as nostalgic emblems of the past, dismissed as women’s work, and hailed as examples of American ingenuity. This exhibition breaks new ground by examining quilts through the lens of contemporary feminist theory.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Dec. 31

S.O.S. Spanish Office Showroom

As part of the SPAIN arts & culture program (www.spainculture.us), “S.O.S. Spanish Office Showroom” presents the most avantgarde pieces of Spanish design conceived for modern working environments, highlighting how the creativity of contemporary Spanish designers adapts to any office space and how Spanish design companies are successfully competing in international markets, such as the United States.

Former Spanish Residence Through Jan. 5

Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris

The first retrospective exhibition in the United States, and the only scholarly catalogue on the renowned 19th-century French photographer Charles Marville (1813-79), presents recent groundbreaking discoveries informing his art and biography, including the versatility of his photographic talents and his true identity, background and family life.

National Gallery of Art

More than 100 photographs selected from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the museum’s photography collection, examine photography’s evolution in the United States from a documentary medium to a full-fledged artistic genre, and showcase the numerous ways in which it has captured the American experience.

American Art Museum Through Jan. 5

Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa Some 100 exceptional works of art from the late 18th to 21st centuries come together for the first major exhibition and scholarly endeavor to comprehensively examine the rich relationship between African artists and the land upon which they live, work and frame their days.

National Museum of African Art Through Jan. 5

Northern Mannerist Prints from the Kainen Collection

Some 50 works embody the sophisticated imagery, extraordinary stylization and virtuoso technique of the printmaking industry that flourished in the northern Netherlands and at the imperial court of Prague in the late 16th century.

National Gallery of Art Through Jan. 5

Wanderer: Travel Prints

by Ellen Day Hale

A selection of prints, drawings and original printing plates demonstrates Ellen Day Hale ‘s passion for travel and her mastery of printmaking.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Jan. 5

Yes, No, Maybe: Artists Working at Crown Point Press Featuring 125 working proofs and edition prints produced between 1972 and 2010 at Crown Point Press in San Francisco, one of the most influential printmaking studios of the last half century, “Yes, No, Maybe” goes beyond celebrating the flash of inspiration to examine the artistic process as a sequence of decisions.

National Gallery of Art Through Jan. 12

Living Artfully: At Home with Marjorie Merriweather Post

From the glamour of Palm Beach, to the rustic whimsy of the Adirondacks, to the distinguished social scene of Washington, D.C., heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post brought to her multiple residences a flawless style of living and entertaining that was made possible only through the gracious management of loyal staff.

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens Through Jan. 12

Pakistani Voices: A Conversation with The Migration Series In April 2013, the Phillips partnered with

December 2013

the State Department to conduct a series of workshops in Pakistan focusing on art and social change. This exhibition features 29 works by emerging Pakistani artists and 20 works by students and orphans who worked together to create visual narratives about identity, personal struggle and Pakistani history.

The Phillips Collection Through Jan. 24

GOLS for Development

This digital and photographic exhibit narrates the impact of sport as a vehicle for social transparency, taking as an example the life of Pelé, the king of soccer, in parallel with several sports development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center Through Jan. 25

Explorations

“Explorations” presents the winners of the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series, a nationwide art competition that aims to discover the next big names in urban photography, painting and multi-media arts, and to celebrate today’s diverse up-and-coming artists on a national stage.

International Visions Gallery Through Jan. 25

A Night at the Opera

The grandeur of opera — its unforgettable music, stellar performers, and lavish scenery and costumes — has transfixed audiences for more than 400 years. This 50-item display will feature manuscripts, printed scores, librettos, photographs, correspondence and set designs dating from the late 18th century through the beginning of the 20th century.

Library of Congress James Madison Building Through Jan. 31

Icons of the Desert

This exhibition of early indigenous Australian paintings from Papunya, from the private collection of John and Barbara Wilkerson, took more than 10 years of development in close consultation with the aboriginal community and descendants of the artists.

Embassy of Australia Art Gallery Through Jan. 31

Linger On! (Verweile doch)

Capturing fleeting moments in time, these diverse works by six artists present extraordinary encounters with contemporary art, ranging from documentary photography that enhances reality via the deft use of framing and lighting to precisely staged productions.

Goethe-Institut Through Jan. 31

Portraits of Power: Works

by Alejandro Almaraz of Argentina

Since 2006, the Organization of American States’s Art Museum of the Americas has aimed to promote OAS values of social progress and cultural exchange through the visual arts. Continuing along this path, Alejandro Almaraz’s examinations of popular authority figures encourage conversation on vital OAS interests such as democracy and good governance.

Art Museum of the Americas

Through Feb. 9

Lines, Marks, and Drawings: Through the Lens of Roger Ballen

This exhibit considers the 40-year-plus career of Roger Ballen, one of the more recognized photographic artists working today, through a new approach: an examination of line and drawing in his photographs.

National Museum of African Art Through Feb. 14

Illuminating Opportunity: A Photography Exhibit for Social Good

This photography exhibit by Trees, Water and People explores the organization’s solar energy program in Honduras through the eyes of photographer Darren Mahuron.

Viewings are by appointment only; for information, call (202) 370-4618 or (202) 370-0151.

Organization of American States Through March 2

Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections

In the first exhibition devoted to Byzantine art at the National Gallery, some 170 rare and important works, drawn exclusively from Greek collections, offer a fascinating glimpse of the soul and splendor of the mysterious Byzantine Empire.

National Gallery of Art Through March 2

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art

Nearly 100 works in all media by 72 leading modern and contemporary artists present the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-20th century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.

Smithsonian American Art Museum Through March 9

Alex Prager: Face in the Crowd

Los Angeles artist Alex Prager’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States debuts her latest series — elaborately staged crowd scenes, both poignant and revelatory — alongside earlier photographs and video works.

Corcoran Gallery of Art Through March 15

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 26

Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950

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

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

in painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation and performance.

featuring intimate instrumentation that consists of bass clarinet, piano and drums.

Admission is free but tickets are required; for information, visit www.acfdc.org.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through June 8, 2014

Embassy of Austria

Perspectives: Rina Banerjee

Thu., Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.

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.

miXt

Formed in 2011, miXt is a versatile, dynamic chamber group comprised of award-winning soloists from the Young Concert Artists roster who perform in a variety of configurations. Tickets are $160, including buffet dinner and wine; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through July 13

Spanish Residence

Dancing the Dream

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.

Fri., Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m.

Norway’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Union Station takes place on Dec. 3.

National Portrait Gallery Through Aug. 24

Africa ReViewed: The Photographic Legacy of Eliot Elisofon

“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

DANCE Dec. 5 and 6

Ballet Hispanico

Ballet Hispanico returns to the Kennedy Center with a dazzling mixed repertory program to include the D.C. premiere of “Sortijas” by Cayetano Soto, one of the most dynamic and groundbreaking Spanish choreographers of his generation.

Tickets are $22 to $60.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater Dec. 5 to 29

The Nutcracker

The Washington Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” transports you back in time to historic D.C. with George Washington as the heroic Nutcracker, accompanied by glorious music, swirling snowflakes, and magnificent sets and costumes. Tickets are $32 to $112. (Immediately after the Dec. 15 matinee performance, the Washington Ballet (TWB) hosts the 34th annual Nutcracker Tea Party at the Willard InterContinental Hotel. For information, visit www.washingtonballet.org.)

Warner Theatre

DISCUSSIONS Thu., Dec. 13, 5-7 p.m.

LADO Open House

The LADO International Institute holds an open house at its D.C. location for prospective students and teachers to learn more about its English language classes. For information, visit www.lado.edu/english/.

LADO DC Center

GALAS Mon., Dec. 16, 7 p.m.

Choral Arts 33rd Annual Holiday Concert and Gala

The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s 33rd annual Holiday Concert and Gala begins with the show “An Enchanted Christmas,” followed by a black-tie reception, dinner and dancing on the Roof Terrace, with Italian Ambassador and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero serving as honorary patrons in honor of “2013: The Year of Italian Culture in the United States.” For

ticket information, visit www.choralarts.org.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall

MUSIC Mon., Dec. 2, 8 p.m.

Kazakhstan Gala Concert

Società Italiana della Musica da Camera (the Italian Society for Chamber Music) presents the Eurasian Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aidar Torebaev and with guest violinist Aiman Mussakhajayeva, in a gala concert for Kazakhstan. Tickets are $20 to $50.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall Dec. 5 to 7

Holiday Songfest Inc.: Irving Berlin Hits

Gorgeous choral music and carols with the Thomas Circle Singers starts at 7:15 p.m., followed by wonderful singers, including Broadway star Klea Blackhurst, in this all Irving Berlin repertoire. During the concert, champagne and hors d’oeuvres are served, followed by a buffet prepared by the embassy chef. Tickets are $140 (Dec. 5) or $150 (Dec. 6 and 7); for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Luxembourg Fri., Dec. 6, 8 p.m.

Christmas in Ireland: An Nollaig in Éirinn

Hailing from County Waterford, Danú performs traditional Irish music of the season in a very special holiday treat for young and old alike. Tickets are $34 to $50.

Christmas in Vienna

Burnett Thompson, the great American composer and pianist, presents his work “Christmas in Vienna” to ring in the holiday season. Admission is free but tickets are required; for information, visit www.acfdc.org.

Embassy of Austria Fri., Dec. 13, 8 p.m.

Sun., Dec. 15, 4 p.m.

Vienna Boys Choir: Christmas in Vienna

The spirit of the Christmas season comes to life when the angelic voices the Vienna Boys Choir performs a program of classical and popular music that includes traditional Christmas carols, Gregorian chants, songs from around the world and popular holiday favorites. Tickets are $25 to $50.

George Mason University Center for the Arts (Dec. 13) Hylton Performing Arts Center (Dec. 15) Dec. 13 to 22

Christmas in New Spain: Early Music of Mexico and Peru

The Folger Consort presents exuberant music by 16th- and 17th-century Latin American and Spanish composers for the Christmas season and lively rhythms of early baroque dances. Tickets are $50.

Ismäel Margain – Eunic Concert Series

An award-winning French pianist since the age of 7, Ismaël Margain, now 21, brings a vibrancy and enthusiasm to a repertoire that features pieces from Mozart, Ravel, Rachmaninov and his personal favorite, Schubert. Tickets are $15; for information, visit www.acfdc.org.

Embassy of Austria Wed., Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m.

Duo Drechsler & Martin Tiefenbacher

Duo Ulrich Drechsler & Martin Tiefenbacher perform their album “Beyond Words,”

George Mason University Center for the Arts

THEATER Through Dec. 1

Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare’s timeless story of young, passionate love set against a sea of hate is retold by three-time Helen Hayes Award-winning director Aaron Posner.

Tickets are $40 to $72.

Folger Shakespeare Library Dec. 5 to 22

Man in a Case

Interweaving video, music and dance, this production is adapted from two short stories of humor and despair by Anton Chekhov and features celebrated performer Mikhail Baryshnikov and veteran members of Big Dance Theater. Tickets are $45 to $105.

The Shakespeare Lansburgh Theatre Fri., Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Anticodes This multimedia dance theater production is based on Václav Havel’s collection of experimental poetry of the same name and uses projection and sound to turn the stage into a real-time visual and aural reflection of the dancers’ movements. Admission is free but tickets are required; a pre-show discussion about Havel and Czech theater starts at 7:30 p.m.

Georgetown University David Performing Arts Center

Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano: Fiesta Navidad

This Grammy Award-winning Mexican mariachi ensemble offers a lively concert featuring traditional Mexican and American carols such as “Feliz Navidad,” “Jingle Bells” and much more. Tickets are $25 to $50.

Dec. 15 to 22

Celebrate the splendor of the season with the Washington Chorus’s beloved holiday event and an annual favorite with Kennedy Center audiences. Tickets are $15 to $70.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall

In this play written in 1978 by famed Czech human rights activist Vaclav Havel, we meet a dissident on his way home from prison and a person involved in a campaign to protest the government.

One character is the protesting artist who suffered for his beliefs, the other a compromising and compromised playwright.

But in this unique interpretation by Ambassador Theater, the two male characters have counter female egos, emphasizing their universality. Tickets are $20 to $40; for information, visit www.aticc.org (for mature audiences).

Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint Dec. 17 to Jan. 5

Elf the Musical

Buddy the orphan leaves the North Pole to find his true identity in this modern Christmas classic that will make everyone embrace their inner elf. Tickets are $25 to $150.

Kennedy Center Opera House Through Dec. 29

The Apple Family Plays

“That Hopey Changey Thing” and “Sweet and Sad” will play in rotating repertory under the banner “The Apple Family Plays,” which follow a family’s story over two tumultuous years in America’s history. Tickets are $39 to $85.

Studio Theatre Through Jan. 5

A Christmas Carol Ford’s Theatre has delighted Washington audiences with “A Christmas Carol” for more than 30 years. Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption.

Please call for ticket information.

Ford’s Theatre Through Jan. 5

From one of Britain’s most promising young playwrights, this dark and cheeky look at what the future might hold features undercover agents, surveillance algorithms, and explosive karaoke.

Tickets are $30 to $35.

The Washington Chorus: A Candlelight Christmas

Tue., Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.

Irish-American fiddler Eileen Ivers, backed by her band Immigrant Soul, is a nine-time All-Ireland fiddle champion who is known for her high-energy performances that mix traditional and original music, spirited step-dancing and dramatic storytelling.

Tickets are $25 to $50.

Sun., Dec. 15, 4 p.m.

Dec. 7 to 15

GW Lisner Auditorium

Protest

Dec. 11 to Jan. 5

George Mason University Hylton Performing Arts Center

The Washington Revels’ celebration of the Winter Solstice harkens back to ancient Thrace, with music, dance and drama from Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, including a swirl of beautiful costumes, haunting Slavonic harmonies, and fiery instrumentals and folk dances. Tickets are $18 to $50.

Through Dec. 15

Eileen Ivers: An Irish Christmas – An Nollaig

Folger Shakespeare Library

George Mason University Center for the Arts

The 31st Annual Christmas Revels

Sat., Dec. 21, 8 p.m.

Edgar & Annabel

Studio Theatre Dec. 14 to 22

The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum This fun musical farce based on the classic plays of ancient Roman playwright Plautus tells the bawdy story of Pseudolus, a slave in ancient Rome, who goes to great lengths to gain his freedom by securing a courtesan for his young master, Hero. Tickets are $20 to $110.

Shakespeare Theatre Sidney Harman Hall

Most everyone knows the story of the Nativity, but probably not from the donkey’s point of view! Washington National Opera Artistic Director Francesca Zambello brings this award-winning children’s book to vibrant life in this heartwarming, world premiere holiday family opera. Tickets are $39 to $59.

Through Jan. 5

Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

Arena Stage

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Broadway and Arena Stage favorite Kenny Leon returns to direct Malcolm-Jamal Warner (in his Arena Stage debut) in a new adaptation of the beloved film “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” Please call for ticket information.

Dec. 16 to 24

The Choral Arts Society of Washington: An Enchanted Christmas

CULTURE GUIDE

This year, Choral Arts collaborates with the Italian Embassy to promise a concert mixed with Yuletide classics, Italian carols, and the always popular sing-along.

Tickets are $15 to $75.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall Dec. 19 to 22

National Symphony Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah

Get in the holiday spirit with Handel’s epic masterpiece, performed each year with a fresh perspective by the National Symphony Orchestra and acclaimed guest artists. Tickets are $10 to $85.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Plan Your Entire Weekend.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 39

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

45th Annual Meridian Ball

photos: thomas coleman Photo: Meridian International Center

From left, Janet Blanchard, Chairman of the Meridian Board of Trustees James J. Blanchard, Abigail Blunt, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), April McClain-Delaney, Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), Meridian President and CEO Stuart Holliday and Gwen Moore Holliday welcome guests to the 45th annual Meridian Ball held at the Meridian International Center.

White House Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard, left, and former Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall, who served as White House social secretary in the Clinton administration, attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero and his wife Laura Denise attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball, where desserts and dancing were preceded by dinners held at embassies and ambassador residences around town.

Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates Yousef Al Otaiba and his wife Abeer Al Otaiba attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball, which was preceded earlier that day by Meridian’s Global Leadership Summit in partnership with Gallup.

Robert O. Blake, former assistant secretary of South and Central Asian Affairs who recently became the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, and his wife Sofia Blake attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

From left, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns; Lisa Carty, senior advisor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Health Policy Center; Deputy National Security Advisor Antony Blinken; and Meridian President and CEO Stuart Holliday chat in the Meridian House gardens at the Meridian Ball.

From left, Fatiha Bouhlal and Ambassador of Morocco Mohamed Rachad Bouhlal, who hosted a pre-ball dinner at their residence, join former Ambassador of Georgia Temuri Yakobashvili, now with the German Marshall Fund, and his wife Yana Fremer at the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

Shahin Mafi, founder and CEO of Home Health Connection, left, and Shamim Jawad, wife of the former Afghan ambassador and founder and president of the Ayenda Foundation, attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

Ambassador of Grenada Angus Friday, right, and his date attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

From left, Rob Jones, senior White House correspondent for Fox News Ed Henry, senior CNN producer Shirley Hung Henry, and Emily Jones attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

Ambassador of Ecuador Nathalie Cely Suárez and her husband Ivan Hernández dance at the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

From left, Director of Federal Affairs-International Trade and Finance at General Motors Brad Welling, Shaw Zhu, and Ambassador of Singapore Ashok Kumar Mirpuri attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

Ambassador of Belgium Jan Matthysen and his wife Agnes Aerts attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

From left, Singleton McAllister, a partner at the law firm of Williams Mullen; Charles Knottingham; Kate Beale, White House liaison at USAID; and Ambassador of Botswana Tebelelo Seretse attend the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

Former U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook attends the 45th annual Meridian Ball.

Komen Promise Gala

From left, President of Friends of Cancer Research Marlene Malek, Susan G. Komen founder Nancy Brinker, and Debbie Dingell, president of D2 Strategies and wife of Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), attend Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Honoring the Promise Gala at the Kennedy Center.

Page 40

From left, Gilan Corn, Eric Brinker, Vice President of the Aspen Institute Eric Motley, and former Mayor of Montclair, N.J., Mary Mochary attend the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Honoring the Promise Gala.

Karla Gonzalez, left, and Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) attend the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Honoring the Promise Gala at the Kennedy Center.

From left, Olympic ice skater Dorothy Hamill, Tameka Johnson and Redskins wide receiver Josh Morgan attend the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Honoring the Promise Gala at the Kennedy Center.

CNN anchor Zoraida Sambolin, the evening’s mistress of ceremonies, and her fiancé Executive Vice President of the Chicago White Sox Kenny Williams attend the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Honoring the Promise Gala.

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

Women’s Conservation

Moroccan Diplomat Dinner

From left, Ambassador of Morocco Rachad Bouhlal, founder and CEO of MHz Networks Fred Thomas, Meredith Thomas, and Vice President of International Public Affairs at UPS Amgad Shehata attend a dinner hosted by Ambassador and Mrs. Bouhlal at their residence for The Washington Diplomat.

From left, Senior Director of International Public Affairs at Alcatel-Lucent Marie Royce, wife of Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif)., Thomas Coleman, founder and CEO of APCO Worldwide Margery Kraus, and Victor Shiblie, publisher and editor in chief of The Washington Diplomat, attend a dinner for The Diplomat at the Moroccan ambassador’s residence.

Photos: © Conservation International / Katja Edwards

From left, The Washington Diplomat news editor Larry Luxner, Galit Luxner, wife of the Moroccan ambassador Fatiha Bouhlal, Nuha Shiblie, and Gail Jagdeosingh attend a dinner for The Diplomat at the Moroccan ambassador’s residence.

From left, Madeleine Lyrvall, wife of the new Swedish ambassador, Dr. Amy Geng, and Rosieda Shabodien, wife of the South African ambassador, attend a luncheon for the Women’s Conservation Forum (WCF), a group of women in the Washington area dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of protecting earth’s natural resources.

Gouri Mirpuri, wife of the Singaporean ambassador, left, and Kathy Kemper, founder and CEO of the Institute for Education, attend a Women’s Conservation Forum luncheon featuring Katherine Kay of BBC World News America.

Enlightened Evening Alec and Hilaria Baldwin served as emcees for “Some Enlight­ ened Evening,” a gala at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditor­ ium to celebrate “Yoga: The Art of Transfor­ma­tion,” the world’s first exhi­­­bi­­tion on the photo: tony powell / sackler gallery art of yoga on display at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

photo: tony powell / sackler gallery

Ambassador of India Nirupama Rao, the gala’s diplomatic hostess, left, joins Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution G. Wayne Clough for a gala that attracted diplomats, philanthropists, artists, yogis and celebrities to mark the exhibit “Yoga: The Art of Transformation.”

photos: kate oczypok

From left, former Ambassador of Mexico Arturo Sarukhan, now with the Podesta Group, his wife Veronica Valencia, Anne Clough and Smithsonian Institution Secretary G. Wayne Clough attend the “Some Enchanted Evening” gala at the Mellon Auditorium.

Gala co-chair Dame Jillian Sackler, left, and Dr. Alice Kandell, a top art collector, attend the “Some Enchanted Evening” gala to benefit the Freer and Sackler Galleries.

From left, yoga teacher Maryam Ovissi, Daryl Pendleton, owner of Kamp Pendleton Personal Fitness Training, John Schumacher, founder and director of Unity Woods Yoga Center, and Susan Mann attend the “Some Enchanted Evening” gala to celebrate the evolution of yoga.

Marshall Fête

photos: kate oczypok

photo: cultural tourism dc

Ambassador of Mauritius Somduth Soborun recalls his time working with former Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall, now ambassador-in-residence at the Atlantic Council’s new Latin America Center.

From left, hostess Shahin Mafi, founder and CEO of Home Health Connection, former Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall, emcee Jan Du Plain, and Executive Director of Cultural Tourism DC Steven Shulman attend a reception hosted by Cultural Tourism DC in honor of Marshall at Mafi’s residence in Potomac.

From left, Ambassador of Colombia Carlos Urrutia, Laura Perez Medina Mora and Ambassador of Mexico Eduardo Medina Mora attend a reception in honor of former Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall.

From left, Sat Bir Khalsa of Harvard Medical School, Dilip Sarkar, Alison Jefferies, Lorenzo Cohen of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Saudamini Siegrist of UNICEF, Ranjana Ghose and Mibeshe Hunt attend the “Some Enchanted Evening” gala.

Jaap Otte, corporate relations officer at the Smithsonian Institution, left, and Claudia Cavazza of lululemon athletica attend a gala to celebrate the Sackler exhibit “Yoga: The Art of Transformation.”

Ambassador of the Philippines Jose L. Cuisia Jr., left, joins Jerome Barry of the Embassy Series at the Potomac residence of Shahin Mafi, founder and CEO of Home Health Connection Inc., a provider of home health care services.

Ambassador of Albania Gilbert Galanxhi and his wife Etleva Galanxhi attend a reception in honor of former Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall.

Kerry at OAS From left, Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche, former Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall, and Ina Ginsburg attend a reception in honor of Marshall hosted

by Cultural Tourism DC and Shahin Mafi.

Ambassador of Botswana Tebelelo Seretse presents a hand-woven basket to Timothy Cox, Cultural Tourism DC board chair, as a present for former Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall.

Photo: Juan Manuel Herrera / OAS

From left, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta S. Jacobson; U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) Carmen Lomellin; Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda and Chair of the OAS Permanent Council Deborah-Mae Lovell; Secretary of State John Kerry; OAS Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza; and InterAmerican Dialogue Co-Chair Carla A. Hills of Hills & Co. attend a speech given by Kerry on U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere at the OAS.

photo: cultural tourism dc

December 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 41

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

Caroline Kennedy Swearing-in

photo: gail scott

photo: embassy of japan

From left, Edwin Arthur Schlossberg and his wife, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, join Secretary State John Kerry, his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, Nobuko Sasae, and Ambassador of Japan Kenichiro Sasae at the Japanese Residence to celebrate Kennedy’s recent posting to Tokyo.

Former NFL football player Calvin Hill, left, and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) attend a reception honoring recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy.

Former Obama Senior Director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council Jeffrey Bader and his wife Rohini Talalla, a documentary filmmaker, attend a reception to celebrate Caroline Kennedy’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to Japan.

From left, Mark Shriver, Caroline Kennedy’s cousin and vice president of Save the Children’s U.S. programs; his wife Jeanne Ripp; Gail West; and former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo West Jr. attend a reception at the Japanese Residence to celebrate Caroline Kennedy’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to Japan.

photo: embassy of japan

From left, Sakura Buker and Lynn Sugahara congratulate Caroline Kennedy on becoming U.S. ambassador to Japan at a packed reception in her honor held at the Japanese Residence following her official swearing-in earlier that day.

NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, left, congratulates Caroline Kennedy on her recent appointment as U.S. ambassador to Japan.

New Zealand Rugby

Photo: Gail Scott photos: new zealand embassy

The Māori All Blacks play the USA Eagles at Philadelphia’s PPL Park, where the New Zealand Embassy in Washington took advantage of the occasion to showcase Māori culture and also host the Ambassador’s Rugby Shield curtainraising match between the New Zealand Ambassador’s XV rugby team and the US Combined Military Services team.

From left, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ina Ginsburg, and Dean Reed attend a reception honoring recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy.

From left, New Zealand Embassy Residence Manager Michael Macklin, Ambassador of New Zealand Michael Moore, his wife Yvonne Moore, and award-winning embassy chef Nathan Bates host an “Ambassador’s Marquee” showcasing New Zealand cuisine and Māori culture ahead of the match between the Māori All Blacks and USA Eagles rugby teams in Philadelphia.

New Zealand rugby legend Eric Rush, left, and New Zealand Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Anthony Smith watch the 17th annual Ambassador’s Rugby Shield, which is usually played in Washington but was moved to Philadelphia to join a larger match with the Māori All Blacks, made up exclusively of indigenous Māori players.

Nooristan Benefit

Marie Kux, right, president of the Nooristan Foundation, a D.C.-based volunteer nonprofit that supports health care, vocational training and education for Afghan women and children, joins Ambassador of India Nirupama Rao for “An Evening of Hope: A Benefit Dinner for the Women and Children of Afghanistan” held at the Indian Residence.

photos: Embassy of india

From left Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, his wife Marie Royce of Alcatel-Lucent, and former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann attend a benefit dinner at the Indian Residence to benefit the Nooristan Foundation, which helps women and girls in rural Afghanistan.

Supporters of the Nooristan Foundation benefit dinner were, from left, Nooristan Vice President Lindsey Holaday, Schameha Shokoor, Guli Atash, and Nadir Atash, a member of a well-known Nooristani family who resettled in the United States after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and who founded the Nooristan Foundation in 1999.

Vice President of the Nooristan Foundation Mariam Atash, right, and hostess Ambassador of India Nirupama Rao, second from left, with Sultana Hakimi, wife of the Afghan ambassador, to her left, pose with volunteers and members of the Nooristan Board of Directors dressed in traditional Indian and Afghan attire.

Muslim Women

photo: Gail scott

Sultana Hakimi, wife of the Afghan ambassador and president of the Muslim Women’s Association, left, and Ambassador of Jordan Alia Hatoug-Bouran host an association meeting at the Embassy of Jordan.

Women Envoys

Bulgarian Reception

photos: Molly McCluskey

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright addresses a reception for female ambassadors at the Georgetown University Institute for Women, Peace and Security.

Page 42

From left, co-founder and vice chair emeritus of the Vital Voices Global Partnership Donna McLarty, Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security Melanne Verveer, the former U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, and Jeanne Ruesch attend a reception at Georgetown University celebrating female ambassadors in Washington.

From left, Ambassador of Rwanda Mathilde Mukantabana, Ambassador of Botswana Tebelelo Seretse, and Ambassador of Tanzania Liberata Mulamula attend a reception hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security celebrating women ambassadors.

Recently appointed Ambassador of Ireland Anne Anderson talks to fellow female ambassadors at Georgetown University’s Riggs Library.

The Washington Diplomat

photo: Gail scott

From left, Ambassador of Bulgaria Elena Poptpdorova, Esther Coopersmith, and Foreign Minister of Bulgaria Kristian Vigenin attend a dinner party hosted by Coopersmith at her residence to mark the 110th anniversary of relations between the U.S. and Bulgaria as well as the 70th anniversary of the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews in World War II.

December 2013

Latvia Celebrates From left, Ambassador of Ukraine Olexander Motsyk, his wife Nataliia Terletska, and Ambassador of Lithuania Zygimantas Pavilionis attend the Latvian Independence and Armed Forces Day reception.

photos: kate oczypok

From left, Ambassador of Latvia Andris Razans, his wife Gunta Razane, Latvian Embassy Defense, Military, Naval and Air Attaché Col. Ivo Mogilnijs, and Svetlana Mogilnijsaja welcome guests to the 95th anniversary celebration of the proclamation of Latvia’s independence.

From left, Stiprais Edward, Ambassador of Georgia Archil Gegeshidze, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Elin Suleymanov, and Founding Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute S. Frederick Starr attend the Latvian Independence and Armed Forces Day reception at the Latvian Embassy.

Defense, Military, Naval and Air Attaché at the Portuguese Embassy Col. Jor Cabrita Alao Correia da Silva, left, and Defense, Military and Air Attaché at the Austrian Embassy Brig. Gen. Harald Gollinger attend the Latvian Independence and Armed Forces Day reception.

photos: kate oczypok

U.S. Air Force Col. Brent Griffin, left, and Defense Attaché at the Estonian Embassy Col. Aivar Salekesin attend the Latvian Independence and Armed Forces Day reception.

From left, recently appointed Ambassador of Sweden Björn Lyrvall, Karin Haglund, and Defense Attaché at the Swedish Embassy Rear Adm. Jörgen Ericsson attend the Latvian Independence and Armed Forces Day reception.

Ambassador of Latvia Andris Razans, left, and Amy Ballard, senior historic preservation specialist at the Smithsonian Institution, attend the opening of the architectural exhibit “Comparisons in Jugendstil and Spanish Mission Private Residences” at the Latvian Embassy.

Col. Serhil Dolenko of Ukraine, left, and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Ukrainian Embassy Yaroslav Brisiuck attend the Latvian Independence and Armed Forces Day reception.

Ambassador of Austria Hans Peter Manz, left, and realtor James Connolly attend the debut of an architectural exhibit that compares the Alice Pike Barney Studio House, now the Latvian Embassy, and the Riga Art Nouveau Museum built in the Jugendstil, or art nouveau style.

From left, Planning Specialist at Howard County Government Dace Blaumanis, Janis Gramatins, and Agrita Tipane of the Riga Jugendstil Museum attend the exhibition opening of “Comparisons in Jugendstil and Spanish Mission Private Residences.”

Rescue of Danish Jews From left, Danish Honorary Consuls Anna Holliday of Houston, Ruth Tales of Los Angeles, Sisse Nielsen of Sacramento, and Leila Thau Jensen of Sacramento attend “A Celebration of Humanity: The Rescue of the Danish Jews.” photo: Gail scott photo: kate oczypok

photo: Gail scott

From left, Rabbi Bruce Lustig of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, Ambassador of Denmark Peter Taksøe-Jensen, and Cecilie Stokholm Banke attend the concert and discussion “A Celebration of Humanity: The Rescue of the Danish Jews” at the Washington Hebrew Congregation, one of several events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the World War II-era rescue operation.

Steve Katzki, left, and Gustav Goldberger, a former attorney with the Department of Energy, celebrate 70 years since more than 7,000 Danish Jews were rescued from deportation to Nazi camps at a reception held at the Danish Embassy, where Goldberger told guests about how his family traveled by fishing boat to neutral Sweden to evade the Nazis.

From left, David Levy, Bryan Greene, Sara Lindstrom, Josh Friedlander, Maia Daniels and Gideon Culman attend “Rescue of the Danish Jews in a Present Context,” a reception and talk held at the Danish Embassy Residence.

photo: Gail scott

Wilma Bernstein and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Stuart Bernstein attend “A Celebration of Humanity: The Rescue of the Danish Jews” commemorating 70 years since Denmark’s Jewish population was able to evade the Nazis by fleeing to Sweden.

U.N. Day at Oneness

photo: kate oczypok

Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of Honduras Karol Escalante, left, and Minister at the Sri Lankan Embassy Varuna Epasinghe attend the United Nations Day event at Oneness-Family School.

Ambassador of Mauritius Somduth Soborun, left, and Ecnomics Minister Counselor at the Liberian Embassy Famatta Deline hold their nation’s flags during the annual United Nations Day program at Oneness-Family School in Chevy Chase, Md.

photo: audrey hoffer

Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson waves his country’s flag during the Procession of Nations at the Oneness-Family School’s annual United Nations Day event.

Ambassador of Uganda Oliver Wonekha, left, and Ambassador of Panama Mario Jaramillo of Panama carry their national flags to celebrate Oneness-Family School’s annual United Nations Day program.

Lebanese Refugee Crisis Edward M. Gabriel, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco and vice chairman of the American Task Force for Lebanon, left, joins Ambassador of Lebanon Antoine Chedid at the Woodrow Wilson Center to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon caused by the influx of refugees from Syria.

Photos: Jowan Gauthier and Prabhakar Street

December 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 43

from page 7

OAS close to a very difficult situation. Certain programs will have to be stopped.”

At present, the United States funds 59 percent of the organization’s $83 million annual budget; Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Colombia make up most of the remaining 41 percent. Separately, the OAS receives $70 million a year in voluntary contributions from OAS member states and permanent observers for specific purposes.

Although the group’s budget is a pittance compared to total U.S. federal expenditures, some members of Congress have long viewed the OAS as an unwieldy bureaucracy that talks about democracy but does little else.

“We know that the Hill was not satisfied with the work of the OAS,”Ramdin toldThe Washington Diplomat. “Some members of Congress felt we should do more in terms of responding to countries where democracy, human rights and freedom of the press is not seen as at the highest level. As a consequence, they want to put more financial pressure on the organization.”

In fact, one of the OAS’s loudest critics on the Hill is Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-born Republican whose South Florida district is home to tens of thousands of fellow Cuban exiles.

During House deliberations on the bill, the lawmaker said she was “deeply disappointed that the OAS has failed to live up to the principles” of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

“The OAS should be, but is not, an important regional body that stands up for democratic principles, that promotes the rule of law and condemns human rights violations. However, the OAS has strayed. This bill is a positive step forward to bring it back onto the right path,” said Ros-Lehtinen, chastising the 65-year-old organization for letting member states ignore their own constitutions when it comes to human rights.

“Has the OAS spoken out against the illegitimate elections in Venezuela? How about the illegitimate elections in Nicaragua? Or what about the continued human rights abuses against the people of Cuba?” she demanded.

Many Republicans accuse the OAS of bowing to repressive states such as Venezuela. Conversely, the bloc has also been called a puppet of the United States by Chávez himself.

A big part of the problem is the “challenge of leadership at the OAS,” said a senior staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — an obvious reference to Chile’s José Miguel Insulza, who’s been secretary-general of the OAS since 2005.

“But there’s also a technical side of this, in which the OAS has become a bloated, multilateral bureaucracy. It has accepted far too many missions, down to the point where the OAS is officially responsible for managing the art museum right behind its headquarters,” complained the staffer, who asked not to be named.“There’s a firm belief that the OAS needs to get back to the priorities on which it was founded: promoting representative democracy, managing security, and promoting strong economic growth.”

The staffer added: “A number of new challenges have arisen. Divisive political leaders have sought to block productive debate at the OAS, knowing that the lack of a unified response would make it easier to undermine governance at home. In addition, the threat posed by transnational crime and narcotics networks has evolved faster than the OAS can respond. We’re calling on Secretary Kerry to put in place a series of bold reforms. Sen. Menendez is personally invested in making this a success.”

Carlos Lauría, an official with the New Yorkbased Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), is especially concerned about the decreasing influence of the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights under Insulza’s watch.

“This commission has played a decisive role

Page 44

as the last resort for citizens whose human rights have been violated after they’ve exhausted all internal legal remedies,” said Lauría, a former journalist from Argentina who’s now CPJ’s senior program coordinator for the Americas.“It has been key in denouncing flagrant human rights abuses and laws that guarantee immunity for military dictatorships. And the commission’s special rapporteur for freedom of expression has been instrumental in the fight against the criminalizing of defamation, and the need for judiciaries in Latin America to combat impunity in cases of murdered journalists.”

But in the last few years, Lauría warned, populist presidents led by Ecuador’s Rafael Correa have won preliminary decisions by the OAS that “could gut the system that protects human rights and press freedom” — all with the tacit support of regional heavyweights such as Brazil.

“In Ecuador, the repressive policies of the Correa administration are creating huge challenges to report the news freely. Journalists are already censoring themselves, which has a chilling effect,” Lauría told The Diplomat. “Insulza is secretary-general of the OAS, and this situation where countries have tried to diminish the role of the rapporteur has happened during his rule, so he shares some responsibility for this.”

Michael Shifter, president of the InterAmerican Dialogue, agrees that the OAS is beset with problems — but he also sympathizes with Insulza to an extent.

“The OAS has long been criticized for lacking relevance. But in the last couple of years, the region has become more fragmented than ever.

The U.S. is distracted, and Chávez was a very polarizing force.This makes it hard for any organization to come up with any kind of coherent strategy,” said Shifter, adding that Insulza — who has three more years as secretary-general— is serving under very difficult circumstances.

“There has been backsliding on democracy and a decline in the will to respond to democratic

from page 15

Energy

Saudi Arabia has also indicated that it might build a few reactors, but the United Arab Emirates appears to be the most advanced country in the region when it comes to pursuing a nuclear-fueled future.

Yet efforts by the UAE to join the nuclear power club were frustrated by a controversy that erupted back in 2006. That year, Dubai Ports World was set to take over managing major port facilities in several U.S. cities.

However, once the transaction became public, members of Congress questioned the deal on the grounds it could make the United States more vulnerable to terrorism. DP World eventually backed off, transferring operations to an unspecified American entity.

“It was a short-term political firestorm, and it left its mark,” said Graham. “This outcome was wrong and unfair, and was profoundly embarrassing to the UAE — to the point where even though the UAE believed that nuclear energy must be in its future, it proceeded very cautiously down that road, in the wake of Dubai Ports World controversy, knowing that eventually the program would end up being reviewed by Congress.”

The next time around, the UAE was better prepared. The oil-rich Persian Gulf nation wooed U.S. policymakers with a slick lobby campaign that touted the UAE’s friendship with the U.S. and willingness to abide by international nonproliferation standards (to allay concerns, it agreed not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel for plutonium,

Photo: Juan Manuel Herrera / OAS

José Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States since 2005, leads a meeting of the OAS last month at the group’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

crises. Insulza’s response is that there’s a limit to what he can do.”

That’s because the OAS operates by consensus, requiring a unanimous vote to make most decisions. “As political ideologies have diversified within the region, this has made it difficult for the OAS to make quick, decisive calls to action,” wrote Brianna Lee in a 2012 backgrounder for the Council on Foreign Relations.

“The polarization between American states has also led to one of the OAS’s other major shortcomings: its many mandates unrelated to the core mission.”

That’s partly why Shifter called the OAS Reform Act a positive step — as long as it’s taken to the next level.

“It’s hard to disagree with anything that brings together such a broad spectrum. It was not terribly detailed or focused,” he said. “Now comes the hard part.We all know the OAS needs to reform. What does that mean? And to what extent will the U.S. really be engaged in that

which is used in nuclear bombs).The UAE also said it could serve as a model of a peaceful civilian nuclear energy program in the region, a direct reference to Iran.

The UAE’s charm offensive worked and it signed a landmark “123 Agreement” to receive sensitive information and materials from the United States to help create the Arab world’s first civilian nuclear power industry.

As a senior diplomat, Graham helped negotiate every major arms control and nonproliferation agreement from 1970 to 1997 in which the United States was involved. In 2009, he was appointed to the International Advisory Board of the United Arab Emirates. He said the UAE deserved the 123 Agreement — and that if the United States had backed out of the deal, it would’ve bolstered the Iranian charge that Washington wants to prevent Middle Eastern states from accessing peaceful nuclear energy.

He noted that the UAE established a regulatory agency in 2009 and “staffed it with real experts.” Soon after, it awarded a consortium led by Korea Electric Power Corp. a $20 billion contract to build the first four nuclear power plants, with a commitment of having the first plant operational by 2017.

Despite the setbacks to the global nuclear industry that followed Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster — the world’s worst nuclear accident since the 1986 meltdown at Chernobyl — Graham insists the mammoth project will pose no threat whatsoever.

“The UAE is the first newcomer country for nuclear power generation in the last three decades,” he said. “It has persevered despite the shadow of Dubai Ports World. It is delivering its reactors on time and on budget. It is

process and shape a constructive result?”

Asked that same question, Ramdin responded carefully. Like the law itself, he declined to identify specific countries.

“It is important for the United States to continue supporting organizations like the OAS, which still makes every effort to strengthen democracies, defend human rights and promote the rule of law. It would not be a good thing if countries retreat from that. I believe that if we want to strengthen democracies, we should do two things: one, to support the OAS even more — giving us the tools we need — and two, to engage much more intensively those countries which are seen as not being on the right track.”

He added that the venerable institution clearly has an image problem.

“We should do more to publicize the many areas in which the OAS is helping countries establish a democratic environment for security and economic growth — exactly the things Congress wants us to do. But we’re getting fewer channels to showcase what we are doing,” he said, noting that two years ago, member states voted to kill the OAS’s award-winning bimonthly magazine, Americas, after more than 50 years of continuous publication. That saved $200,000 from the overall budget.

“I’m not putting the blame on a misunderstanding with the outside world,” Ramdin said, “but we have to work harder in getting the word out.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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Sign up at www.washdiplomat.com.

committed to the highest standards of safety, security and nonproliferation.”

Yet in the long term, a far cheaper and safer alternative may be solar energy.

Last year, Kuran, president of SunEdison Advanced Solutions, founded a company that installed solar panels on 20,000 rooftops throughout Jordan. He also launched the innovative Smart City project in Bahrain.

“Solar energy is one of the fastest-growing sectors in energy today, along with wind,” he said. “The solar industry will receive over $1 trillion in the next seven to eight years, so it’s a massive growth area for us.”

One of solar’s biggest advantages over oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy is that the fuel itself — sunshine — is free.

“But the bulk of the investment is your upfront capital costs, so you have to ensure that you have a long-term view — modeling the megatrends in oil prices and geopolitical stability. With all these arguments for and against solar,” he said,“solar happens to be one of the biggest job generators on a per-megawatt basis.”

Kuran added:“When you look at oil production, the number of jobs are limited. And with nuclear, if you build a nuclear plant in a place like Jordan or Qatar, most likely you will have to import the technology. But with solar, you can build a factory in six to nine months. For a country like Jordan that imports 96 percent of its energy, it’s a straightforward case.You want to be energy independent? Solar is the answer.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat

December 2013

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December 2013

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tural Balakishiyev assumed the position of attaché on sept. 2.

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Pakistan

David Frous departed the post of second secretary on July 12.

Jalil Abbas Jilani has been appointed to serve as ambassador of Pakistan to the united states, having previously served as Pakistani’s foreign secretary since march 2012. A career diplomat, he also served as Ambassador ambassador of Pakistan to Jalil Abbas Jilani Belgium, luxembourg and the european union, interacting with the nAto headquarters in Brussels on a regular basis, as well as high commissioner to Australia (2007-09). in addition, Ambassador Jilani, a specialist in south Asian affairs, was director general of south Asia and the south Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (2003-07), deputy high commissioner/acting high commissioner to india (19992003) and india director at the ministry of Foreign Affairs (1992-95). in 2005, he was also the government’s spokesman on foreign affairs, and from 1989 to 1992, Ambassador Jilani served as deputy secretary in the Prime minister’s secretariat. his other overseas assignments include Jeddah (1983-85), london (1985-88) and Washington, D.C. (1995-99).

Ambassador Jilani holds a bachelor’s degree in law and master’s in defense and strategic studies. he is married to shaista Jilani and has three sons.

Jakub novak assumed the position of first secretary on July 8.

Fiji Ray Baleikasavu departed the post of first secretary on Aug. 31.

Akuila Vuira assumed the position of first secretary on sept. 8.

New Zealand Justine Arroll assumed the position of second secretary on Dec. 4.

Danie Beukman departed the post of second secretary on nov. 22.

December 2013

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MALTA Dec. 8: immaculate Conception Dec. 13: Republic Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day

EQUAToriAL GUiNEA Dec. 10: international human Rights Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day ESToNiA Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day FiJi Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day FiNLAND Dec. 6: independence Day Dec. 24: Christmas eve Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day FrANCE Dec. 25: Christmas Day GABoN Dec. 25: Christmas Day GAMBiA Dec. 25: Christmas Day

iNDoNESiA Dec. 25: Christmas Day irELAND Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: st. stephen’s Day iSrAEL nov. 27-Dec. 5: hanukkah iTALy Dec. 8: immaculate Conception Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: st. stephen’s Day

GErMANy Dec. 25-26: Christmas

JAMAiCA Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

GhANA Dec. 1: Farmer’s Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

JAPAN Dec. 23: emperor’s Birthday Dec. 31: Bank holiday

GrEECE Dec. 25: Christmas Day

JorDAN Dec. 25: Christmas Day

NiCArAGUA Dec. 8: immaculate Conception Dec. 25: Christmas Day

KENyA Dec. 12: Jamhuri (independence) Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

LATviA Dec. 24-26: Christmas Dec. 31: new year’s eve

EL SALvADor Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 31: Bank holiday

APPOINTMENTS

tomas hart assumed the position of head of the economic section on Aug. 11. hart previously served in Prague in the economic section of the state Department (2012-13); advisor to the Ceo of Czechtrade (2011-12); commercial consul in new york (2007-11); and commercial attaché at the Czech embassy in serbia (2000-05).

Send Us Your Holidays and Appointments

KAZAKhSTAN Dec. 16: independence Day

LiThUANiA Dec. 25-26: Christmas

MArShALL iSLANDS Dec. 25: Christmas Day MEXiCo Dec. 25: Christmas Day MiCroNESiA Dec. 25: Christmas Day MoZAMBiQUE Dec. 25: Christmas Day NAMiBiA Dec. 10: international human Rights Day Dec. 25-26: Christmas

NorwAy Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day PAKiSTAN Dec. 25: Birthday Anniversary of Quaide-Azam PALAU Dec. 25: Christmas Day PANAMA Dec. 8: mother’s Day Dec. 20: national mourning Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day PAPUA NEw GUiNEA Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day PArAGUAy Dec. 8: Virgin of Caacupe, immaculate Conception Dec. 25: Christmas Day PErU Dec. 8: immaculate Conception Dec. 25: Christmas Day PhiLiPPiNES Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 30: Jose Rizal Day Dec. 31: last Day of the year PoLAND Dec. 25-26: Christmas PorTUGAL Dec. 1: Restoration of independence Dec. 8: immaculate Conception Dec. 25: Christmas Day roMANiA Dec. 1: national Day Dec. 6: st. nicholas Day Dec. 8: Constitution Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 31: new year’s eve rwANDA Dec. 25: Christmas Day

NEThErLANDS Dec. 25-26: Christmas

ST. KiTTS and NEviS Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

NEw ZEALAND Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

ST. LUCiA Dec. 13: national Day Dec. 25-26: Christmas

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Sri LANKA Dec. 25: Christmas Day SUDAN Dec. 25: Christmas Day SwEDEN Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day SwiTZErLAND Dec. 8: immaculate Conception Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: st. stephen’s Day

SyriA Dec. 25: Christmas Day TANZANiA Dec. 9: independence Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day ThAiLAND Dec. 5: hm the King’s Birthday Dec. 10: Constitution Day ToGo Dec. 25: Christmas Day

ToNGA Dec. 25: Christmas Day

UKrAiNE Dec. 6: Armed Forces Day

TriNiDAD and ToBAGo Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

UNiTED ArAB EMirATES Dec. 2: national Day

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UNiTED KiNGDoM Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

UGANDA Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

UrUGUAy Dec. 25: Christmas Day

UZBEKiSTAN Dec. 8: Constitution Day vENEZUELA Dec. 25: Christmas Day ZAMBiA Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 31: new year’s eve ZiMBABwE Dec. 22: national unity Day Dec. 25: Christmas Day Dec. 26: Boxing Day

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December 2013