November 2013

A World of News and Perspective

■ EDUCATION & MEDICAL SPECIAL SECTIONS INSIDE

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ VOLUME 20, NUMBER 11

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

PEOPLE OF CaWORLD sting WINFLUENCE ide

Well-Worn Path of U.S. Democracy Promotion Proves Treacherous

Universities Prep New Generatio n To Secure World’s Cyberspace by

The Washington Ballet Expands Global Footprint Under Septime Webre, the Washington Ballet is more international than ever, with new dancers from Cuba, Italy, Belarus and elsewhere. PAGE 44

up a number of admirers in

Audrey Hoffer

Computers may not exactly control the world, but much of the world functions thanks to the help of computers — so securing them has become the next frontier in higher education.

Continued on next page

D.C. PAGE 28 ■ War hasn’t stopped the American

University of Iraq from its mission.

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EDUCATION

The Washington Diplomat

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Under Wendy Chamberlin, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and 29-year career U.S. Foreign Service officer, the Middle East Institute (MEI) has become an invaluable resource for cutting through the clutter of change in the Arab world.

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THE ROTUNDA

culture

Net

MEI Gauges Temperature Of Mideast Convulsions ■ INSIDE: Project Zero is racking

November 2013

George W. Bush made democracy promotion abroad a central tenet of his administration, while Barack Obama has taken a more calibrated approach to the rocky path of telling other countries how to govern themselves.

But is there a more nuanced middle ground to democracy promotion that critics of both presidents are missing? PAGE 7

Americans decried the end of majority rule during the recent government shutdown, but they’re lamenting something that never existed. Majority rule is not the basis for the American political system. Nor was it ever.

And there are good reasons for that — at least some of the time. PAGE 10

■ NOVEMBER 2013 Andreae Pohlman, who participated in the George Washington University’s co-leads GW’s team in the CyberCorps program, National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in February 2012.

POLITICS

Government Shutdown Exposes Quirks of Minority Rule in U.S.

■ November 2013

AFRICA

Mali Heals

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

Japanese Wife Never Gets Lost In Translation Nobuko Sasae, wife of Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae, has spent the last 15 years establishing her career as a professional interpreter but is taking a breather from her job now that she’s in D.C. PAGE 45

Ravaged by a military coup, separatist rebels and Islamic fanatics who brutalized its people, Mali is putting its house — and country — back together, according to Ambassador Al Maamoun Baba Lamine Keita, who says the new government is ready to battle radical Islamists while repairing the deep fissures that tore the country apart last year. PAGE 15 ADVERTISEMENT

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The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

CONTENTS THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

November 2013

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7 Middle East democracy promotion

Cybersecurity programs

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PEOPlE Of WOrld iNfluENCE

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ThE dEmOCrACy AgENdA President Obama has eschewed the expansive vision of democracy promotion pushed by his predecessor, but the Arab Spring is testing Obama’s resolve to avoid imposing our values on other nations.

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ThE rOTuNdA

The U.S. government shutdown was a pathetic display of partisanship, but it also showed that the checks and balances America’s founding fathers put in place more than 200 years ago are alive and well.

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In D.C. schools, where the public discourse is dominated by politicized topics like teacher tenure, school closings and mandatory testing, teachers are refocusing the conversation on learning by embracing Project Zero, which dissects the learning (and teaching) process.

AmEriCAN uNivErSiTy iN irAq

COvEr PrOfilE: mAli

[ medical ] 37

SOurCE Of fruSTrATiON

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

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lOud ANd ClEAr “Pakistani Voices” speaks to a country rife with danger and violence, but also vibrant with color and the routine rhythms of family life.

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lATiN ‘libErTAd’ The Art Museum of the Americas in D.C. heads to Oklahoma to examine the evolution of Latin American art, and democracy, in the post-World War II period.

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diNiNg Thally introduces fresh and flavorful modern American cuisine to the Shaw neighborhood of D.C., while preserving a bygone era in the rapidly developing hotspot.

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film rEviEWS “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” the latest masterpiece from French-Tunisian writer-director Abdellatif Kechiche, tells the powerful tale of a young heroine coming of age and developing her identity in a long-term lesbian relationship.

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CiNEmA liSTiNg

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EvENTS liSTiNg

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diPlOmATiC SPOTlighT

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WOrld hOlidAyS

ExPANdiNg TOEPriNT

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APPOiNTmENTS

The Washington Ballet has always had an international bent, but Artistic Director Septime Webre has expanded the company’s footprint around the world even further.

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ClASSifiEdS

63

rEAl ESTATE ClASSifiEdS

[ culture ]

jfK’S PATh John F. Kennedy might not recognize the modern U.S. Senate, but he’d surely recognize the political aspirations of a number of senators eyeing the presidency.

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brEAST CANCEr Does a woman’s desire to look and feel better about her body threaten the health of her body? That’s the question on the minds of millions of women with breast implants.

When American journalists need expert analysis on countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, they don’t always look beyond their borders — or the Beltway — for help.

bEAuTiful muSiC The Embassy Series is celebrating 20 years of bringing acclaimed artists to the city’s embassies and ambassador residences — and shining a spotlight on the power of musical diplomacy.

iNTErNATiONAl PATiENTS Being sick and away from home can be a double whammy, but the Washington area is home to top-rated international patient programs that help ease the pain of medical care abroad.

The Islamists have been driven out, the country reunited, and democracy restored, but has Mali really recovered from its breakdown last year — and can peace return to this battleground of the West versus radical Islam?

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The American University of Iraq in Sulaimani has sprung up as an oasis of liberal thinking in a part of the world fraught with bloodshed, ethnic rivalries and centuries-old hatred.

Eu NEWbiE

diPlOmATiC SPOuSES Nobuko Sasae’s job is to make sure nothing gets lost in translation, but the professional interpreter is now speaking the language of diplomacy as the wife of Japan’s U.S. envoy.

PrOjECT zErO

They went to sleep Croats and woke up Europeans, but the transition of becoming the 28th member of the European Union hasn’t exactly been dreamy for Croatia.

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CybErSECuriTy Computers may exactly not control the world, but much of the world functions thanks to the help of computers — and securing them has become the next frontier in higher education.

Wendy Chamberlin has kept the Middle East Institute at the forefront of the Arab Spring, while reminding Americans that there’s more to the region than turmoil and terrorism.

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Libertad de Expresión

[ education ]

[ news ]

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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 Michael Coleman, Carolyn Cosmos, Audrey Hoffer, Rachel G. Hunt, Stephanie Kanowitz, Luke Jerod Kummer, Kat Lucero, Molly McCluskey, Ky N. Nguyen, Gina Shaw, John Shaw, Gail Scott, Dave Seminara, Gail Sullivan, Gary Tischler, Lisa Troshinsky Photographers 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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November 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 3

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

Wendy Chamberlin

Institute President Navigates Shifting Terrain of Middle East

by Michael Coleman

E

ven the most dedicated followers of news and trends in the Middle East would be hard pressed to keep up with all of the rapidly changing political and social developments sweeping across the complicated region.

Fortunately, the Middle East Institute (MEI) and its president,Wendy Chamberlin, want to help us make sense of it all. The 67-year-old Washington think tank’s nonpartisan analysis and commentary on the region have become an invaluable resource for cutting through the clutter.

Chamberlin, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and a 29-year career U.S. Foreign Service officer, took the helm of the respected think tank in 2007 with the goal of breathing new life into an institution that some had come to view as too fusty to thrive in the age of social media and the internet. Over the past half-decade, Chamberlin has expanded the institute’s roster of scholars, dramatically improved its website, and worked to beef up its academic institute, which offers classes in multiple Middle Eastern languages.

As MEI prepared to host its 67th annual banquet and conference on Nov. 14 and 15, Chamberlin sat down with The Diplomat at MEI’s offices near Dupont Circle to discuss recent developments in the Middle East, as well changes at MEI and the upcoming conference at the Capitol Hilton. The event is billed as “Managing Transition, Containing Conflict:The Middle East in 2014.”

“So often it’s the negative story — terrorism, oil shortages, etc. — that gets the attention, but there are so many positive things that are also coming out of the Middle East,” Chamberlin explained.“That’s what we’re trying to highlight at our banquet.”

At this year’s conference, MEI is honoring two trailblazers. Zaha Hadid will receive the Issam M. Fares Award for Excellence for her contributions in the fields of architecture and design. Born in Baghdad, Hadid is the only woman and only Arab to win the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor. Abdlatif Al-Hamad will be honored with the MEI Visionary Award for his efforts to bring clean water, power and transportation to millions in Africa and the Middle East. Regarded as the dean of development efforts in the Arab world, Al-Hamad has served as directorgeneral of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development in Kuwait for the past 30 years.

Chamberlin — who was U.N. deputy high commissioner for refugees from 2004 to 2007 and before that oversaw USAID

Page 4

civilian reconstruction programs in Iraq and Afghanistan and development assistance throughout the Middle East and East Asia — said intellectual back-and-forth is a key mission of MEI. A recent panel discussion on Egypt proved the point.The event brought together a range of Egyptian and American voices to examine recent political, social and economic developments.

One panel in particular,“Working Toward a National Reconciliation,” featured liberal and Islamist participants who discussed ways opposing sides can reconcile and work together to forge a more pluralistic government and society.

“We brought in a slew of people — flew them in from Cairo,” Chamberlin said.

“They weren’t set pieces — they were Egyptians talking to Egyptians. We had representatives from every major faction and the leading voices so they had an opportunity to talk to each other freely, face to face. It was huge … and of course, the Twitter-sphere went crazy.”

Speaking about Egypt is something Chamberlin and other experts have been doing a lot of recently. In addition to the September conference, the MEI website is

“

Photo: Middle East Institute

So often it’s the negative story — terrorism, oil shortages, etc. — that gets the attention, but there are so many positive things that are also coming out of the Middle East.

”

— Wendy Chamberlin, president of the Middle East Institute full of penetrating insight into the turmoiltorn country.

After voters elected him president last year, Mohamed Morsi was accused of trying to monopolize power for his Muslim Brotherhood party, which came out of the political wilderness following Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in 2011. When millions protested against Morsi’s rule earlier this summer, the military kicked the Brotherhood out of office and is now accused of trying to crush what’s left of the movement, killing hundreds of its members in violent clashes, jailing thousands of its leaders, and seizing the group’s assets.

Morsi is set to stand trial this month

with 14 other defendants over the killings of protesters outside his presidential palace in December 2012, almost six months before his overthrow in a military coup. A committee is also working to rewrite the country’s constitution by the end of November and put it to a national referendum shortly thereafter.

Asked who Americans should root for in the ongoing battle between Islamists who backed the Muslim Brotherhood or the military that overthrew a democratically elected president, Chamberlin demurs.

“We should be rooting for the principles of inclusion, so that one group doesn’t dominate over another group,” Chamberlin asserted.“Those days have passed in Egypt.

The 2011 Tahrir Square events have moved Egypt into a new historical period, which includes women, Copts, Christians, various views within Islam, modernists, Salafists — they’ve all got to find a way to talk to each other.”

And it won’t be easy, the former diplomat predicted.

“It’s going to be painful; it’s going to be a rough process,” she said. “But I began to see it happening in our conference and some of the private meetings we held afterward.We want to continue to encourage inclusiveness.”

Having said that, Chamberlin added that the military has a role to play in a potentially volcanic society. She spoke to The Diplomat about a week before the United States announced it would put “large-scale military systems” and some cash aid to Egypt on hold pending democratic reforms by the military-backed interim government.

“In order to create this inclusive society you have to have stability first,” she said.

The Washington Diplomat

See Chamberlin, page 6 November 2013

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November 2013

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Chamberlin “I’m all for stability, but [the military is] going to have to know how to move from a stabilization mode into an inclusive mode — not just get stuck there.”

Asked if, as some Middle Eastern pundits have speculated, Egypt might simply be ungovernable, Chamberlin took a shot at the U.S. Congress instead.

“I think that might be true of the House of Representatives,” she said with a laugh.

She also said that President Obama has been maligned for not having a policy in the Middle East and Egypt, in particular. She prefaced her remarks on Obama by saying:“It’s really easy for ex-ambassadors to sit back and give advice.”

“I think the U.S. becomes the whipping boy unfairly when there is … great insecurities and turmoil in these societies,” she said. “I think the Obama administration has been unfairly criticized for not having a policy. They have a policy and it’s a policy of not bullying — not imposing — because frankly, what’s important is that this is really for the Egyptians to decide to resolve.

There is no external power that comes in and imposes stability. Stability has to come from the Egyptian people.”

She was more eager to critique Morsi’s shortlived presidency.

“I think that the Muslim Brotherhood made bad decisions at every point and their bad decisions came from a fundamental misunderstanding of Egypt today,” she argued. “Morsi was still representing the equities of the Muslim Brotherhood and he didn’t understand that he had to represent the equities of all of Egypt. All of Egypt rejected him for that.”

Chamberlin had no shortage of opinions on Pakistan, either. She served as ambassador to the

complex and dangerous nation from 2001 to 2002, when she played a key role in securing Pakistan’s cooperation in the U.S.-led campaign against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“It’s probably in a better place than it’s been in a decade,” Chamberlin said, before noting that the always-fraught U.S.-Pakistani relationship was in a low place until recently.

The top-secret raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad in 2011 strained the relationship, as did the subsequent revealing by WikiLeaks of U.S. cables that showed how the U.S. government intentionally concealed the operation from the Pakistani government.

“I would not pass the info to the GOP [government of Pakistan], because we can’t trust them,” one government official wrote prior to the raid.

Since then, the U.S. military’s constant drone attacks against suspected terrorists along the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan have also exacerbated tensions. The Pakistani government officially condemns the killings but many reports have revealed that the Pakistani military tacitly condones them. However, civilian casualties continue to pile up, putting the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a precarious position as it tries to tackles the scourge of terrorism within its own borders (more terrorist attacks struck Pakistan last year than any other country in the world; also see “Pakistani Government Takes Aim at Terrorism” in the October 2013 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

Sharif, who served as prime minister in the late 1990s, is a known entity in the West and has been tentatively welcomed by Washington. Of course, America’s relentless pursuit of terrorists remains a sticking point — a point on which Chamberlin actually credits Pakistan, which has lost tens of thousands of its citizens to terrorist violence since 9/11. On the flip side, the military and intelligence services have also been accused

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of coddling certain terrorist networks that serve their own ends, whether in Afghanistan or India.

“They have done more to help apprehend alQaeda than any other country in the world and continue to and always have,” she said. “Where the problems arrive is with their own citizens.

Their own sort of Pakistani Taliban, or Afghan Taliban, who have been safe havened in Pakistan through marriages — it’s tribal. If they crack down too hard, they’ll provoke a backlash, which has and is happening. They now have Pakistani Taliban with the mission of overthrowing the government and attacking the state.

“The sectarian violence, the ethnic violence has gotten worse. The Taliban is a threat to the state and they have to deal with this,” she added.

“They have a new president with the right agenda for the country, but he’s also going to have some serious domestic insecurity.”

Chamberlin credited the September swearingin of Pakistan’s new president, Mamnoon Hussain, and the country’s recent election milestone for helping to improve U.S. relations. Despite a rough road where his political demise constantly looked imminent, former President Asif Ali Zardari became the first democratically elected president in Pakistan’s history to finish a full term in office (also see “Pakistani Elections: Possible Bright Spot In Country Overshadowed

by Problems” in the May 2013 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

“A successful, free and fair election from one civilian president to another one occurred without any army influence,” Chamberlin said. “So Pakistanis have really earned their stripes as a democracy. I think the military can be credited for not staging a coup for five years when [former] President Zardari had been so unhappy.

“This new president — whatever misgivings some had had about him — he has shared our agenda,” Chamberlin added of Hussain. “It’s the right thing for Pakistan.”

She said the roots of U.S.-Pakistani discord can actually be traced to Pakistan’s decades-long nuclear agenda.

“It’s one of those things where we say we can’t trust them, and they say it’s in their national interest to lie about our nuclear weapons program, which is where this all began,” she said.

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, first developed in the 1970s as a counterweight to archrival India, is a done deal, though Washington continues to worry that nukes could get loose in the unstable Muslim nation of 180 million. But when it comes to nuclear bombs, Iran is Washington’s biggest headache at the moment — though relief may be in sight.

Chamberlin said a diplomatic thaw might be in the works under Iran’s new reform-minded president, Hassan Rouhani, although she credits Washington, not Tehran, for the possible breakthrough.

“I think it’s the success of the Obama admin-

istration’s sanctions policies,” she said. “They won’t say that because that would be gloating and it could spoil it, but I think very definitely that the Iranian officials see that the financial sanctions are unsustainable and unsupportable.

“They can’t conduct transactions because they don’t have access to Swift accounts for exchanging money,” Chamberlin continued.

“How can they function in a modern society like that? They can’t. They have got to get out from under these sanctions, and I think the door is wide open and Obama is absolutely right when he says we’ve got to test it.”

Finally, the outspoken Middle East expert said the situation in Syria, while heartbreaking, has been handled well by Obama — a point many critics would disagree with. While some have accused Obama of dithering and then fumbling the U.S. response, Chamberlin disagreed.

“I reject those who say Obama did not have a strategy in Syria — he did,” she said. “It was to keep the U.S. out of a war and he did.”

Chamberlin also took another jab at Capitol Hill, which wavered in its support for Obama’s call for limited strikes on Syria following its alleged use of chemical weapons on its own people this summer.

“It was a real test of an international convention and norms,” she said. “Even beyond the hideous immorality of what happened, I just didn’t think moral people and people who signed conventions and believed in international law could do nothing. I was frankly stunned at the reaction on the Hill — of both fanatical wings.”

Chamberlin said she’s not too optimistic about Russia’s offer to help dispose of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal — and made it crystal clear how she feels about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t trust Putin,” she told us. “I think it’s pretty evident who he is. I do think any international coalition to deal with Syria must include Russia and it must include Iran. I think there is a potential opening — there is a deal to be made there. I think it would be negligent to not pursue it.”

Despite the Herculean challenges facing the Middle East, Chamberlin said there is plenty to be excited about, as well.

“People at all strata are exercising their citizenship. They are not passive partners in their own destinies anymore — they’re playing roles,” she said. “The citizen rejection of the way the Muslim Brotherhood was not governing for all of Egypt is perhaps your best example. It was an exercise in citizenship that is very encouraging.

Egypt is in a place it has never been before in its thousands of years of history, and it will not go back. Any government in Egypt must govern with its people because it won’t permit anything else.”

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

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The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

Politics

Democracy Promotion

Obama: Defender of Democracy Or Ambivalent Bystander?

by Dave Seminara

E

ight years ago, President George W. Bush made an extraordinary pledge to the world in his second inaugural address.

He said, “All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.”

Many around the world would argue that that pledge hasn’t been kept by either George W. Bush or Barack Obama.

President Bush made democracy promotion, particularly in the Middle East, a central theme of his administration. But the democratization path has been rocky, if not treacherous, in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, Syria and elsewhere, and most foreign policy analysts agree that the Obama administration’s democracy promotion agenda has shifted, certainly in tone and arguably in form as well from the George W. Bush era.

In his recent address to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) in September, President Obama said that the United States would continue to “promote democracy, human rights, and open markets, because we believe these practices achieve peace and prosperity.” But he cautioned “that we can rarely achieve these objectives through unilateral American action, particularly with military action.”And he went on to say that “Iraq shows us that democracy cannot be imposed by force.”

The Washington Post editorial page slammed the speech as possibly “the most morally crimped speech by a president in modern times,” one that “explicitly ruled out the promotion of liberty as a core interest of the United States.”

Instead, the president outlined four other core interests in the Middle East: confront external aggression against allies and partners; protect the free flow of energy; dismantle terrorist networks; and stop the development and use of weapons of mass destruction. But he left some wondering about his administration’s commitment to promoting democracy in the region.

The legacy of America’s invasion of Iraq and the ongoing sectarian violence there and, to a lesser degree, the international community’s tortured attempts to promote democracy in Afghanistan have shaped how the Obama administration has responded to the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria (also see “Iraq: A Powder Keg Waiting to Explode?” in the October 2013 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

Thomas Carothers, a democracy and rule of law expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in a 2012 report that the George W. Bush administration raised the profile of democracy promotion, particularly in the Middle East, but tarnished it at the same time. “[H]is administration hurt America’s standing as a global symbol of democracy and human rights through its serious legal abuses in the pursuit of the war on terrorism, especially against detainees and prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay. The negative consequences were manifold: an international backlash against democracy promotion that included extremely high lev-

November 2013

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

“

The bottom line is that democracy promotion has never stopped….

There tends to be a perception that Bush was focused on democracy promotion and the Democrats much less so. I don’t think of it that way.

President Bush promoted democracy whereas President Obama supports democracy. Obama has said that if others want to move in that direction, we support them, rather than trying to impose our own values.

— Xenia Dormandy

”

U.S. project director at Chatham House

els of suspicion about the democracy agenda in the Arab world, a greatly heightened reluctance on the part of European and other international democracy supporters to be associated with U.S. policies and programs in this area, and a marked decline in U.S. public support for democracy promotion as a priority of U.S. foreign policy.”

Yezid Sayigh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said in a Skype interview that the Bush administration “provoked an immense amount of distrust and hostility and resentment on issues ranging from Palestine to Iraq.”

“President Obama is seen with less hostility in the

President Barack Obama holds a roundtable interview with regional reporters Jamal Kashoggi and Sarkis Naoum, right, in June 2009 at Cairo University in Egypt, where the president delivered his first major speech on democracy in the Arab world — which he prefaced with the caveat: “America does not presume to know what is best for everyone.”

region,” he said.“But whether Obama comes off as a clear and unambiguous supporter of democracy, the record is very mixed.”

President Obama’s first major address touching on democracy was in 2009 in Cairo, where he prefaced his support for democratization in the region with the caveat: “America does not presume to know what is best for everyone.”

Throughout Obama’s two terms in office, the right has attacked him for allegedly retreating from the democracy agenda and for supposedly “apologizing” to other countries for George W. Bush era transgressions. After his speech at the UNGA in September, conservative pundit Linda Chavez wrote,“The man who promised the audacity of hope to his followers has crushed the hopes of millions around the world who looked to the United States to promote human rights and democracy everywhere.”

But Xenia Dormandy, a U.S. foreign policy expert at Chatham House, a leading think tank in the United Kingdom, doesn’t think that Obama has abandoned the democracy agenda.

“The bottom line is that democracy promotion has never stopped,” she said in a Skype interview from London. “There tends to be a perception that Bush was focused on democracy promotion and the Democrats much less so. I don’t think of it that way. President Bush promoted democracy whereas President Obama supports democracy. Obama has said that if others want to move in that direction, we support them, rather than

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 7

Continued from previous page trying to impose our own values.”

Funding for democracy-related programs has indeed remained robust during the Obama years. The president’s request for democracy- and human rights-related activities for fiscal year 2013 is $2.8 billion, a 9 percent increase over fiscal 2012 levels. (In contrast, the House Republican fiscal 2013 budget plan would cut the international affairs budget each year, resulting in a 20 percent decrease by 2016.) But Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that advances the cause of democracy and human rights, notes that the request commits almost 60 percent of the total funds to just five countries —Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan and South Sudan.

According to Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World report, 35 percent of the world’s population lives in what they categorize as “not free” conditions. The report also asserted that democratic countries like Ukraine, Hungary, South Africa and Turkey have experienced “backsliding” away from freedom in the last year. Obama’s willingness to negotiate with some of the more notorious countries in the “not free” category, most notably Iran, has also given ammunition to those on the right who believe he’s been too willing to compromise on the democracy agenda.

Others, like Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, think that the Obama administration needs to back off on lecturing other countries about democracy altogether. In a blog post with the not-so-subtle title “It’s Time for Washington to Shut Up about Promoting Democracy,” he wrote, “Around the world, Washington officials cheerfully talk about the importance of democracy while ostentatiously backing autocracy. Today the hypocrisy is most flagrant in Central Asia and the Middle East.

Indeed, the administration praised the ‘Arab Spring’ while supporting repression in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and now Egypt.”

The ongoing civil conflicts in Syria and Egypt have put President Obama in no-win positions, walking a tightrope between promoting democracy or coping with anarchy. Initially, the Obama administration tried to work with Muslim Brotherhood leaders after they were democratically elected into office, quietly pushing them to be more politically inclusive. Conservatives though exco-

CREDIT: OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO By PETE SOUZA

Students at Cairo University listen to President Barack Obama in June 2009. Although that landmark address raised expectations for a new era of U.S. engagement with the Middle East, Obama’s more recent speech at the U.N. General Assembly dampened those hopes, with the president outlining four core interests in the region, none of which involved democracy promotion or human rights.

riated Obama for bolstering Islamists, while even the Muslim Brotherhood remained suspicious of the outreach.

Then, in refusing to categorize the undemocratic military takeover in Egypt in July as a military coup, which would have triggered an aid cutoff, he drew the ire of the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters. Now that Obama has suspended a portion of U.S. military assistance to Cairo following the military’s brutal crackdown on the Brotherhood, critics have lambasted the president for jeopardizing the peace pact between Egypt and Israel and supposedly abandoning a linchpin regional ally (echoing complaints from the Saudis that Obama left Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak out to dry). On the flip side, human rights say the temporary freeze doesn’t go far enough.

The administration says the cutoff is a measured response that sends a clear message, suspending “certain large-scale military systems and cash assistance to the government pending credible progress toward an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government through free and fair elections,” according to State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. But critics say Obama has sapped his leverage by trying to hedge his bets, admonishing the Egyptian military but not outright alienating them.

Sayigh of the Carnegie Middle East Center says the president seems damned no matter what he does in Egypt.

“The secular segment of the Egyptian population has been unhappy with the Obama administration’s approach because they regard Obama as supporting the Brotherhood, but they on the other hand criticize the administration for not having taken a clear stand against the coup d’état.”

With more than 100,000 killed so far in the Syrian civil war, the stakes there have been even greater. President Obama retreated from a plan to conduct surgical strikes against the Syrian regime after its suspected use of chemical weapons against civilians when it became clear there was little appetite for strikes among allies, Congress and the American public. Instead, he latched onto a Russian-backed proposal to rid the country of its chemical weapons arsenal, crediting the threat of military strikes for compelling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to agree to the proposal. Either way, it kept America out of another Mideast bloodbath (also see “Battle for Syria” cover profile in the September 2013 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

“The issue of promoting democracy just doesn’t cut it for the American public,” said Sayigh.“The experiences of the last decade, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, have soured the American public on military involvement in the Middle East. And I don’t think that the Obama administration is willing to risk its interests to promote democratization in the Arab countries. Unless the U.S. has strong national interests, it probably won’t act at all, which is the situation in Syria. The U.S. may be concerned, but fundamentally, Syria is a sideshow.”

Dormandy says there is very little the United States can do in Syria, where the rebel groups remain fractured and allied with a hodgepodge of extremist elements.

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November 2013

“Unless the parties want to come together and govern in a credible way, there’s not much you can do about it,” she said. “You can support, you can urge, you can encourage, you can fund, but in the end, unless the people on the ground want to move in that direction, there is not a lot you can do about it.”

Obama did try to frame the case for surgical strikes in international security terms, arguing that turning a blind eye to al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons would send a dangerous signal to Iran and North Korea as they advance with their own nuclear programs.

Sayigh says the Obama administration even tried to make the case that Congress should authorize airstrikes against the Syrian regime on the basis that it would bolster Israel’s security, usually a reliably crowd-pleasing refrain in the halls of Congress, but even that didn’t work.

“They moved from saying, ‘This is something that is immoral and abhorrent,’ to saying, ‘This is something that is bad for Israel,’ and the fact that it was also bad for hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of Syrians, wasn’t good enough.There is a moral and also a political problem with that, and if you are making people feel like they aren’t important enough, they will draw their own conclusions.”

Ironically, in Libya, Obama seems to be making good on his pledge to pursue core interests like dismantling terrorist networks. But by doing so, he may have inadvertently jeopardized the democratic, if feeble, government that the U.S.backed revolution helped to install.

The recent Navy SEAL operation that snatched al-Qaeda leader Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai in Tripoli created a domestic backlash that threatens to topple Libya’s fledging government (whose prime minister was briefly kidnapped

and released by rebels when word leaked out that his government approved the raid).

In the second half of his second term, President Obama will continue to straddle a fine line in deciding whether or how to engage other nondemocratic governments like Russia, North Korea and Venezuela. And it remains to be seen whether Obama will heed calls from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his conservative allies in the United States to be mistrustful of engagement with Iran and its new reform-minded president, Hassan Rouhani.

Iran is clearly a long way from evolving into a democratic state, but Netanyahu and many on the right in the U.S. have maintained the classic

THE POWER OF TWO BEST OF TWO D.C. LOCATIONS

credit: State Department Photo

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Egyptian Defense Minister Abdul Fatah Khalil al-Sisi in Cairo on March 3, 2013, a few months before the Egyptian military sacked the country’s democratically elected president, putting Washington in a diplomatic bind with a key ally in the region.

Orientalist viewpoint that Arabs aren’t ready for democracy. (Technically, Iranians are not ethnically Arab, though many in the West lump them in this category nonetheless.) Sayigh says that autocratic Arab leaders echo that sentiment as a means of self-preservation.

Obama himself, in his UNGA speech, dis-

missed the idea that Islam is somehow incompatible with democracy and human rights, rejecting “the notion that these principles are simply Western exports.”

“And while we recognize that our influence will at times be limited, although we will be wary of efforts to impose democracy through military force, and although we will at times be accused of hypocrisy and inconsistency, we will be engaged in the region for the long haul. For the hard work of forging freedom and democracy is the task of a generation,” he said.

But he also pointedly brought up America’s “hard-earned humility when it comes to our ability to determine events inside other countries” and stressed that “such longstanding issues cannot be solved by outsiders; they must be addressed by Muslim communities themselves.”

Not all Muslims are exactly enamored of the American political model. Some even point to the U.S. government shutdown, and well before that, the messy election of 2002 and the fact the George W. Bush took office shortly after his father was in power, as proof that the U.S. system of democracy isn’t a model at all.

Dormandy says that democracy is messy and often ugly and concedes that it may be a long time before countries in the Middle East and beyond can be considered functioning democracies. But she says that the West can’t give up trying to support — but not impose — democracy.

“Remember what Winston Churchill said?” she asked.“Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.”

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

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November 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 9

The Rotunda

Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill

Minority Rule: Democratic Safeguard Or Source of Political Dysfunction?

by Luke Jerod Kummer

A

t the outset of the government shutdown, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman foretold that a cadre of elected extremists was imperiling American democracy itself.

“What is at stake in this government shutdown forced by a radical Tea Party minority is nothing less than the principle upon which our democracy is based: majority rule,” he wrote.

It sounded apocalyptic.

Likewise, Time magazine’s cover showed the Capitol beset by thunderclouds, the words “Majority Rule” scratched out in red.

Both Friedman and Time went on to tell ominous tales of how dozens of tea party Republicans in the House of Representatives and a few in the Senate had commandeered budget negotiations to bring the federal government to a screeching stop and threatened to push the country into an unprecedented default — all to enact a political wish-list they failed to achieve through the normal legislative process, thereby usurping the wills of most voters, most politicians and even many GOP high-muck-amucks.

And, gloomy as it was, this appraisal was pretty right on.

Also prescient were the authors’ prognostications that plenty of nastiness lied ahead.

Accounts abounded of furloughed workers struggling to make rent, disconsolate vacationers being turned away at national parks, apoplectic World War II vets storming barricaded memorials, life-saving cancer research projects idling in locked labs, low-income mothers pleading for supplement-funded milk for newborns, and America’s gross domestic product — not to mention its once-sterling reputation as a global economic safe haven — seeping into the storm drain.

At the last minute, per Beltway tradition as of late, disaster was averted when the Senate stepped in with a bipartisan deal after House Republicans failed to coalesce around a proposal. Under the agreement, the government will be funded through Jan. 15 and the debt ceiling raised until Feb. 7. House and Senate negotiators will now work to hammer out a long-term tax and spending blueprint by Dec. 13.

Ultimately, House Republicans had little to show for their brinkmanship beside egg on their faces.The deal left Obamacare virtually untouched (other than strengthening income verification measures for people receiving health care subsidies). Unlike past confrontations, the Democrats didn’t budge and it was the GOP that blinked.

But the battle is merely on hold until the next pitched showdown a few months from now. Fundamental disagreements over sequestration, entitlement spending and tax reform remain. In the meantime, lingering bitterness abounds that a small club of House Republicans subverted democracy. There is some merit to the argument. The crusade to gut Obamacare, for one, flew in the face of political reality. The Affordable Care Act was crafted and passed by Congress (in partisan fashion, although that’s nothing new), deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court, and put to a national referendum during the 2012

Page 10

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

“

The American system is not based, for the most part, on majority rule…. There is some evidence that intense internal conflicts are avoided by having power-dispersing arrangements because it forces majorities not to run things down the throat of minorities.

”

— G. Bingham Powell Jr. political science professor at the University of Rochester

presidential election, which Obama won.

Although polls show that the law remains unpopular and confusing to a large number of Americans, an overwhelming majority of voters disapproved of shutting down the government to defund it. The GOP’s approval ratings tanked during the 16-day standoff — a mid-October NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that only 24 percent of Americans had a favorable view of Republicans and just 21 percent had a favorable view of the tea party (Obama’s was 47 percent).

Yet the hard-core conservatives who spearheaded the campaign to defund Obamacare are somewhat immune to those poll numbers — thanks to the gift of gerrymandering (a time-honored bipartisan tradition by the way, although since 2010, Republicans have been more successful at it). Redistricting has created seats in the House that are virtually guaranteed to be won by a Republican, giving them little incentive to compromise with Democrats because it might make them vulnerable to primary chal-

Picture of better days? President Barack Obama is greeted by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) before delivering his 2011 State of the Union address. That year, Obama and Boehner held extensive budget negotiations, which ultimately collapsed. During this year’s government shutdown, the two reportedly did little talking.

lenges from more conservative candidates.

Another legislative hardnosed strategy that has eroded bipartisanship on the Hill is 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. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) could’ve passed a “clean” continuing resolution to fund the government at any time — he had enough Democratic and Republican votes to do so. But he chose to defer to a few dozen House Republicans for fear of losing his own job. Throw in the genuine disdain that members of Congress seem to have for their opponents, and dysfunction appears to be trumping democracy.

Rep. Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, voiced the palpable shift in tone in the GOP after its shutdown defeat, urging his party to “be willing to negotiate and to compromise and … to put partisanship aside and govern for the greater good.”

He also made a pointed reference to his House colleagues.“The House must realize it is just one-half of onethird of this government, and that no laws can be made without the consent of the Senate and the president, just as they can’t enact laws without us.”

And therein lies the rub. While it’s important to assign blame for this latest bout of political posturing, it’s also worth calling attention to the fact that the initial premise proffered by Friedman and Time’s headline writers is simply not true. Majority rule is not the basis for the American political system. Nor was it ever. And there are good reasons for that, ones that we should be thankful for, at least some of the time.

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

It’s a sticky truth — and it’s also one of the many wonders that arose during this fiasco in which awestruck Americans asked how could their nation that was called indispensable mere weeks ago (during discussions about attacking Syria) appear so feckless now.

What’s more, observers abroad — whose capitals don’t have any operating procedures for how to capsize government, which stays open despite similar political bickering — questioned how a country that the world looks to when determining monetary policy could operate so haphazardly, so selfishly, even?

With these tough questions in mind, this column seeks to explain some of the root causes for the recent dramatic events.This installment deals with the structure of the American political system and how power is dispersed. It tries to get at how such a relatively small portion of our elected officials could bring the functioning of a gazillion-dollar government to its knees.

A forthcoming column will address how subtle but profound changes in political parties over time have affected the way Washington functions — or doesn’t — in ways that the architects of the system weren’t likely to have foreseen, and how outside forces have helped freeze contemporary American politics in what appears to be interminable gridlock.

But let’s get back to this apocryphal notion that “majority rule” is the animating force behind the American body politic.

First, it’s important to point out that the tea party has frequently claimed the Constitution as its own legitimizing document, instead of America’s, but they’re really just the ones who are benefiting from it, exploiting its generosity when it comes to minority rule.

“The American system is not based, for the most part, on majority rule,” G. Bingham Powell Jr., a political science professor at the University of Rochester, told The Diplomat. In fact, of all the

democratic nations he has studied, “the United States has one of the most anti-majority setups,” he said.

Yes, democracy, as practiced by the ancient Greeks, was based principally on majority rule.

But the American system is far more complex than that groundbreaking design, as might be expected after several millennia of evolution.

And, as different democracies go, ours is a particularly complicated beast whose defining features are a broad dispersal of power — including generous powers granted to political minorities — with lots of checks and balances.

First, it’s necessary to consider the architects who crafted this nation. The framers of the Constitution were zealous in their efforts to construct a society in which citizens like themselves would have a say in governance, and they were obsessively opposed to tyranny, which they realized came in an endless array of guises. Monarchs, religious leaders, charismatic politicians and military dictators all could become tyrants, they knew, as the excesses of kings, popes and also Oliver Cromwell were still fresh, moving examples for them.

But they also saw how unchecked majorities in Parliament gravitated toward tyranny.

Mere representation, they decided, wouldn’t be enough. Power would have to be carefully distributed both within the representative body and also among other institutions, with a basic assumption that if power can possibly be amassed and abused, then it is a fait accompli that it will be. This idea was especially prominent in the minds of Thomas Jefferson and his disciple and friend, James Madison, known as the “father of the Constitution.” The pair became the third and fourth presidents, respectively.

Scholars of ancient history, these men also were keenly aware of how the Athenian assembly, which gave unprecedented power to every citizen, eventually grew unwieldy, devolving into a

rudderless tyranny of the masses that was as problematic as any despot.

So, too, they saw how class struggles were ravaging Europe, just as they had sewn systemic instability in the Roman Republic, which paved the way for Julius Caesar to claim absolute authority.

So after wresting their freedom from British overlords, a handful of the most brilliant thinkers of the time sought to conceive a government that could resist all manners of tyranny.“I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man,” wrote Jefferson.

The result of the founding fathers’ hell-bent pursuit of a strategy to prevent tyranny is that, as Powell pointed out, of all the liberal democracies in the world today, ours consists of an incredibly complicated system of checks and balances that, while allowing citizens to play a part, drains majorities of their presumed power and enshrines special privileges for minorities. It might seem that such a system could not endure, that it would be a ship too weighted-down to float, and yet today our democracy and constitution are, arguably, the oldest.

“There is some evidence that intense internal conflicts are avoided by having power-dispersing arrangements because it forces majorities not to run things down the throat of minorities,” said Powell, the author of such works on comparative government as “Contemporary Democracies: Participation,Stability,andViolence”and“Elections as Instruments of Democracy: Majoritarian and Proportional Visions.”

Powell was reluctant to attribute America’s broad successes as a nation on this facet of our society alone, but he did say that we are unique in ways that may have had a hand in our progress from an inchoate, unstable alliance among recently emancipated colonies to a global superpower.

Just the mere presence of two equal houses of

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the legislature is an uncommon feature that blunts the effect of a majority in either chamber, Powell told The Diplomat.

“On top of that, we have a president with veto power and the ability to issue decrees. In addition, we have a constitutional court that can overturn any law by the legislature or order from the executive branch. And, because we are a federation, we have state and local governments, too,” Powell said.

Thus, a majority of Americans might elect a president, but then opposition in either branch of the legislature can immediately stymie his or her agenda.

A parliamentary system such as the one in the United Kingdom could not function this way.

While Westminster is composed of two chambers, almost all of the governing power resides in the House of Commons. The elected majority there names the head of the party to be the prime minister, who wields much more authority than an American president as head of state. He or she retains power, including budgetary power, for example, as long as his or her party retains popularity in elections and support in the legislature, which often requires a coalition whereby large parties agree to cooperate with smaller ones to push through an agreed-upon agenda. If the party in charge obstructs the passage of a budget, a rare move, it would spark a no-confidence vote, the collapse of the ruling government and a new election. But even then, government services remain open.

Powell said that the British system is among the most majoritarian of the liberal democracies in the world today, which is ironic considering America’s emergence from the British yoke.

Of course, in the United States we have parties, or formalized coalitions, in the House and Senate.

The framers of the Constitution couldn’t have

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foreseen modern political parties, but they must have envisioned voting blocs. And they did everything they could to prevent any particular interest or coalition from achieving hegemony.

They made it so that one branch of the legislature would be composed of officials representing entire states regardless of population. A Pennsylvania senator would have to consider urbane Philadelphia and also the campestral frontier. The interests of less populous states wouldn’t fall pray to more populous ones.

They made election to the House based on fixed units of people so that no splotch of the country would be without representation, and there would be no rotten boroughs as there were in England, where a parliamentary seat might represent a tiny number of people whose votes could easily be bought.

They staggered the election cycles of the House and the Senate — and within the Senate itself — so a populist wave that flooded the House would be checked by a Senate where roughly two-thirds of its members were not newly elected.Yet a bloc of hoary senators could also not amass power over time that wouldn’t be countered by the fresh blood pouring into the House every two years.

As intricate as all of this is — and as much as it is constructed to disfavor any majority — what has happened to our elected government since the Constitution was ratified has limited a majority’s power even further.

Perhaps the greatest symbol of how minority rule has blossomed in the United States is the Senate filibuster. This is not something that was written into the Constitution. Rather, the framers mostly left it up to each branch to determine its own rules. Fairly early on, the Senate allowed for a single senator to forestall legislation by talking indefinitely, or filibustering. Starting in the early 20th century, that tactic could be overcome by three-fifths of the Senate — or a super-majority of senators — voting for cloture, or the conclusion of debate.

However, what this has meant in practice, especially in recent years, is that the Senate is an institution that is not at all majoritarian in nature but super-majoritarian, where many laws must garner 60 out of 100 votes. This practice gives a minority in the chamber untold power.

“I don’t know of anyone else who has anything resembling a filibuster,” said Powell. “It really is an unusual American institution, and an unusually anti-majoritarian one.”

Consider for a moment just how much this rule flies in the face of the idea of majority rule: a single senator — just one person who might represent a land mass as small as Rhode Island or, for Wyoming’s senators, a mere fraction of 1 percent of the total U.S. population — is so potent that he or she can filibuster to squash legislation that would affect the entire nation.

Nowadays, the senator doesn’t even have to utter an actual word.The mere threat of a filibuster is enough to derail legislation.

Given all of these checks and balances and so many institutions that keep the majority from exercising its will, sometimes it seems more surprising that the country can pass any laws at all.That is no accident, either.The system is constructed for policymaking to be extremely rigorous, explained Powell.

“Madison designed these institutions, and they’ve been put in practice for a long time, that disperse political power and make it hard for majorities to do things — or make it very hard for bare majorities to do things, at least,” Powell explained.“We have had some historical circumstances where really big swings of public opinion in times of crisis led one side to get control, such as the New Deal in the 1930s, where we had the Democrats controlling all of the major institutions except for the judiciary and put in place radical policy changes. They were uncomfortable for the Republican minority.There were some intense conflicts. But the system survived it.”

The professor said the government shutdown of 2013, however, is in part a product of

Photo: Gage Skidmore

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks at a Values Voter Summit in D.C. in October 2011. Cruz led the charge against defunding Obamacare during the recent government shutdown and was seen as a hero by his tea party supporters, and a preening irritant to many of his GOP colleagues who blasted the senator for leading them to battle without an endgame.

how the Obama presidency has differed from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s in terms of his party’s electoral success. FDR won the White House an unprecedented four consecutive terms and Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate — sometimes with sizable majorities — the entire time. Compare that to the brief window of control the party attained amid Obama’s rise to office.

“The problem with these non-majoritarian arrangements such as the U.S. is that effective governing requires cooperation or big, oversize majorities. But today we don’t have either one of those,” Powell said.

Today, we have a divided government again.

One branch of the legislature can fairly easily block most policy changes. And if strong coalitions within the legislature vote as a bloc, and are significant enough in size to matter, which is exactly what the tea party is in the House, then they can have a significant ability to obstruct the objectives of their rivals.

Since Republicans won the House in 2010, they’ve aimed to be defensive specialists. The system does not afford them much ability to project policy, but they’ve used just about every bit of leverage around to exert their will anyway.

They thereby wield a power far greater than their relative size.

How you judge this largely depends on where you stand on the issues being debated. So, for example, these days Democrats cry foul that Republicans who only control the House — or one-half of one-third of government — have blocked so much of their legislative agenda.

They become even more indignant when discussing how a few dozen tea party Republicans in the House have had so much sway.

But try this thought experiment:If Republicans were to take over the White House and both branches of Congress in 2016 and were on the verge of repealing Obamacare, might not Democrats consider shutting down the government or threatening default to stop them? If they really believe that the health care reform bill granting coverage to millions of previously uninsured Americans is right for the country, shouldn’t they? Isn’t that what you do when you believe your back’s to the wall?

Of course, Democrats have never before threatened a shutdown or default, and they’ve quietly raised the debt ceiling for every Republican president before Obama. And some would contend that today’s Democrats are simply different in temperament than their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. However, the party was playing a bit of defense in 2005 when, while controlling none of the elected branches of government, they were able to forestall some of President George W. Bush’s nominees through the use of the Senate filibuster.

Then-Senator Obama even voted against raising the debt ceiling in a show of opposition to the war in Iraq and foreign borrowing.

These were the means available to them as the party out of power, and they exercised them

The Washington Diplomat

See Minority Rule, page 22 November 2013

Politics

European Union

Post-EU Croatia Experiences Growing Pains, and Compromise

by Molly McCluskey

T

hey went to sleep Croats and woke up Europeans. The transition was met with fanfare. On June 30, 2013, revelers in Zagreb’s Ban Jelačić Square eyed midnight the way marathoners eye the finish line: happy, proud, exhausted and a little skeptical.

The end of a long journey in sight, no one wanted to miss the moment when Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union.

But for all the fanfare surrounding midnight, the accession ceremony was just that — ceremonial. “The accession ceremony was largely a symbolic gesture,” said Mario Skunca, political officer at the Embassy of Croatia in Washington.

“Nothing changed overnight.”

Ask locals and they’ll tell you, Croatia has always been European, or had a heavy European influence. They’ll point to the influences of the Ottoman and AustriaHungarian Empires, and the similarity of the architecture of Vienna, Budapest and Zagreb. In many ways, Croatia joining the European Union was simply a return — of the prodigal child.

But it also marked a milestone after the Balkan bloodbath of the 1990s, with Croatia becoming the second country formed from the dissolution of Yugoslavia to become an EU member state (the first was Slovenia).

Moreover, the accession process itself had been 10 years in the making; Croatia had first applied for membership in 2003, started negotiations in 2005, and began participating in the EU Delegation the year prior to its accession. During that decade, the country passed hundreds of laws, modernized its communist-era economy, and captured wanted Croatian war criminals from the Balkan wars to comply with EU rules.

“The process is designed to ease us in without pains,” said Skunca. “It’s a carefully orchestrated affair.”

But, Skunca admits, “Psychologically, it took us some time to adjust to the EU, and the EU to us.”

Part of that adjustment came surprisingly quickly after Croatia’s accession, when the warm afterglow was disrupted by a bitter dispute over the implementation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). EU officials claimed that three days before Croatia joined the bloc, the government voted into law an amendment to the EAW that would restrict the warrant only to crimes committed after

November 2013

“

Photo: MomentaCreative.com

Psychologically, it took us some time to adjust to the EU, and the EU to us.

— Mario Skunca

”

political officer at the Embassy of Croatia

2002. The 2002 date is key. Not only is it the date the EAW replaced the previous European extradition system, it’s several years after the Croatian War of Independence, also known as the Homeland War, fought between 1991 to 1995.The restriction, had it been allowed by the European Union, would have prevented the arrests of those who committed war crimes.

The Croatian law was dubbed the “Lex Perković” after Josip Perković, an alleged Croatian ex-spy chief suspected in a decades-old murder of a Yugoslav dissident in Germany who would have been extradited under the standard EAW. The EU threatened sanctions on its newest member state over the dispute, including the withholding of promised EU funds and preventing further negotiations on Croatia joining the Schengen passportfree travel zone, the next step in the EU process.

Facing the threat of sanctions and what would have undoubtedly been a very public fight with Brussels, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović backed down and said Croatia would comply with the law by the beginning of the new year.

In a statement, Milanović complained about the uneven application of the EAW across the union, specifically citing the Czech Republic, which will also be subject to the EAW beginning Jan. 1. EU members can request exemptions from the EAW before 2002, but that only applies to states that were in the bloc at the time.

Croatia could have asked for exemptions when it was negotiating to become an EU member, but it did not do so.

“We have amended the law but also noticed this system deficiency with which states have a problem, and this discussion is not over,” Milanović stated, adding that the problem would probably be solved with the time limit being rescinded for everyone.

Luka Oreskovic, a Harvard University researcher focusing on European affairs, says that the issue of EAW implementation could have been avoided entirely.“It is a fact that some EU regulations are applied with more rigor in some countries and less so elsewhere,” he said.

“However, this is the result of a negotiation process and Croatia did not request the exemption during the process but rather post-accession and was thus, in line with established practices, supposed

From right, Ambassador of Croatia Josip Paro, Ambassador of the European Union João Vale de Almeida and Ambassador of Lithuania Zygimantas Pavilionis (whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency) celebrate the accession of Croatia to the European Union on July 1, 2013, at a reception in Washington, D.C.

to comply.

“I believe the eventual compliance with EAW was a good resolution of a problem that could have been avoided,” Oreskovic added.“Internal politics will at times necessarily come at odds with EU laws and thus, such tensions will arise, as they do in other countries, but the ability to resolve them through dialogue and compromise — and the EAW crisis was not resolved through outright compliance of Croatia but rather a compromise — is a necessary part of the EU legislative process.”

Skunca says the wrangling is a necessary, ongoing part of adjusting to the EU, and is not personal.“Enlargement is a living process. As soon as one group of countries moves in, you see the loopholes, and the administration patches them up,” he said. “By default, every next round will be demanding and complicated. It’s a learning process, and it makes the process better and better.”

Now that the issue has been resolved, Croatia can continue its path to full EU integration, including membership in the

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 13

joined in 2007, and neither country is part of the Schengen, or on the euro. Prior to the 2007 duo, 10 countries joined in 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Schengen area and adoption of the euro, once Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the country proves it has met qualifying stanMalta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. In the hisdards in a range of areas, including economic tory of the European Union, only Greece was stability. granted membership outside of a cluster of While Croatia has gained access to market of countries, in 1981. half a billion consumers, it also becomes more Many of the countries in Eastern Europe are in vulnerable the euro zone crisis that has afflicted various stages of membership candidacy, includdebt-ridden economies such as Greece and ing Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Spain. Croatia also has to overcome its own ecoHerzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo. That nomic hurdles, with the country of 4.2 million Croatia could become a member without waitmired in high levels of corruption, an unemploying for the next large wave of countries to join ment rate of more than 20 percent, and negative the EU is promising, Skunca says, and sends a 2 percent GDP growth last year, according to the message to Croatia’s neighbors. “It’s no longer World Bank. strategic. It’s no longer ‘if’ these countries will But Croatia, with a per-capita GDP of more join. It’s tactical. People know these countries than $18,000, is still better off financially than will join when they’re ready.” many of its Balkan neighbors. It’s also already But Croatia will become an important test well integrated into the region. Milanović has case to see whether the former states of said Croatia will apply for Schengen inclusion in Yugoslavia are ready for prime time. The EU two years, although the border controls have experienced some regret after absorbing Bulgaria been removed between Croatia and its EU neighand Romania, both of which are plagued by rambors Hungary and Slovenia already.“It now takes pant corruption and organized crime. Since longer to get through the toll booth on the road 2004, the appetite for expansion has waned, as PHOTO: MOLLy MCCLUSKEy from Zagreb to Ljubljana than it does to enter Slovenia itself,” Skunca said. He’s not exaggerat- Croatian and European Union flags fly outside the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, where revelers came out member states worry they’re taking on more troubled nations than they can chew, especially ing. on June 30, 2013, to celebrate the moment at midnight when their country became the 28th member of the EU. in the wake of the euro crisis.

Marko Delimar, a professor at the University of But Skunca says Croatia will be a boon to the Zagreb and a board member of IEEE (formerly ing the border.And tourists from a few countries Additionally, the university has eight new projthe Institute of Electronic and Electrical now need a visa for Croatia, which previously ects funded by the EU pre-accession assistance bloc. In the 10 years since Croatia first began its Engineers), says that since the accession, “EU they could avoid in the summer season.” program currently under way. “Regarding EU long membership process, he said the focus has countries no longer stamp Croatian passports, That exclusivity may have its own appeal, funds and new grants, we have big expectations been on what the EU can do for Croatia. Since NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and content it is ultimately up the customer the to accession, Skunca says the largest difference but we still have to go through passport control. according to Mislav Grgic, vice dean at the from proof. the EU structural funds,” Grgic said. to make the final is a change in perspective.

There are fewer or no security checks at EU air- University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical In fact, roughly $18 billion in financing has “Now, more than anything, we’re trying to see ports when arriving from andfaxed continuing Engineering and at Computing.

“Itthe is possible that subsequent been earmarked for Croatia TheCroatia first two changes will be made no cost to advertiser, changes will be between billed at 2014 a rateand of $75 perwefaxed alteration. what can add to the EU.” onto another flight.Also, the immigration lines in we would attract more EU and non-EU students, 2020.“The issue is, can we draw, attract, utilize all Signed ads are considered approved. most EU countries are now shorter for Croatian for example from Bosnia, based on our new the funds allocated to us?” Skunca said. “If we Molly McCluskey (@MollyEMcCluskey), a contributing citizens as we no longer have to wait in the ‘All image asPlease a new check EU member state, ” he said. Mark can, we’ll do well. ” this ad carefully. any changes to your ad.

Passports’ line.”

“However, in this mobility area there would not “We’re the last one in,” he added. “We’ll learn writer for The Washington Diplomat, spent the sumliving in Zagreb. She has written about Croatia But the change in border controls has fax had to: be some949-0065 big changes, because we were changes already from other people’s mistakes.” Diplomat (301) mer If the ad is correct sign and (301) needs The Washington 933-3552 other effects, Delimar adds.“Some of our eastern included in all major mobility programs, like It’s been six years since the last accessions for National Geographic, Bankrate.com and Beacon Approved _____________________________________________ Changes _____________________________________________________________________ neighbours now wait longer in lines when cross- Erasmus.” into the European Union. Romania and Bulgaria Reader.

Continued from previous page

JFK IN THE SENATE: Pathway to the Presidency

By John T. Shaw

New book is a balanced and careful account of JFK’s political evolution A.E. Fletcher Photography

BEForE JoHN F. KENNEdy became the charismatic 35th president of the United States, and an enduring global

icon, he served for nearly eight years as the junior senator from Massachusetts. From 1953 to 1960, he mastered the nuances of American politics and carefully charted a path to realize his presidential dreams.

In the first book to focus on his tenure as a Senator, John Shaw shows how Kennedy used the upper chamber as a policy and political training ground.

Shaw, a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat, explores Kennedy's role in some of the most important domestic and international struggles of that era, including the challenge posed by the Soviet Union and China, France's faltering military interventions in Vietnam and Algeria, and the battle to reform the labor movement in the United States.

“This book clarifies and deepens our understanding of an endlessly fascinating American leader. Shaw is in control of his material, has an easy flowing style and a good eye for apt quotations and amusing stories.”

Richard Baker, Senate Historian Emeritus and co-author of The American Senate

“We learn in this book that JFK entered the Senate as an uncertain backbencher and grew into a formidable presidential candidate and compelling American statesman. Shaw gives us a vivid, memorable account of how this transformation occurred.”

Tom Daschle, Former Senate Majority Leader

“Mining newly available archival materials, ‘JFK in theSenate’ offers a riveting and revealing account of Kennedy's transformation from unremarkable freshman congressman to dynamic presidential contender. It is sure to be a classic in Kennedy scholarship and American presidential history.”

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To PUrcHASE: HTTP://US.mAcmIllAN.com/JFKINTHESENATE Page 14

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

COVER PROFILE

Ambassador Al Maamoun Baba Lamine Keita

Restoring Order in Mali: The West vs. Radical Islam

by Larry Luxner

I

n January 2012, Ambassador Al Maamoun Baba Lamine Keita arrived in Washington, eager to promote bilateral ties between the United States and Mali, one of the world’s poorest countries. Two months later, military troops ousted Keita’s boss, President Amadou Toumani Touré, complaining that the government was not supporting them in their fight against a rebellion by nomadic Tuareg rebels in the north.

Taking advantage of the power vacuum, Tuareg separatists belonging to the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) seized control of the north, rupturing a nation once seen as a beacon of stability and democracy in the region. Things rapidly went downhill from there.

Islamic radicals affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked the Tuareg rebellion, quickly imposing Sharia law on a vast swath of territory and brutalizing civilians, especially women and children, for the slightest infractions. Public amputations in the moderate Islamic society suddenly became commonplace. Ancient tombs of great historical value were destroyed in Timbuktu and elsewhere, on the grounds they were anti-Muslim.

Fanatics also smashed musical instruments and threatened to cut out the tongues of anyone who sang in public, turning once-musically rich northern Mali into a cultural wasteland.

Frustrated with this turn of events, the MNLA broke with its one-time Islamic comrades in the terrorist group Ansar Dine (which in Arabic means “defenders of the faith”) in a dramatic struggle for influence. But as the Islamic jihadists gained the upper hand and inched closer to the south, the desperate Malian government in Bamako finally asked for foreign military intervention.

The United States, however, already mired in war in Afghanistan, was ALSO SEE: reluctant to involve itself in yet another conflict — Risk-Taking even though it had spent Photographer more than half a billion Documents dollars over the last four Timbuktu’s years to stop the spread Endangered of Islamic militancy Islamic Culture across North Africa. As a result, the Obama adminPAGE 16 istration could only watch as elite commanders the Pentagon itself had trained defected to the rebel cause, joining heavily armed radical fighters returning from combat in Libya and elsewhere.

Tired of waiting for the world to act, November 2013

France, Mali’s former colonizer, stepped in. In early January, French President François Hollande sent fighter jets as well as 4,500 troops to prevent the bloodshed from spinning out of control.

Neighboring countries joined the effort and within a month, Mali was able to reclaim the territory it lost to the Islamists. By mid-June, the government had signed a peace deal with the Tuaregs and a month later, voters elected a new president.

But while the coup is over and democracy has been restored, the ambassador says Mali’s problems are far from over. In late September, the rebels pulled out of the peace accord, claiming the new government hadn’t respected its commitments to the truce — only to return to the deal a week later after Malian authorities fulfilled a key rebel demand by releasing nearly two dozen prisoners.The peace agreement remains tenuous at best, and many southerners Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri

“

Since the elections, I can say that we are again on the track to democracy. The election process was very successful, transparent and credible — and was recognized by the entire international community.

— Al Maamoun Baba Lamine Keita ambassador of Mali to the United States

are wary of making any overtures to the rebels who plunged the country into chaos.

Meanwhile, the U.N. peacekeeping force is low on resources and barely at half of its mandated strength of more than 12,000 military personnel. The Malian army has struggled to control sporadic clashes, and many experts say the Islamists have simply melted into the desert and mountains, biding their time until French troops leave. On Oct. 8, for example, the morning we interviewed Keita at the Malian Embassy just off Dupont Circle, rebels belonging to the Movement for Unity and Jihad in

”

West Africa (MUJWA, also known as MUJAO) attacked the city of Gao, just 50 kilometers from Mali’s border with Niger, blowing up two bridges.

MUJWA and Ansar Dine, along with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), all oppose the Mali government, and all have been declared terrorist organizations by the State Department. AQIM in particular has been linked to a string of car bombings, kidnappings and attacks, including the assault on an Algerian natural gas facility that left nearly 40 hostages dead, many of them foreigners.

The U.S. Department of Justice later charged Mokhtar Belmokhtar in absen-

tia with the murder of three Americans during that attack,which AQIM launched in retaliation for the French military invasion of Mali.

“We were hoping these guys would disappear already, but they’re still there, even after the French operation,” Keita told The Washington Diplomat as he smoked a Cohiba cigar, glancing periodically at a TV monitor on his desk.

The issue has taken on new urgency in the wake of al-Shabab’s late Sept­ ember assault on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.The siege — launched in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia — killed at least 67 people, many of them foreigners, and injured more than 150 others.

“These kinds of terrorist groups have already infiltrated into the population.

They all have their own agendas, but at the same time they are responding to all directives coming from al-Qaeda. So they are working on two levels at the same time,” Keita warned. “We have discovered that there are lots of connections between al-Shabab, Boko Haram

See mali, page 17 The Washington Diplomat Page 15

SIDEBAR

Risk-Taking Photographer Documents Timbuktu’s Endangered Islamic Culture When Alexandra Huddleston traveled to Mali in late 2006 to devote 10 months of her life to photographing the people and culture of Timbuktu, little did she know that within five years, that culture would be threatened with destruction by Islamic fanatics. Hence the urgency of her book, “333 Saints: A Life of Scholarship in Timbuktu.”

The 96-page volume details the richness of the ancient city’s culture of learning, which produced Africa’s biggest concentration of Islamic manuscripts.

“The original goal of my work was, in large part, to show a side of Africa that was different from so many peoples’ preconceptions — instead of always pictures of war and famine, to show a beautiful, strong, ancient culture of scholarship. And I definitely hope the book still does that,” Huddleston, 35, told The Washington Diplomat.

“But without a doubt, the events of this past year have definitely changed some of the book’s objectives. So many articles were written about the destruction of the shrines, but if they hadn’t become UNESCO World Heritage Sites, I don’t know that people would have cared,” she said. “The destruction of those shrines can’t be underestimated. It was really an attack on the Muslim religious culture of Timbuktu. My book shows the culture that has been under direct attack.”

The photographer, who was born in Sierra Leone and grew up in Washington, D.C., and in West Africa, now makes her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She’s the daughter of Vicki Huddleston, who had been economic officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bamako early in her diplomatic career, returning there as ambassador from 2002 to 2005.

But Alexandra Huddleston kept that fact a secret from the locals — mainly to avoid being kidnapped by armed groups that were already starting to terrorize the region.

“I very much downplayed my whole connection with the U.S. government,” she said. “For awhile they had U.S. Army Special Forces in Timbuktu training the Malian army in the desert. But clearly my project had been cleared by the embassy beforehand.

When I arrived there in late 2006, they had just posted Peace Corps volunteers in Timbuktu for the first time ever. But the week after, they pulled those volunteers out.”

The French-speaking Huddleston said she was advised by the U.S. Embassy in Bamako — the same one her mother had served at up until the year before — not to travel to Timbuktu because of increasing unrest.

“When I arrived in Bamako, the embassy said, ‘We don’t think you should go to Timbuktu.’ But all the Malians I knew were telling me I’d be fine as long as I stayed in town. So I laid low for a month or so. I went to Gao so they’d forget about me.”

Huddleston eventually returned to Timbuktu and immediately began documenting the city’s scholars, noted for their Arabic calligraphy and meticulous preservation of ancient religious texts down through the ages.

“Religion is something that has fascinated me since I was a child,” explained Huddleston, who’s also lived for long periods in Cuba, Haiti and Madagascar — all places where her parents were posted during their Foreign Service careers. “During my visits to Timbuktu in 2003 and 2004, I really liked the people I met there. And I liked the town, even though most people who go there see only this bland façade of mud brick buildings and exterior blankness.

I was lucky enough to make many friends.”

And having spent much of her childhood in West Africa, Huddleston knew enough to drink only filtered water and to be respectful of Muslim traditions by dressing modestly (that meant long pants) and covering her hair with a bandanna.

But there were times the young American, who holds a bachelor’s from Stanford and a master’s from Columbia, became incredibly

Page 16

Photos: Alexandra Huddleston

lonely. “I would go to an Internet café once every three days. There was a huge sense of isolation,” she recalled.

On the other hand, she said, “I went there with very good connections, and I don’t mean my mother. I was on a Fulbright grant, and they require you to have a local sponsoring organization. So even before I got the grant, I had arranged it would be SAVAMA-DCI, a group that had received millions from the Ford Foundation. I arrived in Timbuktu already being supported by two families heavily involved in the manuscripts, two aristocratic families that had a lot of power.”

Huddleston shoots with a Canon 5D digital camera, which she said was “top of the line six years ago.” Surprisingly, of the more than 10,000 images she took while in Timbuktu, in the end only 37 made it into her book.

“It’s a pretty modest book,” she said. “This is a complicated enough story for Westerners as it is. So I went through numerous edits over the last four years and, in the end, I decided the tighter, the better.”

Huddleston, who’s also worked in Niger, Western Europe, Cuba and Japan, said she had no problems photographing Timbuktu’s Islamic scribes. “Most of my photos were taken in situations where you can’t get in unless you arrange it ahead of time,” she said. “I’ve become very good at taking pictures of people as if I’m not there, but that’s part of the skill of being a professional photographer.”

Huddleston self-published her book, raising the money through Kickstarter, the world’s largest crowd-funding platform. The photographer said she chose that route because she was “turned off” by established publishers.

“Unfortunately in the art book world, it’s very common to ask the artist to hand over $20,000 or more to make the book happen. Essentially, the publisher takes no financial risk,” she said, adding that self-publishing gave her complete control over her project from start to finish. The book was printed last month in Iceland in a limited edition of 500 copies, 200 of which have already been sold through Kickstarter.

What makes “333 Saints” urgent, says Huddle­ ston, is the speed at which Islamic fundamentalists linked to alQaeda were destroying Timbuktu’s monuments and threatening a moderate brand of Islam that had developed over centuries.

“When they took over Timbuktu, the Islamists banned certain aspects of Western culture. Certainly in the Western mind, what

Photographer Alexandra Huddleston, bottom photo, holds copies of her new book “333 Saints: A Life of Scholarship in Timbuktu,” featuring photographs depicting the people and culture of Timbuktu, an ancient center of Islamic learning in Mali.

people are going to focus on are the things we’re most familiar with, like smoking, drinking and wearing modern clothing. But in fact, what the Islamists attacked just as much — if not more violently — were aspects of Timbuktu’s ancient culture, like music and the celebration of Mawlid, a Muslim holiday that celebrates the birth of the Prophet Muhammad,” she said.

Huddleston, who has since gone on to photograph religious pilgrimages in both Spain and Japan, notes that “333 Saints” only briefly touches on the effect the militant Islamist takeover of Timbuktu had on the city’s scholarly and religious culture. But by showing the strength of Mali’s own Islamic culture — characterized by tolerance and plurality — her book explains why most Malians welcomed the French military intervention and rejected the imposition of Sharia law by the rebels, even if it came under the guise of Islam.

“People not just in Timbuktu but all over the region believe that if you write a certain passage of the Koran onto a board and wash it off and drink that ink, it has the power to heal different parts of the body. So scholars and manuscripts and religion are tied together in this incredible, visceral way,” she said. “So attacking the tombs of the saints is attacking the culture of scholarship as well.”

The Washington Diplomat

— Larry Luxner

November 2013

When Welcoming the Diplomatic Community The Choices Are Clear

Mali at a Glance Independence: Sept. 22, 1960 Location: Interior Western Africa, southwest of Algeria, north of Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, west of Niger Capital: Bamako Size: Slightly less than twice the size of Texas Population: 15.9 million (July 2013 estimate) Life expectancy: 54.5 years Religions: Muslim 94.8 percent, Christian 2.4 percent, Animist 2 percent, none 0.5 percent, unspecified 0.3 percent (2009 Census) GDP (purchasing power parity): $18.28 billion (2012 estimate) GDP per-capita: $1,100 (2012 estimate) GDP growth: -1.2 percent (2012 estimate) Population below poverty line: 36.1 percent (2005 estimate) Exports: Cotton, gold, livestock Imports: Petroleum, machinery and equipment, construction materials, foodstuffs, textiles Source: CIA World Factbook

from page 15

Mali and MUJWA. Al-Shabab is funding these other groups, and Boko Haram is sending fighters from Nigeria to northern Mali, and they all have common training programs.”

It didn’t help that parts of northern Mali were already fertile ground for extremist views, the ambassador argues.

“For the past three or four decades, some of the population in northern Mali — but not the majority — have already been expressing some form of Islamic radicalism, long before the creation of AQIM. So the environment was already favorable for this kind of extremism,” he said.

“It’s only in Gao where we can find this extremist population, but in general, the Malian people are very moderate Muslims.”

Yet Keita dismissed the idea that Islamic terrorism stems from poverty, even though his country ranks 178th out of 182 countries on the 2012 Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Program.

“Terrorism is not a poverty issue at all,” he insisted.“We have to ask ourselves why Somalis in Minneapolis could leave everything they have in the United States to go back and fight for Sharia law? It’s a problem of thinking.”

Keita says he’s not related to Mali’s new head of state, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, even though the two men share the same last name. President Keita, a veteran Malian politician and one-time prime minister, was inaugurated Sept. 19 following the August runoff election, which he won by a landslide. Among the dozens of dignitaries attending the festivities in Bamako was Hollande, who used the occasion to announce the official end of the French military mission to Mali.

French troops will gradually withdraw from the nation as a U.N. peacekeeping mission increases its presence there.

The ambassador said that considering everything that’s happened over the past 12 months, the situation in Mali is relatively calm.

“Since the elections, I can say that we are again on the track to democracy. The election process was very successful, transparent and credible — and was recognized by the entire international community,” Keita told The Diplomat. “We have a new president, a new cabinet and a new government implementing a very ambitious program of development.”

Those elections — along with parliamentary elections scheduled for Nov. 24 — are the key to unlocking more than $4 billion in humanitarian assistance pledged during a Brussels aid conference in May. France and the United States are the biggest single donors, offering $200 million and $188 million respectively. Keita said November 2013

other significant funding will come from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The 58-year-old diplomat, who was born and raised in Egypt, has strong ties with the Arab world. Educated at Cairo’s Lyçée Français, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from Cairo University, along with various diplomas from the U.S. Department of Defense, USAID and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in London. He joined Mali’s diplomatic service in 1979 and served in Mali’s embassy in Cairo from 1989 to 1995.

In 2001, Keita was appointed Mali’s ambassador to Ethiopia, with concurrent accreditation to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Djibouti. He remained in Addis Ababa until 2007, returning to Mali as secretary-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation until taking up his current post in Washington last year.

“Mali is not an Arab country, but there are huge connections between what’s happening in Egypt and the situation in Mali,” claimed the ambassador, who’s been back home four times since his appointment nearly two years ago.

“Just after the attacks in Boston, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood said that what happened there was a response to the French military intervention in northern Mali, because the French killed four Egyptian members of MUJWA.” Asked if such claims are a bit farfetched, Keita responded with utter seriousness.

“We have to take all their statements very carefully,” he said.“Just after the beginning of the Tuareg attacks in the north and the proclamation of an independent state called Azawad, [former Egyptian President] Mohamed Morsi made a statement supporting the Tuareg and the creation of this new state. He was a threat to Mali’s territorial integrity. What Morsi supports is all part of this global Muslim Brotherhood seeking to install Islamic states throughout the region.”

Keita also said he’s a supporter of “targeted killings” — even though the idea of pinpointing terrorists for assassination, especially under the Obama administration’s amped-up drone campaign, has sparked outrage at home and abroad.

“It’s a big controversy here in the United States, especially when you talk about drones,” he said. “But this is one of the most important instruments to fight terrorism. For countries like the U.S., which are not willing to put boots on the ground, it’s a very efficient way to pursue leaders of al-Qaeda everywhere. We support it.

Continued on next page

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Continued from previous page As you know, after the French military operation, the United States decided to deploy drones in eastern Niger. We hope this program will be intensified.”

Vicki Huddleston, who served as U.S. ambassador to Mali from 2002 to 2005, suggested that “if drones are used to actually take out people, that has to be done with the agreement of the region as part of a military campaign and not a unilateral strike.The first line of resistance has to be the region; it can’t just be the United States or France.”

In a phone call from New Mexico, the retired diplomat described what’s happening in Mali today as “the first real confrontation on the battlefield between the West and radical Islam, with France intervening at Mali’s request.”

“Mali and the West won, but there are still many problems,” she said. “The new government [in Bamako] must resolve its differences with the northern population.This is a second chance, and hopefully this time Mali will make a huge effort to bring the country together.”

Huddleston (who was profiled in the March 2013 issue of The Diplomat in “Former U.S. Ambassador to Mali Warns of North African Dangers”) noted that historically, Mali has been much more concerned about the Tuareg rebel movement than about the threat of Islamic extremism — particularly since 2005, when the current strife began.

“That’s when the remnants of the Islamic Army [from Algeria’s civil war] came over into Mali with 15 German hostages. Ransom was paid for them, and at that time we did the right thing: We helped the region to defeat them. But then a new leader was chosen, AQIM developed, and they began to get more and more ransom money.

There was never any effective military pressure against them.”

She added:“The problem for the West and the

United States is that in this region, radical Islam is not defeated. They’ve just moved into southern Libya, northern Niger and Chad. They’re much stronger than ever in northern Nigeria, and AQIM — if not resurgent — is still in way too good health. We cannot pretend like it doesn’t exist.

There is still a major threat.”

In the wake of last year’s coup d’état in

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Bamako that precipitated the Islamist takeover of the north, Washington suspended military relations with the Malian government. But those ties have since been restored, and Congress sent two missions to Mali this year.

“I think we are progressing very well actually, even with the two [recent] al-Qaeda attacks in northern Mali. These attacks will not defeat our determination to go forward,” Keita said. “On the political level, we are preparing legislative elections for the National Assembly in November.

With this election, we will re-establish democratic institutions in Mali.”

Meanwhile, Keita hopes northern Mali will soon begin luring back the European and American tourists who used to explore the ancient ruins of Timbuktu and enjoy the traditional music festivals for which Mali was known before the recent fighting silenced everything.

“It’s all paralyzed now,” he said. “These people are suffering. They don’t have any revenues or resources. We must secure the northern part of our country so tourists will be confident to come back. But this will take time. It won’t happen tomorrow.”

Photos: Alexandra Huddleston

Photographer Alexandra Huddleston captured images of Timbuktu’s heritage as a center of Islamic scholarship, which came under threat by Islamic radicals who took over the northern part of Mali last year.

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

International Affairs

Media

U.S. Journalists Don’ t Always Go Straight to the (Foreign) Source

by Dave Seminara

W

hen American journalists and policymakers need expert analysis on countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, they need not look beyond the country’s borders for help.

According to a 2012 study by the University of Pennsylvania, there are at least 1,823 think tanks in the United States, accounting for about one-third of the world total, and many of these organizations provide analysis on foreign countries. And there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of area experts at U.S. colleges and universities who are routinely quoted in the press and sought out by government officials for analysis of key foreign policy issues.

But are U.S.-based experts capable of understanding a foreign country the way a native-born resident might? Do the supposedly nonpartisan foreign policy experts have hidden agendas? And are U.S.-based foreign policy experts essentially serving as filters who present international news through an American lens?

Since 1980, the number of think tanks has more than doubled, and in Washington, journalists and policymakers can take their pick from dozens who specialize in providing analysis of international affairs. During the Cold War, there were armies of Soviet experts, but after the Soviet Union crumbled, many gradually rebranded themselves as Middle East experts, and in the years after 9/11, the number of terrorism experts exploded.

In the foreign affairs arena, some of the leading think tanks include the Council on Foreign Relations, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Rand Corporation, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Brookings Institution, Atlantic Council and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which is building a new 15,000-square-foot, $100 million headquarters in Washington.

U.S.-based journalists and even American correspondents based overseas rely heavily on these experts and others in academia as sources for foreign affairs-related stories. Experts want to be quoted because it’s good exposure for their think tanks or universities, which are always in fierce competition for grants and donations. But why would journalists, especially those based overseas, consult a fellow American living in the United States if they want to understand what’s going on in a foreign country?

Timothy McNulty is a veteran journalist who has reported from more than 65 countries for the Chicago Tribune and other publications and is now co-director of Northwestern University’s Medill National Security Journalism Initiative. His overseas career predated the internet era, when it was far less convenient for foreign correspondents to contact U.S.-based experts.

“It didn’t make sense to coordinate time zones and there was no Skype, so we relied on local sources,” he said.

But McNulty can understand why so many American journalists, even those based overseas, use U.S. experts from think tanks and academia as sources.

“You speak the same language, literally and figuratively,” he said.“A source in Washington will probably know what kind of story you have in mind.They’ll know where we are in the news cycle in every event.They know what you are November 2013

credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

“

We tell our journalism students to resist having an American-centric view of the world…. If your only sources are Americans, you are filtering the news through American eyes.

— Timothy McNulty

”

co-director of Northwestern University’s Medill National Security Journalism Initiative

looking for and they are happy to provide it. And they are very good at sound bites.”

McNulty said that American foreign correspondents may also prefer American sources because they tend to have short assignments and don’t stay in one place long enough to learn the local language well. And with the unrelenting pace of online media and competition for fresh stories and scoops, harried reporters now have even less time to complete assignments.

“Calling sources in Washington may be a matter of laziness or impatience,” he said. “There are linguistic and cultural barriers in interviewing foreign sources, who may or may not be comfortable speaking English. It’s an additional effort to be made.”

Joe Coleman is a veteran foreign correspondent who worked for the Associated Press in Japan and a variety of other countries and is now a professor at the University of Indiana’s School of Journalism. He said that even if a foreign correspondent knows the local language, he or she may not be comfortable enough to interview a source about a complex issue in that language, especially on the phone.

Members of the Washington press corps surround President Barack Obama and King Abdullah II of Jordan prior to their bilateral meeting in the Oval Office earlier this year.

“In a place like Japan, for example, there are only a handful of analysts who speak English and they tend to show up in stories over and over again,” he said.“Trying to talk about something like antiballistic missiles in a second language over the phone is pretty tough.”

Coleman says that quoting begets quoting, so once a major news outlet quotes a particular source, a host of other American journalists are likely to consult the same person, leaving readers with a narrow range of perspectives on a given topic. And Coleman thinks that U.S. sources may have more instant credibility for readers and editors simply because they are familiar.

“Everybody knows Harvard University, so if I quote one of their experts, there’s instant credibility there, but if I quote someone from say, Tokyo University, readers might not know that that is the Harvard University of Japan,” Coleman said.

McNulty said that in some countries, particularly less free, more closed societies, it might be very hard for American journalists to find sources who are willing to talk.

“Even before the NSA revelations, not everyone is going to be comfortable talking to an American journalist, especially over the phone,” he said, referencing the Edward Snowden leaks that exposed some of the spying tactics of the National Security Agency.

Matthew Brunwasser has extensive experience as a foreign correspondent, working for The World on Public Radio International, New York Times and a host of other publications. He said that he uses a variety of sources, including local and foreign ones, to give varied perspectives on international news.

“I don’t rely on sources in Washington,” he said.“I think

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 19

Continued from previous page the Washington-based worldview is very limited and specific to people who grew up and worked in that environment and I never did. It’s important to have a local perspective but also a foreign perspective, so I also use sources in Paris and London when it’s appropriate.”

When I’m writing a story on a foreign country, I also try to use a variety of sources, but there are some instances when it’s difficult to find quality sources from a distance. In preparing electionrelated stories on Egypt and Iran for The Diplomat earlier this year, for example, I tried to find experts who had spent a significant amount of time in those countries and the analysts I quoted are undoubtedly some of the sharpest observers available. But none had any clue that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would win their elections. In fairness to those sources, no U.S. news outlet predicted those two would win, and even analysts in Egypt and Iran might have gotten it wrong.

In places like Iran, where many people are afraid to talk to reporters, especially an American one, it’s almost essential to use sources outside the country, but whether they can truly understand what’s going on inside Iran is an open question. McNulty points out that living in a country doesn’t automatically make one a great source either.

“Living in a country doesn’t necessarily mean you understand it,” he said.“Some people exist in a bubble, where they only interact with other foreigners and they never really understand the place.”

Still, McNulty thinks that American journalists need to be leery of using too many American sources in reporting international news.

“We tell our journalism students to resist having an American-centric view of the world,” he said.“If your only sources are Americans, you are filtering the news through American eyes.”

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Photojournalists Evan Vucci and Jewel Samad work in the foreground as President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, in June 2013.

Government officials also rely on experts from think tanks and academia, who are frequently called upon to testify before Congress and prepare reports for congressional committees. But think tanks have evolved from independent, nonpartisan idea factories to a lucrative industrial complex. Some are funded by influential outside entities, intimately involved in stirring up partisan fights, and home to a suspect revolving door of ex-government officials and scholars with conflicting interests.

Quite a few think tanks make no secret of their political agendas. The Heritage Foundation, for instance, was long viewed as the scholarly backbone of the conservative movement. But under its new president, former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.),

it’s pushed an aggressive lobbying and advocacy campaign to defeat both President Obama and fellow Republicans who don’t toe the tea party line. As a result, however, studies and statistics produced by Heritage (and other overtly partisan think tanks, such as the liberal Center for American Progress) need to be taken with a grain of salt, because the research has been cherrypicked to back a specific argument.

Other potential conflicts of interest are less obvious. Earlier this year, when President Obama nominated Chuck Hagel, who was then chairman of the Atlantic Council, to serve as defense secretary, the public got a rare look into the inner workings of an influential think tank, as the Atlantic Council was forced to disclose its foreign

donors. The list contained about 100 corporations and 15 foreign governments, including Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and state-run oil companies such as the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic and Turkish Petroleum.

According to a special report in the Boston Globe on think tanks published in August, senior officials at the Pentagon called on Ernest Bower, an Asia scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), to help write a major policy speech Hagel delivered in Singapore in June, despite the fact that he runs a business consulting firm, Bower Group Asia, which has offices in nine Asian countries.

The report in the Globe also highlighted the fact that CSIS is building its new $100 million facility with money “raised by a high-powered collection of former senior government officials and titans of industry representing defense giants Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon, along with pharmaceutical conglomerate Procter & Gamble, oil giant Chevron, and a top adviser to the Sultan of Oman, according to CSIS officers and documents.”

So while CSIS offers the U.S. government advice on critical defense and security matters, its work is funded by corporate heavyweights who have plenty to gain from defense contracts awarded by the U.S. government.

CSIS and the other major foreign policy think tanks insist that their donors’ interests don’t impact the analysis their experts provide, but it’s clear that U.S.-based experts play an outsize role in how the American public and U.S. government officials perceive developments in countries around the globe. The quality and objectivity of the analysis they provide are open to debate, but it’s up to the public to do their own research on the people behind the quotes they read.

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

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The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

Politics

United States

What JFK Could Teach Senators Eyeing Presidency

by John T. Shaw

S

enator John F. Kennedy would not recognize the modern U.S. Senate — its frequent filibusters, fierce partisanship and increasingly homogenous political parties in which few conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans, or moderates for that matter, can be found.

The Senate of 2013 is far different than the Senate in which Kennedy served from 1953 to 1960.

But Kennedy would surely recognize the political aspirations of a number of senators who appear to be considering a run for the presidency in 2016: Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida,Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, along with Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Kennedy would spot the ambition in their eyes, their impatience with the desultory pace of the upper chamber, their evident delight in lavish press attention, and their ample selfconfidence that they’re as deserving to reside at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue as the current occupant — or any of their potential rivals.

To be sure, John F. Kennedy’s political career was fundamentally different than any of these possible presidential aspirants. Kennedy was a celebrated World War II hero who spent six years in the House of Representatives and nearly eight years in the Senate before reaching the White House. He was more widely traveled, better read and more accomplished than this current crop of presidential hopefuls. But like them, JFK did not view the Senate as his final political destination. Rather, he was determined to use the upper chamber as a launching pad for his White House dreams.

Kennedy — whose assassination 50 years ago is being commemorated this month — knew the Senate had never been an advantageous place from which to win the presidency. Before his 1960 election, only Warren G. Harding, in 1920, had gone directly from the Senate to the White House. And since JFK’s election, only one sitting senator has successfully retraced his steps: Barack Obama in 2008. Even a partial list of those senators who tried and failed to win the White House is long, often illustrious, and spans the centuries: from Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John Calhoun, to Robert Taft, George McGovern and Edward Kennedy, to recent bids by John McCain, John Kerry, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

November 2013

There are many theories about why it’s so difficult for a sitting senator to be elected president. Senators cast scores of votes that can be used against them on the campaign trail. They learn a professional language that, while usually understandable on Capitol Hill, is often impenetrable to the general public. The skills needed to be a good senator are different than those of a successful presidential candidate.

“As a general rule, it seems that a man who entirely adheres to the Senate folkways has little chance of ever becoming President of the United States,” wrote political scientist Donald R. Matthews in his 1960 classic,“U.S. Senators and Their World.”This aspect of the Senate has not changed in the last half century.

John F. Kennedy, as a political pro, would warn today’s young senators that the road to the White House is long, exhausting, perilous and rarely runs through the Senate.

But it can be done.

I believe there is a JFK model of how to use the Senate to win the presidency that Obama adopted in 2008 and that Rubio, Cruz, Paul, Klobuchar, Gillibrand, Warren and other aspirants would do well to follow. Here are 10 lessons JFK could offer on how to travel directly from the Senate to the White House.

1) Don’t wait for gray hair.

While extensive experience in government helps a president succeed in office, it does not seem to help candidates get elected. A peculiar, perhaps even perverse, aspect of American democracy is the endless yearning for something, or someone, new. Windows of opportunity in American politics often open slightly and briefly — and then close abruptly. The senator who

Photo: U.S. Senate Historical Office

Since John F. Kennedy’s 1960 election as president, only one sitting senator has gone directly from the Senate to the White House: Barack Obama in 2008.

decides to wait another four years before running for president can easily become an afterthought by the time the next election rolls around. During the 1960 campaign, JFK repeatedly brushed aside suggestions that he wait at least four more years until running for president. He said he would likely get elected in 1960 or never.

2) Be single minded in pursuing the presidency; ambivalent candidates never win.

The graveyard of failed presidential campaigns is littered with the remains of senators who were conflicted as to whether their primary responsibilities should be in Washington or on the campaign trail. JFK never suffered from this dilemma. Once he decided to run, he

ran hard and didn’t look back.

Throughout the 1960 campaign, Kennedy faced more experienced and more highly regarded rivals such as Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, Democratic Sens. Hubert Humphrey and Stuart Symington, and former Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson. But while they equivocated and anguished about whether and how to run, JFK pursued the nomination relentlessly for four years.

3) Build support across the country, but also stay strong At home.

JFK dreamed of the White House even before he entered the Senate in January 1953 and he immediately

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 21

the House. He then hurried on to other less controversial matters.

Continued from previous page sought to create a national profile. But he also kept a careful eye on Massachusetts. After defeating the incumbent Republican senator, Henry Cabot Lodge, in a campaign in which he accused Lodge of neglecting his home state, Kennedy introduced 300 bills to revive the Massachusetts and New England economy, which he publicized widely and pushed vigorously. He also helped organize regular meetings of New England senators to promote their region. Kennedy won his first Senate campaign narrowly in 1952 but was re-elected in a landslide in 1958, helping propel his presidential campaign.

7) Make sure everyone understands you’re not a Senate “insider.”

If there is one ironclad rule of American politics, it’s that Senate leaders never get elected president. Robert Taft, Lyndon Johnson, Howard Baker, Robert Dole and others tried and failed.

Just before the 1960 Democratic convention, Lyndon Johnson belatedly jumped into the presidential race and blasted Kennedy, then the frontrunner, for being a dilettante who wasn’t a serious senator. In a memorable debate before the Texas delegation, Johnson ridiculed JFK as an absentee senator and cited his failure to participate in civil rights debates and to cast a number of procedural votes. But Kennedy turned the criticism back on Johnson. “I want to commend him for a wonderful record answering those quorum calls,” Kennedy quipped, saying he strongly supported Johnson — to remain as Senate majority leader.

4) Use the Senate as a credential.

JFK understood that membership in the Senate has carried considerable cachet throughout American history. With creativity and tenacity, a senator can gain national visibility and be seen as an important policymaker. The Senate is still a calling card for being taken seriously by the media and public. A seat on the Finance, Budget or Appropriations Committees gives a senator a reputation for economic expertise while membership on the Foreign Relations, Intelligence or Armed Services Committees confers foreign policy and national security gravitas. JFK pleaded with Senate Majority Leader Johnson for four years for an appointment to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before finally getting it in 1957. He wanted the seat for both substantive, and status, reasons.

5) Use the Senate as a platform.

Kennedy grasped that while the Senate provides visibility, you must have something interesting to say. He used the Senate as a venue to give wide-ranging speeches and his foreign policy addresses were particularly impressive.They were well written, historically literate, informative and forward leaning. He also wrote op-eds, journal articles, a Pulitzer-prize winning book,“Profiles in

Photo: NASA

President John F. Kennedy, addressing a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, proposes putting a man on the Moon. Before becoming president, Kennedy spent six years in the House of Representatives and nearly eight years in the Senate.

Courage,” and a presidential campaign book,“The Strategy of Peace.” Kennedy also took full advantage of his membership on the high-profile McClellan Committee that investigated corruption in the labor movement in the late 1950s.

6) Use the Senate as a proving ground.

JFK knew that while a great speech can create buzz in the political world, it’s also important to actually get something done if for no other reason than to show the media and the political

establishment that you can deliver. Both opportunity and responsibility pushed him into the battle over labor reform, which was, in some ways, analogous to immigration reform now.The issue was controversial, consequential and fraught with political risks. As the chairman of a key Senate Labor Subcommittee, it fell to Kennedy to write a reform bill. He took hits from all sides: labor, business, southern Democrats, Republicans and most of his political rivals. But he impressed his colleagues with his ability to write complex legislation, move it through the Senate, and then negotiate a compromise with

from page 12

Minority Rule for political advantage and, presumably, because they thought they were in the right.

Despite disagreements on many issues, one thing that all sides seem unwilling to do is change the rules that regulate the majoritarian versus minoritarian dynamic.Those who are in power realize that they or their allies may not occupy that position for long. This is the reason why President Obama has ignored strident calls from Democrats to use the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling without Congress’s approval. It’s the reason why, despite repeated threats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has not changed the Senate rules to nix the filibuster. When Republicans ruled the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) also ultimately demurred when faced with the same temptation.

Power is carefully balanced in our system of government. Few are willing to risk adjusting the scales. This brings up another important feature of the American political system that differs from other countries and may serve us well: In the United States, the composition of the minority changes quite frequently, both in terms of turnover in the branches of government, which has been fairly fast-paced in recent decades, and how the party coalitions are composed, by what ties them together. In other words, we have a continuing incentive to not be too majoritarian because, relative to elsewhere, the tables are frequently turned in America.

Whether we agree with what may seem like the churlishness of a party that’s out of power, or a cantankerous minority group within that party — especially when it is raising havoc at any cost — we should remember that while the framers did hope to achieve good governance, they were guided at least as much by a fear of ambition, and they sought to check it whenever they could.

But while the framers constructed a slow-moving system that forces deliberation, debate and compromise — much like a 20thcentury Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, which challenged participants to make a complex machine to perform a simple task — all of those ingredients, deliberation, debate and compromise, are necessary for it to eventually budge. But at the moment, they’re in short supply, leaving the country at a dangerous standstill — one that’s costing us

Page 22

8) Look for opportunities outside the Senate to gain exposure.

After exploding onto the national political scene at the 1956 Democratic convention, Kennedy became the party’s rising star and took full advantage of his new status. He received 2,500 speaking invitations in 1957 and gave 150 speeches in 47 states. The next year he received even more political invitations and gave 200 speeches. His Senate work suffered, but he knew the Democratic nomination would not be won in the corridors of the Capitol. “Johnson thinks the campaign is in Washington. It’s not. It’s out here,” Kennedy told an aide during a trip outside of Washington.

9) You can break from your political base and survive but don’t do it often and find other ways to make it up to them.

Kennedy carefully cultivated the constituencies whose support he needed to win the Democratic nomination and supported them on most matters. Though his work on labor legislation angered some of his allies, he explained his position carefully, emphasized their many areas of agreement, and worked even harder and more publicly on other issues that mattered to them.

10) Work hard, enjoy the moment, and pray for good luck. serious money, ironically even though the obstructionism is driven in large part by a desire to save money.

And we’re not just talking about the $24 billion or so that last month’s shutdown cost the economy. Macroeconomic Advisers estimates that the total toll of congressional intransigence, filibustering, sequestration and squabbling over the budget has robbed the economy of around $700 billion since 2010. Then there’s the incalculable cost of failing to address America’s festering problems. With the normal legislative process twisted into a series of manufactured crises, little actual business is getting done on Capitol Hill, and long-range issues such as job growth, immigration reform, climate change, the Arab Spring, etc., are falling by the wayside.

For now, our nation sputters from crisis to crisis. But, as it somehow endures, we must be thankful that not even in these chaotic times is it in danger of the tyranny that the architects of the Constitution tried so hard to protect us from.

Yes, we can mourn the sad state of politics, where few elected officials seem willing to cooperate for the benefit of all.We can decry the senselessness of the shutdown, the irresponsibility of flirting with default, the needless pain that has been inflicted. But had not the Rube Goldberg machine been rigged just so more than 200 hundred years ago, these United States of America might not have survived and prospered — majorities, minorities, and all.

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

Kennedy focused on those variables that he could control. He traveled the country relentlessly, lobbied convention delegates, and took full advantage of his family’s wealth to wage a wellfunded national campaign. But he was always aware that the outcome of the race would be close. He observed that in politics the “margin is awfully small” between those who win and those who lose. “Like it is in life,” he added. Yet he exulted in the challenge. Shortly after he announced his candidacy, Kennedy asked, “How could it be more fascinating than to run for president under the obstacles and the hurdles that are before me?”

JFK, as a political pro, would warn today’s young senators that the road to the White House is long, exhausting, perilous and rarely runs through the Senate. But it can be done. Senator John F. Kennedy charted his path to the presidency in 1960 and modern aspirants would be wise to study his journey and reflect on his example because it remains relevant, even in today’s vastly different world.

John T. Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat and author of the forthcoming book “JFK in the Senate: Pathway to the Presidency.”

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ November 2013

Photo: William atkins / the GeorGe WashinGton University

Andreae Pohlman, who participated in the George Washington University’s CyberCorps program, co-leads GW’s team in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in February 2012.

Casting Wide Net Universities Prep New Generation To Secure World’s Cyberspace by Audrey Hoffer

Computers may not exactly control the world, but much of the world functions thanks to the help of computers — so securing them has become the next frontier in higher education.

Continued on next page

■ INSIDE: Project Zero is racking up a number of admirers in D.C. PAGE 28 ■ War hasn’t stopped the American University of Iraq from its mission. PAGE 34 ■

November 2013

EDUCATION

The Washington Diplomat Page23

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, left, former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, speaks with George Washington’s School of Media and Public Affairs Director Frank Sesno for the February 2013 event “Spies, Cyber attacks and Social Media: National Security in the Digital Age.” Photo: Jessica McConnell-Burt / The George Washington University

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Continued from previous page “Everyone who serves their country in a diplomatic capacity must understand cybersecurity as an issue that affects all their programs at home and overseas,”saidThomas Kellermann, a professor at American University’s School of International Service and vice president of Cyber Security for Trend Micro.

Every issue from politics to economics to business has a cyber dimension to it and is influenced by, and can be manipulated by, computers, he said.

The public is increasingly aware of the issue thanks to a string of high-profile attacks.

Groups such as Anonymous have been charged with hacking a range of websites, including credit card companies such as Visa and MasterCard.The Syrian Electronic Army recently took credit for bringing down the New York Times website.And earlier this year, the private security company Mandiant revealed the extent of Chinese hacking, much of it likely state-sponsored, against American interests ranging from major conglomerates such as Coca-Cola to government agencies. A few months later, the Obama administration publicly blamed China for launching attacks against government computer systems and defense contractors.

Of course, the United States isn’t an innocent bystander in the world of cyber warfare.

U.S. cyber warriors helped to develop the malicious Stuxnet software to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program. And more recently, Edward Snowden’s leaks about the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs exposed just how deeply the spy agency is able to penetrate into the world wide net.

Governments around the planet should be aware that cyberspace is an increasingly dangerous new world, where security voids threaten the individuals, companies and countries that are inextricably linked to the net.Attackers are becoming more sophisticated, and many are not playing games to provoke disruption or send a political message, but rather they

deliberately seek financial gain and profit.

Cyberspace Landscape “Cyberspace is an extremely hostile environment today,” said Kellermann. “There are a multiplicity of actors in the free fire zone, many competing interests, and lots of friendly and unfriendly fire being leveraged.”

The list of critical functions around the world that are vulnerable to cyber tampering is sobering: banking and transportation systems, civilian, government and industry networks, commerce, energy and power grids, government security and public policy documents, infrastructure, trade secrets and weapons designs.

Cybercrime not only hits governments and big businesses, but individuals as well. In fact, the financial losses associated with identity theft actually surpass those of physical theft globally, said J. Alberto Espinosa, chair of the Information Technology Department and professor of information technology at American University’s Kogod School of Business. “This provides ample evidence that we must safeguard our systems.”

Cybercrime is illegal according to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which came into force in July 2004 but was only ratified by the United States two years ago. As of September 2013, 40 countries signed and ratified the doctrine and 11 have signed but not yet ratified it.

Many governments haven’t signed on and don’t have legislation against cybercrime because they see hacking and cyber espionage as a way of boosting their nation’s industrial growth and making economic and technological advances — the easy way.

“Savvy hackers keep finding more effective ways to profit from cyber theft,” said Espinosa.

“In the old days a hacker had to be a competent programmer to get into your computer and do harm. Not any more. New forms of vulnerabilities, coupled with more sophisti-

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Cybersecurity cated and easier-to-use tools of attack, translate into more risk. Hackers today can penetrate a system without you knowing it and without doing visible harm; they can simply get in, stay there, collect data and you’ll never know.That’s what’s so scary.”

Cyberspace is not secure because security has not been adequately built into systems.

“That takes money and slows down product development, and we haven’t been willing to build it in. Until now, enough people haven’t thought it necessary,” said Lance J. Hoffman, a computer science professor and founder of the Cyberspace Security Policy and Research Institute at George Washington University.

“But now is a crucial time because we’ve reached the point that most leaders in the public and private sectors realize we have a serious, widespread problem that must be addressed immediately, broadly and with our full capabilities and ingenuities,” he said.

CyberSpACe WorkforCe The bottom line is we aren’t producing enough professionals, said Hoffman, although the

discipline is still young, added Angelos Stavrou, a computer science professor at the Volgenau School of Engineering at George Mason University.

A recent report by the National Research Council — a private, independent nonprofit institution of the National Academy of Sciences — addressed the challenges in advancing the professionalization of the cybersecurity workforce.

“The cybersecurity workforce includes a broad range of occupations,” said Diana L. Burley, an associate professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development and co-chair of the committee that looked at the professionalization of the cybersecurity workforce and wrote the report.

The report concluded that although there is a shortage of cybersecurity professionals across the country, the exact nature of the shortage is unclear.“Addressing the workforce challenge is complicated because we tend to talk about cybersecurity work as if it represents a single occupational category. It does not, and we risk exacerbating the workforce shortages by applying blanket professionalization strategies to the range of occupations as if the deficiencies were single faceted,” said Burley.

Patrick Kelly, a former George Washington University student who is now an instructor of a cybersecurity and governance course at the school and a government employee, said the workforce and pipeline issue is of increasing concern to the public and private sectors NOTE: is made to assure because Although we’re all partevery of theeffort same interconnected network.your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and content it is ultimately the customer the final proof.

Stavrou agrees and believes that peopleup are to increasingly realizingtothemake significance of losses in product delivery and intellectual property to their operations and companies. Unfortunately, onlyfirst after two something happenswill is thebe need for cybersecurity the Georgesubsequent Mason The faxedbad changes made at no cost recognized, to the advertiser, changes professor said. at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. will be billed “If we’re all vigilant and educated, we will become less prone to being exploited and therefore less prone to being used as a stepping stone to attack others,” said Stavrou.

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“Surveys of corporate business executives show that intellectual property theft, cybercrime Approved and cyber__________________________________________________________ attacks top the list of concerns that keep them up at night.The losses to their bottom Changes ___________________________________________________________ line, economic competitiveness and reputation are significant and becoming increasingly expensive,” he said. ___________________________________________________________________ The consensus of experts in the field is that cybersecurity needs to be integrated in large organizations at the highest levels.“Part of our problem now is that the technically competent workers who are capable of providing solutions can’t explain the need for cybersecurity from the business incentive perspective to the senior people,” said Stavrou. “What’s needed are professionals who are both technically competent and can articulate the risks.

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not just as an ad-hoc response to an attack, but as a part of the business strategic operations that will also repel future attacks,” Stavrou added, noting that once a system is compromised, it’s too late to fight because vulnerabilities have been breached and information stolen.

There’s also a huge shortage of skilled professionals with a combination of computer science savvy and business backgrounds managing large departments and companies, said Cilluffo. To help fill this void, George Washington University recently launched an executive MBA in cybersecurity aimed at pulling these disciplines together to incorporate a strong international component, said Cilluffo.

— Frank J. Cilluffo, director of the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute The significant shift in thinking about educating a cyber workforce has taken place partly because the field of cybersecurity is no longer viewed as simply a tech“He gives us situations such as, if you’re a company and want to create more relevant nical specialty.

It’s recognized today as a multidisci- online ads, is it OK to track a user’s activity on other websites, or how do you make sure plinary profession requiring both com- you’re safe online and not infringing on others’ rights when you create a new program,” puter competence and business mana- said Ryan Eckenrod, a freshman in the class.

The goal of these cyber courses is to build a cadre of professionals who can talk to gerial skills. That’s why schools in the Washington area are linking computer people on both the business side and technical side with knowledge and conviction.

“We try to educate our students so that whoever they talk to, whether a CEO, programscience classes to business, law, criminology, public policy and international mer in a bullpen or CFO [chief financial officer], they can present a convincing case for affairs programs to produce a profes- cybersecurity and the necessary investment required,” said Hoffman of George sional workforce that can prevent cyber Washington University.

Teachers also approach classes from a business and political perspective and try to theft and convince corporate leaders of prepare students to understand what vulnerabilities exist in the digital realm and what the need to invest in cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity is both a technical the best practices are to mitigate those risks.

Failure to understand the rapidly changing nature of cybersecurity has real-world and a people issue,” said Kelly.

Photo: William Atkins / The George Washington University That’s also why cyber professionals consequences.

Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security MichaelSchool of Washington, students from Nursery At British through School learn init’san international “In my course, crime,High espionage and warfare, notinspiring my intent to create IT specialists, need diplomatic skills, said Hoffman.

Chertoff, chair of the George Washington University butofrather master’s of international affairs candidates on how international relaenvironment“Part where a world view is at thetoheart eacheducate student’s experience.

Supported by internationally of life is reading newspapers Cybersecurity Initiative, speaks at the announcement of the and international development has been forever altered due to cyberspace,” said know what’s going on in the world, tions teachers and featuring acclaimed international curricula initiative in December 2012 at the university’s experienced Jack Morton Kellermann.

“Both crime who and what group is likely to become and outstanding IB Diploma scores, our students are accepted to and espionage have evolved dramatically online. Non-state Auditorium. a hacker, what’s happening with trade actors now can download cyber weaponry which endows them with asymmetrical leading Universities in the US and abroad. agreements and global financial banking. More and more of the global economy is in capabilities that can pose a real threat to regimes.”

Added Cilluffo: “The beauty and challenge of cyberspace is that it transcends tradiplay.”

To learn more about us or to schedule a visit, tional disciplines and ways of doing business, diplomacy and security, since the internet The University of Maryland even addresses the issue of cyber ethics. call 202.829.3700 or email admissionsbsw@wclschools.org In the Advanced Cybersecurity Experience for Students (ACES) program, associate knows no boundaries. One cannot look at cybersecurity through a national lens alone, as professor Michel Cukier, ACES director and associate director for education in the solutions will require working with allies to address the dark side of the threat.”

Maryland Cybersecurity Center, teaches students how to deal with privacy and safety infringement issues.

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[ cognitive study ]

Learning to Think Project Zero Teaches Students To Think About Thinking

Photo: Washington International School

E

The Washington International School holds a Project Zero Parent Demo to talk to parents about how the school incorporates a body of research from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education called Project Zero.

by Gail Sullivan

ducation is a divisive issue in the District, where educational opportunities are unevenly distributed by race and class. Politicized topics like teacher tenure, school closings, charters and mandatory testing tend to dominate public discourse, while conversations about students and how they learn take a backseat.

But in the background of those higher-profile debates, another conversation is happening among teachers in D.C., as a critical mass is steadily building around a body of research from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education called Project Zero, which dissects the learning (and teaching) process.

In 1967, researchers began to study ways to make people better thinkers. The movement was spurred by philosopher Nelson Goodman, who wanted to study and improve education through the arts, believing that arts learning should be examined as a serious cognitive activity, but that “zero” knowl-

Page 28

edge had been firmly established about the field; hence, the project’s name.

Today, Project Zero has built on years of research to help create communities of reflective, independent learners; to enhance understanding among different disciplines; and to promote critical and creative thinking. Its work includes research into the nature of intelligence, understanding, thinking, creativity, ethics and other essential aspects of human learning.This has evolved into a set of tools that teachers describe as “transformative.”

One of those teachers is the Washington International School’s director of studies, Jim Reese, who first discovered Project Zero in the late 1990s when he was an English teacher at the International School of Brussels.

Teachers at the Washington International School, which follows the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, have been using Project Zero concepts in the classroom for the past decade.“[Project Zero] has had a major effect

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The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

“There has been such a focus on the politics of education in D.C…. The whole education system has become a power struggle. It hasn’t been about students. It hasn’t been about the classroom.”

HOPKINS IS

— Kristen Kullberg, teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic School

the flexibility you need

on the culture of our school,” Reese said.

Project Zero can inform a school’s curriculum, but it is not a curriculum per se. The IB curriculum, for example, provides topic ideas and resources for teachers but doesn’t dictate the pedagogical aspect of the coursework.

Project Zero concepts can help teachers identify how to deliver curriculum content to their students in a way that is meaningful to them.

In the traditional classroom, a teacher delivers information to students who are passive recipients. Students are then called on to give back that information in a formal assessment.A Project Zero teacher facilitates learning by allowing students to develop their own interpretations with his or her guidance.

“By constructing their own understanding of a text, they are going to remember it better,” Reese explained.“They are going to see more meaning … and they are going to remember the way they approached it when they approach something new, even if it is in a different discipline.”

The goal is to teach thinking skills that improve students’ reasoning, problem-solving skills and creativity, in part by having them question old ways of thinking and be actively engaged in the learning process. David Perkins of the Harvard Graduate School of Education told the Harvard Gazette that his researchers discovered that the biggest problem that stood in the way of thinking was not IQ but alertness.“Things just pass people by,” he said.“They didn’t notice the little anomalies.They didn’t notice that the other side of the case was missing.”

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Bringing Project Zero to D.C. Last summer, Reese, who coordinates professional development for Washington International School, was one of 40 educators from D.C. schools to attend Harvard’s Project Zero summer institute in Boston. He tapped into the excitement among teachers attending the professional development program and started a group called “DC-PZ.” The teachers, who include Project Zero veterans and recent converts, is now 275 strong, with teachers from all eight wards in the city as well as educators from major museums like the National Gallery of Art. While enthusiasm for Project Zero was growing among D.C. teachers, an effort was under way at Washington International School to host a Project Zero summer institute here in the nation’s capital. Last spring, the school was awarded a coveted Edward E. Ford Foundation leadership grant to fund the first annual Washington International School Summer Institute for Teachers in 2014.

In 2010, Washington International School, in partnership with the National Gallery of Art, hosted the first Project Zero conference outside of Boston with a previous grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation. A second matching grant allowed the school to establish a consultant-in-residency program for the 2010-11 academic year featuring Project Zero researchers Veronica Boix

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Continued from previous page Mansilla and Ron Ritchhart.

The Washington International School Summer Institute for Teachers, or WISSIT, aims to make Project Zero a permanent presence in D.C., and ultimately a collaborative project sustained by the school in partnership with other private, public and parochial schools.

“A lot of [Project Zero practitioners in D.C.] are from public charter and traditional public schools, some of which are really struggling with kids who are coming from incredibly disadvantaged circumstances,” Reese said.“We really want this to be something that can translate into any kind of setting. We’ve seen it happen all around the world with Project Zero’s work, but we want to see it happen here in D.C.,” he said, noting that there’s “real enthusiasm” for these ideas from teachers in the city.

Unlike Harvard’s program in Boston, WISSIT is open only to teachers from the District and is offered at a fraction of the cost of Harvard’s summer institute (Harvard tuition is $2,500 per teacher; WISSIT will be about $500). The grant also covers scholarships for teachers who can’t afford the tuition.

The idea, said Reese, who will be the director of WISSIT, “is to bring together traditional public, public charter, parochial and independent school teachers together in one place to really explore [Project Zero] ideas pre-K through 12 and then to continue the conversation after the institute ends.”

On that note, WISSIT will not be a one-time experience like the typical professional development conference, which may impart exciting

struggle. It hasn’t been about students. It hasn’t been about the classroom.”

WISSIT is an opportunity to recalibrate, she said, and a chance for teachers who are on the “cutting edge” of education to prove that “D.C. education isn’t just about politics; it’s actually extraordinarily child-focused and thinkingfocused.”

WISSIT will focus on building a culture of thinking in schools and teaching global competence, two distinct but related Project Zero concepts that are particularly relevant in an international city like Washington.

“You can look at educators as techniPhoto: Sacred Heart School cians who teach a script or you can look Students at Sacred Heart, a bilingual Catholic school at them as professionals who actually design the in D.C., report on a Project Zero concept called CSI script,” said Barbara Smith, the principal at William (Color, Symbol, Image).

E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts. “If we want a group of young people who ideas but offers little follow-up. After the week- are going to be designing the future of the world long summer program ends, the work of the that they live in, then we need to have models in institute will continue through workshops and front of them that are doing the same thing.” professional development seminars.To encourage Two Harvard Project Zero researchers,Veronica Project Zero ideas to take hold and flourish in Boix Mansilla and Ron Ritchhart, will lead the District schools, Washington International School summer program. Boix Mansilla chairs the Future will also provide a mechanism for teachers to col- of Learning Institute at the Harvard Graduate laborate and share classroom experiences online. School of Education, which studies the changing The idea is to build a network of Project Zero world of education in an increasingly interconpractitioners around the city. nected global society. Ritchhart will lead the portion of the program focused on building a culture Thinking Over Politics of thinking;Washington International School gives “There’s lots of stigma about D.C. schools,” said Ritchhart’s book, “Making Thinking Visible: How Kristen Kullberg, a middle school language arts to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and teacher at Sacred Heart, a bilingual Catholic Independence for All Learners,” to all of its teachschool in D.C. “There has been such a focus on ers.

“Making Thinking Visible” is a research-based the politics of education in D.C.,” she said. “The whole education system has become a power approach to teaching thinking. It’s about “taking

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November 2013

the focus off of student product and focusing more on the process,” said Kullberg, who was “amazed” when she discovered Project Zero three years ago, because “as teachers we hear only about test scores.”

Tension with ‘Teaching to Test’ In a world where mandatory student testing is a critical lifeline to school funding, teaching to the test and Project Zero may seem like mutually exclusive approaches, and one might assume that pressure to master mandatory testing could be a barrier to Project Zero ideas taking hold in D.C. schools.

It depends on how you approach it, says Smith.“You don’t want to stop short of moving into critical thinking and invention.”

“I think if a school is so focused on getting kids to do well on standardized test that they’re teaching to that test, they are missing out on getting kids access to relevance in education,” Reese said.

Project Zero doesn’t necessarily conflict with mandatory testing, Kullberg said, adding that it is just a different and better way for kids to access the material.

New Public-Private Model WISSIT represents a departure from typical public-private partnerships, which usually channel funds directly to students through scholarships, summer enrichment programs and the like. Rather,WISSIT invests in students by investing in teachers.

“We have enormous confidence in Washington International to execute and follow through,” said Robert Hallett, the recently retired executive director of the Edward E. Ford Foundation.

In 2008, the foundation established its leadership grant to fund transformational projects that respond to the question,“What is the public purpose of private education?” Only private schools are eligible for the funding, but the program must involve a public-private partnership.

Independent schools represent a small slice of education in America — only about 1 percent. The leadership grant encourages independent schools to think differently about how they use their resources.The public-private partnership is a mechanism for leveraging the resources of private schools — funding, intellectual capital, access to people and places — to reach teachers and students in the public school system, Hallett explained.

Photo: Washington International School

Teachers at the Washington International School, which follows the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, have been using Project Zero concepts in the classroom for the past decade.

Wary of projecting a sort of noblesse oblige that, real or perceived, can accompany collaborative efforts between public and private institutions, Washington International School wants WISSIT to be a true partnership, says Reese.The project will be guided by an organizing committee composed of educators from different schools. Spots at the summer institute will be reserved for public and charter school participants, who sometimes have to go through longer processes to secure funding. While Washington International School is hosting the summer institute, it envisions organizing future Project Zero workshops hosted by other schools all over the city.

Gail Sullivan is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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November 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page31

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[ middle east ]

Fighting to Learn Veteran Educator Directs Iraq’s First American-Style University

J

Photo: The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

Dawn Dekle, president of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), is the first woman ever to head any university in Iraq.

by Larry Luxner

ust 40 miles from the Iranian border, a modern campus of sleek buildings constructed from Jerusalem marble and tinted glass overlooks the city of Sulaimani (Sulaymaniyah) in the Kurdish region of Iraq.Within its 418 acres, some 1,000 young men and women live in spacious dorm rooms and study with the aid of 10 sophisticated computer labs containing hundreds of internet-connected PCs and a library boasting thousands of English-language volumes.

When they’re not hitting the books or cramming for a test, these lucky students have a world of extracurricular activities to choose from — everything from basketball to a local chapter of the Jane Austen Society.

Welcome to the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), an oasis of liberal thinking in a part of the world fraught with bloodshed, ethnic rivalries and centuries-old hatred.

“It’s like any college campus in the world — beautiful buildings, students running around in blue jeans, taking classes and drinking coffee,” said Dawn Dekle, who’s been president of AUIS since September. “You wouldn’t know it’s in a conflict zone.”

Dekle — the first woman ever to head any university in Iraq — knows a thing or two about living dangerously.

Before relocating to Iraq, she spent two years in Kabul as provost of the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), whose campus is surrounded by razor wire and snipers on the roof in case of attack. And for good reason: More than once, female students off campus had acid thrown in their faces by Taliban

Page 34

militants outraged by the idea of girls getting an education.

“Under the Taliban, women never went to school, so unfortunately, you have a whole generation of women who are functionally illiterate,” Dekle told The Diplomat during a mid-October recruiting-fundraising trip to Washington. “It became very difficult for us to find women who could be admitted. When I joined AUAF, only 5 percent of the class were women. By the time I left, I had gotten that up to 33 percent, and 50 percent of the incoming freshman class were women.”

The American University of Afghanistan was established in 2006.At that time, it was 80 percent funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. By the time Dekle left for Iraq, USAID’s share of the school’s budget had dropped to 42 percent; the remaining 58 percent comes from private donations by wealthy Afghans “who want to give something back,” she said.

Even though the American University of Iraq is “a carbon copy” of the older school in Afghanistan, she said the contrast between Kabul, home of AUAF, and Sulaimani, home of AUIS, is dramatic.

“The perception in Afghanistan is that we’re going to abandon them. There’s an economic bubble happening, and all the NGO money that went in is going out. The bubble is going to burst. But in Iraq’s Kurdish region, very little American money has been going in,” Dekle said, noting that the oil-rich area is booming with luxury hotels, modern highways, wireless Internet and high mobile phone penetration.

“The Kurdish region is very supportive of the United States because we’ve

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November 2013

“It’s like any college campus in the world — beautiful buildings, students running around in blue jeans, taking classes and drinking coffee…. You wouldn’t know it’s in a conflict zone.”

AMAZING vs. the same old thing

— Dawn Dekle, president of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani helped them in the past, so there’s no [anti-American] tension. They’re happy to have us. Also, many people have aspirations of sending their sons or daughters abroad for an education. So even if you’re a Kurdish businessman and you hate American foreign policy, if you can’t get a U.S. visa for your child, then the alternative is to put your son or daughter in the American university.

We’ve brought the education to them.”

And unlike the American University of Afghanistan, AUIS is located in a prosperous, peaceful region of Iraq that, while still vulnerable to attacks, has little of the day-to-day violence that has come to characterize the rest of the country, especially the area around Baghdad.

“I don’t think we could operate a university in Baghdad right now. It’s too soon,” Dekle told us. “Having said that, I would love to operate a branch campus in Baghdad, maybe an English-language center so students could learn English, and once they get their English up to par, they could come up to Sulaimani.”

Just to be on the safe side, AUIS is protected by armed fighters of the Peshmerga, which is Kurdish for “those who face death.”

“It’s completely quiet there, and located in a valley, in a city with a million people,”Dekle said, noting that Sulaimani is a three-hour drive from Erbil, with direct daily flights linking Sulaimani to Istanbul, Vienna, Munich, London, Frankfurt and Dubai.

“It’s been my dream to be president of a university in a developing country with an interesting political situation,” the Austin, Texas, native told us. “So I’ll stay there as long as they let me.”

Dekle, 46, has an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. She also possesses a Ph.D. in psychology from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Stanford University, “neither of which I use in my job,” she joked.

After graduating from Stanford, Dekle moved to Singapore, worked her way up the academic ladder, got recruited by

McKinsey & Co. as a leadership expert, and ended up as the dean of Singapore’s S.P. Jain School of Management.

Dekle said few of her friends back home approve of her risk-taking career path.

“Everyone thinks I’m crazy. They don’t understand what I’m doing, or they think I’m a mercenary and I’m just there for the money,” she said.“The truth is I want to be part of history, and right now Iraq and Afghanistan are making history and I have a front-row seat. It’s an absolute honor to be there. I’m completely committed to this dream.”

AUIS is the brainchild of Barham Salih, former prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), who had long envisioned establishing a university in the Kurdish region.

“That’s largely because his daughter had such a great experience at Princeton and because his son had gone to Columbia,” Dekle said. “He himself was educated in the U.K., but he knew — because of the American Universities in Beirut and Cairo — that this could be done, and that it could stabilize Iraq.

Even though he’s not wealthy, he’s the one who made it happen.”

Both AU Beirut, which was inaugurated in 1866, and AU Cairo, which was formed in 1919, are incorporated in New York. But AUIS is organically Iraqi.

Two-thirds of its students are from Sulaimani itself, and 80 percent from the area administered by the KRG — “though with each admission cycle, we get more from outside the Kurdish region,” she said.

Dekle explained that Iraq still adheres to an old-fashioned system whereby high school students take an exam called the baccalaureate and get placed into university programs depending on their scores. Those scoring 90 percent or above automatically get placed into engineering, architectural or medical programs, while lower-scoring students are relegated to nursing, liberal arts and

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The Washington Diplomat Page35

their friends, sisters and cousins, creating a legacy effect,” she said.

“We’re trying to be a safe space where the humanities. everybody — independent of religion, eth“What makes our school unique is that a student nic group or tribe — can come and study applies and gets admitted to the university, not a together. The Kurdish region is largely Sunni, program. Secondly, we’re American-style and that’s though we have a number of students who why we call it the American University. This means are Shi’a. We also have representation from critical thinking, teaching students how to use inforall the tribal groups.” mation to make decisions. It’s a liberal tradition Kyle Long, the school’s director of comgrounded in our core curriculum: humanities, social munications and institutional development, science, math and science courses,” she said. said that ethnically speaking, 80 percent of “We’re primarily a teaching institute, but we AUIS students are Kurds, another 15 percent encourage research as well, so we want to develop Arabs and the remaining 5 percent other centers of excellence and expertise. Our experts minorities. focus on things like Iraqi archaeology, Kurdish But the student body could one day poetry, and oil and gas in the Kurdish region.”

Photo: The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani include aspiring young engineers, computer AUIS has 42 full-time faculty members, and anothscientists or educators from nearby Iran as er 40 instructors teaching in the English language The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, located in the Kurdish region of the counwell. After all, the Iranian border is less than program. Most are Americans with doctorates, and try, boasts a state-of-the-art 418-acre campus with spacious dorm rooms, 10 sophistian hour’s drive away from Sulaimani. those who aren’t at least have American credentials. cated computer labs and a library containing thousands of English-language books.

“We can tell from our website who’s “In both [the American University of] Afghanistan accessing it, and there’s some evidence to and Iraq, English is the language of instruction. Unfortunately, not every student is fluent in English, so we offer a yearlong preparatory program, which in Iraq 90 percent of our stu- suggest that Iranians are quite interested in AUIS,” Long said.“We aspire to be a regional unidents go through,” she said, explaining that students must score 420 or above on a basic versity like Beirut or Cairo, but we need to start slowly. We need to build the brand a little more in southern Iraq, but ultimately we do want to become a regional institution serving TOEFL to find out where they stand.“They can’t be absolute beginners.”

Dekle said it costs between $14,000 and $15,000 to educate one student for a year — far Syrians, Jordanians and others — so Iran is part of that.”

In late September, Iraq’s new ambassador to Washington, Lukman Faily, visited AUIS, which more than the highest possible tuition the school charges of $6,500. The average student pays $3,500, and those who score highest on their entrance exams pay “next to nothing.” has received large donations from the Kurdish Regional Government. But corporate donors That gap is made up partially through scholarships provided by several institutions such as have helped as well, led by the Anglo-Turkish oil conglomerate Genel Energy, which gave the university $20 million, and British oil giant Afren, which kicked in $30 million. the Mansour Investment Bank of Baghdad.

“These companies want us to build capacity for the workforce in the region,” Dekle “This scholarship will pay the full fees of students from Baghdad,” she said.“We also have the KRG Academic Excellence Scholarship for students [from the Kurdish autonomous explained.“They want to hire our graduates and they believe in our mission.”

And that mission is what keeps Dekle in the Middle East, despite the ongoing violence. region] who score above 85 percent.We’re looking to make our school accessible, not based on rich kids who can afford it, but based on merit. We’re looking at a few hundred scholar- Asked if she ever plans on returning to the United States permanently, Dekle laughed.

“Why would I?” she asked.“I’m having too much fun.” ships.”

At AUIS, one in three students are women, though Dekle wants women to constitute at least half the student body.“Our female students are the best ambassadors.They reach out to Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

Continued from previous page

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The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

MEDICAL ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ November 2013

Photo: PoZnyakov / BiGstoCk

International Patient Programs Offer More Than Medicine by Gina Shaw When saad (name changed to protect privacy) arrived in Washington, D.C., for the first time in 2009, he was 19 years old and terrified. two years earlier, the young saudi arabian man had been diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer, a disease that usually strikes much older people.

Continued on next page

HEALTH AwAy From

HOME

■ INSIDE: A number of headlines this past summer raised the alarm about the link between breast implants and breast cancer. PAGE 40 ■

November 2013

MEDICAL

The Washington Diplomat Page 37

“This isn’t a 9 to 5 job, and it’s not a Monday to Friday job….

Whatever time our patients call, we’re there.”

Continued from previous page

“It was very slow growing but also very slow to respond to medication,” he said. After a course of chemotherapy and radiation at a Texas hospital, complications from surgery resulted in severe damage to his intestine. Saad was sent to MedStar Georgetown Univer­ sity Hospital for an intestinal transplant. “I came with my mom and dad, and I didn’t now anyone here,” he recalled.

“I didn’t speak a word of English. I was in bad condition, and I was very frightened.”

— Helen Salazar With no intestine, Saad was entirely dependent on total director of the International Patient Program parenteral nutrition (TPN), at George Washington University Hospital receiving all his food intravenously. As he awaited a match for an entire small bowel transPhoto: The George Washington University Hospital international patient.” plant, the health crises began Salazar said that any international proto pile up. The TPN damaged his liver — “I was The International Patient Program at George Washington University Hospital shepherded about 2,500 gram must have a holistic devotion to its almost like a yellow person, and very weak,” he international patients representing around 150 countries last year, compared with just 27 in 2000. patients’ needs. “This isn’t a 9 to 5 job, remembered. Next, his kidneys began to fail, and and it’s not a Monday to Friday job,” she Saad spent two weeks in the hospital in a coma. said.“Whatever time our patients call, we’re there.”

“When I awoke, I found myself on dialysis. I almost Oncology and cardiology are big draws for interlost hope. But two weeks later, there was a match national patients coming to George Washington, says for a liver, kidney, small bowel and pancreas transSalazar, as well as obstetrics and plastic surgery. plant, and they did the surgery.”

Georgetown’s Lombardi Cancer Center, its top-rated The complications weren’t over. The post-transneuroscience program, and its transplant team plant medications Saad needed caused necrosis attract the most international patients. (cell death in the bone) of his hip, and he ultimateMeanwhile, at Johns Hopkins, more than a third of ly underwent a hip replacement surgery, also at its international patients come for cancer care, Georgetown. according to Burak Malatyali, vice president and But today, after years of rehab and physical therchief operating officer for Johns Hopkins Medicine apy, Saad says he’s feeling fine. “I can’t run or play International. With the Sidney Kimmel hard-contact sports, but I can walk, I can go Comprehensive Cancer Center on its main campus upstairs, I can swim, I can dance — I can get marin Baltimore, Md., already full with patients from the ried!” he exults. region, Hopkins has built a branch of the Kimmel He credits his life and his health to Georgetown’s Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital in D.C., where it transplant physicians and international patient expects to serve many international patients. team.“They are all like family to me,” Saad said.“Dr. Similarly, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [Thomas] Fishbein, Dr. [Raffaele] Girlanda and Dr. at Suburban Hospital, opened in 2006, is expected to [Cal] Matsumoto, who performed the transplant, as Photo: MedStar Georgetown University Hospital be the site of care for many of Hopkins’s internawell as the transplant nurses gave me such good At MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, the Lombardi Cancer Center, its top-rated tional cardiovascular patients. support. At times I was in despair, but Dr. [Paul Hopkins’s program, officially launched in the midMcClore] Jones, the pediatric psychiatrist, and the neuroscience program and its transplant team tend to attract the most patients from 1990s, is the largest in the area. Malatyali said its staff nurses were always there for me and gave me such abroad. now comprises nearly 300 professionals, who help valuable advice.” coordinate care for some 5,000 foreign patients Saad’s “home team” while at Georgetown was every year. He estimates that that number has the international patient staff, led by international increased by about 60 percent just since 2008, and services manager Safwa Osman. “They made me he predicts that Hopkins’s international patient load feel so at home here,” he said — so much so that he will double by 2016. “We are one of the top two or nurtures hopes of studying in the United States as a three hospitals in the nation in terms of serving college student. people coming from outside the U.S.,” he said.

For thousands of people like Saad, who come to Malatyali’s staff includes a team of international the Washington area every year from more than medical concierges, who respond to all contacts 100 other countries around the globe seeking the from overseas patients.“Until you come to Hopkins, world-class medical care the area is known for, you work with one person who will be responsible international patient programs are the key to a sucfor you all the way — finding the right doctor, colcessful care experience. lecting medical information, helping you open a Three hospitals in the Washington area have bank account, or find lodging or a car or a nanny for established international patient programs. Besides your children.”

Georgetown,George Washington University Hospital Once patients arrive in Baltimore, they are and Johns Hopkins also cater to the sometimesassigned to one of a staff of 85 international care complicated needs of patients coming to the United coordinators, who are not only proficient in their States from overseas for medical care. assigned patient’s language, but also in medical Both Georgetown and George Washington translation. The staff also includes an army of finanlaunched their international patient programs Photo: Johns Hopkins Medicine International cial counselors and “patient experience” specialists, around the turn of the 21st century. Nicole Duncan, whose job is to understand what an international Georgetown’s assistant vice president for patient The international patient program at Johns Hopkins, officially launched in the midpatient goes through and how to make that experiadvocacy and international services, estimates that 1990s, is the largest in the area and coordinates care for some 5,000 foreign patients ence better.

Georgetown has about 1,300 international patient every year.

Duncan of Georgetown University Hospital says encounters per year. Helen Salazar, director of the International Patient Program at George Washington University Hospital, says that the program that tending to details such as lodging and translation is critical to making a foreign experience shepherded about 2,500 international patients representing around 150 countries last year, less foreign — and less frightening.

“When a patient is coming to the U.S. for the first time and has a very frightening road ahead compared with just 27 in 2000, the year she helped launch it.

Salazar’s staff of four serves many roles: One staff member speaks five languages, while the medically, it makes it even more frightening when they don’t speak the language and aren’t other three are bilingual. All of them understand the importance of promptness with interna- familiar with the way things are done,” she said.“Our staff is there for the international patients tional patients.“We schedule appointments within 24 to 48 hours,” she told us.“Our doctors are from the beginning, and can follow them for what can be up to a four-year process.” aware that patients may be here for a very limited time and need to be seen immediately. We have a great relationship with our physicians in which they truly recognize the need of the Gina Shaw is the medical writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Page 38

MEDICAL

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

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The Washington Diplomat Page 39 10/14/13 10:56 AM

LIN

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[ breast cancer ]

Cosmetic Consequences?

Breast Implants and Cancer: Women Must Assess Risks

by Carolyn Cosmos

D

oes a woman’s desire to look and feel better about her body threaten the health of her body? This spring brought a storm of cancer-scare headlines for women with breast implants.

“Women with breast implants have nearly 40% greater risk of dying from breast cancer: study,” the New York Daily News said.

“Breast Implants Can Hinder Breast Cancer Survival in Women,” Medical News Today announced.

The headlines were triggered by a survey published in the prestigious British Medical Journal in April. A meta-analysis (a review of existing research) found a 26 percent increased risk of discovering cancerous breast tumors later in women with cosmetic breast implants — that is, after the tumors had started to spread to other parts of the body.Additionally, these women had a 38 percent greater risk of death from breast cancer than women who didn’t have implants.

Dr. Jacques Brisson, the lead author of the study, and his Canadian colleagues found that 84 percent of women with implants and cancer survived at least five years. That was lower than the five-year survival rate of 88 percent among women without implants who had cancer.

All the study subjects lived in Canada. Survival rates for women in the United States are similar and they’re “a little lower” in Europe, Brisson told www.medscape.com, an online news site for physicians. Brisson is a professor of medicine at Laval University in Québec and a director of the Québec Breast Cancer Screening Program.

Experts reviewing the Canadian survey explain its findings by pointing out that breast implants can interfere with good mammogram images and cause difficulties in detecting early breast cancers.

The potential impact of Brisson’s work is huge, so it’s no wonder it created quite a stir: One in eight women will get breast cancer at some point in her life.

“Breast cancer is the top cancer in women both in the developed and the developing world,” according to the World Health Organization — and that includes the United States.

Add some startling implant facts and you have the ingredients for a storm of concern: Breast augmentation involving saline or gel implants is the number-one cosmetic procedure in the United States, with 330,631 implant procedures performed here in 2012 alone, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

That makes this country number one in such surgeries worldwide.

But its popularity is not confined to the United States. Breast augmentation turns out to be the second most popular cosmetic surgery on the planet. After the United States, the highest numbers of implant procedures are done in Brazil, China, Japan and Mexico. The augmentation global total came to more than 1 million such procedures in 2011, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

This is certainly not the first controversy engulfing breast implants. Safety concerns were raised over the silicone in breast implants in the 1990s, but things quieted down when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said silicone implants were safe and effective — if not totally trouble free.

Similarly, in 2011, breast implants were alarmingly linked to a very rare

Photo: Rudyanto Wijaya / iStock

immune system (not breast) cancer in 31 cases found among an estimated 5 to 10 million cosmetic breast implants worldwide; about 30 more cases may exist.

The FDA advised no action on this cancer, called anaplastic large cell lymphoma, other than conducting research and collecting more data. Major cancer organizations agreed.

So what is the practical fallout of the Canadian study for women with breast implants? How does it affect those considering cosmetic breast enhancement?

“I’d like to … stress that breast cancer incidence is not greater among women with breast implants,” Brisson said in his Medscape discussion.

Overall, women with implants do not die more frequently from breast cancer, he added. Studies even show they tend to have slightly lower death rates than the general population. (Some experts suspect this occurs because women who seek implants are often healthier than the average woman in the first place and are more aware of their bodies.)

And the mortality findings in his Québec study apply only “to women who are diagnosed with breast cancer following implants,” Brisson noted.

Brisson also said his team’s scientific results should be “interpreted with caution.”

Dr. Jennifer L. Walden, a cosmetic plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas, agrees, saying,“It’s one study amidst a large body of literature.”That is, accumulated science attests to the safety of breast implants and shows no difference in survival rates for women who have them, she told The Diplomat.

Walden is the author of award-winning research articles and a textbook on cosmetic plastic surgery. She has also developed her own breast surgery instruments. Board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, she recently relocated to Austin from New York City, where she taught surgery at New York University.

A meta-analysis found a 26 percent increased risk of discovering cancerous breast tumors later in women with cosmetic breast implants. Additionally, these women had a 38 percent greater risk of death from breast cancer than women who didn’t have implants.

Page 40

MEDICAL

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

Dr. Jennifer l. Walden, a cosWalden said caution is also called for because the metic plastic surgeon in austin, Canadian survey examined the results of 12 observational texas, performs a breast augstudies, all published after 1993 and conducted mainly in the mentation with silicone implants.

United States, northern Europe and Canada, while a more she says accumulated science typical overview might examine “100 or even 200” studies. attests to the safety of breast This made for a scientifically “weak paper and you can’t draw powerful conclusions from it,” she said, noting that implants and shows no differadditional studies are needed. ence in breast cancer survival Finally, the Canadian analysis couldn’t control for things rates for women who have such as age or patient weight, important factors when it them. comes to breast cancer risk. And “only five studies looked at Drukteinis, a radiologist the chance of dying of breast cancer.” In others,“the cause of with the Moffitt Cancer Center death is not identified,” Walden said, which means that the in Florida, places women with patients could have died from another disease, from a heart dense breast tissue in a highattack, perhaps, or from an accident.

NOTE: Although every effort is made to assurerisk your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and group that needs better Indeed, the authors of the study warned that their finddetectiontoofmake breast ings “should be interpreted with caution as some studies content it is ultimately up to the customer thecancer final proof. because their breast tissue included in the meta-analysis on survival did not adjust for poses mammogram problems potential confounders.”

The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes Photo: Dr. JenniFer l. WalDen similar to those afflicting However, Walden emphasized that the Brisson study does will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration.

Signed ads are considered approved. make it more important than ever “for women to understand that implants can obscure women with implants.

Dr. Richard Reitherman of the Memorial Care Health System in California couldn’t as much as 20 to 30 percent of breast tissue on mammograms.”

Please check carefully. any that changes to your ad.

About 40 percentthis of allad women have denseMark breast tissue makes accuCosmetic surgeons have an obligation to inform women that implants make early agree more. detection of breast cancer more difficult, she said.An implant surgery candidate should rate breast imaging more difficult, he told The Diplomat.These women are “logically” in a cancer category women949-0065 with cosmetic breast implants and need have a conversation with her doctor about her family’s cancer history and genetic can-If the ad isrisk correct signsimilar and to faxthose to: (301) needs changes cer risk, as well as any previous biopsies or lumpectomies, and she should have a base- to practice similar prevention and precaution strategies, he said. Insurance coverage of the additional imaging depends on a patient’s risk level, Reitherman noted. line mammogram.

The Washington 933-3552 Twelve states Diplomat now have mandatory(301) notification laws that require doctors and mam“We generally discourage women with a high risk of breast cancer from getting mogram clinics to tell patients in writing if their breast tissue is dense, and advocates implants,”Walden said. such as Reitherman would like to see such laws in all states nationwide. California’s Patients “have an obligation to do research and to understand the cosmetic proce-Approved __________________________________________________________ notification law went into effect last March and Maryland’s in October. dures” they’re interested in. In addition, after the surgery, they should be picky when itChanges ___________________________________________________________ The advocacy effort is controversial. The American College of Radiology, in a 2012 comes to mammogram providers and should ask their breast surgeon or gynecologist for referrals. If a woman has breast implants, “the radiologist who interprets the mam-___________________________________________________________________ mogram and the technicians who do it need to be well versed” in imaging breast Continued on next page implants, Walden said.

“Many radiology suites don’t perform mammography at all these days,” she explained — and the ones who do may or may not have the specialized skills needed by a woman with implants. Women with implants need a radiology practice with a large volume of mammography procedures and implant imaging skills, Walden advised. They also need a technician who will do additional views and understands implant-specific procedures.

Brisson emphasized the same thing in his Medscape discussion. When a woman has breast implants, specialized positioning techniques can be used during mammography, and imaging specialists “should make sure that imaging guidelines for women with implants are followed,” he said. Even so, experts warn that some breast tissue is going to be obscured by a breast implant during any mammogram.

To deal with that, Walden said patients should understand that more sensitive breast imaging procedures such as MRIs or ultrasounds are available and may be called for, although they are expensive, not always covered by insurance, and can have high false positive rates. (False positives can result in biopsies of suspicious tissue that turns out to be perfectly fine.)

Fortunately, a June journal article in the American Journal of Medicine addresses these detection dilemmas with a less-dire headline of its own:“Beyond Mammography: New Frontiers in Breast Cancer Screening.”The study, done by Dr. Jennifer S. Drukteinis and colleagues, looks at new technologies for breast cancer screening, including lowdose mammography, contrast-enhanced mammography, tomosynthesis, automated whole breast ultrasound, molecular imaging and magnetic resonance imaging.

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A survey earlier this year suggested that breast implants can interfere with good mammogram images and cause difficulties in detecting early breast cancers.

November 2013

MEDICAL

HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 10-7 • Sat. 10-5 The Washington Diplomat Page 41

Photo: Dr. Jennifer L. Walden

Dr. Jennifer L. Walden, a cosmetic plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas, says that women with breast implants who undergo breast cancer screening need a radiology practice with a large volume of mammography procedures and implant imaging skills, as well as technicians who understand implant-specific procedures.

Continued from previous page

Finally!

A prescription with side effects you want.

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

position statement, said it “recognizes that breast density has a impact on mammographic screening” and states that the group would support an FDA requirement that breast density information be included in a patient’s mammogram report.

However, the report also noted that breast density standards are hard to judge and “not reliably reproducible.”

It also stated that while breast MRIs are more sensitive than mammograms or ultrasound, they also produce false positives and urged “all stakeholder [to] proceed with caution.” Meanwhile, the FDA is taking a regulatory route and in December will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that requires doctors to add density information to the standard letter about mammogram results sent to women who have had one.

Carolyn Cosmos is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Resources Susan G. Komen http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/ table28Breastimplantsandbreastcancerrisk.html Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool www.cancer.gov/bcrisktool/ Breast Cancer Detection and Survival Among Women with Cosmetic Breast Implants http://bit.ly/12bGWN7 Beyond Mammography: New Frontiers in Breast Cancer Screening http://bit.ly/14XlHUX Are You Dense? advocacy group http://areyoudenseadvocacy.org/dense/ Cosmetic Capital: D.C. Enhances Its Beauty: http://bit.ly/1fhCxEw

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escript Health-4.625x10.ind1 1

5/22/2006 4:48:43 PM

culture & arts

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

entertainment

■ NOVEMBER 2013

DIPLOMATIC SPOuSES

DANCE

Speaking of Surprises

TipToeing Around

Nobuko Sasae, wife of Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae, is a professional interpreter (and one-time fencer) who speaks candidly and defies expectations. PAGE 45

WORLD

MuSIC

All Right Notes Jerome Barry and his Embassy Series are marking their 20th anniversary season of hosting international concerts in the nation’s capital and taking politics out of music. PAGE 47

The Washington Ballet (TWB)

ART

Yearning to Be Heard “Pakistani Voices: In Conversation with the Migration Series” at the Phillips Collection echoes the desire of Pakistanis to be heard as human beings, and not just viewed as headlines. PAGE 48

has always had an international bent, but under Artistic Director Septime Webre, the acclaimed ballet company has gone global, with dancers from 14 different countries and six continents — including recent additions from Belarus, Cuba, Venezuela and Japan.

PAGE 44 Photo: StePhen BaranovicS

DININg

FILM REVIEWS

Thally is a neighborhood spot that’s true to its roots but destined to grow into a city favorite. PAGE 50

“Blue Is the Warmest Color” is a touching love story that’s become a darling among critics. PAGE 52

[ dance ]

Big Moves International Dancers Find Expressive Home at Washington Ballet

by Lisa Troshinsky

T

he Washington Ballet (TWB) has always had an international bent, but Artistic Director Septime Webre recently decided to ramp up this endeavor considerably. This season is no different, with several new company members who hail from other countries. TWB’s percentage of international dancers is now 40 percent, with dancers from 14 different countries and six continents.

“I am thrilled to welcome such a diverse group of new dancers to TWB,” said Webre. “About five to six years ago, we started purposefully recruiting internationally and accepting invitations to judge international ballet competitions around the world,” Webre, who is Cuban American, told The Washington Diplomat.

Hiring from abroad is a winwin situation, he said. This is because TWB is able to take on talent from countries that seriously train youth in exclusive bal- Francesca Dugarte, who was born in venezuela but is widely known in let conservatories, and the foreign italy, performs at the Washington dancers get a chance to perform Ballet’s open house, pictured above choreography they otherwise and on the culture cover. dugarte might not be privy to in their joins several new international cast native countries. members on the Washington Ballet, This season with TWB, audiwhich under Septime Webre has ences will be introduced to earned acclaim for productions Ekaterina Oleynik, former princisuch as “alice in Wonderland,” top, pal of the National Academic “the nutcracker,” right, and Bolshoi Theatre Republic of “hemingway: the Sun also rises,” Belarus, who will portray the role of Giselle in the season’s opener. below.

Also on board is Francesca Dugarte, who was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but is widely known in Italy for winning the dance portion of the Italian talent show “Amici di Maria De Filippi,” which is similar to “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” The Washington Ballet Studio Company, TWB’s second company, will gain Jose Justiz, formerly of the Cuban National Ballet, who defected from Cuba along with six other dancers while on tour in Mexico last spring. They said they defected to find a place where they could grow artistically and prosper economically.Tamako Miyazaki of Tokyo, a former company member with the Colombia Classical Ballet in South Carolina, also joins TWB. A huge draw for foreign dancers is TWB’s commitment to producing what Webre terms “neo-classical” works, like those choreographed by George Balanchine (often known as the father of American ballet) and more modern pieces that are often world premieres. “[International dancers often] come from companies that don’t do a lot of new works created by the company….This attracts dancers to TWB,”Webre said.“American dancers also get opportunities not available to foreign dancers. American dancers learn how to be choreographed on, which is different than learning a role like Giselle, where you try to perfect a step created a long time ago.This [year] is an especially adventurous season

Page 44

The Washington Diplomat

Photo: Brianne Bland

— a perfect season to introduce foreign dancers to an American company.”

The 2013-14 season opens with an adaptation of “Giselle,” which will run from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 at the Kennedy Center.TWB next continues its D.C. holiday tradition with a neo-classical version of “The Nutcracker” at the Warner Theatre, choreographed by Webre.

In late January, the company will head to the Sidney Harman Hall to premiere “The Jazz/Blues Project,” a combination Photo: StePhen BaranovicS of three contemporary works byTrey McIntyre,Val Caniparoli, both Americans, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, who is halfColombian and half-Belgian and based out of the Netherlands. Also in January, the Studio Company will perform a “dance-romance” using French cabaret and art songs with the In Series at the GALA Hispanic Theatre.

In early March, TWB will return to the Kennedy Center with the revival of “British Invasion,” three contemporary Photo: Paul ZamBrana ballets that celebrate the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

The “Jazz/Blues Project” and “British Invasion” are the kinds of works international artists come to the Washington Ballet to dance, said Webre, the seventh of eight children whose own background is a hodgepodge of places and cultures. After leaving Cuba, his family headed to the Bahamas and eventually settled in Texas, where the renowned dancer worked as a personal assistant to the late Ann Richards, For more information the former outspoken Texas governor, when she was state treaon the Washington Ballet, surer — before pursuing ballet please call (202) 362-3606 full time. or visit www.washingtonballet.org.

Next in the season lineup is a Photo: Brianne Bland classical, full-length version of “Peter Pan,” also choreographed by Webre, and the gala-style “Tour-de-Force: Balanchine!”

The season will culminate with Balanchine’s “Who Cares?,” a ballet set to the music of George Gershwin that captures the spirit of Broadway.

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Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

November 2013

[ diplomatic spouses ]

Speaking Same Language Japanese Interpreter’s Charm Not Lost in Translation

by Gail Scott

C

harming, candid and eloto be with him. It is his and my hope quent. That’s what Nobuko that this is the best answer. It is a comSasae is — and it’s not open promise…. It is very exceptional that to interpretation. She is the we spent 15 years in Tokyo; it was very wife of JapaneseAmbassador helpful to my career. That’s part of the Kenichiro Sasae, mother of reason I compromised this time.” their two sons, and a profesShe added:“Somewhere in my heart, I sional interpreter for some know it is time for me to enjoy other of the world’s most prestigious conferthings. It’s time to reset my life — it’s ences. come earlier than expected,” said this Perhaps the most intriguing facet of mother of two sons, ages 31 and 32. this translator’s personality is her easygoIt’s also a welcome respite from a ing style. Her candor and casual demeanrigorous job. Nobuko works as both a or stand out in the more formal world of simultaneous and consecutive translaJapanese society. tor. “During simultaneous translation, “Interpreting keeps my interest,” she we work in a team of three or four. It is told us.“It’s a different subject and differso intense. We switch off every 10 to 15 ent speaker each time. It’s satisfying minutes,” she explained. because it’s different every day; every She always prefers to have some day is new … and I’m exposed to a new background information or better yet, topic, new situation, new speakers.” the text, at least the day before to underGiven her job interpreting at highstand the core message and the vocabulevel events, we asked if there is any lary of the speech she’s translating. The conflict between her work and her hushomework is necessary because she band’s. “No, I ask my husband beforeinterprets speeches in a variety of fields, hand for anything held here in from foreign affairs to financial matters, Washington before I take the assignment medical research to scientific findings. or conferences he will be attending himMedicine, in fact, is a family tradition, self. We would both feel uncomfortable although Nobuko’s interests are varied then,” she replied.

— and somewhat unexpected. Indeed, “There is no period I didn’t work,” part of her charm is that she defies Nobuko explained. “As a freelancer, I expectations and is refreshingly honest could be more flexible.” about her background, able to discuss Photo: Embassy of Japan Her husband’s career has also afforded Nobuko Sasae, wife of Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae, is a professional in­­ter­­­­ serious topics yet instantly switch to her a great deal of flexibility. Although he preter who translates at high-level events and conferences. While in Washington, D.C., lighthearted humor. For example, has served in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign although she was seriously committed to she’ll continue to accept freelance assignments but will cut back on her workload.

Affairs since 1974, Kenichiro Sasae spent her high school sport, fencing, she knows most of his career in Tokyo, most recently it was an unconventional path to take as vice minister and deputy minister for foreign — one she chose for less-than-serious reasons.

Interpreting keeps my interest…. “My father was a neurosurgeon and my mothaffairs. His first posting abroad, in fact, was in Washington, D.C., followed by a stint with the er’s five brothers were all doctors, so I thought I It’s a different subject and International Institute for Strategic Studies in London was going to medical school and be a doctor, but I and then as special adviser to the United Nations spent all my time practicing fencing and not studydifferent speaker each time. It’s High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. By 1997, ing,” she recalled. he returned to Tokyo, where he held various positions But all that practicing paid off. She was an satisfying because it’s different until coming to D.C. last year. award-winning fencer and won a silver medal in It was during this period from 1997 to 2012 that the All Japan Inter-High School Match and was every day; every day is new.

Nobuko Sasae was free to translate in Japan and often featured in newspapers. abroad because her husband was stationed in Tokyo.

Why fencing? “I like the costume,” she quipped, — Nobuko Sasae “Since he is ambassador now and we are back in laughing.“I thought that fencing was so cool.” wife of Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae Washington, I plan to work much less. I want to mainTurning serious, she adds:“Fencing is a demandtain the minimum and keep my contacts in the intering sport. We used to practice in the summer and pretation industry. Here, I’ll accept assignments in New York or near by Washington. it would be so hot and humid in our gymnasium that we would wear wet towels Unless I continue at some level it will be difficult to re-enter,” she explained.“I plan around our necks.” to take three weeks every six months and go back to Japan to do some work.”

She may not have gone into medicine, but her 32-year-old son Ryu is now a She works through a professional agency and says she is proud that she “still has doctor who lives in Britain. His younger brother, 31-year-old Jun, graduated from very good clients who ask for me.” Plus, Japanese agencies request her to work Oxford, did a workshop in Paris, and is working toward a doctorate in French here. poetry, examining how French poetry has influenced Japanese poetry and litera“[Interpreting] is an important part of me,” Nobuko told us, admitting that she ture. had reservations about having to cut back on her workload if they were sent to She misses their sons but like many other diplomatic families, they erase the Washington. “Before we came here, I was very resistant. We had heard the rumor long distances by communicating via e-mail. “It’s still nice to call them and hear that my husband would be asked to go to Washington as ambassador and I was their voices,” she noted. happy when he was assigned here, but it was a dilemma for me.

Continued on next page “I wanted to be useful as a spouse,” she continued.“And my husband expects me

“

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November 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 45

Continued from previous page

Odds of a child becoming a professional golfer: 1 in 140,000 Odds of a child being diagnosed with autism: 1 in 150

Some signs to look for:

No big smiles or other joyful expressions by 6 months.

No babbling by 12 months.

No words by 16 months.

To learn more of the signs of autism, visit autismspeaks.org

“The boys” were only four months old and 1 year old during their first diplomatic tour in Washington. While Nobuko was busy taking care of two babies, she signed up for classes at American University. “It was disastrous,” she admitted.“I had no time.”

They lived in Bethesda, Md. at the corner of Bradley and Wilson.“I only knew the wives of the other diplomats at the embassy. I didn’t have much time to make friends.”

Today, with the boys grown and more time available, the Sasaes enjoy mountain hiking and musical concerts.“When we are tired, it is music or hiking that gives us energy,” she said.

Although Nobuko loves to wear Japanese designs, she prefers Western-style clothes and doesn’t look forward to the time-consuming process of wearing elaborate kimonos for formal events.

“It takes a whole day to wear a kimono,” she explained. “First you have to go to the beauty salon to get a special hairstyle. It takes two to three hours and you take a big bag with you of your clothes. I will wear kimono for the New Year’s reception, the Empress’s birthday and the Cherry Blossom Festival.”

PhotoS: emBaSSy of JaPan

Nobuko Sasae and her husband, Japanese ambassador Kenichiro Sasae, attend a texas rangers baseball game, at left, and pose with their two sons above: 31­year­old Jun, who is working toward a doctorate in french poetry, and 32­year­old ryu, a doctor in Britain.

Of course, kimonos are also worn for weddings. And Nobuko’s wedding to her husband took place just six months after they met. It was a brief courtship, but the two knew they were right for each other from the moment they met and have never looked back.

“My mother’s friend knew him because he lived in her house, but she had never met me. I had been away studying at the University of Pennsylvania and a week after I got home they arranged our meeting. I was still jet-lagged,” she

remembered. “We went to a hotel for lunch as instructed and then had dinner together. In between, we took a two-hour walk and he proposed to me. We knew we wanted to marry. We shared a common memory of studying in the U.S. One year earlier, he had gone to Swarthmore College, which is close to Philly. Our parents met each other at our wedding.”

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

© 2007 Autism Speaks Inc. “Autism Speaks” and “It’s Time To Listen” & design are trademarks owned by Autism Speaks Inc. All rights reserved.

CAN YOU DO IT YOURSELF? 20 Year Annualized Investment Returns

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November 2013

[ music ]

Rhythm of Time Embassy Series Marks Its 20th Anniversary Season

by Gary Tischler

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[

erome Barry and his Embassy Series are mark marking their 20th anniversary season of hosting international concerts in the nation’s capital, a milestone built on the ambition and mission that drove Barry’s initial foray into the diplo diplomatic scene with the Washington Music Ensemble.

Barry, a multilingual baritone, and his wife Lisette settled in Maryland in 1974 after spending years performing abroad. He began performing at embassies with the Washington Music Ensemble, which he founded with pianist Alan Mandel in 1981.

Thirteen years later, he decided to start his own group, the Embassy Series.

“I think when it really became the Embassy Series — as opposed to the Washington Ensemble performances — was at a concert at the British ambassador’s residence in 1994.They had a wonderful reception in the gardens there. We were doing ‘Songs of Travel’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams,” Barry recalled.

“And I think at that time we were charging much less than we are now. But it hit me that we needed that paradigm, a new way of thinking, that we had to spread our wings.”

That’s when the Embassy Series was born, bringing acclaimed artists, pianists, instrumentalists, singers and string quartets from all around the world to Washington, D.C. In fact, since its inception, the Embassy Series has hosted hundreds of concerts in embassies — nearly 80 so far — and ambassador residences, averaging about two dozen concerts each year.

“We began thinking then about musical diplomacy, that we could accomplish something unique by doing something unique,” Barry said. “It meant finding new artists, it meant traveling, it meant approaching more and more embassies and ambassadors, it meant avoiding politics, and encouraging mutual understanding, and it meant having the support of institutional professionals [and] a great board.”

Those early years were somewhat European-centric, with a classic repertoire of Mozart, Bach and Beethoven performed at a core group of participating embassies — namely Austria, Britain, Germany and Poland. But Barry and his wife Lisette wanted to expand the audience, the artists and the musical genres.

Without ever forgetting its strong European base of support, the Embassy Series expanded to include countries from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, among other regions. The Embassy Series was one of the first groups to hold a concert in China’s enormous new embassy in Washington. The Cuban Interests Section has opened its doors to the group, as has a diverse roster of countries — among them Afghanistan, Armenia, Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Tunisia and Ukraine, just to name a few.

The series is no longer just about concerts, but about bringing people together to discover For more information on the foreign and oftentimes faraway cultures.

Embassy Series, please call “Every concert, every event is unique,” Barry (202) 625-2361 or visit said.“And it’s always about people — the artists, www.embassyseries.com. the genius who wrote the music, the people who work to make it happen, the audiences, people who come not just quietly, but to meet people and representatives of countries and people they would not meet otherwise.”

Exposing audiences to different cultures is something Barry has pioneered, hosting concerts in the Iraqi Cultural Center for example and, during one busy two-year stretch, at the embassies and residences of Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco and Tunisia, all countries wrenchingly affected by the Arab Spring.

Barry, who is Jewish, has reached out and made connections with a variety of

November 2013

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PhotoS: morriS Simon / the Simon firm / emBaSSy SerieS

above, Jerome barry, founder and artistic director of the embassy Series, second from left, joins ambassador of nepal Shankar Sharma, third from right, at his residence for a concert by acclaimed nepalese singer Prem raja mahat, third from left. at left, former rep. congressman John tanner (d­tenn.) and his wife Betty ann tanner join ambassador of india nirupama rao and Jerome Barry for an embassy Series concert at the indian residence.

Middle Eastern countries.“We don’t deal in politics,” he stressed. “That’s what makes it work.”

This month alone, the Embassy Series will hold a concert in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy in honor of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, as well as pianist Raffi Besalyan in the Armenian Embassy. Next month is an Irving Berlin tribute at the Embassy of Luxembourg and the chamber group miXt at the Spanish ambassador’s residence. In October, the Embassy Series welcomed a traditional folk music ensemble to the Ukrainian Embassy along with concerts at the residences of the ambassadors of India (a first), Nepal and Romania.

Barry said each of the concerts is special and original.“Sometimes, it’s like a lovein,” he said.“Nepal at the residence was like that.”

I can recall numerous special moments over the years. Earlier this spring, for example, nearly 200 high school students, all members of the Homestead Spartan Alliance Marching Band from Fort Wayne, Ind., showed up at the Austrian Embassy to listen to Barry sing, pianist Edvinas Minkstimas play Mozart, and violinist Solomia Gorokhivska and flutist Andrei Pidkivka perform music from Eastern Europe. The students, talented musicians in their own right who routinely win their state’s marching band titles, treated the occasion as if it were a rock concert.

I remember a special Holocaust concert at the Lithuanian Embassy, were a deep hush reigned during the performances of “Songs from the Vilna Ghetto.”There were also homegrown young jazz musicians from Michigan with Iraqi backgrounds who played both traditional and modern music on ancient instruments. I remember the Syrian ambassador presiding over a concert by a young Syrian artist, a star in Europe, impressing the audience, which now probably wonders what happened to both men since the start of that country’s civil war.

See embaSSy SerieS, page 51 The Washington Diplomat Page 47

[ art ]

Pakistani Perceptions ‘Voices’ Yearn to Be Heard as Human Beings, Not Headlines by michael Coleman

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he Phillips Collection has a longstanding and fruitful relationship with Jacob Lawrence’s “The Migration Series,” a mid-20th-century sequence of paintings that depicts the mass movement of African Americans from the rural south to the urban north between World War I and World War II. The gallery has long used the series to conduct community outreach. But it wasn’t until a young American diplomat wandered into the gallery in the summer of 2012 and had an epiphany that Pakistan got involved.

The diplomat, Ajani Husbands, the assistant cultural affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, became fascinated by “The Migration Series” and approached museum officials with an idea.Why not use it as part of a cultural exchange with Pakistan, a country vital to U.S. interests but often misunderstood by Americans? The museum liked the idea and Husbands teamed with the Phillip Collection’s Rachel Goldberg.As the two traveled Pakistan, they worked with more than 100 young Pakistani artists ranging in age from teenagers to the mid-30s to tell their stories of life in the complex South Asian nation.

The resulting art exhibition — 29 works by emerging Pakistani artists and 20 works by students — tells a tale of a country rife with danger and violence, but also vibrant with color and the routine rhythms of family life.

One of the exhibition’s most arresting pieces is “Silent Voices,” a pastiche of calm, urban scenes in each corner of the canvas, which are centered around the live, dangling wires of a telephone pole. The effect is kinetic, electric and a bit jarring. The trio of artists who produced the piece — Farrah Khan, Rabia Yaseen and Aasma Majeed — seems to be saying that life in urban Pakistan is normal, until it isn’t.

“Best Friends” looks as if it could have been produced by an American adolescent girl, albeit one with a bit of a morbid streak. In the garishly colorful series’ first panel, two young girls quietly enjoy each other’s company as they watch the Cartoon Network in front of the television. The next panel depicts what looks like a tense argument accentuated by a lightning bolt between the two girls’ visages. Next we Pakistani Voices: in Conversation see a bleeding wrist and scenes of an afterlife. It’s pretty intense stuff. with the migration Series “Balochi Folk Story” is more tranquil. The series through dec. 31 of watercolors, oil and pencil drawings depict tradiPhillips Collection tional Pakistani life in beautiful mountain settings.

1600 21st St., nW In an interview, Goldberg said she collected hunFor more information, please call (202) 387-2151 dreds of pieces of art in Pakistan and had a very or visit www.phillipscollection.org. difficult time deciding which ones to hang in the limited exhibition. But she said the one theme that emerged was these young Pakistanis desire for the larger world to know their story.

“The one thing that really struck me about all the students who created artwork is that they all wanted the outside world — particularly the Western world — to see them as human beings, to see them outside this typical Western media portrayal of what a Pakistani is,” Goldberg said.

“Everyone from the little kids to the experienced artists really wanted people outside of Pakistan to know who they truly are as human beings and they tried to work that into their art.”

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PhotoS: the PhilliPS collection

above and below, Pakistanis partici­ pate in an emerging artists Workshop at the alhamra arts center in lahore during a program organized by the Phillips collection and the State department. the results of that collaboration are on view at the Phillips in “Pakistani voices,” featuring works such as “leaving all Behind,” by Sidra ali, huma arshad, abid Khaleed, noor ul huda and hunian hayat, left, and “Best friends,” by aliza iqbal, mahnoor raheem, Zainab Zahid ali, rabie Javed and Safah Saeed, right.

Michael Coleman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Page 48

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

[ art ]

Liberating ‘Expresión’ D.C.-Based Latin American Artwork Travels to Oklahoma by kat Lucero

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ark White, chief curator of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma, wanted a comprehensive, modern Latin American art exhibition for his museum. He looked at a few other institutions, including the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA) in Washington, D.C., for some pieces. But when he closely examined AMA’s works, he said that “something intuitive” emerged from the items on his checklist — the pieces all had freedom of expression themes.

The result became “Libertad de Expresión: the Art Museum of the Americas and Cold War Politics,” an exhibition at the University of Oklahoma museum that showcases the role of art in international affairs and specifically the advancement of Latin American art from the 1940s to the 1990s.

The exhibit — the largest showing of the AMA’s collection in the United States in six years — is a sign of the tremendous growth of the AMA, which promotes the art of the Organization of American States member states. As such, the museum often highlights themes of democracy and development, which artists across South America and the Caribbean explored in the post-World War II period.

The exhibition features a variety of artists such Alejandro Obregón, Joaquín Torres García, Amelia Peláez, Manabu Mabe, Jesús Rafael Soto and Mario Carreño. White plucked 62 works (out of 1,000) that include paintings, sculpture, photography and mixed media.

“Many of the works were consciously engaging in a dialogue that was really international,” said White, who is currently the interim director at the Norman, Okla., museum. “The styles they were working on were prevaLibertad de expresión: lent in Europe and the U.S.” the art museum of the americas In fact, the communist tensions that and Cold War Politics arose in Europe in the late 1940s gave through Jan. 5 birth to the Organization of American States, whose charter emerged from the Fred Jones Jr. museum of art Ninth International Conference of at the university of oklahoma American States convened in Bogotá to For more information, please address the spread of international comvisit www.ou.edu/fjjma/. munism. That charter also noted that cultural diplomacy was key to the OAS’s central mission of promoting understanding throughout the Americas.

“Libertad de Expresión” attracted Latin American experts like Claire Fox, author of “Making Art Panamerican: Cultural Policy and the Cold War” and a professor at the University of Iowa, to work on the yearlong project.

“It’s just an incredible boon for scholars and people who have an interest in Latin America,” said Fox, who served as researcher for the exhibition and also spoke at the symposium that preceded the show’s opening reception in October.

Among the main works in the exhibition that Fox mentioned is the renowned “Estudiante Muerto (El Velorio) | The Dead Student (Vigil)” by Colombian painter Alejandro Obregón.

The dramatic red oil painting commemorates the deaths of La Violencia, the 10-year civil war in Colombia that raged from 1948 to 1958.

Another is an oil painting called “Agonia (Agony)” by Japanese-Brazilian artist Manabu Mabe.White surmises that the piece’s abstract form and colors — predominantly dark blue with bold splotches of red and brown — expresses some inner turmoil.

“There’s some speculation of maybe that post-war alienpervaation that one often talks about amidst the Cold War — that there’s this general negativity that’s perva sive in the early 1960s,” said White.“It’s a very interesting painting — probably one of my favorites.”

One of the works that illustrates the region’s diverse styles comes from Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto, whose “Escritura Hurtado (Hurtado Writing)” is a mixed-media piece featuring a panel with vertical

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PhotoS: oaS ama | art muSeum of the americaS collection

From top, amelia Pelaez’s “marpacífico (hibiscus),” manabu mabe’s “agonia (agony)” and alejandro obregon’s “estudiante muerto (el velorio) | the dead Student (the vigil)” are among more than 60 works of latin american art that traveled from d.c. to the university of oklahoma for the show “libertad de expresión: the art museum of the americas and cold War Politics.”

See exPreSióN, page 51 November 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 49

[ dining ]

Thally Throwback Tanaka’s Refined Food Pays Tribute to Shaw’s Relaxed Roots

by Rachel G. Hunt

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n appealing new addition to the rapidly developing Shaw neighborhood opened at the end of the summer under the watchful eyes of executive chef Ron Tanaka and his longtime friends and partners, general manager Sherman Outhuok and Paolo Sacco.The co-owners, all well-established professionals in the Washington area restaurant scene, bring a balanced pedigree to Thally.

The new 70-seat restaurant is the culmination of Tanaka’s distinguished career that began in the pantry of Morrison-Clark Inn in the mid 1990s and includes a string of stints with such local notables as Michel Richard’s Citronelle, Frank Ruta’s Palena and Eric Ziebold’s CityZen. Tanaka’s individual talent emerged when he took on the executive chef spot at Cork Wine Bar and later revived the flagging New Heights, earning it a spot on Washingtonian’s 2012 list of “100 Very Best Restaurants.”

Thally’s menu is short, but to call it limited would do a huge disservice to the abundant skill and creativity in each dish.

Tanaka’s driving principle for Thally (pronounced TAL-lee) is simple, fresh and flavorful modern American cuisine. Everything is certainly fresh and very flavorful, but the simplicity is of the deceptive variety that only an experienced chef with a deep understanding of ingredients can achieve.

The crab roulette, a crisp, thin, wonton-like tube filled with sweet peekytoe crab lumps, is a good example of how Tanaka puts together just a few ingredients to create a thoughtful dish. He pairs the rolls with a spare, crisp cauliflower tomato salad dressed with Old Bay vinaigrette and dill. The preparation is simple; the taste is superb. The same is true of the rockfish, with the filet pan seared and served atop fresh corn salsa, French beans, tomato and bits of tarragon.

Tanaka also grills a nicely sized T-bone pork chop and serves it over a bean puree with greens. Though reminiscent of a classic Southern dish, the accents of ginger and a surprising grilled scallion add an international note.The pork itself is moist, tender and exceptionally flavorful, an effect Tanaka achieves by bringing the pork on mustard.

Tanaka is a master griller, evidenced not only by the pork, but also a Delmonico steak and branzino. The steak, cooked to a tee, is dusted in coffee and served with baby spinach and a rich bordelaise sauce, while the branzino European seabass is served with eggplant caponata, basil and piquillo jus.

Because Tanaka is focused on Thally offering the freshest ingredients, 1316 9th St., NW he substitutes ingredients regularly (202) 733-3849 and each visit is likely to offer a http://thallydc.com few surprises — enhanced by the fact that he’s not necessarily wedDinner: Tue. - Sun., 5:30 - 11 p.m. ded to American cuisine.

Bar: Tue. - Sun., 5 - 11:30 p.m.

The carnitas sope — small, thick rounds of fried masa piled with First courses: $8 - $10 shredded strips of rich, salty pork Second courses: $18 - $26 Desserts: $7 - $9 and accents of red chili sauce and crema — is a faithful rendering of Reservations: Accepted via online and telephone this traditional Mexican dish.

Tanaka takes advantage of the dish’s inherent flexibility by adding a touch of feta and fresh vegetables to lend an interesting new dimension to a Mexican classic.

Thally typically offers a soup as one of the first courses. Earlier in the season it was a chilled cucumber soup with hints of cumin, dill and mint, making it difficult to tie to any specific cuisine or region. Tanaka is doing more robust varieties as the weather cools, and on a recent visit he offered a cabbage soup whose bland name

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Page 50

The Washington Diplomat

Photos: Jessica Latos

The driving principle behind Thally (pronounced TAL-lee) in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood is simple, fresh and flavorful modern American cuisine.

belied its elegance.The dish arrived with a small pile of roasted gold beets, braised red cabbage, duck confit and crème fraîche.The server poured a pitcher of hot leak puree over the ingredients and voila, soup. Who would’ve thought cabbage soup could be so delicious and playful?

Tanaka clearly enjoys playing with presentation, perhaps nowhere more so than with the watermelon, tomato and goat cheese first plate. Built to look like a sushi dish, the watermelon’s pink flesh doubles for raw tuna and pink ginger. Another vegetarian dish displays equal whimsy. The vegetable medley main course — a hearty combination of Swiss chard, tarbais beans, mushrooms and shallots — is topped with fennel that is prepared to look like an octopus sitting astride a bed a kelp. Funny and tasty.

Tanaka keeps up the creativity on the dessert side. For presentation, the bergamot ganache with chocolate tuile and candied orange is as dramatic as any French delicacy. Just as inspired is the celery root panna cotta (odd sounding but delicious) that is topped with apple gelee and served with red wine reduction, streusel and hazelnut gelato.

While Tanaka is busy in the kitchen, Sherman Outhuok takes care of the front of the house. Outhuok has been in the restaurant industry since his first teenage job at McDonald’s. He knew from the beginning that he loved the day-to-day interaction with customers and later extended that interaction to being behind the bar. Thally is the first restaurant he has planned from the ground up, giving him the chance to bring together the bartending skills he honed at Maple in Columbia Heights and Posto, where he developed the citrus “cello” liquors he is serving up to Thally customers.

Outhuok has also developed a few tempting “Thallytails,” including the agave guava, an enticingly sweet combination of Sauza Reposado tequilla, elderflower liqueur, guava puree and house-made sour mix. Outhuok takes an interesting November 2013

mario Carreño’s untitled 1954 oil painting is among the works in the collection of the art museum of the americas that depicts the evolution of latin art from the 1940s to the 1990s.

from page 47

embassy Series

Photo: oaS ama | art muSeum of the americaS collection

from page 49

expresión stripes and a series of wires suspended in front of it.

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum’s permanent collection includes paintings previously owned by the U.S. State Department in the beginning of the Cold War to showcase America’s diverse forms expression abroad. When Congress shut down those efforts, the university museum purchased in 1948 a good chunk of the collection — 36 paintings — including works from American artists such as Stuart Davis,Georgia O’Keeffe and Edward Hopper.

Earlier in the spring, the museum reunited other former State Department works, acquired by other institutions, with its own in an art exhibition called“Art Interrupted:

Advancing American Art and the Politics of Cultural Diplomacy.”

For AMA, the partnership with the Fred Jones Jr. Museum is significant.“Libertad de Expresión,” which means freedom of expression, marks one of the organization’s largest displays of its works. Past showings outside Washington, D.C., have been held at the Centro Cultural Palacio la Moneda in Santiago, Chile, in 2010 and 2011, as well as the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas,Texas, in 2007.

“It’s a tremendous way to promote what we do and our collection,” said Adriana Ospina, collections manager at the AMA, who noted that the exhibition is expected to return to D.C. some time after it runs at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Kat Lucero is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

At the residence of Nepalese Ambassador Shankar Sharma, amid the early autumn Washington heat and the sounds of legendary Nepalese singer Prem Raja Mahat, who lives in Baltimore, Md., a spirit of conviviality prevailed despite a government shutdown. Rather than political obstinacy, there was open-mindedness on the part of guests to mingle and the innate diplomatic charm of Ambassador Sharma, who encourages sharing without seeming to do so.

And in the background was Barry, the connector who is driven by the same passion for musical diplomacy that has propelled him for decades. During one of the first times I talked with him, Barry was just coming back from a scouting trip for artists in Europe — last stop Romania, with a quick dart to Milan. He is an intense man, still bursting with curiosity tempered not too much by experience. He is a husband, father, grandfather, baritone, Vietnam War vet, and linguist who speaks 10 languages and is working on a number of others.

And he’s an artistic director who knows it takes constant legwork to keep a concert series going amid perennially tight arts budgets. It’s why there’s a whirlwind air about him, as he deals with ambassadors, artists and agents across international time lines, a time-consuming, demanding and dizzying organizational feat.

But for him the sweat equity is worth it, because he wants the Embassy Series to endure not only as an institution, but as an idea.“In the long run,” he said,“you can help build connection and mutual understanding, as well as musical appreciation.”

Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

approach to Thally’s beverage the atmosphere is comfortprogram. In addition to the cockable, with music at a reasontails and cellos, he serves about able level so conversation is two dozen wines by the glass possible at a normal tone. with a rotating list that changes The service is casual but weekly, craft beers on draft, and attentive (though the food a couple of ciders on tap and in is not always quick to arrive bottles. House-made sodas round but is well worth the wait). out the beverage menu, a plus The partners called on for the designated driver. local graphic designer and Thally is located in Shaw’s artist Matthew Hlubny to Blagden Alley-Naylor Court hisdevelop a design theme toric district, one of the last that bridges the area’s past remaining vestiges of the alley and its vibrant future, with neighborhood phenomenon that Thally at the heart of it. characterized the District’s develHlubny melds images and Photo: JeSSica latoS opment after the Civil War.With a text from advertising for serious housing shortage, build- ron Tanaka, executive chef of thally, the stables, row houses and ers packed in small houses, sta- began in the pantry of morrison­clark carriages houses that once bles and shops into the alleyways inn in the mid 1990s and has worked dominated the area into that ran behind the larger houses at such local notable restaurants as colorful graphic images on on the main streets, especially in michel richard’s citronelle, frank huge panels that grace the Shaw. Though most of the neigh- ruta’s Palena and eric Ziebold’s walls of the shoeboxborhoods are gone now — new cityZen. shaped space (and restalley dwelling construction was rooms). Called out in one prohibited after 1934 and many of the buildings of the panels is the Tally-Ho Stables, once housed were torn down because they had become dilapi- behind the restaurant in the alley and now the dated and harbored criminal activity — what is D.C. public records office, which gives the restauleft in the Blagden Alley-Naylor area is developing rant part of its name; the other part comes from into a robust neighborhood, with residents who co-owner Outhuok’s daughter Thalia.

Thally currently serves dinner, but the owners share the earlier occupants’ strong sense of complan to offer lunch once things settle down — munity.

The partners chose this location for their first good news for visitors attending events at the venture together to be part of this evolution. nearby Washington Convention Center.

Though the caliber of the food corresponds to a One of the most appealing features of Thally is high-end destination restaurant, the partners its absolute lack of pretention. Tanaka and aimed for a casual, low-key neighborhood spot Outhuok are serious about creating a place that evokes the area’s close-knit past while look- where you can get top-of-the-line food and drinks ing forward to its future. yet feel completely comfortable in whatever you Heavy wood tables, exposed brick wall, are wearing. It’s a neighborhood spot that’s true reclaimed woods and vintage barn door hardware to its roots but sure to evolve into a dining desticonjure the busy bygone industrial spirit of the nation in its own right. area, where workers from the surrounding businesses could order their meals from the black- Rachel G. Hunt is the restaurant reviewer boards touting the daily specials. In the same vein, for The Washington Diplomat.

November 2013

Photo: morriS Simon / the Simon firm / emBaSSy SerieS

From left, pianist andrei licaret and bass­baritone Jeremy hirsch, joined by embassy Series artistic director Jerome Barry, perform a concert at the romanian ambassador’s residence.

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to learn

more

For more on The Washington Diplomat’s coverage of the Embassy Series, see “Barry Driven: Embassy Series Duo Revels in Sweet Sounds of Success” in the September 2011 issue of The Washington Diplomat and “Axis of Engagement: Embassy Series Sings Praises of Cooperation Over Confrontation” in the October 2009 issue.

]

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Clarksburg, MD • 240 372 4442 • www.miltonridge.com The Washington Diplomat Page 51

[ film reviews ]

Rainbow of Emotion Lesbian Love Story Captures Hearts, Accolades in ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’

by Ky N. Nguyen

“B

[

lue Is the Warmest Color,” the latest masterpiece from French-Tunisian writer-director Abdellatif Kechiche (“The Secret of the Grain,” “Games of Love and Chance”), marks his eagerly anticipated return to form after the disappointing performance of “Black Venus,” which made only a modest impact. Though well done, his 2010 biopic of the tragic life of Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman from South Africa exhibited and exploited as the “Hottentot Venus” in Europe in the early 19th century, struggled to find distributors and audiences with its challenging subject matter.

Kechiche doesn’t shy away from notoriety with “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” the powerful tale of a young heroine coming of age and developing her identity in a long-term lesbian relationship, portrayed rather explicitly. Kechiche transports the viewers to another fascinating world, adroitly lensed by director of photography Sofian El Fani, where we enjoy spending our time so much that we do not want to leave, even though the movie’s running time is three hours.

More than just a rebound, the film was the talk of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where it claimed the critics’ FIPRESCI Prize and the prestigious Palme d’Or. Blue Is the Warmest Color The Cannes jury awarded the (La Vie d’Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2) Palme d’Or to Kechiche as well as to (French with subtitles; 179 min.; scope) his two French lead actresses, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, the Angelika Mosaic first time the prize for best film offiLandmark’s E Street Cinema cially recognized actors as well as Opens Fri., Nov. 1 the director.The leading ladies’ memAFI Silver Theatre orable turns certainly deserved such Opens Fri., Nov. 8 a historic honor. In Exarchopoulos’s breakthrough performance as the ★★★★★ film’s young heroine, she must live in all of the scenes, frequently baring her soul up close and personal. She’s a natural at depicting a range of emotions with unexpected authenticity.

Playing against a younger costar, Seydoux (“Midnight in Paris,”“Inglourious Basterds”) shines in a new light as a grown-up character.

The audience first sees Adèle (Exarchopoulos), a smart, inquisitive 15-year-old, in a high school classroom in Lille. There, the teacher speaks about Pierre de Marivaux’s classic unfinished novel “La Vie de Marianne,” which focuses on a female narrator weighing her perspectives and emotions — a book that influenced the film.

A pretty girl,Adèle likes Thomas (Jérémie Laheurte), a handsome, appealing classmate who is also completely into her. But what in theory should be an ideal relationship doesn’t last long, as she finds something is lacking. She can’t keep her mind off a blue-haired girl she saw on the street and imagines the two of them passionately together in bed. In a lesbian bar,Adèle later meets the bluehaired Emma (Seydoux), an assured college art student who’s a few years older.

Over the next decade, we witness the development of their beautiful love story, a relationship eventually challenged by differences in class, taste and temperament.

]

Cutthroat ‘Capital’ Greek-born French filmmaker Costa-Gavras (“Z,” “Missing,” “State of Siege”) certainly knows how to make exciting, earnest political thrillers. Costa-Gavras transplants that experience into crafting “Capital,” an intriguing financial thriller cleverly adapted from Stéphane Osmont’s novel “Le Capital” by co-screenwriters Costa-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg and Karim Boukercha.

In today’s world dominated by international finance, a financial thriller is not so different than an old-school political thriller. And “Capital” is not Costa-

Page 52

Photo: Sundance Selects

Emma (Léa Seydoux), left, and Adele (Adèle Exarchopoulos) navigate the ups and downs of love in Abdellatif Kechiche’s “Blue Is the Warmest Color.”

Photo: Cohen Media Group

Gad Elmaleh portrays a Machiavellian bank CEO who does whatever it takes to get ahead in “Capital.”

Gavras’s best work, but it’s still well directed and worth seeing. Costa-Gavras has a reputation for being a man of action, with impressive talents for the visual expression of ideas; here, they are put into place on screen by Eric Gautier’s cinematography and propelled by Armand Capital Amar’s nervous score. Briskly paced, “Capital” tones down the solemnity a tad with touches of Le Capital gallows humor.

(French and English with subtitles; 94 min.)

After Jack Marmande (Daniel Mesguich), the Landmark’s E Street Cinema CEO of France’s Phenix bank, is stricken with Opens Fri., Nov. 1 illness on the golf course, his subsequent hospitalization makes him unfit to continue serving ★★★★✩ publicly as the bank’s head. He and the bank’s board of directors designate his young deputy and ghostwriter Marc Tourneuil (Gad Elmaleh of “Midnight in Paris,”“Priceless” and “The Valet”) as the new CEO, intending him to be a puppet who looks and sounds good, while the old CEO

[

The Washington Diplomat

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November 2013

and board continue to pull the strings. As the board only thinks of Tourneuil as an interim CEO, they tender him a correspondingly low salary, “only” 1.8 million euro. Offended, the young Turk openly scoffs at their offer, demanding much more, to the shock of the crusty board members.

Once officially appointed, Tourneuil intends to keep his job for good and run the company his own way. He’ll earn his negotiated bonuses based on huge growth in profits and stock prices, which he achieves by fierce rounds of cost-cutting and layoffs anathema to “French values.” To make his money, Machiavellian Tourneuil will do whatever it takes, to the chagrin of the board and his well-mannered wife, Diane (Natacha Régnier), who comes from an old money background.

To achieve his aims, Tourneuil cooperates with immoral financier Dittmar Rigule (a brilliantly sinister Gabriel Byrne of “The Usual Suspects”), head of an American hedge fund who encourages this brand of “cowboy capitalism.” But Tourneuil must tread carefully to eventually outmaneuver Rigule, who intends a hostile takeover of Phenix.

eligible bachelorette (Rachel McAdams).

Tim lives in a sprawling coastal estate in Cornwall with his retired academic Dad (Bill Nighy), his Mum (Lindsay Duncan), sister and Uncle D. On Tim’s 21st birthday, he’s told by his dad that males in their family inherit the capability of time travel. So Tim goes back in time for a second shot at a New Year’s Eve kiss to try to kindle a romance with Kit Kat’s best pal Charlotte (Margot Robbie), though it doesn’t go anywhere.

Tim departs for greener pastures, moving into the home of dour playwright Harry (Tom Hollander) in London, where he aspires to build a Photo: Universal Pictures law career.Tim falls for American expat Domhnall Gleeson, an unlucky-in-love Londoner, and American bachelorette Rachel McAdams publishing assistant Mary (McAdams) make a cute pair in Richard Curtis’s “About Time.” at a restaurant, but he must go back in time to be in another place that night, flavor to the proceedings, asking erasing their encounter. Next, he must some philosophical questions that About Time figure out a way to once again meet the Reliable ‘About Time’ are not always easy to answer. love of his live.

(English; 123 min.; scope) Irish redhead actor Domhnall After “Pirate Radio,” an erratic comedy about a 1960s The ensemble cast is uniformly effecLandmark’s E Street Cinema pirate radio station in the North Sea, British writer-director Gleeson (“Harry Potter and the tive and likable, in that standard British Opens Fri., Nov. 1 Richard Curtis (“Love Actually,”“Notting Hill,”“Four Weddings Deathly Hallows: Parts 1 and 2”) manner common to Curtis films. Notably, and a Funeral”) returns to familiar territory with “About plays Tim Lake, the “Hugh Grant” veteran eccentric English actor Nighy ★★★✩✩ Time,” a contemporary English romantic comedy. Curtis has character, a stumbling but cute (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Pirate an established track record of satisfying audiences in this young man who’s unlucky with love. As usual, the charac- Radio”) and Gleeson have great chemistry together as genre, and “About Time” surely gives his faithful audience ters are largely affluent Londoners, accompanied by an father and son. McAdams appears irresistibly charming as array of familiar, quirky supporting cast members, includ- the American hottie love interest. what they want.

The result is reliable and pleasant, but a bit bland, though ing Tim’s airhead sister Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson) and mentally that is not unexpected.The gimmick of time travel does add disabled Uncle D (Richard Cordery) — plus an American 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 on next page for detailed listings available at press time.

The free panel “Egyptian Cinema Today and Tomorrow” (Sun., Nov. 3, 2:30 p.m.) examines the rapidly changing Egyptian film industry, in which 30 films were produced in 2012.

Freer Gallery of Art

(202) 234-FILM (3456), www.filmfestdc.org/arabiansights

As part of the series “Performing Indonesia: A Festival and Conference of Music, Dance and Drama,” director Garin Nugroho presents his film “Opera Jawa” (Sat., Nov. 2, 2 p.m.).

In partnership with the exhibit “Sense of Place: Landscape Photographs from Asia,” the film series “Abbas Kiarostami: Landscapes” showcases a pair of the acclaimed Iranian auteur’s landscape films: “Roads of Kiarostami” (Sun., Nov. 10, 2 p.m.) and “Five: Dedicated to Ozu” (Sun., Nov. 10, 2:45 pm).

Cosponsored by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington, the retrospective “A 50th Anniversary Salute to Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards” features Edward Yang’s “The Terrorizers” (Fri., Nov. 15, 7 p.m.); Tsai Ming-liang’s “Vive L’Amour” (Sun., Nov. 17, 2 p.m.); Leon Dai’s “No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (Cannot Live Without You)” (Fri., Nov. 22, 7 p.m.); and Yang Ya-Che’s “GF*BF” (Sun., Nov. 24 2 p.m.).

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

Arabian Sights: Contemporary Arab Cinema The 18th Arabian Sights festival (through Nov. 3) concludes its screenings at AMC Mazza Gallerie with Lebanese filmmaker Fouad Alaywan’s “Asfouri” (Fri., Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 2, 2 p.m.); Egyptian director Nadine Khan’s “Chaos, Disorder” (Fri., Nov. 1, 9 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 2, 3:45 p.m.); Moroccan director Moumen Smihi in person with “Tanjaoui” (Sat., Nov. 2, 6:15 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 3, 4:30 p.m.); Spanish director Jaime Otero Romani in person with his Tunisian democracy documentary “A Common Enemy” (Sat., Nov. 2, 9 p.m.); Egyptian producer/editor/composer Haitham Al Khamissi in person with director Amir Ramses’s doc “Jews of Egypt” (Sun., Nov. 3, 12 p.m.); and Algerian director Said Ould-Khelifa’s biopic “Zabana!” (Sun., Nov. 3, 7:15 p.m.).

National Gallery of Art Nigerian filmmaker Andrew Dosunmu discusses 2011’s “Restless City” followed by excerpts from “Mother of George,” currently in theatrical release — both insightful features about the African immigrant community in New York City (Sat., Nov. 23, 2:30 p.m.).

The Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective and Kids Euro Festival 2013 screenings are described in their respective sections.

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

American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre Polish writer/director Krzysztof Zanussi appears in person with his 1996 film, “At Full Gallop” (Sat., Nov. 2., 2 p.m.), co-presented with Crossroads Cultural Center. Writer/cultural theorist Slavoj Žižek and British director/producer Sophie Fiennes follow up “The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema” with “The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology” (Sat., Nov. 23, 1 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 24, 6:45 p.m.).

The “Halloween on Screen” series boasts a restored 35mm print of German Expressionist silent filmmaker F.W. Murnau’s classic vampire “Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror,” which screens with live musical accompaniment by Andrew Simpson (Fri., Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.).

The retrospective “Horror ‘73: An Annus Horribilis at 40” (through Nov. 26) reviews a range of 1973 horror movies, including the following international titles: the uncut version of Italian writer/director Sergio Martino’s “Torso”; American director Paul Morrissey’s “Flesh for Frankenstein” starring Andy Warhol; English director Roy Ward Baker’s “The Vault of Horror”; British director Peter Newbrook’s “The Asphyx”; English director Douglas Hickox’s “Theatre of Blood”;

November 2013

English director Freddie Francis’s “The Creeping Flesh”; English director Robin Hardy’s “The Wicker Man”; Baker’s “— And Now The Screaming Starts!”; and British writer/director Peter Strickland’s “Berberian Sound Studio.”

The Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective screening is described on page 55 and Kids Euro Festival 2013 screening is described below.

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

Goethe-Institut In conjunction with the exhibit “Impulses from Saxony-Anhalt,” the program “Daring Ventures (Wage-Mutig): Selected Short Films” (Mon., Nov. 18, 6:30 p.m.) presents shorts from Saxony-Anhalt, including those by young filmmakers, many of which are U.S. premieres.

Kids Euro Festival 2013 screens the German feature “Windstorm” (Sat., Nov. 9, 2 p.m.).

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

Kids Euro Festival 2013 The Kids Euro Festival 2013 (free screenings through Nov. 10) includes the following family-friendly films: France’s “Tales of the Night” (Sat., Nov. 2, 10:30 a.m.; Sun., Nov. 3, 11:30 a.m. at National Gallery of Art); Spanish shorts “Little Animated Doodles” (Sat., Nov. 2, 11 a.m. at AFI Silver); the British short “Lost and Found” (Sat. Nov. 2, repeats 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sat. Nov. 9, repeats 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at La Maison Française); Germany’s “Windstorm” (Fri., Nov. 8, 5:15 p.m. at AFI Silver; Sat., Nov. 9, 2 p.m. at GoetheInstitut); Belgium/France’s “The Day of the Crows” (Sat., Nov. 9, 10 a.m. at National Geographic Society); Spain’s “Snowflake, the White Gorilla” (Sat., Nov. 9, 11 a.m. at AFI Silver); Austria’s “A Horse on the Balcony” (Sun., Nov. 10, 11 a.m.; Wed., Nov. 13, 10 a.m. at AFI Silver); and Denmark’s “Freddy Frogface” (Sun., Nov. 10, 12 p.m. at La Maison Française). http://kidseurofestival.org/public-events/cinema

The Washington Diplomat Page 53

[ film ]

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

Opera Jawa Directed by Garin Nugroho (Indonesia/Austria, 2006, 120 min.)

Arabic Asfouri Directed by Fouad Alaywan (Lebanon, 2012, 98 min.)

Spanning two decades, “Asfouri” traces the stories of the religiously diverse inhabitants of a building in the Sanayeh district of Beirut, which has survived Lebanon’s Civil War, guerilla groups, militias, displaced civilians and invaders (Arabic, Armenian and French).

AMC Mazza Gallerie Fri., Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m., Sat., Nov. 2, 1 p.m.

Chaos, Disorder (Harag W’Marag) Directed by Nadine Khan (Egypt, 2012, 77 min.)

In a dusty, poor but lively village, Manal, a local shopkeeper’s beautiful daughter, is in a tense relationship with Zaki, but rebel Mounir schemes to win Manal’s affections from Zaki and cunningly pursues her, further fracturing the couple’s already delicate relationship.

AMC Mazza Gallerie Fri., Nov. 1, 9 p.m., Sat., Nov. 2, 3:45 p.m.

A Common Enemy Directed by Jaime Otero Romani (Tunisia/Spain, 2013, 78 min.)

This thrilling political documentary is based on the first-ever free elections in Tunisia after the Arab Spring, as told through the eyes of the protagonists of the Jasmine Revolution (Arabic and French).

AMC Mazza Gallerie Sat., Nov. 2, 9 p.m.

Jews of Egypt Directed by Amir Ramses (Egypt, 2012, 96 min.)

This documentary brilliantly blends interviews and archival footage to recall times of tolerance and inclusiveness when the identity of Egyptian Jews was unquestioned by their Arab compatriots and they were viewed as partners in nation building (Arabic and French).

AMC Mazza Gallerie Sun., Nov. 3, 12 p.m.

Commissioned by Peter Sellars for the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, this sweeping tale updates the “Ramayana” epic, as two former dancers live in modern Java scraping out a living in pottery while fending off the street gangs who fill in for the traditional evil king Rahwana.

Freer Gallery of Art Sat., Nov. 2, 2 p.m.

Directed by Moumen Smihi (Morocco, 2013, 99 min.)

In the 1960s during the early years of Moroccan independence, the son of a Muslim theologian family in cosmopolitan Tangiers debates God’s existence with his devout father, literature with a beautiful teacher from Paris, and national politics with his friends (Arabic and French).

AMC Mazza Gallerie Sat., Nov. 2, 6:15 p.m., Sun., Nov. 3, 4:30 p.m.

Zabana!

Directed by Said Ould-Khelifa (Algeria, 2012, 107 min.)

This biopic on Ahmad Zabana sheds insight into the life of an Algerian activist and icon while also examining the French justice system in the 1950s (Arabic, Amazigh and French).

AMC Mazza Gallerie Sun., Nov. 3, 7:15 p.m.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

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

Directed by Francis Lawrence (U.S., 2013, 146 min.)

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

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 15

Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., Nov. 22

The Counselor Directed by Ridley Scott (U.S./U.K., 2013, 117 min.)

A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.

Angelika Mosaic

Freddy Frogface (Orla Frøsnapper)

The Creeping Flesh

Directed by Peter Dodd (Denmark, 2011, 81 min.)

Victor and his best friend Jacob can’t wait to hang out with Sausage the dog and Jacob’s cool cousin Clara over the summer, but being small doesn’t make life easy for 10-year-old Victor and his friends, who not only have to face a world full of stern grown-ups, but also the town bully Freddy Frogface.

La Maison Française Sun., Nov. 10, 12 p.m.

English 12 Years a Slave Directed by Steve McQueen (U.S./U.K., 2013, 133 min.)

Based on an incredible true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom in pre-Civil War United States, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema

— And Now the Screaming Starts Directed by Roy Ward Baker (U.K., 1973, 91 min.)

Charles brings new bride Catherine home to his ancestral family mansion, once the site of an unspeakable debauchery, where, on her wedding night, she is raped by a spectral presence and left in a state of hysteria.

AFI Silver Theatre Nov. 23 to 25

Directed by Peter Newbrook (U.K., 1973, 83 min.)

A Victorian scientist and amateur photographer Shas a morbid fascination with death, taking photos of the deceased at the exact moment they pass on.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 16, 11 a.m., Wed., Nov. 20, 9:15 p.m.

November 2013

The Book Thief

Danish

The Asphyx

Tanjaoui

Page 54

Bahasa Indonesian

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

Directed by Freddie Francis (U.K., 1973, 94 min.)

A scientist’s discovery of an ancient skeleton may just be the incarnation of evil that can provide an antidote to man’s worst instincts, but the warden of the local madhouse has other ideas.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 17, 11 a.m., Thu., Nov. 21, 9:30 p.m.

Dallas Buyers Club

How I Live Now

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami (Iran, 2003, 74 min.)

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 8

Mother of George Directed by Andrew Dosumnu (U.S., 2013, 106 min.)

Adenike and Ayodele, a Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn, are having trouble conceiving a child — a problem that defies cultural expectations and leads Adenike to make a shocking decision that could either save or destroy her family (English and Yoruba).

Philomena

“Diana” takes audiences into the private realm of one of the world’s most iconic and inescapably public women — the Princess of Wales, Diana (Naomi Watts) — in the last two years of her meteoric life, as she embarks on a secret love affair with a Pakistani heart surgeon.

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 1

The Fifth Estate Directed by Bill Condon (U.S./Belgium, 2013, 128 min.)

This dramatic thriller based on WikiLeaks reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization.

AFI Silver Theatre Nov. 22 to 24

An American girl on holiday in the English countryside with her family finds herself in hiding and fighting for her survival as the third world war breaks out.

A Texas cowboy, whose free-wheeling life was overturned in 1985 when he was diagnosed as HIV+ and given 30 days to live, is shunned by many of his old friends and bereft of government-approved effective medicines, so he decides to take matters in his own hands, tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means legal and illegal.

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (U.K./France/Sweden/Belgium, 2013, 113 min.)

A remote Scottish isle inhabited by neopagans practicing fertility rites and sexual magic provides the setting for one of the coolest, creepiest cult classics from the 1970s.

Farsi

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Diana

Directed by Robin Hardy (U.K., 1973, 88 min.)

Directed by Kevin Macdonald (U.K., 2013, 101 min.)

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (U.S., 2013, 117 min.)

Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 8

The Wicker Man

Directed by Stephen Frears (U.K./U.S./France, 2013, 98 min.)

Five: Dedicated to Ozu Abandoning the traditional narrative forms of Abbas Kiarostami’s previous films, “Five” presents five seemingly static landscape shots, each a subtle mini-narrative (preceded by “Roads of Kiarostami”).

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 10, 2:45 p.m.

Roads of Kiarostami Directed by Abbas Kiarostami (Iran, 2006, 32 min.)

“Roads of Kiarostami” combines Abbas Kiarostami’s own landscape photographs, a journey through the winter countryside, and a narration that considers the role of nature in Persian poetry, Japanese haiku and Kiarostami’s work (followed by “Five: Dedicated to Ozu”).

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 10, 2 p.m.

A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman’s search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.

Flemish

Angelika Mosaic Opens Wed., Nov. 27

Elise and Didier fall in love at first sight.

They bond over their shared enthusiasm for American music and dive headfirst into a sweeping romance — but when an unexpected tragedy hits their new family, everything they know and love is tested (Flemish and English).

Snowflake, the White Gorilla (Floquet de Neu) Directed by Andrés G. Schaer (Spain, 2011, 86 min.)

Snowflake, the only white gorilla in the world, arrives at the Barcelona Zoo but is shunned by the other gorillas. So he goes off in search of the famous Witch of the North, hopeful that she can give him a potion to turn him into an ordinary black gorilla.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 9, 11 a.m.

Theatre of Blood Directed by Douglas Hickox (U.K., 1973, 104 min.)

Savaged by theater critics throughout his career, a Shakespearean ham actor fakes his suicide to return as a vengeful ghost, doing in his critics one by one with murder methods quoted from the Bard’s plays.

Berberian Sound Studio

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 16, 9:15 p.m., Wed., Nov. 20, 6:30 p.m.

(Montgomery College show)

Directed by Peter Strickland (U.K., 2012, 92 min.)

Flesh for Frankenstein

The Vault of Horror

Peter Strickland’s inspired homage to 1970s-era Italian horror filmmaking finds a shy, retiring English soundman taking a job at the gloomy Berberian Sound Studio in Italy to work on the sound editing a depraved giallo about Satanic doings at a girls’ school.

Directed by Paul Morrissey (Italy/France, 1973, 95 min.)

Directed by Roy Ward Baker (U.K./U.S., 1973, 83 min.)

The one and only Udo Kier plays the role of Baron Frankenstein — now married (to his sister!) with children (little creeps) — who spends way too much time in his lab.

In a London office building, five men hop on an elevator, only to be let out in the basement and trapped in a mysterious room., where each man shares his horrifying recurring nightmares.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 23, 9:45 p.m., Tue., Nov. 26, 9:20 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 2, 11:30 p.m., Sun., Nov. 3, 9:20 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 3, 5 p.m., Thu., Nov. 7, 7:15 p.m.

The Broken Circle Breakdown Directed by Felix Van Groeningen (Belgium/Netherlands, 2012, 110 min.)

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 15

French The Day of the Crows (Le jour des corneilles) Directed by Jean-Christophe Dessaint (Belgium/France, 2012, 90 min.)

In a cabin deep in the forest, a child and his father lead a wild and hard life in total isolation. The ghosts haunting the forest are the boy’s only companions, until he meets a young girl from a neighboring village and discovers that love exists.

National Geographic Sat., Nov. 9, 10 a.m.

Ernest & Celestine (Ernest et Célestine) Directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner (Luxembourg/France, 2012, 80 min.)

Célestine is a tiny orphan mouse living beneath the streets of France. Big Ernest the bear, looking for something to eat, finds Célestine and almost swallows her — but she convinces him they could make a good team.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 3, 11 a.m.

Tales of the Night (Les contes de la nuit) Directed by Michel Ocelot

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

religious leader.

National Gallery of Art Fri., Nov. 29, 2 p.m.

Film Highlight

Pier Paolo Pasolini Retrospective

The Hawks and the Sparrows (Uccellacci e uccellini)

A retrospective of Italian filmmaker, philosopher, poet and painter Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-75), commemorating his 90th birthday in 2012, is presented by the National Gallery of Art and the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre, in association with the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington; the Ministry of Culture of Italy; Luce Cinecittà in Rome; Fondo Pier Paolo Pasolini and Cineteca di Bologna (which restored many of the prints).

Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy, 1966, 91 min.)

Photo: by Evening Standard Image courtesy gettyimages.com

The National Gallery screens “Oedipus Rex” (Sat., Nov. Pier Paolo Pasolini 2, 2 p.m.); “Notes for an African Oresteia,” preceded by “The Walls of Sana’a” (Sat., Nov. 2, 4 p.m.); “Medea” (Sun., Nov. 3, 4:30 p.m.); “Accattone” (Sun., Nov. 10, 4:30 p.m.); “La Ricotta” and other shorts (Sat., Nov. 16; 2:30 p.m.); “The Decameron” (Sun., Nov. 17, 4:30 p.m.); “Comizi d’amore” (Sun., Nov. 24, 4:30 p.m.); “The Gospel According to Matthew” (Fri., Nov. 29, 2 p.m.); and “Mamma Roma” (Sat., Nov. 30, 4 p.m.).

AFI Silver screens “Pigsty” (Mon., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., Nov. 6, 7 p.m.); “The Canterbury Tales” (Sun., Nov. 10, 7 p.m.; Mon., Nov. 11, 7 p.m.); “The Hawks and the Sparrows” (Sat., Nov. 16, 11:10 a.m.; Sun Nov. 17, 11:10 a.m.); “Arabian Nights” (Sun., Nov. 17, 7:45 p.m.; Mon., Nov. 18, 7 p.m.); and “Salò, Or The 120 Days of Sodom” (Mon., Nov. 25, 7 p.m.; Tue., Nov. 26, 7 p.m.).

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

(France, 2011, 84 min.)

“Tales of the Night” uses a shadow puppet style, with black silhouetted characters set off against exquisitely detailed backgrounds, to weave together six exotic fables unfolding in Tibet, medieval Europe, an Aztec kingdom, the African plains and even the Land of the Dead.

National Gallery of Art Sat., Nov. 2, 10:30 a.m., Sun., Nov. 3, 11:30 p.m.

In his version of the Middle and Near Eastern tales called “The Arabian Nights,” Pier Paolo Pasolini revels in the joy of storytelling, elaborately intertwining a series of meandering episodes that lend the film a rich narrative complexity.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 17, 7 p.m., Mon., Nov. 18, 7 p.m.

The Canterbury Tales (I racconti di Canterbury)

German

Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France, 1972, 140 min.)

A Horse on the Balcony (Das Pferd auf dem Balkon)

This film recounts a series of amorous misadventures with a sharp emphasis placed more on sex than on love, lust or desire — climaxing with a wildly scatological vision of hell (Italian and English).

Directed by Hüseyin Tabak (Austria, 2012, 90 min.)

When 10-year-old Mika discovers a horse on his neighbor’s balcony, he’s suddenly embroiled in an adventure involving an Indian princess, a hapless gambler, and — of course — a horse.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 10, 11 a.m., Wed., Nov. 13, 10 a.m.

Windstorm (Ostwind - Zusammen sind wir frei) Directed by Katja von Garnier (Germany, 2013, 105 min.)

The fierce stallion Windstorm is too wild to be anyone’s friend. But Mika, a lonely and unhappy girl, may just discover her true passion and talent: She’s a horse whisperer.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Nov. 8, 5:15 p.m.

Goethe-Institut Sat., Nov. 9, 2 p.m.

Italian Accattone Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy, 1961, 120 min.)

A pimp with no other means to provide for himself finds his life spiraling out of control when his prostitute is sent to prison.

National Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 10, 4:30 p.m.

Arabian Nights (Il fiore delle mille e una notte) Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France, 1974, 130 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 10, 7 p.m., Mon., Nov. 11, 7 p.m.

Comizi d’amore Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy, 1964, 90 min.)

In the mid-1960s, Pier Paolo Pasolini conducted a survey of Italian attitudes toward sexual mores and mating rituals.

As this film progresses, interesting variations emerge from region to region, and class to class, on such subjects as prostitution, virginity, marriage, homosexuality, gender equality and divorce.

National Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 24, 4;30 p.m.

The Decameron Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France/W. Germany, 1970, 111 min.)

For the first film in his “Trilogy of Life,” a series of classic literary adaptations, Pasolini chose eleven tales from Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century work, loosely weaving them together using the thread of his own vision.

National Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 17, 4:30 p.m.

Alternately caustic and gently comic, this melancholy film offers a parable of Italy’s massive economic post-war boom, tracing the odyssey of a father and son through a landscape of degradation and exploitation as they follow a talking crow that delivers a Marxist critique of the situation.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 16, 11 a.m., Sun., Nov. 17, 11 a.m.

Mamma Roma Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy, 1962, 110 min.)

Mamma Roma, a hooker on the fringes of Rome who tries to rise above her tormented past into lower middle class respectability for the sake of her son, is played by the larger-than-life actress Anna Magnani at her operatic best.

National Gallery of Art Sat., Nov. 30, 4 p.m.

Medea Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France/W. Germany, 1969, 110 min.)

“Medea,” shot in Turkey, is based on Euripides’s text and features Maria Callas in the title role.

Vive L’Amour

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Nov. 15, 7 p.m.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 17, 2 p.m.

GF*BF Directed by Yang Ya-Che (Taiwan, 2012, 105 min.)

A woman is caught up in a love triangle that mirrors Taiwan’s political changes over the last three decades.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 24, 2 p.m.

No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (Cannot Live Without You) Directed by Leon Dai (Taiwan, 2009, 85 min.)

Prolific actor Leon Dai’s second film as a director begins with the shocking image of a man threatening to jump from a highway overpass with his daughter in his arms.

Inspired by actual events, the film moves back in time to show the increasingly desperate attempts of the man — a poor, migrant dockworker — to establish guardianship of his own child in the face of an uncaring bureaucracy (Mandarin and Hakka).

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Nov. 22, 7 p.m.

Directed by Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan, 1994, 118 min.)

Unbeknownst to one another, a harried real estate broker, her street-vendor lover and an eccentric loner all use a vacant luxury apartment for their own secret purposes — until chance brings them together.

Polish At Full Gallop (Cwal) Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland, 1996, 104 min.)

In 1950s Communist Poland, Hubert and his mother endure harassment by the state because Hubert’s father defected to Britain, so Hubert’s mother sends him to Warsaw, where he lives with his strong-willed, eccentric aunt (Polish, English, Russian and Italian).

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 2, 2 p.m.

Yiddish The Pin Directed by Naomi Jaye (Canada, 2014, 83 min.)

Two young people experience love and loss while in hiding during World War II. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 1

National Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 3, 4:30 p.m.

Pigsty (Porcile) Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France, 1969, 99 min.)

In two parallel plots, the son of a wealthy businessman’s lack of interest in his fiancée betrays an unorthodox sexual predilection, while in an unspecified prehistoric past, a brutish barbarian scrounges for food in an archaic landscape ravaged by primitive warfare.

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m., Wed., Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma) Directed by Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France, 1975, 116 min.)

Set in northern Italy during the last days of Mussolini’s reign, the film liberally adapts de Sade’s “120 Days of Sodom,” using the tale of amoral libertines who kidnap young victims for a sacrificial orgy to launch a ruthless attack on modernity as a whole (Italian, French and German; recommended for mature audiences).

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Nov. 25, 7 p.m., Tue., Nov. 26, 7 p.m.

Torso (I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale)

READIN’

ART

Directed by Sergio Martino (Italy, 1973, 92 min.)

After the murder of three undergrads rocks their campus, best friends Jane and Danni leave for the countryside and a visit to the villa of Jane’s art history professor. But the ski-masked killer, realizing that Jane was a witness to his crime, follows the girls there.

The Gospel According to Matthew

AFI Silver Theatre Nov. 1 to 6

Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy/France, 1964, 137 min.)

Mandarin

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s naturalistic account of Christ’s life was both an artistic tour de force and a predictable choice for the left-leaning filmmaker — his Jesus seems more social revolutionary than

This intellectual thriller about the chaos of urban life and the vagaries of fate intertwines three seemingly disparate storylines that involve six central characters, as a random prank phone call from a bored juvenile delinquent known as the “White Chick” sets the chain-reaction plot in motion.

’RITING ’RITHMETIC

Royal dukes are squaresville.

They have no rhythm.

And they wear crowns.

Give your kids a chance to succeed. Up their daily dose of art.

The Terrorizers (Kong bu fen zi) Directed by Edward Yang (Taiwan, 1986, 109 min.)

November 2013

The Washington Diplomat Page 55

[ around town ]

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

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

ART

Through Nov. 10

Through Dec. 31

Las Calles Hablan (Mapping Barcelona Public Art)

S.O.S. Spanish Office Showroom

“Las Calles Hablan” shows the evolution of street art in Barcelona, where opinions on graffiti and street art span the spectrum from love to indifference to hate.

Embassy of Spain

Nov. 1 to 24

Vaiven. Six Visual Journeys Back and Forth Between Spain and the U.S.

This exhibition showcases six photographers from Spain and the United States who interpret the realities of both countries from multiple perspectives, creating a visual round trip, as part of FotoWeekDC 2013; for information, visit www.spainculture.us.

Former Spanish Residence Nov. 5 to 8

Moods – Young Austrian Photography @ FotoDC

The works of the 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 with innovative technique, striking composition and stirring imagery.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

Nov. 12 to 29

The Vienna Model – Housing for the 21st Century

This exhibition presents 36 case studies of public housing in Vienna, where about 60 percent of the population lives in municipally built, owned or managed buildings, which is in stark contrast to America’s mostly privately run housing market. The predominance of public housing in Vienna has a visible impact on the city’s life, atmosphere and communities, as evidenced by surveys that regularly rank Vienna as the world’s most livable cities.

Embassy of Austria Nov. 23 to March 9

Alex Prager: Face in the Crowd

As part of the SPAIN arts & culture program (www.spainculture.us), “S.O.S. Spanish Office Showroom” presents the most avant-garde 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.

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.

National Gallery of Art

Nov. 6 to Jan. 31

Corcoran Gallery of Art

Portraits of Power: Works by Alejandro Almaraz of Argentina

Through Dec. 8

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.

Embassy of Austria

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 encourages conversation on vital OAS interests such as democracy and good governance.

Art Museum of the Americas Through Nov. 8

Jorge Caligiuri: The Other Lands

Inspired by interior design and decorative objects, Argentine-born Jorge Caligiuri’s latest body of work is a series of frescos where the primary intention is to create a simple visual experience working with ordinary elements: dots, squares, strips, texture and light playing off elements of repetition, geometry and color.

Embassy of Argentina Through Nov. 10

American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960s

Faith Ringgold is well known for originating the African American story quilt revival in the late 1970s. In the previous decade, she created bold, provocative paintings in direct response to the civil rights and feminist movements. Ringgold’s unprecedented exploration of race and gender in America is examined in this comprehensive survey of 49 rarely exhibited paintings.

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 Through Dec. 20

Camus in a Digital Age

The first major museum exhibition of visual artist and author of “The Time Traveler’s Wife” reveals a mysterious, strange and whimsical world, both real and imagined, through 239 paintings, drawings, prints and book art.

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.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Alliance Française of Washington, D.C.

National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Nov. 10

Awake in a Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger

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Through Jan. 5

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

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

November 2013

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. 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. 26

Van Gogh Repetitions

In the first Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) exhibition in D.C. in 15 years, the Phillips Collection takes a fresh look at the van Gogh’s artistic process, venturing beneath the surface of some of his best-known paintings to examine how and why he repeated certain compositions during his 10-year career.

The Phillips Collection Through Jan. 26

Yoga: The Art of Transformation

Through masterpieces of Indian sculpture and painting, “Yoga” — the first exhibit to present this leitmotif of Indian visual culture — explores yoga’s goals; its Hindu as well as Buddhist, Jain and Sufi manifestations; its means of transforming body and consciousness; and its profound philosophical foundations.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery 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 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 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 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 ground-breaking exhibition includes works by a diverse range of international artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation and performance.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through June 8, 2014

Perspectives: Rina Banerjee

Born in India and based in New York City, artist Rina Banerjee draws on her background as a scientist and her experience as an immigrant in her richly textured works that complicate the role of objects as representations of cultures and invite viewers to share her fascination in materials.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

DANCE Through Nov. 3

Giselle

Love, betrayal and forgiveness reign as the Washington Ballet takes on one of the world’s most beautiful and technically difficult ballets. Tickets are $25 to $125.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theatre Thu., Nov. 7, 8 p.m.

Luis Bravo’s Forever Tango

Tracing the brilliantly hued history of tango through music, dance and dramatic vignettes, this sizzling, Tony-nominated show features an all-Argentine cast of 14 dancers and an 11-piece orchestra. Tickets are $36 to $78.

Music Center at Strathmore Nov. 8 to 17

Fuego Flamenco IX

GALA Hispanic Theatre’s acclaimed flamenco festival is back for its ninth year, exploring traditional flamenco and its diversity through contemporary expressions, as well as its impact in the United States. This year’s attractions include the world premiere of “Uno Más Uno” created by Edwin Aparicio and Aleksey Kulikov for D.C.’s Flamenco Aparicio Dance Company, and the U.S. premiere of “Templanza,” performed by the sensual duo José Jurado and Isabel Rodríguez from Madrid. Tickets are $35.

GALA Hispanic Theatre Nov. 12 to 17

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty — New Adventures

Renowned British choreographer Matthew Bourne returns with his latest re-imagining

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

of a ballet classic — as the tale of a young girl cursed to sleep for 100 years becomes a supernatural love story that even the passage of time cannot hinder. Tickets are $30 to $120.

are $70; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

Kennedy Center Opera House

How the Monuments Men Rescued Italy’s Art from the Nazis

Sat., Nov. 23, 8 p.m.

Shanghai Ballet: The Butterfly Lovers

This extraordinary classical ballet company from China performs one of its signature ballets, “The Butterfly Lovers,” based on an ancient legend often considered the Chinese equivalent of “Romeo and Juliet.”

Tickets are $28 to $56.

Finnish Ambassador’s Residence Tue., Nov. 19, 6:45 p.m.

In August 1943, on the eve of the Allied invasion of Italy, bombs threatened Michelangelo’s “David” and nearly destroyed da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” and the race to save Italy’s masterpieces was on.

Tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

National Museum of Natural History

George Mason University Center for the Arts

Sat., Nov. 23, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sun., Nov. 24, 4 p.m.

David Thomas, royal crown jeweler from 1991 to 2007, gives a talk on British crown jewels, which symbolize a monarch’s power and a nation’s royal heritage — and whose ceremonial role in the life of the democracy is so important that the collection, known as the regalia, commands its own carriage in the annual procession to the state opening of Parliament.

Tickets are $135; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

Shanghai Ballet: La Sylphide

Bringing its gifted dancers from the Far East to Northern Virginia, this dazzling ensemble will spellbind audiences with its production of “La Sylphide,” a gripping ballet that tells the tale of a young man who loses his heart on his wedding day to a beautiful and mysterious spirit. Tickets are $28 to $56.

George Mason University Center for the Arts

DISCUSSIONS Sat., Nov. 2, 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

The Inca and Machu Picchu

This daylong seminar explores the Inca and Machu Picchu through the lenses of geography, history, and culture to uncover new truths about a people and a place that fascinate us still.

Tickets are $130; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center Wed., Nov. 6, 6:30 p.m.

Redeeming The Prince: The Meaning of Machiavelli’s Masterpiece

Professor Maurizio Viroli, one of the world’s leading Machiavelli scholars, discusses his book “Redeeming The Prince,” in which he puts forth a startling new interpretation of arguably the most influential but widely misunderstood book in the Western political tradition.

Inter-American Development Bank Wed., Nov. 6, 7 p.m.

Sur La Route: Jack Kerouac’s Francophone Roots

“On the Road,” Jack Kerouac’s immortal contribution to Beat literature, became a cultural touchstone for generations of American readers. But few people realize that Kerouac began writing his masterpiece in French, a language in which he was fluent. Tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Britain’s Crown Jewels: Splendor, Symbols, and Power

National Museum of Natural History

FESTIVALS Sat., Nov. 2, 12 to 4 p.m.

Day of the Dead Altar

This well-known community event features an intricate altar dedicated to Juan García de Oteyza, former director of the Mexican Cultural Institute who passed away earlier this year. In addition, 2013 marks the centennial of the passing of José Guadalupe Posada, one of Mexico’s most famous artists, partially responsible for popularizing the calavera, or skull, through his engravings and images, which have become iconic representations of the Day of the Dead and Mexican culture as a whole. The opening event will feature Mexican hot chocolate and pan de muertos, a traditional sweet bread served on the holiday, and the altar will remain open to visitors and school groups until Nov. 8.

Mexican Cultural Institute Fri., Nov. 8, 3 to 6 p.m., Sat., Nov. 9, 1 to 6 p.m.

Czech Christmas Market

The Czech Christmas Market will feature beautiful hand-blown Czech ornaments from the European Trading Company; special performances of Czech and Slovak Christmas carols performed by children from Sokol Washington, D.C.; a music workshop called “Rhythm and Body”; Czech nativity scenes on display; the opportunity to decorate traditional gingerbread cookies; Christmas cookies from Bistro Bohem; and delicious mulled wine (svařák). Admission is free and reservations are not required.

Thu., Nov. 7, 11:30 a.m.

Embassy of the Czech Republic

Translational Medicine: Advancing from Bench to Bedside

Through Nov. 13

The Library of Congress will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA structure with a panel discussion that includes Nobel Laureate James D. Watson, the world-renowned molecular biologist, who — in collaboration with several other scientists — discovered the structure of DNA. Library of Congress James Madison Building Tue., Nov. 12, 10 a.m.

The Golden Age of Finnish Art and Architecture

By popular demand, Finnish Ambassador Ritva Koukku-Ronde again welcomes guests to her elegant residence to enjoy an art-themed morning featuring a lecture and special viewing of paintings by renowned Finnish artists. Tickets

Kids Euro Festival 2013

The largest children’s performing arts festival in the United States returns to the Washington area for its sixth edition, with more 200 free, family-friendly, Europeanthemed events including performances, concerts, workshops, movies, storytelling, puppetry, dance, magic and cinema — all brought to you by the 28 European Union member states. For information, visit kidseurofestival.org.

Various locations

MUSIC Sat., Nov. 2, 8 p.m.

Sir James Galway with the Irish Chamber Orchestra

This world-class ensemble, renowned for

its driving energy and explosive power, shares the stage with Ireland’s great flutist, Sir James Galway. Tickets are $37.50 to $75.

George Mason University Center for the Arts Thu., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.

The Operetta Spirit – The Merry Widow

Music from “The Merry Widow,” the 1923 Hollywood film version directed by Ernst Lubitsch, is accompanied by a discussion with the artists (and a sampling of recordings by Richard Tauber). The program links to “Tales from the Vienna Woods,” a concert by PostClassical Ensemble on Nov. 16.

Admission is free but RSVP is required and can be made at http://theoperettaspirit. eventbrite.com.

Embassy of Austria Fri., Nov. 8., 7:30 p.m.

Drumartica

The Slovenian percussion duo Drumartica is one of the most active percussion ensembles in Europe today, performing at prestigious competitions in Luxembourg and Bulgaria, as well as shows in the United States, Russia and around Europe in venues such as the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg and Carnegie Hall in New York. Tickets are $15; to purchase, visit http://eunic-drumartica.eventbrite.com.

Embassy of Austria Fri., Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.

Raffi Besalyan, Piano

Hailed as “a true heir of the mainstream of Russian pianism, like Horowitz” by Chopin Magazine, Armenian-born pianist Raffi Besalyan has toured North and South America, Europe, Russia and Asia as a recitalist and orchestral soloist. Tickets are $100, including buffet dinner; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Armenia Fri., Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m.

‘Song of the Monarch’ Album Presentation

Award-winning Mexican pianist Ana Cervantes, a Yamaha Concert Artist and Fulbright Senior Scholar, presents her album “Song of the Monarch: Women in Mexico!” — featuring composers from Mexico, the United States, Britain, Brazil and Colombia. RSVP to rsvp@instituteofmexicodc.org.

Mexican Cultural Institute Sat., Nov. 9, 8 p.m.

Lost Childhood

The National Philharmonic present the first complete concert performance of the opera “Lost Childhood,” based on the memoir by Holocaust survivor Yehuda Nir and premiering on the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), when a wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms throughout Germany marked the unofficial start to the Holocaust. Tickets start at $28.

Music Center at Strathmore Thu., Nov. 14, 7 p.m.

Itamar Zorman, Violin

Born in Tel Aviv in 1985 to a family of musicians, Itamar Zorman graduated from the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv in 2003, received his bachelor’s of music from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, was the first violinist in the Israel Defense Force’s String Quartet, and received his master’s of music from the Juilliard School in 2009. Tickets are $65, including reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Venue TBA Sat., Nov. 16, 7 p.m.

Fallin’ for Jazz

The Swedish Jazz ensemble consists of saxophonist Anders Lundegård, a native Swede, and guitarist and singer Al

Baumann, married to a Swede, both of whom have careers in finance and banking.

Together, they form a unique blend of jazz standards, popular songs and folk music.

Tickets are $17 or $20 at the door; for information, visit www.theswedishjazz.com.

Lyceum Sat., Nov. 16, 8 p.m.

Tales from the Vienna Woods

PostClassical Ensemble presents Johann Strauss’s most beloved waltzes in a variety of scintillating transformations — including a chamber-orchestra version of “Emperor Waltz” as lovingly transcribed by Arnold Schoenberg, Adolf Schulz-Evler’s spectacular solo piano paraphrase of “The Blue Danube” performed by Benjamin Pasternack, soprano Jennifer Casey Cabot singing “Vilja” from Franz Lehár’s “The Merry Widow,” and other operetta favorites.

Tickets are $30 to $35; for information, visit www.dumbartonconcerts.org.

Historic Dumbarton Church

THEATER Through Nov. 3

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Synetic Theater reinvents Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in a unique fusion of visual and verbal poetry that explores Wilde’s only novel, which many consider his most personal work — a timelessly supernatural story of man’s endless conflict with the nature of mortality.

Tickets start at $35.

Synetic Theater Through Nov. 3

This

Jane is a poet-without-a-muse, a single mother trying to reignite her life after she suddenly loses her husband. Her supportive friends try to help but only make things more complicated while a sexy, French Doctor-Without-Borders incites temptation — and perspective. Tickets are $10 to $45.

Round House Theatre Nov. 8 to 16

Molière Impromptu: Translated and Adapted by Rinne Groff

Afghanistan. Tickets are $40 to $90.

Arena Stage Nov. 19 to Dec. 15

Protest

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 (for mature audiences). Tickets are $20 to $40; for information, visit www.aticc.org.

Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint Nov. 21 to 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 Nov. 21 to Jan. 5

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 Through Nov. 24

16th International Festival of Hispanic Theater

Teatro de la Luna presents the 16th International Festival of Hispanic Theater with troupes from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Puerto Rica, Uruguay and the United States. Tickets are $35. For information, visit www.teatrodelaluna.org.

Gunston Arts Center

Based on three short plays by Molière, this wickedly funny look at the magic of theatre is set in 1665 Versailles, where the play presents a director’s nightmare as the members of Molière’s Illustre Theatre gather to rehearse a new play commissioned by the king for a performance that very night. Tickets are $25.

Nov. 29 to Jan. 5

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Arena Stage

Nov. 9 to 24

Through Dec. 1

Mies Julie

Romeo and Juliet

This unflinching South African adaptation of August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” ingeniously transposes the 1888 parable of class and gender to a remote, South African estate 18 years after apartheid, tackling the deeper complexities of South African society head on. Tickets are $60.

Shakespeare Theatre Company Lansburgh Theatre Through Nov. 10

Sister Act

In this crowd-pleasing musical based on the hit film, a wannabe diva witnesses a crime and hides out in a convent, where, under Mother Superior’s watchful eye, she helps her fellow sisters find their voices, not to mention her own. Tickets are $39 to $120.

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.

Shakespeare’s timeless story of young, passionate love set against a sea of hate is retold by three-time Helen Hayes Awardwinning director Aaron Posner. Tickets are $40 to $72.

Folger Shakespeare Library Through Dec. 8

Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill

The Falls of Autrey Mill is the most desired zipcode in town. From the outside, the flawless neighborhood glitters with elegant roman column porches and exquisitely manicured lawns. However, demons lurk behind the designer window treatments when one seemingly perfect family disintegrates from the inside out. Please call for ticket information.

Signature Theatre

Kennedy Center Opera House Through Nov. 17

Love in Afghanistan

An emerging hip-hop artist and a high-level Afghan interpreter both fight to navigate the pitfalls of romance, religious differences and political unrest in war-torn

November 2013

Plan Your Entire Weekend.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 57

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

Tribute to Albert

A collage of photos shows the late photographer Albert Mogzec with various U.S. presidents. A member of the White House News Photographers Association, Albert photographed 11 U.S. presidents, including all five living presidents together in the White House.

From left, Jan Du Plain and Wanda Mogzec present Ambassador of Bahrain Houda Nonoo with a model racecar (her son is a racecar driver) at a tribute held at the Bahraini Embassy in honor of photographer Albert Mogzec, who died March 2, 2013, at the age of 84. Mogzec, who would’ve turned 85 this year, and Nonoo share a birthday.

Ambassador of Bulgaria Elena Poptodorova holds up a photograph of her and Albert Mogzec dancing at the late photographer’s 85th birthday tribute party held at the Embassy of Bahrain.

For more than 50 years, Albert made a name for himself photographing ambassadors, heads of state, politicos and socialites at functions large and small.

photo: Gail scott

From left, Mohamed Sultan Al-Mughairy, former Ambassador of Oman to the U.N. Fuad Mubarak Al-Hinai, his wife, Ambassador of Oman Hunaina Sultan Al-Mughairy, May Yang and her husband, former Ambassador of Iraq Samir Shakir Mahmood Sumaida’ie, attend a tribute for late photographer Albert Mogzec at the Bahraini Embassy.

Van Gogh at Phillips Ambassador of the Netherlands Rudolf Simon Bekink, left, opens the new “Van Gogh Repetitions” exhibit at the Phillips Collection with Phillips Director Dorothy Kosinski.

Global Fund for Women

Didi Cutler looks at photos of Albert Mogzec, a father of five (and grandfather to 10) who spent more than 50 years photographing Embassy Row.

Bob Buker and his wife Kiyomi Buker, social secretary at the Embassy of Japan, attend a birthday tribute party for the late photographer Albert Mogzec, a member of the White House News Photographers Association and a personal photographer to King Hussein I of Jordan in the 1980s.

From right, Ambassador of the Philippines Jose L. Cuisia Jr. brought his wife Maria Victoria and daughters Jaymi and Justine to the tribute party for late photographer Albert Mogzec.

Albert Mogzec’s grandson Jeremy Carlstedt, a drummer and songwriter whose band performed at his tribute, said Albert “was the hardest-working person I’ve ever known.”

From left, Wanda Mogzec, Jan Du Plain and Jerome Barry of the Embassy Series toast Bahraini Ambassador Houda Nonoo, who shares a birthday with late photographer Albert Mogzec.

Attending Albert’s birthday tribute were former Deputy Chief of Protocol Lawrence Dunham, left, and Pat Elwood of the Mayor’s Office of Protocol and International Affairs, who presented Albert’s family with a special message from D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray that praised the man “known for his wonderful smile and full head of white hair.”

Ambassador of Bahrain welcomed Albert Mogzec’s daughter Wanda Mogzec and her son Alex Halkyer to the Bahraini Embassy to toast the life of photographer Albert Mogzec, known to most Washingtonians simply as Albert.

Dennis C. Tristani and his wife Anne HowardTristani attend Albert Mogzec’s birthday tribute party. Albert photographed their wedding more than 30 years ago.

Ambassador of Germany Peter Ammon, left, greets guests such as Heike Slansky, correspondent with ZDF German Television, at the Germany Unity Day reception held at the ambassador’s residence.

Page 58

photos: Gail scott

Christine Switzer, the Global Fund for Women’s director of development who flew in from California for the luncheon, left, and hostess Yasmine Askalani attend a luncheon in honor of the Global Fund, which has been investing in women-led organizations worldwide for 25 years.

photos: thomas coleman

German Unity

From left, Seeds of Peace Founding Vice President Christine Ramsay Covey, Global Sustainable Partnerships co-founder Mary Barth, Shaista Mahmood, hostess Yasmine Askalani, and wife of the Indonesian ambassador Rosa Rai Djalal attend a luncheon to support the Global Fund for Women, a nonprofit grant-making foundation that advances women’s rights worldwide.

Malaysian National Day

photos: Gail scott

Wife of the German ambassador Marliese HeimannAmmon, left, welcomes Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda Deborah Mae Lovell to the German Unity Day reception and garden party.

Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson and his wife Queenie enjoy the Germany Unity Day reception, which featured a traditional biergarten on the grounds of the residence.

photos: Gail scott

From left, Ambassador of Cambodia Hem Heng, Ambassador of Ukraine Olexander Motsyk, and Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan Muktar Djumaliev attend the 56th Malaysian National Day celebration held at the embassy.

The Washington Diplomat

Syed Edwan Anwar, political counselor at the Embassy of Malaysia, left, joins Yury Sigov, author of the book “Multifaced Malaysia,” at the 56th Malaysian National Day celebration.

November 2013

Cape Verde Farewell

Points of Light Gala

Ambassador of Benin Cyrille S. Oguin, left, and Ambassador of Djibouti Roble Olhaye, dean of the diplomatic corps, right, bid goodbye to Ambassador of Cape Verde Maria de Fatima Lima da Veiga at her farewell reception. Her next posting: Paris. photos: © points of light

From left, actress Elisabetta Canalis, Laura Denise Bisogniero, Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero, and singer Pia Toscano attend the 2013 Points of Light Tribute Awards held at the Italian Embassy. Points of Light is the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.

The 2013 Points of Light Tribute Award winners were, from left: Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi, CEO of Citi Holdings, accepting on behalf of winner Citi; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; AmpleHarvest. org founder Gary Oppenheimer, accepting on behalf of winner AmpleHarvest.org; and winner Amy Paterson, founder of My Little Waiting Room.

Points of Light Tribute Award honoree New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, joins Points of Light Board Chairman Neil Bush at the 2013 Points of Light Tribute Awards ceremony. Points of Light, founded by former President George H.W. Bush, has mobilized millions of volunteers to tackle problems in their communities and around the world. photos: Gail scott

Hostesses Jan Du Plain, left, and Bari Berger, public affairs director at the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office, right, toast departing Ambassador of Cape Verde Maria de Fatima Lima da Veiga at her farewell reception held at Fraser Mansion.

Retired Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., a former Army chief of staff, and his wife Sheila Casey attend the 2013 Points of Light Tribute Awards dinner at the Italian Embassy.

Victor Ganzi, president of PGA Tour Inc. and president of Hearst Business Publishing, left, and Robert Nardelli, former CEO of Home Depot, both served as co-chairs of the 2013 Points of Light Tribute Awards dinner.

Greta Van Susteren of Fox News gives remarks at the 2013 Points of Light Tribute Awards dinner.

From left, former U.S. Ambassador to Barbados Mary Ourisman, Lynda Webster, and Alexandra Borchgrave attend the 2013 Points of Light Tribute Awards dinner.

Nyumbani 20th Benefit

From left, former Deputy Chief of Protocol Larry Dunham, Ambassador of Cape Verde Maria de Fatima Lima da Veiga, and former U.S. Ambassador to Cape Verde Vernon D. Penner attend a farewell reception for da Veiga.

Finland Fêtes Kingsbury From left, Father Paul Rourke, former Ambassador of Macedonia Ljubica Acevska, and Alessandra Gelmi attend the Nyumbani 20th Annual Benefit and Auction.

Jim Burnette, president of Alliance Engineering Inc., left, joins Sister Mary Owens, executive director of the Kenyan charity Nyumbani, at Nyumbani’s 20th Annual Benefit and Auction held at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington. Alliance Biosciences helped to build and certify the Nyumbani Diagnostics Laboratory that opened in 2011.

Angie and Johnny Young, a former U.S. ambassador who is now executive director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Department of Migration and Refugee Services, attend the Nyumbani 20th Annual Benefit and Auction.

Madge Palumbo, a past president of THIS for Diplomats, left, and Melinda Mooney attend a benefit dinner for Nyumbani, which cares for HIV+ orphans in Kenya through its Children’s Home, community outreach program, state-of-theart lab and an extended village.

Former “Today Show” host Katie Couric, right, joins her brother John and his wife Mary Ann at the Kingsbury Center’s 75th anniversary gala held at the Finnish Embassy. Couric was the mistress of ceremonies for the gala, which celebrated the local nonprofit that provides a transformative educational and social experience for children and adults with learning differences.

photos: gail scott / kingsbury center

photos: thomas coleman

From left, Deborah Dunham, Joe D’Agostino, and Larry D’Agostino attend the Nyumbani 20th Annual Benefit and Auction. Joe’s brother, Rev. Angelo D’Agostino, founded the Kenyan orphanage for HIV+ children in 1992.

From left, Ned Michalek of the office of Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Kerry McKenney, Rep. Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-N.J.), and Laura Parker attend the 20th Annual Benefit and Auction for Nyumbani, Kenya’s first and largest facility for HIV+ children.

From left, John Noel, Anna Demoridova, Patty Noel, and Jason Jones attend the Nyumbani Annual Benefit and Auction, where the Noels made a $25,000 donation during the live auction.

November 2013

Peri-Anne Chobot, the CEO and head of school at the Kingsbury Center, left, joins Finnish Ambassador Ritva Koukku-Ronde at the 75th anniversary celebration of Kingsbury held at the Finnish Embassy.

Selena Taylor, a Kingsbury middle school math teacher chosen to participate in the first annual Educational and Cultural Exchange Program with Finland’s Niilo Mäki Institute, left, joins Debra Lee, chairwoman and CEO of BET, who was recognized by the Kingsbury Center for “outstanding corporate support of those with learning disabilities.

Finnish Ambassador Ritva KoukkuRonde, left, and Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.) attend the Kingsbury Center’s 75th anniversary gala. In conjunction with Rep. William Cassidy (R-La), Brownley was given the Marion Kingsbury Award for Advocacy for serving as co-chair of the Congressional Dyslexia Caucus.

The Washington Diplomat Page 59

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

Musical Embassy Row

Malian Independence

photo: Fraser mansion

Ambassador of Mali Al Maamoun Baba Lamine Keita and his wife Therese Duranteau Keita welcome guests to their residence to mark the 53rd Independence Day of the Republic of Mali.

photos: kate oczypok

Marjorie and Eric Scott attend the reception marking the 53rd anniversary of Mali’s independence.

Cheick Hamala Diabate, a Grammynominated musician from Mali, performs at the Malian Independence Day celebration at the ambassador’s residence.

Ambassador of South Africa Ebrahim Rasool, center, joins double Grammy Awardwinning artist Robin Hogarth, second from left, renowned classical Indian vocalist Sumitra Guha, fourth from right, and young musicians for a performance uniting India and Africa and the legacies of Gandhi and Nelson Mandela at the Church of Scientology’s Fraser Mansion.

photos: gail scott

Doug Degroot, left, and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Algerian Embassy Mohamed Yazid Bouzid attend the reception marking the 53rd anniversary of Mali’s independence.

From left, Ashley Stewart, Stephen Schwartz and Peter Henry Barlerin, former deputy chief of mission to the U.S. Embassy in Mali, attend the reception marking the 53rd anniversary of Mali’s independence.

Russian jazz saxophonist Igor Butman is joined by members of the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet during a performance at the National Building Museum.

From left, famed Russian jazz saxophonist Igor Butman, Am­bassador of Russia Sergey Kislyak, and philanthropist Susan Carmel Lehrman talk about the profound influence jazz has had in building ties between the United States and the Russian Federation at a press conference held at the National Building Museum.

From top row left, Soirée Com­ mittee Vice Chair Regina Donnelly; Chateau Gardecki, chair and founder of the Washington International Piano Arts Council (WIPAC); Soirée Vice Chair Rhoda Septilici; Bari Berger; and hostess Tehmina Khan surround pianist Carlos Ibay, who performed at a concert and dinner soiree for WIPAC members at the residence of Tehmina Khan.

photo: Audrey hoffer

The Turkish Youth Jazz Ensemble performed at the Turkish Embassy Residence as part of a weeklong cultural exchange organized by the Meridian International Center with support from the Turkish Embassy and Assembly of Turkish American Associations: From left are guitarist Yunus Emre Muti, pianist Berk Kurdoglu, drummer Serkan Alagok, bassist Emre Topak, vocalist Cemre Yilmaz, and manager Emre Kartari.

The Washington International Piano Arts Council (WIPAC)’s membership committee celebrates its sold-out concert: From left are Bari Berger, Rhoda Septilici, Gabriela Coman, Ioana Lee and Paul Lee. photos: gail scott

Nii Akuetteh, a Ghanaian-born policy analyst and founder of the Democracy and Conflict Research Institute, left, and Melaura Homan-Smith of the Africa Faith and Justice Network attend the reception marking the 53rd anniversary of Mali’s independence.

photo: Audrey hoffer

Greg Foster, left, and Ralph E. Winnie Jr., director of the Eurasia Center’s China Program, attend the reception marking the 53rd anniversary of Mali’s independence.

Institute for Education

photos: institute for education

From left, Ambassador of Monaco Gilles Noghès, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Portuguese Embassy Rosa Batoreu, Senior White House Advisor for Innovation John Paul Farmer, and Ambassador of Singapore Ashok Kumar Mirpuri attend a farewell reception for Farmer at the White House Indian Treaty Room.

Page 60

From left, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head Jessica Rosen­ worcel, Ambassador of Finland Ritva KoukkuRonde, and Priscilla Delgado Argies attend an Institute for Education’s Media and Technology Roundtable at the Finnish Residence that discussed the FCC’s E-Rate program that aims to ensure that all U.S. schools have access to broadband internet.

From left, Senior Vice President for the Arts at the Meridian International Center Curtis Sandberg, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Turkish Embassy Tugay Tuncer, and Meridian President and CEO Stuart Holliday attend a concert by the Turkish Youth Jazz Ensemble.

From left, Defense, Military, Naval and Air Attaché at the Qatari Embassy Brig. Gen. Abdulrahman Al-Hemaidi, his wife Hend Al-Qatari, Zeenat Akbar Ahmed, and former Pakistani Ambassador to Britain and Ireland Akbar Ahmed, now with American University, attend a benefit concert for the Washington International Piano Arts Council.

From left, members of the White House innovation and technology staff Katie Dowd, Brian Forde, Todd Park, John Paul Farmer, Ryan Panchadsaram, Raphael Majma and Nick Sinai attend a farewell reception for Farmer, a fellow for the Institute for Education who’s returning to the private sector.

From left, Ambassador of Finland Ritva Koukku-Ronde, Chairman and CEO of Videology Inc. Scott Ferber, White House Senior Advisor R. David Edelman, and Joanne Ke of the World Bank attend an Institute for Education’s Media and Technology Roundtable at the Finnish Residence.

From left, coach Kathy Kemper, founder and CEO of the Institute for Education (IFE), Executive Vice President of Government Affairs at Charter Catherine Bohigian, and IFE Media and Technology Roundtable founder Shane Green attend a Media and Technology Roundtable at the Finnish Residence.

The Washington Diplomat

November 2013

AROUNDtheWORLD

the WaShiNGtoN Diplomat

november 2013

holiDaYS AFGhANISTAN nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 14: ashura

BAhrAIN nov. 4: al-hijrah nov. 14: ashura

ALBANIA nov. 28: independence day nov. 29: liberation day

BANGLAdESh nov. 7: national revolution and Solidarity day

ALGErIA nov. 1: anniversary of the revolution nov. 4: awal Moharem nov. 14: achoura ANdorrA nov. 1: all Saints day ANGoLA nov. 2: all Souls day nov. 11: independence day ANTIGuA and BArBudA nov. 1: independence day AuSTrIA nov. 1: all Saints day AZErBAIJAN nov. 12: Constitution day nov. 17: national revival day

BrAZIL nov. 2: Memorial day nov. 15: Proclamation of the republic BruNEI nov. 4: First day of hijriah

Send Us Your Holidays and Appointments Fax to: the Washington diplomat at: (301) 949-0065 E-mail to: news@washdiplomat.com Mail to: P.o. Box 1345, Silver Spring, Md 20915-1345 CENTrAL AFrICAN rEpuBLIC nov. 1: all Saints day

BArBAdoS nov. 30: independence day

BuLGArIA nov. 1: day of the national enlighteners

BELAruS nov. 7: october revolution day

BurKINA FASo nov. 1: all Saints day

ChAd nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 28: republic day

dJIBouTI nov. 4: islamic new Year

BurMA (MyANMAr) nov. 29: national day

ChILE nov. 1: all Saints day

doMINICA nov. 3: independence day nov. 4: Community Service day

BELGIuM nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 11: armistice day BELIZE nov. 19: Garifuna Settlement day

BuruNdI nov. 1: all Saints day

CoLoMBIA nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 11: independence of Cartagena

BENIN nov. 1: all Saints day

CAMBodIA nov. 1: Birthday of hM the King nov. 9: independence day

BoLIVIA nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 2: all Souls day

CANAdA nov. 11: remembrance day

CÔTE d’IVoIrE nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 15: national Peace day

BoSNIA-hErZEGoVINA nov. 25: anti-fascism day

CApE VErdE nov. 1: all Saints day

CroATIA nov. 1: all Saints day

CoSTA rICA nov. 2: all Souls day

Bahrain Khalid aljalahma departed the post of deputy chief of mission in July.

Mubarak Buti assumed the position of cultural counselor, replacing aysha Murad, who departed the post in September.

Belgium thomas lambert assumed the position of deputy chief of mission on aug. 16. he previously served as deputy chief of staff for Belgian Foreign affairs Minister K. de Gucht and deputy permanent representative at the Belgian Permanent Mission to the united nations in new York (2009-13).

Fiji akuila vuira assumed the position of first secretary on Sept. 6, replacing ray Baleikasavu.

Ghana Samuel Baah-duodu assumed the position of first secretary (political) on aug. 16, replacing Kwadwo antwi Boateng, who departed the post on aug. 28.

Baah-duodu previously served

assistant director iia at the Multilateral relations Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign affairs and regional integration. ama dwemoh darko assumed the position of minister-counselor on aug. 19, replacing emmanuel opeku, who departed the post on aug. 28. darko previously served as a deputy director at the Ministry of Foreign affairs and regional integration. david Kojo appiah assumed the position of first secretary (accounts) on aug. 16, replacing Gifty ocran, who departed the post on aug. 28. appiah previously served as protocol officer in the Protocol Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign affairs and regional integration.

Iran Mehdi atefat became director of the iranian interests Section of the embassy of Pakistan in december 2012, replacing Mostafa rahmani.

Tonga Mahe uliuli Sandhurst tupouniua became ambassador of tonga to

doMINICAN rEpuBLIC nov. 6: Constitution day EAST TIMor nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 12: Santa Cruz Massacre ECuAdor nov. 2: all Souls day nov. 3: independence of Cuenca EL SALVAdor nov. 2: all Souls day nov. 5: Cry of independence day

appoiNtmeNtS

November 2013

CZECh rEpuBLIC nov. 17: day of the Struggle for Freedom and democracy

the united States on Sept. 17, with concurrent accreditation as the permanent representative of tonga to the united nations in new York. ambassador tupouniua previously served as tonga’s secretary for foreign affairs and trade in 2012 and secretary for foreign affairs in 2011. he was also tonga’s ambassador to China from 2009 to 2010. in addition, ambassador tupouniua was counselor and deputy permanent representative to the united nations in new York (2004-08); senior assistant secretary in the Ministry of Foreign affairs (1999-2004); consul general in San Francisco (1992-96); and assistant secretary in the Ministry of Foreign affairs (1990-92). ambassador tupouniua holds a master’s in foreign affairs and trade from the university of Monash’s department of Foreign affairs and trade in Canberra, australia, as well as a bachelor’s of science in business administration from the university of Phoenix in the united States and a bachelor’s of arts from the university of auckland in new Zealand.

Born on July 15, 1966, he is married with three children.

ESToNIA nov. 2: all Souls day nov. 16: day of declaration of Sovereignty FIJI nov. 3: diwali FINLANd nov. 1: all Saints day FrANCE nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 11: armistice day GABoN nov. 1: all Saints day GEorGIA nov. 23: St. George’s day (Giorgoba) GuATEMALA nov. 1: all Saints day

INdIA nov. 3: diwali (deepavali) nov. 4: Muharram nov. 26: Guru nanak’s Birthday INdoNESIA nov. 4: islamic new Year IrAN nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 14: ashura IrAQ nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 14: ashura ITALy nov. 1: all Saints day JApAN nov. 3: national Culture day (Bunka no hi) nov. 23: labor thanksgiving day (Kinro Kansha no hi) JordAN nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 14: late King hussein’s Birthday KuWAIT nov. 4: hijra new Year LATVIA nov. 18: independence day in 1918 LEBANoN nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 14: ashoura nov. 22: independence day LIBErIA nov. 5: thanksgiving day nov. 29: Williams v.S. tubman’s Birthday LIByA nov. 4: islamic new Year LIEChTENSTEIN nov. 1: all Saints day LIThuANIA nov. 1: all Saints day

nov. 4: Maal hijrah MArShALL ISLANdS nov. 17: President’s day MAurITANIA nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 28: independence day

SENEGAL nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 4: tamxarit SEyChELLES nov. 1: all Saints day

MEXICo nov. 20: Mexican revolution of 1910

SINGAporE nov. 3: deepavali

MICroNESIA nov. 3: national day

SLoVAK rEpuBLIC nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 17: day of Fight for Freedom and democracy

MoNGoLIA nov. 26: independence day MoroCCo nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 6: Commemoration of the Green March nov. 18: independence day NEpAL nov. 3: diwali nov. 9: Constitution day oMAN nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 18: national day nov. 19: Birthday of Sultan Qaboos pAKISTAN nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 9: Birthday of allama iqbal nov. 14: ashura pALAu nov. 22: thanksgiving day pANAMA nov. 3: independence day nov. 4: Flag day nov. 10: independence of the los Santos Province nov. 28: emancipation From Spain pEru nov. 1: all Saints day phILIppINES nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 30: andres Bonifacio day

LuXEMBourG nov. 1: all Saints day

poLANd nov. 11: independence day

hAITI nov. 1: all Saints day nov. 2: all Souls day

MAdAGASCAr nov. 1: all Saints day

porTuGAL nov. 1: all Saints day

huNGAry nov. 1: all Saints day

MALAySIA nov. 3: deepavali

QATAr nov. 4: islamic new Year

GuyANA nov. 3: diwali

ruSSIA nov. 4: national unity day

SLoVENIA nov. 1: remembrance day SpAIN nov. 1: all Saints day SrI LANKA nov. 3: deepavali SurINAME nov. 25: independence day SWEdEN nov. 1: all Saints day SWITZErLANd nov. 1: all Saints day SyrIA nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 16: national day ToGo nov. 1: all Saints day TrINIdAd and ToBAGo nov. 3: divali TuNISIA nov. 4: islamic new Year nov. 7: Constitution day uNITEd ArAB EMIrATES nov. 4: islamic new Year uruGuAy nov. 1: all Saints day uZBEKISTAN nov. 18: Flag day VENEZuELA nov. 1: all Saints day yEMEN nov. 4: First day of Muharam nov. 30: algala eid (1967)

The Washington Diplomat Page 61

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deadline the deadline for ads is the 15th of each month at the close of business.

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November 2013