November 2014 by The Washington Diplomat

■ EDUCATION AND

A World of News and Perspective

MEDICAL SPECIAL SECTIONS INSIDE

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ VOLUME 21, NUMBER 11

H-1B RAT ■ NOVEMBER RACE2014

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

Visa Hopefuls Need Skill, Savvy to Break Into U.S. Job Market

MIDDLE EAST

Plenty of Spoilers Eager to Derail Iran Nuclear Deal As the critical talks over Iran’s nuclear program reach their selfimposed deadline this month, there are plenty of players — from Congress to the Gulf states to Israel to Iran itself — who wouldn’t mind if the negotiations went nowhere. PAGE 7

UNITED STATES

Obama, Congress Tussle In Legal Tug of War Over Islamic State U.S. military action against the Islamic State has gone on for nearly three months without the Obama administration making a public legal argument for war — a silence that stands as a testament to the seemingly permanent war footing that Washington has been on since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. PAGE 10

culture

by Carolyn Cosmos

he H-1B is the diva of visas. It’s an emblem of excellence, allowing U.S. employers to hire highly skilled foreign nationals in “specialty” fields such as technology and engineering. But it’s also known for driving devotees to distraction. Qing Yang, a computer science major in the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science, would like to work in the United States after he graduates.

MIDDLE EAST

An American paleontologist becomes a real-life Indiana Jones in the exhibit “Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips.” PAGE 36

The H-1B is a temporary work visa for non-immigrants that provides entry into the American workplace for up to six years and a possible path to permanent residence. That makes it highly desirable. Continued on next page

November 2014

EDUCATION The Washington Diplomat

Page21

AFTER GAZA, WHAT’S NEXT? The demise of peace talks with Israel. Yet another war in Gaza that pummeled the tiny coastal enclave. An interparty rift that has yet to heal and the rise of a terrorist group that has diverted the world’s attention away from the Palestinian cause. It’s not a pretty picture for Maen Rashid Areikat, but the PLO representative hasn’t given up on the dream of an independent Palestine, a dream that has fascinated and frustrated the global consciousness for more than 66 years. PAGE 15 NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved.

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Eikenberry: America’s Man in Afghanistan

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‘Unearthing Arabia’ Turns Up Adventure

■ November 2014

Romanian Wife Marvels at Gains

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In just 25 years, Mihaela Buga and her __________________________________________________________ No one in theApproved U.S. government has been more integral to husband have gone from not being able Changes ___________________________________________________________ America’s military and diplomatic strategy in Afghanistan to leave Romania to being posted “in ___________________________________________________________________ than Karl Eikenberry, who remains optimistic that the the most powerful city in the world,” a country “has a reasonable prospect for success” despite stunning turnaround emblematic of her its recent political turmoil. PAGE 4 homeland’s transformation. PAGE 37 ADVERTISEMENT

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The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

CONTENTS thE WashINGtON DIPLOmat

november 2014

Unpaid parking tickets

H-1B visas

[ news ] 4

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE Perhaps no one has been more integral to America’s military and diplomatic strategy in Afghanistan than Karl Eikenberry, who is hopeful the country is finally on the right path.

IRAN SPOILERS As the critical talks over Iran’s nuclear program reach their self-imposed deadline this month, there are plenty of players who wouldn’t mind if the negotiations went nowhere.

[ education ] 21

OTHER “E” OUTBREAK

FAD DIETS

foreign coverage is often the first victim of downsizing by the media industry, but one outlet has stepped into the void by steadily increasing its foreign content for two decades.

“Unearthing Arabia: the Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips” is as much about what the American paleontologist found in modern-day yemen as it is about the thrill and hardships of his Indiana Jones-like journey.

COVER: Photo taken at the PLO Mission by Lawrence Ruggeri.

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES Mihaela buga, wife of romanian Ambassador Iulian buga, marvels at the transformation romania has made in the 25 years since communism ended.

FILM REVIEWS “Plot for Peace” reveals the behind-the-scenes diplomacy conducted by a little-known french-Algerian businessman, code-named “Monsieur Jacques,” who helped end apartheid in South Africa.

REAL-LIFE INDIANA JONES

DINING Since opening in 2006, nage has built a solid reputation for good food in a casual bistro setting while embracing changes to keep the formula fresh.

It can be difficult to make sense of competing claims about fad diets, some cooked up by people with impressive credentials, but new research is shedding light on what works.

NO PARKING HERE Parking is a pain. Some diplomats avoid the problem by skipping out on their parking tickets. Who are the worst offenders? And can anything be done to get them to pay?

While Ebola has grabbed the world’s attention, another sneaky infection called enterovirus d68 has hit closer to home by targeting kids around the country.

[ culture ]

‘DEGAS’S LITTLE DANCER’ the inspiration behind Edgar degas’s revolutionary “Little dancer Aged fourteen” never achieved much fame in her lifetime, but she’s the star of the show at the national Gallery of Art.

42 29

COVER PROFILE: PALESTINIANS

MHZ NETWORKS

BRIGHT IDEA

two parents saw a shortage of StEM education opportunities so they created an inventive way to bring science, technology, engineering and math to young children.

EYE-OPENING FOTOWEEKDC Photography buffs will have plenty to look at with this year’s eye-opening fotoWeekdC festival, a visual feast of exhibitions and programs throughout Washington, d.C.

[ medical ]

despite the sorry state of affairs in the Middle East, Maen rashid Areikat, the Palestinians’ representative in the U.S., refuses to give up on his dream of an independent Palestine.

H-1B SKILL the h-1b is a highly coveted work visa that allows U.S. employers to hire the best of the best from abroad, but to get one, applicants need not only skill, but also savvy and luck.

RISE OF THE RIGHT A wave of soul-searching has swept Israel, as ultra-orthodox Jews increasingly clash with the country’s secular majority, far-right parties gain steam and the peace movement is relegated to the political wilderness.

FotoWeekDC

TUG OF WAR Congress is having buyer’s remorse after giving President bush wide legal latitude to wage a war against terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, now that President obama is stretching that authorization to fight the Islamic State.

FILM INTERVIEW director Alejandro G. Iñárritu talks about his smash hit “birdman or (the Unexpected virtue of Ignorance),” starring Michael Keaton as a washed-up superhero who seeks redemption on broadway.

CINEMA LISTING

EVENTS LISTING

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

APPOINTMENTS

WORLD HOLIDAYS

CLASSIFIEDS

REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIEDS

P.o. Box 1345 • Silver Spring, md 20915-1345 • phone: (301) 933-3552 • Fax: (301) 949-0065 • E-mail: news@washdiplomat.com • Web: www.washdiplomat.com Publisher/Editor-in-Chief victor Shiblie Director of Operations fuad Shiblie Managing Editor Anna Gawel News Editor Larry Luxner Contributing Writers Sarah Alaoui, Martin Austermuhle, Michael Coleman, Carolyn Cosmos, rachel hunt, Stephanie Kanowitz, vanessa h. Larson, Sean Lyngaas, Ky n. nguyen, Gail Scott, Gina Shaw, dave Seminara, Gary tischler, Lisa troshinsky Photographer Lawrence ruggeri Account Manager rod Carrasco, Chris Smith Graphic Designer Cari henderson The Washington Diplomat is published monthly by the Washington diplomat, Inc. the newspaper is distributed free of charge at several locations throughout the Washington, d.C. area. We do offer subscriptions for home delivery. Subscription rates are $25 for 12 issues and $45 for 24 issues. Call fuad Shiblie for past issues. If your organization employs many people from the international community you may qualify for free bulk delivery. to see if you qualify you must contact fuad Shiblie. The Washington Diplomat assumes no responsibility for the safe keeping or return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other material. the information contained in this publication is in no way to be construed as a recommendation by the Publisher of any kind or nature whatsoever, nor as a recommendation of any industry standard, nor as an endorsement of any product or service, nor as an opinion or certification regarding the accuracy of any such information.

November 2014

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PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry

U.S. Army Commander, Ambassador Optimistic About Afghanistan’s Future by Michael Coleman

hen the U.S. invaded Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the American strategy aimed to crush the Taliban and then stabilize the chaotic country with military might, while using diplomacy to “win the hearts and minds” of the Afghan people. No one in the U.S. government has been more integral to both lofty strategies than Karl Eikenberry. Eikenberry, a 35-year career Army officer who is now a senior fellow in international security at Stanford University, first served as the top U.S. security commander in Afghanistan during the early years of the war, and later as head of the U.S.-led coalition forces there. In 2007, after Eikenberry’s second tour of duty in Afghanistan, the North Carolina native left the country to become the deputy chairman of the NATO Military Committee in Brussels. Two years later, in 2009, the U.S. president once again called for Eikenberry’s service in Afghanistan. In an unusual move, President Obama appointed the retired lieutenant general as America’s ambassador to Afghanistan in an effort to help the war-weary and deeply fractured nation establish a functioning government. From May 2009 until July 2011, Eikenberry led a civilian surge that reversed insurgent momentum and set the conditions for transition to full Afghan sovereignty.Today, Afghanistan is operating under a historic Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) cemented in September, as well as a power-sharing arrangement between rival factions that many, including Eikenberry, hope will pave the way to a functioning state. “I think we are on a path that gives Afghanistan a reasonable prospect for success,” Eikenberry said in a Diplomat interview. “It’s not at all guaranteed but … I believe Afghanistan will continue to remain a stable country and not return to a safe haven for al-Qaeda as it was prior to 9/11.” Eikenberry said the BSA should allow the United States to reduce its military forces to about 10,000 troops by the end of 2014 or early 2015, with the Italians, Germans and other NATO countries contributing another 2,000 or so. (That number will be cut in half by 2016, and by 2017, most U.S. troops would be out of the country.) “That should be enough to keep Afghanistan’s military and police holding their own against the Taliban while they continue to get better,” Eikenberry said. “The foreign development assistance should be enough to help the Afghan government meet payrolls and continue to

Page 4

provide a degree of services necessary to maintain government control of the country.” Afghanistan’s mercurial, outgoing president, Hamid Karzai, had refused to sign the BSA, raising alarm among Western donors who keep the country’s economy afloat. Compounding the problem, a historic election earlier this year threatened to tear the country apart, as the two leading candidates,Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, both declared victory after two hotly disputed rounds of presidential voting. They only came to a power-sharing agreement after the U.S. intervened and brokered a compromise. Under the agreement, Ghani, a Western-educated, former World Bank economist widely considered one of the country’s top intellectuals, will serve as Afghanistan’s president, while Abdullah, a medical doctor turned politician with deep experience in postSept.11 Afghan government, will be the country’s chief executive officer, a role

“

I think we are on a path that gives Afghanistan a reasonable prospect for success. It’s not at all guaranteed but … I believe Afghanistan will continue to remain a stable country and not return to a safe haven for al-Qaeda as it was prior to 9/11.

”

— Karl Eikenberry

former U.S. ambassador and Army commander in Afghanistan

comparable to a prime minister. The two men will divide power to appoint their lieutenants to ministerial roles, and both have pledged to create a new plan to help inoculate Afghanistan’s

Photo: Stanford University

fledgling election system from corruption. Eikenberry, who holds master’s degrees from Harvard and Stanford, said the national unity government is an extremely important development for a bruised and tattered Afghanistan. But he also said it is far from infallible, primarily because the Ghani-Abdullah partnership is so fragile. Abdullah, who derives much of his support from the country’s Tajik community, accused Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun, of industrial-scale electoral fraud. Abdullah’s warlord supporters also threatened to set up a parallel government. The two sides then bickered over every detail of an international audit of the votes. Even the swearing-in ceremony was nearly derailed by a dispute between the two sides over office space. “They have very different political coalitions; they have very strong individuals within their coalitions but these coalitions are not tied together by institutionalized national political parties,” Eikenberry said. “There are some marriages of convenience. “If there should be political stress in the center of the country, there is a possibility the two coalitions would split the

country along ethnic lines,” Eikenberry added, noting that ethnically influenced voting was reportedly heavier in the second round of presidential balloting. The results of that second round will remain secret under the power-sharing agreement at Abdullah’s request. While the move averted a political crisis, it also came as an insult to the 7 million Afghans who braved the Taliban’s threats to go to the polls. But Eikenberry says there was little choice but to cut a deal to salvage the first democratic transfer of power in Afghan history. “The importance of this national unity government working for Afghanistan’s long-term stability is absolutely crucial,” he told us. “If the government starts to break apart, the potential for ethnic divisions starting to reappear in Afghanistan and dominate its politics, as they did during the civil war and Taliban years, becomes a great threat.” But while the fledgling government faces serious potential perils, Eikenberry remains optimistic in large part because Afghanistan is more nationalistic than many people realize.

The Washington Diplomat

See Eikenberry, page 6 November 2014

November 2014

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from page 4

Eikenberry “If you look in this difficult neighborhood called Central and South Asia, there are no external powers acting as centrifugal forces to pull the country apart,” he explained. “The Afghan people are extraordinarily nationalistic people. Of course, they have their tribal and ethnic identities, but they have a very strong sense of Afghan nationhood. None of the actors within their coalitions is going to declare independence or break away from their central government. “And there is no external power such as Iran that is pulling ethnic groups their way,” he added. “There are external powers that are meddling inside of Afghanistan but not one that desires to have part of the country break away. In fact, when confronted with external powers, that strong sense of nationalism has been evident throughout history among the Afghans.” Eikenberry, who knows Abdullah and Ghani personally, said that over three long decades of strife, the veteran leaders’ appetite for battle has waned. That should compel them to grit their teeth and do their best to keep the country together. “These are two leaders who have experienced the turmoil of warfare, a long civil war and a lot of fighting over the course of their entire adult lifetime,” he said. “The Afghans — since the early 1980s and the Soviet occupation — they’ve known warfare and a lot of brutal combat between each other.They are exhausted.” Eikenberry said the Bilateral Security Agreement also gives the United States some assurances that its time and treasure expended in Afghanistan — which includes the deaths of

reinforcements in the form of Special Forces. I know the plan was to terminate our combat missions in Afghanistan but if that is too rigidly defined — no close air support, no help in extremis — I think Afghan [forces] would be very challenged under those circumstances.” Eikenberry said he’s confident that the new Afghan government will give U.S. and Afghan troops more latitude to operate militarily. Karzai, enraged by civilian casualties, had effectively shuttered U.S. military operations in the country by prohibiting raids on Afghan homes and other restrictions. “When the U.S. in the course of combat or confusion injures or kills Afghan civilians, it’s a great tragedy and from an Afghan perspective, it causes us a high degree of anger,” Eikenberry said. “It also brings home to those people that they don’t yet have control of their own sovereignty. NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your is free of mistakes There is ad a nationalist sentiment thatinisspelling perfectly and content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. understandable. “Hamid Karzai appealed to that sentiment but he cost did sotointhe such a way and subsequent without discretion The first two faxed changes will be made at no advertiser, changes that it caused great diplomatic problems between CrEdIt: dod Photo by StAff SGt. JASon EPPErSon, U.S. ArMy will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. U.S. army Staff Sgt. Jonathan price conducts a security patrol near the village of narizah in Afghanistan in our two countries,” he continued. “The next president, Ghani, with the support of Abdullah february 2012. A recently signed bilateral Security Agreement will keep nearly 10,000check U.S. troops Afghanistan Please thisinad carefully.perhaps Mark any changes to your ad.combat sup… knows the ability of U.S. after 2014. port against a tough, ruthless enemy, so they’ll If thegenerally ad is correct sign between and fax satisfactory to: (301) 949-0065 needsinchanges the application of that more than 2,100 U.S. soldiers — won’t be for somewhere and have high standards naught. impressive,” he said.“Compared to the Iraqi Army, combat power. But I think the kind of restrictions that Hamid Karzai put on our forces — the U.S. The Washington Diplomat 933-3552 “It gives us the ability to continue to conduct they are holding. I don’t know if(301) the Afghan counterterrorist operations in Afghanistan and National Army a couple of years from now will and Afghanistan together — I think those will be the region,” he said. “Importantly, it also gives us still be holding up well, but I think they do have modified so there is more flexibility offered to Approved __________________________________________________________ the capability we need to continue to gather much more of a national sense and ethos and a combat commanders, both Afghan and American.” intelligence and conduct operations as needed.Changes ” sense ___________________________________________________________ of Afghan pride. Eikenberry staunchly disagrees with any Eikenberry also noted that the agreement “I was pretty impressed and actually quite ___________________________________________________________________ allows the United States to continue training the proud of the time I spent with those guys,” he notion that the United States should pull all of its Afghan Army, which he said has made “enormous continued.“The Afghan Army, to be clear, is going troops out of Afghanistan. progress” since 2011. to need continued close air support from the “Since those years, their performance has been United States. It’s going to need perhaps some See EiKENbErry, page 52

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November 2014

INtERNatIONaL aFFaIRs

Middle East

Array of Spoilers Could Derail Iran Nuclear Talks by dave Seminara

n-and-off negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program have dragged on for more than a decade, but there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic that a deal could be reached prior to the Nov. 24 deadline. Iran has a reform-minded president in Hassan Rouhani and, more importantly, many Iran experts believe that the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, may be prepared to accept a deal. Analysts also believe that America’s negotiating partners — China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany — referred to as the P5+1, are keen for a deal that would scale back Iran’s nuclear program and impose inspections in exchange for lifting some sanctions. And President Obama has more freedom to pursue a deal, knowing that he doesn’t have to stand for re-election and can sign off on an agreement after the mid-term elections on Nov. 4. Given the litany of foreign policy crises crowding his inbox, Obama may be in search of a legacy-burnishing solution to one of the region’s most vexing problems before his term ends. Public opinion surveys also indicate that a solid majority of Americans and Iranians want a deal.A study conducted by the Program for Public Consultation and the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland (CISSM) in July revealed that 61 percent of Americans favor making a deal with Iran that would limit Iran’s enrichment capacity and impose intrusive inspections in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions, while only 35 percent favor breaking off the current negotiations and tightening sanctions. (Other surveys in 2013 had similar results.) And a survey conducted by CISSM and the University of Tehran’s Center for Public Opinion Research in September concluded that 79 percent of Iranians are open to an agreement in which Iran pledges to never produce nuclear weapons. But support for a comprehensive deal is far from unanimous. Members of Congress, Israel, Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, other Gulf states are deeply skeptical of Iran’s intentions and fear that the P5+1 might make a bad deal that provides sanctions relief without completely wiping out the country’s nuclear program, giving it breakout capability to create a nuclear weapon.And there are still plenty of hardliners in Iran who don’t trust the West and doubt that the U.S. will hold up its end of the bargain in removing sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. In fact, that same CISSMUniversity of Tehran study found that a large majority of Iranians were concerned that even if “Iran would fully accept and implement U.S. demands,” the United States would continue current nuclear-related sanctions “for some other reasons.” To be sure, there are wide gulfs in the negotiating positions that in and of themselves could torpedo the talks (which could also simply be extended again). Iran envisions having tens of thousands of centrifuges spinning, while the West wants to significantly roll back its nuclear enrichment capability, to a few thousand or even a few hundred advanced centrifuges (a number Israel would rather see cut down to zero). Iran would like immediate relief from sanctions that have choked its oil exports; the West prefers a slower, phased approach contingent on Iran fulfilling key parts of the bargain. Even the duration of any deal — five years versus 20 or more — is in contention. Outside issues could also interfere; already Tehran has suggested linking its

November 2014

Photo: StAtE dEPArtMEnt

“

the Iranian negotiators cannot be seen as agreeing to the dismantling of Iran’s existing enrichment program while the American negotiators cannot be seen as allowing the same program to remain intact. — FaridEh Farhi affiliate graduate faculty member of the University of hawaii

”

support for fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria with the nuclear talks. But even if the two sides manage to bridge these differences, that may not be enough to win over skeptics. What are the motivations of these skeptics and are they influential enough to play the role of spoiler, effectively killing a deal before it’s reached?

CONGREss Distrust of Iran has long been a rare issue of bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill. Most lawmakers are deeply skeptical of Iran’s intentions thanks to a long history of bad blood, dating back to 1979, when Iranian revolutionaries held 52 American diplomats hostage for 444 days, as well as Iran’s present-day support for groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, its less-than-transparent track record on the nuclear issue and widespread support for Israel in Congress. Days before a self-imposed July 20 deadline that was eventually pushed back to Nov. 24, Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.),

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, embraces European Union high representative Catherine Ashton at the U.n. headquarters in Geneva after the P5+1 and Iran concluded negotiations about Iran’s nuclear capabilities on nov. 24, 2013. Whether it will be all smiles for this year’s nov. 24 deadline, however, remains to be seen.

chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the committee’s ranking member, released a letter, signed by 342 members of the House, asserting that Iran needed to satisfy a host of congressional demands on human rights, terrorism and other issues unrelated to the talks before it would approve sanctions relief — demands that many observers say were unrealistic and designed to block progress on the nuclear front. On the Senate side, Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and other senators have consistently pushed to tighten the sanctions noose, on the theory that tougher penalties will force Iran to compromise. Votes on strengthening sanctions against Iran in both chambers have been nearly unanimous despite calls from the administration to give diplomacy more time. Obama could provide some sanctions relief via executive orders, and the White House has reportedly floated the idea of “suspending” stringent sanctions as a way to bypass a congressional vote, possibly for years, according to the New York Times. Nevertheless, Congress is instrumental in permanently dismantling the sanctions regime that has taken eight years to construct. Jim Lobe, the Washington bureau chief of Inter Press Service, wrote in July that the letter by Royce and Engel served to “sow doubts about Obama’s ability to deliver among Iran’s leadership, thus strengthening hardliners in Tehran who argue that Washington simply cannot be trusted.” Patrick Clawson,the director of research at theWashington

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 7

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Continued from previous page Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), said there is always an institutional tension between Congress and the White House regarding sensitive foreign policy negotiations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll hear a lot of bitching and screaming that we could have done better from Congress but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure they can do much about it,â&#x20AC;? he said. Clawsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s WINEP colleagues have argued that no deal is better than a bad deal with Iran, and that the only way to get Tehran to listen is to threaten more sanctions or military action. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iran is more likely to accept and adhere to a stringent nuclear accord if it perceives that the United States is willing to hold out at the negotiating table and is not looking for a quick exit from the region, and any adverse regional consequences of an agreement may be less if it is perceived to reflect American resolve rather than diffidence,â&#x20AC;? WINEP senior fellow Michael Singh argued in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July. But Farideh Farhi, an Iranian-born faculty member at the University of Hawaii who has taught comparative politics in both the United States and Iran, said that many members of Congress want the talks to fail. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Members of the U.S. Congress have shown themselves to be more sensitive to the concerns and demands of allied states such as Israel and Saudi Arabia than the broader and more long-term U.S. interests in the region,â&#x20AC;? she said. Alireza Nader, a native of Iran who is a senior international policy analyst at the Rand Corporation, said that support for Israel is only one reason why Congress is so dubious of Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intentions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;U.S. ties with Israel have an impact but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just about Israel,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This goes back to the Iranian Revolution, the hostage crisis, Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support for terrorist groups. Both sides have a lot of grievances against each other, a lot of bad blood.â&#x20AC;? Few would dispute that there is bad blood between the U.S. and Iran, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also clear that there are few better ways for politicians to burnish their pro-Israel credentials than to appear tough

Both sides have a lot of grievances against each other, a lot of bad blood. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Alireza Nader senior international policy analyst at the Rand Corporation

Credit: U.S. Mission Geneva Photo by Eric Bridiers

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman leads the U.S. delegation to the P5+1 talks on Iran at the U.N. offices in Geneva on Nov. 5, 2013.

on Iran. Lobe recently noted that Rep. Royce has â&#x20AC;&#x153;raised more money from pro-Israelâ&#x20AC;? PACs associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) than any other candidate in the current election cycle, while Engel, Menendez and other lawmakers have also benefited from the largesse of powerful pro-Israel lobby groups.

Israel and the Gulf States Israel has long been the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most prominent Iran nuclear talks skeptic and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been blunt in expressing that distrust, framing Iran as an existential threat to his own (presumably nuclear-armed) country. In an address to AIPAC in March, he mentioned Iran 49 times, saying at one point, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unfortunately, the leading powers of the world are talking about leaving Iran with the capability to enrich uranium.â&#x20AC;? He called the move a â&#x20AC;&#x153;grave mistake.â&#x20AC;? At an International Institute for CounterTerrorism conference in September, Netanyahu

said that as soon as the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention was consumed by an international crisis, Iran would â&#x20AC;&#x153;kick out the inspectorsâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;within weeks, a few months, they have nuclear weapons. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bad deal. And if Iran has nuclear weapons â&#x20AC;Ś you will see things you never imagined could be possible, horrors that you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even contemplate, come to fruition. The ultimate terror: A terrorist regime with the weapons of the greatest terror of them all. We must not let that happen.â&#x20AC;? And he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dance around his administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s distrust for Iran during his address to the U.N. General Assembly just weeks later. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be fooled by Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manipulative charm offensive,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s designed to lift sanctions and remove obstacles on Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s path to the bombâ&#x20AC;Ś. To defeat ISIS [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power would be to win the battle and lose the war.â&#x20AC;? Yet Netanyahu has been warning that Iran was just weeks or months away from a nuclear bomb

â&#x20AC;?

for years now, and his recent declarations lumping Iran, Hamas and the Islamic State together have glossed over the fundamental differences between them. Nader pointed out that besides saying that the whole nuclear program should be unequivocally dismantled, the Netanyahu government has never clarified what its negotiating red line is. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israelis worry that if sanctions are lifted, Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy might improve and its military capabilities will improve, but their policies wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change,â&#x20AC;? he said.â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fear is that any deal could empower Iran.â&#x20AC;? Clawson asserted that Israel rightfully wants to see steps to curb Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nuclear program, but he also acknowledged that it was â&#x20AC;&#x153;very unlikelyâ&#x20AC;? to get what it wants in any deal. Farhi maintains that all of the talks skeptics are more concerned about the potential for an agreement transforming the hostile relationship between the United States and Iran than the nuclear program itself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the case of someone like Prime Minister Netanyahu, there is also the added element of fear that an agreement, effectively normalizing Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relationship with the world, will then make Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policies toward the Palestinians the subject of further attention and pressure for change,â&#x20AC;? she said. Saudi Arabia, the Sunni heavyweight that views Shiite Iran as a geopolitical rival in the region, and other Gulf states are reportedly just as concerned about what they perceive as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;bad dealâ&#x20AC;? with Iran

See Iran, page 14

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Politics

United States

Obama, Congress Debate Legality Of War Against Islamic State by Sean Lyngaas

nited States military action against the so-called Islamic State has gone on for nearly three months without the Obama administration making a thorough, public legal argument for war. That relative silence, legal experts say, is a testament to the seemingly permanent war footing that Washington has been on since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Congress, which gave the George W. Bush administration broad authority to wage war against al-Qaeda in 2001 and Saddam Hussein in 2002 — through Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) — has shown signs of finding its voice when it comes to fighting the Islamic State, also referred to as ISIS and ISIL. Some members have put forth measures that would limit the scope of the U.S. campaign against the group, which controls stretches of Iraq and Syria. And yet lawmakers, now in recess, are not rushing back to town to debate the politically sensitive issue before the November elections, pledging instead to revisit the issue in the lame-duck session. The United States began airstrikes on Islamic State fighters and assets in Iraq on Aug. 8, and in Syria on Sept. 22. Obama had Baghdad’s permission, and its pleas, to launch the strikes, negating the need for a U.N. Security Council resolution to authorize the military intervention.The same can’t be said for Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has called the airstrikes a violation of the country’s sovereignty, even though the U.S.-led offensive against Islamic State fighters inadvertently helps his regime. At home, the administration’s legal pronouncements to date on the issue mainly consist of a series of short letters Obama has sent to Congress notifying it of the hostilities. In one such letter, dated Aug. 8, the president cites his constitutional authority to protect the nation as commander in chief, pledging that the military operations in Iraq “will be limited in their scope and duration.” A September letter adds the president’s statutory authority as a justification for the airstrikes, presumably a reference the 2001 or 2002 AUMF. (Unlike the previous missive, the Sept. 23 letter stated that it “is not possible to know the duration of these deployments and operations.”) The addition of statutory authority to the administration’s legal argument is likely an effort to comply with the War Powers Resolution (WPR), which requires the president to cease any “hostilities” he or she has authorized after 60 days unless Congress has authorized force. So says Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration. Goldsmith writes on the popular Lawfare blog that “compliance with the WPR, especially for airstrikes in Syria, depends on the administration’s tenuous interpretation of the 2001 AUMF.” Obama’s terse epistles to Congress amount to a courtesy call; they are not a robust debate on the use of force that legal experts and, to a certain extent, the American public, have called for.

The Expansive Wartime President As a presidential candidate and in his early months in

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Credit: U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Card

I think Congress is sending a signal, bipartisan, that we are not going to give you a chunk of authority to do as you like. It’s going to be short term, and you’re going to have to come back to us on a regular basis. — Louis Fisher

”

scholar in residence at the Constitution Project

office in 2009, Obama signaled he would respect checks and balances between branches of government when it came to making war. “The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation,” candidate Obama told the Boston Globe in December 2007. Congress had a largely deferential relationship with the George W. Bush administration when it came to using military force. Officials in the early years of the Bush administration made a concerted effort to expand presidential power, according to an exhaustively researched book by journalist Jane Mayer. Lawyers like David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney’s counsel, and John Yoo, formerly a top official at the Justice Department, subscribed to a “unitary executive” theory that holds there are virtually no checks on the president’s ability to protect the homeland in wartime. Once in office, Obama, like his predecessor, affirmed that the United States was at war with al-Qaeda and its

An F/A-18C Hornet launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf on Oct. 10, 2014, in support of strike operations in Iraq and Syria. The administration, which launched an air campaign against the Islamic State in early August, has said it does not need congressional authorization for the strikes.

affiliates, though he hinted at a break from the past. “We do need to update our institutions to deal with this threat. But we must do so with an abiding confidence in the rule of law and due process; in checks and balances and accountability,” he said in a May 2009 speech, adding that “the decisions that were made over the last eight years established an ad hoc legal approach for fighting terrorism that was neither effective nor sustainable.” Despite that high-flown rhetoric, Obama has claimed considerable executive power to fight terrorism. He did not seek fresh congressional authorization for using force in Libya in 2011 and, as of now, has not sought it for Syria and Iraq in 2014. Obama oversaw a significant expansion of drone strikes in Pakistan,Yemen and Somalia in his first few years in office, though those numbers have dropped steadily since 2010.As part of that campaign, the administration authorized the use of drones to kill American citizens abroad without a trial, citing a legal justification that remains highly controversial. The president has also publicly said that while he will seek Congress’s cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State, he does not need its formal blessing to take action. “I have the authority to address the threat from ISIL, but I believe we are strongest as a nation when the president and Congress work together,” he said in a Sept. 10 speech. Legal scholars point out that the weakening of legislative and judicial checks on the president’s ability to wage war has been going on for decades.“I think our constitutional system was upended when [President Harry] Truman went to war on his own in Korea without ever coming to Congress,” said Louis Fisher, a scholar in resi-

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

dence at the Constitution Project who worked for four decades as an expert on the separation of powers at the Library of Congress. Truman did not ask for congressional approval before announcing, in June 1950, that he was sending U.S. troops to Korea. Truman argued that legal justification for that use of force came from a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing armed assistance to South Korea in response to an incursion from the North. The Truman administration marked a turning point in “the atrophy of congressional and judicial power when it comes to national security,” said Michael Glennon, a professor of international law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. It was then that the “establishment of the national security apparatus” bred “habitual deference” from the executive, legislative and judicial branches to military intelligence and law enforcement agencies, he added. Photo: U.S. Air Forces Central

Administration Turning to AUMF While instances of presidents pushing the limits of executive martial power stretch back decades, Obama’s use of force against the Islamic State could set its own precedent. The administration’s invocation of the 2001 AUMF as justification to strike the group is “clearly stretching the limits of that authorization in a manner which likely will have precedent-setting consequences, so that a future president may similarly hold the view that they can stretch the 2001 AUMF as well,” said Ken Gude, a senior fellow focusing on national security at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. The briefly worded, open-ended 2001 AUMF authorized the president “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.” There were no geographical or time constraints attached to the AUMF, which critics say is outdated and was never intended to attack groups with little or no connection to al-Qaeda. Those looking for the Obama administration to elaborate on its legal authority to fight the Islamic State might keep an eye on the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is responsible for ensuring the legality of the president’s actions. In April 2011, the OLC published a memo saying that the president’s constitutional authority meant he didn’t need congressional approval to bomb forces loyal to Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi. Such a public explanation of the administration’s legal rationale for bombing the Islamic State has yet to emerge. But even if it does,

November 2014

U.S. Air Force pilots fly a mission to support airstrikes against Islamic State targets in northeastern Iraq on Oct. 2, 2014.

the administration’s reliance on the 2001 AUMF provision is revealing, according to Gude, as it is “the kind of results-oriented lawyering that the Obama administration wanted to eradicate from the government.” In rare public comments from the administration on the subject, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a Sept. 12 press briefing that the president’s legal basis for moving into a “more offensive phase of the conflict” against the Islamic State was statutory authority, meaning either the 2001 or 2002 AUMF, or both.

Congress in Limbo Most Americans (62 percent) believe that Obama needs authorization from Congress for military action in Syria, according to a recent CBS news poll. Even more (80 percent) think that Congress should return from recess to debate the issue, the poll said. Whether this popular support for a debate turns into legislation remains to be seen. Several lawmakers seem willing to take up the issue when Congress returns for a lame-duck session between the November elections and a new legislative session in January. Sen.Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has said that neither the 2001 nor the 2002 war authorizations from Congress applies to the current campaign against the Islamic State. On Sept. 17, he introduced legislation that would narrowly authorize U.S. force against the Islamic State. The measure would forbid ground troops and repeal the 2002 AUMF, which Kaine says is obsolete. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has put forth another measure that would authorize force for three years (whereas Kaine’s does so for just one year).

Fisher of the Constitution Project is heartened that Congress is apparently considering the issue more closely than it has in other instances since 9/11. “That’s so different from Iraq in 2002, where you just give a blank check.And this is no blank check this time.This is monitoring by Congress,” he said. “I think Congress is sending a signal, bipartisan, that we are not going to give you a chunk of authority to do as you like. It’s going to be short term, and you’re going to have to come back to us on a regular basis.” Yet members may not necessarily want to go on the record, one way or another. It is far easier to criticize the administration’s strategy in Iraq and Syria than to take a concrete stance on it. (That dynamic was laid bare when Congress blasted Syrian President alAssad for using chemical weapons but then shied away from voting on retaliatory airstrikes.) The vote to invade Iraq still haunts some lawmakers, more than a decade later. Debates in the House and Senate on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18, respectively — before each chamber passed a bill to train and arm Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State — reopened old wounds left by the 2002 AUMF. “The last time people took a political vote in this House, it was on the Iraq War,” Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) said on the House floor, “and many of my colleagues say it was the worst vote they [ever] took.” Though some lawmakers broached the AUMF, the debates lacked a key witness: a representative of the Obama administration.And for Glennon, Congress will be faced with a fait accompli should members debate the war in the lame duck. “The war will already be in operation, American lives and resources will already be committed, and it will be very difficult, suddenly, to throw this massive engine in reverse,” he said. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) offered a similar assessment on the Senate floor recently. George W. Bush came to Congress for an authorization of force, Paul noted. “Agree or disagree, we did the right thing” in offering a legislative mandate for war, he said. “When American interests are at stake, then it is incumbent upon those advocating for military action to convince Congress and the American people of that threat,” he said in a Sept. 18 foreign policy address, arguing that Syria is not a direct threat to American interests and therefore war against the Islamic State is not justified.“Too often, the debate begins and ends with an assertion that our national interest is at stake without any evidence of that assertion.The burden of proof lies with those who wish to engage in war, and they must convince the people and their representatives in Congress.”

Sean Lyngaas (@snlyngaas) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 11

International Affairs

Middle East

Israel’s Peace Movement Withers As Ultra-Orthodox Jews Gain Strength by Larry Luxner

estled in the green hills of central Israel — just off the main highway linking Jerusalem to Tel Aviv — is the only village in the Middle East where Arabs and Jews live together intentionally. That village is Neve Shalom, whose name in Hebrew and Arabic (Wahat al-Salam) means “oasis of peace.” Some 220 Jews and Arabs reside in this tiny farming commune, which supports the internationally renowned School for Peace, attracts private funding from 11 countries and has been nominated three times for a Nobel Peace Prize. In 2006, the village hosted a concert by former Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters. Yet Neve Shalom has no political affiliation, nor does it get financial support from either Israel or the Arab world. Its inhabitants are Palestinian Arabs from places like Nazareth and Jaffa, and Jews who were either born in Israel or “made aliyah” (immigrated) from the United States, Europe or elsewhere. “We walk a very delicate line,” said Bob Mark, an American Jew from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and one of the settlement’s original founders.“A lot of the antagonism against us comes from people who say we’re being naïve. Because we don’t define ourselves politically, there isn’t a lot we allow people to grasp onto.” But, he adds, “We threaten a lot of people. Our very existence raises questions. We make them face things they otherwise wouldn’t face.” If Neve Shalom represents the epitome of religious and cultural tolerance in Israel, then its exact opposite can be found only six miles to the south, in Beit Shemesh. This once-tranquil town of 80,000 — whose name in Hebrew means “house of the sun” — is being ripped apart by tensions between a secular Jewish majority and a vocal minority of ultra-Orthodox Jews who demand that the town bend to their stringent rules.The tensions are emblematic of a larger rift in Israeli society, as secularists balk at the growing influence of ultra-Orthodox Jews whose strict beliefs stand in sharp contrast to the country’s reputation as one of the most liberal in the Middle East. At the same time, though, Israeli public opinion has shifted rightward toward a more hawkish, nationalistic foreign policy, as seen by the strong support for Israel’s recent offensive in Gaza. Beit Shemesh first landed in the spotlight years before the latest flare-up in Gaza. In late 2011, black-clad haredim, followers of a strictly devout brand of Orthodox Judaism, spat on an 8-year-old girl as she was walking to school, accusing her of dressing immodestly. Israeli journalists who attempted to report on the story were later assaulted by haredim, and the attacks sparked massive demonstrations by secular Israelis and condemnations from around the world. In October 2013, the consensus candidate for Beit Shemesh’s secular and modern Orthodox community, Eli Cohen, lost a bid to become mayor. Cohen received 47 percent of the votes compared to 52 percent for the incumbent, Moshe Abutbul, in an election filled with

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The peace movement has been hit hard, but it will come back…. I believe in a two-state solution. We have to be strong, but if we don’t talk, there will never be peace.

”

— Frida Grynspan

medical tech company site manager in Israel

accusations of fraud and fake ballots. Abutbul later enraged opponents when he said that no gays live in his “holy and pure” city — and that it wasn’t his job, but rather the responsibility of police and health officials, to take care of homosexuals. Today, an uneasy truce exists between the town’s secular Jews and the haredim, who live mainly in the sprawling new hilltop suburb of Ramat Beit Shemesh. Religious authorities there limit which sidewalks nonOrthodox Jews can use and demand the right to have their own bus lines, with separate seating for men and women. In late September, the simmering religious tensions led the Rockville, Md.-based Jewish Federation of Greater Washington to cancel its 19-year partnership program with Beit Shemesh — the ultimate embarrassment for a Biblical city said to be the place where David slew Goliath. “We are not abandoning Beit Shemesh,” Steven Rakitt, executive vice president and CEO of the federation, said

A Sephardic rabbi prays at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, the holiest site in the world to Jews.

Photo: Larry Luxner

in announcing the partnership’s phase-out by the end of June 2015, without directly mentioning the controversy. But sources in Beit Shemesh made clear that their Jewish benefactors in Maryland no longer wanted anything to do with a city that has become synonymous with intolerance and religious hatred. To be fair, the decline of Israel’s peace movement and the rise of religious fervor aren’t directly connected. Not all peaceniks are secular, nor are all political hardliners necessarily religious. Soviet-born Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, for example, is the leader of the secular, nationalist right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party. In addition, not all Orthodox Jews consider themselves ardent Zionists. In fact, a tiny yet particularly loud sect of haredim, the Neturei Karta, is known for its antiZionist, pro-Palestinian views. (In 2007, Neturei Karta leaders traveled to Iran to attend a Holocaust denial conference at the invitation of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, where they prayed publicly for Israel’s destruction.) But there’s little question that since the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister, attitudes toward Jewish fundamentalism have changed and the divide between secular and Orthodox Jews has grown. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party has eaten away at the support that the leftist, pro-peace Labor party once enjoyed. Although Likud has dominated the political scene for the last five years, a backlash may be brewing. Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party won 19 Knesset seats in the January 2013 election in part by capitalizing on growing resentment that ultraOrthodox Jews could avoid mandatory military service by pursuing religious studies. Lapid’s party helped push through controversial legislation passed earlier this year

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

that will set annual quotas for drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into national service. The debate over military exemptions revealed longstanding frustrations that ultra-Orthodox Jews, who often depend on government welfare and study instead of work, aren’t pulling their collective weight. One Finance Ministry estimate said that the absence of the ultra-Orthodox community from the workforce cost the Israeli economy over $1.5 billion in 2010. Of Israel’s 8.2 million inhabitants, about 75 percent are Jews and roughly 12 percent are considered haredim. Because of their tendency toward large families, the number of haredim is growing by 5 percent annually — much faster than the growth rate for Israeli Arabs (2.2 percent) and secular Jews (1.2 percent). According to an annual report on religious freedom released in late September, 61 percent of Israeli Jews support increased separation of church and state, and 78 percent are dissatisfied with the Netanyahu government’s actions on religion-andstate issues. At the same time, public sentiment regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has taken a sharp turn to the right — a trend only exacerbated by the latest war in Gaza. According to polls, Israeli support for Operation Protective Edge ranged from 87 percent (Channel 10 News) to 95 percent (Israel Democracy Institute). Dissent was hardly to be seen in the streets of Tel Aviv, a marked contrast from previous conflicts such as Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, which in 1982 triggered an angry demonstration that brought 400,000 people — a tenth of the country’s population — onto the streets of Tel Aviv. For most Israelis, it was the kidnapping and murder of three Orthodox Jewish teenagers in the West Bank that triggered this summer’s invasion of Gaza, which ultimately killed over 2,100 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, and 73 Israelis, most of them soldiers.The Netanyahu government immediately blamed Hamas and began rounding up hundreds of suspects in a massive sweep throughout the territories. But then Jewish

Photo: Larry Luxner

The ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh has been the focus of religious tensions in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

extremists beat up and burned alive a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in revenge — a crime that shocked even hardliners in government. “This premeditated act of immolation is unprecedented in Israel,” said journalist and writer Uri Avnery, co-founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement. “A dangerous and violent extreme right is shadowed by a government which in itself belongs to the extreme right. Let’s not forget that the appointed Israeli defense minister, Danny Danon, just after the kidnapping of the three young Israeli settlers, said that Israel should take heed of Vladimir Putin, who ‘would raze entire villages to the ground one after the other if a Russian boy had been kidnapped.’” Avnery, insisting that the Netanyahu government has no interest in a negotiated settlement

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with the Palestinians, said the pacifist movement “is severely weakened, and more so than it has ever been. No major political force allied to the pro-peace side disputing the occupation is in a position to win the elections, to offer an alternative and change the political climate” of Israel today. But Aaron David Miller, a vice president and distinguished scholar at the Wilson Center, says that Israeli public’s shift to the right took place long before the latest conflict in Gaza. “Why would the fact that 95 percent of the Israeli public supported the war in Gaza have anything to do with the demise of the peace movement? They can be against Hamas itself without any commentary whatsoever on what their views on a two-state solution might be,” he told us.

“This is the conflation of arguments which are frankly impossible to unwind. The central contention is simply not logical.” At any rate, Miller said, the peace movement “has never been a constituency” upon which any Israeli prime minister created the basis of support for a peace initiative. “The story of peacemaking in Israel is the story of transformed hawks — from [Menachem] Begin and [Yitzhak] Rabin to Netanyahu and [Ariel] Sharon, the architect of the settlement movement who dismantled settlements — and their capacity to mobilize the Israeli center,” he said.“The notion that the peace camp has ever been a consideration in driving the Israeli public is simply false.” Miller agrees that Israel has become a much more conservative country, but that’s largely in response to geopolitical circumstances. In any event, peacemaking has been driven mostly by events external to Israeli decision-makers, he says. “Begin would never have given back Sinai had it not been for Sadat’s decision to rearrange the furniture,” Aaron said, referring to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and the landmark peace treaty with Israel in 1979. “Rabin would never have agreed to engage the PLO had the Palestinians not put themselves on the map by launching the first intifada. And King Hussein [of Jordan] made peace with Israel because Oslo afforded him the cover necessary to do so.” Yet Maen Rashid Areikat, the PLO’s representative in Washington, pins the shift rightward largely on Netanyahu and his Likud party. He said the peace movement’s “decline over the last 14 years” since the first intifada has resulted in one of the most extreme right-wing governments in Israeli history. “This government has succeeded to spread the culture of fear among Israelis. And we’re not talking about a government that supports settlements; we’re talking about members of the government who are settlers themselves,” he told The Diplomat.

Continued on next page

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Continued from previous page “When this latest conflict [in Gaza] started, there was an absence of an opposite view. Only a few journalists and columnists had the courage to write about this war objectively.” One of them is Gideon Levy, a writer for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz who has grown used to being harassed in public and spat on by strangers in the streets of Tel Aviv. “What is different this time is the anti-democratic spirit: zero tolerance of any kind of criticism, opposition to any kind of sympathy with the Palestinians,” he told the Guardian in a recent interview.“You shouldn’t be surprised that the 95 percent [are in favor of the war], you should be surprised at the 5 percent. This is almost a miracle. The media has an enormous role. Given the decades of demonization of the Palestinians, the incitement and the hatred, don’t be surprised the Israeli people are where they are.” A big part of this change of sentiment occurred in 2005, when the late Ariel Sharon unilaterally withdrew Israeli military forces from the Gaza Strip — and the situation immediately took a turn for the worse. As soon as Hamas wrested control of Gaza from its Fatah rivals, it began showering nearby Israeli towns and settlements with rockets. For their part, the Palestinians argue that the disengagement was a diversion to ramp up settlement activity in the West Bank.They also point out that Gaza remains under de facto lockdown because Israel controls the flow of goods and people in and out of the tiny coastal enclave. Nevertheless, the example of Gaza has soured the Israeli public on the idea of further territorial compromise with the Palestinians. “That disengagement from Gaza destroyed the peace movement for awhile. It was difficult and painful, and I expected that afterward, it would be reciprocated with goodwill from the Palestinians,” said Frida Grynspan, a site manager for a medical high-tech company in Mevaseret Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem.

A Legendary Hotel Located on Pennsylvania Avenue in the Nation’s Capital… Truly Inspirational

Israeli teenagers carry weights on their backs as they jog along a beach north of Tel Aviv as part of training for compulsory military service. A controversial new law would crack down on the practice of avoiding military service by pursuing religious studies. Photo: Larry Luxner

“I’m a very liberal person and I’m in the peace movement, but regardless of our politics, we didn’t initiate this war,” explained Grynspan, who moved to Israel in 1996 from her native Costa Rica and has a son in the Israeli Army. “My son had three good friends in Gaza. One of them was kidnapped and two of them died, and his officer was killed. So he lost four very good friends in a period of one week.” She added: “The peace movement has been hit hard, but it will come back. I think we should have a Palestinian state. I believe in a two-state solution. We have to be strong, but if we don’t talk, there

from page 8

Iran as Israel is, even if they have been less vocal in articulating those concerns. Nader said the Saudis and the Israelis fear that a nuclear deal could lead to greater U.S.-Iran cooperation on issues like Syria, sidelining their influence in the region. “There’s also concern among the Saudis that the nuclear talks could be the beginning of some sort of secret arrangement between Tehran and Washington,” he said. Nader added that of the Gulf states, the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates are the most fearful of what impact U.S.-Iranian rapprochement would have on the region, while Bahrain, Oman and Qatar have some concerns but also better relations with Iran. Clawson believes the Gulf states fear that a nuclear Iran could destabilize the region. Trita Parsi, the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council, said in a recent interview with the Real News Network that the Saudi position on the talks was “more hawkish, actually, than the Israeli one, in the sense that there are certain elements … of the deal that the Israelis deep inside would be happy with.” He added: “From the Saudi perspective, I fear that actually there is no deal that they would be happy with, because what they’re afraid of is not a nuclear Iran or an Iran with a limited enrichment capacity. What they’re afraid of is an Iran that actually manages to get along better with the United States.That’s the biggest threat to them.”

Hardliners in Iran The Melrose Hotel Ms. Ella Savon, Diplomatic Relations 202.463.2391 ella.savon@melrosehoteldc.com

2430 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington DC 20037 202.955.6400 www.melrosehoteldc.com

Page 14

Even if President Rouhani has broad public support to pursue a deal, there are plenty of hardliners in Iran waiting to pounce if the negotiations or the deal itself go south. In a recent op-ed for CNN, Daniel Brumberg, a special adviser at the U.S. Institute of Peace, argued that the stakes in the negotiations go far beyond Iran’s nuclear program. “[T]he focus on mechanics risks missing a bigger and arguably more important reality: that the negotiations are central to the future of Iran’s political system,” he argued. “If the United States is serious … about encouraging a political dynamic that strengthens reformminded Iranian leaders and fosters a more

will never be peace.” Levy says finding people in Israel who even still want to talk to the other side is becoming harder and harder to do. “I’ve never had it so harsh, so violent and so tense,” Levy told Foreign Policy in August.“We will face a new Israel after this [Gaza] operation … nationalistic, religious in many ways, brainwashed, militaristic, with very little empathy for the sacrifice of the other side. Nobody in Israel cares at all.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

cooperative Iranian foreign policy abroad, then Washington should make every reasonable effort to seal a comprehensive nuclear deal and secure Congress’ support for it. The alternative — insisting on imposing onerous terms that would virtually assure Iran’s quitting the negotiations — would simply bolster Iran’s hard-liners, while making it far easier for Tehran to pursue a nuclear program largely free of international supervision.” Nader said that no agreement would satisfy Iran’s ultra hardliners because they fear the reforms that Rouhani has in mind for the Islamic Republic. But he believes that even the conservative elites understand the importance of easing sanctions. “Even the conservatives are tied into the economy and a lot of them have become wealthy under Khamenei, so they see the stakes as well,” he said. “I don’t think the establishment in Iran wants the talks to fail but they want a deal which eases sanctions and allows them to keep as much as possible of their [nuclear] infrastructure.” Nearly everyone agrees that Ayatollah Khamenei will have to approve any deal but no one knows exactly what his red lines are. Can he, or for that matter any of the skeptics, play the role of spoiler and scuttle the talks? Most analysts don’t think that external actors — Israel, the Gulf states or the U.S. Congress — could derail the negotiations, but they can certainly exert influence. Khamenei, on the other hand, has the power to singlehandedly veto a deal, though he undoubtedly understands that if he does, there will be economic consequences, domestic political fallout and even the threat of military action against Iran. (Already both sides seem to be positioning themselves as the flexible party to avoid blame if the talks collapse.) Farhi said that hardliners in the U.S. and Iran “add to the inflexibility that both sides bring to the table. The Iranian negotiators cannot be seen as agreeing to the dismantling of Iran’s existing enrichment program while the American negotiators cannot be seen as allowing the same program to remain intact.” Can the negotiating parties find a sweet spot that both sides can live with? The answer to that question will unfold in the coming weeks.

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

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

COVER PROFILE

PLO Chief Representative Maen Rashid Areikat

After Gaza, What’s Next For the Palestinians? by Larry Luxner

s the Washington representative of a stateless people for the last five years, Maen Rashid Areikat seems a lot more optimistic than he should be.

Since mid-2009, Areikat — a 54-year-old career diplomat who enjoys fine Cuban cigars and lively political debates — has headed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) mission to the United States. During that time, the influence of his moderate Fatah faction has declined, while Fatah’s far more militant rival Hamas has grown dramatically in popularity, both in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to build Jewish settlements in occupied territory, over the protests of Netanyahu’s counterpart in Ramallah, President Mahmoud Abbas, who looks increasingly impotent in the face of failed peace talks. The Israelis themselves — having shifted to the right in recent years — appear less willing than ever to trust the Palestinians in resuming talks that would return Israel to its 1967 borders as part of an elusive two-state solution (see related story, page 12). Gaza is still smoldering from this summer’s Israeli air and ground invasion, which began after three Jewish yeshiva students were kidnapped and murdered. Hundreds of Palestinians were rounded up in the ensuing Israeli dragnet, one Palestinian boy was burned to death, Hamas began lobbing relentless rocket fire toward Israel and the PLO government in the West Bank was relegated to the sidelines as Hamas and Israel traded blows.The 50-day conflict, known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge, killed 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel, and more than 2,100 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, including 500 children, according to the United Nations. Since then, the Israel-Palestine struggle itself has been overshadowed by the Islamic State, a Sunni fundamentalist group now terrorizing millions of people throughout Iraq and Syria — and giving Muslims everywhere a bad name. Netanyahu recently equated the Islamic State with Hamas as “branches of the same tree,” a public relations tactic that puts Palestinians on the defensive at a time when PLO leaders would much rather be discussing things like statehood, legitimacy and international recognition. Despite the bleak state of affairs, Areikat hasn’t given up on his dream of an independent Palestine, a dream that has fascinated and frustrated the global consciousness for more than 66 years. “I’ve been here for five years, and professionally, I can’t say I’m more optimistic or hopeful than when I came. But I see changes happening, even here in the U.S.,” he told The Washington Diplomat during a two-hour interview at the PLO’s gleaming new mission fronting Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. “The government and the American people are somehow getting tired of this continuing conflict. One would have expected they’d abandon the idea, but I think there’s a serious, genuine desire to end it.” Areikat spoke to us on Oct. 8, the day before representatives of Fatah and Hamas met in Gaza City — in the first national consensus meeting since the Hamas takeover of the tiny coastal enclave in 2007. Several days later, at an international donor conference in Cairo, foreign countries led by Qatar pledged $5.4 billion to help rebuild Gaza, where the recent war left some 100,000 Gazans homeless November 2014

“

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of ruggeriphoto.com

The Netanyahu government’s aim is to prolong the status quo. They think this can go on for another 50 years, with Gaza separated and the West Bank under their control…. They don’t pay the price of this occupation.

”

— Maen Rashid Areikat

chief representative of the PLO Delegation to the United States

and much of the crowded strip’s infrastructure in shambles. And in another hopeful sign, Sweden in early October said it would recognize Palestine — thereby becoming the first European Union member state to do so, although it did not indicate a timeframe for recognition. (In a largely symbolic vote, the British Parliament also passed a nonbinding resolution to recognize a Palestinian state.) Predictably, Sweden’s announcement angered both the United States and Israel, with Netanyahu warning it would harm the peace process and the State Department saying it was “premature.” All told, 134 countries now recognize Palestine. Yet in the long run, the only country that really controls

Palestine’s destiny is the state of Israel — and on that front, things don’t look too promising at the moment. “The Netanyahu government’s aim is to prolong the status quo.They think this can go on for another 50 years, with Gaza separated and the West Bank under their control,” Areikat complained.“They don’t pay the price of this occupation. Israel today is in a very comfortable situation. Security-wise, they are not confronting any security threats in the West Bank. The fact they have not been genuinely engaged in peace talks has contributed to Palestinian despair and hopelessness.” To make matters worse, Israel’s campaign in Gaza was a failure, accomplishing only one thing, at least according to Areikat: increased hatred by Palestinians of their Jewish neighbors.“Both peoples went to the extreme,” he lamented.“It didn’t serve anyone’s interest but the extremists.” Areikat dismissed the notion that ceaseless rocket attacks by Hamas against Israeli civilians justified the powerful assault on Gaza. He says the real reason for Operation Protective Edge “was to undermine the national consensus” that had emerged between Fatah and Hamas under the umbrella of the Palestinian Authority. After the U.S.-led peace talks collapsed earlier this year, Abbas announced that he would form a technocratic unity government with Hamas, a move that was promptly denounced by Israel and the United States. Some speculate that the crackdown in the West Bank following the murder of three Jewish teens in June was really a pretext to sabotage the reconciliation— and re-arrest some of the Palestinian prisoners that had been released as part of peace negotiations.

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 15

Continued from previous page

“Israel did not hide its intentions from the beginning, when they called on Abbas to renege on his agreement with Hamas,” Areikat argues. “Even during the onslaught, following the disappearance of the three teenage settlers, Netanyahu made it clear that he expected Abbas to cancel his agreement with Hamas.” That, Areikat claimed, is because the Israelis don’t want Gaza (population 1.8 million) and the West Bank (population 2.7 million) to constitute a single geographic unit.“Throughout history, except for the period from 1948 to 1967, the people of Gaza and the West Bank always managed to reach each other. Even under the most difficult years of the occupation, people would communicate without any problem,” he said. “Now, for political reasons, Israel wants to keep Gaza separate from the West Bank. They believe that would invalidate the establishment of a Palestinian state.” Areikat, who describes himself as “Palestinian to the bone,” comes from a family that’s been involved in politics since the days of the Ottoman Empire. NOTE:One Although every effortwas is made to of assure is free offarmistakes and of his grand-uncles speaker the your Butad Areikat spent more timein in spelling Ramallah, the Jordanian Parliament the 1960s, and histhe father, West Bank’s financial content it isinultimately up to customer to make thecenter, final serving proof. from 1998 to Rashid Areikat, was politically active under the 2008 at the PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department Israeli before landing his current subsequent job in Washington. The first twooccupation. faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, changes “He was subjected to Israeli measures, banned “The PLO is the spiritual force driving the will befrom billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. leaving the country, jailed many times and was Palestinian people. It is the one organization that almost expelled on one occasion,” Areikat said of has put the Palestinians on the political map,” said hisPlease father, who died inthis 1994. diplomat still Mark Areikat, whochanges lives in Washington with his check adThecarefully. any to your ad.Ramallahmaintains a house in his birthplace of Jericho, an born wife Jumana and their three sons, Rashid, Saif ancient, relatively quiet fax Westto: Bank city 949-0065 of 25,000 and Amr. “To the vast majority of the Palestinian f the ad is correct sign and (301) needs changes located about 20 miles east of Jerusalem. He has a people, the PLO remains the legitimate umbrella of bachelor’s degree in finance from Arizona State Palestinian national aspirations. Hamas is a force to The Washington (301) 933-3552 UniversityDiplomat and an MBA in management from reckon with. Nobody can cancel Hamas out, but Western International University. Hamas is not the majority.” Following diplomatic training at Canada’s He added: “For us, the PLO is a sacred organizaApproved __________________________________________________________ Ministry of External Affairs in Ottawa, Areikat tion. Our effort is to bring Hamas into the fold of Changes worked ___________________________________________________________ for six years at Orient House — the PLO’s the PLO, not to bring the PLO into the fold of former headquarters in East Jerusalem — as spokes- Hamas.” ___________________________________________________________________ man for the late Faisal Husseini, one of the organizaThe PLO, founded in 1964, claims to represent all tion’s top negotiators at the Madrid peace talks. 11 million Palestinians, both those living in histori-

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The Israeli separation barrier is covered in graffiti to protest the controversial security wall, which snakes into Palestinian territory but has prevented attacks inside Israel.

under daily attack, and our fighters are defending their people.These rockets are meant to stop Israeli attacks and it is well known that Israel initiated this war and previous wars.” That defiance has won over many frustrated Palestinians and further eroded the relevance of Abbas’s West Bank-based Fatah party. Even though Hamas courted Israeli bombs and rockets that pummeled Gaza, its popularity among residents actually grew after the offensive. The West is now looking to strengthen Fatah by leaving it in charge of reconstruction, civil affairs and border crossings in Gaza, although it remains to be seen if Hamas will truly cede control of the strip. While the two factions appear to have reconciled Photo: Sendamessage.nl / Wikimedia Commons for the moment, past agreements have frequently cal Palestine and those in the diaspora. Areikat broken down. But perhaps the biggest single factor that has believes most of these Palestinians see 79-year-old Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, as their weakened Abbas in the eyes of many Palestinians legitimate representative, even though they may are Jewish settlements, which have continued not agree with the PLO’s policies, its long history of unabated in recent years, chipping away at the infighting and corruption or Abbas’s failure to prospect of ever creating a viable, contiguous Palestinian state. secure major concessions from Israel. Since 1967, the number of Jews in the West Bank “I’ve always found him to be a very honest, straightforward person who says the same thing in has grown to 382,000, while more than 300,000 public as he does in private,”Areikat said of his boss, Jews live in East Jerusalem. In addition, Israeli conwhom he’s known ever since Abbas became prime struction of a 250-mile separation barrier has successfully prevented suicide attacks but also disminister of the Palestinian Authority in 2003. “He’s one of the historical leaders of the PLO rupted Palestinian life in the West Bank, effectively and has devoted most of his life to the Palestinian annexing more than 12 percent of Palestinian land cause.What I admire most about him is his courage. according to pre-1967 borders. Areikat warned that if Israel continues to build He has taken many positions that were not popular Kettler: with Palestinians,371277 ” Areikat told/ The Diplomat,Ovation refer- settlements in disputed territory, there will soon be ring to Abu Mazen’s rejection of the Hamas doc- little to talk about. With that in mind, Washingtontrine that refuses to recognize Israel.“Until today, he based, pro-peace J Street says it will pour all its is unwavering in his opposition to violence, because lobbying efforts into fighting the establishment of he believes this is not in the interest of the new settlements. Last year, according to Israel’s Palestinian people.That has personally inspired me. own Bureau of Statistics, settlement construction There is nothing more that President Abbas wants jumped by 123 percent compared to 2012 figures to see than an end to this Israeli military occupa- — even as peace negotiations were ongoing. Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder and president of J tion.” That may be the case, but many Palestinians Street, said opposing such construction is “crucial increasingly question whether Abbas is capable of to preserving the viability of the two-state solution making that happen. After repeatedly coming up and Israel’s long-term future as a democracy” and as empty-handed in U.S.-brokered negotiations with a Jewish homeland. But it would be a fallacy to think that all or even Israel,Abbas has tried to strengthen his hand at the most of these Jewish settlers are bearded extremUnited Nations, with mixed results. In November 2012, the U.N. General Assembly ists in kippahs and side curls, bent on spreading overwhelmingly voted to grant Palestine non- Zionism throughout the Palestinian heartland. Many, member observer status. In his most recent speech in fact, are secular Jews (including immigrants from at the U.N. General Assembly in September, many the former Soviet Union) lured to the West Bank by observers expected Abbas to take the next step and relatively cheap, government-subsidized housing. announce that he would join the International For the equivalent of $200,000 — the cost of a twoCriminal Court,the Palestinians’trump card because bedroom apartment in a south Tel Aviv slum — one it would pave the way for a war-crimes investiga- can buy a brand new four-bedroom villa in Ariel. That’s why Areikat doesn’t believe most settlers tion of Israel. Instead, he called on the U.N. Security Council to support a clear deadline — November would resist the Israel Defense Forces if the Arabs 2016 — for Israel to withdraw from the occupied and Jews one day reach a peace agreement and territories in a fiery speech declaring the peace settlers are forced to evacuate — as they were in process essentially dead. It’s a largely toothless 1982 when Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to maneuver, though, because the United States would Egypt, or in 2005 when Israel unilaterally withdrew veto any such resolution or, at the very least, signifi- from Gaza. “Do not let anybody fool you by telling you these cantly water it down. But Palestinian officials have said that if such a settlers are functioning without the protection of resolution were blocked or vetoed, they would the Israeli Army. They dare not enter a Palestinian immediately seek to join the International Criminal area if they know the army is not there to rescue Court.The Palestinians tried that approach last year them,” he said. “I don’t believe these settlers can but were dissuaded from doing so by the Americans, challenge the authority of the government. Some of Areikat conceded. Indeed, many say the ICC threat them are there for religious reasons, but most are is a bluff because American assistance — which there for the economic subsidies. The minute the constitutes a significant portion of the PLO’s bud- government offers them incentives to leave, they’ll get — would instantly be cut off, as would tax be back in Tel Aviv. I can guarantee that.” Another stalling tactic in the peace talks, Areikat transfers from Israel, plunging the already-battered claimed, is the Netanyahu government’s insistence Palestinian economy into a tailspin. In addition, joining the ICC could backfire by that the Palestinians officially recognize Israel as a opening the door to war-crimes charges against Jewish state. “We rejected and we continue to reject it,” he Hamas, such as using children as human shields or knowingly firing missiles at Israel from schools and said, noting that the PLO recognized the state of Israel in 1993, but that recognizing it as an excluhospitals. But Hamas doesn’t seem too concerned with the sively Jewish state would endanger the rights of 1.5 ICC. Izzat Rishq, a senior official of the militant million Arabs with Israeli citizenship living inside group, told The Guardian that his group supports Israel.“Sixty-six years later, they are still fighting for joining the ICC, saying, “We are under occupation, equality within Israel,” Areikat said. “They are con-

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

sidered third- or fourth-class citizens in their own country.” Recognizing Israel as an inherently Jewish country would also set a dangerous precedent that would only undermine the peace process, he warned. “Look at the Islamic State. See what happens when political systems change their names,”Areikat suggested.“Netanyahu knows in advance that we will not accept it. That’s why he keeps repeating it. By accepting his demand that we recognize Israel as a Jewish state, he wants us to say that their historical narrative of the conflict is accurate, and ours is inaccurate.There’s no way on Earth we will acknowledge that.” Speaking of the Islamic State,Areikat thinks it’s ridiculous to equate Hamas with a group of marauding extremists happy to kill fellow Muslims in pursuit of an Islamic caliphate (extremists who also happen to care less about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and consider Hamas members to be apostates). The parallel, though, is based on both militant organizations’ embrace of fundamentalist Islam, and the fact that both are considered terrorist groups by the State Department and a number of European countries. “This is totally absurd.There is a big difference between Hamas and ISIS,” Areikat said, referring to an alternate name for the Islamic State. “For one, Hamas is confining its struggle within a well-defined geographic area. They have clear objectives. We disagree with them on tactics, but at least they don’t target others outside Palestine.” He continued: “I think the analogy between Hamas and ISIS is a very desperate effort on the part of Israel to poison the whole Palestinian people. Nobody’s buying that. Netanyahu knows there is a difference between Hamas and the Islamic State extremists who are indiscriminately targeting all kinds of people.” Hamas, though, also indiscriminately targets people through rocket fire.While its homemade rockets are crude and incapable of inflicting mass damage, they have reached as far as Tel Aviv and spread fear throughout Israel. Areikat has walked a fine line promoting the PLO without endors-

Palestinian Representative Maen Rashid Areikat served in Ramallah, the West Bank’s financial center, seen at left, at the PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department before landing his current job in Washington.

ing Hamas. Throughout the 50-day war, he went toe to toe in the media with Israeli Ambass ador Ron Dermer, as both men made the rounds on PBS News Hour and other news outlets to plead their case to the American public. But the two men have never met in person. “I’m not against meeting if there is something substantive, but not if it’s just an opportunity for him to say,‘I saw the Palestinian ambassador,’” said Areikat (who was also wined and dined by AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby, upon his Photo: Bethlehem Ministry of Tourism arrival in 2009). For the time being, Areikat continues his own lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill, the White House and the Washington think-tank circuit. Last month, he met for the first time with Republican Senate leaders including South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte and Arizona’s John McCain. After five years in the hot seat, though,Areikat concedes that the job has taken a toll on his personal life.“Public work is very demanding, and Washington has its way of consuming people,” he told us.“When you have a family and your kids are growing up, this is the only time you can spend with them, and it’s really difficult to create a balance.” But now isn’t the time to quit, he said, insisting that the Palestinians can overcome their internal rift to present a united front. On that note, Areikat said he hopes long-overdue Palestinian elections will take place sometime next year. According to a survey conducted in mid-September by the Gaza-based House of Wisdom

Institute, only 10 percent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would vote for Abbas if those elections were held today. Even in the relatively stable West Bank, Abbas is struggling, with only 25 percent of respondents there saying they’d vote for the incumbent.Yet in the same poll of 1,200 Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza, the non-violent path to independence advocated by Abbas beat the one espoused by Hamas by a 32 percent margin. “Unfortunately, the war on Gaza that Israel embarked on delayed the priorities.When we formed the government on June 2, our intention was to hold elections within six to nine months,” said Areikat.“But with all efforts now focused on alleviating the humanitarian and economic crisis, I think this will take a little bit longer.” He added:“Once we overcome the immediate needs to address the catastrophic conditions that were created as a result of Israel’s war, and once Fatah and Hamas agree on the mandate of this national consensus, I believe we will be in a better position to look to the future.” Areikat says the Israelis should also be looking to the future, suggesting that they too are exhausted from the never-ending conflict — which is why they should be talking to the Palestinians, rather than Congress or the White House. “We are the only party that can really provide Israel with peace and security, because we’re going to share that same land with them — and we are not leaving that land,” he said. “The Oslo accords called for a conclusion of negotiations in 1999 that would lead to a Palestinian state. Imagine if Israel had agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state 15 years ago, how the situation on the ground would be different. The security threats against Israel in 1999 were minimal compared to 2014. With all the geopolitical changes taking place in the region, Israel is no safer today than it was two years ago.The longer Israel waits, the more the threats against it will increase.” Israel can’t wait forever, Areikat added — and he is optimistic that it won’t. “I still think the majority of Israelis want to see an end to the conflict,” the envoy said. “This current Israeli government does not have the courage or intention to engage genuinely.They’re just buying time. Netanyahu hasn’t taken one single political step toward ending the conflict; he’s only consolidating the occupation, imposing facts on the ground and making Palestinians lose hope. My faith is in the Israeli people.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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International Affairs

Media

MHz Marks 20 Years of Bringing Global Programming to U.S. Audiences by Martin Austermuhle

f you still receive printed copies of your daily hometown newspaper, you may have noticed over the years that the space set aside for foreign reporting has shrunk.

Many newspapers — including national leaders like The Washington Post — have shuttered their foreign bureaus, relying instead on freelancers and stringers, even in war zones. The lack of original, in-depth foreign reporting is glaringly obvious online as well, with wire services and blogs often filling the digital void. Much the same can be said for television news networks. Star anchors like Anderson Cooper and Brian Williams are still shuttled to a foreign locale when the story is big enough to merit it, but otherwise foreign reporting is kept to a budget-restricted minimum. But for over 20 years, one locally based television broadcaster has steadily increased its foreign content, not by sending U.S.-based reporters, producers and crews abroad to cover it, but rather by bringing national channels from dozens of countries directly to U.S. households. Originally started as a public television broadcaster based in Virginia, in 1994 MHz Networks became a channel offering nothing but foreign programming to diaspora communities based in the Washington region. “The idea was to provide content for all the immigrant communities here in D.C. It started as a channel to connect the top 10 population groups from the 1990 Census,” explained Frederick Thomas, the founder and CEO of MHz, which is based in Falls Church and now offers 12 digital channels, including one that reaches close to 40 million U.S. households over 35 public channels. The goal of MHz is to offer innovative, globally relevant programming that’s not available in mainstream media, ranging from news broadcasts and foreign films — over 100 from more than 50 nations — to sports such as rugby, soccer and even Gaelic hurling. The company quickly found a receptive audience in the area’s diverse population, which includes Indians, Pakistanis, Salvadorans, Mexicans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Eastern Europeans and other ethnicities and nationalities. “There wasn’t really satellite TV with different languages, so we tried to provide this content locally. It really did serve its purpose very well. It helped many of the local communities stay connected to themselves, even,” said Thomas, 55.“We had a lot of local shows as well, and these were local shows where people would talk about what was going on in their respective communities here in the D.C. area. It probably is a little hard for people to imagine, given that you can now stream your own channel on your phone in your pocket, but in 1994 there wasn’t even anything called the internet. Television was a real means of keeping in touch.” Thomas never expected to get into broadcasting, though the fact that he ended up in charge of an internationally focused television broadcaster isn’t surprising. Born in D.C., his father worked for the U.S. Information Agency, where he produced the America Illustrated publications that were distributed in the then-Soviet republics. “I grew up around a lot of that,” he said. A two-time American University graduate, Thomas had hoped to become a film director, but when that didn’t pan out, programming was the next best thing. When he

Page 18

Photos: MHz Networks

“

It probably is a little hard for people to imagine, given that you can now stream your own channel on your phone in your pocket, but in 1994 there wasn’t even anything called the internet. Television was a real means of keeping in touch.

”

— Frederick Thomas

founder and CEO of MHz Networks

decided to launch a public broadcast station alongside PBSaffiliates such as WETA, WHUT and MPT, he opted for “something that [D.C.] had in abundance in population but wasn’t being served” — international content. “It needed to do something different. I was born in D.C., so I always had an international background, so let’s make the whole thing international. Why not?” he recalls. MHz now offers everything from CCTV (China), Russia Today and TRT Türk (Turkey) to VTV4 (Vietnam), Arirang TV (South Korea) and France 24. And while the station quietly built up an audience among diaspora communities living in the Washington region and across the U.S., its most famous — or infamous, depending on who you ask — acquisition was a certain Middle Eastern news channel.

For more than 20 years, MHz Networks, a locally based television broadcaster, has been offering global programming that ranges from foreign news broadcasts, to films from over 50 nations, to sports such as rugby and soccer.

“It was huge. It was a big, big deal,” said Thomas of the decision to start airing Al Jazeera in 2009, when television stations switched from analog to digital signals, allowing them more channels to work with. “We needed to fill the other channels, and I had been talking to Al Jazeera for several years prior to 2009. Finally we were able to get it to work, and part of it was convincing the board of directors this was the right thing to do. That was probably the hardest thing.” Thomas recalls the uproar that bringing Qatar-based Al Jazeera to the U.S. caused.“It had everything to do with the name. So much of it was tied up in ignorance. Still, being the guys to take the lead to wipe away that ignorance was more than we had ever done. But we had been carrying content from all over the world, so we were the natural people to do it.” He laughs off the controversy the channel provoked, and says that for all the politicians and pundits who may have opposed it, just as many also backed his decision.“It launched, the sky stayed blue, didn’t it? Honestly, as an English-language service,AJE is a tremendous news service. It’s the TV equivalent to what NPR is. It is a great service,” he said, referring to National Public Radio. In 2013, Al Jazeera America launched in a partnership with Current TV, and MHz no longer carries its programming. But that doesn’t mean that some of Thomas’s other offerings haven’t attracted similar criticism. Russia Today (RT) is a case in point: The Moscow-based broadcaster has been accused of shaping its news to fit the whims of the Russian government, but Thomas brushes off those concerns.

The Washington Diplomat

See MHz, page 20 November 2014

Diplomacy

Law

Some Diplomats Get Free Ride By Skipping Out on Parking Tickets by Dave Seminara

inding a place to park in New York, London, D.C. and many other big cities around the world where diplomats live and work can be a chore. In some places, diplomats have gained notoriety for parking illegally and failing to pay their tickets. Officials in New York and London, in particular, have improved compliance by naming and shaming offenders and cracking down on scofflaws. Eight years ago, Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel, professors from Columbia University and the University of California in Berkeley, published a paper about the connection between corruption and diplomatic parking tickets that included a list of parking violations and staffing levels to find the countries with the most violations in New York on a per-diplomat basis.They found a strong correlation between corruption and parking tickets, with the worst offenders — Kuwait (246 violations per diplomat), Egypt (139), Chad (124), Sudan (119), Bulgaria (117), Mozambique (110) and Albania (85) — hailing from countries that score poorly on Transparency International’s Cor ruption Perceptions Index and other corruption indicators. (Their data is from 1997 to 2002.) Fisman and Miguel didn’t examine unpaid parking ticket violations in D.C., but data from 1970 to 2011 compiled by WTOP/WJLA indicates that diplomats in the capital accrued 7,611 tickets that went unpaid, with a host of notoriously corrupt countries on the list of top offenders, including Russia, Yemen, Cameroon and Mauritania. (France was the outlier in fourth place, and a single French diplomat also managed to accrue $6,200 in unpaid parking tickets alone in 1998 in Wellington, New Zealand.) The D.C. fines totaled $340,000 (excluding late fees), which pales in comparison to the $18 million in fines that diplomats racked up from 150,000 unpaid parking tickets in New York from 1997 to 2002, according to Fisman and Miguel’s study. The economists also found that countries where public opinion of the United States was low had more unpaid violations, though violations briefly went down after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks even among those countries. Responding to public outrage over diplomatic parking scofflaws, New York cracked down in 2002 with the Clinton-Schumer Amendment, which created tough penalties for unpaid violations, including towing vehicles with diplomatic plates, refusing to renew the plates of serial offenders and deducting 110 percent of unpaid fines from U.S. government aid. (One of the self-appointed ringleaders of that initiative, the now disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, was found to have more than $2,000 in unpaid parking tickets in 2011 himself.) The measure has dramatically reduced new infractions in New York but a recent story in The Wall Street Journal revealed that officials there have been unsuccessful in securing more than $16 million worth of unpaid diplomatic tickets accrued prior to the 2002 crackdown. Egypt ($1,970,580), Nigeria ($894,625)

November 2014

Photo: Michal Kowalski / fotolia

“

We are a high legal compliance society — people obey the rules here…. And so of course it bothers us when people don’t obey the rules. It runs contrary to our norms. — Raymond Fisman professor of social enterprise at Columbia Business School

”

and Indonesia ($738,700) led the way in unpaid fines. In July, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office released a list of diplomatic violations, including congestion charges and parking violations illustrating that in London, unpaid parking tickets are still a big issue as well, although unpaid congestion charges are an even bigger problem — with £75 million in unpaid congestion charges over the last decade. (Drivers have to pay a congestion fee to drive into central London). Including both unpaid parking tickets and congestion charges, the United States was the top offender in 2013, with more than £8 million in unpaid debt.All but about £1,000 of that was in unpaid congestion charges, which the State Department believes diplomatic personnel should not have to pay. Japan, Russia, Nigeria, Germany and India, which also apparently believe their accredited diplomats shouldn’t have to pay the congestion fee, are right behind the United States. In looking at the missions in London with the most unpaid parking fines (excluding congestion fees, there were 5,662 unpaid tickets accrued by London diplomats in 2013), all of the worst offenders — Nigeria, Saudi Arabia,

The concept of diplomatic immunity has always been somewhat controversial, but nothing seems to rile people up more than diplomats who think they can park wherever they want — and not pay parking tickets.

Zambia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan and Liberia — are countries where corruption is a well-documented problem. Diplomats have immunity but they are also ambassadors tasked with fostering a positive image of their country while abroad. And they are expected to abide by a country’s rules, even if they are technically immune from them. Flagrant violations like murder often grab headlines, but day-to-day offenses, like illegal parking, are just as likely to irk officials and citizens. On the other hand, many diplomats believe that host cities, especially those like New York, where parking is scarce, have a responsibility to provide adequate parking for diplomats. Do diplomats from some countries have a strong sense of entitlement that causes them to flout the law? And is there a correlation between corruption, or even how meritocratic the selection process is for the diplomatic corps in a given country, and how those diplomats drive and park? Professor Fisman, co-author of the diplomatic parking study, said that the diplomats who flout parking laws aren’t necessarily reflective of the average citizen in their countries. “But it is a statement about the types of people who end up serving their governments,” he said, noting that in some countries, diplomatic posts may be given as patronage to powerful businesspeople who, especially in the developing world, may have a strong sense of entitlement. Fisman’s study found clear differences in the way

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 19

Continued from previous page gone,” he said. from page 18 It’s not just the programs he taps from abroad, though, but also the ones produced by local diaspora communities and distribut“Our purpose is to present it, and that’s ed by MHz. Thomas points to “Darshan,” a what we do. We’ve always done that. The show produced locally that focuses on South magic world of TV and TV remotes: If you Asian communities. “That show got to be so don’t like something, you can change the popular, that at final count [the host] had channel.The biggest uproars we’ve ever had done interviews with four governors of have been over why something disappeared, Virginia. It really had become something not why it appeared. I think when people where people had found the power of that really look at it and get it, they understand local production and that community and that, ‘Hey, it’s all here and I can take parts of how to reach them.That’s what public broadit and learn from it and there are parts I don’t casting is supposed to do,” he said. Looking ahead, Thomas says that in care for and I won’t listen to it and I’ll January MHz created a for-profit channel discount it.’ That’s the idea about inforthat will be distributed by commation,” he told us. mercial cable broadcasters. The Thomas also says that by idea, he says, is to use the foroffering a diverse array of proprofit channel to sustain the rest gramming and foreign channels, of the operation, which is a nonMHz has helped broaden viewNOTE: Although is made free of andmistakes receives in nospelling money and ers’ minds.every “I thinkeffort what we have to assure your ad isprofit content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. from the government or through done is give you the nuances, the the Corporation for Public differences of opinion.You get to Broadcasting. see how want The first two faxedcountries changes willtobepresent made themat no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes But no matter what comes forapproved. MHz, selves,at anda that’s where a lot, ” he will be billed rate of $75you perlearn faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered Thomas says that the response from his audisaid. That diversity of views and programs is ences is what drives him to continue doing Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. what has made MHz’s channels must-see TV. what he started over two decades ago. “You Thomas counts the State Department as a take what we do and aggregate all this conIf the ad is correct sign and fax (301) needs changes over the world and distribute it user of his content. “Weto: knew early949-0065 on that tent from all the State Department was pulling our chan- across the U.S. and the responses are pretty nel in…. I think that’s a pretty good indica- straight-forward, pretty consistent: ‘Thank The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 you, I wouldn’t have known that if you tion,” he said. “Every one of our channels has great view- hadn’t told us.’ It’s pretty cool.” Approved __________________________________________________________ ership, people who are very passionate. It Changes ___________________________________________________________ might not be measured in terms of off-the- Martin Austermuhle (@maustermuhle) chart Nielsen numbers; it’s measured in is a contributing writer for The ___________________________________________________________________ terms of passion, people who give a dog- Washington Diplomat.

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diplomats from different countries acted, even though they all enjoyed the same level of diplomatic immunity. “[P]arking violations should be high across the board for all diplomats when enforcement is lifted. Instead we find that diplomats from low corruption countries (e.g., Norway) behave remarkably well even in situations where they can get away with violations, while those from high corruption countries (e.g., Nigeria) commit many violations, suggesting that they bring the social norms or corruption culture of their home country with them to New York City,” the report said. John Campbell, former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007, doesn’t agree with that conclusion. The former American diplomat, now a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, served as the State Department’s director of the Office of U.N. Political Affairs in the 1990s, and even at that time, he and his colleagues debated what to do about diplomatic parking scofflaws. Campbell said that although the list of scofflaws has remained pretty consistent throughout the years, he doesn’t necessarily buy the link between corruption and unpaid parking tickets. “What is corruption in one country isn’t necessarily corruption in another,” he said. “I would suggest that the problem is very much the product of local circumstances and the culture of the country involved.” James Greene, a retired American diplomat who served in Latin America, Europe and Africa, admits that he had a sense of entitlement as a diplomat but became more “humbled” once he realized that a chief of mission could revoke his immunity if he behaved like a “knucklehead.” He thinks there may be a cultural explanation for why the same countries tend to show up on the violator lists. “My guess is that diplomats from developing countries are greater abusers of diplomatic immunity because they can get away with so much questionable behavior in their own country, so they act somewhat similarly when away from home,” he said. Ambassador Campbell said the key question isn’t why the problem exists, but what can be done about it. He said that parking is also a huge issue at the U.N. Mission in Geneva. “The Swiss were quite clever when I was in Geneva,” he recalled. “They would bundle parking and road offenses and send them to the chiefs of mission once a month. That was quite clever because the last thing I would have wanted was a parking infraction coming to the attention of my ambassador, so I would immediately pay it.” At least one envoy tried to find a way around the Swiss system, but he got caught. According to a New York Times story from 1997 — which asserted that cities such as Paris and Rome were more lax in dealing with diplomatic parking scofflaws than New York — the United Nations chief of protocol in Geneva, Mehmet Ulkumen of Turkey, was “suspended for six weeks in 1994 after ‘problems relating to traffic violations.’ He had instructed Geneva officials to send him all traffic tickets issued to United Nations personnel each month, and he simply removed all those that had his name on them.” And according to a 2012 story in the Swiss press, of the 2,588 traffic violation notices issued to foreign diplomats in Bern in 2011, only 215, or 8 percent, were paid, so apparently the Swiss still don’t have a foolproof way of ensuring parking compliance from diplomats. Neither does Australia, but in the wake of some high-publicity cases of reckless and drunk driving and escalating unpaid parking tickets accrued by diplomats in Canberra, the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recently told the Canberra Times that it didn’t believe that diplomatic immunity applied to most parking or speeding incidents. “The department finds it difficult to accept the view that traffic infringements, including

parking and speeding infringements, can be regarded as occurring in the course of the performance of official duties, even in the most exceptional circumstances,” the department said. Campbell said that if any of the American diplomats serving under him when he was a chief of mission weren’t paying tickets accumulated during their off-duty hours, as opposed to when they were on official business and thus entitled to diplomatic immunity, he would immediately send them home. But he maintains that the issue isn’t a matter of simply asking the chiefs of mission from each of the offending countries to crack down on their subordinates. “A chief of mission in a developing country may or may not have the same kind of authority that a chief of mission in a Western country has,” he said.“Some embassies can be essentially parking lots for very powerful politicians who could be more powerful than the chief of mission.” Some countries, like Germany, used to track diplomatic parking violations but no longer do. According to a 2007 article in Der Spiegel, diplomats in the former West German capital of Bonn accrued some 16,000 tickets in 1995 alone — and the city even published a “name and shame” list of the worst offenders — but officials in Berlin don’t count diplomatic tickets these days. If one buys into the notion that elites are more likely to flout parking laws than ordinary people, it’s worth noting that the relative affluence of diplomats can very greatly from one country to another. Diplomats from most Western countries — save for a small minority of well-connected political appointees — generally tend to have salaries that put them in the middle class or upper middle class of their home countries. But in many developing countries, diplomats are part of the 1 percent both in terms of income and prestige. That dynamic may or may not impact their parking habits, but it’s also worth noting that some diplomats from poor countries who are posted to rich ones find their salaries to be completely inadequate to survive in pricey cities like Paris, London or New York. And so, diplomats from those countries might be less likely to be able to pay their parking tickets, even if they wanted to. This argument, however, certainly wouldn’t apply to some of the countries that routinely show up on scofflaw lists, like Saudi Arabia, whose diplomats have the most unpaid parking fines this year in Canberra, Australia, while their colleagues were the second-worst offenders in London in 2013. Fisman said he wanted to research whether the relative prestige level of diplomats was a factor in their parking habits, but he couldn’t find a way to quantify the issue. Campbell noted that diplomats from Western countries might be more inclined to use public transportation when posted to cities like New York, as opposed to diplomats from countries where public transportation is unsafe or nonexistent. Whatever the reason why some diplomats feel like they can park wherever they want, the bottom line is that it doesn’t sit well with Americans. “We are a high legal compliance society — people obey the rules here,” said Fisman.“And so of course it bothers us when people don’t obey the rules. It runs contrary to our norms.”

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

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November 2014

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

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November 2014

EDUCATION

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These are some of the decisions these young men made: Arizona State University, North Carolina State University, James Madison University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Illinois, Indiana State University, The Citadel, Washington and Lee University, University of Tampa, University of Virginia, Penn State University, University of Notre Dame, HampdenSydney College, Texas A & M, University of Colorado, Boston University Typical kids, outstanding results. See if Fork Union Military Academy is the right college preparatory boarding school for your son in grades 6–12. Attend one of our Washington, DC area admissions fairs. Go to http://www.ForkUnionOpenHouse.com WR ¿QG WKH QH[W RQH LQ WKH northern Virginia/Washington DC area.

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Dan Beaudry, author of “Power Ties: The International Student’s Guide to Finding a Job in the United States,” offers campus and online presentations for international The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes students on how to obtain a U.S. work visa.

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Whatever the case, demand conHowever, like many divas, the H-1B tinues to outstrip H-1B supply — If the isadfickle, is correct and fax to: 949-0065 needs changes difficultsign and demanding. The(301) despite the fact that attempting to number of applicants far exceeds the win the specialized visa can be “a The Washington Diplomat (301)nightmare, 933-3552 number of slots available each year; ” said immigration attorney employers must embark on a costly, David Nachman, managing attorney byzantine process to bring foreign- at the Nachman, Phulwani, Zimovcak Approved __________________________________________________________ ers on board; and the coveted visa Law Group, which has offices in New Changes has ___________________________________________________________ found itself at the heart of the York, New Jersey and India. ___________________________________________________________________ contentious debate over immigraBut Nachman and other experts tion reform, as tech companies such say persistence, hard work and savvy as Facebook argue that they need can pay off. He offers international more H-1B visas to fill their ranks, job seekers, especially students, three while critics say the program out- strategies for breaking into the sources American jobs to cheaper American job market: Broadening

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November 2014

their visa options, looking into the hidden job market and taking advantage of university career services. Prospective employees need all the help they can get because they’re up against formidable obstacles. The first is simple math. The number of H-1B visas is currently capped by Congress at 85,000 a year; this year, the U.S. government says more than 170,000 people applied. Second, individuals can’t apply — only employers can. Third, it’s expensive for these employers:At minimum, our experts say, the process runs several thousand dollars, typically $5,000 to $7,000 in government and attorney fees. It can run higher because some attorneys charge up to $12,000 for an H-1B application, Nachman noted. Employers take on not only the cost, but also the risk. An employer must typically gain permission from the Department of Labor and then submit an application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) with no guarantee that in the end a hiring will occur. Last year, there were three H-1B submissions for each slot in the largest H-1B visa category, called “specialty occupations,” Nachman said, referring to jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher because their duties are specialized and complex; 65,000 specialty slots open each year with another 20,000 H-1B visas set aside for graduates of U.S. universities who earn a master’s degree or higher. This year, the H-IB application window opened April 1 for employment that started in October. It slammed shut seven days later. In 2008, the H1-B window closed

“

after only one day, thanks to a flood of applicants. “USCIS can’t take all of them so they run a lottery,” Nachman explained. The agency first looks at the so-called “master’s group.” Applications get bar codes and if USCIS receives, say, 30,000 master’s group applications, they’ll randomly assign visas to 20,000. The 10,000 left over go into the “specialty group” that has 65,000 visa slots. “They’ll run another lottery on that pool. Those not chosen get rejection slips,” Nachman said. As a result of these barriers and requirements, many U.S. employers screen out anyone seeking an H-1B job, but there are some key employers who don’t fall under the H-1B Rubicon. Public institutions of higher education are, by law, exempt from the H-1B numbers cap and so are their affiliated nonprofits. Nonprofit research organizations and government research groups are also exempt. That means their employer visa applications can be submitted any time of the year — in unlimited numbers. Defining these employers for visa purposes has been the subject of much litigation, so make sure yours falls in the “in” group. Examples of the exemption, Nachman said, can include a nonprofit university and its hospital, a community college where students earn credit toward a bachelor’s degree or a Department of Agriculture laboratory. There are other ways for foreign nationals to enter the U.S. workforce outside of

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needs changes

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the H-1B program. There’s also the EB-1 or “first preference” visa for star professors, researchers and others at the top of their professions. Publications, presentations, patents, prizes and articles about you might qualify you for an EB-1 visa, Nachman said. A broader standout category is the O-1 visa for foreign nationals possessing “extraordinary ability’“ in science, art, education, business or athletics or “extraordinary achievement’“ in the motion picture or television industry. It’s — DaN BEauDRy not as out of reach as it sounds:“There’s a libauthor of “Power Ties: The eral legal standard for what makes someone International Student’s Guide ‘extraordinary,’” Nachman said. to Finding a Job in the United States In fact, foreign fashion models (without a college degree, which is otherwise required) can hold H-1 visas, while pastors, imams and rabbis can hold the R visa for religious workNOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and ers, for example. content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. Members of Nachman’s firm visit campuses across the country and offer free presentaThe first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes tions on visa matters to international students and employers, including H-1B and green card will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. advice. They arrive bearing the message that one size does not fit all and “the H-1B is not Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. your only option.” Dan Beaudry, author of “Power Ties: The If the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes International Student’s Guide to Finding a Job Open House Dates: in the United States,” also offers campus and Wed., Nov. 19 online employment presentations. A former The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 9:30 am Monster.com recruiting manager and creator of employment seminars for international stuWed., Jan. 14 Approved __________________________________________________________ dents, he understands the challenges these 9:30 am Changes ___________________________________________________________ students face. “Getting a job in the United States is not ___________________________________________________________________ easy when many companies say, ‘We don’t sponsor,’” he said in a webinar on Sept. 22 through the New York Academy of Sciences. The Washington Diplomat

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But there is a systematic way to go about courting these companies that can avoid the mistakes many others make, he said, though it requires “going outside your comfort zone.” The most common job-hunting errors, Beaudry emphasized, include placing too much value in the anecdotal evidence of your friends, relying on your resume alone and applying for jobs online. “There are good business reasons” why companies screen out H-1B applicants, Beaudry said. It’s not only the costs and the cap, but many firms are “already swimming in job applications and have no incentive to get more.” You will only overcome this resistance “if you show your value is greater than your cost,” he said. Do that and companies will hire you, especially if a person of influence inside the company recommends you or managers can’t find the worker they need and you could fill that gap. “So don’t lead with your costs,” Beaudry advised. Such things are difficult to do online, he added. “You need a good resume, but don’t take it out or show it until somebody asks for it. Don’t be a piece of paper. Get out there and speak to people.” Beaudry calls this the hidden job market, the interpersonal underground where, he said, 60 to 70 percent of all hiring occurs through word of mouth, personal contacts and informal recommendations. So the international student’s best path to a job is networking, meeting people and building professional relationships for the long term, he recommends. This includes mastering the art of “information interviewing,” where you gather information about your field or a particular organization in person. You spend 20 minutes face to

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November 2014

face with an individual asking for that information and getting advice about advancement — and never mentioning, unless asked, that you need a job. An information interview is about them, not you, Beaudry emphasized. You reveal your value by asking good questions. You begin building a professional relationship. And at the end you ask,“Who else can I talk to?”Then you write notes after you leave and systematize your contacts in some fashion so you can keep track of people in the network you are building. Yes, “reaching out to people you don’t know, especially if your English isn’t great and you’re from a different culture,” is tough, Beaudry conceded. But he argues that it will help you develop skills that will boost your career and last a lifetime, and it could eventually land you a job. “How can it hurt?” Beaudry asked. “Suppose you spend three months trying and wind up with 30 contacts and no job.” You’ve still developed a David Nachman network of potential friends, customers, employers and a new knowledge base, plus you’ve gathered insider advice. “That gives you a huge advantage,” he said. One of the best resources for building these job-seeking skills may be your school’s career services department. At the George Washington University in D.C., Anne Scammon is

managing director of the GW Center for Career Services. She brought Beaudry to the university to give his webinar presentation in person on Sept. 26. “I learned a lot” from it, said Qing Yang, a computer science major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science working on his master’s degree. The Chinese native, who holds a bachelor’s degree from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said he would like to work in the United States after he graduates. As a result of Beaudry’s talk, Yang told us he plans “to do more social networking, join more social activities at the university, try the informational interview and not look for jobs online. I also learned the importance of English-language skills.” Like career services at many universities, GW offers a wealth of programs, including skill-building presentations, interactive workshops, personal career coaching and resume critique services, Scammon told us. Scammon particularly liked Beaudry’s presentation because it emphasized that “a job search begins long before you’re ready to take a job.” And, validating Beaudry’s hidden job market advice, she said she brought him to GW because “I heard he was good.”

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EDUCATION

November 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page25

[ STEM ]

Bright Idea Ideaventions Uses Inventive Ways to Get Children Hooked on STEM

Ideaventions offers science, technology, engineering and math (STeM) educational activities to children ages 3 to 13.

by Sarah alaoui

ow early is it to immerse your children in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies? High schools in the area increasingly offer specialized STEM courses (see “Schools Try to STEM the Rot in U.S. Education” in last month’s issue), but what about younger students? According to two parents whose own interest in STEM flourished at the acclaimed Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., the answer is, it’s “never too early.” Ryan and Juliana Heitz are the founders of Ideaventions, an educational organization that uses inventive, hands-on activities such as 3D printing and fingerprint analysis to make STEM digestible

Page 26

The Washington Diplomat

for young ones between the ages of 3 and 13. “We both went to Thomas Jefferson and were interested in STEM. Fast forward 10 years and we were married with very curious kids,” said Ryan Heitz. “We were looking for STEM education opportunities for them both in and outside of school.” As their passion for STEM subjects led them to careers in information technology management and environmental science, the couple wanted to recreate the positive science experiences that they had in high school for their own children. The blueprint for Ideaventions began to take shape when they were looking for innovative science classes for their eldest son. They were searching for programs that focused on creative ways of thinking about science that went beyond traditional baking-soda-and-vinegar experiments, but nothing seemed to quite fit. “What was really disappointing was the lack of depth in the

EDUCATION

November 2014

“We both went to Thomas Jefferson and were interested in STEM. Fast forward 10 years and we were married with very curious kids…. We were looking for STEM education opportunities for them both in and outside of school.” — Ryan Heitz, co-founder of Ideaventions

Ideaventions has a 2,000-square-foot science center in Oakton, Va., that is home to four lab spaces, including a robotics and computer science lab that includes a simulated Martian terrain.

classes. There were more demonstrations and less hands-on activities,” said Ryan Heitz.“The quality of teachers was also a concern. Students weren’t being taught by individuals who were passionate about science or who had a science background. That makes a big difference.” Children’s natural curiosity and enthusiasm to learn how things work and fit together made the perfect formula for the birth of Ideaventions in 2010. In addition to running science camps and after-school activities with local schools, the organization has 2,000 square feet of space to its name, which is divided into four different lab areas in Oakton, Va.: Newton, Archimedes, Maxwell and Einstein. The space also includes a Mini Museum with hands-on exhibit areas for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and early childhood. The Newton lab transforms into a mini NASA lab with activities such as develop-

ing water-filtration systems and testing parachutes systems. For children who are more into chemistry or biology, the Archimedes lab is the place with activities such as designing spa products or conducting water-quality analysis. Maxwell is a robotics and computer science lab for the aspiring engineer or robot enthusiast that includes a simulated Martian terrain, while the final lab, Einstein, is targeted toward little scientists who learn about insects, study dinosaurs, cast fossils and investigate buoyancy through boat building. Other lab classes explore a range of kid-friendly, STEM-focused topics, among them: cell structures and genetics; the chemistry of the magical spells of wizards and witches-in-training; earthquakes and volcanoes; code-breaking and cryptography; engineering in video games; an oceanography pirate treasure hunt; an electronics secret agents club; kitchen and food chemistry, and a wide array of other inventive programs. “Instead of a kitchen where kids play with kitchen toys, we have a science play area where they can do experiments,” said Heitz. One small thing they keep in mind is how they name classes. For example, according to Heitz, the way a class is named will often turn kids on or off to signing up. The Ideaventions family is also careful about how they design their programs in order to attract a wide variety of students to pursue STEM opportunities. According to a White House fact sheet, women only represented 24 percent of the STEM workforce in 2009. Ideaventions recognizes this discrepancy and makes every effort to

Continued on next page

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EDUCATION

November 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page27

Continued from previous page dent scientist, Catherine Swanwick, who earned her Ph.D. in make classes equally appealing to both genders. neuroscience from the University of Virginia. “We’re very much an R&D organization in that we try to “The moment that changed my life was when I first visited introduce new technology and methods into our curricua neuroscience lab and got to visualize the neurons in a rat’s lum,” said Heitz. brain. I want children everywhere to be able to experience Ideaventions has a large number of girls interested in its this kind of thrill for science,” says Swanwick. biology and computer science, for instance. “We try to purThe BRAiN program aims to teach middle school students posefully design activities to encourage girls. We have very about cellular and molecular biology as well as practical, small class sizes, for example, so that kind of atmosphere hands-on lab techniques that are used in biomedical research. encourages girls to participate more often,” said Heitz. Part of the students’ task was to use mice brains to examine Encouraging girls and women to pursue STEM-related the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the organ’s develfields has also been a priority of the Obama administration. opment. In 2013, President Obama said, “One of the things that I Long-term impact is exactly what the Heitz team is really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls focused on currently. Both Juliana and Ryan left their careers interested in math, science and engineering. We’ve got half to dedicate their full energy to the Ideaventions project. In the population that is way underrepresented in those fields the fall of next year, the couple will embark on an even bigger and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent … adventure and open up a private middle school for gifted that is not being encouraged.” students with a passion for science and math.The first interGetting kids — boys or girls — excited about science at a est meeting and information session for the Ideaventions young age is one thing. But how do you keep children interAcademy for Mathematics and Science will take place Nov. 6 ested and focused on STEM over the long haul? That’s a quesat the Ideaventions headquarters in Oakton, where the tion Ideaventions has also grappled with, especially when Heitzes will communicate their vision for the school to parstudents reach middle school. ents of prospective students. “In middle school, kids are at a critical age,” said Heitz. They are also looking for partnerships with corporate “They might have enjoyed science class in elementary industry leaders who can potentially sponsor labs at the school, but once they reach middle school, we find there tends to be a lot of interest lost in STEM.” Ideaventions was founded in 2010 by two graduates of school in order to provide research-quality facilities to students. He attributes this to busier schedules and more activities Thomas Jefferson School of Science and Technology in In the meantime, for parents looking to fill their children’s vying for kids’ time in middle school. However, Heitz thinks Alexandria, Va., who were looking for better STEM edutime during the upcoming winter break with something prothe interest in STEM can be maintained by providing more cational activities for their children. ductive, Ideaventions is hosting its upcoming Winter Break opportunities for kids to remain engaged in the long term. “This was one of our main impetuses; we wanted to have a deeper impact,” said Heitz. Camp in late December.This year’s camp, whose theme is “winter mysteries and myths,” “This one-hour-a-week format is not the right one to reach middle school students. We will explore winter science by investigating stories both old and new, including the popular Disney movie “Frozen.” Kids will examine the movement of glaciers, study crystal are currently changing the trajectory of kids but we wanted to have a deeper impact.” Recently, Ideaventions collaborated with Ursinus College in Pennsylvania to empower formation and growth, and build electrical circuits to create winter LED light displays. especially gifted middle school students to produce their own research. The initiative, Biomedical Research Academy in Neuroscience (BRAiN), is taught by Ideaventions resi- Sarah Alaoui (@musingsdiffused) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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EDUCATION

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

MEDICAL ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ November 2014

Photo: Rob Wilson / bigStock

The Other “E” Outbreak: Surprising Rise of Enterovirus D68 by Gina Shaw

“There are hundreds of enteroviruses out there. Every year, hile you’re anxiously watching the news for the lat-

one or another will crop up here or there to create small out-

est headlines about the Ebola outbreak, another

breaks in a community,” explained infectious disease expert Dr.

sneaky infection has almost certainly hit much closer

William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

to home. It’s called enterovirus D68, and it’s flummoxed family

“It’s pretty unusual, although not unheard of, for them to spread

physicians and public health officials alike with its rapid, perva-

throughout a whole state or region. It is very unusual for an

sive spread throughout the United States.

enterovirus to kind of take over the whole country.” Continued on next page

MEDICAL November 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 29

Continued from previous page But that’s just what EV-D68 has done. As of mid-October, outbreaks had been reported in at least 46 states and the District of Columbia. It’s not a new virus — the first time it was identified was in the 1960s — but it has only cropped up sporadically since then, and in very small numbers. “We don’t know why it chose 2014 to be the virus du jour, but it has certainly risen up, starting in the Midwest around Kansas and has since spread throughout most of the rest of the country,” Schaffner said. “Most enteroviruses like the digestive tract and cause symptoms there, but some, like D68, prefer the respiratory tract,” Schaffner said. And the back-to-school season is an opportune time for this virus to spread among children, who aren’t exactly known for stellar hygiene, as they return to close classroom quarters. (The flu vaccine also affords no protection against EV-D68.) The vast majority of children who get infected with EV-D68 — as with virtually any other virus — have the mildest of symptoms: a slight fever, a bit of coughing and sneezing, and sometimes a light rash on the abdomen, arms or legs. Some children will experience more serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing and asthma attacks.“That’s a small percentage of the overall number of children infected, but since there are so many infections out there, the number of children with respiratory issues is substantial enough that pediatricians and pediatric emergency departments have definitely noticed it,” Schaffner said. Some of these children will have to be hospitalized, maybe even with intensive care and ventilation support for a day or two.“But the vast majority of these will all recover completely and in short order will be back to school unscathed.” But not all of them. Infectious disease experts are studying whether or not EV-D68 is the cause of a string of cases of paralysis in children, as well as at least five deaths.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that a 4-year-old boy from New Jersey, as well as four other children infected with the virus have died; another child with the virus, a 21-month-old girl, died in Michigan on Oct. 10, but the CDC had not officially updated its count as of press time. And although the children did have EV-D68, it’s not yet been confirmed that the virus caused their deaths. In several states, including Colorado and Michigan, small clusters of children have also been stricken with a polio-like illness (polio is an enterovirus, but

Photo: Tomsickova / fotolia

Enterovirus D68, which causes respiratory problems in children, has been reported in 46 U.S. states; most children fully recover, although a few will experience more serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing and asthma attacks.

EV-D68 is not polio) that causes weakness and even paralysis in the arms and legs. “A lot of other viruses, like polio and West Nile, have been ruled out as the cause of their symptoms,” said Schaffner.“In the past, polio has caused paralysis…. The other enteroviruses do it occasionally. Whether D68 is the cause in these cases has yet to be confirmed, but it’s the leading suspect because other viruses have been ruled out and no other putative causes have been suggested. I’m will-

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MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

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“That’s a small percentage of the overall number of children infected, but since there are so many infections out there, the number of children with respiratory issues is substantial enough that pediatricians and pediatric emergency departments have definitely noticed it.” — DR. WILLIaM SCHaFFNER professor and chairman of the Preventive Medicine Department at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

from page 30

Enterovirus NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and ing to bet that within six to eight months, we’ll have more conclusive evidence that content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof.

some of this paralytic illness is attributable to D68.” The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes There may be more “diagnoses” of EV-D68 will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. in November and December, simply because the CDC has recently developed a more rapid test for the virus and will probably be able to Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. identify previously uncategorized cases. But that doesn’t mean new cases are spikIf the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes ing, and Schaffner cautions the public not to panic. “This isn’t going to be like polio,” he The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 said. “Along about this time of the year, enteroviruses begin to wane. They might come back for one more season, but others Approved __________________________________________________________ haven’t embedded themselves as a regular Changes ___________________________________________________________ phenomenon. If this is like all the other viral ___________________________________________________________________ illnesses we know, once you get infected with it you develop a very durable immunity. GraPhIc: cDc

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D68 has infected so many children this year that many will be immune next year and it will be unlikely to get a foothold. I expect it will not be seen very much for another 20 years.” But the rise of this enterovirus, along with other significant viral outbreaks or threats including Ebola, chikungunya and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS) sends an important message, Schaffner says.“These are four major viruses, three of them from overseas, that the average person in the United States had never heard of, and here they all were. This shows that the state of infectious diseases in the world is not static.We need an intact, robust public health infrastructure at the local, state and federal level to help us deal with these threats, because there will always be a new twist in infectious disease.”

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MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

[ weight loss ]

Weighty Debate The Science and Safety of Fad Diets: What Works?

PhoTo: DaVIZro PhoToGraPhy / FoTolIa

by Carolyn Cosmos

ill going Paleolithic and eating like your ancestors make you leaner and less likely to get heart disease and cancer? Will the Grain Brain Cookbook keep your brain “vibrant and sharp” with gluten-free recipes? And can that classic Cabbage Soup Diet help you safely drop 10 pounds in only one week? It can be a struggle to make sense of the competing claims about fad diets, some cooked up by people with impressive credentials, and it’s even harder to decide which ones are best. Some fads become established but no less controversial: More than 40 years after the Atkins Diet rose to fame by demonizing carbs, it has won over legions of converts but its benefits remain as contentious as ever. Just as nutritionists research and write tomes on how to be healthy, one weight-loss expert has been studying their work — and some of her conclusions may be surprising. For Dr. Holly Wyatt, diets have been a focus of her extensive research as an associate professor at the University of Colorado in Denver and her work with overweight and obese patients as

the medical director of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. Wyatt spoke to us during a break at a weight-loss boot camp she was conducting at Anschutz, a science-based weeklong program of diet and exercise. “After trying to figure out the best weight-loss diet, what comes out is that there are multiple diets that work, 15 or 20, and that it’s very individual,” said Wyatt, co-author of the book “State of Slim.”“That is, if you compare major diets for average weight loss, there’s not very much difference from one to the other.” The Endocrine Society that Wyatt belongs to recommends three weight-loss diets that have been proven to work: the Mediterranean Diet, a moderately low-carbohydrate diet and a vegetarian or vegan diet. “These three diets have data showing they are effective. They’ve been studied and they’re good choices,” she said.“But I wouldn’t want to say that they’re the only effective diets.” In the current scientific literature, the key to successful

MEDICAL November 2014

Continued on next page

The Washington Diplomat Page 33

Continued from previous page

“After trying to figure out the best weight-loss diet, what comes out is that there are multiple diets that work, 15 or 20, and that it’s very individual…. That is, if you compare major diets for average weight loss, there’s not very much difference from one to the other.”

weight loss, many experts say, is not a particular diet but adherence — “whether or not an individual can find a diet that fits their lifestyle and food preferences” and stick to it, Wyatt said. “The better someone can adhere to a diet program, the better the outcomes.” Because there is no diagnostic test for figuring out which food choices will work best for each person,Wyatt and her colleagues “have to look at that behavioral piece” in making recommendations to their patients. “If someone tells me that lean protein is their favorite food, a vegan diet isn’t going to be an option,” she — DR. HoLLy WyaTT, medical director of the anschutz health and Wellness center said. Wyatt has discovered some other surprising tips for healthy living. First, weight loss and weight maintenance are two separate things. “We’ve an athlete or have an active lifestyle, you can choose a diet with more carbohylearned that losing weight and keeping it off are very different and, for each drates and calories, a lot more sugar. But if you have a desk job or a sedentary person, the best diet for weight loss is not the same as the best diet for keeping lifestyle, you’re better off with a low-carb, low-sugar diet,”Wyatt said. In addition to the three recommended diets already mentioned, the other diet it off,”Wyatt said. If you want to lose weight and not regain it, you must use different strategies plans that have been scientifically shown to be effective include Weight during each phase. In both phases, but especially during the keep-it-off phase, Watchers and Jenny Craig. Meal-replacement diets where you have a shake or a Wyatt recommends eating foods that you like and that are compatible with your frozen entrée for one of your meals “have some good data, as do the low-fat, plant-based diets,” Wyatt said, noting that the latter also show good outcomes lifestyle. “Physiology and metabolism may play a role” in how you respond to a diet, when it comes to heart disease. “These are not exhaustive lists,” she added, but simply examples of the varied “but the way you grew up and cultural factors are just as important,” she said. weight-loss paths. “The second biggest item we’ve learned is that exercise is the most important As for popular or trendy diets, you “can argue about each one, but for a dieter thing for keeping it off once you’ve lost weight. I tell my patients that in their initial weight-loss phase, diet is doing the driving and exercise is in the back seat. to lose weight they must eat less,” and most such diets do reduce calories conAfter that, physical exercise is in the front seat with diet in back,” Wyatt sumed and will work for some people, Wyatt said.That’s true for the Paleolithic diet, she pointed out, where “its general principles are fairly solid.” explained. But she cautioned that one difficulty with the Paleo, gluten-free and other “We’ve also learned that while diet and exercise are important, just as important is your mind set — that is, why you want to lose weight, why you want this diets of the day is that “people can’t adhere to them” — and that’s the key for any long-term plan. transformation. It’s a holistic approach.” And finally, the most often neglected piece of the puzzle is tailoring your diet plan.“Matching the diet you choose to your activity level is important. If you are Carolyn Cosmos is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Page 34

MEDICAL The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

culture & ■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

arts

DIPLOMATIC SPOUSES

Romanian Progress Mihaela Buga, wife of Romanian Ambassador Iulian Buga, is still in awe at the progress her homeland has made in the 25 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain. PAGE 37

entertainment

■ NOVEMBER 2014

HISTORY

ADVENTURES in ‘ARABIA’

FESTIVALS

FotoWeek 2014 Local and international photographers take over area museums and galleries for the annual FotoWeekDC festival, a popular annual snapshot of talent from around the world. PAGE 38

ART

Degas’s Dancer At the National Gallery of Art, the inspiration behind Edgar Degas’s revolutionary sculpture “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” basks in an enduring spotlight that eluded her during her lifetime. PAGE 39

Wendell Phillips stands with yemeni men, including Sheik Al-Barhi, center, a leader of the Bal harith tribe. Photo: AmerIcAn FoundAtIon For the Study oF mAn

the legend of the Queen of Sheba, along with visions of the famed incense routes of antiquity, brought a young American paleontologist named Wendell Phillips to South Arabia — modern-day yemen — on an adventure that is the focus of the Sackler exhibition “unearthing Arabia.” PAGE 36

DINING

FILM REVIEWS

Nage has built a reputation for good food at reasonable prices in a comfy setting. PAGE 40

The little-known French-Algerian businessman who helped end South African apartheid is revealed in “Plot for Peace.” PAGE 42

[ history ]

Adventures in Archeology Sackler Goes in Search of a Legend in ‘Unearthing Arabia’ by Vanessa H. Larson “Lion with rider” is a gift to the Sackler Gallery from the American Foundation for the Study of Man, founded by paleontologist Wendell Phillips. At far left, Phillips discovers an ancient identification “dog tag” of a Qataban resident. Below, Phillips’s team begins excavating at a peristyle hall in Marib in presentday Yemen.

he story of the Queen of Sheba, who is known in both the Biblical and Koranic traditions for visiting King Solomon in Jerusalem bearing spices, jewels and other riches from the distant lands where she reigned, is shrouded in legend. In 1949, that legend, along with visions of the famed “incense routes” of antiquity, brought an adventurous American paleontologist named Wendell Phillips to South Arabia — modern-day Yemen — on a reconnaissance trip. Phillips found a land where the “husks of ancient civilizations were buried in deep sand,” as he later wrote. “The land looked forbidding, but it was rich with the spoils of time, and I wanted to unearth some of those riches.” Over the next couple of years, Phillips, then only in his late 20s, organized some of the first large-scale archaeological expeditions to the remote region. He and his team excavated several ancient sites — including Marib, the purported capital of the Sabaean kingdom ruled by Bilqis, as the Queen of Sheba is known in Arabic — making a number of important discoveries before being forced to leave due to local political tensions. This intriguing legacy is the focus of “Unearthing Arabia:The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips,” on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. As reflected in the name, the exhibit is as much about the process — both the thrill and the hardships — of carrying out archaeology as it is about the archaeologists’ actual findings, though the treasures they uncovered are certainly impressive. It’s best to start by viewing the 15-minute video instalPhoto: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery lation that, on three screens, brings the story alive Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula in ancient times. through in-depth color photos and film footage docuThe team’s foray into Marib, however, was short-lived, and they brought menting the expeditions, accompanied by excerpts from back nothing more than photos. While Timna was located in the Aden Phillips’s best-selling 1955 book, “Qataban and Sheba,” Protectorate — a territory occupied by the British until chronicling his exploits. From the huge, black Dodge Photo: American Foundation for the Study of Man 1963 — and the archaeologists were welcome there, trucks riding over the dunes to the enormous desert spiMarib was just across the border in North Yemen. ders, from the tribal sheiks to the local Yemeni boys carting off Unearthing Arabia: Although its ruler, Imam Ahmed, initially granted perheaps of sand in hand-woven baskets, there’s a certain aura of The Archaeological Adventures mission for the expedition, tensions arose with the Indiana Jones throughout the entire affair. (Several display cases local population, who were suspicious of what was show field notebooks, a 1950s 16mm Bolex camera and other paraof Wendell Phillip happening, and the archaeologists were forced to beat phernalia that give visitors a feel for what it was like to be on the through June 7 a hasty retreat fearing for their lives. dig.) Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Phillips died in his 50s, having never returned to Most of the artifacts on display come from the excavations at Yemen. But decades later, the Yemeni government Timna, capital of the pre-Islamic kingdom of Qataban (circa 7th 1050 Independence Ave., SW invited his younger sister, Merilyn Phillips Hodgson — century B.C. to 1st century A.D.), whose great wealth came from its For more information, please call (202) 633-1000 who today lives in northern Virginia and continues to location on the caravan route by which frankincense and myrrh or visit www.asia.si.edu. run the American Foundation for the Study of Man were traded with the outside world after being harvested in (AFSM), founded by her brother — to carry on his what is now Yemen and Oman. work in the country. The exquisite alabaster head of a woman, nicknamed By the time Hodgson’s team arrived in Marib in “Miriam,” is one of the highlights; it was unearthed in 1998, desert sands had swept over the site, Timna’s necropolis, along with other alabaster carvings, reburying all but the eight standing pillars of the funeral offerings including a brilliant gold necklace, and enormous Awam Temple (locally known as the stelae with inscriptions in South Arabian, an early Semitic Mahram Bilqis), which was dedicated to the worlanguage.While Miriam’s identity is unknown, the piece has ship of the moon god Almaqah. Over nine seabeen dated to approximately the 1st century A.D. and likely sons, the archaeologists extensively excavated the commemorated a local noblewoman. Though there’s no temple, conclusively demonstrating that it was plausible connection with Bilqis, who according to legend one of the most significant pre-Islamic religious lived nearly a millennium earlier, the regal bearing and myscenters in Yemen. terious half-smile of the sculpture — which have earned it Yet Bilqis herself has remained elusive, says comparisons with the “Mona Lisa” — seem almost to conZaydoon Zaid, vice president of AFSM and an jure up the famous queen herself. archaeologist who has worked on the dig at the The piece de resistance is a pair of bronze sculptures of Awam Temple.“We have hundreds of inscriptions lions, surmounted by Cupid-like naked boys, that were Photo: American Foundation for the Study of Man mentioning kings, but we don’t have any inscripfound in the ruins of a wealthy Qataban house. What’s surprising is how unmistakably Greco-Roman they appear; indeed, scholars believe they tions linking [Bilqis] to the site.Archaeologically speaking, we can’t prove or disprove the were related to the Greek god of fertility and wine, Dionysus. Analysis of the bronze existence of the Queen of Sheba.” indicates that they were created locally in Timna — evidence of the degree to which cultural currents and influences, just like incense and spices, traveled between the Vanessa H. Larson is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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November 2014

[ diplomatic spouses ]

Relishing the Dream Romanian Wife, Country Come Long Way Since Iron Curtain’s Fall by Gail Scott

“I

t’s like a dream,” said Mihaela Buga, wife of Romanian Ambassador Iulian Buga. “Twenty-five years ago we weren’t even allowed to travel to East Germany,” and now,“we are in the most powerful city in the world…. We are very happy, very lucky and very privileged to be here.” The Bugas, who have one daughter, first served in the United States in the 1990s, when he was a counselor in the Romanian Embassy in D.C. and then consul general in Los Angeles. After that, Iulian Buga become director of the North America Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs back home, followed by stints as ambassador to the Netherlands and permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; state secretary for political and strategic affairs; and Romania’s ambassador to Ireland. Ambassador Buga and his wife returned to Washington late last year. He joined the diplomatic corps in 1991, two years after Romania’s violent revolution and the execution of longtime dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who had ruled the country since 1965. Living under the brutal communist leader, “I did feel like it was an Iron Curtain. I was so eager to see the world,” Mihaela Buga recalled.“For intellectuals, it was worse — the lack of a book, a movie, the theater, everything. You felt suffocated. You could get over the lack of food, buy it on the black market, but our intellectual aspirations were more and more suppressed.” “We had cosmopolitan friends who had left earlier to settle in Germany and Israel and we visited them, but the first few years after Mihaela Buga, at the revolution it was hard to travel for financial reasons. My husband right, poses with won a scholarship for a master’s degree at Westminster University in her husband, London and I visited him twice.” Romanian Buga said she and her husband, who worked as a scientific Ambassador researcher in Bucharest in the 1980s, felt popular discontent with Iulian Buga, and the communist regime and “we knew that something must give but their daughter at we didn’t expect anything that fast. It was such a total change — 180 her Oxford Law degrees,” she said of the 1989 revolution that ushered in democracy. graduation in “I can’t even contemplate what our lives would be like if the com2011, below. munist regime had been allowed to carry on.” But it wasn’t, and while Romania remains poorer than some of its Eastern European neighbors — and was hit hard by the 2008 global recession — it is now considered Photo: Gail Scott an upper middle-income country by the World Bank, with a per-capiAfter the revolution, we very much ta GDP of $18,000. It also joined wanted to travel, especially to the West — the European Union in 2007 and NATO in 2004, cementing its turn the forbidden fruit of the past. I’ll never away from its former Soviet overlords. forget that first trip to America in 1994. “It is a huge relief to become NATO members. NATO and EU It was like being in a trance. memberships are the best things that could happen to Romania and — Mihaela Buga, wife of Romanian Ambassador Iulian Buga they give us steps toward democracy,” Buga said. “It sounds like a remains a folk hero for some Romanians for staving off an Ottoman invasion. Vlad is cliché, but it’s true.” In a recent poll, “a huge majority of Romanians – 80 percent – have a very high the subject of a new Hollywood film “Dracula Untold,” one of many adaptations of regard for the United States,“ she added.“Americans should go visit Romania.They will Stoker’s legendary vampire tale. Today, another famous person has brought renewed attention to Transylvania. be warmly welcomed. Romanians will be so enthusiastic and hospitable. Romania is Charles, Prince of Wales, owns several properties in Transylvania, the most famous of just as beautiful as the U.S, even if it is much smaller.” Romania, in fact, has capitalized on its varied natural landscape and its place in which is a traditional Saxon house located in Viscri village. “Prince Charles sponsored a documentary about Transylvania and is known for folklore mythology to develop a thriving tourist industry. That includes the historical region of Transylvania in the central part of the country, home to the Carpathian moun- being very friendly and is very much loved by the villagers,” Buga told us.“Transylvania is stunningly beautiful [with] mountains and canyons and gorges that are incredible. tain range and the inspiration behind Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula.” Buga said one of her favorite places to visit in Romania is the Apuseni Mountains in It’s a caver’s paradise and there’s an awesome glacier cave, Scarisoara, which I love.” During breaks back home in Romania, Buga always found jobs in advertising for the Transylvania.“There is a national park in the area and many natural caves and striking Romanian National TV and public relations for the national telecommunications comlimestone formations and pristine, traditional villages,” she said. She also thinks it is “amusing” how Americans associate Dracula with Transylvania. pany.“We were mostly self-taught; it was the beginning of advertising in Romania,” she The character Dracula was supposedly inspired by Vlad the Impaler, who ruled in the mid-1400s and whose reputation for cruelty has endured for centuries, although he See Spouses, page 41

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[ festivals ]

Picture This Annual Citywide FotoWeekDC Exposes Local, Global Talent by Lisa Troshinsky

hotography enthusiasts are certain to have plenty to look at during the eye-opening annual FotoWeekDC festival, a visual feast of exhibitions and programs scheduled for Nov. 8 to 16 throughout Washington, D.C. Now in its seventh year, this eclectic celebration is set to dominate D.C. embassies, museums, and commercial and nonprofit galleries with a wide range of camera work. Fine art, photojournalism, documentary pieces and even Instagram shots — from both local and international artists — will be on display. The event, which started in 2008 with 20,000 participants, has since doubled in size, E. Brady Robinson, chair of the FotoWeek Board of Directors, told The Diplomat. Last year, the festival topped out with 40,000 participants, she said. This year FotoWeekDC has over 50 cultural partners, which means over 50 exhibitions and events. Partners include Spain arts & culture, the cultural arm of the embassy that’s housed in the former ambassador’s residence, as well as the JBG Companies. Throughout the week, the festival will feature a photo contest and juried exhibition, gallery openings, lectures, educational workshops, portfolio reviews and book signings, many of which are free of charge. Other partners include the Goethe-Institut, National Geographic Your Shot, the Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, Holocaust Museum, Mexican Cultural Institute, House of Sweden, the embassies of France and Canada, Glen Echo Park and the National Museum of Women in the Photo: © roB hornStrA / courteSy FlAtlAnd GAllery, APerture/the SochI ProJect, 2013 Arts. As part of FotoWeekDC, photos from “the Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and tourism in the caucasus,” One of this year’s main attractions is “The Sochi Project:An Atlas of War above and left, will be on display at the Spanish ambassador’s former residence, which will also feature and Tourism in the Caucasus.”This exhibit, which chronicles the story of the collective photo exhibit “new Spanish Photography_Visions Beyond Borders,” seen below. Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, was co-founded by Dutch artists Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen and organized by Aperture New York. FotoWeekDC Photographer Hornstra and writer-filmmaker Van Bruggen nov. 8 to 16 pride themselves on practicing “slow-form journalism,” in which throughout Washington, D.C. research and time allow for a deeper investigation — in this For information, please visit case, an investigation that started in 2007 to document Sochi’s www.fotodc.org/fotoweekdc/. seismic growth as it prepared for the Games, as well as its contrasting character as a glamorous resort town located next door harsh light on Vladimir Putin’s to a major conflict zone. Viewers can expect to get a wider glimpse of Sochi than what aired on claim that, ‘The Olympic family is television during the Olympic Games.As one could expect, the stories told by going to feel at home in Sochi.’” “The Sochi Project” will be on the exhibit are bleak, given that the region has experienced violence since the 19th century, with increased tensions since the break-up of the Soviet view at the Spanish ambassador’s Union. In fact, instead of showcasing a former residence on 16th Street, Photo: IGnAcIo eVAnGelIStA transformed city, much of the media cover- NW, also known as “FotoWeek age in the lead-up to the Games was nega- Central,” the festival’s headquarters and location for its grand Nov. 7 kick-off tive, focusing instead on Russian violence party. Another highlight of the festival are photo displays from this year’s contest against homosexuals, Islamic terrorist threats and even the euthanization of stray winners.They include works from Eli Meir Kaplan, who won first place in the Spirit of Funk photo contest; Oliver Szeto, who won first place in the Cherry dogs. “Never before have the Olympic Games Blossom photo contest; and Seth Rubin, who won first place in the Spirit of been held in a region that contrasts more DC photo contest. In addition to juried exhibitions, the event also gives the average-Joe-amastrongly with the glamour of the event than Sochi,” van Bruggen writes. “Just 20 teur photographer a chance to show off his craft. “FotoBazaar,” the festival’s kilometers away is the conflict zone second annual, massive, open-call, first-come, first-served photography show, Abkhazia. To the east the Caucasus will again be held in the NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue) neighborPhoto: © roB hornStrA / courteSy FlAtlAnd GAllery, APerture/the SochI ProJect, 2013 Mountains stretch into obscure and impov- hood of D.C. Having FotoWeek in D.C. is relevant for many reasons, explained Robinson. erished republics such as North Ossetia and Chechnya. On the coast, old Soviet-era sanatoria stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the most expensive “FotoWeekDC is about the cultural exchange and its relevance to critical topics,” she said.“It has the power to educate, and its proximity to policymakers hotels and clubs of the Russian Riviera.” “Hornstra’s photographic approach combines the best of documentary can’t be ignored.” Before the weather gets too cold and the holidays are upon us, come out storytelling with contemporary portraiture, found photographs and other visual elements collected over the course of their travels,” states “The Sochi for this collage of photographic talent and tastes. There will be something, it Project” website.“Van Bruggen contributes a series of engaging stories about seems, for everyone. the people, the land and its turbulent history. Together, the images and texts unpack the complex, multivalent story of this contested region, shining a Lisa Troshinsky is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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November 2014

[ art ]

Everlasting Fame Degas’s ‘Little Dancer’ Basks in D.C. Limelight Photo: nAtIonAl GAllery oF Art

by Gary Tischler

[

he never achieved real stardom in her lifetime, yet for 125 years, she has been admired and analyzed by critics, curators and high personages from the world of art. Edgar Degas’s sculpture“Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” took that world by storm when it debuted in 1881, and the young ballerina continues to fascinate onlookers at the National Gallery of Art, where she’s encased in glass and surrounded by a new audience, many craning their necks for a closer look at her. The wax-clay sculpture, complete with real hair, dominates the room. These days, she’s gained an even bigger life as the star of the exhibition “Degas’s Little Dancer,” shown in conjunction with an upcoming Kennedy Center musical called “Little Dancer” that’s a part-fact, part-fiction account of the gritty backstage world of 19th-century Parisian ballet. Ballet, of course, is not typically associated with grit. But at the time, the Paris Opera Ballet attracted girls from poor backgrounds — girls like Marie Geneviève van Goethem, who grew up in dire circumstances in the slums of Paris and went on to become one of the petit rats de l’opéra, or “opera rats,” seen as morally corruptible prey for older, wealthy patrons. She and her older sisters were both for a time in the Paris Opera Ballet. Her sister, in fact, achieved stardom, while Marie simply disappeared, her fate really unknown. Except that Edgar Degas noticed her. Degas and dance went together. He loved the social, cultural and artistic world, and he saw the stage — both the back and the front — in romantic yet realistic terms. In fact, more than half of his works depict dancers. He painted lush, swooning paintings of dancers on stage and off, teeming with shadows and bright colors. And he chose Marie van Goethem to be the subject of his wax-clay sculpture, from which came scores of other sculptures, though hers was the only sculpture he chose to exhibit at the 1881 impressionist exhibition in Paris, where onlookers were shocked by his portrayal of a working-class girl. The artist also created a sensation with his innovative, experimental approach to sculpture. As the National Gallery explains, “Degas did not carve sculpture but used an additive process.‘Little Dancer’ was modeled in wax over a metal armature, bulked with organic materials including wood, rope and even old paintbrushes in the arms. It was then covered with clay and layers of pigmented wax. Degas further elevated the sculpture’s realism by affixing a wig of human hair to the head and outfitting his ballerina in a cotton-and-silk tutu, a real bodice Degas’s Little Dancer and linen slippers. ” The National Gallery, which has a veritable through Jan. 11 treasure trove of Degas’ sculptures and drawNational Gallery of Art ings, is home to the largest collection of his surbetween 3rd and 9th Streets viving original wax sculptures in the world. “Little Dancer” is one of its most popular at constitution Avenue, nW works. For more information, please (202) 737-4215 Indeed, “Little Dancer” is not only astonishor visit www.nga.gov. ingly beautiful, but she is entirely arresting, shining with charisma, right foot forward, hands behind her back and chin out, matter-of-factly demanding to be looked at. She seems real, or as real as a young ballerina — always an ephemeral presence on stage — can look. The exhibition has surrounded her, literally, with 13 works, including a smaller sculpture, “Study in Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,” as well as prints, classic paintings and even a schematic diagram of the internals of the sculpture itself, designating the varying materials that make up the “Little Dancer.”

November 2014

]

Photo: truSteeS oF the corcorAn collectIon (WIllIAm A. clArk collectIon)

edgar Degas’s seminal sculpture, “little dancer Aged Fourteen,” at right, anchors an exhibition at the national Gallery of Art that features some of his other balletthemed works, including “the dance lesson,” top, and “the dance class (ecole de danse),” above.

Also included is “The Dance Class,” one of Degas’s iconic paintings that holds the whole world of ballet within its frame, filled with shimmering tutus, dancers in graceful motion, ballet slippers on a bench and rays of light drenching the studio. The paintings and drawings strip these Photo: nAtIonAl GAllery oF Art elements down to the basics and bring the world of dance to dizzying life — a girl seated on the floor in a shower of tutu, another tying a black ribbon around her waist, others with arms lifted and toes pointed. The works round Marie van Goethem out. She is the princess here, standing, almost defiantly, in her world, just about ready to spring to life. She will come to life on the stages of the Kennedy Center later this month. In a project that took years to come to fruition, “Little Dancer” re-imagines and transforms Marie’s life, with New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck starring as the young dancer. In the story, Marie is torn by her family’s poverty, her debt to the artist and the lure of wealthy men as she struggles to keep her place in the corps de ballet. With a Tony Award-winning cast — including Boyd Gaines as Degas — the show is sure to be hit of the fall theater season. That was not the case when “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” was first seen in 1881 in Paris, where it was not well received. Some critics denounced the sculpture — which veered from traditional representations of female subjects as goddesses and heroines — and called it ugly. But Degas paid Marie van Goethem the highest compliment: He showed her as she was, vivid and real. He also let her bask in the kind of fame that eluded her during her lifetime, but endures to this day. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 39

[ dining ]

Quiet Revelation Comfy Nage Makes Itself At Home in Washington by Rachel G. Hunt

ince opening in 2006, Nage in the Marriott Courtyard Embassy Row has been quietly building up a local following among diners looking for good food at reasonable prices in a comfortable, casual bistro setting. Nage, a younger sister of the popular Rehoboth Beach eatery of the same name, has seen a number of changes since opening. Last year, owner Josh Grapski transformed the smallish space by replacing the rather staid and slightly oppressive red-and-beige color scheme with a lighter, more contemporary look. Reclaimed barn-wood walls sport patches of living moss, while light earth colors are illuminated by Edison light bulbs that give the space a cheery glow and a more relaxed feel. Staff has changed along the way as well. In January, Dwayne Motley joined the team as executive chef, replacing Miles Vaden. A Washington native, Motley spent the last decade honing his skills in New York working under several renowned chefs. His experience cuts across international cuisines and shows up in his choice of ingredients and the ease with which he imports techniques to create his essentially American dishes. Motley’s menu wisely retains some of Nage’s signature dishes, such as the wild mushroom baklava, a savory-sweet combination that marries chopped mushrooms and pistachios with tart berry compote and pungent chevre cheese. Another favorite holdover from the previous era is the lobster mac-n-cheese made of orecchiette pasta in a mornay sauce of three cheeses, English peas and aromatic tarragon. Seafood features prominently on the menu, not surprising given its original beach location. Both the Nage Rehoboth and D.C. restaurants offer 1600 rhode Island Ave, nW Nage’s staple dish: seafood a la Nage, (202) 448-8005 a massive combination of shrimp, clams, mussels and fish in a tomato www.nagedc.com confit with fennel, fingerling potaBreakfast: mon. - Fri., 7 - 10:30 a.m. toes and a saffron broth. For smaller seafood options, there’s a salmon Lunch: mon. - Fri., 11:30 - 2:30 p.m. ceviche with green apple, jalapeno Brunch: Sat., Sun., 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. emulsion and cilantro, as well as a Dinner: mon. - thu., 5 - 10 p.m.; Fri., dish of eclectic grilled gulf prawns Sat., 5 - 10:30 p.m.; and Sun., 5 - 9 p.m. with Thai chilies, cilantro and dirty basmati rice. Recent seafood main plates have included perfectly Appetizers and small plates: $6 - $12 cooked striped bass with mushentrées: $15 - $29 rooms and a lovely maple tamarind Sides: $6 - $7 jus, as well as plump Chesapeake Desserts: $7 - $8 crab cakes paired interestingly with sweet potato, mustard greens and Dress: casual jalapeno remoulade. The only disapReservations: Accepted pointment has been the rainbow trout, which has been a bit dry. While Nage’s menu is fairly small, it is quite varied for most appetites. For meat eaters, a hearty grilled Berkshire pork chop is thick and moist, served classically with Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, sweet potato and a bacon jus. The pan-seared rib-eye steak is equally straightforward with cipollini onion, potato, spinach and a bourbon peppercorn butter that adds an elegant dimension to the dish. Braised short ribs almost melt off the bones while their plate mate, Yukon gold potato puree, redefines the humble mashed potato. In an interesting approach, chef Motley brines chicken in sweet tea before

[ ] want to

go?

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PhotoS: rey loPeZ / WWW.underABuShel.com

Chef Dwayne Motley, below, has helped nage stand out with simple but stunning dishes such as the Angus burger, above, prepared with smoked onion, mushroom duxelle, Vermont cheddar and tomato jam.

cooking, a technique that leaves it very tender, with a faintly exotic note. As with the other meat entrées, the chicken’s side pairings — savoy cabbage, chanterelle mushrooms and caramelized onion — are also skillfully chosen. For diners that want simpler creations, Nage offers two burgers: A black bean veggie burger with walnuts, avocado and smoked onion cheddar is a tasty vegetarian option, while the Angus burger, prepared with smoked onion, mushroom duxelle,Vermont cheddar and tomato jam, is huge, superb and rivals any burger in the city. Motley works just as well with vegetable dishes, making Nage a haven for meatfree dining. Among several interesting salads, the lightly cooked cauliflower salad is tossed in buttermilk vinaigrette with quinoa and wild arugula. The kale salad, with its unusual combination of black and green kale, dried currants and roasted pine nuts in a citrus vinaigrette and pecorino Romano, has a distinctly Mediterranean appeal. But perhaps one of the best salads on the menu is the hearty Brussels sprout salad.With cabbage, bacon, walnuts, pecorino cheese and a warm bourbon vinaigrette, it is the perfect start for a fall meal.The apple salad, with fennel, radish, red mustard greens, goat cheese and cider vinaigrette, is lighter than the Brussels sprout, but also has a cozy fall feel to it. Motley has created several other dishes that capitalize on the vegetables that are just coming in season. He tops a pumpkin flatbread with arugula, smoked mozzarella and pumpkin oil for a simple starter, while the stuffed Jack B. little pumpkin entrée offers fall root vegetables, quinoa and cranberries in a spiced cider gastrique. Even the desserts reflect the shift to hearty fall ingredients and rich spices.The crème brulee is made with heirloom pumpkin, cinnamon and all spice. Fresh fall-harvested pecans end up in a pie punched up with maple and bourbon. The season is also in full swing thanks to Nage’s signature campfire sundae. With smoked vanilla ice cream, marshmallow ice cream, chocolate sauce, crushed graham crackers and toasted marshmallows, it’s just too sweet and sticky to eat on a hot summer day, but with the cooler air and memories of s’more-filled campfires, the dessert comes into its own. Hotel restaurants face a distinct challenge that other restaurants do not. Not only do they typically have to serve three meals a day, but they also have to cater November 2014

The Washington Diplomat

(301) 933-3552

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DINING GUIDE

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

november 2014

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to a broad audience that has not necessarily sought them out for their cuisine but rather for their convenience.To be profitable, they need to figure out how to attract both hotel guests and a local clientele. Nage’s approach is good example of how this can be done effectively. The D.C. bistro is a bit less expensive than its Rehoboth Beach counterpart and offers dishes that are simpler with a broader appeal. Nage’s more casual feel makes it an easy place to drop in for a quick bite whether you are a hotel guest or just in the neighborhood. It’s also a nice place for a drink, with a bar menu that includes some enticing creations — such as the Pears Morgan, made of vodka, house-made pear puree, orange juice and triple sec, as well as the Don Corleone mixed with Francis Coppola Sofia rose wine, elderflower liqueur, orange bitters, rose water and sparkling wine. The staff is friendly, helpful and really seems to enjoy being there, which makes the whole place feel comfortable and inviting. Perhaps the biggest challenge that restaurants in hotels face is that they are in hotels, which for years weren’t exactly synonymous with interesting, innovative food.That, of course, has changed with the addition of destination restaurants helmed by celebrity chefs inside some of the city’s top hotels, from the Four Seasons to the St. Regis. Nage may not be a huge name, but it has quietly created a home for itself among D.C. diners and visitors alike. Rachel G. Hunt is the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

November 2014

from page 37

Spouses said.“It would only be for two years or so until we left again so that was hard. For me, a real career was not possible.” But Buga said she has enjoyed experiencing the United States and seized on the opportunity to travel the country after her husband was first posted here in the 1990s. “After the revolution, we very much wanted to travel, especially to the West — the forbidden fruit of the past. I’ll never forget that first trip to America in 1994. It was like being in a trance. We flew on Tarom Airlines from Bucharest to New York.We were met and taken to a midtown hotel where we stayed for a few days. It was the beginning of December and … there were colored lights on the Empire State Building, and the rest of Manhattan seemed to be on fire. It was surreal. We didn’t need sleep or food. We just walked around Manhattan as much as we could,” Buga remembered. Washington, D.C., didn’t make as dramatic an impression on her. “However, it has grown on me and if I had to choose, I’d rather live here now. Washington is cleaner, greener and more livable even though it is the center of power. New York now makes me a bit claustrophobic. Here you can live at the edge of the forest and still be close to the center of the city.” She takes advantage of the city’s sights and natural attractions from their 30th Street resi-

Call (301) 933-3552 to Advertise your restaurant in the new diplomat dining Guide.

dence, tucked off Massachusetts Avenue.“I like to take long walks. I walk down to the Natural History or the Air and Space Museum and then I walk home. I think the Holocaust Museum is haunting. It has a lesson for everybody; what human nature can come to. There are many Holocaust museums all over the world but this one is down to earth. It is really striking. “It’s fascinating to live here in the center of the world and see the places and meet the people you know from TV,” she added. “My only very friendly criticism about the U.S. is the food and what many Americans choose to eat,” said Buga, a vegetarian. “I have no meat in the house. I cannot praise enough [first lady] Michelle Obama’s campaign for healthy eating in the schools. I am no ‘foodie’; I like plain food.” During their first posting, the couple lived on New Hampshire Avenue in Dupont Circle. “Our daughter Irina went to Hyde-Addison Elementary in Georgetown.” Today, Irina is an Oxford graduate and a lawyer who is finishing her Ph.D. in Amsterdam, where she will soon become an associate in an international arbitration firm. “When she comes to town she runs straight to Adams Morgan for clubbing and entertainment,” said her mom. Irina often travels with her boyfriend Mike Bloemenotijn, who joined her and her parents over the summer for a cross-country driving trip. “First we went to New Orleans. I loved it and so did everyone else. It’s a fascinating atmosphere; the city never sleeps,” Buga said.

“Then we drove to New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. It was a huge adventure. We went to the national parks. They gave you a sense of freedom without prior reservations in this fast, awesome country. This summer we’re thinking of the Florida Keys and Puerto Rico or a cruise to Alaska. A trip around Romania will follow.” As much as she loves to travel and live abroad, Buga said she hates not being able to have pets and having to constantly pack up and say goodbye.“It gets harder and harder. I’m not getting any younger. I leave with my heart broken. On a lighter note, it’s also hard to pack and unpack. You see how much you shopped during your stay,” she said. “Saying goodbye is still hard even in this global world where you never really have to say goodbye for good,” she added. “When you leave your country, saying goodbye to parents is always difficult. They are not getting any younger. There is no match to being there in person, no matter how often you call. You feel guilty; it’s a burden.” Gail Scott is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Plan your entire Weekend. www.washdiplomat.com

The Washington Diplomat Page 41

[ film reviews ]

Mysterious Monsieur ‘Plot for Peace’ Exposes Behind-the-Scenes Diplomacy to End Apartheid by Ky N. Nguyen

“P

is no surprise given his background as an editor of narrative films, includlot for Peace,” an enlighting action flicks. ening documentary from Emmy-winning South African director‘e-team’ producer Mandy Jacobson on front lines and Spanish director-editor Carlos Agulló, reveals the Acclaimed documentary filmmaksecret behind-the-scenes diplomacy ers Katy Chevigny (Emmy winner as conducted by little-known Frenchexecutive producer of “P.O.V.: Good Algerian businessman Jean-Yves Fortune”) and Ross Kauffman (Oscar Ollivier, code-named “Monsieur winner as director of “Born Into Jacques,” that helped end apartheid Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids”) in South Africa. By extension, it also team up to direct and produce contributed to the release of anti“E-Team,” a stirring portrait of intrepapartheid activist Nelson Mandela, id Emergency Team members sent PhoTo: TrINITY fIlMs the world’s most famous political by Human Rights Watch into war prisoner who became the first presi- little-known french-Algerian businessman Jean-Yves ollivier is the focus of a new documentary, zones to investigate human rights dent of the Republic of South “Plot for Peace,” that examines his critical role in helping to end apartheid in south Africa. violations and war crimes. Like a Africa. mystery thriller, the film maintains a French professor of African history and journalist Stephen Smith wrote the script of feeling of tension often lacking in nonfiction cinema. It also gains an elevated sense of “Plot for Peace,” building the tale based on historical events.An unassuming, overweight immediacy because the audience knows that what they are seeing on screen is real. figure wearing ill-fitting clothes, Ollivier would seem an unlikely candidate to change “E-Team” focuses on four team members, starting with Russian Anna Neistat and the course of history. In the 1980s, Ollivier gained riches trading commodities in South Norwegian Ole Solvang, a wife and husband living in Paris with her 12-year-old son, who Africa, defying international sanctions against the apartheid regime. are also partners professionally.The couple, along with the filmmakers, sneak across the Having grown up in Algeria in its final stage as a French colony, Ollivier decided to Turkish border into Syria in 2013.When the Syrian government drop cluster bombs on hasten what he felt to be apartheid’s eventual demise. Although some interviewees a Syrian village in 2013, they interview surviquestion the businessman’s motives and accuse him of being a spy, Ollivier dismisses vors hiding in an apartment building while e-team such allegations and says he simply wanted to avoid the ouster of the white commu- the microphone records ongoing earth-shak(English, French, German, Russian nity from South Africa when its system of segregation inevitably collapsed (his own ing explosions. and Arabic with subtitles; 89 min.) family was kicked out of Algeria when it gained independence). Meanwhile, during the last days of Col. Netflix (streaming) While he became French Prime Muammar Gaddafi’s autocratic Minister Jacques Chirac’s adviser for West End Cinema rule of Libya in 2011, weapons African affairs, Ollivier largely acted specialist Peter Bouckaert — ★★★★✩ independently, leveraging his extendubbed “Big Bang” by Rolling sive political and business connecStone magazine — and E-Team tions to broker backroom deals founder Fred Abrahams collaborate in Libya. The pair document the atrocibetween countries that had been ties committed by Gaddafi’s troops, including eyewitness accounts of the hostile to one another. A pivotal sucliving and the remains of the dead. cess was a complex 1987 hostage Toward the end of the film, Abrahams is shown testifying against exchange involving stakeholders Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president charged with committing from South Africa, Angola, war crimes in the 1990s, at the International Criminal Tribunal for the forMozambique, Cuba, France and the mer Yugoslavia in the early 2000s. Abrahams’s testimony at the trial demonNetherlands — a deal that led to the strates the end game following the dangerous work undertaken by the 1988 withdrawal of South African E-Team investigators. PhoTo: NeTflIx and Cuban troops from Angola.The Chevigny and Kauffman eschew depending on staged studio interviews domino effect of easing the Cold — a traditional but often mundane documentary technique — to tell their “e-team” goes to the front lines of some of the world’s most War proxy battles enveloping South story. Instead, the filmmakers risk their own livelihoods in bringing their dangerous hotspots to document the work of human rights Africa and its bordering Marxist crew and cameras to the front lines. Co-directors of photography Kauffman Watch. neighbors set the stage for peace, and Rachel Beth Anderson capture vivid live-action footage of events hapenabling the end of apartheid. pening in real time, winning the Documentary Cinematography Award at the 2014 Ollivier’s story is confirmed by a series of interviews Sundance Film Festival, where “E-Team” made its world premiere. David Teague’s precise Plot for Peace with leading political figures on various sides of the strug- editing of those images complement Chevigny and Kauffman’s striking cinéma vérité (French, English, Portuguese, Spanish gle, who generally provide charismatic accounts. The film- direction. and Afrikaans with subtitles; 84 min.) makers’ amazing access included former South African The theatrical release of “E-Team” at the West End Cinema coincides with the film’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Pik Botha (who introduced the simultaneous opening on Netflix online. Angelika Mosaic filmmakers to Ollivier), former President of South Africa Angelika Pop-Up Thabo Mbeki, African National Congress leader and South ★★★★✩ African Parliamentarian Winnie Mandela (Mandela’s ex- claustrophobic ‘Blue room’ Lauded French actor Mathieu Amalric (“The Grand Budapest Hotel,”“The Diving Bell wife), former Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of and the Butterfly,” “Quantum of Solace”) makes his mark behind the camera with the intellectual thriller “The Blue Room,” which recently made its American premiere at the State for African Affairs Chester Crocker. Remarkable archival footage complements the interviews to display what was actu- New York Film Festival. At the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, ally happening at the time. Despite a plethora of talking heads and historical film clips, Amalric’s fourth directorial feature was noted for its brevity, only a third or half of the “Plot for Peace” moves with the fast pacing of a Hollywood thriller.Agulló’s brisk editing

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see film revieWs, page 45

Page 42

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

[ film interview ]

Flying High Iñárritu and Cast Discuss High-Wire Act Behind ‘Birdman’ by Ky N. Nguyen

t the 2014 New York Film Festival, audiences enthusiastically embraced the closing-night film,“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” presented in person by Mexican writer-director-producer Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The delightful Englishlanguage black comedy is a light change of pace from the bleak tone of Iñárritu’s previous features:“Amores Perros,”“Biutiful,”“Babel” and “21 Grams.”The latter starred British-Australian actress Naomi Watts, who is reunited with the filmmaker for a supporting role in “Birdman.” At a New York Film Festival press conference, Iñárritu, Watts and other cast members discussed their new film, which shot to the top of the arthouse box office in its recent limited screen debut. “Birdman” stars American leading man Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson, an aging, washed-up movie star best known for playing the superhero Birdman — a self-referential nod to Keaton’s real-life Batman franchise. Riggan tries to regain relevance and respectability by writing, directing, producing and starring in a new Broadway producto tion adapted from Raymond Carver’s short story, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” In a case of life “Birdman or imitating art, Keaton’s tour-de-force per(The Unexpected Virtue of formance as Riggan has received wideIgnorance)” is now playing spread critical acclaim, creating a ton of at the AFI Silver Theatre, buzz for an Oscar nomination, which Angelika Mosaic, would be Keaton’s first. Landmark’s Bethesda Row Keaton is supported by a talented and Landmark’s E Street ensemble cast including Watts, British Cinema. actress Andrea Riseborough, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis and Emma

learn

Repertory Notes

“

The idea came from this struggling battle that we all have with our ego, and in this case, a personal battle that I have. — Alejandro G. Iñárritu

”

director of ‘Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’

Stone. The protagonist played by Keaton is obviously an alter ego for Iñárritu. (Norton claims to have played his own character based on Iñárritu as well, minus the Mexican accent.) Iñárritu said the project did originate from his own experiences: “The idea came from this struggling battle that we all have with our ego, and in this case, a personal battle that I have. I just turned 50 years last year, and suddenly … you make a revision of the priorities that you have been given to your life.And some things are missing, some things are great and some things are not so great,” the director explained. “I thought that it was incredibly interesting what I have been learning to be aware of how the ego can work,” he added. “In my case, in the creative process, my ego has been always a huge inquisitor, a tyrant, a kind of dictator. It’s very rude and sometimes can be very misleading because sometimes when I’m doing something, I said, “Oh, this is great.This is fantastic.You’re a genius,’ and 20 minutes later, I feel like a dead jellyfish, and I said,‘You are a stupid asshole. “It’s a constant bipolar relation of my process,” said

Photo: fox searchlight

Mexican writer-director-producer Alejandro G. Iñárritu directs actress Naomi Watts in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).”

Iñárritu, who achieved early critical success in his own career with films like “Babel” in 2006. “I thought that would be a cool thing to portray in a film.” The backstage antics portrayed throughout the film are also pretty cool — a frenetic series of shenanigans shot in fluid camera takes. Watts, who stars as Lesley, one of the characters in Riggan’s play, said the experience of making “Birdman” echoed the energy of the live stage:“A lot in the way this film was shot — with the speed … the effects, the prop things, the cameras, the lighting, the removing of tables and putting them back — all of those things created this high level of intensity and pressure that felt sort of emblematic of how it feels on the stage,”Watts said. “I think the process of making this film was so thoroughly enjoyable and so disciplined that … the actual making of it was as good as the result,” she added. “Of course, there’s nothing greater than doing a film that translates to audiences and makes people think and feel good and walk away with great revelations in their own life of some kind.When the process and the experience and the fun of that matches, it’s a good feeling.” Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

by Washington Diplomat film reviewer Ky N. Nguyen

Please see International Film Clips on next page for detailed listings.

National Gallery of Art Commemorating the Velvet Revolution’s 25th anniversary, the series “The Play’s the Thing: Václav Havel, Art and Politics” (Nov. 7-16) looks back at locations and individuals in the life of the noted playwright, political activist and first president of the Czech Republic. The films screen at the American University’s Malsi Doyle and Michael Forman Theater in the McKinley Building, presented with appreciation to the Embassy of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel Library and the National Film Archive Prague. “International Festival of Films on Art” offers two different programs (Sat., Nov. 14, 12:30 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 15, 2 p.m.) of award-winning selections from the Montreal Festival’s 33rd year.

The “Silent Cinema Showcase” (through Nov. 23) goes international on Sat., Nov. 1 with: Alfred Hitchcock’s British “The Lodger: A Story Of The London Fog” with live musical accompaniment by Not So Silent Cinema (3 p.m.); Danish auteur Carl Theodor Dreyer’s “Vampyr” accompanied by Gary Lucas (5 p.m.); German expressionist F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” accompanied by Not So Silent Cinema (7:30 p.m.); and George Melford’s legendary Spanishlanguage version of “Dracula” accompanied by Gary Lucas (9:30 p.m.). The retrospective “Tim Burton: Melancholy, Mirth And Magic, Part I” (Oct. 31-Nov. 6) reviews the work of the American director known for his eccentric Gothic fantasies, including “Corpse Bride” (Sat., Nov. 1, 11:30 a.m.; Tue., Nov. 4, 5 p.m.; Thu., Nov. 6, 5 p.m.), a British-American stop-motion animation film co-directed by Mike Johnson.

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

The “Robert Wise Centennial” retrospective (through Nov. 30) commemorates the 100th anniversary of the late American director’s birth, including the British psychological horror movie “The Haunting” (Nov. 16-20).

American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre

The “Norman Lloyd Centennial” retrospective (Nov. 7-23) acknowledges the on-screen career of versatile American actor, writer, director and producer.

Frederick Wiseman’s 39th documentary, “National Gallery,” about London’s National Gallery, opens Fri., Nov. 14, for a weeklong engagement. The American master documentarian will appear in person at two screenings in the opening weekend (Fri., Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 15, 3 p.m.).

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

The “Věra Chytilová Remembered” retrospective (Nov. 2-24) memorializes the late Czech New Wave filmmaker, who passed away this year, opening with her seminal “Daisies” (Sun., Nov. 2, 7 p.m.; Tue., Nov. 4, 7 p.m.).

The event series “The Wall in Our Heads – Arts – Civil Society and Walls: American Perspectives” (through Dec. 15) continues with German filmmaker Nico Raschick discussing his documentary about East German hip-hop,

Goethe-Institut

November 2014

“Here We Come” (Mon., Nov. 3, 6:30 p.m.); co-director Andreas Voigt talking about “Leipzig in the Fall” (Tue., Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m.); and art historian and curator Eckhart Gillen presenting the independent film and video art program “Works by Artists Wolf Vostell and Lutz Dammbeck” (Mon., Nov. 10, 6:30 p.m.). In partnership with the Goethe-Institut Korea and the Korean Cultural Center in D.C., the “Korean Program” (Mon., Nov. 17, 6:30 p.m.) offers films and talks about artists and the arts facilitating relations. Sponsored by the Europen Union Delegation to the U.S., the “Faces of Eastern Europe” program (Mon., Nov. 24, 6:30 p.m.) includes shorts from the 13 newest European Union members who have joined since 2004, curated by the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. Director Stefan Roloff, the child of a German resistance member during World War II, introduces his documentary about the biggest anti-Nazi civil resistance group, “The Red Orchestra” (Wed., Nov. 12, 6:30 p.m.). (202) 289-1200, www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/enindex.htm

Freer Gallery of Art The “2014 China Onscreen Biennial” series continues through Nov. 14. Highlights include the world premiere of Xu Tong’s documentary about Inner Mongolian folk culture, “Cut Out the Eyes” (Fri., Nov. 7, 7 p.m.), and the D.C. premiere of Diao Yinan’s “Black Coal, Thin Ice” (Fri., Nov. 14, 7 p.m.), winner of the Golden Bear at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival. (202) 357-2700, www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp

The Washington Diplomat Page 43

[ film ]

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

Arabic Challat of Tunis Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia/France, 2013, 90 min.)

In this satire-filled mockumentary, a man lurks the streets of Tunis on a moped with a razorblade in hand, slashing the most beautiful derrieres of women strolling along the city’s sidewalks. Is he a religious nut, a member of al-Qaeda? After the revolution, one woman sets out to track him down. Goethe-Institut Sat., Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m., Sun., Nov. 2, 5 p.m.

Ghadi Directed by Amin Dora (Lebanon, 2014, 100 min.)

A music instructor who resides in a traditional Lebanese costal town with his childhood sweetheart convinces the villagers that his newly born son is an angel and only makes noise when one of them commits an indiscretion. AMC Mazza Gallerie Fri., Nov. 7, 8:45 p.m., Sat., Nov. 8, 8:30 p.m.

Giraffada Directed by Rani Massalha (France/Germany/Italy/Palestine, 2013, 85 min.)

Inspired by a true story, a 10-year-old boy living in the West Bank is so enamored of the two giraffes at the Qalqilya Zoo that he can communicate with them, but when one of them is killed in an airstrike, he is determined to bring in a new mate from a safari park in Israel. Goethe-Institut Sat., Nov. 1, 2 p.m. AMC Mazza Gallerie Sat., Nov. 8, 2:30 p.m.

romantic issues. Goethe-Institut Sun., Nov. 2, 7 p.m. AMC Mazza Gallerie Sun., Nov. 9, 4 p.m.

Czech The Apple Game (Hra o jablko) Directed by Vera Chytilová (Czechoslovakia, 1977, 100 min.)

A young doctor at a maternity clinic fancies himself a Don Juan, enjoying numerous trysts, but after one of his current lovers becomes pregnant, the doctor considers settling down into marriage. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 23, 5:15 p.m.

Daisies (Sedmikrásky) Directed by Vera Chytilová (Czechoslovakia, 1966, 76 min.)

In this absurdist, anarchist farce, two young women, both named Marie, decide that the state of society is beneath contempt and stage a series of pranks to signal their refusal to take any of its institutions seriously. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 2, 7 p.m., Tue., Nov. 4, 7 p.m.

Every Young Man (Kazdy mlady muz) Directed by Pavel Jurácek (Czechoslovakia, 1966, 83 min.)

A soldier’s life under socialism is the focus of this absurdist drama in two parts (preceded by “The Uninvited Guest” (1969, 22 min.) about a boorish official who makes himself at home in a young couple’s flat). American University Doyle and Forman Theater Fri., Nov. 7, 7 p.m.

The Proof

Fruit of Paradise (Ovoce stromu rajských jíme)

Directed by Amor Hakkar (Algeria/France, 2013, 93 min.)

Directed by Vera Chytilová (Czechoslovakia/Belgium, 1970, 99 min.)

Ali, a taxi driver in Algeria, finds out he is infertile. When he’s accused by a young woman of being the father of her unborn child and his wife leaves him, Ali can either reveal his infertility or live with his alleged infidelity.

In this hallucinatory deconstruction of the Adam and Eve story, a serpent-like, red-suited serial killer, Robert, comes in between Eva and her husband Josef.

Embassy of France Fri., Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m. AMC Mazza Gallerie Sun., Nov. 9, 2 p.m.

Sotto Voce Directed by Kamal Kamal (Morocco/United Arab Emirates, 2014, 94 min.)

In 1958 French-occupied Algeria, a chorale of young deaf-mutes kill their abusive medical director. To save them from the death penalty reserved for those who kill a Frenchman and to protect this exceptional chorus, a speech-language pathologist flees with the pupils to the dangerous Algerian Moroccan border (Arabic and French). Goethe-Institut Sat., Nov. 1, 8:30 p.m. AMC Mazza Gallerie Sat., Nov. 8, 4:30 p.m.

Villa 69 Directed by Ayten Amin (Egypt, 2013, 120 min.)

A bad-tempered man loves the company of women, and while he battles with his interfering sister, he slowly comes to bond with his sister’s son who helps him with his own

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AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., Mon., Nov. 10, 7 p.m.

Leaving (Odcházení) Directed by Václav Havel (Czech Republic, 2011, 94 min.)

In 2008, Václav Havel returned to the theater with a new play, “Leaving,” in which an exgovernment official tries to reenter his former life. (This film version premiered shortly before his death in December 2011.) American University Doyle and Forman Theater Fri., Nov. 14, 7 p.m.

Panel Story (Panelstory aneb Jak se rodí sídliste) Directed by Vera Chytilová (Czechoslovakia, 1980, 96 min.)

Vera Chytilová explores in intimate detail the chaotic lives of the inhabitants of a generic Communist-bloc high-rise housing estate, the regimented dwelling spaces within the sprawling expanse of gray concrete representing only the barest semblance of order in their dismal day-to-day lives. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Nov. 17, 7 p.m.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT A Report on the Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech) Directed by Jan Nemec (Czechoslovakia, 1966, 68 min.)

A pleasant afternoon outing is cut short when a few pushy intruders force a group of friends to play a round of ridiculous party games (preceded by “The Mist” (1966, 28 min.) about Prague’s celebrated Theatre on the Balustrade as a center for experimentation, mime and theater of the absurd). American University Doyle and Forman Theater Sun., Nov. 9, 4:30 p.m.

The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun (Faunovo velmi pozdní odpoledne) Directed by Vera Chytilová (Czechoslovakia, 1983, 99 min.)

An aging Don Juan realizes that, at this point in his life, he enjoys the pursuit of new sexual conquests much more than sex itself — and perhaps that has been true for a long time. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Nov. 24, 7 p.m.

English Awake: The Life of Yogananda Directed by Paola di Florio and Lisa Leeman (U.S., 2014, 87 min.)

“Awake” is the unconventional biography about the Hindu Swami who brought yoga and meditation to the West in the 1920s. West End Cinema

Citizenfour Directed by Laura Poitras (Germany/U.S., 2014, 114 min.)

In this never-before-seen, riveting first-person account of the NSA spy leaks, Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald meet with whistleblower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, where he gives them documents showing widespread abuses of power by the National Security Administration. Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Point and Shoot Directed by Marshall Curry (U.S., 2014, 83 min.)

An American sets out with his motorbike to find both adventure and his sense of manhood, leading him on an extraordinary journey he could not have imagined, including fighting in the Libyan Revolution. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 28

Rocks in My Pockets Directed by Signe Baumane (U.S./Latvia, 2014, 88 min.)

In the new animated gem “Rocks in My Pockets,” Latvian-born artist and filmmaker Signe Baumane tells five fantastical tales based on the courageous women in her family and their battles with madness. Angelika Pop-Up

Rosewater Directed by Jon Stewart (U.S., 2014, 103 min.)

A journalist is detained in Iran for more than 100 days and brutally interrogated in prison. Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 14

Stephen Hawking and his wife, exploring the excitement of the 1960s for Stephen as he studies at Cambridge University and falls passionately in love with arts student Jane Wilde (English and French). Angelika Mosaic Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 14

Watchers of the Sky

Take a traditional Jewish funeral whose rituals no one can quite recall. Mix in a Yiddishkeit setting in a predominantly Sephardic Jewish community. Add one of the most beautiful cities in the world as your location, and what you get is this charmingly dramedy. Washington DCJCC Wed., Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m.

Directed by Edet Belzberg (U.S./Netherlands/France/Chad/Rwanda, 2014, 120 min.)

Hebrew

After experiencing the barbarity of the Holocaust firsthand, Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin devotes his life to convincing the international community that there must be legal retribution for mass atrocities targeted at minorities.

Multiple directors (Israel, 2013, 90 min.)

Angelika Pop-Up

French Certified Halal (Certifiée Halal) Directed by Mahmoud Zemmouri (Algeria/France, 2014, 90 min.)

In southern Algeria, two processions collide at the tomb of the local mystic and amidst the confusion, two brides are switched (French and Arabic). AMC Mazza Gallerie Fri., Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m., Sun., Nov. 9, 6:30 p.m.

Diplomacy (Diplomatie) Directed by Volker Schlöndorff (France/Germany, 2014, 84 min.)

As the Allies march toward Paris in the summer of 1944, Hitler gives orders that the French capital should not fall into enemy hands, or if it does, then “only as a field of rubble.” However, on Aug. 25, Swedish Consul General Raoul Nordling steals into German headquarters through a secret underground tunnel and there starts a tension-filled game of cat and mouse as Nordling tries to persuade German Gen. Dietrich von Choltitzto abandon his plan. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 21

Flight of the Red Balloon (Le voyage du ballon rouge) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (France/Taiwan, 2007, 115 min.)

Hou Hsiao-hsien abandons his usual Taiwan ese settings for a modern-day look at the City of Light in this lovely, ephemeral, and at times experimental update of the classic 1959 French children’s short “The Red Balloon.” AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 23, 11:45 a.m., Tue., Nov. 25, 9:30 p.m.

Rock the Casbah Directed by Laila Marrakchi (France/Morocco, 2013, 100 min.)

Set in a lavish villa in Tangier, “Rock the Casbah” unfolds over the three days of mourning following the death of a major family patriarch, but the solemnity of the occasion is disrupted by the unexpected return of the rebellious youngest daughter who left Morocco, against her father’s wishes, seeking an acting career in the United States (French and Arabic).

The Theory of Everything

Embassy of France Fri., Nov. 7, 8:45 p.m. AMC Mazza Gallerie Sat., Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m.

Directed by James Marsh (U.K., 2014, 123 min.)

Rue Mandar

This romantic drama centers on the relationship between the famous physicist

November 2014

Directed by Idit Cébula (France, 2013, 95 min.)

Footsteps in Jerusalem Considered by MoMA as one of the most innovative films of 2013, “Footsteps in Jerusalem” is an anthology of ten short films that collectively offer an evocative portrait of the city — its diversity, complexity and rapid transformation. Washington DCJCC Tue., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m.

Indonesian Bitter Honey Directed by Robert Lemelson (U.S., 2014, 81 min.)

Bali is world famous as a tourist paradise but for some Balinese women the reality is more troubling. Approximately 10 percent of Balinese families are polygamous, and men in these unions often take multiple brides without their spouse’s consent. West End Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 7

Italian China Is Near (La Cina e vicina) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy, 1967, 110 min.)

This beautiful black-and-white follow-up to “Fists in the Pocket” is both a biting satire of the bourgeoisie and leftist politics and a clever comedy of manners, as a pair of working-class lovers schemes to marry into the same rich family (preceded by “Let’s Discuss” (1969, 24 min.) in which a group of students invades a clasroon spouting Maoist slogans). National Portrait Gallery Sat., Nov. 22, 2 p.m.

The Conviction (La condanna) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy/France/Switzerland, 1991, 90 min.)

An architect and his student, seemingly trapped in a gallery after hours, are aroused by the art that surrounds them and a complex psychodrama unfolds. National Portrait Gallery Sat., Nov. 22, 5 p.m.

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

Italy’s real-life Eluana Englaro case, where a young woman injured in a car accident lived in a vegetative state for 17 years while her father fought to have the plug pulled, is the backdrop for this thoughtprovoking drama. AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Nov. 24, 7:05 p.m.

Good Morning, Night (Buongiorno, notte) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy, 2003, 106 min.)

The 1978 Aldo Moro kidnapping, where the former prime minister was kidnapped and

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

killed by red Brigade terrorists, receives an imaginatively nightmarish retelling from the master of psycho-political filmmaking, Marco Bellocchio. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 23, 9:45 p.m., Wed., Nov. 26, 7 p.m.

a leap in the dark (salto nel vuoto) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy/France/W. Germany, 1980, 120 min.)

Judge Mauro, raised by his older sister Marta, owes his success in the world to her self-sacrifice. Now approaching middle age, Marta has begun to suffer from depression, so Mauro introduces Marta to an acquaintance of his. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 9, 9:30 p.m., Thu., Nov. 13, 9:45 p.m.

my mother’s smile (l’ora di religione (il sorriso di mia madre)) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy, 2002, 105 min.)

A successful artist, children’s author and devout atheist is outraged to learn that his late mother, with whom he had a stormy relationship, has been nominated by the church for canonization as a saint. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 15, 11:45 a.m., Sun., Nov. 16, 6:45 p.m.

the Nanny (la balia) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy, 1999, 106 min.)

In early 20th-century rome, a professor and his wife welcome the birth of a baby boy, but when mother and baby fail to bond, the father hires a wet nurse whom he discovers in handcuffs at the train station, having been sentenced for deportation as a political subversive. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 6, 11 a.m., Tue., Nov. 18, 7 p.m.

sorelle mai Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy, 2011, 110 min.)

shooting on his home turf in the province of Piacenza over the course of 10 years, Marco Bellocchio composes a family saga in a diary-like fashion, casting several family members, including his daughter, wife and son. National Portrait Gallery Sat., Nov. 29, 4 p.m.

vincere Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy/France, 2009, 128 min.)

This masterful and moody historical biopic recounts the strange, sad story of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s first wife and child. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 23, 7:15 p.m., Tue., Nov. 25, 7 p.m.

the Wedding director (il regista di matrimony) Directed by Marco Bellocchio (Italy, 2006, 105 min.)

Invited by the Prince of Gravina to tape the arranged marriage of his daughter, a film director hiding out in a sicilian town falls madly in love with the bride-to-be in this madcap comedy. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Nov. 9, 11:45 a.m., Wed., Nov. 12, 9:15 p.m.

Japanese café lumiere (Kôhî jikô) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Japan/Taiwan, 2003, 103 min.)

“coffee, Time and light” is the original title of hou’s gentle tribute to Yasujiro ozu, which seamlessly weaves those three themes into a meditative look at love — or the absence November 2014

of it — in contemporary Tokyo. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 22, 11:45 a.m., Mon., Nov. 24, 9 p.m.

Film Festivals and Retrospectives

Mandarin

araBiaN siGhts

Black coal, thin ice (Bai ri yan huo) Directed by Diao Yinan (China, 2014, 106 min.)

five years after a botched arrest for a grisly murder, an ex-cop on the skids stumbles back onto his old case in this “fargo”-like noir compulsion and doom in the wintry coal-belt of northern china. Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Nov. 14, 7 p.m.

the Boys from fengkuei Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan, 1983, 102 min.)

hou hsiao-hsien’s fourth feature is strikingly emblematic of the shift in Taiwanese cinema toward greater naturalism and stories dealing with youth and provincial life. The film follows three bored teenagers who move from the small island of fengkuei to the port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, exposing a whole social stratum dispossessed of the Taiwanese economic dream. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 9, 1 p.m.

The 19th annual Arabian Sights Film Festival returns to D.C., showcasing top new Arab cinema at the Embassy of France, the GoetheInstitut and AMC Mazza Gallerie. Highlights include the North American premieres of “Abd El Kader” (Algeria) and “Ghadi” (Lebanon); the U.S. premieres of “Certified Halal” (Algeria/France) and “The Proof” (Algeria/France); and the East Coast premiere of “Giraffada” (France, Germany, Italy, Palestine). On Fri., Nov. 7, the Embassy of France hosts a wine reception (8:05 p.m.) in between screenings of “The Proof” (6:30 p.m.) and “Rock the Casbah” (8:45 p.m.). The closing-night screening at AMC Mazza Gallerie of “Certified Halal”(Sun., Nov. 9, 6:30 p.m.) precedes a closing party. (202) 234-3456, www.filmfestdc.org/arabiansights

dcjcc The Washington Jewish Film Festival Year-Round Screenings feature the Israeli documentary anthology “Footsteps in Jerusalem” (Tue., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m.) and French director Idit Cébula’s “Rue Mandar” (Wed., Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m.). (202) 518-9400, www.washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/film/wjffyear-round-/film-pages/Year-Round-Screenings.html

also liKe life: the films of hou hsiao-hsieN The retrospective “Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien,”

honoring the Taiwanese auteur, was produced in association with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China, the Taipei Cultural Center, the Taiwan Film Institute and the Center for Moving Image Arts at Bard College. The series opens at the Freer Gallery of Art (Nov. 2-Dec. 21) with the Taiwanese master’s “Dust in the Wind” (Sun., Nov. 2, 2 p.m.) and “The Green, Green Grass of Home” (Sun., Nov. 2, 3:30 p.m.). Additional screenings take place at the AFI Silver Theatre (Nov. 15-21) and the Goethe-Institut (Dec. 4-13), the latter’s films programmed by the National Gallery of Art. (202) 357-2700, www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp (301) 495-6700, www.afi.com/silver (202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/filmprograms.html

morality aNd Beauty: marco Bellocchio In collaboration with the embassy’s Italian Cultural Institute, the AFI Silver Theatre (Nov. 1-26) and the National Gallery of Art (Nov. 1Dec. 27) present the retrospective “Morality and Beauty: Marco Bellocchio,” which looks back at the late Italian filmmaker’s body of work critiquing politics and social institutions. The NGA series screens at the National Portrait Gallery’s McEvoy Auditorium, opening with Bellocchio’s signature “Fists in the Pocket” (Sun., Nov. 1, 4:30 p.m.). (301) 495-6700, www.afi.com/silver (202) 842-6799, www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/filmprograms.html

cut out the eyes Directed by Xu Tong (China, 2014, 80 min.)

xu Tong’s documentary presents a vibrant portrait of folk and popular culture in inner Mongolia, as an itinerant performer presents boisterous, musically infused epic poems recounting his life’s travails. Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Nov. 7, 7 p.m.

daughter of the Nile (Ni luo he nu er) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan, 1987, 91 min.)

A young woman and her brother float along the periphery of the Taipei underworld in this intriguing blend of gangster tale and introspective drama (preceded by the documentary “hou hsiao-hsien: About Myself” (2013, 29 min.)). Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 16, 2 p.m.

dust in the Wind (lian lian feng chen) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan, 1986, 109 min.)

Two young people quit school and move from their mountain village to find jobs in Taipei, expecting to marry, but typical of hsiao-hsien hou’s tender distance, we never see them being lovers; we see them being young, vulnerable and extremely delicate. he finds work with a printer, she as a seamstress, but neither finds happiness or heart in Taipei (Mandarin, cantonese and Min Nan). Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 2, 1 p.m.

the Green, Green Grass of home (Zai na he pan qing cao qing) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan, 1982, 90 min.)

hong Kong crooner Kenny Bee plays an idealistic teacher assigned to a remote rural village, where he courts a colleague. ostensibly at the helm of a romantic comedy, hou steadfastly ignores the genre’s conventions and turns his attention from his leads to their pupils, a gaggle of distractingly cute children, and the serene beauty of the village surroundings. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 2, 3:30 p.m.

a summer at Grandpa’s (dong dong de jia qi) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan, 1984, 94 min.)

While their mother is hospitalized, two city kids spend a summer in the countryside

where the young brother and sister try to adapt to their much slower surroundings, even trading in a remote-control toy car for a pet turtle in this gentle, assured film (Mandarin, hakka and shanghainese).

In this eloquently simple autobiographical film set and filmed in the village of the director’s youth, little Ah-ha’s family has moved from Kwangtun Province in china to try on life in Taiwan in 1947 (Mandarin and hakka).

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Nov. 9, 3:30 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 15, 12:15 p.m., Thu., Nov. 20, 6:45 p.m.

three times (Zui hao de shi guang) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (France/Taiwan, 2005, 120 min.)

Three time periods, two lead roles, and one eternal love come together in this Proustian film set to hou hsiao-hsien’s intricate rhythms and becalmed beauty. The film moves across the history of Taiwan — and the arc of the director’s career — to explore the memory of love in the best and worst of times (Mandarin and Min Nan). Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Nov. 21, 7 p.m.

a time to live, a time to die (tong nien wang shi) Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan, 1985, 138 min.)

Portuguese Bossa Nova the Brazilian music that charmed the World Directed by Bret Primack and Kev Avis (Brazil, 2014, 60 min.)

This documentary celebrates the collaboration of Brazilian and American musicians that popularized the rhythmic, seductive bossa nova groove. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., Nov. 1, 5:30 p.m., Mon., Nov. 3, 10 p.m., Tue., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m.

(Brazil, 2013, 108 min.)

João, an ordinary Brazilian, leaves his hometown for Brasília in search of a better life but, while working as a carpenter, gets involved with drug trafficking and the daughter of a senator. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m., Sun., Nov. 2, 5:30 p.m., Thu., Nov. 6, 10 p.m.

children of the amazon (crianças do amazonas) Directed by Denise Zmerkhol (Brazil, 2008, 72 min.)

Brazilian filmmaker/photographer Denise Zmekhol travels to the heart of the Amazon rainforest in search of the indigenous children she photographed 15 years earlier. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sun., Nov. 2, 10 p.m., Mon., Nov. 3, 7:30 p.m., Wed., Nov. 5, 5:30 p.m.

Brazilian Western (faroeste cabocio)

see ciNema listiNG, page 47

Directed by René Sampaio

from page 42

film reviews lengthy running times of some of his esteemed colleagues’ hefty films at Cannes. In only 76 minutes, Amalric’s film packs a lot of bang for the buck, avoiding the pitfall that befalls many features that might PhoTo: The INDePeNDeNT fIlM chANNel llc have been good if they had not lauded french actor-director Mathieu Amalric, dragged on far too long.Amalric’s efficient direction keeps the right, and real-life partner stéphanie cléau star as story moving with a steady dose lovers in the intellectual thriller “the Blue room.” of energy without getting too popular Belgian mystery author overheated. Within the claustrophobic Georges Simenon, frequently called the environment of the film’s tale and char- French-language Agatha Christie. acters, skilled director of photography In a provincial French town, meek Christophe Beaucarne’s restrained cin- Julien Gahyden (Amalric) shares family ematography captures a plethora of life with his wife Delphine (Léa visual clues enhancing the mise-en- Drucker) and daughter Suzanne (Mona scène and story line. Jaffart). He makes a living hawking farm Amalric and co-writer Stéphanie equipment, not exactly the world’s Cléau (also Amalric’s leading lady on most glamorous profession.To get some screen and romantic partner in real life) excitement, he’s been having an affair penned the tight screenplay with a with Esther Despierre (Cléau), the resischematic, nonlinear plot, distilling the dent femme fatale who is cheating on classic novella “The Blue Room” by her husband, a local pharmacist.

[

the Blue room (la chambre bleue) (French with English subtitles; 76 min.)

West End Cinema

★★★★✩

]

After a regular Thursday afternoon romp in the sack in a hotel’s blue room, a reference to the film’s title, Esther pointedly queries Julien what he would do if she were no longer tied down by her marriage. Off screen, some disturbing act takes place, leading investigating magistrate Diem (Laurent Poitrenaux) to question Julien and eventually Esther. As always, Amalric’s performance is top-notch, illustrating his character’s neuroticism and growing sensation of feeling trapped. The adulterous lovers’ palpable chemistry is no doubt enhanced by Amalric’s off-screen relationship with Cléau, who more than holds her own playing against Amalric. Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 45

[ 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.

Through Nov. 14

Yearning: Sehnsucht

ART

Painter Oskar Stocker presents the faces of women and men who for various reasons left their native countries to seek and find their fortunes abroad, but who in their hearts have always yearned for their homelands. For information, visit acfdc.org.

Nov. 1 to 7

Embassy of Austria

Day of the Deal Altar

This well-known community event is a quintessentially Mexican tradition and one of our most colorful displays of the year. This year’s Day of the Dead Altar is dedicated to the life and work of Latin Ameri can literary giant Gabriel García Márquez. Mexican Cultural Institute Nov. 2 to Feb. 16

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

On the 400th anniversary of El Greco’s death, the National Gallery of Art — with one of the largest number of the artist’s works in the United States — presents a commemorative exhibition of El Greco’s paintings. National Gallery of Art Through Nov. 3

Gabriel Figueroa: Cinematographer – Great Moments in Mexico’s Golden Era of Cinema

From the early 1930s through the early 1980s, the Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa (1907-97) helped forge an evocative and enduring image of Mexico. This exhibition features film clips, photographs, posters and documents, as well as works by contemporary artists and filmmakers that draw from the vast inventory of distinctly Mexican imagery associated with Figueroa’s cinematography. Mexican Cultural Institute Nov. 11 to Feb. 26

Decoding the Renaissance

During the Renaissance, the art and science of cryptography came into its own. The advent of printing, development of diplomacy and creation of postal systems created an obsession with encryption that produced some of the period’s most brilliant inventions, most beautiful books and most enduring legacies. This exhibition features the best collection ever assembled of early works on codes and ciphers. Folger Shakespeare Library Nov. 12 to Jan. 31

Contemporary Identities/ Invisible Gestures

Showcasing the immense cultural diversity of Iberoamerica through the art of photography, this exhibit features work from artists from 18 different countries of Latin America, Portugal and Spain, centering on the relationship between identity and the self in a digital world. Mexican Cultural Institute Through Nov. 14

The First Woman Graphic Novelist: Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová

Helena Bochořáková-Dittrichová (1894– 1980) was a Czech graphic artist whose 1929 novel “Zmého dětství (From My Childhood)” is widely acknowledged to be the first wordless novel created by a woman. National Museum of Women in the Arts

Page 46

Nov. 22 to May 31

Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Yuan Legacy

Landscape painting is one of the most outstanding achievements of Chinese culture. Key styles in this genre emerged during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) and are still followed today. Freer Gallery of Art Nov. 22 to May 31

The Traveler’s Eye: Scenes of Asia

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

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT commissioned some of the most exquisite jewelry sets, fashionable accessories and finely crafted jeweled frames of any American collector. Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens Through Dec. 31

Imagine Art in Nature

At Wanås, with its white castle and beautiful park, international artists create new site- specific sculptures and installations for the garden, the art gallery and various indoor spaces on the grounds. Now it’s your chance to see a selection of the actual site-specific pieces rendered by Swedish and American artists, together with films, models, photos and sketches. House of Sweden

essential aspects of our psyche, beliefs, affiliations or sexual orientations are increasing in modern societies, where freedom of expression is a fundamental right. The artists in this exhibition promote this right, breaking with convention and reinforcing the desire for free and genuine expression. Through Jan. 11

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

Neo-Impressionism and the Dream of Realities: Painting, Poetry, Music

With more than 70 paintings and works on paper, this exhibition demonstrates how the neo-impressionists employed stylization and a deliberate orchestration of color to create landscapes and figures that went far beyond observed nature to accentuate subjectivity and an inner world of experience. The Phillips Collection

Titian’s Danaë from the Capodimonte Museum, Naples

Through Jan. 11

Salvatore Scarpitta: Traveler

A fascinating and singular figure in postwar art, Salvatore Scarpitta (1919-2007) created a powerful body of work that ranges from nonobjective abstraction to radical realism.

National Gallery of Art

Hirshhorn Museum

Through Nov. 30

Through January 2015

Through Jan. 25

In this unique artistic collaboration, animation, video and augmented reality bring to life over 60 illustrations of two of Spain’s most interesting graphic artists working today. Artisphere Through Dec. 4

The Early Days: Hip-Hop Culture in the German Democratic Republic

As hip-hop spread around the globe in the early 1980s — and even behind the Iron Curtain — it also excited youth in the German Democratic Republic whose new passion not only challenged the People’s Police (Volkspolizei) and the Stasi, but also the socialist youth organizations whose plans did not allow for youth subcultures. German Historical Institute Through Dec. 15

The Wall in Our Heads: American Artists and the Berlin Wall

To mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an exhibition of American artists’ reflections on the Berlin Wall and an outdoor installation of photos by German artist Kai Wiedenhöfer form the visual framework for more than a dozen events at the Goethe-Institut around the commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall and critical observation about the many new walls that have been put up since then. Goethe-Institut

Celebrating 25 Years on Pennsylvania Avenue

To mark the Canadian Embassy’s 25th anniversary, this exhibit of photos, commentary, historical records and objects traces the evolution of Canada’s diplomatic presence in D.C., the history of the embassy at 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the many ways in which the embassy reflects and continues to shape the friendship between Canada and the United States. Embassy of Canada Through Jan. 4

Captain Linnaeus Tripe: Photographer of India and Burma, 1852-1860

In the first major traveling exhibition of photographs by Captain Linnaeus Tripe (18221902), some 60 works will include early pictures he took in England as well as the outstanding body of work he produced in India and Burma (now Myanmar) in the 1850s.

In Renato D’Agostin’s photographs, location immediately looses its identity, as images from around the world focus on the city, the one we all want to escape from but which sticks to us like an occasionally painful shell. Embassy of Italy

Artistically gifted and socially well connected, Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708) can help us to unravel the complexities of the late Dutch Golden Age, particularly through his vast and varied oeuvre of book illustrations. National Gallery of Art Through Feb. 1

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

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

Through Jan. 4

Through Feb. 1

Ethnic newspapers, radio, television and on line publications have helped millions of im migrants to America become part of their new country while preserving ties to their native lands. This exhibit tells the dramatic story of how immigrants and minorities used the power of the press to fight for their rights and shape the American experience.

Modern American Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection

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

Newseum

Through Feb. 1

Through Jan. 4

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

Through Dec. 18

Iter: Photo Exhibit by Renato D’Agostin

From the Library: The Book Illustrations by Romeyn de Hooghe

National Gallery of Art

One Nation With News for All

A Tribute to Anita Reiner

The Phillips Collection hosts a tribute exhibition in memory of Anita Reiner — one of D.C.’s most active art collectors and a longtime friend of the Phillips who passed away Aug. 15, 2013 — with 13 works in a variety of media from Reiner’s wide-ranging and highly personal collection of contemporary art.

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

Through Dec. 31

The Phillips Collection

Through March 22

Cartier: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Dazzling Gems

Through Jan. 9

Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy

One of Cartier’s most important and enduring clients, Marjorie Merriweather Post

What We Have Within

Possibilities to externalize and communicate

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through April 12

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Think With Your Hands

kind to focus on nasta‛liq, a calligraphic script that developed in the 14th century in Iran and remains one of the most expressive forms of aesthetic refinement in Persian culture to this day.

Art Museum of the Americas

Through Dec. 31

One of the most sensual paintings of the Italian Renaissance, Titian’s “Danaë” from the Capodimonte Museum in Naples will be on view to celebrate the commencement of Italy’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.

November 2014

More than 20 works ranging in date from 1400 to 1600 form the first exhibition of its

Days of Endless Time

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through June 7

Perspectives: Chiharu Shiota

Performance and installation artist Chiharu Shiota, Japan’s representative at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, will recreate a monumental yet intimate work in the Sackler pavilion that amasses personal memories through an accumulation of nearly 400 individual shoes, each with a note from the donor describing lost individuals and past moments. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through Sept. 13

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

DANCE Sat., Nov. 1, 2 and 8 p.m.

The National Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China: Cirque Peking

From the exotic Far East comes the world’s most riveting acrobatic troupe whose astonishing acts inspire the same awe and wonder in people today as they did a millennium ago. For seven decades, the National Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China has been thrilling young and old alike with dazzling acts of tumbling, juggling, contortion, balancing, and high-flying athleticism. Tickets are $29 to $48. George Mason University Center for the Arts Nov. 7 to 16

Fuego Flamenco X

“Fuego Flamenco X” is an exploration of traditional flamenco, its breadth and diversity through contemporary expressions, including “Dazzling Decade,” a selection of the most acclaimed pieces created for the festival by Edwin Aparicio and performed by the Flamenco Aparicio Dance Company on Nov. 7 to 9; dancers Mariana Collado and Carlos Chamorro in “Flamen co(s) de plomo y cobre” on Nov. 13 to 16; and “Flamenco en Familia” on Nov. 15. For information, visit www.galatheatre.org. GALA Hispanic Theatre

DISCUSSIONS Wed., Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.

The Salzburg Marionettes – A Peek Behind the Scenes

For more than 100 years, three generations

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

of the Aicher family have devoted loving care and enthusiasm to maintaining and cultivating the ancient art of puppetry. Admission is free; register at http://acfdc.org. Embassy of Austria Wed., Nov. 19, 9 a.m.

Václav Havel’s Legacy Today

German music and culture in the Washington Metropolitan area with numerous concerts and musical performances during the year. For ticket information, visit www.saengerbund.org. Embassy of Austria Fri., Nov. 14, 8 p.m.

The Embassy of the Czech Republic and the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress present the conference “Václav Havel’s Legacy Today,” with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and prominent Czech and U.S. panelists, in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. For information, email events@25yearsofdemocracy.org.

Czech Philharmonic: Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building

George Mason University Center for the Arts

FESTIVALS Sat., Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Czech Christmas Market

The Czech Christmas Market features beautiful hand-blown glass ornaments, exquisite handcrafted glass, delicious Christmas cookies and mulled wine (svařák). Beginning at 10:30 am, Vit Horejs of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre will perform the puppet show “Czech and Slovak Tale for Strings.” Embassy of the Czech Republic Through Nov. 9

Kids Euro Festival

The highly popular annual children’s performing arts festival returns to Washington with over 100 free, family-friendly, European-themed events ranging from puppetry and dance to music, theater and storytelling. Designed for children ages 2 to 12 and their families, the Kids Euro Festival, now in its seventh year, unites the 28 embassies of the European Union and over 20 American cultural institutions in the area. All of the embassies and organizations work together to transform the capital region into a Europe-inspired action-packed cultural adventure for young people and their families, with no passport required. For information, visit www.kidseurofestival.org. Various locations

MUSIC Mon., Nov. 3, 7:30 p.m.

China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra with Yuja Wang

Star pianist Yuja Wang brings her “practically superhuman keyboard technique” (San Francisco Chronicle) to Ravel’s Piano Concerto on a program from Beijing’s China NCPA Orchestra. Tickets are $19 to $75. Kennedy Center Concert Hall Fri., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Azra Sings

Azra’s singing reflects the lyrical melancholy of Sevdah and Balkan folk with sultry elements of Gypsy jazz and Andalucían flamenco. Her performances illuminate an inner world forever marked by the war in her homeland, and her immigrant life in the United States. Tickets are $80, including Balkan buffet and wine; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org. Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina Fri., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Fortas Chamber Music Concerts: Quatuor Ébène

Rather unusual in today’s world of chamber music, Quatuor Ébène’s stylistic acrobatics may at first meet hesitant ears. But there is no doubt: These four French musicians have class and are one of the most creative ensembles on the international chamber music scene today. Tickets are $32. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater Fri., Nov. 7, 7 p.m.

Washington Sängerbund

The Washington Sängerbund continues its long tradition of preserving Austrian and

One of today’s most elite piano soloists, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, joins the renowned Czech Philharmonic, which since its inception more than a century ago, has maintain ed an outstanding international reputation on par with many of Europe’s most prominent orchestras. Tickets are $42 to $70. Fri., Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.

Nanae Iwata, Violin Mariko Furukawa, Piano

Through Nov. 2

Thu., Nov. 13, 6 p.m.

The Wolfe Twins

Der Rosenkavalier

Lewis invites his estranged sister Dana on a trip to Rome to reconnect. But when he befriends a beautiful stranger, old wounds fester and intimate secrets are revealed. Tickets are $25. The Studio Theatre Nov. 5 to Dec. 21

Bad Jews

The night after their grandfather’s funeral, three cousins engage in a verbal battle royale over a family heirloom. In one corner is “Super Jew” Daphna: volatile, self-assured and unbending. In the other, Liam: secular, entitled and just as stubborn. And in the middle, Liam’s brother Jonah tries to stay out of the fray. Tickets are $44 to $88. Studio Theatre

Salzburg Festival and the Austrian Cultural Forum present “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, a 1911 opera that, despite the nostalgic setting in 18th-century Vienna, tackles serious issues of the day, such as the role of women and the breakdown of morality. Admission is free; register at http://acfdc.org. Embassy of Austria Nov. 14 to Dec. 28

Five Guys Named Moe

Dance the blues away as big band meets boy band in this dynamic, dazzling musical revue featuring classics have been remixed in this explosive tribute to “King of the Jukebox” Louis Jordan. Please call for ticket information.

Japanese Residence

GW Lisner Auditorium

Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint

Sat., Nov. 15, 8 p.m.

Through Nov. 9

Wed., Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m.

Bach and the Divine

Our War

Soul of Fire: She Fought for Peace

Arena Stage

Thu., Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m.

Tue., Nov. 11, 7:30 p.m.

The Ariel Quartet

Formed in Israel, the Ariel Quartet moved to the United States in 2004 to become the resident ensemble in the New England Conservatory’s prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program, winning a number of international prizes. Tickets are $75, including reception and wine; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org. Venue TBA

Don Juan Comes Back from the War by Odon von Horvath

In the aftermath of World War I, a shellshocked and weary Don Juan returns to an equally damaged Berlin, Germany, and tries over a new leaf and change his ways as an infamous lothario. His undying quest: find the love of his life he left at the altar years earlier. Suggested donation is $15. Embassy of Austria

The Shakespeare Theatre Company Bard Association and the Embassy of Greece present the “Trial of Lysistrata” at the Lansburgh Theatre followed by a cocktail reception at Sidney Harman Hall. Under the auspices of the Greek Embassy, a special session of the Supreme Court of Athens will convene to hear the case of the People v. Lysistrata. Often called the first feminist, Lysistrata rallied the women of the enemy against her own city, and organized her fellow women against their own men, all in order to stop a war that she thought unjust. Tickets are $20 to $125. The Shakespeare Theatre

With direction and choreography by fivetime Tony winner Susan Stroman, this world premiere Kennedy Center musical is inspired by the story of a young ballerina immortalized by Edgar Degas in his famous sculpture at the National Gallery of Art. Tickets are $45 to $155.

Rage

Dumbarton Church

Trial of Lysistrata

Through Nov. 16

An actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist and model, Isabella Rossellini has turned her Sundance TV original series, “Green Porno,” into a live performance that scientifically and entertainingly mimics animals in the art of reproducing, as she dons costumes of the insects and explores their mating rituals. Tickets are $30 to $50.

In a bold undertaking as part of Arena Stage’s multiyear, multi-city National Civil War Project, this dynamic new theatrical event and collections of short stories explores, through diverse perspectives, the historical memory and present-day reverberations of the U.S. Civil War. Tickets are $40 to $50.

Mon., Nov. 24, 7 p.m.

Through Nov. 30

Sat., Nov. 8, 8 p.m.

PostClassical Ensemble returns as ensemble-in-residence at Georgetown’s Dumbarton Concerts series with a program of exalted Bach favorites featuring the bass Kevin Deas, a peerless oratorio artist recently praised by Boston Classical Review as “compelling” and “magnetic.” Please call for ticket information.

Gunston Arts Center

Arena Stage

Known for her “lovely playing” (New York Times) and “expansive lyricism” (New York Concert Review), violinist Nanae Iwata has quickly established herself in versatile roles as a soloist, period performer, chamber musician, orchestral musician and educator, with appearances in the United States, Japan, Germany, Austria, New Zealand and Cuba. Tickets are $150, including cocktails and buffet dinner; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Green Porno, Live on Stage

of Hispanic theater. Tickets are $35.

A pacifist school counselor is tested to the limits when confronted by a radical, suicidal student in this gripping duel between an adult and a teenager that devolves into a violent clash of values and viewpoints, written by Canadian author Michele Rimi and presented by Ambassador Theater. Tickets are $8 to $40.

Renowned Austrian pacifist, Bertha von Suttner is the central figure of “Feuerseele – Sie kämpfte für den Frieden (Soul of fire – She fought for peace),” portrayed by well-known Austrian Actress Maxi Blaha. From passionate humanitarian engagements or dramatic love affairs in later years, the vicissitudes in the heroine’s life are presented in a moving, yet humorous manner. Admission is free; register at http://acfdc.org. Embassy of Austria

Little Dancer

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater Through Dec. 7

As You Like It

All the world’s a stage in “As You Like It,” one of Shakespeare’s fullest comedies, where poetry, mistaken identities and true love lost and found abound. Please call for ticket prices. The Shakespeare Theatre Through Dec. 7

Julius Caeser

Folger Theatre launches its 2014-15 season in Rome with Shakespeare’s enduring political tragedy and epic portrayal of the battle between ambition and honor, conspiracy and loyalty. Tickets are $40 to $75. Folger Shakespeare Library

Through Nov. 23

Through Jan. 4

17th International Festival of Hispanic Theater

Fiddler on the Roof

Teatro de la Luna presents plays from Uruguay, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, as well as bilingual productions for children in this popular annual showcase

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of an American musical classic with this new, inthe-round production of the joyful tale of family, community and life’s unexpected miracles. Tickets are $50 to $99. Arena Stage

Fri., Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m.

Oscar Peñas in Concert

Catalan-American guitarist, composer and bandleader Oscar Peñas’s fourth album and second release in the United States, “Music of Departures and Returns,” includes a Brazilian choro and a tribute to flamenco master Paco de Lucia; a jazz standard and a classic from the Cuban Nueva Trova songbook; and music by the great Catalonian composer Frederic Mompou. Please call for ticket information. Music Center at Strathmore

THEATER Nov. 1 to 15

Washington National Opera: La Boème

Puccini’s timeless tale of young bohemians in Paris struggling to fulfill their dreams and find love returns in a brand-new production filled with moonlit duets, snowy streets, rowdy celebrations and heartrending tears. Tickets are $25 to $300. Kennedy Center Opera House Through Nov. 2

The Island of Dr. Moreau

Sometime in the future, a shipwrecked survivor is washed up on a remote island inhabited by the deranged Dr. Moreau and his “children” — experimental human-like animals or animal-like humans — in this physical new adaptation of HG Wells’s haunting novel. Tickets start at $35.

from page 45

Cinema Listing

The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho)

Dominguinhos

Leonardo is a blind teenager searching for independence. His everyday life, the relationship with his best friend Giovana and the way he sees the world change completely with the arrival of Gabriel.

Directed by Mariana Aydar (Brazil, 2014, 84 min.)

This documentary explores the life of Dominguinhos (1941-2013), an accordion player, composer and singer, juxtaposing excerpts from his concerts with features of important Brazilian singers. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Mon., Nov. 3, 3 p.m., Tue., Nov. 4, 10 p.m., Thu., Nov. 6, 5:30 p.m.

Teen’s Confessions (Confissões de Adolescente) Directed by Daniel Filho (Brazil, 2014, 100 min.)

Paulo, who is going through a financial crisis, is having trouble keeping up his lifestyle. His four teenage daughters decide to help out so they can stay in their fancy neighborhood as they face the challenges of adolescence. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sun., Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m., Wed., Nov. 5, 10 p.m.

Directed by Daniel Ribeiro (Brazil, 2014, 95 min.)

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Opens Fri., Nov. 7

Silent Dracula Directed by George Melford (U.S., 1931, 104 min.)

Horror aficionados have long sung the praises of Universal’s 1931 Spanish language version of “Dracula,” shot simultaneously and on the same sets as Tod Browning’s celebrated English-language original starring Bela Lugosi. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 1, 9:30 p.m.

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror Directed by F.W. Murnau (Germany, 1922, 85 min.)

Casting a long and terrifying shadow over the genre, German silent film master F.W. Murnau’s uncredited appropria-

tion of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” set the standard for all vampire flicks to come. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m.

Vampyr Directed by Carl Theordor Dreyer (Germany/France, 1932, 75 min.)

Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer’s singular horror film traces a young man’s dawning realization that the mysterious doings in the village of Courtempierre in fact have a supernatural explanation — a withered old crone of a vampire is preying upon the local populace. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Nov. 1, 5 p.m.

Swedish Force Majeure (Turist) Directed by Ruben Östlund (Sweden/France/Denmark/Norway, 118 min.)

A family on a ski holiday in the French Alps find themselves staring down an avalanche during lunch one day; in the aftermath, their dynamic has been shaken to its core, with a question mark hanging over their patriarch in particular (Swedish and English).

Synetic Theater

November 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 47

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

INTEREST 12 Months E AS CASH!

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

the Washington diplomat 20th anniversary Party

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Twenty years old? Nah, more like 20 years young! The Washington Diplomat celebrated its 20th anniversary in style at the Melrose hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in D.c., with over 200 guests from the diplomatic community, including more than 15 ambassadors. Thank you to all the loyal readers who have helped us reach this rare journalism milestone — and here’s to 20 more years To view all to of serving the international community. the photos

see

from the anniversary, be sure to like The Washington Diplomat on facebook.

4The staff of The Washington Diplomat celebrate the newspaper’s 20th anniversary at the Melrose hotel: from left are account manager chris smith, news editor larry luxner, photographer lawrence ruggeri, managing editor Anna Gawel, publisher Victor shiblie, graphic designer cari henderson, account manager rod carrasco and operations director fuad shiblie.

from left, ella savon, director of diplomatic and government sales at the Melrose hotel; Ambassador of the Arab league Mohammed Al-hussaini Al-sharif; and sultana hakimi, wife of the Afghan ambassador and president of the Muslim Women’s Association.

from left, Ambassador of Kazakhstan Kairat Umarov, leila Beale and Ambassador of Barbados John Beale.

from left, Taweel Tawil; fuad sahouri, president and ceo of sahouri Insurance and financial; sophia sahouri; Ambassador of Morocco rachad Bouhlal; Ambassador of cabo Verde José luis rocha; and Ambassador of st. Vincent and the Grenadines la celia A. Prince.

christine constantin, public affairs counselor and spokesperson for the canadian embassy, left, and Michael Petric of the Mccain Institute’s Next Generation leaders Program.

from left, Ambassador of Monaco Maguy Maccario Doyle; shamim Jawad, wife of the former Afghan ambassador and founder and president of the Ayenda foundation; ambassador of liechtenstein claudia fritsche; and wife of the latvian ambassador Gunta razane. 3Yamile rocha and her husband, recently appointed Ambassador of cabo Verde José luis rocha.

Victor shiblie, publisher and editor in chief of The Washington Diplomat, left, and fuad shiblie, director of operations, founded the independent monthly newspaper in 1994.

from left, Washington Diplomat publisher Victor shiblie; claudine h. Kaplan; and Ambassador stuart holliday, president and ceo of the Meridian International center.

Page 48

The Washington Diplomat

Bandula somasiri, commercial minister at the sri lankan embassy, left, and recently appointed Ambassador of sri lanka Prasad Kariyawasam.

Ambassador of Montenegro srdjan Darmanovic, left, and ella savon, director of diplomatic and government sales at the Melrose hotel.

4Ambassador of Dominica hubert J. charles and his wife sylvia charles, an economist and consultant.

from left, Director of Digital Distribution for Mhz Networks stephanie Misar; Ambassador of Gabon Michael Moussa-Adamo; and public relations consultant Jan Du Plain of Du Plain enterprises Inc.

Jacob comenetz, cultural affairs officer at the German embassy and former Washington Diplomat contributor, left, and Ambassador of Micronesia Asterio r. Takesy.

November 2014

From left, Hiba Bittar Hakki and her daughters, Maha Hakki and Dannia Hakki of MoKi Media.

Rena Raff, left, and Jamilla Abarkane are both from the European Union Delegation to the United States.

Christelle Bernardin, administrative assistant at the Haitian Embassy, left, and Clara Benice, communications advisor to the Haitian Embassy.

3Violin music plays at The Washington Diplomatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20th anniversary reception.

Coach Kathy Kemper, founder and CEO of the Institute for Education (IFE), left, and Joanne Ke, an IFE Fellow who is a consultant at the International Finance Corporation.

Hector Torres, vice president of Capital Hotels & Suites and general manager of the Beacon Hotel, left, and Jay Haddock, president of Capital Hotels & Suites, which includes the Beacon and St. Gregory Luxury Hotel.

4From left, Tara Compton, cultural diplomacy consultant and ballet dancer; Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago Neil Parsan; and public relations consultant Jan Du Plain.

Laura Kasper, left, and Faith Grant of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council.

4Operations director Fuad Shiblie, third from left, and publisher Victor Shiblie, second from right, join the staff of the Melrose Hotel: From left are sales manager Denise Borland, business travel director Shabnam Bastansiar, general manager Jale Hashimi, diplomatic and government sales director Ella Savon and catering sales/convention services manager Heather Renz.

3Washington Diplomat managing editor Anna Gawel, left, and former Washington Diplomat sales director Jorge Posada.

From left, Zane Razane; Vineta Mekone, political counselor at the Latvian Embassy; and Gunta Razane, wife of the Latvian ambassador. 3From left, Washington Diplomat news editor Larry Luxner; Ivan Mangov; Ivana Mangov, secretary at the Serbian Embassy; and Washington Diplomat managing editor Anna Gawel.

4Shahin Mafi, founder and CEO of Home Health Connection Inc., left, and Hosai Rashid of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Spa Logic President Fadi Gharbieh, left, and manager Kathy Luu.

Deborah Nga, public policy and government affairs officer for Google, left, and Mehmet Saracoglu, director of government, media and community affairs for the Rumi Forum.

3From left, Ryan Hu, passenger sales manager for Air China; photographer Yvie Li; and Paul Cohen, vice president of Optriant.

Barbara Bahny, director of public relations for the Willard InterContinental in Washington and New York, left, and Michael Reilly, executive director of the Opera Camerata of Washington, talk with guests.

4From left, Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche, John Shaw, a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat and Market News International, and his wife Mindy Shaw.

From left, Thomas Coleman, former U.S. Assistant Chief of Protocol Lawrence Dunham and his wife Deborah Dunham.

Some 200 people enjoy hors dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oeuvres and drinks in the lobby of the Melrose Hotel to celebrate The Washington Diplomat.

November 2014

Felipe Herrera of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic, left, and Andrew Zoca.

The Washington Diplomat Page 49

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

German Unity

November 2014

Indonesian Statue

Ambassador of Germany Peter Wittig and his wife Huberta von Voss-Wittig, right, welcome guest of honor Tom Brokaw, the only American journalist present 25 years ago when the Berlin Wall came down, and his wife Meredith Lynn Auld to the annual German Unity Day reception at their residence, where a replica of the Berlin Wall commemorated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

photo: Gail scott

Deputy Chief of Mission of the Polish Embassy Maciej Pisarski, left, and European Union Ambassador João Vale de Almeida attend the annual German Unity Day reception marking the reunification of East and West Germany.

Lt. Col. Marco Tkotz, assistant military attaché with the German Army, left, and U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jackie van Ovost, deputy director for politico-military affairs (Europe, NATO, Russia) at the Pentagon, attend the German Unity Day reception held at the ambassador’s residence.

Outgoing Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to D.C. to inaugurate of the Saraswati statue in front of the Indonesian Embassy. The Saraswati statue was initiated by former Indonesian Ambassador Dino Patti Djalal in 2012 to symbolize education, knowledge and wisdom, and also to reflect religious pluralism in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.

Dino Patti Djalal, former Indonesian ambassador to the U.S. and now the country’s vice minister of foreign affairs, returns to the embassy to help inaugurate the Saraswati statue, which took seven Balinese sculptors to build.

Over 2,600 guests came to the German Residence to celebrate the Day of German Unity, which marks the day when East and West Germany were reunified. The garden terraces featured traditional food and displays commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, including a Trabant car made in the former East Germany.

photo: gail scott

Benoit Teisseire, executive chef of the German Embassy, enjoys the German Unity Day reception, which featured German cuisine and celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

From left, Sgt. Maj. Dietmar Schwerin, assistant attaché for the German Embassy; Laura Johns, senior program officer with the Office of Educational Technology at the Department of Education; and Bob Goldstein attend the German Unity Day reception held at the ambassador’s residence.

The Saraswati statue, left, is named after the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and nature. Traditional Indonesian music, above left, played at the statue’s dedication in the garden outside the Indonesian Embassy. A large crowd, above, also turned out to hear the outgoing president’s speech. photos: kate oczypok

Gandi Sulistiyanto, managing director of PT Sinar Mas Group, left, and Rizal A. Lukman, deputy minister for international economic and financial cooperation in the Indonesian Cordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, attend the dedication of the Saraswati statue in front of the Indonesian Embassy.

Deputy Chief of Mission of the Mexican Embassy Mabel Gómez Oliver, left, and Albrecht von Wittke attend the annual German Unity Day reception marking the reunification of East and West Germany.

Katie and Walter Geltin of Sterling, Va., celebrate the German Unity Day reception at the German Residence off Foxhall Road. Katie just returned from a birthday trip with her granddaughter to Oktoberfest, where she walked in a 7K race in Munich.

More than 16 food tents dotted the garden of the German Residence for the annual Unity Day reception, serving everything from the infamous “Berliner” jelly donuts to traditional southern German goulash. A “selfie” station — complete with a replica of the Berlin Wall — gave guests a taste of East Germany.

International Tennis

German Reopening

Dr. Joanna Breyer of the United Kingdom, left, was the champion while Gitte Wallin Pedersen of Denmark was the finalist in the Chris Sager International Tennis Cup tournament at Congressional Country Club.

Guests gather to celebrate the recently reopened German Embassy, which was designed by renowned architect Egon Eiermann and completed in 1964; the chancery building underwent four years of extensive renovations and modernization. Photo: © Zacarias Garcia for Germany.info

Brainy Camps From left, Ambassador of Bulgaria Elena Poptodorova, Shahin Mafi, CEO of Home Health Connection, and Brainy Camps founder Sandra Cushner Weinstein attend a fundraising dinner hosted by Poptodorova to support Brainy Camps, a nonprofit that provides residential summer camps, family retreats, training and programs for children with severe chronic health conditions.

Page 50

From left, Ambassador of Germany Peter Wittig; Ger man Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety Barbara Hendricks; and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), head of the Joint Congressional Study Group on Germany, cut the ribbon on the newly renovated Germany Embassy.

From left, Adam Jones, Joanna Pritchett and Marcus Kreft of the German Embassy attend the reopening of the renovated German Chancery, which features cogeneration power plant, solar panels on the terraces, LED lighting and other features to maximum the building’s energy.

From top row left, Institute for Education (IFE) Fellow George de Nevers Milanovic; coach Kathy Kemper, the founder and CEO of IFE; Gitte Wallin Pedersen, a World Bank consultant and partner of the Danish ambassador; Dr. Joanna Breyer, wife of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; Nobuko Sasae, wife of the Japanese ambassador; and bottom row from left, Christine Sager, wife of the former Swiss ambassador; and Laura Perez Vazquez, wife of the Mexican ambassador, competed in the Chris Sager International Tennis Cup.

The Washington Diplomat

November 2014

Malaysian National Day

‘Confidence Code’

Second lady Jill Biden, left, talks with Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) across from the teahouse at the Japanese Residence.

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, left, is welcomed to the Japanese Residence by Nobuko Sasae, wife of the Japanese ambassador, for a lecture and luncheon in celebration of the book “The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know” by broadcasters Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.

Laura Denise Bisogniero, wife of the Italian ambassador, left, and Heidi Herrington Debevoise attend a book lecture and luncheon held at the Japanese Residence for “The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know.”

From left, Dr. Susan Blumenthal, former U.S. assistant surgeon general, and Martha Ann Alito, wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, talk with second lady Dr. Jill Biden, a lifelong educator, at a book party held at the Japanese ambassador’s residence.

photos: gail scott

From left, Yancy Molnar; senior vice president of international government affairs for ACE Group; Ambassador of the Philippines Jose L. Cuisia Jr.; and Ambassador of Turkey Serdar Kilic attend Malaysia’s 57th National Day and 81st Armed Forces Day reception held at the Malaysian Embassy.

From left, Ambassador of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyar Gulyamov, Ambassador of Pakistan Jalil Abbas Jilani and Tehmina Khan, president of McLean Furniture Gallery, attend the Malaysian National and Armed Forces Day reception.

From left, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel, Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Ambassador of Malaysia Awang Adek Hussin talk to guests at the Malaysian National and Armed Forces Day reception.

Ambassador of Bahrain Shaikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Khalifa, left, and Brig. Gen. Tariq G. Rashid of Bahrain attend the Malaysian National and Armed Forces Day reception.

Heart’s Delight

Karina Lynch, left, and Nicole Venable of the Bockorny Group enjoy a glass of wine at the Heart’s Delight Chairman’s Reception held at chef Fabio Trabocchi’s Georgetown seafood restaurant Fiola Mare.

Ambassador of Brunei Dato Yusoff Abd Hamid, left, and Elizabeth Dugan, vice president of operations for the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, attend the Malaysian National and Armed Forces Day reception.

Fiji National Day

Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, president of BGR Public Relations LLC, left, and Even Morris of Genentech, the 2015 Heart’s Delight chairman, attend the Heart’s Delight Chairman’s Reception at Fiola Mare, a prelude to the annual Heart’s Delight wine extravaganza in the spring to benefit the American Heart Association.

B.R. McConnon, chairman and CEO at DDC Advocacy left, and Ann Jones attend the Heart’s Delight Chairman’s Reception at Fiola Mare, a preview of the annual wine fundraiser to be held April 22 to 25 next year.

Janice and Gil Guarino, CEO at Intuitive.IT, attend the Heart’s Delight Chairman’s Reception at Fiola Mare. The annual wine benefit, now in its 16th year, has raised more than $13 million for the American Heart Association.

Teatro de la Luna

photos: Gail scott

Ambassador of Fiji Winston Thompson and his wife Queenie welcome guests dressed in traditional Fijian attire at the country’s National Day celebration. Nucky Walder, an actress and producer for Teatro de la Luna, attends a meeting at the Embassy of Uruguay of the cultural attachés whose countries are participating in Teatro de la Luna’s 17th annual International Festival of Hispanic Theater, featuring troupes from Uruguay, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

photos: kate oczypok

Marcelo Magnou, left, and Maritza Gueler of the Argentinean Embassy Cultural Section attend a meeting at the Embassy of Uruguay of the cultural attachés whose countries are participating in Teatro de la Luna’s 17th annual International Festival of Hispanic Theater.

Alejandra Zelaya, left, and Karol Escalante, press and cultural affairs officer at the Embassy of Honduras attend a meeting at the Embassy of Uruguay of the cultural attachés whose countries are participating in Teatro de la Luna’s 17th annual International Festival of Hispanic Theater.

Jimena Paz, cultural affairs officer for the Spanish Embassy, left, Cristina Ruiz, cultural projects officer for the Spanish Embassy, attend a meeting at the Embassy of Uruguay of the cultural attachés whose countries are participating in Teatro de la Luna’s 17th annual International Festival of Hispanic Theater.

November 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 51

from page 6

Eikenberry “If you’d had a full pullout — a suspension of military assistance advisory missions — that would lead to the collapse of the central government,” Eikenberry warned. “I believe the army and police, if nothing else, would have an inability to make payrolls.” Furthermore, Eikenberry said the Afghan military would falter against insurgents without U.S. training and equipment. “I don’t think their army and police would be able to hold their own in the field and my fear would be a return to civil war,” he said. Eikenberry said the Obama administration will likely be able to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan below 10,000 by the end of this year, which he declared “a pretty impressive accomplishment.” (There are currently about 41,000 coalition forces in Afghanistan, including 29,000 Americans.) “If we fall below that level, I think it becomes much more problematic,” he said. “We would have a huge new area for sanctuaries to develop. It would also give momentum, or a boost, to this global militant Islamic movement. Their propaganda line would be, ‘We defeated the Soviet superpower in the 1980s and now we’ve repeated that with the United States of America.’ “There would also be reputational consequences,” Eikenberry continued. “Even as we’re saying we’re committed to a long-term fight against ISIS [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria], what would it do to our credibility if Afghanistan was descending into a civil war? As you connect

Credit: DoD Photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder, U.S. Army

U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Kenley Kirkland, left, helps to buckle in Afghan soldiers on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during training for an air assault mission led by an Afghan air unit in Kandahar province in February 2012.

the dots between Afghanistan and the rest of the world, we would have to consider the cost we would pay should we leave Afghanistan in ruins.” At the same time, Eikenberry said U.S. credibility, and prestige, on the world stage can be overstated.

Visit Jordan & The Holy Land Call us at: 011 962 6 566 8970 011 962 79 552 6206 Visit us at: www.azure-tours.com Email us at: munther.twal@azure-tours.com

Page 52

“People said at the end of the Vietnam War that the U.S. was finished and we’d never recover our reputation, but six years later under President Reagan we were able to get our reputation back,” he said. It is too early to assess Obama’s performance in Afghanistan — or in the realm of foreign policy generally — but in Eikenberry’s opinion, the president has performed well. “I think historians will give the president very good marks,” he said.“It’s a difficult time for him. Americans were very comfortable in his first term with his policy of retrenchment, not retreat. But I think the American people right now are going through a period of disquiet as they see developments in Ukraine and in the Middle East.There is a nervousness about whether what we had thought was retrenchment is retreat. “It’s too early to tell, of course, but I think this is a president who came into office and very correctly saw that the U.S. was over-committing in terms of our global security obligations,” Eikenberry said.“He saw a war raging in Iraq and Afghanistan … and at the same time China was able to march forward and Russia was developing a new set of strategic goals that we’re seeing played out now. “The president also saw a domestic economy that was in a real tailspin,” Eikenberry added.“He concluded he had several choices. He could try to pull back on some of those commitments, try to get allies to do more, or try to focus on the domestic foundations of power so you can get stronger and perhaps redefine your strategic goals and objectives as you get healthier. “This is a president who has done all three,” Eikenberry said. The former military commander also said that Obama has been judicious about committing American troops to confrontations overseas. “He’s also been very careful about the use of military force,” Eikenberry said.“He knows that it is easy to commit forces into combat but it’s very difficult to extract them. You can commit forces with limited objectives and find several years later that the mission has expanded greatly…. This is a president who I believe plays for the long term. He knows that you look at the world and a threat emerges and sometimes the best thing to do is pause and examine what this threat actually is. “Anything we can do to enlist the support of

The Washington Diplomat

other actors and not make every battle out there an American battle works to the benefit of our country,” Eikenberry added.“It saves our resources and gives us a global profile where we’re not seen as a hyperactive global cop that roams the world looking for the next crisis and assumes any problem out there is one for the American people and our military to go resolve.” On that note, Eikenberry made a particularly damning assessment of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq. “Going into Iraq is clearly the greatest foreign policy blunder and maybe catastrophe the United States has had since the Vietnam War, although we can say perhaps the consequences have been greater than those of Vietnam,” he said. Afghanistan, Eikenberry, is a different case. “The verdict is out on Afghanistan,” he said.“It is a much better place to live now than it was in 2002.” Twelve years ago, less than 1 million Afghan children were in school. Today, nearly 8 million are attending school and about 2.8 million of them are girls. Eikenberry also cited significantly improved health care indexes, a solidifying Afghan Army and a parliament that not only respects the constitution, but also has a significant share of women, who hold 25 percent of the seats. To be sure, serious problems remain: Corruption is rampant. The Afghan government would be broke if it weren’t for foreign assistance. The Taliban is nowhere near defeat and commands support, and fear, from many parts of the country. Women are treated as second-class citizens, or worse, in many deeply conservative villages. Poppy cultivation is at an all-time high, despite a $7 billion counternarcotics investment. And there is no guarantee that the GhaniAbdullah partnership will survive — or that the U.S.-trained Afghan Army won’t turn into a major disappointment akin to their Iraqi brethren. But Eikenberry says the grim headlines sometimes obscure the bigger picture of progress. “They’ve managed, even in this very messy political process they went through, to end up with a national unity government underpinned by an election that the Afghan people sanctioned,” he said. “That is a very different way of transferring political power to the Afghan people than in 1993, when a civil war raged around Kabul and warlords fighting for control killed about 30,000 Kabul civilians.” At the same time, Eikenberry conceded that the “extraordinary amount” of progress in Afghanistan has come at a great cost to the United States. “In a couple of years that will probably add up to trillion dollars,” he said of the war’s cost. “There has also been a strategic cost that comes with this because the more the White House, the Pentagon and Department of State have to talk about Afghanistan — and over the past 10 years we’ve had to talk about it a lot — we are talking about China one less hour. “Clearly Afghanistan is a better place,” Eikenberry concluded, adding that the country has “hardened” and that “al-Qaeda won’t be invited back in.” “A lot of progress has been made, people are more prosperous and they are doing better than they have done at any time in Afghanistan’s modern history, but at what cost to America?” Michael Coleman (@michaelcoleman) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Your Source for Diplomatic News. www.washdiplomat.com

November 2014

AROUNDTHEWORLD

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

November 2014

HOLIDAYS BARBADOS Nov. 30: Independence Day

AFGHANISTAN Nov. 3: Ashura ALBANIA Nov. 28: Independence Day Nov. 29: Liberation Day

BELARUS Nov. 7: October Revolution Day

ALGERIA Nov. 1: Anniversary of the Revolution Nov. 3: Achoura ANDORRA Nov. 1: All Saints Day

BELGIUM Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 11: Armistice Day BELIZE Nov. 19: Garifuna Settlement Day

ANTIGUA and BARBUDA Nov. 1: Independence Day AUSTRIA Nov. 1: All Saints Day AZERBAIJAN Nov. 12: Constitution Day Nov. 17: National Revival Day BAHRAIN Nov. 3: Ashura BANGLADESH Nov. 7: National Revolution and Solidarity Day

CROATIA Nov. 1: All Saints Day

FINLAND Nov. 1: All Saints Day

CAMBODIA Nov. 1: Birthday of HM the King Nov. 9: Independence Day

CZECH REPUBLIC Nov. 17: Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy

FRANCE Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 11: Armistice Day

CANADA Nov. 11: Remembrance Day CAPE VERDE Nov. 1: All Saints Day

BENIN Nov. 1: All Saints Day

ANGOLA Nov. 2: All Souls Day Nov. 11: Independence Day

BURUNDI Nov. 1: All Saints Day

BOLIVIA Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 2: All Souls Day BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA Nov. 25: Anti-fascism Day BRAZIL Nov. 2: Memorial Day Nov. 15: Proclamation of the Republic BULGARIA Nov. 1: Day of the National Enlighteners BURKINA FASO Nov. 1: All Saints Day BURMA (MYANMAR) Nov. 16: National Day

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Nov. 1: All Saints Day CHAD Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 28: Republic Day CHILE Nov. 1: All Saints Day COLOMBIA Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 11: Independence of Cartagena OSTA RICA Nov. 2: All Souls Day CÔTE D’IVOIRE Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 15: National Peace Day

DOMINICA Nov. 3: Independence Day Nov. 4: Community Service Day DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Nov. 6: Constitution Day EAST TIMOR Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 12: Santa Cruz Massacre

GABON Nov. 1: All Saints Day GEORGIA Nov. 23: St. George’s Day (Giorgoba) GUATEMALA Nov. 1: All Saints Day HAITI Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 2: All Souls Day HUNGARY Nov. 1: All Saints Day

ECUADOR Nov. 2: All Souls Day Nov. 3: Independence of Cuenca

INDIA Nov. 3: Ashura Nov. 26: Guru Nanak’s Birthday

EL SALVADOR Nov. 2: All Souls Day Nov. 5: Cry of Independence Day

IRAN Nov. 3: Ashura

ESTONIA Nov. 2: All Souls Day Nov. 16: Day of Declaration of Sovereignty

IRAQ Nov. 3: Ashura ITALY Nov. 1: All Saints Day JAPAN Nov. 3: National Culture

APPOINTMENTS Albania Mamica Toska assumed the position of minister plenipotentiary on Sept. 22, replacing Anton Koliqi, who departed the post on Sept. 16.

Belarus Pavel Shidlovsky assumed the position of chargé d’affaires on April 14, replacing Oleg Kravchenko, who departed the post on April 22. Shidlovsky previously served as director of the U.S. and Canada Office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Estonia Eerik Marmei became ambassador of Estonia to the United States on Sept. 18, having most recently served as ambassador to Poland and Romania, residing in Warsaw. Ambassador Marmei, who has been working Ambassador in the Ministry of Eerik Marmei Foreign Affairs since 1993, began his career in the Political Department as the desk officer for the United States. He has also worked as the director of the Bureau for International Organizations and Security Policy, the Estonian Delegation to NATO and Estonian embassies in Washington and London. From 2008 to 2010, he headed the NATO and European Union Department at the Ministry of Defense and returned thereafter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as director of the Security Policy and Arms Control Division in the Political Department. Before assuming his current position, Ambassador Marmei served as Estonian Ambassador to Poland and Romania residing in Warsaw. Ambassador

November 2014

Marmei, who was born on May 6, 1970, in Tartu, Estonia, graduated from Tartu University in 1993 and received master’s degree in international relations from Notre Dame University in 1996.

France Brig. Gen. Vincent Cousin assumed the position of defense attaché on Aug. 30, replacing Brig. Gen. Bruno Antoine Caitucoli, who departed the post on Aug. 29.

Ghana Gloria Gyeke-Gyampoh assumed the position of first secretary (administration) on Sept. 16, replacing Theodora Duncan-Ocquaye, who departed the post on Sept. 26. GyekeGyampoh previously served at the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa, from 2006 to 2010.

Hungary Gen. Zsolt Sandor assumed the position of defense, air and military attaché on Aug. 15, replacing Col. Zoltan Bone, who departed the post on Aug. 15.

Somalia Awale Ali Kullane assumed the position of minister counselor to the Somali Mission to the United Nations on Oct. 1. Idd Beddel Mohamed departed the post of deputy permanent representative to the Somali Mission to the United Nations on June 14.

Switzerland Martin Dahinden was appointed by the Swiss government as the ambassador of Switzerland to the United States on Oct. 6. Prior to that, he served as director of the Swiss Agency for

Development and Cooperation (SDC) from 2008 to 2014 and headed the Directorate of Corporate Management of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 2004 to 2008. During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, Ambassador Dahinden has served as director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, as a member of the Swiss Delegation to GATT (General Agreement on Martin Dahinden Tariffs and Trade), at Ambassador the Embassy of Martin Dahinden Switzerland in Paris, as deputy to the Swiss ambassador in Nigeria and in a temporary posting at the Swiss Mission to the United Nations in New York. In addition, he worked in the FDFA’s Service for Disarmament Policy and Nuclear Issues, as head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Service of the Directorate of Political Affairs, and he held the position of deputy head of the OSCE Coordination Unit during the Swiss chairmanship of the OSCE in 1996. The following year, he was sent abroad as deputy head of the Swiss Mission to NATO in Brussels. Ambassador Dahinden was born in Zurich in 1955. He earned a Ph.D. in economics (business administration) from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked as a postgraduate assistant at the university and was then employed by a bank and a publishing house. Ambassador Dahinden is married to Anita Dahinden and they have two children, Robert and Andrea.

Day (Bunka No Hi) Nov. 23: Labor Thanksgiving Day (Kinro Kansha No Hi) JORDAN Nov. 14: Late King Hussein’s Birthday LATVIA Nov. 18: Independence Day in 1918 LEBANON Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 3: Ashoura Nov. 22: Independence Day

RUSSIA Nov. 4: National Unity Day

MOROCCO Nov. 6: Commemoration of the Green March Nov. 18: Independence Day

SENEGAL Nov. 1: All Saints Day

NEPAL Nov. 9: Constitution Day

SLOVAK REPUBLIC Nov. 1: All Saints Day Nov. 17: Day of Fight for Freedom and Democracy

OMAN Nov. 18: National Day Nov. 19: Birthday of Sultan Qaboos

LIBERIA Nov. 6: Thanksgiving Day Nov. 29: Williams V.S. Tubman’s Birthday LIECHTENSTEIN Nov. 1: All Saints Day

MONGOLIA Nov. 26: Independence Day

PAKISTAN Nov. 3: Ashura Nov. 9: Birthday of Allama Iqbal PALAU Nov. 27: Thanksgiving Day

PANAMA Nov. 3: Independence Day Nov. 4: Flag Day Nov. 10: Independence of LUXEMBOURG Nov. 1: All Saints Day 203526A01the Los Santos Province Nov. 28: Emancipation From Spain MADAGASCAR Nov. 1: All Saints Day PERU Nov. 1: All Saints Day MARSHALL ISLANDS Nov. 17: President’s Day PHILIPPINES Nov. 1: All Saints Day MAURITANIA Nov. 30: Andres Bonifacio Nov. 28: Independence Day Day LITHUANIA Nov. 1: All Saints Day

MEXICO Nov. 20: Mexican Revolution of 1910

POLAND Nov. 11: Independence Day

MICRONESIA Nov. 3: National Day

PORTUGAL Nov. 1: All Saints Day

SEYCHELLES Nov. 1: All Saints Day

SLOVENIA Nov. 1: Remembrance Day SPAIN Nov. 1: All Saints Day SURINAME Nov. 25: Independence Day SWEDEN Nov. 1: All Saints Day SWITZERLAND Nov. 1: All Saints Day SYRIA Nov. 16: National Day TOGO Nov. 1: All Saints Day URUGUAY Nov. 1: All Saints Day UZBEKISTAN Nov. 18: Flag Day VENEZUELA Nov. 1: All Saints Day YEMEN Nov. 30: Algala Eid (1967)

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