October 2014

■ INSIDE: EDUCATION

A World of News and Perspective

AND TRAVEL & HOTELS SPECIAL SECTIONS

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ VOLUME 21, NUMBER 10

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

■ OCTOBER 2014

STEERING NEW COURSE

MIDDLE EAST

Islamic State’s Radical Crusade Attracts Army Of Foreign Foreigners Since the Islamic State exploded onto the world’s radar, everyone is asking how a marauding army could emerge seemingly overnight to conquer large parts of Iraq and Syria and declare an oilrich caliphate? Perhaps a more important question, though, is what’s attracting foreigners to their brutal cause? PAGE 6

BUSINESS

U.S. Ports Welcome World’s Cargo, Plan Major New Investments From Norfolk on Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay to New Orleans on the Gulf Coast to Seattle in the Pacific Northwest, U.S. ports are handling record cargo volumes — with international trade now accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s GDP. PAGE 13

culture

by Karin Zeitvogel

Schools Try to STEM the Rot in U.S. Education

W

hen it comes to the all-important

STeM studies (science, technology, engineering and math), the statistics for american kids are sobering: The United States ranks 52nd in the quality of its mathematics and science education, according to the World economic Forum.

EDUCATION

October 2014

Continued on next page

The Washington Diplomat

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MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA FAILURES U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Ford faced down angry mobs when the Syrian war broke out.

Then he turned his own anger on Washington, leaving a 30-year Foreign Service career to protest U.S. inaction in the face of growing atrocities in Syria. “My conscience would not allow me to continue,” said the veteran envoy , who’s now an outspoken critic about American failures in the region. 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. first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes MIDDLE EAST PEOPLE OF WORLDThe INFLUENCE will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved.

Professor Gauges Mideast Temperature

Kurds Take Lead Against ISIS in Iraq

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Karwan Zebari doesn’t run an official Shibley Telhami has been trying to figure out the embassy but the political entity he speaks __________________________________________________________ Middle East byApproved going straight to the source for more Changes ___________________________________________________________ for, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, than two decades, and he’s found that the U.S. doesn’t ___________________________________________________________________ is enjoying unprecedented visibility as always fully appreciate the enduring blunders it has Washington leans on the Kurds to save made — i.e. Iraq — in fomenting anti-American Iraq from the Islamic State. PAGE 8 sentiment in the region. PAGE 4 ADVERTISEMENT

Czechs Take Page Out of Franz Kafka The Czech Embassy pays tribute to literary legend Franz Kafka with its annual Mutual Inspirations Festival. PAGE 38

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The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

CONTENTS thE WashINgtON DIPLOmat

Fall in D.C.

[ news ] 4

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE Shibley Telhami has been trying to figure out the Middle East by going straight to the source for more than two decades.

6

18

21

After dreaming of independence for nearly a century, the kurds are emerging as the West’s great white hope to drive the islamic State out of iraq.

11

UN-DIPLOSPEAK The language of 21st-century diplomacy can be fluid and unforgiving, but why is there such a disparity between blunt private talk and vanilla public statements? And why are diplomats in some parts of the world more “undiplomatic” than others?

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ALL ABOARD! From the Chesapeake Bay to the Pacific northwest, U.S. ports are handling record cargo volumes, and calling for an influx of investment to sustain the growth.

15

COVER: Photo taken at the Middle East Institute by Lawrence Ruggeri.

MEDICAL

[ education ] 23

28

Fall is many Washingtonians’ favorite season, and area hotels know how to help visitors and residents alike take full advantage of autumn.

[ culture ] 38

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MUTUAL INSPIRATIONS literary legend Franz kafka is the focal point of this year’s Mutual inspirations Festival, hosted by the Czech Embassy to showcase influential Czechs.

WOMEN TAKE CAMERA Female artists historically struggled to get noticed in a male-dominated field, but they were early pioneers in one area: video art and its predecessor, photography.

41

NEGLECTED ART When it comes to Italian art, the turbulent 19th century is not the obvious time period that comes to mind, but the national gallery is shedding light on a prolific but underappreciated era of prints and drawings.

42

DINING richard Sandoval adds to his growing local empire with Toro Toro, a pan-Latin steakhouse with a sister restaurant in dubai.

There’s probably no better way to get a feel for a school than to attend one of the area’s many open houses.

FALL INTO FUN

THEATER Awkward tension simmers in “Belleville,” Studio Theatre’s edgy production of Amy herzog’s dark and twisted play about relationships, deception and dejection.

OPENING DOORS

[ hotels & travel ] 33

39

STEMMING THE ROT American kids lag behind in science, technology, engineering and math, but local high schools are trying to STEM the rot in U.S. education.

COVER PROFILE: SYRIA U.S. Ambassador robert S. Ford faced down angry protesters for supporting the opposition when Syria’s civil war broke out. Then he turned his own anger on Washington, quitting a 30-year career to protest U.S. inaction in the face of appalling atrocities.

OBAMA’S INNER CIRCLE

The evolution of hiv/AidS from a death sentence into a manageable chronic disease has brought with it what health experts call a “great problem to have.”

ISIS’S APPEAL

KURDS TO THE RESCUE

Neglected Italian art

Three members of Barack obama’s inner circle have released memoirs that shed light on a complex presidency.

The islamic State’s ideological appeal has attracted hundreds of foreign fighters to its ruthless cause, alarming governments around the world.

8

41

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21 HIV/AIDS

october 2014

44

FILM REVIEWS kevin kline inherits what he thinks will be his salvation in Paris; instead he gets a stubborn tenant, her troubled daughter and a roof full of past secrets in “My old lady.”

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CINEMA LISTING

48

EVENTS LISTING

50

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

53

APPOINTMENTS

53

WORLD HOLIDAYS

54

CLASSIFIEDS

55

REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIEDS

P.O. Box 1345 • Silver Spring, MD 20915-1345 • Phone: (301) 933-3552 • fax: (301) 949-0065 • e-mail: news@washdiplomat.com • Web: www.washdiplomat.com Publisher/Editor-in-Chief victor Shiblie Director of Operations Fuad Shiblie Managing Editor Anna gawel News Editor larry luxner Contributing Writers Sarah Alaoui, Michael Coleman, rachel hunt, Stephanie kanowitz, Sean lyngaas, ky n. nguyen, gail Scott, gina Shaw, John Shaw, dave Seminara, gary Tischler, lisa Troshinsky, karin zeitvogel 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.

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October 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 3

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

Shibley Telhami

To Figure Out Middle East, Professor Polls the People

by Michael Coleman

A

s Shibley Telhami watches chaos and violence blaze across the Middle East, his thoughts return again and again to America’s fateful decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago. Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy, contends that the invasion triggered much of today’s strife in the war-torn, seemingly rudderless region.

He argues that if the United States had focused on crushing as-Qaeda inAfghanistan instead of invading Iraq, the region might not now be confronted with the terrifying prospect of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS and ISIL).

The group, a descendant of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq — whose tactics were deemed too brutal even for al-Qaeda — consists of battle-hardened Sunni militants who spent years battling U.S. forces during the war. Alienated from the Shiite government that the U.S. installed, they have now used their military prowess to help seize large tracts of Iraq and Syria.

The Iraq War “has been disastrous in more ways than one,” Telhami told The Diplomat in a telephone interview from Morocco, where he was speaking at a conference on the rapidly changing Arab world.

“It led to the disintegration of the state.

When you have no central authority, it creates the perfect home for non-state actors, including terrorist groups.

“Even if it comes back, Iraq is not going to have the kind of weight that it used to have,” he added.

Telhami, who is among America’s leading experts on the difficult but critical task of polling Middle Eastern opinion, said the U.S. government underestimated the farreaching implications of overthrowing Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein and opening the lid on sectarian animosity between the country’s minority Sunnis and majority Shiites.

The Sunni-Shiite fault line is now tearing the region apart, as Iran and Saudi Arabia compete for hegemony and the Arab world’s unprecedented experiment with democracy falters amid clashes between Islamists, secularists and old-guard autocrats. Telhami said the Arab Spring that began in late 2010 — a period of intense upheaval that continues in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere — might have resulted in a true renewal of the region’s sclerotic regimes if the Iraq War had never happened.

“If the Arab uprisings had emerged and we hadn’t had the Iraq War, and we had recruited our allies to defeat al-Qaeda and had different relationships with the rest of the world, our ability to respond would

Page 4

have been different and al-Qaeda and its allies would have been weaker,” he argues.

“Instead, it has unleashed a process that is very difficult to control.”

Of course, while Telhami can’t help but think of what might have been, the professor, political scientist and international lecturer is fully engaged in the present. His second full-length book, “The World through Arab Eyes,” was published last year and Foreign Policy magazine described it as “a masterful summation of more than a decade of [Telhami’s] systematic public opinion research across the Arab world.”

Telhami’s best-selling book “The Stakes: America and the Middle East” was selected

by Foreign Affairs as one of the top five books on the region in 2003. He’s written multiple other academic publications and also often appears on C-SPAN and NPR, as well as on public affairs television programs such as “This Week” and “Nightline.”

“

The U.S. has the power to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East, but not the power to decide where the cards will fall.

”

— Shibley Telhami

Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland

Telhami was born into an Arab family in Israel and is fluent in Arabic, Hebrew and English. While the language proficiency allows him to navigate the complexities of the Middle East, his vast experience in Washington has helped him cultivate a reputation as the rare expert who can bridge the sometimes-daunting gap between East and West.Telhami has served as advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, as well as to Democratic Rep. Lee H. Hamilton and special envoy George Mitchell. He has been a member of the U.S. delegation to the Trilateral U.S.­­-Israeli­­Palestinian Anti-Incitement Committee

Photo: Brookings Institution

and the Iraq Study Group, and is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Today, Telhami is once again concerned that the United States is heading down an unpredictable and perilous path in the Middle East as President Barack Obama vows to “destroy” the Islamic State.

“The U.S. has the power to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East, but not the power to decide where the cards will fall,”Telhami warned.

In an address to the nation from the White House the day before the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Obama spoke about America’s comprehensive strategy to eradicate the terrorist group, while vowing that the country won’t get dragged into another ground war.

The strategy Obama outlined includes additional non-combat troops to help train Iraqi and Kurdish forces (bringing the number of American troops in Iraq to roughly 1,600) and a systemic campaign of airstrikes in Iraq and, more recently, Syria.The

plan also calls for military assistance and training for moderate rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; a counterterrorism offensive to cut off funding for the Islamic State, counter its ideology and stem the flow of foreign fighters joining the group; humanitarian assistance to the region; and building a coalition of more than 40 allies to help in the effort, including a more inclusive Iraqi government and Arab partner nations.

“Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy,” Obama said, using an alternative acronym, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Telhami said he was uncomfortable with the president’s speech, noting that it possibly raised more questions than it answered. He objected to Obama’s use of the word “destroy” to describe his goal.The professor said he didn’t object to Obama’s desire to destroy the terrorist group, of course, but to what he said might be the creation of an unrealistic expectation.

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Indeed, some experts point out that the term say their aim isn’t confronting America per se; it is “destroy” suggests a comprehensive military vicactually changing rulers in the Muslim world and tory, which might not be possible with enemies folding them into a new Islamic caliphate.” like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, whose strength That’s why Telhami argues that the Obama may be diminished but whose ideology remains administration should be urging those countries very much alive. most threatened by the Islamic State to take the “I’m very uncomfortable with words like lead. ‘destroy,’”Telhami said.“You can weaken, you can The administration has been working to forge a degrade and you can minimize the threat.You can coalition of partners with more influence on the do all of that, but destroy — I don’t know what ground so that it doesn’t appear as if Washington that means. The term sounds strong and decisive is waging a war against Sunni Islam. Saudi Arabia in terms of public opinion, but it can come back has agreed to provide a base to train moderate to haunt you. It’s pretty hard to claim victory Syrian rebels, although the extent of its military because a group can morph into another group. contributions remains to be seen.While the Saudis In some ways, ISIL is the morphing of al-Qaeda. It have recently denounced the Islamic State, their may help [Obama] in the short term and hurt him country also gave birth to the extreme brand of down the road.”

Salafism that the group preaches.

Obama did, however, caution that it “will take Nine other Arab states also pledged assistance time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL.” — and Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab “We can’t erase every trace of evil from the Emirates participated in the initial wave of strikes world, and small groups of killers have the capaclast month against the Islamic State in Syria. Each ity to do great harm,” he said. “That was the case ally, though, has its own limitations — Jordan and before 9/11, and that remains true today.

And Lebanon, for example, have been straining under and NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and CrEdiT: U.S. ArMy PhoTo By STAFF SgT. lynETTE hokE that’s why we must remain vigilant as threats the weight to of make millionsthe of Syrian refugees. Turkey, content it is ultimately up to the customer final proof. content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. emerge.At this moment, the greatest threats come Troops, guests and media from around the world watch as the last convoy of U.S. service members enters which is eager to see Assad go, did not sign the from the Middle East and North Africa, where radi- kuwait from iraq on dec. 18, 2011. Shibley Telhami argues that even though President obama ended the iraq communiqué even though its border with Syria firstlegacy two faxed changes will made at no to the advertiser, subsequent changes The first faxed changes willfor betheir made no cost the advertiser, subsequent changes War to three years ago, the ill-planned invasion of Iraq leftThe a lasting of anti-Americanism in thebe region. caltwo groups exploit grievances ownatgain. hascost become a magnet for foreign fighters. Qatar, will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration.

Signed ads are considered approved. will beAnd billed a rate of $75 one ofatthose groups is ISIL.per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved.

Saudi Arabia and various Gulf states have also been “ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and sim“Could,” of course, is not the same thing as “will.” ities, amassed substantial cash and weapons, and a major source of funding and weapons for the Please check this ad carefully.

Markcrew any changes ad. war, ple, ” Obama added.

“If left unchecked these terror- Mark Telhami saidchanges it sounded asto if Obama changing held more territory than al-Qaeda ever did. But motley of rebels fightingtoin your Syria’s civil Please check this ad carefully. any yourwas ad. ists could pose a growing threat beyond that his tune on his previous criticism of the preemp- security officials, including Obama’s own counter- fueling the bloodshed and bolstering some of the region, including to the United States.” tion doctrine of former President George W. Bush, chief, saysign there’s nofax evidence the Islamic very Islamists who’ve turned their guns on If theterrorism ad is correct and to: (301) 949-0065 needs now changes f the ad is The correct signsaid andthat faxwhile to: (301) 949-0065 needs changes president the United States who decided that the United States should depose State is plotting 9/11-style attacks on the U.S., or Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraq’s new prime minister, Haider has “not yet detected specific plotting against our foreign regimes that represented a potential secu- even capable of doing so. al-Abadi, is essentially cut from the same political The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 The Washington (301) 933-3552 homeland,Diplomat ISIL leaders have threatened America rity threat, even if that threat was not imminent. It “He failed to essentially define how ISIL pres- cloth as his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki, whose and our allies.” was a legal interpretation that Obama himself ents a grave threat to the United States of America,” Shiite Dawa party marginalized the country’s Approved “Our intelligence community believes that denounced as a senator.

Telhami__________________________________________________________ said of Obama’s speech. “He said they Sunnis and sent them into the arms of Islamic Approved __________________________________________________________ thousands of foreigners — including Europeans Telhami told The Diplomat he wasn’t sure if the could ___________________________________________________________ become a threat to the United States and State militants.

Changes Changes and ___________________________________________________________ 371277 or/an Kettler: some Americans — have joined them in Syria Islamic State’s rise in the region warranted U.S. that is hardly a justification explanation.OvationTelhami argues that the entire region has to ___________________________________________________________________ and Iraq,” Obama said. “Trained and battle-hard- military intervention. Experts agree that the group “In the short term, the main threat isn’t to the put more skin in the game to protect its own ___________________________________________________________________ ened, these fighters could try to return to their — which may possibly have 30,000 or more fight- U.S.; it’s actually our regional allies,” he added.“It’s home countries and carry out deadly attacks.” ers — has terrorized civilians and religious minor- a threat to everyone in the Middle East.They [ISIL] See TelhaMi, page 14

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October 2014

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International Affairs

Middle East

Islamic State Foreign Fighters Prompt Look at Radicalization

by Sean Lyngaas

S

ince the so-called “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria plunged violently into the Western consciousness over the summer, the natural question to ask, whether you’re a policymaker, pundit or concerned citizen, has been: How could this have possibly happened?

How could a marauding army of perhaps tens of thousands of fighters emerge seemingly overnight, conquer large parts of Iraq and Syria, and declare an oil-rich caliphate? That question will prompt short- and medium-term military and political answers to the ISIS threat, whether through airstrikes and the anti-ISIS coalition that U.S. President Barack Obama has assembled, or through efforts to make the Iraqi government less sectarian.

But there is another question that counterterrorism experts are asking, the answer to which might address the problem in the long term: Is this a new mold of radicalization, or a bridge from the past?

Experts say the oft-used prism for studying radicalization based on how well “integrated” Muslims are into society, as measured by education, vocation, wealth or some other rubric, is insufficient in explaining ISIS’s appeal to its sympathizers in the United Kingdom.

Communal narratives countering extremism, coming from British Muslims themselves, may prove to be more important in dulling the allure of groups like ISIS than any abstract measure of “integration.”

As several hundred Britons have left the U.K. to fight for ISIS, the problem is more acute, and personal, in the United Kingdom than the United States, although both sides of the Atlantic are now scrambling to better understand the group — and what to even call it. After being variously referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or al-Sham (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by Western media, as well as Daesh, an Arabic acronym, its members declared that they would simply be known as the Islamic State.

But many rightly argue that referring to ISIS as the “Islamic State” is an affront to the vast majority of the world’s more than 1.6 billion Muslims who are peaceful.

Several British Muslim groups recently sent a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron arguing that the group should be referred to as the “Un-Islamic State” and that any reference to the “Islamic State” is a slur upon the Muslim faith. In a nationally televised address, U.S. President Barack Obama said the group is “not Islamic,” adding, “No religion condones the killing of innocents.

And the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim.”

What the Numbers Tell Us Despite the group’s atrocities, its ranks are apparently growing. The exact number of ISIS fighters is unknown.

The CIA recently said the number could range from 20,000 to 31,500, a huge jump from a previous assessment of 10,000 fighters. Included in, or perhaps overlapping with, that swath of people are an estimated 15,000

Page 6

“

Credit: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eli J. Medellin

The ideas and the ideology and the theology that underpin [ISIS] have really gone unchallenged and unchecked. As a society, I think we’ve failed to tackle them.

— Haras Rafiq

”

outreach officer at the Quilliam Foundation

foreign fighters who have gone to Syria, CNN reported on Sept. 12, citing a CIA source. Of those 15,000, about 2,000 are Westerners, according to the report.

Zooming in further, U.S. officials estimate that over 100 Americans have left or signaled intent to leave to fight in Syria, though the number of those identified by the U.S. government as successfully joining ISIS was reportedly less than a dozen as of August.

The likelihood of these Americans returning to the United States undetected seems slim.Will McCants, director of the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, says that given how closely authorities are tracking Americans who have joined ISIS, it will be “awfully hard for them to get into this country undetected.”

In his Sept. 10 speech laying out a strategy to “degrade and destroy” ISIS, Obama said that “we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland” coming from ISIS, but added that its capability could develop if the group was left unchecked.

British Prime Minister Cameron, on the other hand,

The remnants of a car bomb are strewn on a street outside the Al Sabah newspaper office in the Waziryia district of Baghdad, Iraq, in 2006. Many of today’s battle-hardened Islamic State militants who have captured parts of Syria and Iraq are descendants of an al-Qaeda affiliate that fought American troops during the Iraq War.

has depicted ISIS as a direct threat to Britain.The beheading of American journalist James Foley by a supposed British citizen “was clear evidence … that this is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home that we can hope to ignore,” Cameron said in an Aug. 29 speech, two weeks before a British aid worker was also beheaded, possibly by the same executioner who killed Foley. “The ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat to our own security here in the U.K.” That British citizens are so prominently involved in the crimes of ISIS seems to partly underpin Cameron’s argument for beating back the group’s advances. But it is not a new national identity crisis, rather something with which Britain and its citizens have long wrestled.

Britain Revisits an Old Problem ISIS’s threat to the British Isles and continental Europe is likely more acute because of the greater number of Europeans fighting for ISIS and the relative ease with which one can travel from Europe to the Middle East, experts say.

Many recruiters to militant Islamic causes tend to be foreign fighters who have returned home to various parts of Europe, whereas there are fewer active recruiters in the United States, according to McCants.The presence of militants-turned-recruiters in Europe “creates a self-reinforcing cycle” that helps a pipeline of foreign fighters flow from Europe to the Middle East, he added.

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Estimates of the number of Britons fighting in Iraq and Syria vary. Prime Minister Cameron recently said at least 500 people have left Britain to fight in Syria and “potentially Iraq.” Another British government estimate reckons that 800 Britons are fighting for ISIS, according to a recent USA Today report.

The difficulty of getting precise data on foreign fighters underlines the challenge authorities have in tracking and preventing their citizens from returning and carrying out domestic attacks.

Britain’s immigration ministry has “very complicated matrices” to try to determine how many people have left the country to fight in the Middle East, but still struggles to narrow the number down, said Haras Rafiq, an outreach officer at Quilliam Foundation, a London-based counterextremism think tank.

But whatever the exact number of Britons lured by ISIS or other terrorist groups in the region, it is substantial and has British authorities worried. The psychology at play when a Britishaccented jihadist beheads a British citizen on camera adds an existential dimension to the threat.

British authorities, and British society as a whole, have been grappling with the threat of radicalized Islamists for some time. On July 7, 2005, four young men who grew up in Britain detonated a series of bombs in London that killed 52 people. That homegrown horror prompted self-reflection and soul-searching, and a U.K. government task force to counter extremism (of which Rafiq was a part).

More than nine years later, the issue remains hanging in the balance. British writer and intellectual Kenan Malik wrote in 2011 of a “failed policy of multiculturalism” that U.K. authorities adopted in an effort to better integrate British Muslims into society after they faced xenophobic violence in the 1980s.“Politicians effectively abandoned their responsibility to engage directly with minorities, subcontracting it out to often reactionary ‘leaders,’” he wrote.

October 2014

Photo: Menendj / Wikimedia Commons

Two armed Iraqi insurgents belong to a faction that carried out attacks on American and coalition forces during the Iraq War. Some Islamic State militants in Iraq are homegrown Sunnis who have turned against the Shiite-led government, although nearly 2,000 fighters from around the world have also joined the group, for myriad ideological and practical reasons.

A December 2013 report on extremism produced by Cameron’s office suggests that the U.K. government retains this top-down approach to combating extremism by engaging civic leaders.

“Many institutions do not have the capacity to play their full part in challenging extremists, even when they want to,” the report said. “The government has a role in leading this challenge, ensuring that communities where extremists operate, and the organizations working against extremists, have the capability to confront it themselves.”

Changing the Narrative There may be only so much government can do to intervene at the civic level without appear-

ing divisive toward a Muslim minority. There are communal narratives of isolation — the notion that one cannot be both British and Muslim — that are likely best countered by British Muslims themselves.

“I think education on a community level of these specific issues needs to change. I think education of clerics giving sermons in mosques needs to change,” said Bilal Baloch, a Ph.D. candidate at Oxford University, who grew up among the large South Asian diaspora in east London.

“American scholars seem to have grappled with intellectually the counter-narrative far more strongly in the U.S. than they have in the U.K., where I feel as though it’s less of a counter-narrative and more of a preventive means to stop

the export of fighters,” he added.

Rafiq, of the Quilliam Foundation, agreed on the urgent need for a communal counter-narrative to radical Islam.“The ideas and the ideology and the theology that underpin it have really gone unchallenged and unchecked. As a society, I think we’ve failed to tackle them,” he said.

Communal narratives of Islamic extremism aside, there may be something more straightforward that spurs young Britons, or Westerners for that matter, to join ISIS: a desire to be on the winning side of a revolution. ISIS has in a short time conquered land slightly larger than Britain itself, according to a Washington Post report that cited data from the National Counterterrorism Center.

Britons sympathetic to ISIS’s cause may think, “‘How is it possible that ISIS could have taken part of Iraq so quickly against a powerful enemy, a powerful army, unless God [was] on their side?’” said Rafiq. “This has emboldened a lot of people.”

Some ISIS converts may believe they’re joining a noble cause by standing up to perceived Western dominance or indifference in the region, particularly in Syria, where nearly 200,000 people have been killed in the violence. Idealism — and hatred for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — may be as much of a motivating factor as religion is for people searching for meaning in their lives. Other recruits are lured by ISIS’s promises of power and glory, packaged together in a slick jihadist social media campaign capable of penetrating the comfortable middle-class confines of Britain.

In that sense, a military response to ISIS could have unintended consequences for the group’s ability to attract Britons to its bloody cause. For the old wound caused by poisonous narratives of British-Muslim identity to heal, it may take a deeper understanding of local dynamics wholly unrelated to airstrikes in the Middle East.

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

The Washington Diplomat Page 7

International Relations

Middle East

Kurds Take Center Stage In Battle Against Islamic State

by Larry Luxner

K

arwan Zebari isn’t a career diplomat, an ambassador or even officially the head of a foreign mission here. But the political entity he speaks for — Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government — is suddenly enjoying unprecedented visibility as President Obama enlists allies around the world to help him crush the bloodthirsty Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and restore a measure of stability to a dangerously combustible region.

“My leadership highly values Washington.We have a lot of friends on the Hill, at think tanks and in the academic world,” Zebari told us in a Sept. 8 interview at his office.“Everybody now realizes ISIS is a threat to the Kurds and our national security.”

That’s big talk for a 31-year-old electrical engineer with no Photo: James (Jim) Gordon of New York City, USA / Wikimedia Commons previous diplomatic experience or background in world affairs. But these are heady times for the 5.3 million inhabit- A member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) stands watch on the Turkish border, in plain view of a checkpoint atop a nearby bluff manned ants of Iraqi Kurdistan, who have been dreaming of indepen- by a member of the Peshmerga, the regional militia of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq. The U.S. is walking a fine line providing military dence for nearly 100 years. Denied statehood when the assistance to the Peshmerga without alienating Turkey or other nations that fear secessionist moves from their own Kurdish populations. boundaries of the Middle East were redrawn by European bid to help the outgunned Kurds. It remains to be seen, powers after World War I and persecuted for years by Iraqi you’re looking for a success story as a result of Operation though, how much direct assistance Obama will offer Kurds strong­man Saddam Hussein, the Kurds finally achieved auton- Iraqi Freedom, you can point to the Kurdish region. To this day, not a single American soldier or civilian contractor has in that country; Turkey would most likely oppose efforts to omy after the U.S.-led war, but not a nation of their own. strengthen Kurdish fighters on its border.

In fact, Kurds are often considered the largest ethnic been killed or wounded in the Kurdish region.”

That could change, of course, if American troops are sent Zebari says everyone should be doing more to help the group of stateless people on the planet. Of the world’s 30 million Kurds, roughly 14 million live in Turkey, 8 million in into key battle zones, though Zebari says that won’t be nec- region’s beleaguered Kurds in a conflict that transcends essary. borders and traditional alliances.

Iran, 5 million in Iraq, 2 million in Syria and “The international community must step up the rest in the diaspora.

Nations like Turkey worry that this large, While U.S. airstrikes have disrupted ISIS defenses and assist those at the frontlines of destroying ISIS — including the Kurds in Syria — to make sure restive population of Kurds could threaten ISIS stops its acts of genocide. There are 200,000 their territorial integrity. While Turkey has and relieved pressure on the Kurdish security forces, Kurds leaving Syria trying to enter Turkey. We significantly improved ties with its Kurdish Kurdistan continues to face significant equipment and hope that Turkey will show its positive side of minority and maintains good relations with letting people in until ISIS is eliminated.We underthe Kurdish region of Iraq, independence logistical concerns when it comes to fighting ISIS. stand that Turkey is overwhelmed with a number would be a red line for Ankara. Washington of refugees over the past three years due to the also considers the PKK, a Kurdish group — Karwan Zebari conflict in Syria, [but] Turkey is a country of fighting Turkey, to be a terrorist organization, director of congressional and academic affairs nearly 80 million people. I think it is very well complicating support for a separate Kurdish for the Kurdistan Regional Government in the U.S. capable of helping them,” Zebari told us. guerrilla force that’s fighting jihadists in Now that the focus is turning back to Syria, however, neighboring Syria.

“We’re not calling for [U.S.] boots on the ground because Zebari wants the U.S. to know that the job isn’t finished in Nevertheless, the United States is now relying on Kurdish militias known collectively as the Peshmerga to play a cen- we already have boots on the ground,” he said, instead urging Iraq, where Kurdish Peshmerga forces remain splintered among different militia factions and never received the kind tral role in the campaign against ISIS in Iraq. The Obama expanded airstrikes.

President Obama has done just that, dropping hundreds of weaponry and training that the U.S. gave to the Iraqi Army administration will have to carefully calibrate its support, though, so as not to alienate the central government in of bombs against ISIS positions in Iraq, including in and in Baghdad.

“While U.S. airstrikes have disrupted ISIS defenses and Baghdad,Turkey or the Gulf monarchies funding Syria’s reb- around Erbil, the Kurdish capital. The airstrikes have halted ISIS’s advance, but neither the Iraqis nor the Kurds have relieved pressure on the Kurdish security forces, Kurdistan els — a balancing act that reflects the shifting, convoluted continues to face significant equipment and logistical conalliances unleashed by both the Syrian civil war and the U.S.- been able to claw back any territory.

More recently, the United States, joined by Saudi Arabia, cerns when it comes to fighting ISIS. They are still underled war in Iraq.

In fact, many blame the U.S. invasion for giving birth to the Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, targeted equipped when it comes to advancing further,” Zebari said, Islamic State, whose Sunni recruits fought American troops the Islamic State and another al-Qaeda-affiliated offshoot in explaining that his 100,000 active troops and 80,000 reservand felt disenfranchised by the Shiite-led government Syria, marking America’s first military foray into that country ists need more than light weapons and ammunition from Washington. installed by Washington. Yet Zebari says the 40,000-square- since its civil war broke out in 2011.

The Sept. 23 strikes came just days after Kurdish pleas to “The Peshmerga is a professional, organized army,” he said. kilometer wedge of northern Iraq under Kurdish control stands as a crowning achievement of that controversial con- prevent ISIS fighters from overrunning Kurdish towns near “There’s a will, unlike what we saw in Mosul, where [the flict — a territory that is more strategically important than Turkey, which closed stretches of its border after an influx of Iraqi army] abandoned their weapons and walked away.”

130,000 refugees, on top of the 1.5 million Syrians it’s ISIS’s blitzkrieg on Mosul in early June, and the Iraqi ever.

“Look at the geographic location of Kurdistan. It’s the already hosting. Shortly after the initial U.S. offensive in Syria, army’s embarrassing retreat did indeed stun Obama into most stable, prosperous, safest part of Iraq,” he insisted. “If airstrikes hit villages along the Turkish border in an apparent action, despite ending America’s unpopular entanglement in

“

”

Page 8

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Iraq in 2011.To be fair, nobody in Washington accurately predicted the sudden rise of ISIS and its slaughter of religious minorities and, indeed, any Muslim who disagrees with the group’s fanatical interpretation of Islam.

Yet Zebari said the KRG gave the Obama administration ample warning of what might come next.

“We alerted both Washington and Baghdad that ISIS would ultimately move into Mosul, which is right at our doorstep. But Baghdad never saw it as a serious threat,” he told The Diplomat.“Iraqi security forces collapsed within a matter of hours, and all this heavy U.S. military equipment fell into the hands of ISIS. On June 9, a senior-level delegation came to Washington and made its case for beefing up security assistance.”

Two months later, ISIS fighters were only 25 miles from Erbil when airstrikes ordered by the White House stopped their advance.

“The administration came to the defense of Erbil for a range of reasons,” according to a frontpage article in the Wall Street Journal. “It already saw the Peshmerga as trusted allies in a volatile region.

“The combination of bombing runs, replenished ammunition and help for Peshmerga from guerrillas of the PKK and the group in Syria changed fortunes on the ground,” the Journal said. “The jihadists were pushed out of the towns on the road to Erbil and then from the Mosul Dam, which they had seized earlier.”

Beyond the impending humanitarian disaster that Obama cited as justification for the intervention, Erbil is home to a sprawling U.S. consulate as well as U.S. multinationals that have invested billions of dollars in the region’s booming oil industry.

“The U.S. is acting in its own interests,” said Zebari. “If the Kurdish region were to be taken over by ISIS, that would have been an incredible blow. They could have disrupted lives and done a lot of damage.They had heavy military equipment in their hands.Their artillery was in the range of a few miles of reaching the airport.”

However, U.S. help to Kurdish interests appar-

Photo: U.S. State Department

Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks with reporters during a meeting with Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani in Erbil in June 2014.

Photo: Adam Jones, Ph.D. / Wikimedia Commons

Prior to the Islamic State’s recent invasion of Iraq, the semiautonomous Kurdish region was a rare economic bright spot in the war-torn nation. Above, shoppers browse a bazaar in Erbil in 2011.

ently came at a price: The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has agreed to postpone a referendum on independence, which it has the right to carry out under Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution.

“Our priorities have absolutely changed. When you have ISIS at your doorstep and your Peshmerga forces are stretched along a 1,035-kilometer border, you have to make sure your people are safe and secure before you can carry out any referendums,” Zebari said.

Robert Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to both Iraq and Syria (see cover profile), said the idea of Kurdish independence is admirable but extremely risky.

“I certainly understand the yearnings of Kurds to have their own state. Would it be economically viable? Maybe, but that depends on the neighboring countries.The Kurds would have to work with

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them if they declared independence, and Arabs in Iraq would say you’re ripping our country apart,” he said.

“Doing it unilaterally, without reference to neighbors or other Iraqi citizens, is very dangerous and puts at risk a lot of the gains on the ground.

Iraqi Kurds are surrounded by other groups on all sides.”

Washington seems to agree.A State Department official told Reuters that any moves toward independence for Kurdistan at this time “are pretty disruptive and counterproductive.”

The official, speaking on background, added: “We do recognize, though, that you can’t unscramble this egg.There’s not going to be a return to the status quo.” (For one thing, Kurdish forces used the chaos this summer to capture disputed territory, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.) The official said there would be discussions between Baghdad

and Erbil “about devolution of authority and potentially some greater autonomy.”

The dream of Kurdish autonomy has endured for nearly a century. Speaking to this newspaper seven years ago, Qubad Talabani — Zebari’s predecessor — told us that “all our problems started with the inception of Iraq. It was an artificial state with artificial boundaries. Nobody asked us if we wanted to be part of Iraq” (also see “Violence in Iraq Threatens Kurdish ‘Island of Stability’” in the September 2007 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

Zebari’s official role here is director of congressional and academic affairs — making him one of five directors at the KRG mission, which also has directors of community, diplomatic, political and public affairs. He arrived in August 2012 following the departure of Talabani, the mission’s chief, who became deputy prime minister of the KRG (and who is the second son of former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani).

Yet in practice, Zebari is the mission’s de facto chief, overseeing a staff of 11. Born in the town of Duhok, near Iraq’s border with Turkey and Syria,

Continued on next page

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The city of Sulaimaniya in the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq is home to more than 1.5 million people.

Photo: Adam Jones, Ph.D. / Wikimedia Commons

Continued from previous page Zebari came to the United States in 1997, earned a graduate degree in engineering and settled in upstate New York, where he worked for aerospace and defense contractors.

But he was always involved with Kurdish issues at the grassroots level. In 2006, the KRG established its own mission in Washington, and three years later moved into its current location — an elegant fivestory mansion on 16th Street.

Zebari refused to say what it costs to run his office, though last year the KRG spent $1.7 million on high-powered lobbyists and consultants including Patton Boggs, Greenberg Traurig, Qorvis, and BGR Group.

Asked to name Kurdistan’s best friends on Capitol Hill, Zebari began ticking off names of senators: Carl Levin (D-Mich.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). On the House side, he said,“there’s a whole Kurdistan caucus consisting of about 54 members split right down the middle.”

According to the Wall Street Journal article, the Kurds’ American contacts came in handy when Erbil was sounding the alarm about ISIS. ““The administration was having trouble getting the Iraqi government to let the Pentagon directly rearm the Kurds … because Iraqi leaders in Baghdad wanted supplies to go through them to avoid fueling Kurdish efforts to gain greater autonomy,” the article said. “While [KRG President Masoud] Barzani and his aides worked the phones, lobbyists for the Kurds and for U.S. companies roamed Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to press the administration to step up support.

Some did so, concerned about the Kurds and U.S. investments.”

Investment is sorely needed in Iraqi Kurdistan, one of the few economic bright spots in the war-torn country, at least until recently.

Zebari said the strain of dealing with 1.1 million internally displaced

refugees and another 300,000 fleeing the chaos in Syria must be addressed. “These displaced persons have taken a toll on the economy,” he said.“On top of that, Baghdad has held the KRG’s budget hostage for the past nine months, exceeding $9 billion.”

Under a power-sharing agreement, the KRG is entitled to 17 percent of all national revenues based on the Kurdish region’s proportion of Iraq’s total population. But “since the beginning of this year,” Zebari complained,“we have not received a single penny.”

The inability to pay the salaries of Peshmerga soldiers partly contributed to ISIS’s battlefield successes, but the Kurds are also to blame for their own financial woes. The KRG has been trying to bypass Baghdad and sell its own oil on the world market. In retaliation, the central government in Iraq cut off payments to the Kurds and stepped up a legal offensive against the KRG after it tried to unload a tanker of crude oil off the coast of Texas earlier this year.

“At stake is the U.S. goal of a unified Iraq, and the Obama administration is stuck in the middle of the dispute,” wrote Steven Mufson of the Washington Post.“Having invested tremendous effort in securing Iraqi federalism and its constitution — which says oil belongs to the entire republic — the administration has been discouraging companies and countries from buying the Kurdish oil cargoes.”

Instead of further partitioning the fragile country, Obama has been trying to encourage a more inclusive central government. After intense pressure from Washington, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki resigned in August after eight years in office. Maliki — who was replaced by Haider al-Abadi — had been accused of monopolizing power and promoting divisive sectarianism that strengthened Shiites at the expense of minority Sunnis, some of whom threw their support behind ISIS. “ISIS was able to gain momentum from inside Iraq because of the lack of leadership and the marginalization of Sunni Muslims by Maliki,” Zebari claimed. “In Iraq, I think you can blame almost all of it on

Maliki.”

Yet that argument doesn’t hold water, counters political analyst Zack Beauchamp, who says that blaming Maliki alone “misses the real drivers of sectarianism in Iraq,” as well as the complicated, multifaceted sources of support ISIS enjoys.

“To take one example, many Sunnis wrongly believe that they’re the largest demographic group in Iraq,” Beauchamp wrote on the Vox website. “This belief, spread during Saddam’s time to justify Sunni minority rule, leads Sunnis to see any government they don’t head up as fundamentally unjust. Neither Maliki nor his also-Shiite successor [al-Abadi] can fix that.”

The Kurds, who almost torpedoed al-Abadi’s appointment, aren’t giving the new prime minister much room to maneuver.They issued him a three-month ultimatum to resolve longstanding disputes or else they will pull their support from his government. Among the conditions they’ve laid out: unfreezing salaries, arming Peshmerga fighters and settling the status of Kirkuk.

Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) argued in a recent policy brief that the United States should push al-Abadi to fulfill some of the Kurds’ demands, including paying KRG salaries and funding the Peshmerga.

“A wider international effort to destroy ISIS would be far longer and more costly without the KRG, which can provide secure basing and direct access to over a thousand miles of the group’s frontlines in northern Iraq and, importantly, Kurdish-populated parts of eastern Syria,” he wrote.

Several European countries, including Germany and Britain, have already agreed to arm the Kurds, while the Obama administration has brought together a coalition of more than 40 nations — including 10 Arab countries — to “destroy” ISIS. In mid-September, diplomats from dozens of nations meeting in Paris pledged to help Iraq fight ISIS “by all means necessary.”

Zebari says it will take all the resources the West can muster to counter one of the most well-funded militant groups in recent memory — one that, by some estimates, earns $1 million to $3 million a day from oil smuggling, extortion, taxes, crime and private Gulf donations.

“Whoever’s funding ISIS is nobody’s friend. It’s a cancer.We have to get rid of this security threat before we move on,” Zebari said.“It’s an ideology that’ll take years to get rid of and destroy. Look how long it took to dismantle al-Qaeda.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Diplomacy

Fluency Varies in Language Of 21st-Century Diplomacy

by Dave Seminara

T

he language of diplomacy in the 21st century comes in all shapes and sizes, ranging from carefully parsed press releases to confrontational tweets to diplomatic doublespeak that only the author could possibly understand.

Diplomats from Western nations, particularly the United States, tend to be more cautious and less frank in their public statements compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world, especially the developing world. But as the world knows thanks to WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden and the intelligence agencies that have bugged the phones of diplomats and world leaders, the gloves come off and diplomatic niceties are dropped in private communications and cables back to headquarters. Why the disparity between blunt private talk and vanilla public statements? And why are diplomats in some parts of the world seemingly more “undiplomatic” than others?

Not much more than a decade ago, diplomats could conduct an interview with a news outlet and safely assume that whatever they said would probably not reverberate far beyond the geographic scope of that media outlet. If they made a mistake, the fallout was manageable, and if they wanted to target different messages to different audiences, they could say one thing in one country and another thing someplace else, content in the knowledge that no one would probably be the wiser. But with the explosive growth of the internet, especially social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, those dynamics are no longer in play. So caution is the name of the game, much like it is for today’s elected politicians.

“In this information environment, what is said in Las Vegas, doesn’t stay in Las Vegas,” said P.J. Crowley, a professor at the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication at the George Washington University, who previously served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs from 2009 to 2011.

“What you say over there can now be reported over here in a matter of minutes. It’s changed the nature of how governments communicate.”

Crowley said this new landscape has caused some governments to be more cautious because there isn’t a single information environment.

“It’s harder to deliver a single message that will resonate at home and abroad,” he said.

One rash statement, uttered anywhere in the world, can go viral in minutes, thanks in large part to Twitter, but that doesn’t mean that blunt, undiplomatic talk has gone the way of the typewriter.

Leaders and diplomats from Ukraine and Russia have traded barbs for months; Israeli and Palestinian diplomats fling accusations back and forth in a notso-friendly version of ping pong diplomacy; and every year at the U.N. General Assembly, a handful of world leaders makes headlines by denouncing the U.S. and/or Israel using language more appropriate for a barroom than the world’s preeminent intergovernmental organization.

October 2014

“

Photo: U.S. State Department

In this information environment, what is said in Las Vegas, doesn’t stay in Las Vegas…. What you say over there can now be reported over here in a matter of minutes.

It’s changed the nature of how governments communicate.

— P.J. Crowley former U.S. assistant secretary of state for public affairs

”

Officials from smaller countries, particularly those in the developing world, have less layers of bureaucracy to filter their thoughts, and sometimes they have to resort to using blunt statements to get attention. For example, at a climate change forum in Copenhagen in 2009, Mohamed Nasheed, then president of the Maldives, encouraged protesters to hold world powers accountable for climate change and suggested that his country might disappear if dramatic steps weren’t taken to reverse climate change.

“We refuse to be quiet,” he warned in an impassioned speech.

“If you’re a small country, you’re trying to get the attention of the larger powers,” explained Crowley.

“The squeaky-wheel theory applies here. You try to jump up and down to see if you can get larger powers

President Obama, center, meets with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, second from left, along with the leaders of France and Britain during last month’s NATO Summit in Wales. Poroshenko has been blunt in describing the threat Russia poses to Ukraine, in part to get the West’s help in confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

to pay attention to your concern.”

Some leaders from the Middle East and sub-Sahara Africa, like François Bozizé, the former president of the Central African Republic, for example, have even resorted to expressing full-blown fears that terrorists were operating with impunity within their borders to court aid and attention from Western powers.

Christopher Paul, a senior social scientist at the Rand Corporation and the author of several books and articles on strategic communications, said that anything goes in the competition for attention and resources.

“The reality of the digital era is that there is only so much attention available, so anyone who is making pronouncements is competing for attention,” he said.

“Even President Obama can have a hard time competing for attention.”

Colum Lynch, a veteran diplomatic correspondent who is currently a U.N. reporter at Foreign Policy, says there are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to diplomatic communications. Lynch said that if you follow the tweets of diplomats like Gérard Araud, France’s permanent representative to the United Nations who recently became its ambassador in Washington, or Mark Lyall Grant, Britain’s ambassador to the U.N., you’d find surprisingly candid commentary on even the most controversial issues.

“They are more willing to engage openly,” he said,

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 11

Continued from previous page referring to European diplomats like Araud and Lyall Grant compared to their American counterparts. “For example, Lyall Grant agreed to take a 20-question ‘stump the British ambassador’ quiz I put together. I think he got 18 out of 20 right — he cleaned house. Would an American diplomat agree to an unscripted quiz like that? I don’t think they would.”

The fact that private citizens can engage with diplomats like Araud and Lyall Grant on Twitter illustrates how social media is changing the nature of communications in the digital era. But Twitter and sites like it also raise the stakes for government officials because now if they slip up, their comments can ricochet across the world in moments. So has Twitter actually made some governments even more guarded in their communication strategies?

“There is some truth to the notion that governments are becoming a little more cautious in what they say in public because anything they say now can have more reach in ways it might not have before,” Crowley said. “A source of NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure power your ad mistakes spelling and in is thefree pastofhas been the in ability for govcontent it is ultimately up to the customer totomake the ernments control thefinal flowproof. of information. But that has become a harder thing to do in the age of global and ubiquitous The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the communications advertiser, subsequent changes media. ” will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved.

Paul said that government officials may be more reticent in part due to Twitter, but pointed Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes ad. out that social media has to alsoyour given diplomats an incentive to practice and give more considerIf the ad is correct sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065ation to what needs changes they say. Lynch believes that Twitter has “opened things up,” enabling avenues The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 of communication that would have been unthinkable less than a decade ago.

One point that nearly everyone agrees on is Approved __________________________________________________________ that the U.S. State Department is at the conservaChanges ___________________________________________________________ tive end of the caution vs. candor spectrum of diplomatic communications. American diplo___________________________________________________________________ mats routinely have to obtain clearances through multiple layers of bureaucracy before they utter

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Photo: U.S. State Department

Secretary of State John Kerry addresses staff and family at the U.S. Embassy in Australia during a visit this summer.

anything of a substantive nature, and caution tends to be an ingrained part of the culture at Foggy Bottom. Crowley says this dynamic is at least partly explained by the fact that the United States carries so much responsibility as the world’s lone superpower.

“For the larger powers, there is no shortage of things you can do, but there is a limit to the resources you have at your disposal,” he said.“So you tend to take a more tempered response because you’re trying to figure out what’s the capacity to handle a crisis over here and if I deal with this crisis over here, what about that one over there? The more strident your response, the more you may be pushed to take ownership of that crisis and that’s something that larger powers are cautious about doing. That’s why some players will be louder and others will be more cautious in their responses.”

This dynamic also helps to explain why the United States has sometimes refrained from or been late in using words like “genocide” to describe atrocities in various parts of the world.

“If we stand up and use strong language and say something is wrong, then there is an expectation that us or our allies will do something about it,” Paul said. “Whereas a small country lacking powerful allies could use strong language but there isn’t the expectation that they are going to mobilize resources to solve the problem.”

Paul said that officials from large, important countries like Russia might also be willing to shoot from the hip more than Western countries because they aren’t as concerned about credibility as much as their counterparts in the West are.

“Credibility does not appear to be a priority for Russia given the large number of demonstrably fallacious statements that have recently come out of various official and unofficial Russian spokespersons,” he said.

Crowley noted that American caution could also be explained by our partisan political environment, where any message can be used for political gain by the other party. In the 2012 presidential election, for example, Republicans used tweets sent by the American Embassy in Cairo — which were meant to calm Egyptians who were angry about an anti-Islamic film — to attack President Obama for supposedly being soft on militant Islamists. And, of course, the United States isn’t the only country were partisan politics influence diplomatic communications. In many parts of the world, vilifying the U.S. is good politics.

The state-controlled media in North Korea recently referred to President Obama as a “wicked black monkey” (Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi once made a racist joke about Obama being “tanned” as well). Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia, said in 2003 and again in 2012 that Israel controlled the United States and rules the world by proxy. And top officials in

Venezuela, Iran and a host of other countries have made a habit of attacking American leaders and policies to score points at home.

While American diplomats might lead the world in caution and restraint when it comes to public statements,WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations and leaked recordings of phone calls at Foggy Bottom have shown us that they are much more candid and colorful in their private communications.

Susan Rice, then the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., reportedly told Araud, France’s representative, regarding potential airstrikes in Libya in 2011: “You’re not going to drag us into your shitty war.” (She later claimed credit for the campaign.) Russian intelligence services apparently bugged the phone of Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, who was caught on tape in February saying “fuck the EU” while talking with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine about the European Union’s ability to mediate the Ukraine crisis, reinforcing the perception that America was brazenly meddling in that country’s internal affairs. (She later credited Russian intelligence for their tradecraft but didn’t take back what she said.) And even President Obama, caught unknowingly on an open mic during a 2012 conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, was heard rather bluntly promising that he’d have more “space” to negotiate on missile defense after he was re-elected.

“Secrets aren’t what they used to be,” said Crowley.“Something you say or write could have a much larger audience than you envisioned.”

Lynch said that leaks are a fact of life at the United Nations.

“There aren’t a lot of real secrets; people take for granted that what they are saying will be picked up by someone,” he told us. “After a revelation there might be a higher degree of sensitivity — people won’t want to talk on the phone for a bit — but then eventually things go back to the way it was before.”

Whether these incidents will cause American diplomats to become even more cautious and on-message remains to be seen. But is there a danger that if America’s diplomatic communiqués become too choreographed and dull, that the media and public will simply tune out?

“There is that danger that if everything is scripted and nothing more than talking points, the message loses credibility,” Paul said. “From a government perspective, it’s about aligning your actions and utterances so you’re being consistent. But there’s a range between being a robot that repeats talking points and a loose-cannon approach where everyone says whatever they want. Somewhere between those two points is where you want to be.”

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

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Business

United States

U.S. Ports Need Investment to Handle Growing Volume of Cargo Traffic

by Larry Luxner

F

rom Norfolk on Virginia’s Ches­ ­­apeake Bay to New Orleans on the Gulf Coast to Seattle in the Pacific Northwest, U.S. ports are handling record cargo volumes — with international trade now accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s GDP. Yet seaport operators and their privatesector partners, who together plan to invest $46 billion over the next five years in port infrastructure, complain that the federal government isn’t holding up its end of the investment deal.

“We as a nation have been resting on our laurels for years,” warned Kurt Nagle, president and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), based in Alexandria,Va.“Our roads, bridges and tunnels are in deteriorating condition.

We’re not even adequately maintaining our channels to the depth and width they’re supposed to be, much less investing to improve them to be able to accommodate the larger vessels that are coming in the near future.”

Panama, Brazil, China and Canada are all outspending the United States on a percapita basis when it comes to port expenditures, he said. In addition, Panama is nearing the completion of a massive $5.25 billion expansion and widening of its canal.

“

The biggest issue affecting all ports is whether we, as a nation, have the necessary infrastructure to handle the growth. Our volumes are at record levels, and all the ports are extremely busy.

”

— Joe Harris spokesman for the Virginia Port Authority

“We are lagging behind,” Nagle told The Washington Diplomat. “On the water side, it’s the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the navigational channels leading into and out of our ports. But this has been woefully underfunded for many years, and it’s been getting progressively worse.”

Barely half of the $1.7 billion raised by October 2014

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the federal harbor maintenance tax is actually used for maintenance, Nagle added — a situation he hopes will improve with the recent enactment of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), signed into law by President Obama in June. Among other things, WRRDA gives a green light to 34 water infrastructure projects across the country, including one to deepen Boston Harbor and another to enlarge the Port of Savannah.

“Canada has established a very focused program to improve its freight transportation infrastructure to serve North America,” Nagle pointed out. “What we need to do here in the U.S. is develop our own national freight transportation policy and strategic plan that will enable us to compete internationally.”

He noted that the American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave a C grade to U.S. seaport infrastructure, “primarily due to the generally poor condition of the connections into and out of U.S. seaports, and the knowledge that the nation’s growing trade volumes will exceed the capacity of current port-related infrastructure.”

In 2013, U.S. ports handled just over 44.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs, the measure of a ship’s cargo capacity) of containerized cargo, up from 43.7 million in 2012, according AAPA statistics.

The peak year for traffic was 2007 — right before the U.S. economy tanked — when just over 45 million TEUs of goods passed through U.S. ports.

Even so, the amount of containerized cargo has doubled since 1994. Growth over the last year has been particularly

strong in Philadelphia, which saw traffic jump by 34.5 percent in 2013; as well in Long Beach, Calif.; Tacoma, Wash.; and Charleston, S.C. The busiest Pacific ports, in descending order, are Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma and Seattle, while on the East Coast, volumes are highest at New YorkNew Jersey, Savannah, Ga., Norfolk,Va., and Charleston. Along the Gulf Coast, Houston is the cargo leader, and San Juan — which falls under U.S. jurisdiction because Puerto Rico is an American commonwealth — is the leading Caribbean port (see chart and map).

The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach alone account for 32.8 percent of all containerized cargo moving by ocean in or out of the United States, while the Port of New York and New Jersey handles another 12.3 percent of the total.

“For a long time, ports like ours have been advocating for a greater percentage of the harbor maintenance tax that’s collected. It’s always frustrated us that we collect far more money than we’ve been allowed to use,” Richard Larrabee, director of port commerce at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said, referring to the federal tax that’s imposed on shippers based on the value of the goods being shipped through ports — money that goes into a general maintenance trust fund.

Larrabee estimated that his agency was allowed to retain only $15 million of the $160 million it took in last year from that tax.

“We’re considered a donor port, in that other ports don’t collect as much money

but get to keep a higher percentage,” he said, estimating annual port revenues at around $250 million. However, with passage of WRRDA, that percentage should rise incrementally and by 2023, ports will get back 100 percent of all collected taxes in federal funds to be used for actual dredging and other harbor maintenance.

Larrabee said the money is critical because business is up by 3 to 4 percent at his port this year alone.

“Ships are getting larger and larger,” he said, explaining that ocean carriers can slash the cost of moving an individual container by 25 percent simply by doubling the size of the vessel that the container moves on.

“A port like New York traditionally sees ships with capacities of 4,500 to 5,500 TEUs. Now we’re seeing ships twice that size, so now instead of a ship coming in and exchanging 2,000 to 3,000 boxes, it’s offloading and reloading 5,000 to 6,000.

That ship, which now costs an operator substantially more to operate, is interested in getting in and out of port as quickly as possible.”

In addition,Larrabee explained,“because of increased [labor] costs in China, manufacturing is beginning to migrate west to Malaysia, Vietnam and Pakistan. If a ship is leaving that part of the world, its best route to the U.S. is west to the Mediter­ ranean and the Suez Canal, as opposed to the Panama Canal. Some of that is already visible in the supply chain.”

Yet one of the biggest impediments

See ports, page 20 The Washington Diplomat Page 13

from page 5

Telhami backyard.

“It is more of a threat to them and they should be the ones doing the fighting and asking the U.S. for help, but we turn it around,”Telhami lamented.

“When we enter this as if it’s an American-led coalition and we make it a priority to win and we have a political stake to win, we take the heat off of the very countries we are trying to get on board.

“It does the work they are supposed to be doing and America becomes the target instead of them,” he added.

In fact, getting Americans to overreact — and expend blood and treasure — is a hallmark tenet of al-Qaeda’s strategy. The Iraq War was in part predicated on the naïve assumption thatAmericans would be welcomed by Iraqis as liberators; instead, they were targeted by insurgents and viewed with skepticism by the people.

Telhami said his extensive public opinion polling in the Middle East shows that while America may have high-minded objectives for the region, most of its inhabitants don’t trust our intentions.

“The public just doesn’t trust America,” he said.

Telhami said Obama’s much-vaunted 2009 speech in Cairo, in which he aimed to reset U.S. relations with the Arab world, was overblown.

“The speech itself was hyped too much,” he said. “My own personal feeling from a historical perspective is that it was only a reflection of where the U.S. wanted to be.”

Telhami said Arab public opinion toward the United States was little changed by the speech because people in the region saw it as simply words rather than deeds.

“Obama has never actually received a majority of favorable views in the Arab world at any time,” Telhami pointed out. “They were somewhat neutral. He made more positive impressions than negative. A plurality in Egypt was really neutral about him, but people were comparing him to

Credit: DoD Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Carmichael Yepez, U.S. Navy

U.S. Army Spc. Nathan Swelfer stands guard as locals walk away with food supplies distributed to them by U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police during a humanitarian aid mission near Sinjar, Iraq, on Oct. 1, 2009. Despite such goodwill gestures, Iraq’s Sunnis didn’t exactly welcome American troops as liberators during the war and have now turned their guns on the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

George W. Bush, whose [public opinion rating] was overwhelmingly negative.

“Bush was even less popular than the prime minister of Israel,”Telhami added.

Telhami also said the global reaction to the socalled Arab Spring (a term he doesn’t particularly like) has been overblown.

“I think a lot of people misinterpreted what the Arab uprising was all about,” he said. “The label ‘Arab Spring’ was wrong not because I’m pessimistic, or because there is no element of spring, but I don’t think what we’re seeing is seasonal. I think what we’re seeing is something more profound than people realize.”

In “The World Through Arab Eyes,”Telhami tries to show how the forces that shaped the Arab uprisings have been brewing for decades and stem from complex dynamics and history. He said

the “demand for dignity” went beyond the struggle for food and individual rights against corrupt dictators; it grew from the collective respect Arabs “crave from the outside world” and the resentment many felt after decades of perceived humiliations at the hands of the West, especially in the face of America’s lopsided support for Israel.

Telhami said he noticed Arab apprehension and anger “about an impending era of American dominance” during a trip to Iraq in 1990. “When I started this work,” he wrote, “most political scientists and foreign policy analysts discounted the importance of public opinion because the countries of the region were dominated by authoritarian rulers. Then the 2010 Arab uprisings arrived, seemingly from nowhere, and suddenly the attitudes of ordinary Arabs were inarguably the driv-

ing force across a large swath of the Middle East…. In a way I felt vindicated. Mostly, though, I wondered — and still do — whether and when this awakened giant will find its bearings.”

Telhami says that while many of the historical grievances he encountered back in 1990 are just as palpable today, the turmoil in the Arab world is also being propelled by a new age of technology that can’t be contained.

“This is mostly a function, not entirely, of information and a revolution that is expanding and it’s not going to go away.What we are seeing is something profoundly important and in the long term, something very positive,” Telhami told us. “In the same way that the Industrial Revolution in the West transformed politics and society by empowering the new individual who was a wage earner, and giving that individual a choice at home in society and politics, you find that the information revolution [in the Middle East] has a similar effect on the power of individuals and in raising expectations and creating a sense that people will not accept the status quo.

“People do want freedom,” the professor exclaimed.“They do want their voices heard.That is real and it is not going away. No counterrevolution is going to stop it and no new authoritarianism is going to shut it down.”

But Telhami also warned that just because information is empowering people, that doesn’t mean it will bring any kind of rapid consensus in an incredibly complex region characterized by ancient sectarian divisions.

“This new element is absolutely real, profound and enduring,” Telhami said. “That doesn’t mean that is going to be a quick transformation, or even that it will be predictable. The fact that you have the public empowered … doesn’t mean that the public has one voice. People are different. They don’t always want the same thing.They want freedom but they have different agendas.”

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

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The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

COVER PROFILE

Ambassador Robert S. Ford

Ford Doesn’t Mince Words About U.S. Failures in Syria

by Larry Luxner

O

n April 5, 2002, not long after Robert S. Ford’s appointment as America’s deputy chief of mission in Bahrain, some 2,000 demonstrators breached the perimeter wall of the U.S. Embassy in Manama, set fire to five vehicles and smashed satellite dishes, cameras and windows in protest of U.S. and Israeli actions in the Middle East.

Only three and a half years later — after Ford’s transfer to Iraq — a rocket struck the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, injuring a U.S. Marine guard and four contract employees.

“I still have a piece of that shell on my fireplace mantle in Baltimore,” he said, smiling at the thought of pocketing such a souvenir.“There’s a rule that says you can’t take pieces of shrapnel out of the country, so on the packing list it was listed as a paperweight.”

It was as U.S. ambassador to Syria, however, that the veteran diplomat and widely respected Arabist made headlines. Over a three-day period in July 2011, supporters of President Bashar al-Assad threw eggs, tomatoes, rocks and paint at the U.S. Embassy compound in Damascus, smashed ballistic-resistant glass windows, shattered security cameras and set fire to the roof before attacking Ford’s residence. They simultaneously attacked the French Embassy after Ford and his French counterpart visited supporters of the uprising against Assad.

“They actually got to the doors of the embassy. Had they broken through the door, we’d probably have to fire on them with live ammunition,” Ford recalled. “The door held, thank God, and after three hours, the Syrian police came.”

As if that wasn’t enough excitement, on Sept. 29, pro-Assad goons assaulted Ford and his chief political officer as they were meeting with a rebel leader in Damascus.A U.S. Embassy security team was also attacked when it tried to rescue Ford from the building where he had taken cover.

After an hour and a half, Syrian police arrived and dispersed the screaming mob.

That contrasted with the warm welcome Ford received in the city of Hama, where demonstrators opposed to the Assad regime draped his vehicle with flowers and olive branches. Not surprisingly, the official Syrian media accused Ford of incit-

October 2014

“

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of ruggeriphoto.com

It is incumbent on people who say they speak with authority on Syria to understand what’s going on, on the ground…. The idea that there’s no moderate opposition is said by people who don’t speak Arabic, have never been to Syria and don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.

— Robert S. Ford former U.S. ambassador to Syria

ing violence; a few days later protesters attacked the U.S. Embassy.

“We should be clear,” Ford recalled three years after the clashes. “When I went to Hama, we never actually said we supported the opposition’s demands. We said people have the right to protest peacefully. That’s why we went to Hama.There was a rumor the regime was going to crack down, and we wanted to be on the ground. We did inform the government we were going.

And, in fact, I later learned that the government knew we were going.”

In October 2011, Ford was recalled from Syria due to what the State Department called“credible threats”to his safety, though he continued to hold the post of ambassador from Washington. Ford was reportedly in line as the next U.S. ambassador to Egypt, though his vocal support for Syria’s rebels probably didn’t endear him to Egypt’s powerful ruling military. Regardless, in February Ford quit his job and left the

”

Foreign Service to protest the Obama administration’s inaction in the face of growing atrocities by the Assad regime in Syria, where nearly 200,000 people have been killed since anti-government protests mushroomed into a full-scale civil war nearly four years ago, although some estimates put the death count as high as 250,000.

“My conscience would not allow me to continue,” Ford told The Washington Diplomat in an extensive interview. “We were confronting a regime that had used chemical weapons, that was killing civilians left and right, and flouting every standard of international decency.

Although our verbiage was great, on the ground we were doing very little to pressure that regime. I couldn’t in good faith go out in front of the cameras and justify that policy.”

Instead, since leaving the Foreign Service, Ford has been vociferous in his

support for arming Syria’s moderates in order to turn the tide of war. We interviewed Ford in the library of the Middle East Institute, the Washington-based think tank where he’s a senior fellow.The 56-yearold Denver native, who’s married to fellow diplomat Alison Barkley, commutes here Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Baltimore, Md. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays he teaches, in between granting interviews to journalists from around the world who are eager to hear his views.

It’s a hectic schedule, but not as crazy as the life-threatening chaos of Damascus.

“I did not ask to go to Syria. I had wanted to go to any other part of the Arab world,” Ford told us. “I knew Syria was going to be a very hard assignment, and after Iraq, I told them I wouldn’t mind a quieter place. But in the Foreign Service, the key word is service, and you go where they need you.”

Our meeting took place Sept. 3, the day after Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced legislation giving President Obama “clear authority” to order U.S airstrikes against Islamic militants in Syria, joining a chorus of bipartisan lawmakers offering tepid support to the president’s Syria strategy now that its civil war has spilled over into Iraq, where Islamic State militants have taken over a third of the country.

Congress recently passed Obama’s plan for the U.S. military to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels. In addition, Obama has cobbled together an international coalition

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 15

At left, U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford presents his credentials to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Jan. 27, 2011. Below, Ford talks with Syrian refugees at Islahiye Refugee Camp in Turkey on Jan. 24, 2013.

Continued from previous page of over 40 nations to help the U.S. target ISIS by cutting off its financing, countering its propaganda and beefing up humanitarian and military assistance, including arms for Kurdish forces in Iraq (see related story on page 8).

Obama has also launched a sustained campaign of airstrikes to beat back ISIS’s advances in Iraq and Syria, where the United States — backed by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — recently made its first military foray into the warwracked nation after nearly four years of fighting.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is, in fact, a mutation of both the U.S.-led war in Iraq, where a generation of Sunnis fought American troops and have now turned their guns on the Shiite-led government, and the grinding conflict in Syria, where moderate rebels have been overpowered by Islamist fighters.

The remarkable gains made by ISIS in both countries can be attributed to the group’s military prowess, ruthless terrorizing tactics and savvy money management skills. But ISIS also had help from an unlikely quarter: Assad himself, who reportedly let Islamist fanatics loose early in the war to sideline moderates and reinforce his warning to the world that if his government falls, antiWestern extremists will take over.

More recently, the wily Syrian leader has offered his support in battling ISIS, but the West has been loath to accept it.

President Obama will now have to find a way to hurt ISIS without inadvertently helping Assad.

Ford agrees that ISIS must be stopped — but so does Assad, the source of the strife.

“It’s important to hit the Islamic State in Syria, but it doesn’t solve the problem,” said the ex-diplomat, who met Assad twice during his chaotic posting in Damascus.“ISIS has gained ground in Syria because a lot of people think it’s the way to get rid of Assad. But the idea of working with Assad against ISIS is to me 180 degrees wrong, and will help ISIS recruit foreigners and Syrians. It would be much better to help the moderate opposition fight Assad, and get them to work with elements of the existing regime.”

Ford said then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the president as early as 2012 that Islamic extremists in Syria would link up with their Iraqi brothers-in-arms, and that Iraq and Syria would become one nightmarish conflict if the U.S. didn’t help the moderates with tanks, guns and ammunition. But those pleas apparently fell on deaf ears.

When confronted by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who, during a private meeting attended by a dozen lawmakers from both parties, said Obama should have authorized arming moderate Syrian rebels sooner, the president angrily called such criticism “horseshit,” according to the Daily Beast.

In an interview with the New York Times, Obama confirmed his belief that such thinking has “always been a fantasy.”

“This idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth, and that they were going to be able to battle not only a well-armed state but also a well-armed state backed by Russia, backed by Iran, a battle-hardened

Page 16

Photo: AP / U.S. State Department

Hezbollah, that was never in the cards,” the president bluntly said.

But to his critics who say there’s no such thing as an Arab moderate, Ford offered an equally undiplomatic response.

“With all due respect, I strongly disagree. The 13th Brigade is a secular brigade led by soldiers who have defected,” Ford told us.“The Harakat Hazm [Arabic for ‘Movement of Steadfastness’] consists largely of soldiers with military experience, led by a civilian guy who’s absolutely not an Islamist. The idea that there’s no moderate opposition is said by people who don’t speak Arabic, have Photo: U.S. State Department

“

We were confronting a regime that had used chemical weapons, that was killing civilians left and right, and flouting every standard of international decency. Although our verbiage was great, on the ground we were doing very little to pressure that regime. I couldn’t in good faith go out in front of the cameras and justify that policy.

”

— Robert S. Ford, former U.S. ambassador to Syria never been to Syria and don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.”

It’s not every day you hear a U.S. diplomat — even a former one — speak so frankly. But Ford, a 30-year Foreign Service veteran whose earlier posts include Egypt, Turkey, Cameroon and Algeria, has been known for a long time as a straight shooter.

Columnist Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post called Ford a “model public servant” in a June 10 op-ed praising him for stepping down on principle, unlike Clinton and Samantha Power, U.S. envoy to the United Nations — both of whom also expressed frustration as Syria’s civil war spiraled out of control.

Ford has become the public voice of that frustration. In a June 10 New York Times opinion piece titled “Arm Syria’s Opposition,” Ford said U.S. policy has clearly failed.

“We don’t need American airstrikes in Syria, and we certainly don’t need American troops there. But with partner countries from the Friends of Syria group like France, Britain, Germany, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, we must ramp up sharply the training and material aid provided to the moderates in the armed opposition,” he wrote.

“Over the past two years, I met fighters from the Free Syrian Army many times.These men were not angels: Many were former regime officers; all had military experience. In a memorable meeting last November, we exchanged barbs for hours, but they made clear that they did not accept al-Qaeda’s philosophy. They acknowledged that they would ultimately have to fight al-Qaeda and the foreign jihadis.”

As respected as Ford is, not everyone agrees with his assessment of the readyto-arm rebels. Some military experts have called the Free Syrian Army a “unicorn” army that simply doesn’t exist; its fighters have few clear political goals and almost no loyalty to the exile Syrian National Coalition that supposedly represents them abroad. Its numbers have also been depleted as rebels defect to better-armed, better-trained Islamist factions such as al-Nusra Front and ISIS. In fact, ISIS now has 20,000 to 31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria, according to the latest CIA estimates. In Syria alone, hundreds of militias are now fighting Assad as well as each other, presenting outsiders with a confusing mishmash of acronyms and similar-sounding names.

And it’s not as if the United States hasn’t been trying to decipher friend

from foe in Syria: A CIA program has been attempting to train rebels in Jordan for over a year. Obama’s proposed new training program would be larger and run by the military, but it would still only train some 5,000 rebels in the first year.

So while the mantra of “train the moderates” has become conventional Beltway wisdom, important questions remain: How will rebels be vetted to minimize the security risk to U.S. officials? How much previous association with terrorist groups will be tolerated?

How will weapons be safeguarded?

“Any decision to supply arms to combatants must be weighed carefully; indeed, for the last several years I have opposed arming the Syrian rebels out of a concern for our ability to properly vet such troops and the fear that weapons we provide may end up in the wrong hands,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who nevertheless voted for Obama’s request to train moderates despite questioning their moderation and effectiveness.

Ryan C. Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Syria, said a more fundamental problem is that American policymakers don’t really know the rebels — as evidenced by the incongruent descriptions of their ranks, from the

The Washington Diplomat

skilled secularists Ford remembers, to the inept sectarians others have witnessed.

“We need to do everything we can to figure out who the non-ISIS opposition is,” Crocker told the New York Times on Sept. 11.“Frankly, we don’t have a clue.”

Other opponents of intervention argue that Syria is simply not our fight, regardless of who’s doing the fighting.

ISIS, after all, would like nothing more than to goad Washington into sending them U.S. soldiers to target, much as it did during the Iraq War, the penultimate example of how good intentions can go awry and boots on the ground can backfire.

Iraq and Syria share another dubious distinction: Two presidents have discarded the concept of imminent threat in justifying an attack on a sovereign nation. Former President George W. Bush used Iraq’s phantom weapons of mass destruction to employ his doctrine of pre-emption, which Obama denounced as a senator.

Although Obama had Baghdad’s permission to launch the summer’s strikes in Iraq, the legality of his recent strikes in Syria is murkier. The president has also publically said that ISIS poses no immediate threat to the U.S. homeland, though it “could” one day if left unchecked.

Rosa Brooks, writing for Foreign Policy, said the last thing the United States needs is “another dumb war” against a group that even the president admits poses no immediate threat to the United States. She adds that airstrikes “are an excellent way to turn live people into dead people” with no guarantee of success.

“It would be really nice, just about now, to have some well-armed, well-led, realio-trulio moderate Syrian rebels with whom we could coordinate — but I think we missed that boat a long time ago,” she wrote. “Today, rebels who are both moderate and good at fighting are about as common in Syria as pink fluffy unicorns.”

Ford thinks that kind of dismissive thinking is uninformed.

“It is incumbent on people who say they speak with authority on Syria to understand what’s going on, on the ground,” Ford said.“To say it’s not possible to understand it, is washing your hands of something which is difficult.

But frankly, it’s not an excuse when U.S. national security is involved.”

And what if the Obama administration had listened to Ford back in 2011?

“We’d have one of two scenarios: Either the regime would have cut a deal with the opposition for a new national unity government — with or without Assad — but there would have been substantial changes in the security and defense establishment, and they would be joined together fighting ISIS now,” Ford replied.

In the second scenario, he said, “Assad and the government would still be fighting the opposition, but ISIS would still be limited to certain pockets, especially in eastern Syria. The regime would have suffered higher casualties and would be much closer to cutting a deal, because it wouldn’t control Damascus as firmly.”

In either case, he said, “We wouldn’t October 2014

have U.S. boots on the ground, or U.S. airplanes flying no-fly zones. I never suggested that. We would be supporting a moderate armed opposition — along with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France and the United Arab Emirates — but it would be a team effort, and not only our problem.

“We now have over 3 million Syrian refugees, and that’s also costing taxpayers a lot of money. So there’s really no escape from having to commit American resources. You cannot stick a Band-Aid on a cancer.You’ve got to deal with the cancer.”

To that end, Ford insists that the United States cannot be seen as coming to Assad’s aid even as it battles the ISIS threat.“That regime let this cancer grow because it was fighting the moderates, and it was those moderates Assad views as the threat.”

So, if Ford were making policy right now — what would he do to tackle ISIS without bolstering Assad?

“Three steps,” he responded.“First, in coordination with our allies in the region — Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — vastly increase the material assistance to the opposition. That’s the first thing. Tom Friedman [of the New York Times] has written that it’s fanciful the opposition will topple Assad. But that’s not the point, Tom. Why don’t we go to a negotiating table to see if we can cut a deal? A 12 percent minority [Assad’s ruling Alawite sect] is never going to win a war of attrition against a 70 percent majority.

“Second, get political support building this coalition. All governments need to do better, including ours. But in the meantime, we must rally others to support a more forceful posture in Syria.

One of the problems we had in Iraq 10 years ago is that we went in with the British but no countries in the region, except for the Kuwaitis, supported us. Even the Jordanians were standoffish.”

Finally, said Ford, don’t help Syria’s rebels or political opposition “until they develop initiatives to reach out to disaffected supporters of the regime. The opposition’s mindset that we can’t work with any elements of the regime is going to

Credit: DoD Photo by Sgt. Christopher Q. Stone, U.S. Marine Corps

destroy Syria. We should not be a party to that. If they want our help, then they have to reach out.”

Obama is, in fact, taking some of Ford’s advice.

He’s enlisted 10 Arab countries to help fight ISIS, including Saudi Arabia, which agreed to host a base to train Syrian rebels.

The administration is also pressuring Arab allies to turn off the spigot of private donations helping to fund Islamist rebels, including ISIS. “I do not question that there are people in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region and in Europe who are funneling money to bad guys,” said Ford.“It would surprise me if there were no funds at all flowing out of the United States.”

Indeed, tens of thousands of people have been swayed by the dream of a revived Islamic caliphate to replace the corrupt,Western-supported dictatorships that have long dominated the Arab world.

Ford said it helps to have some perspective on the history-making events of the Arab Spring.

“You have to be really patient. My grandmother from Oklahoma remembers when she first got to vote. Imagine, somebody I knew in my lifetime as an adult did not get to vote in her lifetime. So it’s not like we built our democracy overnight. We should give Arabs the same space to build their democracy, but we shouldn’t close a blind eye when there’s grotesque oppression.”

U.S. Marines train at a range in Jordan as part of an exercise designed to strengthen military-tomilitary relationships between the U.S. and Jordan.

Separately, the CIA has been running a covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels in Jordan since 2013; recently passed legislation would expand that program and have the Pentagon spearhead it.

Ford said that when America is seen as sticking to its principles, people in the Arab world take notice.

“Young Arabs are really plugged in these days.

They’re on the internet, and a lot of them speak pretty good English. One day, back when I was ambassador in Algeria, I had some young Algerians tell me, ‘You read the rights to people when you arrest them.We don’t do that here.’They view us as being very hypocritical when we don’t stick to our principles — and we have a national security interest in applying those principles.”

On that note, Obama’s decision to threaten U.S. military action against Assad if he crossed a red line and used chemical weapons — and then not taking any action when he did — was an enormous blunder, Ford said.

Of course, anti-American sentiment is deeply entrenched in the region, at times regardless of America’s actions. Oil-rich Libya fell apart after Western forces helped to overthrow strongman Muammar Qaddafi. In the ensuing violence that shook the country, Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed — along with three Americans — at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Two years after that attack, with Libya on the brink of civil war,Washington has pulled its diplomats from the country, much as it did in Syria.

“I knew Chris Stevens and thought the world

of him. He was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, and we both had a sense of getting out of the embassy, out from behind the walls, and talking to people.That’s the whole reason you should pay Americans to go to these places,” Ford said. “I think obviously it’s tragic what happened, but Chris would be aghast if he thought his death would cause us to pull back inside the walls and not do the human contact work he so valued.”

Ford added:“I’m not going to compare myself to Chris, but I’ve been in many situations where I’ve had people yelling at me about U.S. policy. Some­ times you’ll win their respect just by being there.”

For the moment, the U.S. Embassy in Damascus is closed, with only a handful of Syrians on the State Department payroll maintaining the property.

It could be a long time before Washington sends an envoy back to that shattered country; Ford himself was appointed after a five-year absence.

“I don’t think the war will be contained in less than a year or two, and that’s if we can get a new government set up in Syria. And that’s being very optimistic,” Ford said. “We’ve reached the point where there are no easy, good choices. It was a lot easier two or three years ago than now.”

Would Ford ever be willing to set foot in Syria again? Yes, he replied. “When they have a new, decent government, I’ll go back as a tourist or as a volunteer working helping them rebuild.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

OF NOTE: The Middle East Institute’s 68th Annual Awards Banquet and Conference will be held Nov. 19 to 20 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. For information, visit www.mei.edu/ content/68th-annual-awards-banquetand-conference.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 17

Book Review

Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Timothy Geithner

Three Ex-Top Obama Officials Shed Light on His Presidency

by John Shaw

A

s a reporter, I enjoy watching the president’s annual State of the Union speech before Congress. The event blends political circus and public policy seminar. By tradition, just moments before the president enters the packed House chamber, his cabinet files in, sits in the front row and leads the applause.

For the first several years of Barack Obama’s presidency, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sat in the front row and reacted publically to his State of the Union speeches. As I observed them from my press gallery seat in the balcony, I sometimes wondered what they really thought of President Obama, his policies and the overall political spectacle in Washington.

Clinton, Geithner and Gates have each published memoirs this year that deal largely with the Obama years, so we now know what they were thinking —sort of.

All of the books are revealing, but in different ways. None, of course, tells the entire story of the author’s relationship with the president or discloses his or her fully candid thoughts on the Obama years. Still, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War” by Robert M. Gates,“Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises” by Timothy F. Geithner and “Hard Choices” by Hillary Rodham Clinton will all be studied by historians as they try to understand and explain the consequential presidency of Barack Obama.

In assessing these memoirs, it’s important to consider the authors’ relationship with Obama, their motives for writing their book and their likely ambitions in the future.

Gates is a Republican statesman who earned considerable praise as defense secretary in the final two years of George W. Bush’s administration and the first two years of the Obama administration. After a long career in government, Gates has made it clear he has no desire to serve again. His book is wise, bracing and at times scathing.

He does not appear to be pulling any of his punches.

Geithner was a financial technocrat when Obama asked him to head up the Treasury Department and tackle the financial crisis the new president inherited in January 2009. Geithner served as Obama’s energetic junior partner in economic matters and his book is a forceful and persuasive defense of the administration’s handling of the crisis, revealing what it was like to be at the center of the historic financial firestorm. He insists he has no desire to return to government service and writes with candor as he recounts policy disputes

Page 18

but refrains from personal criticisms.

Clinton was the president’s rival for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and is both Obama’s political peer and possible successor. Her service as secretary of state bolstered her foreign policy credentials, saddled her with some additional baggage, expanded her popularity within the Democratic Party and positioned her as the prohibitive favorite to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. Her book is careful and cautious, highlighting her experience while avoiding controversy.

These memoirs can be read on several levels, but all three shed light on President Obama and his administration, America’s current role in the world and the state of U.S. politics.

‘Duty’ Robert Gates is one of the most respected members of the American foreign policy establishment. A long-time intelligence officer in the CIA, Gates later served as director of the CIA and as a senior staff member of George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council. His soft-spoken steeliness and calm demeanor have earned him the respect of lawmakers from both parties.

In November 2006, while serving as the president of Texas A&M University, Gates was asked by President George W. Bush to replace Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense. The American war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan were failing and Republicans were routed in the mid-term congressional elections. Gates served Bush ably and was asked by Obama to remain at the Pentagon after the 2008 elections — becoming the only person in U.S. history to be asked to stay on as defense secretary by a newly elected president, let alone one from a different party. He led the Pentagon until his retirement in July 2011.

“Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War” touches briefly on earlier aspects of Gates’s government career but sharply focuses on his four and a half years as secretary of defense. It’s a candid and caustic account that expresses deep affection and respect for America’s troops and profound frustration and even antipathy for the American political system. Gates describes his tenure at the Pentagon as a time of unending war.

Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

The main theaters of combat were Iraq, Afghanistan and the battle against terrorism. But he also extends the war metaphor to include his struggles with Congress and his efforts to overhaul the massive and change-resistant Pentagon.

When Gates arrived at the Pentagon, his highest priority was to turn around the faltering U.S. war in Iraq. Gates supported Bush’s initial decision to invade Iraq in 2003 but was alarmed at the “amazing bungling” that followed the invasion. While he does not directly attack Rumsfeld, he offers a withering assessment of the status of the American war effort in Iraq when he took office.

Gates backed and implemented Bush’s troop surge in 2007 to give Iraq’s political leaders breathing space to create a functioning government. He also wanted to prevent the precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces, seeking a sustainable long-term strategy in Iraq that would protect American interests there and in the region.

As such, Gates laments the subsequent departure of all American troops from Iraq at the end of 2011 and blames Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and to a lesser extent the Obama administration. “I don’t know how hard the Obama administration — or the president personally — pushed

President Barack Obama listens to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during a White House meeting in July 2010.

Iraqis for an agreement that would have allowed a residual U.S. troop presence,” he writes, referring to events that occurred after he left the administration.“In the end, the Iraqi leadership did not try to get an agreement through their parliament that would have made possible a continued U.S. military presence after December 31.

Maliki was just too fearful of the political consequences. Most Iraqis wanted us gone.

It was a regrettable turn of events for our future influence in Iraq and our strategic position in the region. And a win for Iran.”

Iraq also diverted critical resources and attention from the war in Afghanistan and this, Gates argues, was a costly mistake. He offers a full account of the administration’s efforts to formulate its Afghanistan strategy, especially during the fall of 2009 when Obama presided over nine lengthy meetings of his National Security Council to chart a new course.

Gates discusses the internal battles over Afghan policy and how the president came to suspect the U.S. military was trying to force his hand by approving a large increase

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

in troops. While Gates insists there was no military “plot” to pressure Obama, he does provide compelling evidence that Gen. Stanley McChrystal and others lobbied hard for Obama to agree to 40,000 additional troops for an Afghan surge.At a critical time during the deliberations, McChrystal’s staff leaked an explosive memo to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post that put enormous pressure on Obama to dispatch thousands of additional troops.

For his part, Gates pressed Obama to narrow his goals and shift from an ambitious bid to remake Afghan society to more limited but still difficult objectives: degrading the military capabilities of the Taliban and other extremist groups in Afghanistan, building up the Afghan army and security forces, denying a safe haven for al-Qaeda and solidifying key Afghan government agencies.

Gates describes Obama’s Afghan policy review as both highly rigorous and excessively detailed. “In my entire career, I cannot think of any single issue or problem that absorbed so much of the president’s and the principals’ time and effort in such a compressed period.

There was no angle or substantive point that was not thoroughly examined.”

Gates supported Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy but says the president steadily lost confidence in it. He charges that top White House officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, repeatedly provided Obama with reports that suggested the surge was not working. With palpable frustration, Gates describes a National Security Council meeting in March 2011 in which it was clear that Obama’s main concern was to hasten the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan. He writes:“As I sat there, I thought: the President doesn’t trust his own commander, can’t stand [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy, and

“

to the troops to remain as long as he could. His memoir captures the intensity of his life at the Pentagon and his conflicted feelings toward it.

“The challenge for historians and journalists — and memoirists — is how to convey the crushing effect of dealing daily with multiple problems, pivoting on a dime every few minutes from one issue to another, having to quickly absorb reporting from many sources on each problem, and then making decisions, always with too little time and too much ambiguous information.”

Gates offers intriguing profiles of Obama and key members of his administration. He is generous toward the president, describing him as a man of considerable intellect and character, practical, open to compromise and willing to go against his political base. He calls Obama’s decision to deploy Special Forces to kill 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden both risky and brave.

Surprisingly, Gates says that for all of the obvious differences between George W. Bush and Obama, they share several traits. Both like to be surrounded by close aides, don’t participate in Washington’s social scene and decline to aggressively reach out to leaders on Capitol Hill and around the world. “Both presidents, in short, seemed to me to be very aloof with respect to two constituencies important to their success in foreign affairs.”

Gates is likewise kind to Hillary Clinton, saying his preconceptions about her were wrong and taught him the dangers of judging people before getting to know them. “I found her smart, idealistic but pragmatic, toughminded, indefatigable, funny, a very valu­able colleague, and a superb representative of the United States all over the world.”

[Obama’s] White House was by far the most centralized and controlling in national security of any I had seen since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger ruled the roost.

”

— Robert Gates, former U.S. secretary of defense doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out.”

Gates’s description of trying to manage and reform the Pentagon is both compelling and dispiriting. He regrets being unable to change the Pentagon’s culture of endless meetings with omnipresent PowerPoint presentations.

More consequently, he laments his failure to reform the Pentagon’s costly heath care and pension systems and despairs over the enormous difficulty of overhauling the Pentagon’s weapons acquisition system. Gates’s most devastating comments slam the Pentagon’s persistent penchant to fight the “next war,” even to the neglect of the two massively expensive and important wars still underway. He derides the Pentagon’s “business as usual” mentality during the Afghan and Iraq wars, concluding:“The Department of Defense is structured to plan and prepare for war, but not fight one.”

Gates bluntly admits that he hated being secretary of defense, was often eager to resign, but felt intense loyalty October 2014

Photo: Crown Publishers

“

I was worried the world was coming to an end and not sure we could stop it. I wasn’t wrapped up in the spirit of limitless possibility and new beginnings that had driven the Obama campaign; I felt none of the spark and excitement that pervaded the halls of the transition headquarters.

”

— Timothy Geithner, former U.S. secretary of the treasury and who are far too involved in operational matters that should be handled by the Cabinet or the military. “His White House was by far the most centralized and controlling in national security of any I had seen since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger ruled the roost,” he writes provocatively.

Gates passionately denounces the current state of American political life in which conflict is endemic and bridge builders are vanishing. He argues that in Washington, people are polite on the surface but critical problems are ignored or made worse by ill-conceived or politically motivated solutions. To that end, his perception of Congress is brutal, saying that while he supports the concept of a powerful legislative body as envisioned by the Constitution, the current institution is an ugly mess and the majority of its members are parochial, incompetent, rude, arrogant and selfish.

‘Stress Test’

Photo: Knopf

Yet Gates is highly critical of the Obama White House, saying it’s run by young political operatives who want to ensure that anything good that happens is credited to the White House

2003 to 2008, Geithner said he grew uneasy with the surge in borrowing from large and mostly unregulated parts of the financial industry such as investment banks and money market funds. He outlined his concerns in various speeches, including his first as the president of New York Fed, but did so in language that was muted and highly technical. His heavily nuanced warnings were largely ignored and he wonders if he could have done more to highlight the mounting threats.

When the financial crisis broke out in 2007 and exploded in 2008, Geithner worked closely with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to prevent a global collapse.“Anyone who wasn’t scared had no idea of how close we were to the abyss,” he writes.

About a month before the 2008

Tim Geithner’s “Stress Test: Reflec­ tions on Financial Crises” is a fastpaced and well-written account of what it’s like to be at the center of a devastating global financial crisis. The first half covers Geithner’s family background, early career and the origins of the financial crisis while the second half describes his work as Obama’s treasury secretary.

After living overseas as a child, Geithner studied international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, worked for the Kissinger Associates consulting firm, and then accepted a job at the Treasury Department’s international bureau, where he rose steadily through the ranks. He later worked at the International Monetary Fund for a few years and was then appointed president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, one of the most important jobs in finance.

As head of the New York Fed from

presidential election, Obama asked Geithner for a briefing on the economy and probed to see if Geithner was interested in becoming his treasury secretary. Geithner said there were better candidates who could approach the crisis with a fresh set of eyes. His background, Geithner later said, did not make him a natural choice for the powerful post: He was neither a banker, nor an economist, nor a politician, nor even a Democrat.

Nonetheless, Obama picked Geithner and he became one of the administration’s most visible economic leaders. Before the inauguration, he told Obama that the president’s main goal should be to prevent a global depression. Obama said he had larger ambitions such as education, health care and financial reform. Geithner’s response was, “If you don’t prevent a depression, you won’t be able to do anything else.”

Geithner says Obama inherited an economy “in absolute free fall” and helped repair a broken financial system, calm terrified markets, bolster consumer confidence and inject demand into the economy. He reminds us of how grim the recession was in the United States, pointing out that $15 trillion of household wealth vanished, 9 million people lost their jobs and the unemployment rate jumped to 10 percent.

Geithner chronicles the administration’s efforts to pass a fiscal stimulus package, shore up the housing sector, reform the financial system, support the European Union and battle over fiscal issues with congressional Republicans.“The pace was frantic, the pressure was overwhelming. I was worried the world was coming to an end and not sure we could stop it. I wasn’t wrapped up in the spirit of limitless possibility and new beginnings that had driven the Obama campaign; I felt none of the spark and excitement that pervaded the halls of the transition

headquarters.”

Geithner said the central challenge was setting aside the political pressure for vengeance against those who caused the financial crisis and implementing policies to stabilize, and then heal, the economy.“Old Testament vengeance appeals to the populist fury of the moment, but the truly moral thing to do during a raging financial inferno is to put it out. The goal should be to protect the innocent, even if some of the arsonists escape their full measure of justice.”

One of the best features of Geithner’s book is his ability to be self-critical.“We had failed to prevent the worse financial crisis and the deepest recession in generations. I had the dubious distinction of being charge of the New York Fed when Wall Street imploded,” he admits.

He grimly recalls that his first major speech as treasury secretary in February 2009 was universally — and justifiably — panned. “It was a bad speech, badly delivered, rattling confidence at a bad time,” he says.

Geithner also faults himself and others in the administration for failing to persuasively explain their economic strategy. “I never found an effective way to explain to the public what we were doing and why. We did save the economy, but we lost the country doing it.”

Geithner paints a vivid picture of President Obama, whom he both likes and respects. “I thought he was smart, thoughtful, hardworking, demanding (but not harshly so), confident (but not overly so), relentlessly practical, and relatively indifferent to short-term political costs. He did his homework.

He listened. He delegated. Some found him distant, but I saw him show plenty of warmth and emotion and dry humor,” Geithner writes. “He wasn’t paralyzed by the ugliness of choices or the prospect of criticism. He handled adversity remarkably well, which was fortunate, because he faced a lot of it.”

The president, Geithner added, was focused on policy, not politics, and endured criticisms from Democrats for not being bold enough and from Republicans for being a socialist. “We discussed the political ramifications of our decisions, but on the central questions of economic and financial policy, politics didn’t drive our decisions.”

At the same time, Geithner laments America’s “adolescent political culture,” Washington’s “soul-crushing pathologies” and a press corps that is often shallow and inaccurate. But he concludes that somehow the political system enacted economic policies that were imperfect, but successful.

“I witnessed some appalling behavior in the political arena — selfishness and grandstanding, shameless hypocrisy and mindless partisanship. At times, the failures of our political system imposed tragic constraints on our ability to make the crisis less damaging and the recovery stronger. And yet, at the moments of most extreme peril, our system worked. Two administrations — one Republican, one Demo­ cratic — managed to do what was necessary to end the crisis, start a recovery, and reform the system, attracting just enough bipartisan support to get a polarized Congress to do its part.”

See memoirs, page 22 The Washington Diplomat Page 19

from page 13

Ports

keeping larger supertanker containerships from calling on Larrabee’s port is the Bayonne Bridge, which links New Jersey to Staten Island. The bridge, completed in 1931, is the fourth-longest steel arch bridge in the world, but the roadway itself sits only 151 feet above the water. That prevents huge vessels from crossing under it to reach area ports.

To address the problem, the port authority recently authorized a $1.29 billion project to raise the bridge by 64 feet. Work is already underway and the massive overhaul should be completed by 2016, according to Larrabee.

“That’s a critical factor for us,” he said. “We’re limited to ships carrying 9,500 TEUs because of the depth of the water, but it’s the air draft on the Bayonne Bridge that’s a bigger issue. Until the bridge is raised, a big ship is not going to come to the East Coast and make just one or two port calls.

They want to make at least three calls to justify the big ships; otherwise it’s not economically viable for them. Once that bridge is raised, we’re going to see an influx of those larger ships.”

Meanwhile, in 2010, the Virginia Port Authority — with operations in Norfolk, Portsmouth and elsewhere in the Hampton Roads area — acquired the rights to one of the world’s most modern, technically advanced container terminals when it signed a 20-year lease with APM Terminals, a major Dutch consortium.

“Last year turned out to be the best year on record, and we think we’re going to break that record in 2014,” Virginia Port Authority spokesman Joe Harris told The Diplomat.“Companies are using the Port of Virginia because of the service they get here.”

Harris said the improving economy has boosted traffic by 7.8 percent this year compared to 2013, when Norfolk handled 2.22 million TEUs.

Photo: Larry Luxner

Of all 50 U.S. states, none depends on international trade more than Washington. In 2011, exports came to $64.6 billion, meaning that 40 percent of jobs in that state are tied to international trade.

That makes it third among all U.S. East Coast ports in container traffic, outranked only by New YorkNew Jersey and Savannah.

Norfolk plays a vital role in supporting the growth of distribution centers throughout Virginia.

These include everything from Dollar Tree stores in Chesapeake to the Home Shopping Network in Roanoke. Other major users of the port include Walmart, Food Lion, Sara Lee Coffee & Tea Co., Target, Hanes, Volvo and Stanley Furniture.

The 285-acre port complex generates $41 billion a year in economic impact for Virginia’s 8.2 million inhabitants as well as 343,000 jobs (or 9 percent of the state’s workforce), according to a 2006 study by the College of William & Mary’s

Mason School of Business.

“The biggest issue affecting all ports is whether we, as a nation, have the necessary infrastructure to handle the growth. Our volumes are at record levels, and all the ports are extremely busy,” Harris said, hinting that the pending expansion of the Panama Canal won’t have as big an impact on business as some industry experts have suggested.

“There’s been a misperception that as soon as the Panama Canal expansion opens, a flood of huge ships is going to inundate the East Coast,” Harris said.“The expansion was supposed to have finished a while ago. They did not, and nobody’s suffering for it. I don’t think it’s going to be the

October 11-12, 2014

game-changer people think it’ll be. The canal expansion will benefit some ports, but it’ll take time for that to mature.”

Nevertheless, U.S. ports will have to move with the times to accommodate the ever-larger ships that Panama hopes to attract. “Over the last 20 years, ships have gotten much bigger, more than doubling in volume from 5,500 to around 13,000 TEUs. So everybody has to make themselves ready,” said Gary LaGrange, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans since 2001.

Perhaps no port has seen more difficult times than New Orleans. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed one-third of the port’s infrastructure.

But like the city itself, the port rebounded, seeing containerized cargo traffic double between 2009 and 2011.

To that end, LaGrange’s agency has authorized a $300 million project to deepen the channel from its current 45-foot depth to 50 feet.A recent study showed that the cost-benefit ratio would be 89.4 to one, meaning that every dollar spent on the project — whether by the federal government or the state of Louisiana — would yield $89.40 in benefits.

All told, more than $1 billion has been invested in the port, said LaGrange.

Latin America accounts for 60 percent of all imports and exports going through the Port of New Orleans. Volumes will ramp up significantly with the announcement earlier this year by Chiquita that the banana giant will return to New Orleans following its merger with Irish conglomerate Fyffes.

Besides bananas, other commodities are arriving in increasing numbers from Central America, including coffee and low-priced textiles. Since 2004, when the port opened its container terminal, annual capacity has jumped from 366,000 TEUs to 640,000 today. By the end of 2015, that’ll be up to 840,000 TEUs.

See ports, page 22

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The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

MEDICAL

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS Becomes Different Kind of Disease for Survivors

by Gina Shaw

I

n 1995, a 25-year-old who was diagnosed with HIV could expect to live, on average, another eight years. Someone diagnosed with HIV at the same age today, assuming that they stay on antiretroviral therapy, can expect to live well into their 70s — approaching the life expectancy of the general population.

The transformation of a disease that was a death sentence less than 20 years ago into a manageable chronic disease has brought with it what health experts call a “great problem to have”: People with HIV/AIDS are living long enough to acquire other chronic diseases of aging, like cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, dementia, osteoporosis and other health conditions that can pose special challenges when they occur alongside an HIV diagnosis.

“This leads to a lot of challenges that we never thought we’d see,” said Anthony Luna, an executive vice president with the specialty pharmacy company Aureus Health Services, speaking at a pharmacy conference earlier this year.“HIV can increase the risk for, or worsen, certain conditions including osteoporosis, heart disease, dementia, insulin resistance and depression.”

Among about 12,000 people enrolled in HIV clinical trials between 1998 and 2008, only 10 percent died of AIDS-defining diseases, like certain opportunistic infections. More than twice as many — 21 percent — died of non-AIDS related cancers. It’s been noted that people with HIV are particularly at risk for cancers that are associated with infections, like Hodgkin’s lymphoma and liver cancer, and that they when they do get cancer, it tends to be more virulent.

Another 9 percent died of cardiac disease and another 9 percent of liver disease. HIV medications themselves, especially as they are taken over an accumulation of years, can also put people at risk for other diseases. For example, some common antiretroviral medications can have adverse effects on cholesterol levels, and others have been associated with an increased risk of heart attacks; some can damage the kidneys.

Other causes of death accounted for smaller percentages, but one — suicide — is particularly noteworthy because it was the cause of death for 5 percent of individuals (compared with just over 1.5 percent in the general population).

“The prevalence of depression is 20 to 40 percent in people with HIV, at least twofold higher than in the general population,” Luna said.“Depression also increases a person’s risk of acquiring HIV in the first place, and ups the likelihood of high-risk sexual behavior among those already infected. Being treated for depression effectively, on the other hand, improves a patient’s adherence to their antiretroviral therapy.”

Last year, after the deaths of several long-term HIV survivors — including activist Spencer Cox, who stopped taking his antiretroviral medications, and others who committed suicide — two longtime survivors,

October 2014

Photo: CDC / C. Goldsmith, P. Feorino, E. L. Palmer, W. R. McManus

“

We hear about the end of AIDS, which is very well intended. But for the generation I belong to, we went through a war together. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean it has ended for us.

— Tez Anderson co-founder of Let’s Kick ASS

”

filmmaker Tez Anderson and HIV activist Matt Sharp, launched the San Francisco-based group Let’s Kick ASS. The grassroots organization was created to help people experiencing “AIDS survivor syndrome” who struggle with their long-term health and lives after years of expecting to die at any minute — and seeing many of their friends die during the height of the disease in the 1980s and ’90s.

Since its discovery in 1981, in fact,AIDS has killed an estimated 36 million people around the world. But an almost equal number of people — 35 million — are currently living with the virus.

Anderson himself was told by doctors that he would die in 18 months when he was diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s; his partner Gary died of HIV/AIDS complications in 1999.Anderson said he has struggled for two decades with depression, anger, anxiety, hopelessness and survivors’ guilt.

“In the beginning, everyone around me was dying,”

A scanning electron micrograph shows an HIV-1 budding (in green) from cultured lymphocyte.

he wrote on Let’s Kick ASS’s website. “It was a very trying time, but also very purposeful.We had a purpose keeping everyone as alive as possible. I was slow coming to grips with the possibility that I might survive. I could talk the talk as a survivor, but I never really internalized I would live.”

That has all changed with the advent of antiretroviral therapies, but Anderson says the battle isn’t over.

“We hear about the end of AIDS, which is very well intended. But for the generation I belong to, we went through a war together. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean it has ended for us. We still need to heal and to optimize our lives.”

Anderson told the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s BetaBlog that he’s seen many survivors “wanting to connect after being disconnected for a long time.There was a period there when the meds got better and people stopped dying and we all just retreated to take a deep breath, and now it’s time to pop our heads out of the sand and look around and say,‘What’s next?’”

To that end, Let’s Kick ASS hosted its first “survivor summit” this past June and aims for a much bigger event on June 5, 2015.“I hope on June 5 and the rest of the year you’ll find ways to seek out survivors and listen to them,” wrote Anderson in POZ magazine, which chronicles the lives of people affected by HIV/AIDS. “Do not just accept ‘I’m fine’ when you ask, ‘How are you?’ Listen to them. Acknowledge that they’ve come through the fire but they can dream and be happy.”

Gina Shaw is the medical writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 21

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from page 19

To succeed in the 21st century, we need to integrate the traditional tools of foreign policy — diplomacy, development assistance and military force — while also tapping the energy and ideas of the private sector and empowering citizens, especially the activists, organizers and problem solvers we call civil society, to meet their own challenges and shape their own futures.

Memoirs ‘Hard Choices’ Few recent memoirs have been met with greater fanfare than Hillary Clinton’s “Hard Choices.” An iconic figure, Clinton gained global prominence for her work as first lady, senator from New York and a presidential candidate who narrowly lost the Democratic nomination to Obama in 2008.This book focuses on her tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, though it’s been pored over for clues to her political ambitions in 2016. Given the intense media glare, one would expect her memoir to be carefully written, cautious and crafted not to offend. This is true in spades.

Clinton describes the heavy demands of being secretary of state, traveling to 112 nations and famously logging almost a million miles in the air.

She argues that a modern secretary of state can’t afford to just focus on a handful of big issues but must operate on “the whole chessboard” of global affairs.

America’s former top diplomat is a champion of smart power. “To succeed in the 21st century, we need to integrate the traditional tools of foreign policy — diplomacy, development assistance and military force — while also tapping the energy and ideas of the private sector and empowering citizens, especially the activists, organizers and problem solvers we call civil society, to meet their own challenges and shape their own futures,” she writes.This modern statecraft requires “harnessing new technologies, public-private partnerships, diaspora networks and other tools, and it soon carried us into fields beyond traditional diplomacy such as energy and economics.”

Clinton defends the Obama administration’s first-term foreign policy on most fronts. She touts the rebalancing toward Asia, solidifying ties to Europe, eliminating Osama bin Laden, drawing down the war in Iraq and ramping up the war in Afghanistan.

She also stands by the administration’s decision to improve ties with Russia in the infamous “reset,” declaring the objective was to find common ground on arms control, Iranian sanctions, Afghanistan and other issues. “For those who expected the reset to open a new era of goodwill between Russia and the United States, it proved to be a bitter disappointment. For those of us who had more modest expectations — that de-linking tough issues and toning down rhetoric on both sides could create space for progress on specific priorities — the reset delivered,” she writes.

Clinton insists she never expected things would go smoothly and adds that the return of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency halted progress on many fronts. She details a stark memo she sent Obama as she was leaving the administration warning that Putin needed to be dealt with firmly.

She professes not to be surprised by Putin’s aggressive actions in Ukraine and contends that the administration’s efforts to reinvigorate NATO, restore strained transatlantic relations and reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy “put us in a stronger position to meet this challenge, though Putin has many cards to play too.”

Clinton also uses her memoir to respond to critics. Regarding her Senate vote in 2002 granting President Bush authorization to use force in Iraq, Clinton says she tried to consider all the evidence and solicit opinions inside and outside government before supporting the resolution. “Over the years that followed, many Senators came to wish they had voted against the resolution. I was one of them. As the war dragged on, with every letter I sent to a family in New York who lost a son or daughter, a father or mother, my mistake became more painful.”

She says this mistake compelled her to view Bush’s 2007 plan for a troop surge into Iraq with deep skepticism. “Five years later President Bush asked us to trust him again, this time about his proposed surge, and I wasn’t buying it. I didn’t believe that simply sending more troops would solve the mess we were in,” she writes, noting

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— Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state

Photo: © Ruven Afanador / Corbis Online

that lessons of Iraq informed her approach to Afghanistan and gave her “more experience, wisdom, skepticism and humility.”

Clinton’s self-defense is most striking and detailed as it pertains to Libya and the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the Benghazi diplomatic compound that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. She devotes two carefully drafted chapters to the tragedy that Republicans hope will derail her presidential prospects, discussing her prompt decision to create a

special Benghazi review panel and her acceptance of all 29 of its recommendations. But she says Republicans are not interested in constructive ideas. “I will not be part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It’s just plain wrong and it’s unworthy of our great country.Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me,” she declares.

In other areas, Clinton tactfully tries to distance herself from some of the administration’s decisions. She recounts the 2009 dispute between Obama and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over new Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The White House, she says, “locked itself into a confrontation” with Netanyahu and therefore “shared responsibility for creating that logjam by allowing the issue to turn into a test of wills.”

She also chides Obama for publically revealing that the United States would begin withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan in 2011. “This was a starker deadline than I had hoped for, and I worried that it might send the wrong signal to friend

and foe alike. Although I strongly believed in the need for a time-bound surge and a speedy transition, I thought there was benefit in playing our cards closer to our chests,” she says.

Clinton’s response to the civil war in Syria, however, was perhaps her most forceful dissention to Obama’s policies. She questions the 2012 decision to provide moderate rebels with non-lethal aid, but not with arms or training, and criticizes Obama for backing down from his threat to use force in the event the Assad regime used chemical weapons.

While many former American diplomats write memoirs that embrace lofty, Olympian views of foreign affairs,Clinton takes the opposite approach.

She explains her stance toward politics and diplomacy with stories about childhood softball games and her church group in Illinois. For example, she recalls a Girl Scouts song to “make new friends, but keep the old” and then writes: “For America, our alliance with Europe is worth more than gold.”

See Memoirs, page 55

from page 20

Ports

“The future of this area is our export business in chemicals,” LaGrange said. “Last year, Louisiana had $81 billion in foreign direct investment in our chemical plants alone.Those companies are beefing up because everybody in the industry recognizes the low cost of natural gas here in Louisiana, and the industry is projecting that market to continue for at least another 10 to 15 years.”

In April,TCI Plastics announced it would build a 500,000-square-foot logistics facility at the port — a $36 million capital investment that would create 340 direct and indirect jobs.

“We have 92 chemical companies located between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, producing polymers, resins and plastic pellets. That cargo has been going in bulk to Houston, but now it’ll be coming to New Orleans,” said LaGrange. “Since Katrina, we’ve taken an area that used to be utilized for other things and retrofitted it as an international logistics center, which means we’re putting people here to work.”

New Orleans already boasts one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. At present, 5,000 people work at the port, of which 280 are Port Authority employees.

Yet of the 50 states, none depends on international trade more than Washington. In 2011, exports came to $64.6 billion, meaning that 40 percent of jobs in that state are tied to international trade.Washington is a top national producer of at least 10 commodities including apples, pears, sweet cherries, potatoes, onions, red raspberries, hay and hops.

It also exports more fish than any other state in the nation.

Last year, the Port of Seattle exported $3.2 billion in agricultural products and $4.1 billion in non-agricultural products.

“This speaks to the economy of the Pacific Northwest. This is why it’s one of the hottest economies in the United States,” said port spokesman Peter McGraw. “We’ve got high-tech. We’ve got manufacturing.

We’ve got resource-intensive industries.And we’re able to do all of this because we have a deep-water port, access to class-one railroads and a world-class airport.”

China is the source of 65 percent of the value of goods shipped into Seattle, as well as the destination for 30 percent of the city’s exports.

The port’s other top trade partners include Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Along with nearby Tacoma, the two ports provide direct and indirect jobs for 200,000 people in Washington state. Seattle is also the main gateway for passenger cruises to Alaska, a growing industry that pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into local businesses.

McGraw said four of Seattle’s container terminals can already handle super post-Panamax ships.A fourth terminal is now being upgraded at a cost of $200 million so that it, too, will have the capacity to load and unload these giant new vessels now coming online.

Photo: Larry Luxner

The Port of Baltimore in Maryland is one of the largest ports in the United States.

Over the last decade, Seattle has spent a total of $1.2 billion on container terminal infrastructure. But in 2013, the port handled 1.57 million TEUs, down 16.5 percent from 2012 figures.A big chunk of that drop, McGraw said, had to do with some operations switching to the port in Tacoma. But it also has to do with competition from Canada, he said.

“In the past 10 years, U.S. Pacific Northwest ports have lost 10 percent of their market share to Canadian and Southern California ports.

When Prince Rupert Port [north of Vancouver] came online in 2007, the market share for West Coast ports took a nosedive.”

The reason: Canada’s multibillion-dollar investment in its own seaports, railroads and highways, as well as the lack of a tax similar to the U.S. harbor maintenance tax, McGraw argues.

“Our concern is the fact that boxes coming into Seattle get charged an average $109, and they don’t get charged that at Canadian ports.

Our two senators have introduced legislation that seeks to level that playing field,” McGraw said. “Prince Rupert has flourished at the expense of our growth.This has been going on for some time, but with all this cargo being diverted, it’s already happening.That’s our big competitive threat here, and it could mean the loss of thousands of jobs in the Pacific Northwest.”

He added:“We’re not as concerned about the Panama Canal as much as Canada’s national freight strategy. I think the U.S. should have one too, even if it means spending billions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

STEERING NEW COURSE

by Karin Zeitvogel

EDUCATION

October 2014

■ october 2014

Schools Try to STEM the Rot in U.S. Education PhoTo IllUSTRaTIon: angela WaYe / BIgSToCK

W

hen it comes to the all-important

STeM studies (science, technology,

engineering and math), the statistics

for american kids are sobering: The United States ranks 52nd in the quality of its mathematics and science education, according to the World economic Forum.

Continued on next page

The Washington Diplomat Page23

SIDEBAR

STEM Local Stars The best STEM high schools in the D.C. area, according to U.S. News and World Report, are:

Photo: Wheaton High School

Wheaton High School students work on building a robot for the FIRST Robotics Competition, an international high school robotics competition that gives students real-world engineering experience.

Continued from previous page Among the 34 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States got below-average marks in mathematics test scores on a test given every three years to 15 year olds. American teens ranked just 27th on the tests, called the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In science, the United States did a little better, but still not well.

It ranked 20th out of 34 in the OECDadministered test, and unlike other countries that improved their scores from

previous years, U.S. performance rates were flat.

And while more students are getting bachelor’s degrees from U.S. universities, fewer of those degrees are in the so-called STEM subjects. A report compiled by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) in April 2012 found that while 24 percent of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States in 1985 were in STEM disciplines, the share had fallen to 18 percent by 2009, even though the relevance of those fields has surged in recent years.

That same report says U.S. employers are frantically looking to fill STEM posi-

also an early adopter of the International 1. Thomas Jefferson High School Baccalaureate program; students must live for Science and Technology in in catchment area to attend.

Alexandria, Va., topped the STEM list not only locally, but nationally as well. Open to 5. Walt Whitman High School in students who reside with a parent or legal Bethesda, Md., is another Montgomery guardian in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun or NOTE:Prince Although effort is made yourpowerhouse; ad is freestudents of mistakes in spelling and County must live Williamevery counties in Virginia, the to assure content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. in catchment area. school boasts more than 10 specialized research labs, ranging from astrophysics The first faxed changes will be made at no6. cost to the advertiser, Montgomery Blair Highsubsequent School in changes to two oceanography. will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration.

Signed aremagnet considered approved.

Silver Spring, Md.,ads offers programs on application and successful completion of 2. Poolesville High School in as well as STEM acade-ad.

Poolesville, offersthis science, com- entrance Please Md., check admath, carefully.

Mark exam, any changes to your mies. Applicants must live in Montgomery puter science and ecology magnet proCounty. Magnetneeds test date is the same as grams.

Magnet night(301) is schedIf the ad is correct signinformation and fax to: 949-0065 changes for Poolesville. uled for Oct. 6 at the school. Entrance is based onDiplomat application (due Nov.(301) 7) and 933-3552 sucThe Washington 7. Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, cessful completion of a magnet entrance Md., did not make it onto the U.S. News exam for Montgomery County. The exam Approvedwill __________________________________________________________ and World Report’s listing of the top 250 be held on Sat., Dec. 6, with a snow STEM schools in the country. But with the of Dec. 13.

Changes date ___________________________________________________________ listing based on student scores on the math ___________________________________________________________________ and science Advanced Placement (AP) tests, 3. Thomas S. Wootton High School we reckon it could be on there soon. The in Rockville, Md., is in the heart of magnet programs are based on application Montgomery County; students must live and students must live in the Downcounty in catchment area to attend.

Consortium catchment area.

4. Richard Montgomery High School — Karin Zeitvogel in Rockville, Md., not far from Wootton, was

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Page 24

EDUCATION

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

tions and often turn to foreign talent to do so because the United States simply is not churning out enough science, technology, engineering and mathematics degreeholders.

The source of the problem, says the JEC report, is how the United States prepares its kids for a STEM career.

“American students’ performance on international standardized tests suggests problems earlier in the STEM pipeline,” the report says. In fact, problems may be starting “as early as elementary school and continue through students’ secondary and post-secondary education.”

This is the point where Charlie Brown would heave a sigh in the “Peanuts” comic strip.

James Brown — no relation to Charlie — is not ready to throw in the towel on Americans’ success at STEM just yet.

Brown is the executive director of the STEM Education Coalition, an alliance of more than 500 educational, business and professional organizations that has been quietly working for the past 15 years to promote STEM education as a national priority in the United States.

Since the coalition was set up — ironically around the same time as the OECD was launching its PISA tests — Brown has noticed a change in the way schools and companies approach STEM education.

“An awful lot of groups have adopted the message that STEM education is important to the future of our country,” he told The Washington Diplomat. “Almost every school district has some component that deals with STEM education, and over the past 10 years, we’ve sensitized educators and parents to the importance

of STEM.” One local school that has reaped the benefits of STEM education is Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, Md. Once considered a public school to avoid at all costs, even if it meant lying about where you lived — one Wheaton alumnus said most of his 1980s graduating class ended up in jail — the school leapt from the depths of the U.S. News and World Report high school rankings to 16th place out of 244 high schools in the state of Maryland last year and 589th out of more than 19,400 nationwide.

Assistant Principal Heather Carias puts Wheaton’s upward rise down to a recent shift in focus.

It started to turn its ship around in 2004, when it introduced the first of its “academies” in bioscience, engineering and information technology.Then, in 2012, the school took an even bigger step when it welcomed its first intake of freshmen to application-only magnet programs in biomedical sciences and engineering. (The school also offers a liberal arts and humanities academy “because we recognize that not everyone has great passion for STEM,” Carias said.)

“Students are pushing themselves more to take advance-level classes and the inception of the application-based [magnet] program has brought to us a cohort of high-achieving students that are having a tremendous impact on the high school,” Carias said.

Currently, around three-quarters of students at Wheaton are enrolled in the school’s STEM academies or magnet pro-

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EDUCATION October 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page25

“STEM skills are important not just to the Ph.D.-track university researcher, to the brainy kid who goes to a lot of science fairs and wants to be a rocket scientist, but also to the auto mechanic and the person who works in aircraft manufacturing and to your nurses and all sorts of people in the economy who we haven’t always thought of as STEM workers.”

— James Brown, executive director of the STEM Education Coalition

Continued from previous page grams, and more than half the student body is enrolled in courses developed by the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) nonprofit, the largest provider of STEM education programs in the United States.

Project Lead the Way launched in 1997 — the same year the OECD launched its PISA tests that the United States did so badly on last year. Three years later, PLTW expanded into middle schools and in 2013 launched a program for kindergarten through fifth grade, meaning it now covers STEM education all the way to children’s early school years.

Research shows that the best time to give kids the STEM bug is somewhere between third and fifth grade, Brown said. But companies that fund STEM education have not always recognized that.

“Fifteen or 20 years ago, most companies that were actively involved in STEM education were only involved in university-level programs,” Brown said. “But if you ask them today — the ExxonMobils, the Microsofts, the Intels, the really large companies that are making large investments in STEM education because their workforce depends on it — they are increasingly supporting programs at the elementary school and middle school level, even early childhood.”

Maybe when that change trickles down, the United States will start scoring better on the PISA tests.

Brown said that more schools should be following the lead of Wheaton and focusing on STEM education, because science, technology, engineering and math touch just about every job out there these days. And ultimately, the reason par-

Photo: Wheaton High School

A Wheaton High School student presents her research to an audience of scientists at the University of Maryland.

ents send their kids to school is so they can get a job that pays well one day.

“STEM skills are important not just to the Ph.D.-track university researcher, to the brainy kid who goes to a lot of science fairs and wants to be a rocket scientist, but also to the auto mechanic and the person who works in aircraft manufacturing and to your nurses and all sorts of people in the economy who we haven’t always thought of as STEM workers,” Brown said.

He cited today’s automobile mechanics as a classic example of the importance of teaching our children the right skills.

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EDUCATION

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The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Two Wheaton High School students dissect a sheep’s heart in their principles of biomedical science class.

“A generation ago, an auto mechanic had no interface with electronics at all.

He worked with his hands, with tools.

He took your car apart and put it back together,” Brown said.“But now, the first thing an auto mechanic does is plug your car into a software system and to fix your car, he or she has to interface with the car’s computer. The best mechanics now get jobs for $70,000 to $90,000 a year and need a certain amount of math and science to even enter trade school.

“That’s how STEM education has changed,” Brown added. “It’s not just the best and brightest — every kid needs at least a level of literacy in the STEM subjects, not just the future rocket scientist.”

Asia-Pacific countries and regions dominated the most recent PISA rankings, released in December last year, taking the top seven places in math and six of the top 10 places in science literacy. Rounding out the top 10 in both rankings were European countries: Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Belgium made the math top 10, while Finland, Estonia, Germany and the Netherlands made the science top 10.

The United States finished way out of Photo: Wheaton High School the rankings’ upper echelons.

The results released in December showed little change from the previous PISA rankings. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the performance of U.S. students “a picture of educational stagnation.”

Different groups, including schools, have been trying to right the U.S. education ship for several years now. But it’s not that easy. Simply doing what the successful PISA countries and

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EDUCATION October 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page27

[ private schools ]

Sneak Peek Open House Previews Offer Peace of Mind for International Parents

PhoTo: SaInT JaMeS SChool

Parents and students visit the Saint James School, a co-ed episcopal boarding school in hagerstown, Md.

L

by Sarah alaoui

ike many American parents around the country each fall, Washington diplomats are packing away their children’s camping gear and bathing suits and preparing them for school — or, in some cases, picking out the right school for them.

For some, it will be their little one’s first foray away from home and into the world of classmates and teachers. For others, the challenge is twofold: a new school in a foreign country.

To facilitate these sensitive transitions, schools around the Washington area, especially international schools, host several open house sessions a year to woo parents and address their concerns.

Page 28

“As a parent, I would want to know what kind of curriculum the school follows, how they engage their children and what sets them apart from others,” said Vanena Wilmot, the parent of a second-grader at Lycée Rochambeau, an international French school in Bethesda, Md. Amy Painter, director of communications at the Saint James School in Hagerstown, Md., said open houses allow parents to really get a feel for a particular school.

“We want them to gain a sense of the unique spirit of our school, and a sense of our warm and engaging community,” she told us.

“There is nothing like the experience of being in our community and seeing our beautiful campus. Open houses offer families the chance to see and feel this for themselves. In addition, open houses provide the opportunity for parents to interact and to get to know one another, in addition to our students and faculty.”

EDUCATION The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

“As a parent, I would want to know what kind of curriculum the school follows, how they engage their children and what sets them apart from others.”

— Vanena Wilmot parent of a second-grader at Lycée Rochambeau

Photo: British School of Washington

The British School of Washington is holding its upcoming open houses on Nov. 12 and Jan. 14.

The German School Washington D.C., originally created to meet the needs of parents who work at the German Embassy (the student body is still mostly comprised of diplomats’ children), opens its November open house to everyone including students and local community members.

“Our students come from all over the world and almost all of them have been a ‘new kid’ somewhere,” said Sean Gaetjen, the German School’s admissions coordinator.“This makes them particularly welcoming of all of our new students when they arrive, making sure they get everything they need and feel comfortable in the school and larger community.”

One parent, who drove all the way from Pittsburgh to Potomac, Md., where the school is located, to attend the open house, was eager to

learn more about how his children could receive a German education in an intercultural setting here in the United States. The emphasis on language is unsurprisingly the first thing that piques the interest of parents seeking to enroll their children in international schools.

“We chose the French system because I’m from Madagascar, and the majority of our family speaks French.

So we wanted our daughter to learn the language correctly and well,” said Wilmot. “She learned more than language at Rochambeau, however.

From a very young age, my daughter learned how to correctly arrange a place setting, for example, and wait until everyone else at the table received their setting before eating.”

Parents who attend open houses at Rochambeau often ask about the level of language instruction at the school.While many think the school only focuses on the French language, it actually expects students to become fully bilingual and fluent in English as well. For the aspiring young polyglot, Spanish is taught as young as second grade and other

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The Washington Diplomat Page29

Continued from previous page languages include Arabic, German and Latin.

“It is this diversity of languages and cultures that truly makes our school unique,” said Rochambeau Director of Development Mimi Fairman. “We have students from over 30 embassies, the World Bank, IMF, IDB and many other international organizations.”

Lycée Rochambeau hosts several open houses each year at two of their three campuses: Bradley for the preschool and kindergarten program, and Rollingwood for students in first to third grade.

The events are held on both weekdays and weekends, allowing parents to bring their children along if they choose. Parents with students in fourth through 12th grades are encouraged to schedule one-on-one visits at the third Rochambeau campus, Forest Road.

Older students can also shadow a class for all or part of the day.

“The overall goal is for families to understand the programs we offer and the advantages they would have in their children attending a multilingual, multicultural school such as ours,” said Fairman.

After organizing various formats of open houses over the years, most schools have received similar feedback from parents: They want to see the school in its natural setting and how their child would experience it if he or she were to enroll.

Saint James, which is holding its upcoming open houses on Oct. 4 and Jan. 19, encourages its teachers to be themselves. “We ask them to be open and honest, and to interact with the families. We want them to be themselves,” Painter said of the school, which is home to the children of diplomats from the IMF, World Bank and United Nations.

“We don’t want our open house to be orchestrated or micromanaged,” said Anna Ellenbogen, director of admissions and marketing for the British School of Washington, one of the area’s top private international schools, with students hailing from over 60 nationalities.

When the British School first began to hold open houses, the events would not take place the whole day. However, school administrators changed the format to full-day open houses after realizing that parents wanted to drop in freely throughout the day without having to make an appointment. After signing in, they can observe any class they’d like without being limited to the grade in which their child will enroll. Occasionally, educators from other schools will also sit in on classes to experience different methods of teaching.

Photo: British School of Washington

The British School of Washington is one of the area’s top private international schools, with students hailing from over 60 nationalities.

“Nothing is different on the day of open house apart from the learning objectives displayed outside of every classroom to inform parents,” said Ellenbogen.

“We don’t make any changes — except maybe the teachers will try to dress a little nicer than usual.”

At the German School, open houses were traditionally held during weekends, and while this gave parents more flexibility to attend, it was not necessarily an accurate representation of what school operations typically looked like. Then the school decided to move the event to a weekday to show parents their students and teachers “in action.”

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The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

The German School Washington D.C., originally created to meet the needs of parents who work at the German Embassy (the student body is still mostly comprised of diplomats’ children), opens its November open house to everyone including students and local community members.

“We also do everything in both English and German during our open house in order to accommodate our parents who speak only English,” said Gaetjen. “In the past, the open house was conducted in almost all German, which left some parents who do not speak the language left out. Over the last several years, however, everything has been bilingual and the response from parents and the community has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Painter said parents who visit Saint James ask a range of questions. “They ask about boarding and how it works. They also ask about financial aid and how that works, as well for information about our application process. In addition, they have questions about our academics and athletics programs, in particular.”

Just as much as open houses provide valuable insight for parents of proPhoto: German School Washington spective students, they are also used by schools to gauge how they can better meet families’ needs. With many children of diplomats and top-level officials attending international schools, safety is inevitably a question that frequently comes up.

“Security precautions are a concern for all, of course, but especially for diplomatic families,” explained Ellenbogen. “We take the time at open house to explain safety measures we take at our school [to alleviate these concerns].”

The German School takes advantage of each open house to immediately begin preparing for the following one.Teachers and faculty will meet after each event to discuss lessons learned and how the experience can be improved for all.

“We want to show a bright, full, happy school where students love to learn and teachers love to teach,” said Gaetjen.

Sarah Alaoui (@musingsdiffused) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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EDUCATION October 2014

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from page 27

STem regions do is not the solution. For a start, it’s impossible to compare the massive U.S. education system to the system in, say, Estonia, the country that gave us Skype. Recently, Estonia started teaching simple computer programming languages to every child in pre-school. But how do you compare Estonia, with its population of 1.33 million, to the United States, a population of over 300 million?

Even though direct comparisons are not possible, the United States could take a page out of the books of other countries and regions (the top PISA scorer is the China-Shanghai region, which is why that designation keeps coming up). According to Brown, other countries have made “a high-level commitment to emphasize the math and science skills because that’s where they see their economies going.” He thinks the United States should do the same.

But there are obstacles to going to the head of the PISA class. One of them is the lack of qualified STEM teachers.

Not only is the pool of graduates in STEM subjects declining in the United States, but well-qualified graduates who would make great STEM teachers are often quickly snapped up by big STEM companies, which offer better salaries than American public schools can. So something has to be done to woo good teachers and then keep them. said Wheaton’s teaching staff has contributed itsissuccess climbNOTE:Carias Although every effort is made to assure yourtoad free ofin mistakes in spelling and ing up the state and national rankings. Many teachers at Wheaton have been content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. there for years and are “passionate about growing these STEM programs,” she told us.

The first two faxed changes will be made no cost the advertiser, subsequent changes Brown said the United States also has toatrework its to education laws, which will are be currently billed at written a rate by of $75 per not faxed alteration. aremoveconsidered approved. function, by subject.

SinceSigned the civilads rights ment in the 1960s, federal education laws have focused on creating an equitablePlease education systemthis in thead United States, ensuring underserved check carefully.

Markthat any changescomto your ad. munities get a good education. notionsign of focusing STEM949-0065 field requires a lot of needs thoughtful work If the ad is“The correct and faxonto:the (301) changes by policymakers over time and a lot of changes in education laws,” Brown said.

“We have policies for teacher recruitment, for accountability in schools and so The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552 on.Those all have to be re-crafted to make STEM subjects more of a priority.”

Many American states have begun prioritizing STEM subjects, but the largest Approved laws__________________________________________________________ governing education remain unchanged, Brown said. “We’ve started to steer the ship in the right direction. We’re just not turning it fast enough,” he Changes ___________________________________________________________ said. ___________________________________________________________________ Karin Zeitvogel is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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Page 32

EDUCATION The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

T R A V E L &

HOTELS ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

FALLING INTO D.C.

■ october 2014

City Offers Rich Bounty Of Seasonal Sights, Activities

PhoTo: DeSTInaTIon DC

by Stephanie Kanowitz

F

The D.C. skyline along the national Mall is pictured in the fall.

all is many Washingtonians’ favorite season. It could

ties for residents and visitors to take advantage of fall.

be simply that it has the good fortune of bringing

There’s apple picking and pumpkin patches for families,

milder temperatures following the oppressive heat

hiking among the colorful leaves for adventurers and wine

of a D.C. summer, but autumn also kicks off the holiday

tastings for those seeking a more leisurely excursion. We

season, gorgeous fall foliage and a bounty of festivals.

asked the concierges at four popular area hotels for their

The Washington metro area offers plenty of opportuni-

top fall picks. here’s what they said: Continued on next page

October 2014

TRAVEL & HOTELS The Washington Diplomat

33

Continued from previous page

ZInEB ToURoUgUI AT ThE W WAShIngTon D.c. www.wwashingtondc.com “As the seasons change, orchards and farms are definitely a place to visit,” said Zineb Tourougui, W Insider, a new position at the hotel that aims to be synonymous with being one of the most connected people in the city in terms of fashion, music, design and art. “Virginia and Maryland both offer many farms like Crooked Run Orchard just outside of D.C., where they invite you to pick your own fruit — a great way to spend the day and a perfect way to end your dinner that night, with the fruit you picked yourself.”

At the family-run Crooked Run Orchard (37883 East Main St., Purcellville, Va.), visitors can pick apples, plums, Asian pears, raspberries, pumpkins and gourds. During November and December, Christmas wreaths are available, too. The orchard has no admission fee; pay only for what you pick.

For adventurers, Tourougui recommends the D.C. location of the Trapeze School New York (4th and Tingey Streets, SE), which offers indoor and outdoor trapeze classes in addition to trampoline, juggling and acrobatics courses. Or try Capitol Scooter (400 14th St., SW), the only area company that rents scooters, mini electric cars and PhoTo: naTIonal PaRK SeRVICe electric Trikkes. The company also offers tours such as the Capitol Trikke Tour ($90), which goes around the National Mall, White House and Tidal Basin.

Of course, staying close to your home away from home is another option for experiencing fall in the nation’s capital. This year, the season brings the reopening of the W’s POV rooftop lounge and the hotel’s new restaurant, Pinea, which will be helmed by chef Barry Koslow and will serve local produce and seasonally available meats and seafood.

“I’m obviously a fan of our rooftop that has the city’s best views of the National Mall, Virginia, White House and more,” Tourougui said. “Our proximity to all the major landmarks surrounded by multicolor trees makes for a postcard-worthy view.”

Tourougui typically spends part of the fall season in her native Morocco. “When I

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

above, Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and great Falls in Maryland are popular local spots to view the changing leaves.

return in the fall I am always seeking out unique goodies and items to remind me of traveling,” she said. “I love visiting markets [such as Union Market and Eastern Market], farm stands and small shops. Our city is very diverse and depending on the season offers some very interesting and nostalgic treats.”

fASSIl ghEBRE AT ThE EmBASSy RoW hoTEl www.embassyrowhotel.com Washington’s best-kept fall secrets come in the form of nature, particularly parks, said Fassil Ghebre, concierge at the Embassy Row Hotel, a 231-room hotel in the midst of a $15 million makeover. On his list are the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal, which

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call (301) 933-3552.

October 2014

offers great trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding in addition to kayaking, boating and fishing along its 184.5 miles. It has multiple points of entry, but the visitor center at 1057 Thomas Jefferson St., NW, is the only one in the District.

D.C.’s Rock Creek Park has a horse trail, tennis center, golf, and a nature center and planetarium, while Great Falls Park bridging Virginia and Maryland provides a scenic 800-acre spot for bird watching, climbing, bicycling and hiking. It’s there that the Potomac River, which lazily flows through Washington, builds up and forcefully spills over steep, jagged rocks.

In addition to typical fall festivals, Ghebre also likes the Taste of DC, happening Oct. 11 and 12 from noon to 7 p.m. on Pennsylvania Avenue between 9th and 14th Streets. Tickets are $10 and buy access to more than 40 restaurants, 50 beers and 50 wines, and live entertainment. Participating restaurants will have at least one item priced $1 to $3. A popular part of the event is Ben’s Chili Bowl World Chili Eating Championship, led by the D.C. eatery that’s been around since 1958 and has played host to comedian Bill Cosby and President Barack Obama.

If the way to fall is not through your stomach but rather stomach-flipping leaps from airplanes, Ghebre suggests literally throwing yourself into the fall foliage by skydiving with the Flying Club 1 at Warrenton Airpark (9272 Green Meadows Road, Warrenton, Va.). Prefer to stay inside the plane? The airpark also has recreational light flying.

For families, he recommends the Kids Euro Festival (kidseurofestival.org), taking place Oct. 24 to Nov. 9 for children ages 2 to 12. In its seventh year, the embassy-sponsored festival offers more than 200 free activities such as performances, concerts, workshops, movies, storytelling, puppetry, dance, magic and cinema, all brought by the 28 members of the European Union. This year’s programming will include Re un Re; a Latvian singing and dancing kids’ quartet; a cooking workshop on healthy Greek food; a one-act play titled “The Complete History of Malta (More or Less)”; and a British comedy performance.

“In general, I enjoy anything that relates to family activities, shows, restaurants, movies and Halloween activities in the city,” said Ghebre, who is from Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. “In the fall, my family PhoTo: naTIonal PaRK SeRVICe can be found frequenting the zoo, memorials and playing outdoor basketball.”

Rock Creek Park

lUIS colmEnARES AT cAPEllA WAShIngTon, D.c.

NOTE: Although every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling and www.capellahotels.com/washingtondc/georgetown content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof.

Fall at the Capella in Georgetown means the continuation of the Capella Constellation & Dinner Series, which happens a few times a month. Guests have a The first two faxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes three-course meal in the hotel restaurant, the Grill Room, before moving to the will be billed at rooftop a rate of faxed alteration. ads are considered approved. to $75 use a per research-grade telescopeSigned and astronomical binoculars on loan from the University of Maryland’s astronomy department. Graduates of the proPlease check thisthrough ad carefully. any changes your are ad.served. gram walk guests the nightMark sky before dessert andtodrinks Moving beyond the uber posh hotel — one of D.C.’s most expensive — lead personal Colmenares said Capella will helpchanges arrange trips to a nearby If the ad is correct sign andassistant fax to: Luis (301) 949-0065 needs winery or orchard for pick-your-own apples. At press time, the exact locations had not been chosen, but 933-3552 he said the winery would likely be in Middleburg, The Washington Diplomat (301) Charlottesville or Leesburg, all in Virginia.

For a leisurely look at fall in Washington, Colmenares recommends a drive along Approved __________________________________________________________ Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway or a stroll through the National Arboretum.

“If they want to take a longer drive, I would definitely recommend Skyline Drive Changes ___________________________________________________________ or Shenandoah National Park,” he said.The drive winds through the park, which is ___________________________________________________________________ situated 75 miles outside D.C. in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The 105-mile road has dozens of overlooks and is often crossed by deer, black bears, wild turkeys and other woodland animals. The park itself has more than 500 miles of hiking trails, 101 of which are part of the legendary Appalachian Trail.

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35

Continued from previous page For adventure closer to D.C., Colmenares suggests standup paddle boarding on the Potomac.

“The in thing now is doing paddling in the Potomac, power paddling that is kind of like yoga on a board,” he said, noting that he gets a lot of requests for kayaking, too.

He directs anyone with a penchant for two wheels to bike the Mount Vernon Trail, which goes from D.C., past Reagan National Airport, through Old Town Alexandria and ends at Mount Vernon, home of the first U.S. president.

“If you’re looking for color, I think that will be the most beautiful ride,” Colmenares said.“You will have the view of the city, the interaction with the planes landing at National Airport and if you want to stop between Washington, D.C., and Mount Vernon, you have a chance to stop at Old Town Alexandria. It’s very quaint. Old Town has wonderful shops, wonderful restaurants.”

Families will especially enjoy Mount Vernon Fall Harvest Family Days on Oct. 25 and 26. Included in the admission (ranging from $8 to $17 depending on age) are wagon rides, wheat threading in a 16-sided barn, 18th-century dancing demonstrations, a straw-bale maze, blacksmithing instruction, apple-roasting, and earlyAmerican games and music.

“The kids have access to the mini zoo that they have,” Colmenares said. “It’s a lot of fun. Also you can have a wonderful view there of the Potomac River and the colors of fall.”

Personally, Colmenares likes to enjoy fall beauty with an escape inside the city by going to the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens (4155 Linnean Ave., NW), the former home of Marjorie Merriweather Post, an American businesswoman, heiress and enthusiastic art collector.

“In the fall, one of my favorite places to go will be Hillwood,” he said.

“They have a wonderful garden that they do such a display of fall colors in the floral arrangements. It’s beautiful and you can have an afternoon tea in the café. It’s wonderful.”

PhoTo: JaKe MCgUIRe

above, the Washington Monument is framed by colorful leaves. at left and below, Skyline Drive winds through Shenandoah national Park, which is situated 75 miles outside D.C. in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

ERIc gAmmIll AT ThE hAy-ADAmS www.hayadams.com Head concierge Eric Gammill, a member of Les Clefs d’Or USA, the only national organization of hotel lobby concierges, said that during the fall, the historic Hay-Adams often sets up guests with guided tours of Skyline Drive, punctuated by lunch at the Palladio Restaurant at Barboursville Vineyards, an 18th-century estate in Virginia.

“It’s the time to view fall foliage,” PhoTo: ©2005 BY USeR loRaX anD ReleaSeD UnDeR The TeRMS oF The gFDl Gammill said.“The premium place to view fall foliage, of course, is Skyline Drive, and we’ll set up private, individualized tours.”

He also recommends Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens (1550 Anacostia Ave., NE), where visitors can borrow binoculars from rangers at the visitor center PhoTo: MaISnaM / WIKIMeDIa CoMMonS to get a closer look at leaves and at left, Shenandoah national Park is home to more local birds. Another oasis inside than 500 miles of hiking trails that offer spectacular the city is the U.S. Botanic Garden, views of the changing leaves. a closer option located on the Capitol Grounds is Bartholdi Park, below, located inside the U.S. and established by Congress in Botanic garden on the Capitol grounds.

1820, making it one of North America’s oldest botanic gardens.

Here, roses, orchids, rainforest plants, and rare and endangered — eriC Gammill plants can be found; tours are also available for those with less than a head concierge at the hay-adams green thumb.

Unique this year is an exhibit hotel’s history as the home away from home for that Gammill expects will draw many visitors to Washington. “Picturing Mary: Woman, writers such as Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Mother, Idea” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts starts Dec. 5 and will look at Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Emily womanhood represented by the Virgin Mary. It will bring together more than 60 Dickinson and Julia Ward Howe. On Nov. 17, Renaissance- and Baroque-era masterworks from the Vatican Museums, Uffizi Gallery and Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated producer, PhoTo: U.S. BoTanIC gaRDen other museums, churches and private collections in Europe and the United States, includ- author and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns ing works by Botticelli and Michelangelo. will discuss “The Roosevelts,” a volume that relates to a PBS documentary that will air this “It really is going to be a major exhibit,” Gammill said.“Big recommend on that one.” fall.The event happens at noon and costs $50 or $100 for lunch and one signed book.

But for him, the beauty of fall is really everywhere.“I just love to be outdoors and see the Starting in October, the MANDARIN ORIENTAL (www.mandarinoriental.com/washington) is offerchanging fall foliage. One of the wonderful things about D.C. is our four seasons, and they’re ing a “Cruise into Fall” package starting at $445 per person that includes a free night with all great, but fall is one of my favorites.” two or more consecutive paid nights, a roundtrip ride for two on the Spirit of Mount Vernon ship with a narrated cruise on the Potomac, and admission for two to Mount fEW moRE fAll TREATS Vernon and three and a half hours to tour George Washington’s estate and gardens.

THE WILLARD INTERCONTINENTAL WASHINGTON (washington.intercontinental.com) teams with famed Washington bookstore Politics & Prose for a regularly held Literary Series, a nod to the Stephanie Kanowitz is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

“I just love to be outdoors and see the changing fall foliage. One of the wonderful things about D.C. is our four seasons, and they’re all great, but fall is one of my favorites.”

Page 36

TRAVEL & HOTELS The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

culture & arts

THEATER

Not-So-Pretty ‘Belleville’ Young love is not so lovable as a newly married couple discovers a minefield of deception and dejection in Amy Herzog’s “Belleville,” now playing at Studio Theatre. PAGE 39

FESTIVALS

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

entertainment

■ OCTOBER 2014

INSPIRING

KAFKA

ART

Video Equality Female artists often struggled in a male-dominated world, but they were early pioneers in the field of video art and its predecessor, photography, leaving their mark on the medium since its inception in the 1800s. PAGE 40

Every year, the Czech Embassy highlights how Czechs and Americans have influenced each other through its Mutual Inspirations Festival, and this year it highlights one of the most influential literary minds of the 20th century, Prague-born Franz Kafka, through an immersive series of concerts, discussions, film and art. PAGE 38

ART

Italy’s Other Renaissance “From Neoclassicism to Futurism: Italian Prints and Drawings, 1800-1925” at the National Gallery of Art shines a light on a neglected but highly consequential period in Italian culture. PAGE 41

DINING

FILM REVIEWS

Toro Toro treats D.C. diners to Richard Sandoval’s Latin-Asian creations. PAGE 42

Kevin Kline’s potentially lucrative Parisian inheritance is interrupted by feisty Maggie Smith in “The Old Lady.” PAGE 44

[ festivals ]

Kafkaesque Tribute Czech Mutual Inspirations Festival Exposes Different Sides to Kafka

by Lisa Troshinsky

P

rague-born Franz Kafka, unassuming during his lifetime despite his literary genius, would feel honored by this year’s Mutual Inspirations Festival, organized by the Embassy of the Czech Republic. It’s all about him, after all.

The multidisciplinary festival, now in its fifth year, highlights how Czechs and Award-winning Czech cartoonist Jiøí Slíva’s humorAmericans have inspired each other. It feaous drawings, lithographs and etchings inspired tures concerts, exhibitions, films, lectures and

by Franz Kafka, on display at the Czech Embassy, theater performances taking place at various opened this year’s Mutual Inspirations Festival. cultural, religious and educational community venues around D.C. Even though Kafka’s work is known for its Each year spotlights a different Czech perpessimism, it also contains humor — albeit sonality who has influenced others through dark humor — another aspect of the author his/her work; past festivals have showcased illuminated by the festival. “Kafka & Co.,” an composer Antonín Dvořák (2011), director exhibit by award-winning Czech cartoonist Ji í Miloš Forman (2012) and former Czech Slíva, opened the festival with a collection of President Václav Havel (2013). humorous drawings, lithographs and etchings Kafka was chosen this year — the 90th inspired by the novelist. “Slíva is one of the anniversary of his death — not only because believers that ‘Kafka had fun for us,’ exemplihe is considered one of the most influential fied through Kafka’s realism, humor and irony,” authors of the 20th century, but also because wrote the Czech Embassy, where the exhibit he has had a profound impact on the United will be on display until the end of October.

States, Czech Embassy cultural attaché Robert In one Slíva cartoon, a large vermin lays on Rehak told The Diplomat. the psychiatrist couch, telling the doctor, “I Well known for his fiction such as “The dreamed I was Kafka” — a visual reference to Metamorphosis,” “The Trial” and “The Castle,” one of Kafka’s most popular works, “The Kafka (1883-1924) has become embedded in Metamorphosis,” in American culture. His work is required readPHOTO: JIØÍ SLÍVA which a textile salesman ing in many high schools and Americans use awakens to find himself transformed into a the term “Kafkaesque” to describe concepts and situaThe Mutual Inspirations Festival giant bug and is ostracized by his family.A dark tions filled with surrealism, helplessness and confusion commentary on the limits of love and the — prominent themes in his writing. through Oct. 29 dreariness of day jobs, “The Metamorphosis” Although he never visited, Kafka was fascinated by with an encore event on Nov. 8 deftly blends absurdity with alienation, a hallAmerica and wrote of it in his first, unfinished novel, For more information, please visit mark of his writing.

“Amerika.” www.mutualinspirations.org.

Kafka was able to laugh at man’s condi“Kafka knew about America and described it precisely, tion, however bleak, said Rehak. “He put having some knowledge of it — an idea of it being a free great humor next to serious topics, making clear the world,” said Rehak. difference between good and evil, sad and happy.”

“Amerika” tells the tale of a young man who was forced to travel to As part of the festival, the Woolly Mammoth Theatre New York to escape the scandal of his seduction by a maid and encounis hosting a play adaptation of “The Metamorphosis” ters bizarre situations in his new land.The novel incorporates the expeproduced by the Alliance for New Music-Theatre.The riences (many negative) of Kafka’s relatives who had immigrated to the theater group describes it as a “dark and comical United States.Vladimír Michálek’s film version of the novel will debut at interpretation” of the play’s protagonist, Gregor, the outsider the Mutual Inspirations Festival on Oct. 9 in an attempt to expose a side who in many ways represents Kafka’s alter ego. Like Gregor, of Kafka with which most people aren’t familiar.

Kafka reportedly feared others would find him repulsive and “We want to draw attention to Kafka and the people who knew him, had a conflicted relationship with his father. sharing his identity and the different sides of him,” Rehak said. “With The festival also discusses Kafka’s conflicted relationship with re l i g i o n . every event … even we are learning more about Kafka through the PHOTO: CHRISTIE’S / PUBLIC DOMAIN Although he didn’t always identify with being Jewish, his faith became a stark festival.”

Kafka circa 1917 reality when, after his death, most of his family perished in concentration camps In a lecture last January, one of the events held as a prelude to the festival, professor Emerita Evelyn Torton Beck “showed us unknown sides to Kafka’s during World War II. The festival touches on what it was like to be Czech and Jewish private life,” Rehak said. The lecture, titled “Why Kafka? Why Now?” discussed how in under communism in several lectures and films.

Rehak himself will lead a lecture on Oct. 23 on Prague’s vibrant history, which spans “multiple ways, Kafka’s life and works encapsulate the outsider who dwells within.”

Kafka struggled with feeling like “a minority in a minority,” Rehak explained. For more than 1,000 years of coexistence among Czechs, Germans and Jews. On Oct. 26, a example, everybody who spoke German in Prague, Kafka’s chosen language, was in the concert titled “Overlapping Worlds” at the National Gallery of Art explores the city’s minority. Kafka, who was born into a middle-class Jewish family, also felt like a minority Czech and Jewish music.

Altogether, the array of overlapping events, from music to film to theater, offers within the Jewish community because he didn’t consider himself religious and he Washingtonians a total immersion into the world of Kafka and his literary legacy. rebelled against his father’s desire for him to work in business.

“Being a minority gave him great perspective,” said Rehak.“If you stay outside, you see Lisa Troshinsky is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat. much more than if you go with the mainstream.”

[

Page 38

The Washington Diplomat

]

October 2014

[ theater ]

Hard to Love Studio Theatre’s ‘Belleville’ Exposes Uglier Side of Relationships

by Michael Coleman

T

he awkward tension begins to simmer a couple of minutes into “Belleville,” Studio Theatre’s edgy production of Amy Herzog’s dark and twisted play about relationships, deception and dejection.

In the play’s opening scene, Abby, newly married to Zack, an expat American working as a physician for Doctors Without Borders, enters their apartment in the trendy Parisian neighborhood of Belleville.

As Abby (Gillian Williams) unloads her bags and coat and removes her iPod earplugs she hears some unmistakably sexy sounds coming from the couple’s bedroom. Surprised that her husband isn’t at work, Abby barges into the room to find Zack (Jacob Knoll) alone — well, except for the company he’s keeping on the internet. Flustered, Zack professes his embarrassment but Abby seems to take it in stride and simply zings him with a funny little barbed joke.

The tense moment is among the lightest in a play that gradually delves into much darker terrain where everything is most definitely not what it seems.

The couple quickly allows the internet indiscretion to fade as they plan a date night in the City of Love. But as they banter, their comments start to reveal fractures in what seems, at least on paper, to be an idyllic domestic arrangement. Abby — portrayed by Williams with an irksome, almost uncomfortable energy — is ambivalent about her life in France, as evidenced by her professed disinterest in even attempting to learn the PHOTOS: IGOR DMITRY French language, as well as the fact that her acting career is going nowhere.

Jacob Knoll, left, and Gillian Williams “To be an actor you have to love to suffer,” she proclaims. “I only like to portray a newly married couple whose suffer.” She’s also doing a middling job at teaching yoga. The reason Abby Parisian life isn’t all it’s cracked up came home early to find Zack alone with his computer is that no one to be in “Belleville.” showed up for the class she was supposed to teach.

Meanwhile, Knoll’s squirrely, neronce enamored with each vous Zack is a doctor researching other, now have come to ways to prevent unborn children know each other too well. from contracting AIDS from their Petty resentments continumothers. He also likes to smoke pot, ally bubble to the surface. which he does first with his neighThey love each other but bor and landlord Alioune, and later they also tend to get on with increasing frequency when he each other’s last nerve. is alone or anytime he seems to get Herzog has a natural feel for dialogue between two stressed, which is often. upwardly mobile, educated and erudite young people — or Alioune, played with a sincere charm by Belleville at least those who perceive themselves that way.

Maduka Steady, stops by to inquire about rent through Oct. 12 When Zack playfully suggests that Abby had dressed in a that is four months overdue, but because of his Studio Theatre certain outfit one night to impress another man in their social nice-guy tendencies he ends up smoking a bowl orbit, she bristles. of weed with Zack. It does seem a bit odd that 1501 14th St., NW “You shouldn’t be so insecure, or at least you shouldn’t let this doctor is four months overdue on his rent, Tickets are $44 to $88. me see it,” she snaps. doesn’t it? Herzog’s play, while featuring two For more information, please call (202) 332-3300 Meanwhile, he contends she might be happier with somegrating main characters, shows an especially or visit www.studiotheatre.org. one without such international ambitions. impressive ability to foreshadow problems and “You wish you had a corporate job and a husband who conflicts that lurk just beneath the surface of shops for lawn furniture online,” he says. congeniality.

Their big date night ends with Abby drunk and slung over Zack’s shoulder as they While Zack repeatedly self-medicates with marijuana,Abby is fresh off of her own anti-anxiety pills and it shows. She’s touchy, irritable and self-absorbed. But Williams re-enter their apartment. As more secrets spill forth, the couple enters dangerous is an attractive actress with a long, lithe physique that she constantly drapes and territory, literally and figuratively.

“Do you see how impossible it is for me to love you when you lack an actual contorts over couches, beds and chairs in the course of delivering her dialogue.The overt physicality distracts a bit from the dialogue and adds to the character’s gener- core?”Abby rages.

“There are some things about you that are pretty hard to love but I do it anyway,” ally insufferable demeanor.

“I can have all the trappings of a person I hate and still be a person I like,” she Zack retorts.

“Belleville” was also hard to love, but the acting was solid, the pacing brisk and says.

The two young characters seem to genuinely like each other, or at least they did the Studio Theatre’s production, as always, excellent. at some point in their young relationship. But as the play wears on, their sniping heats up. The couple’s interactions have the believable quality of two people who, Michael Coleman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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The Washington Diplomat Page 39

[ art ]

Video Trailblazers ‘Total Art’ Invites Viewers into World of Women Artists PHOTO: HIRSHHORN MUSEUM

by Sarah Alaoui

T

he National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is the only major institution of its kind dedicated to showcasing women who forged a place in the art world — in painting, sculpture, printmaking or the literary arts, for example — despite being historically underrepresented in that world. One place where female artists established themselves as pioneers, however, was video art, which came into its own in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Total Art: Contemporary Video” examines the diversity of their footprint in this field, ranging from early video pieces in which women recorded their work as performance artists or created films that critiqued mainstream television and cinema, to sophisticated, immersive videos that incorporate digital technology, animation and meticulously constructed viewing From top, spaces.

Margaret Salmon’s In fact, women made their mark alongside men in photo“Ninna Nanna,” based art since the medium’s inception in the 1800s.

Janaina Tschäpe’s “NMWA’s exhibitions of historical art often tell the story of “Lacrimacorpus” women finding success within social systems that typically and Dara excluded them; however women practiced photography from Birnbaum’s the time of its invention in the 19th century,” said NMWA chief “Technology/ curator and exhibition curator Kathryn Wat. “Women were Transformation: integrally involved with the development of photography — Wonder Woman” and later video — into fine art forms. Photo-based exhibitions such as ‘Total Art’ emphasize women’s innovations and vision are on display rather than primarily contextualizing their work.” at the National That vision grabs visitors the moment they set foot into Museum of “Total Art” and find themselves face to face with a striking, Women in the Arts fully clothed redhead submerged in turquoise water. The as part of “Total image is part of “La Petite Mort,” a work by American photogArt: Contemporary rapher and filmmaker Alex Prager that explores the similariVideo.”

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND TIERNEY GARDARIN GALLERY, NEW YORK ties between death and unrivaled love — agony and ecstasy as two sides of the same coin. The French title, “the little Total Art: Contemporary Video death,” describes the feeling of unconsciousness following the release of energy traditionally associated with an orgasm but through Oct. 12 which can be applied to other similar sensations.

National Museum of Women in the Arts In the case of Prager’s photo series and accompanying video,“La 1250 New York Ave., NW Petite Mort” refers to the feeling before actual death, as the attracFor more information, please call (202) 783-5000 tive protagonist is seen willingly standing in front of a moving train. or visit www.nmwa.org.

Later, it conveys the powerful experience of love as she emotionally walks toward her lover.

“It has been said that the act of dying and the act of transcendent love are “Velázquez is able to capture sort of two experiences cut from the same cloth. The former a grand exit, the latter a psychological moments and emotions slow escape. Man’s closest moment to seeing God,” the video narrator finishes. within his characters that you don’t The advent of video in the 1960s provided artists with an additional tool to see very often in paintings.”

The juxtaposition of light and dark, transport viewers into their imaginations. The emptiness of the large exhibition spaces at the NMWA really allows the viewer to become immersed in the as seen in “La Petite Mort,” echoes a PHOTO: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS subject of the videos, which span the globe.“Total Art” features 10 artists hail- duality seen in German-born Janaina Tschäpe’s “Lacrimacorpus” (Latin for “tear body”). The three-and-a-half-minute ing from different countries including South Korea, Germany and Kenya.

In Margaret Salmon’s “Ninna Nanna,” or “lullaby” in Italian, three parallel clip depicts a woman in a bonnet and dress rapidly dancing around in circles video screens in black and white portray the daily routines of new Italian in a large room with floor-to-ceiling windows as a piano plays in the backmothers. Salmon shot the film while completing a six-month residency in Italy ground. She has balloons attached around her neck as a reminder of the sorafter winning the Max Mara Art Prize for Women.The artist was herself a new row and tears she carries around with her — hence the work’s title. The setmother when she began filming the project, which offers a fresh look into the ting of the video takes place in the German castle of Schloss Ettersburg, which served as both poet Goethe’s summer residence and a building that overlooks feeding, bathing and soothing habits of new motherhood.

Inspired by Spanish Golden Age artist Diego Velázquez’s painting “Las the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald.

While women often stood at the forefront of video art, they were rarely Meninas” (Spanish for “the maids of honor”), British-born American Eve Sussman reinterprets the work in her 10-minute video “89 Seconds at Alcázar.” featured in museum surveys of the art form, according to the NMWA, which The painting depicts a room from King Philip IV’s Royal Alcazar of Madrid, aims to rectify that omission. All 10 artists featured in “Total Art” use the with various figures from the Spanish court — maids, chaperones, bodyguards, medium of video to provide an extra sensory dimension to the artistic experipets, to name a few — each striking a pose and absorbed in his or her own ence they seek to create.This adds depth to the subject their work examines, whether it is love, death, racism or defying stereotypes. moment.

“The painting is really compelling and striking in the psychology of the characters … it has an almost photographic quality,” said Sussman in an interview. Sarah Alaoui is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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October 2014

[ art ]

Overlooked Italians National Gallery Examines Neglected Period of Art History

by Gary Tischler

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[

espite being an artistic force that shaped history, Italy has always had a hard time defining itself as a cohesive political and cultural entity. The country experienced greatness and upheaval in both realms.

The burden of its cultural legacy was probably most pronounced during the 19th century, when Italians struggled to find a common aesthetic and political identity in the wake of various European takeovers, revolution, war and turbulent social change, which seemed at first to leave Italy both in thrall to and hamstrung by the glory of its artistic past.

That past included the heights of the Roman Empire as the center of Western civilization, the devolution of warring city states that quarreled throughout much of the Middle Ages, and the glorious vanguard of the Renaissance that produced icons still worshiped today, from Michelangelo and Machiavelli to Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo.

In the 19th century, Italy would revolt against its occupiers, become a kingdom and unify, and early in the 20th century, embrace some of the modernist tendencies in art while descending into fascism politically.

Art seemed to take a backseat. But it’s front and center in “From Neoclassicism to Futurism: Italian Prints and Drawings, 1800-1925,” an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art that also showcases the gallery’s bid to build a collection of 19th- and early 20th-century prints and drawings.

“Italian art of 19th and early 20th centuries included certain groups whose names still resonate — like the Macchiaioli and the futurists,” said Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery.“But unlike its European neighbors, especially France, the newly forming country did not have a common style, much less one that developed according to the conventional history of modern art. Italian art had its own varied forms, distinctive life and development.”

Indeed, there are few if any household superstars in this exhibition — except perhaps for the incomparable work of Giorgio Morandi, a modernist artist whose drawings of cups, containers, glasses and vases almost defy the often stupefying work of the futurists.The futurist movement, which sprouted in Italy, tried to find meaning in a chaotic, meaningless time, emphasizing speed, technology, letters, numbers and sounds that were almost made visible in dynamic paintings and drawings.The works seem to be a road map to surrealists like Salvador Dalí, without his strange darkness or puckish sense of humor.

Almost all the way to the midway point of the 19th-century, you could still feel the longing for the past in the works of Italian artists, who made prints of drawings, assayed watercolors of scenes that echoed bygone eras, and molded bust-like repFrom Neoclassicism to Futurism: resentations of famous figures in classicist themes.

Italian Prints and Drawings, This exhibition of some 70 prints, drawings 1800-1925 and illustrated books is divided into three secthrough Feb. 1 tions. The first examines that longing for the National Gallery of Art artistic traditions of past that continued to be advocated and taught by academies in Italy. But on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th about halfway through the century, something Streets at Constitution Avenue, NW new was happening. Alongside the political ferFor more information, please call (202) 737-4215 ment, Italy became affected by new styles and or visit www.nga.gov. ideas that gave way to a period of romanticism and an individualistic approach to art reflected in the different parts of the country where it flourished: Turin, Milan, Rome and Naples. Finally, the coming of the 20th century — and Italy’s costly, traumatic participation in World War I — gave birth to the futurist movement and the seeds of modernism.

But in all three sections, anomalies occur, and there is real pleasure to be

October 2014

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PHOTOS: NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Among the 70 pieces in “From Neoclassicism to Futurism: Italian Prints and Drawings, 1800-1925” are, from clockwise top: Luigi Conconi’s “Intoxication (Ebbrezza),” Carlo Bossoli’s “Balaklava,” Francesco Paolo Michetti’s “Southern Italian Woman Dressed for Church” and Giberto Borromeo’s “Forest on Lago Maggiore (Foresta sul lago Maggiore).”

had in some of the individual works that blur boundaries.There are drawings that have the characteristic squiggly style of the century, but conversely there are etchings that seem absolutely drenched in dusk sunlight, such as Giberto Borromeo’s “Forest on Lago Maggiore.” There are captivatingly simple drawings such as “Dante Flees the Wild Beasts and Meets Virgil,” women striking alluring poses in etchings such as “Intoxication,” a watercolor of a mysterious Moorish soldier and other exotic, enigmatic portraits, such as Giovanni Boldini’s visually bewildering “Whistler Asleep.”

With France as a global center of art, especially Paris, artists there embraced impressionism and strands of it, along with a singularly different vision. There’s little sign of that in this exhibition. Italians were listening to something else, the Latinate visions of old Rome and Greece, perhaps. They still admired Caravaggio’s Virgin Mary and Child and drew the work with a precision that seems to adopt and heighten the grace of the original.

You may not recognize many of the names in this show, but the journey through the exhibition is one of discovering an underappreciated slice of Italian history, in which artists were buffeted by the past and its memory while searching for a new vision of the future.

Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 41

[ dining ]

Bullish Prospects Toro Toro is Sandoval’s Latest Latin Fusion in D.C.

by Rachel G. Hunt

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arlier this year, Richard Sandoval, the award-winning international restaurateur/celebrity chef who has built a global culinary brand while treating D.C. diners to his contemporary version of classic Mexican cuisine, opened Toro Toro, a pan-Latin steakhouse with a sister restaurant in Dubai. In fact, Sandoval, a former tennis player, has 30 restaurants under his belt from Serbia to Qatar. Toro Toro joins his growing local empire alongside other popular Sandoval staples such as Zengo, Masa 14, El Centro and Ambar.

The restaurant takes its name from the Spanish word for bull and from the Japanese word for the fatty underbelly of the blue-fin tuna that figures prominently in sushi, reflecting its Latin, and subtly Asian, underpinnings. In creating Toro Toro, Sandoval looked south of his roots in Mexico City to tap the cuisines of Central and South America. He merged a Latin-steakhouse concept with a small-plate approach reminiscent of Masa 14 (the Latin-Asian restaurant he owns jointly with master sushi chef Kaz Okochi), helping it stand out among several other steakhouses that have opened in D.C. recently.

Toro Toro’s menu offers distinct dining experiences. On the one hand, there is a dazzling array of hot and cold small plates that are perfect for sharing. On the other hand, a variety of churrasco and grilled meats, seafood entrées and side dishes offer a more substantial meal. It is a challenge trying to do both in the same visit unless you have hours to spend and a huge appetite.

The small plates, some of which are not particularly small, cover the Latin landscape from sea to shore in an interplay of surf and turf.Tiny seafood arepas are loaded with scallops, shrimp and squid, while the empanadas are packed with beef or sweet corn and cheese. A heap of crispy shrimp chicharron topped with thin slices of pickled chilis pairs well with flatbread topped with braised short rib, arugula, manchego cheese and horseradish. Meanwhile, the seared sea scallops topped with a parmesan crisp in lime butter sauce are a perfect complement to the Peruvian lamb anticucho skewers.

The small plates include two versions of ceviche, both of which come in generous portions. One is classically Latin, with seared shrimp, calamari and scallops in a marinade of ginger, chilies and lime juice. The other, ceviche Nikkei, Toro Toro is decidedly Asian in flavor (and decidedly 1300 I St., NW tasty), featuring ahi tuna, ponzu, cucumber, avocado, quinoa, and sweet potato in (202) 682-9500 sesame oil. Another unusual East-West www.richardsandoval.com/torotorodc/ dish is the causa Toro Toro, a potato “sushi” Dinner: Sun. - Thu., 5 - 10 p.m.; cake that consists of tuna tartare, rocoto aioli, avocado and sesame.

Fri. and Sat., 5 p.m. - 12 a.m.

On the entrée side of things, you can Lunch: Mon. - Fri., 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. order a churrasco skewer of different Brunch: Sat. and Sun., 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. grilled meats or a steak from a straightforLate night: Fri. and Sat., 10 p.m. - 3 a.m. ward selection of cuts, as well as a rack of lamb, veal steak and grilled fish of the day.

Small plates: $9 - $16 There are also several specialty dishes Entrées: $32 - $79 such as a spicy miso salmon and the Sides: $6 - $8 Chilean sea bass prepared with shrimp, Desserts: $9-$25 scallops and squid in a Peruvian Cau Cau sauce. Both are proof that Sandoval is as Dress: Business casual comfortable on sea as he is on land.

Reservations: Accepted and suggested Toro Toro’s menu is definitely designed to appeal to protein lovers, though it does offer a few salads, including a refreshing heirloom tomato dish that pairs bite-size tomatoes with watermelon balls, hearts of palm, avocado and herb salad all dressed with a mild chipotle vinaigrette.

Toro Toro is a great place to visit with a group of hungry friends who are willing to share. With enough people, you might do justice to the variety of dishes Sandoval and his staff have created.

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PHOTOS: GORANFOTO

From top, the chicken a la brasa sandwich; the La Bomba mega dessert; and a churrasco skewer for two are among the pan-Latin steakhouse offerings at Toro Toro.

But the very best way to experience Toro Toro, if you have the time and the budget, is the Rodizio experience, which the whole table has to order. Rodizio is an all-you-caneat serving style in Brazilian restaurants, and at Toro Toro, this means not only are all the churrasco dishes and sides included, but also the small plates.The nice thing about it is you can sample as little or as much of the grilled bacon-wrapped picanha steak, rib eye, tenderloin, chicken, lamb chops, sausage and shrimp as you want (provided you get the hang of the little tongs). It is possible to get a taste of almost everything from the grill side (including the sides that run the gamut from truffle fries to Oaxaca mashed potatoes) and still sample the small plates.

If after all that you still want dessert, the healthy way to go is the surprisingly delicious grilled pineapple. Cooked whole on a churrasco skewer, it caramelizes as it cooks, giving it a deeper and richer flavor than the fresh fruit. If that is too restrained, the house special, La Bomba, is the opposite extreme. Without giving too much away, this dish for two includes cream cheese mousse, passion fruit

October 2014

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October 2014

THE NEW DIPLOMAT DINING GUIDE YOUR RESTAURANT HERE 123 Dining Way www.web.com • (123) 555-1234

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1776 Eye Street NW Washington, DC 20006 202-429-2200 taberna.dc@alabardero.com

h For 25 years Taberna del Alabardero has served the best, most authentic Spanish cuisine to Washingtonians in an atmosphere of ambience and elegance.

MEDIUM BOX : $350 4.75” x 2.75”

As we proudly celebrate our 25th anniversary this year, we invite our patrons to be delightfully reminded why we have been classified by Zagat as the “Rolls-Royce of Spanish” restaurants in the nation’s capital.

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Our commitment to continuously innovating the Spanish traditional food combines with the best staff eager to welcome you into a fresh, savory contemporary, romantic, business and memorable experience.

sorbet, chocolate cookie crumbs, strawberries and cream, dulce de leche ice cream, mixed berries, warm caramel sauce, vanilla bean cream anglaise and, to top it off, edible flowers. You just have to see it, and eat it, to believe it.

After La Bomba, the other choices seem tame, but the Cortadito Bar — chocolatecoffee mousse and milk chocolate — is an equally rich, but small, choice. On the tropical side, a somewhat self-conscious deconstructed key lime pie and a coconut flan espuma (served with mouth-puckering tangerine granite and tamarind gelée) are deceptively light.

A meal at Toro Toro is labor intensive, whether you are doing the small plates, entrées or churrasco dishes. Efficient service is critical to making it work and Toro Toro staff get that. While staging sometimes seem a bit off, the staff are agreeable and knowledge, and despite their frequent visits to the table are surprisingly unobtrusive.

Perhaps befitting the menu’s focus on meat and hearty eating, Toro Toro is a cavernous, dark space, with 12,400 square feet of space punctu-

October 2014

Call (301) 933-3552 to Advertise Your Restaurant in the New Diplomat Dining Guide.

Richard Sandoval adds to his local and global restaurant brand with the LatinAsian-inspired Toro Toro.

PHOTOS: GORANFOTO

ated by — what else? — cows, courtesy of LW Design Group LLC of Dubai. The interior is rich with bovine tans, browns and black with the occasional orange accent. Lest you miss the point, cowhides grace armchairs, bar stools and even the bathroom-stall doors. And if that is not clear enough, images of cow skulls adorn the walls of the large party space on the lower level. Back lighting behind the bar transforms the panels into a glowing sunset on the South American lowlands, as if there is some vaguely exclusive safari lodge about the place that is reinforced by

decorative game animal skulls.

But late in the evening, it is the nightlife not the wildlife that dominates Toro Toro. On weekends, the lounge is open for dancing late into the evening, and guests can order ultra-premium Latin liquor and snacks off a special late-night menu.

Toro Toro is among the newer breed of steakhouses opening in the area that no longer think a huge slab of meat, baked potato and green salad is an ideal meal. It is not just a broader menu with exotic ingredients, it is an altogether different

experience. But Sandoval has skillfully overlaid his hybrid restaurant concept with the old steakhouse footprint to make it attractive to both traditionalists and fusionists.

It’s the mark of a successful restaurateur who doesn’t mind mixing up cultures and cuisines up to appeal to a broad spectrum of tastes. And in Toro Toro, Sandoval has stayed true to his Latin roots while branching out into bullish territory.

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

The Washington Diplomat Page 43

[ film reviews ]

Under One Roof Theatrical ‘My Old Lady’ Plays Well on Big Screen

by Ky N. Nguyen

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enowned American playwright Israel Horovitz (“Author! Author!”

“The Indian Wants the Bronx”), who lives in both France and the United States, makes an assured transition behind the camera by directing the touching, bittersweet comedy-drama “My Old Lady.” Horovitz made a wise decision in sticking to material he knows best, cleverly adapting his own acclaimed play to the big screen, resulting in a highly polished screenplay.

The initial thing he did correctly was to pen a well-structured, witty script that is full of linguistic treasures for actors. He then succeeded in recruiting star players to bring his words to life on camera. The novice narrative film director coaxes vivacious performances out of his supremely talented cast, headlined by American movie star Kevin Kline (“The Ice Storm,” PHOTO: COHEN MEDIA GROUP “A Fish Called Wanda”), British leading lady Kristin Scott Thomas (“The English Kevin Kline, left, is surprised to find Maggie Smith living in the Parisian apartment he inherited from his father in Israel Horovitz’s Patient,” “Sarah’s Key”) and British living “My Old Lady.” legend Dame Maggie Smith (television series “Downton Abbey,” “The Best The Two Faces of January Exotic Marigold Hotel”). The accom(English, Greek and Turkish with plished thespians have a field day chewsubtitles; 96 min.; scope) ing up the scenery with Horovitz’s juicy dialogue.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Middle-age American ne’er-do-well Opens Fri., Oct. 3 Mathias Gold (Kline) comes from New York to Paris after the death of his ★★★★✩ father, from whom he was long alienated, to claim his inheritance, a spacious apartment with a courtyard in a prime Classy ‘Faces location. Anticipating that his windfall of January’ will turn his life around, Mathias is disThe classy thriller “The Two mayed to discover that the apartment is Faces of January” proves to be an classified under French law as a viager. impressive directorial debut feaIn this French real estate deal, the previture for distinguished Iranianous owner, elderly Englishwoman PHOTO: MAGNOLIA PICTURES British screenwriter Hossein Amini Mathilde Girard (Smith), is entitled to (“The Wings of the Dove,”“Drive”), live in the entire flat until her death. Not only that, Viggo Mortensen stars as a con man stockbroker trekking through Europe 15 years in the making. His intelliMathias’s father — and now Mathias — is legally obliin the classy thriller “The Two Faces of January.” gent, layered script is adroitly gated to pay Mathilde a monthly sum.

As Mathias is suddenly stranded without a place to stay, Mathilde offers to rent based on the novel by best-selling American mystery author Patricia Highsmith, out a room in the unit to him, a peculiar arrangement for reasons yet to become whose other books “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Strangers on a Train” were preclear. As he schemes of a way to take legal possession viously turned into memorable films as well.

Amini’s taut screenplay elegantly drives the plot’s twists and turns as well as of and sell the property, he clashes with Mathilde and My Old Lady the intense psychological character development worthy of a Greek tragedy: the especially with her spirited, resistant daughter Chloé (English and French with subtitles; (Scott Thomas). Living all together under the same mythical story of Athenian national hero Theseus, whose legendary feats includ106 min.) roof, they unexpectedly learn some surprising truths ing slaying the Minotaur, and his despondent father, King Aegeus. American actor AFI Silver Theatre Viggo Mortensen (“A History of Violence,” “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy), about each other — and themselves.

Angelika Pop-Up Credit goes to Horovitz for keeping ample doses of American movie star Kirsten Dunst (“Marie Antoinette”) and Guatemalan-CubanLandmark’s Bethesda Row high energy flowing throughout the running time. American rising star Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”) are at the top of their Though the motion picture’s theatrical roots are obvi- acting game starring as the story’s troubled protagonists. ★★★★✩ As “The Two Faces of January” opens, Chester (Mortensen) and Colette ous, the film manages to avoid seeming too terribly stagy, a common cardinal sin of plays turned into movies. And French cinematog- MacFarland (Dunst) — a rich, fashionable American husband with his much rapher Michel Amathieu’s authentic footage photographed on the streets and younger, beautiful wife — are taking a holiday at the Parthenon in Athens. Colette interiors of Paris definitely provides a solid foundation for the mise-en-scène’s insists on hiring charismatic Rydal (Isaac), an American tour guide who speaks Greek, to show them around. Rydal tries to swindle his fellow Americans in an realism.

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[

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exchange at the market, but the small-time (English; 120 min.) crook may be in over his head.

Angelika Mosaic It turns out that Chester is a con man Landmark’s E Street Cinema stockbroker whose appearance of refinement is a pretense; he is on the lam from Opens Fri., Oct. 10 the United States with stolen cash stuffed in his luggage. Fueled by Chester’s similar ★★★★✩ appearance to Rydal’s late father, Rydal Thatcher’s tenure as “the Iron Lady,” the ends up becoming friends with the tourist National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) couple. The trio’s ties grow closer under went on strike against her government’s duress after they leave a murder scene at harsh free-market policy prescriptions, the MacFarlands’ hotel, fleeing together including the planned shuttering of scores on a journey that takes them across southof coalmines. Against the backdrop of the eastern Europe.

Gay Pride March in London, gay activist The epic scope of “The Two Faces of leader Mark (Schnetzer) and his deputy January” is reminiscent, in an old-fashMike (Gilgun) see parallels in the gay ioned good way, of the earlier classic film community’s struggle against Thatcher adaptations of Highsmith’s works. Danish with that of NUM. After their offers of director of photography Marcel Zyskind, a help are declined by NUM’s national leadfrequent collaborator with versatile ership, they form LGSM (Lesbians and British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, PHOTO: NICOLA DOVE / CBS FILMS Gays Support the Miners) and go directly shoots gorgeous photography on postcard-perfect locations ranging from across Nia Gwynne, Jessica Gunning, Liz White, Menna Trussler and Imelda Staunton join the all-star British cast of to support miners in the small village of Onllwyn, Wales. The two sides overcome Greece to Istanbul, Turkey. Maverick “Pride,” the true story of gay rights activists who supported Britain’s striking coal miners. their initial prejudices to find common Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s regular being rolled out in theatrical releases internationally. cause. composer Alberto Iglesias delivers a Warchus can also look forward to the appearance of his The smart screenplay written by Stephen Beresford sweeping, but measured, score that propels the action along anticipated film adaptation of his Broadway musical“Matilda.” soundly structures the film’s stirring events.Warchus’s lively, with purpose.

In the last decade and a half, he has steadily built his theater assured direction keeps the action moving while maintaincareer to dizzying heights, garnering major laurels. ing a sense of verisimilitude. Admittedly, “Pride” is not the Authentic ‘Pride’ That stellar reputation has enabled Warchus to attract a most original of films. The viewer probably knows what’s In 1999, rising British theater director Matthew Warchus top-notch British ensemble cast for “Pride,” including nota- coming and what to expect. However, unlike many other made a disappointing film debut as a screenwriter-director ble turns by Bill Nighy (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”); Hollywood or British comedies based on real stories that are with a failed adaptation of Sam Shepard’s play “Simpatico.” Imelda Staunton (“Maleficent”); Paddy Considine; Joseph easy on audiences — and readily manipulate their feelings Fifteen years later, Warchus seems to be finally reviving his Gilgun; George MacKay; Ben Schnetzer; Andrew Scott; — the raw emotions of “Pride” always feel genuine, never film career with “Pride,” a feel-good, historical comedy-dra- Dominic West; and Faye Marsay. The actors’ stirring perfor- saccharine.“Pride” is the real deal. ma. Winner of the Queer Palm at the 2014 Cannes Film mances bring to life the incredible true tale of “Pride.”

Festival, the critically acclaimed crowd-pleaser is currently In 1984, during Tory U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

Repertory Notes

by Washington Diplomat film reviewer Ky N. Nguyen

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

GOETHE-INSTITUT The 22nd annual film festival “Film|Neu: New Films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland” (Oct. 10-16), put on by the Goethe-Institut, the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Embassy of Switzerland, features Christian Schwochow’s “West” on opening night; Swiss-Italian writer-director Petra Volpe presenting “Dreamland”; and Dominik Graf’s “Beloved Sisters” on closing night.

Sarah Pickup-Diligenti, executive director of the Alliance Française in D.C. introduces German-born director Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 American talkie “Broken Lullaby (The Man I Killed)” (Mon., Oct. 6, 6:30 p.m.) to close the series “World War I: Film Captures the Great War.” Organized by the American Goethe Society, the program “Heinrich Heine and Berlin in the 1820s – the Budding Poet and the Salon and Theater Scene: Classical Octoberfest: Lecture, Lunch, and Film” (Sat., Oct. 18, 10:30 a.m.) offers coffee (10:30 a.m.), a lecture by German professor Elke Frederiksen (11 a.m.), lunch and gemütlichkeit (12 p.m.) and a relevant film (2 p.m.).

The event series “The Wall in Our Heads - Arts - Civil Society and Walls: American Perspectives” (Sept. 4-Dec. 15) screens the films “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (Mon., Oct. 20, 6:30 p.m.) and “A Second Quarter” (Mon., Oct. 27, 6:30 p.m.), the latter introduced by Paul Farber, curator of the exhibit “The Wall in Our Heads.”

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

October 2014

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE (AFI) SILVER THEATRE The “2014 AFI Latin American Film Festival” (through Oct. 8) boasts films selected by cultural officers of D.C. embassies to alwaysenthusiastic crowds.

“Noir City DC: The 2014 Film Noir Festival” (Oct. 18-30) brings classic noir films from Argentina, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Spain and the United States, with selected weekend screenings presented by Foster Hirsch and Alan K. Rode of the Film Noir Foundation.

The “Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival” (Oct. 9-18) includes Ana Lily Amirpour’s Iranian vampire western “A Girls Walks Home Alone At Night” and Rodrigo Aragão’s Brazilian fishing village zombie tale “Mar Negro (Dark Sea).”

The retrospective “The Spine-Tingling Centennial of William Castle!”

(Oct. 11-Nov. 4) commemorates the 100th birthday of the late American filmmaker Castle, concluding with Polish-born director Roman Polanski’s American thriller “Rosemary’s Baby” (Fri., Oct. 31, 11 a.m.; Tue., Nov. 4, 7:15 p.m.), produced by Castle in a bid for respectability.

The retrospective “Robert Wise Centennial” (Oct. 8-Nov. 30) celebrates the 100th birthday of the late American director.

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

FREER GALLERY OF ART The “2014 China Onscreen Biennial” series (Oct. 19-Nov. 14) presents director Wang Xiaoshuai and producer Liu Xuan in person presenting the D.C. premiere of “Red Amnesia” (Sun., Oct. 19, 2

p.m.) and writer-director Han Han answering advance questions in a video-recorded interview before the North American premiere of “The Continent” (Fri., Oct. 24, 7 p.m.).

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

DCJCC The Washington Jewish Film Festival Year-Round Screenings play German director Volker Schlöndorff’s “Diplomacy” (Tue., Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.), the doc “Havana Curveball” (Tue., Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m.) and Israeli director Dina Zvi-Riklis’s “Fifth Heaven” (Thu., Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.), the latter part of the Hyman S. and Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival.

(202) 518-9400, www.washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/film/ wjff-year-round-/film-pages/Year-Round-Screenings.html

REEL INDEPENDENT FILM EXTRAVAGANZA (RIFE) The “Reel Independent Film Extravaganza” (RIFE) screens Oct. 10 to 16 at the West End Cinema. Mark McDannald’s doc “Ofir” — about activist Ofir Drori, founder of the Cameroonian NGO the Last Great Ape — screens with “Breaking the Rules” and “Dance of the Books” (Sun., Oct. 12, 2 p.m.). René-Louis Cacciuttol’s Chinese-language fantasy “Cendre” screens with “Cairo Year Zero,” “Into the Dark” and “Tall Evil” (Wed., Oct. 15, 7 p.m.).

The IndieCapitol Awards Ceremony (Sun., Oct. 12, 1 p.m.) will be presented at the Angelika Film Center at Mosaic. www.reelindependentfilm.com

The Washington Diplomat Page 45

[ film ]

CINEMA LISTING of quiet contemplation (English and Italian).

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

National Portrait Gallery Sat., Oct. 11, 4 p.m.

Arabic

The Dark Valley (Das finstere Tal)

Art War Directed by Marco Wilms (Germany, 2013, 93 min.)

“Revolutions are history’s engines,” someone says during the course of “Art War,” an inspiring new documentary about the vigorous and passionate efforts of Egyptian artists, writers, musicians and performers to keep the spirit of the Arab Spring alive (Arabic, English and German).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sun., Oct. 12, 2 and 4:15 p.m.

Directed by Andreas Prochaska (Austria/Germany, 2014, 115 min.)

When a taciturn German-speaking American photographer arrives unannounced in a remote and insulated village, he rouses the suspicions of the sinisterly tight-knit community in this story of revenge and redemption (English and German).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., Oct. 11, 9:45 p.m., Sun., Oct. 12, 6:30 p.m.

The Dead 2: India Directed by Howard J. Ford (U.K., 2013, 93 min.)

English Afterimages Directed by Tony Kern (Singapore, 2014, 92 min.)

A group of film students burn paper effigy cameras for the wandering spirits during the ghost month in Singapore and receive a collection of horror movies in return.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 12, 9:30 p.m.

The Babadook Directed by Jennifer Kent (Australia, 2014, 95 min.)

A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s nighttime fear of a shadowy monster but soon discovers a sinister presence is lurking in the house.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 11, 9:45 p.m.

Brighton Rock Directed by John Boulting (U.K., 1947, 92 min.)

Richard Attenborough gives an electrifying performance as a sadistically violent and strangely Puritanical leader of a gang of wayward youth in pre-World War II Brighton, whose reckless ambition makes him a target of big-time mobsters.

AFI Silver Theatre Oct. 18 to 22

Cathedrals of Culture (Kathedralen der Kultur) Multiple directors (Germany/Denmark/Austria/Norway, 2014, 165 min.)

Wim Wenders continues his fascination with the 3D format with this six-part series that examines a panoply of favorite architectural designs of a stimulating array of international directors.

Goethe-Institut Sat., Oct. 11, 12 p.m.

Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla Directed by Stuart Simpson (Australia, 2014, 85 min.)

In this ferocious sequel to the worldwide horror hit, an infectious epidemic spreads through India as an American turbine engineer learns that his pregnant girlfriend is trapped near the slums of Mumbai.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Oct. 9, 9:30 p.m.

Fury Directed by David Ayer (U.K./China/U.S., 2014)

In April 1945, as the Allies make their final push in the European theater, a battle-hardened army sergeant commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines.

Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., Oct. 17

A Girl Walk Home Alone at Night Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour (Iran/U.S., 2014, 99 min.)

In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 11, 4:30 p.m.

The Good Lie Directed by Philippe Falardeau (U.S., 2014, 112 min.)

Sudanese refugees who are given the chance to resettle in America arrive in Kansas, where their encounter with employment agency counselor forever changes all of their lives.

Area theaters Opens Fri., Oct. 3

Hector and the Search for Happiness Directed by Peter Chelsom (U.K./Germany/Canada/South Africa, 2014, 114 min.)

Simon Pegg stars as a psychiatrist who decides to break out of his routine-driven life and embarks on a global quest in hopes of uncovering the elusive secret formula for true happiness.

In this black comedy, a lonely ice-cream van driver harbors an unhealthy obsession with a television soap starlet.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Oct. 16, 7:10 p.m.

Directed by Gerard Johnstone (New Zealand, 2014, 109 min.)

Conversation Piece Directed by Luchino Visconti (Italy/France, 1974, 126 min.)

A cultured, aging professor, living alone in his Roman apartment surrounded by his collections, is forced to confront a chic and self-indulgent marchesa who, with her family and younger lover, rents his upstairs flat and literally wreaks havoc on his life

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Housebound Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. However, when she becomes privy to unsettling whispers and strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder if the house is possessed by a hostile spirit who’s less than happy about the new living arrangement.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Oct. 17, 7:10 p.m.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

October 2014

I Am Ali

The Third Man

Directed by Clare Lewins (U.K./U.S., 2014, 114 min.)

Directed by Carol Reed (U.K., 1949, 104 min.)

Unprecedented access to Muhammad Ali’s personal archive of “audio journals” as well as interviews and testimonials from his inner circle of family and friends are used to tell the legend’s life story.

A pulp novelist in postwar Vienna finds himself enmeshed in the hunt for an old friend, now a notorious black marketeer.

Two Men in Manhattan (Deux homes dans Manhattan) Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville (France, 1959, 84 min.)

When a French delegate to the United Nations vanishes into thin air, two French journalists comb nocturnal Manhattan in search of answers.

Area theaters Opens Fri., Oct. 10

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 18, 7:10 p.m.

Montgomery College Wed., Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m.

I Am Eleven

French

German

Belle Épine

Age of Cannibals (Zeit der Kannibalen)

Directed by Genevieve Bailey (Multiple countries, 2011, 93 min.)

This documentary explores the lives of children around the world, weaving together deeply personal and at times hilarious portraits of what it means to stand on the cusp of adolescence.

Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski (France, 2010, 80 min.)

Area theaters Opens Fri., Oct. 3

The life of a 17-year-old girl who feels alone and adrift changes when she meets a high school misfit who introduces her to a clandestine race circuit where the drivers are undaunted by danger.

Kill the Messenger

Embassy of France Tue., Oct. 14, 7 p.m.

Directed by Michael Cuesta (U.S., 2014, 112 min.)

A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA’s role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California.

Angelika Mosaic Opens Fri., Oct. 17

Mar Negro (Dark Sea) Directed by Rodrigo Aragao (Brazil, 2013, 105 min.)

A strange contamination strikes a village when fish and shellfish become evil creatures that transmit death and destruction, while a lonely albino risks his soul for the love of his life.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Oct. 17, 9:45 p.m.

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

In this true story, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night becomes a phenomenon after winning “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Angelika Pop-Up Opens Fri., Oct. 10

Run Silent, Run Deep Directed by Robert Wise (U.S., 1958, 93 min.)

Submarine commander Rich Richardson drives the men of the USS Nerka to the point of mutiny in pursuit of his single-minded, Ahab-like quest to find and sink the Japanese destroyer that downed the previous ship in his command.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 11, 11 a.m., Sun., Oct. 12, 11 a.m.

Scars Directed by Sean K. Robb (Canada, 2014, 108 min.)

Two young women of different means meet under violent circumstances and soon become the best of friends, embarking on a relentless and bloody killing spree (no one under 18 admitted).

Diplomacy (Diplomatie) Directed by Volker Schlöndorff (Germany/France, 2014, 85 min.)

In World War II Paris, German Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz is ready to destroy the city before it falls into Allied hands. Swedish Consul General Raoul Nordling steals into German headquarters through a secret underground tunnel and starts a tension-filled game of cat and mouse as Nordling tries to persuade Choltitz to abandon his plan (French and German).

Washington DCJCC Tue., Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Jenny Lamour (Quai des Orfevres) Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot (France, 1947, 106 min.)

Jenny Lamour, a flighty and ambitious showgirl, is the prime suspect in the death of an elderly showbiz patron.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., Oct. 11, 3 p.m., Mon., Oct. 13, 7 p.m.

Beloved Sisters (Die geliebten Schwestern) Directed by Dominik Graf (Germany, 2014, 170 min.)

During the latter half of the 19th century, it is speculated that writer and philosopher Friedrich Schiller conducted simultaneous intimate relationships with sisters Charlotte von Lengefeld (whom he would marry) and Caroline von Beulwitz, who remained trapped in a loveless marriage of her own.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Thu., Oct. 16, 6 p.m.

Broken Lullaby (The Man I Killed) Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (U.S., 1932, 76 min.)

Pépé le Moko

Goethe-Institut Mon., Oct. 6, 6:30 p.m.

Directed by Julian Divivier (France, 1937, 94 min.)

Finsterworld

Parisian crook Pépé le Moko thrives within Algiers’ Casbah, where the locals protect him from the police. But a canny cop uses romance as the bait when Pépé falls for a beautiful tourist.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 18, 1 p.m., Wed., Oct. 22, 9 p.m.

Directed by Frauke Finsterwalder (Germany, 2013, 91 min.)

“Finsterworld” pulls off the not inconsiderable feat of deftly adapting a multi-strand novel into a dark fairytale of German identity and miscommunication.

Rififi

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., Oct. 11, 5 p.m., Sun., Oct. 12, 9 p.m., Thu., Oct. 16, 9:45 p.m.

Directed by Jules Dassin (France, 1955, 122 min.)

Love Steaks

This French equivalent of “The Asphalt Jungle” focuses on four professional crooks determined to execute the perfect heist (French and Italian).

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 25, 7:30 p.m., Tue., Oct. 28, 8:45 p.m.

Tracks

Directed by Yves Allégret (France/Netherlands, 1949, 91 min.)

Angelika Pop-Up

Dedicated to getting ahead in their firm, two ambitious business consultants travel the world doing the conglomerate’s bidding. But when an unseen colleague is promoted to partner ahead of them and arrives in the form of an equally competitive woman, their already shaky alliance begins to crumble.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 25, 3 p.m., Wed., Oct. 29, 7 p.m.

Riptide aka Such a Pretty Little Beach (Une si jolie petite plage)

A young woman goes on a 1,700-mile trek across the deserts of West Australia with four camels and her faithful dog (English and Aboriginal).

Directed by Johannes Naber (Germany, 2013, 93 min.)

Burdened with guilt after killing a German soldier in the trenches during World War I, a young French veteran seeks out his victim’s family in this pensive drama focusing on the effects of war, nationalism, grief and guilt.

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Oct. 13, 7:10 p.m.

Directed by John Curran (Australia, 2013, 112 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Oct. 25 to 29

A mysterious young man visits a desolate coastal town during a bleak winter, soon followed by another watchful, curious stranger.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 26, 3 p.m., Tue., Oct. 28, 5 p.m.

Directed by Jakob Lass (Germany, 2013, 89 min.)

At a luxury German coastal hotel, a shy apprentice massage therapist strikes up an unlikely but believable friendship with exuberant kitchen worker who is also a closet alcoholic. The twist here is that the film was made in an actual hotel, and all the supporting players are actual employees.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., Oct. 11, 1 p.m., Mon., Oct. 13, 9 p.m.

The Murderers Are Among Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns) Directed by Wolfgang Staudte (Germany, 1946, 85 min.)

A doctor, haunted by his service as a Nazi, falls in love with a camp survivor — but is compelled to seek vengeance

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

on his commanding officer.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 26, 1 p.m., Thu., Oct. 30, 5 p.m.

Not My Day (Nicht mein Tag) Directed by Peter Thorwath (Germany, 2014, 115 min.)

In this action-packed German buddy comedy and road movie that has taken the domestic box office by storm this year, a frustrated small-town bank officer discovers his inner miscreant when he’s kidnapped by an ex-con bank robber.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Sat., Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m., Sun., Oct. 12, 12 p.m.

West (Westen) Directed by Christian Schwochow (Germany, 2013, 102 min.)

Hoping for a better life East Berlin, widow and mother Nelly pretends to be married to a Westerner but ends up in the Marienfelde Refugee Centre. As events revolving around her uncertain status provoke increasingly paranoid reactions, though, Nelly begins to see her dream slip away (German, English, Russian and Polish).

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Fri., Oct. 10, 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Guaraní Costa Dulce

Bellissima

Oxhide

Directed by Luchino Visconti (Italy, 1952, 115 min.)

Directed by Liu Jiayin (China, 2005, 110 min.)

The ersatz glamour of the Italian movie industry is contrasted with the life of a workingclass tenement, as an overly ambitious stage mother pins all of her maternal hopes on her young daughter fulfilling her own vanished dreams.

While still a student at Beijing Film Academy, Liu Jiayin crafted this hybrid of narrative and documentary that manages to convey a moving portrait of familial relationships in a series of spare shots inside her family’s claustrophobic 50-square-meter apartment.

National Portrait Gallery Sat., Oct. 4, 4:30 p.m.

La Mia Classe Directed by Daniele Gaglianone (Italy, 2013, 92 min.)

Valerio Mastandrea plays an Italian language teacher whose class is attended by recent immigrants playing themselves in this quasiexperimental film that blurs the border between fact and fiction (followed by “TIR”).

American University Forman Theater Sun., Oct. 5, 5:30 p.m.

TIR Directed by Alberto Fasulo (Italy/Croatia, 2013, 83 min.)

(preceded by “La Mia Classe”).

An ex-teacher drives a TIR (tractor trailer) all over Europe for an Italian shipping company even though he is often homesick and harassed by his bosses. Filmmaker Alberto Fasulo operated the camera himself while sitting inside the truck’s cabin — resulting in an interesting hybrid of reality and fiction.

American University Forman Theater Sun., Oct. 5, 5:30 p.m.

Directed by Enrique Collar (Paraguay/Netherlands, 2013, 75 min.)

Japanese

When a metal detector falls into David’s lap, he becomes obsessed with the many myths about treasures buried in the Paraguayan hinterland during the bloody 19th-century War of the Triple Alliance.

Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi)

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Oct. 2, 5:20 p.m.

Hebrew Fifth Heaven Directed by Dina Zvi-Riklis (Israel, 2012, 103 min.)

In this beautifully made coming-of-age drama, a teenage orphan struggles to adjust to a new life amidst other World War II exiles in a British-controlled Palestine.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1948, 98 min.)

An alcoholic doctor and a tubercular gangster forge an unexpected friendship after the doctor saves the callow crook’s life, but the return of a criminal comrade sparks a tragic turn.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Oct. 23, 7 p.m.

Ring (Ringu) Directed by Hideo Nakata (Japan, 1998, 96 min.)

Washington DCJCC Thu., Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.

A TV journalists investigates the mystery of a cursed videotape: After watching it, people receive a phone call telling them that they only have seven days left to live.

Snails in the Rain

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Oct. 31, 5 p.m.

Directed by Yariv Mozer (Israel, 2013, 82 min.)

In 1989 Tel Aviv, a beautiful and alluring linguistics student receives anonymous, malewritten love letters that undermines his sexual identity and interfere with his peaceful life with his beloved girlfriend.

The Avalon Theatre Wed., Oct. 22, 8 p.m.

Hungarian The Notebook (A nagy füzet)

Stray Dog (Nora inu) Directed by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1949, 122 min.)

A young policeman is disgraced when his gun is stolen on the subway. With the help of a veteran cop, he hunts the culprit through the Tokyo underworld in post-Hiroshima Japan.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Oct. 30, 7 p.m.

Directed by János Szász (Hungary/Germany/Austria/France, 2013, 112 min.)

Mandarin

Twin siblings enduring the harshness of World War II in a village on the Hungarian border hedge their survival on systematically hardening themselves to become unfeeling and merciless to the evil surrounding them.

Directed by Han Han (China, 2014, 104 min.)

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Italian Angelina Directed by Luigi Zampa (Italy, 1947, 92 min.)

The Continent The most famous Chinese novelist-blogger of the post-1980s generation, Han Han leaps into filmmaking with this nonchalant tale of three slackers who leave their forsaken island to explore the Chinese continent, but elusive women, gangster uncles, thieves, puppies and hitchhikers upset their plans.

Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Oct. 24, 7 p.m.

Inspired by a simple newspaper item — “poor working-class woman with five children leads angry protest against speculators and black marketeers” — “Angelina” makes a compelling moral statement about Italian society during the postwar period, blending comedy and melodrama with neo-realistic touches.

Ghost Town

National Portrait Gallery Sat., Oct. 4, 2 p.m.

American University Forman Theater Fri., Oct. 24, 7 p.m.

Directed by Zhao Dayong (China, 2008, 169 min.)

In the nearly empty streets of Zhiziluo, Zhao Dayong creates a rich, contemplative epic of everyday village life with the few souls who remain.

The Facilitator (El facilitador) Directed by Víctor Arregui (Ecuador/Chile, 2013, 83 min.)

Hard-partying Elena reluctantly returns to Quito after her wealthy father falls ill, but after a runin with the law, the old man sends her to the country to get her act together. There, she reunites with childhood friend, an organizer who promotes water access rights for the indigenous community.

bullet leaves him speechless, he becomes consumed with paranoia that he’s the victim of a greater conspiracy.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Oct. 2, 7:45 p.m.

A Quiet Inquisition Directed by Holen Sabrina Kahn and Alessandra Zeka (U.S./Nicaragua, 2014, 65 min.)

Red Amnesia (Chuang ru zhe)

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 4, 11 a.m., Sun., Oct. 5, 1 p.m., Tue., Oct. 7, 5:20 p.m.

At a public hospital in Nicaragua, this documentary follows an OB/GYN who struggles with her conscience as she contends with the implications of a new law that bans all abortion, even in the face of saving a woman’s life.

Directed by Wang Xiaoshuai (China, 2014, 110 min.)

Güeros

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Oct. 6, 7:15 p.m.

In Beijing, a stubborn widow receives anonymous phone calls, among other strange incidents. Her two sons try to solve the mystery, but to do so, layers of repressed memories need to be peeled away, and a trip must be taken to a forgotten town.

This plucky and effortlessly cool black-andwhite film from newcomer Alonso Ruiz Palacios follows three restless teens during the student strikes of 1999.

American University Forman Theater Sun., Oct. 19, 4:30 p.m.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Oct. 19, 2 p.m.

Norwegian Death is a Caress (Døden er et kjærtegn) Directed by Edith Carlmar (Norway, 1949, 92 min.)

A young mechanic, recently engaged, falls under the spell of a sophisticated married socialite who’s brought in her car for repairs.

A familiar noir plot plays quite differently in Norway, especially through the eyes of a female director.

Directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios (Mexico, 2014, 108 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Mon., Oct. 6, 9:20 p.m., Tue., Oct. 7, 9 p.m.

Hardly a Criminal (Apenas un delincuente) Directed by Hugo Fregonese (Argentina, 1949, 88 min.)

A bank employee uses a loophole in Argentine law to concoct the perfect crime, planning to reap the rewards of his embezzlement after serving six years in prison.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., Tue., Oct. 21, 7 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 26, 5:15 p.m., Wed., Oct. 29, 5 p.m.

Heli

Spanish

In a small town in the Mexican plains, Heli lives a modest but peaceful life but when his sister gets mixed up with a police cadet, a chain of brutal events comes raining down on the unsuspecting family.

10,000 KM Directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet (Spain, 2014, 99 min.)

Alex must leave Barcelona and her boyfriend for a yearlong residency in Los Angeles.

Brilliantly told through Skype chats, phone calls and texts, this accomplished contemporary romance recounts how the two do their best to stay connected but struggle with the physical and emotional distance between them (Spanish, Catalan and English).

AFI Silver Theatre Wed., Oct. 8, 7:15 p.m.

The Black Vampire (El vampiro negro) Directed by Román Viñoly Barreto (Argentina, 1953, 90 min.)

This clever “feminist” reworking of Fritz Lang’s classic “M” focuses on the mothers of children stalked by a deranged pedophile.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 19, 5 p.m., Mon., Oct. 20, 7 p.m.

The Crow’s Nest (Malacrianza) Directed by Arturo Menendez (El Salvador, 2014, 70 min.)

Don Cleo, a recovering alcoholic who makes a humble living selling piñatas in a small Salvadoran town, is put to the test when a mysterious extortion note shows up at his doorstep, demanding $500 (a small fortune for him) within 72 hours or he’ll face certain death.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m.

Death of a Cyclist (Muerte de un ciclista) Directed by Juan Antonio Bardem (Spain/Italy, 1955, 88 min.)

This scathing social criticism contrasts an affluent, adulterous couple with the poor bicyclist they strike with their car. Realizing that the cyclist is badly injured, they leave him to die rather than risk revealing their affair, but upon their return to Madrid, guilt grabs them with more tragic consequences.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 19, 9 p.m., Thu., Oct. 23, 5 p.m.

Directed by Amat Escalante (Mexico/Netherlands/Germany/France, 2013, 105 min.)

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Oct. 3, 9:40 p.m., Sun., Oct. 5, 9:40 p.m., Wed., Oct. 8, 10 p.m.

To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre) Directed by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile/France, 2014, 83 min.)

This taut psychological thriller tells the story of a man pushed to the brink of reason after a gang of hooligans threatens his family.

AFI Silver Theatre Thu., Oct. 2, 7 p.m.

Living Stars Directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (Argentina, 2010, 63 min.)

A non-stop party, the citizens of Buenos Aires were born to dance in this ridiculously infectious documentary experiment that doesn’t have dialogue or plot (followed by a post-screening party).

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 4, 10 p.m.

Lock Charmer (El cerrajero) Directed by Natalia Smirnoff (Argentina, 2014, 77 min.)

During a bizarre fog that covered Buenos Aires for three weeks, a locksmith Sebastian has his first brush with the supernatural: When he unlocks a door, he gets a brief glimpse into the client’s life. His own life is further complicated when an ex turns up pregnant and a troubled Peruvian maid holes up in his bachelor pad.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Oct. 3, 5:30 p.m., Sat., Oct. 4, 3 p.m., Tue., Oct. 7, 7:15 p.m.

The Mute (El mudo) Directed by Daniel and Diego Vega (Peru/France/Mexico, 2013, 86 min.)

Judge Constantino Zegarra has lived his professional life according to a strict moral code, unlike so many of his colleagues, but when a

October 2014

Serrat and Sabina: Two for the Road (Serrat y Sabina, el símbolo y el cuate) Directed by Francesc Relea (Spain, 2013, 82 min.)

Spanish superstars Joaquín Sabina and Joan Manuel Serrat embark on a Latin American tour in this rollicking documentary. Exiled to Mexico during Franco s dictatorship, the two singer-songwriters have formed a bond with Latin America, serving as folk heroes through the turbulent political times of the region.

AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Oct. 4, 1 p.m., Sun., Oct. 5, 5:45 p.m., Mon., Oct. 6, 5:20 p.m., Wed., Oct. 8, 5:20 p.m.

Two Shots Fired (Dos disparos) Directed by Martín Rejtman (Argentina/Chile/Germany/Netherlands, 2014, 104 min.)

After a night of partying, 16-year-old Mariano finds a gun and impulsively shoots himself twice, once in the head and once in the chest, but miraculously survives. This improbable act sets off a wickedly quotidian chain reaction as his friends and family deal dispassionately with the aftermath.

AFI Silver Theatre Wed., Oct. 1, 7 p.m., Sat., Oct. 4, 5:15 p.m.

We Are Mari Pepa (Somos Mari Pepa) Directed by Samuel Kishi (Mexico, 2013, 100 min.)

With school out for summer, the wannabe punk rockers of teen band Mari Pepa are free to let their hormones rage, hit up the skate park and rehearse the one song in their limited repertoire over and over again.

AFI Silver Theatre Wed., Oct. 1, 9:30 p.m., Thu., Oct. 2, 9 p.m.

Yvy Maraey, Land Without Evil (Yvy Maraey, tierra sin mal) Directed by Juan Carlos Valdivia (Bolivia/Mexico/Norway, 2013, 107 min.)

Sundance Award-winning filmmaker Juan Carlos Valdivia plays a version of himself, a documentarian hoping to make a film about the Guaraní people and retrace the trail of an early Swedish explorer (Spanish and Guaraní).

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m.

Swiss-German Dreamland (Traumland) Directed by Petra Volpe (Switzerland/Germany, 2013, 98 min.)

Zurich on a snowy Christmas Eve looks like a winter wonderland. Yet for the four families whose lives have or will intersect with an Eastern European prostitute, nothing will ever be the same.

Landmark’s E Street Cinema Wed., Oct. 15, 6:30 and 9 p.m.

For a complete list of cinema events, please visit our Web site at www.washdiplomat.com.

The Washington Diplomat Page 47

[ around town ]

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

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

ART Oct. 1 to Jan. 9

What We Have Within

Possibilities to externalize and communicate 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.

Art Museum of the Americas Oct. 2 to 5

Karukinka – Chilean Patagonia, Artists of the Land Where the Trees Talk

The country of Chile celebrates its native culture at the museum with an art market, an exhibition of traditional arts and crafts, hands-on demonstrations and indigenous Chilean cuisine.

National Museum of the American Indian Oct. 2 to 26

Ivana Helsinki: New Finnish Design In 1998, a young Finnish artist and designer launched her first fashion collection together with her sister. The main material used was a single fabric, dark blue denim, and the collection consisted of just seven products. “Ivana Helsinki” takes you on a journey through 15 years of history of this internationally renowned label with unique, one-off garments from fashion shows, colorful patterned fabrics, nostalgic photographs and cinematic documentation.

Embassy of Finland Through Oct. 5

Degas/Cassatt

Although Edgar Degas’s influence upon Mary Cassatt has long been acknowledged, the extent to which Cassatt shaped Degas’s artistic production and prepared the way for his warm reception by American audiences is fully examined in this exhibition for the first time.

National Gallery of Art Through Oct. 5

Femininity Beyond Archetypes: Photography by Natalia Arias of Colombia

This exhibit showcases Natalia Arias’ series “Venus,” which initiates a conversation on her vision of Venus and references the idea of the goddess throughout history, and the series “Taboo,” which demonstrates that female bodies are charged with concepts prohibited by society, denying the inherent beauty in biological functions.

Art Museum of the Americas Oct. 5 to Jan. 11

Degas’s Little Dancer

“Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” (1878–81), Edgar Degas’s groundbreaking statuette of a young ballerina that caused a sensation at the 1881 impressionist exhibition, takes center stage in an exploration of Degas’s fascination with ballet and his experimental, modern approach to his work.

National Gallery of Art

Page 48

Through Oct. 10

ApocalyptiCAT: Woodcuts and Papercuts by Franca Bartholomäi

Franca Bartholomäi’s woodcuts and papercuts are unique within German contemporary art. No other artist combines the tradition and iconography of woodcut with romantic and psychedelic motifs from the 19th and 20th centuries to form images with such expressive power.

Goethe-Institut Through Oct. 10

Innovation @ Upper Austria

Innovation is the successful implementation and application of an idea that combines the traditional with the new. This exhibition sheds light on the creative talents of Upper Austria, home to talented innovators and visionaries who have propelled Austria’s economy, technology, art and culture.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT 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 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.

Embassy of Austria

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Oct. 11 to June 7, 2015

Through Nov. 30

Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips, a young paleontologist and geologist, headed one of the largest archaeological expeditions to remote South Arabia (present-day Yemen) from 1949 to 1951. Through a selection of unearthed objects as well as film and photography shot by the expedition team, the exhibition highlights Phillips’s key finds, recreates his adventures (and misadventures), and conveys the thrill of discovery on this important great archaeological frontier.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Oct. 16 to Feb. 1

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

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 Oct. 24 to Nov. 14

Yearning: Sehnsucht

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.

Embassy of Austria Through Oct. 26

Symbols of Honor: Heraldry and Family History in Shakespeare’s England

This show — the largest and most comprehensive of its kind ever mounted — explores the birth of genealogy in its modern form by examining the colorful world of heralds and their rivals, which competed to profit from the craze for coats of arms that seized England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Folger Shakespeare Library Through Nov. 3

Gabriel Figueroa: Cinematographer – Great Moments in Mexico’s Golden Era of Cinema From the early 1930s through the early

Think With Your Hands

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. 31

Cartier: Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Dazzling Gems

One of Cartier’s most important and enduring clients, Marjorie Merriweather Post 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. 18

Iter: Photo Exhibit

by Renato D’Agostin

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

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

October 2014

Through Dec. 31

Through Feb. 1

Titian’s Danaë from the Capodimonte Museum, Naples

Modern American Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection

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.

National Gallery of Art Through January 2015

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.

National Gallery of Art Through Jan. 4

One Nation With News for All

Ethnic newspapers, radio, television and online publications have helped millions of immigrants to America become part of their new country while preserving their 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.

Newseum Through Jan. 11

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 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.

Hirshhorn Museum Through Jan. 25

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 Through March 22

Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy

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

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery 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 Mon., Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Rameau’s Les Fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour, ou Les Dieux d’Égypte (The Celebrations of Marriage and Love, or the Gods of Egypt)

Opera Lafayette opens its 20th season with the last of Rameau’s large-scale opérasballets to be revived and performed in recent times. Three critically acclaimed dance companies — representing Egyptians, Amazons and Gods of the Nile — weave this romantic tale into seven magnificent ballets, complementing the musicality of cast and chorus. Tickets are $20 to $95.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall Oct. 22 to 25

Beijing Dance Theater: Wild Grass

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.

Following its sensational 2011 Kennedy Center debut with “Haze,” which linked pollution with spiritual confusion, one of China’s foremost contemporary dance companies returns with another largerthan-life work by Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan inspired by a collection of prose poetry by renowned Chinese writer Lu Xun. Tickets are $42.

National Gallery of Art

Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

From the Library: The Book Illustrations by Romeyn de Hooghe

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

petuate a musical dialogue between France and the United States.

Oct. 19; Oct. 31 to Nov. 1

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

Embassy of France (Oct. 24) The Phillips Collection (Oct. 26)

For seven decades, the critically acclaimed 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.

Tue., Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m.

AIMS Winners

This year’s AIMS winners will present a joint recital in the Embassy Atrium featuring German Lieder, opera and operetta.

The American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, is the leading summer music program in Europe.

For information, visit acfdc.org.

George Mason University Center for the Arts George Mason Hylton Performing Arts Center

DISCUSSIONS

Embassy of Austria

Thu., Oct. 2, 11 a.m., Sat., Oct. 4, 11 a.m.

Thu., Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.

String Action with Traditional and Contemporary Austrian Music

Native Chilean Women: Challenges and Opportunities

Panelists will share their insights and experiences — giving examples of their everyday life and work, and relating the issues at hand directly to their Native group — at this lively forum cosponsored by the Chilean Embassy and Freedom House.

National Museum of the American Indian

FESTIVALS Thu., Oct. 2, 6:45 p.m.

Noche Iberoamericana

Don’t miss a night of food, music, art and more as the Ibero-American Cultural Attache’s Association presents Noche Iberoamericana! — featuring Peruvian ceviche Spanish tapas, Salvadorian cuisine, Chilean and Argentinean wine, Peruvian pisco, Dominican rum and Honduran beer, as well as music by El Cuarteto del Amor from Uruguay, Grupo Etnia from Peru and Brazilian guitar by Peter Richardson. The Mexican Cultural Institute’s exhibit “Gabriel Figueroa Cinematographer” will also be on display, and there will be a raffle for Cuban cigars and Amalia’s Guatemalan cookbook.

Tickets are $60.

Mexican Cultural Institute Oct. 24 to 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 actionpacked cultural adventure for young people and their families, with no passport required. For information, visit www.kidseurofestival.org.

Various locations

MUSIC

Photo: Carole Bellaiche © Mirare

French pianist Adam Laloum performs at the Embassy of France and the Phillips Collection as part of the “Fusion” program.

tional expression, quality of sound and deep understanding of styles have won her great acclaim.

Mexican Cultural Institute Wed., Oct. 8, 6:30 p.m.

Cameristi della Scala: The Four Seasons

The Cameristi della Scala, a chamber orchestra composed of musicians from Milan’s celebrated Teatro Alla Scala, returns to Washington along with violin soloist Francesco Manara for a concert to celebrate the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Hosted inside the embassy’s magnificent atrium, “The Eight Seasons” is a program of classical music and tango hosted in a comparative alternation of “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi and “Las Cuatro Estaciónes Porteñas” by Astor Piazzolla. To register, visit http://iicwashington.info/ events/20141008/rsvps/.

Embassy of Italy Thu., Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m.

Washington Performing Arts presents: Ray Chen, Violin, with Julio Elizalde, Piano

Part of Taiwanese-Australian Ray Chen’s charm as a musician is his balance of intense seriousness (Mozart and solo Bach) and self-effacing playfulness (several works by Pablo de Sarasate).

Tickets are $25.

Kennedy Center Terrace Theater Thu., Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m.

Wolfgang Seligo and Peter Strutzenberger Duet

Swing and groove to Wolfgang Seligo and Peter Strutzenberger’s jazz harmonies interpreted baroque style, funky melodies with classical influence and impressionistic jazz harmonies. For information, visit acfdc.org.

Fri., Oct. 3, 8 p.m., Sat., Oct. 4, 8 p.m.

Embassy of Austria

The Senegal St. Joseph Gospel Choir

Fri., Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m.

Founded more than six decades ago, the Senegal St. Joseph Gospel Choir is a symbol of peace, hope, humanity and brotherhood in its homeland, creating harmony between the music of the Catholic and Islamic cultures in Senegal. Tickets are $28 to $46.

George Mason University Hylton Performing Arts Center (Oct. 3) George Mason University Center for the Arts (Oct. 4) Tue., Oct. 7, 6:45 p.m.

Silvia Navarrete

Renowned as one of the most emblematic Mexican pianists, Silvia Navarrete’s emo-

Oleh Kaskiv, Violin Oksana Skidan, Piano

In addition to his international appearances, violinist Oleh Kaskiv regularly performs in his native country with the National Symphony of Ukraine, Odessa Philharmonic and Lviv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestras. He joins pianist Oksana Skidan for a program of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Ysaÿe, Sarasate and more. Tickets are $95, including buffet and wine. For information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Ukraine Fri., Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m.

Russian Kaleidoscope

While interest in Russian operas has

increased over the last decades in America, Russian romances (art songs) are virtually absent from the concert halls.

This concert, dedicated to Russian chamber vocal music that is rarely performed in the U.S., ranges from operatic arias and romances by Tchaikovsky, RimskyKorsakov and Rachmaninov to classical and jazz pieces for the clarinet and guitar improvisations. For tickets, visit http://thercas.com/ticket-info.

Embassy of Austria Sun., Oct. 12, 3 p.m.

Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Presented by Falun Dafa Association of D.C.

Accentuating the beauty of ancient Chinese instruments amidst the grandeur of a Western symphony, Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra is restoring the glorious heritage of ancient Chinese melodies, blazing a brand-new path in the world of classical music. Tickets are $29 to $89.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall Tue., Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m.

Hugo Kauder Trio Oboist Ivan Danko, the principal oboist of the Stuttgart State Opera and first-prize winner of the International Hugo Kauder Competition, founded the Hugo Kauder Trio, which tries to discover great works of other persecuted and unknown composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Tickets are $75, including buffet and wine. For information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Hungary Thu., Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Aleksey Semenenko, Violin Inna Firsolva, Piano Violinist Aleksey Semenenko, who has appeared as a soloist with the Moscow Virtuosi, the Kiev National Orchestra and the Junge Philharmonie, performs a program of Schubert, Chausson, Tchaikovsky and more. Tickets are $95, including buffet and wine. For information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Ukraine Fri., Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., Sun., Oct. 26, 4 p.m.

Fusion: Adam Laloum

As part of the second edition of “Fusion,” French pianist Adam Laloum, winner of the prestigious Clara Haskil Piano Competition, offers two concerts at the French Embassy and the Phillips Collection. “Fusion” is a new program created by the Cultural Service of the Embassy of France to support young, emerging musical talent. It also seeks to establish its commitment to per-

The ALEA-Ensemble, founded in 1988

by Gerhard Praesent and his wife Sigrid Praesent, consists of strings, with or without piano, and is the only string ensemble today from Graz, performing in Austria and internationally regularly for over 25 years. For information, visit acfdc.org.

to discover Molière’s life and career, with plays that reflect his personal life while presenting short sequences from his most famous creations. Tickets are $45; for information, visit frenchculture.org.

Embassy of France Through Oct. 19

Evita

Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tonywinning musical tells the remarkable story of Eva Peron’s rise from Argentina’s slums to first lady through some of theater’s most beautiful songs, including “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” Tickets are $39 to $125.

Kennedy Center Opera House Through Oct. 19

The Shoplifters

When Alma, a career shoplifter, is caught by an overzealous rookie security guard and his ambivalent mentor, she risks losing her freedom, her resolve and maybe even the steak she has stuffed in her pants. Tickets are $45 to $90.

Arena Stage

Embassy of Austria Oct. 21 to Nov. 9

THEATER Oct. 1 to 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.

Synetic Theater Through Oct. 5

Cancun

After a night of fun, two married couples vacationing in Cancun begin to contemplate new possibilities in the great “what if’s” of their lives in this hilarious comedy about contemporary relationships and marriage is written by Jordi Galcerán, one of Spain’s leading playwrights from Catalonia (in Spanish with English surtitles).

Tickets are $38 or $42.

GALA Hispanic Theatre Through Oct. 12

Marie Antoinette

David Adjmi’s “Marie Antoinette” takes a highly contemporary look at the famously iconic and controversial queen of France, from her growing celebrity to her ultimate demise at the hands of those who had once extolled her. Tickets start at $35.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Oct. 15 to Nov. 23

17th International Festival of Hispanic Theater

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 of Hispanic theater. Tickets are $35.

Gunston Arts Center Oct. 15 to Nov. 2

The Wolfe Twins

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 Thu., Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m.

Molière malgré moi (Molière In Spite of Myself)

The French Theatrical Foundation and wellknown actor Francis Perrin invite audiences

October 2014

Our War

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.

Arena Stage Oct. 25 to Nov. 30

Little Dancer

With direction and choreography by five-time 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.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater Through Oct. 26

Driving Miss Daisy What begins as a hostile clashing of wills between a stubborn Jewish matriarch and a proud black man evolves into a decadeslong friendship as the two navigate Civil Rights-era Atlanta. Please call for ticket prices.

Ford’s Theatre Oct. 28 to 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 Oct. 28 to 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 Oct. 31 to Jan. 4

Fiddler on the Roof

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

Arena Stage

The Washington Diplomat Page 49

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Ambassadors Cricket Cup

From left, Ambassador of Pakistan Jalil Abbas Jilani, Ambassador of Australia Kim Beazley and recently appointed Ambassador of Bangladesh Mohammad Ziauddin attend a reception at the Bangladeshi Embassy celebrating the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup, a competition for the embassy staff of cricket-playing countries. The Pakistani team won this year’s tournament.

photos: kate Oczypok

From left, Lele Mofokeng, Stuba Mgengo and Ndumiso Mngadi played on the South African team at the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup, held at Calverton-Galway Local Park in Silver Spring, Md., followed by a reception at the Embassy of Bangladesh, last year’s winners.

Ambassador of New Zealand Mike Moore and his wife Yvonne Moore attend a reception at the Bangladeshi Embassy for the Ambassadors Cricket Cup, which was held earlier in Silver Spring, Md. As the defending champions of last year’s tournament, Bangladesh hosted this year’s reception.

Mohammad Ajzor and Mohammad Zakir Hossain played on the Bangladeshi team at the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup that brought together embassy staff from Australia, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom in a friendly competition.

James Close, left, and Daniel Marks played for the British Embassy team at the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup, a friendly tournament among the embassies of cricket-playing countries.

The Ambassadors Cricket Cup trophy went to Pakistan this year.

Roquia Haider of Voice of America Bangla Service, left, and Nazneen Shams attend the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup reception at the Bangladeshi Embassy.

Moeen and Fatema Chowdhury attend the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup reception at the Bangladeshi Embassy.

Mostafa Obaidur Rahman, left, and Jerome Barry, founder of the Embassy Series, attend the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup reception at the Bangladeshi Embassy.

Afghan Independence

3From left, Queenie Thompson, wife of the Fiji ambassador, joins Ambassador of Pakistan Jalil Abbas Jilani and his wife Shaista at the Afghan Independence Day reception.

3From left, President of the Muslim Women’s Association Sultana Hakimi and her husband, Ambassador of Afghanistan Eklil Ahmad Hakimi, and their daughter welcome guests to the celebration of Afghanistan’s Independence Day.

4Ambassador of Malaysia Awang Adek Hussin, left, and Ambassador of Sri Lanka Prasad Kariyawasam attend the Afghan Independence Day reception held at the embassy.

Andrew Kelly, left, and Gillam Leary of the Australian Embassy attend the second annual Ambassadors Cricket Cup reception at the Bangladeshi Embassy.

4Ambassador of Azerbaijan Elin Suleymanov and his wife Lala Abdurahimova attend the Afghan Independence Day reception held at the embassy.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), second from right, welcomes a delegation of more than 30 Taiwanese business leaders from around the world to Capitol Hill to support Taiwan’s bid for inclusion in the TransPacific Partnership and a SelectUSA investment campaign. The delegation was led by Jackson C. Yang, second from left, president of the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce.

photos: gail scott

Meridian Ball Committee

From left, Meridian International Center President and CEO Stuart Holliday talks to Ambassador of Belgium Johan Verbeke, Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero, and Congressional Co-Chair and Meridian Trustee Marie Thérèse Royce at the Meridian Ball Committee Reception held at the Meridian Center.

Page 50

Taiwanese Delegation

3From left, Ambassador of Italy Claudio Bisogniero, Janet Blanchard, former Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard, and Meridian Ball Chairs Mandell J. Ourisman and Ambassador Mary M. Ourisman attend a Committee Reception at the Meridian International Center ahead of the annual Meridian Ball, to be held Oct. 17.

4Past and present Young Profess­ ional Chairs of the Meridian Ball attended a reception on Sept. 9 at the Meridian International Center, including, from left, Erika Gutierrez (2012), Ariana Austin (2014), Jaclyn Mason (2013) and Fran Holuba (2013).

Photos: Joyce N. Boghosian

From left, Dr. Sonya Horsford and Con­ gressman Steven Horsford will serve as the congressional co-chairs of the 46th annual Meridian Ball in October, while Lindsay Angerholzer and Maxmillian Angerholzer III will serve as the ball’s White-Meyer chairs.

Ambassador Lyushun Shen, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), delivers remarks in support of the WTCC delegation. He is joined at the podium by, from right, George Holding (R-N.C.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Curt Clawson (R-Fla.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.).

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

Indonesian Independence

Photos: Kate Oczypok

Ambassador of Indonesia Budi Bowoleksono welcomes guests to the embassy for a reception to celebrate the 69th anniversary of Indonesia’s Independence Day.

From left, Lauren Bernstein, wife of the Singaporean ambassador Gouri Mirpuri, Indonesian anthropology expert Clare Wolfowitz and Asmeen Khan attend the annual Indonesian Independence Day reception at the embassy.

From left, Tonny Sumartono, Economic Affairs Executive Assistant at the Indonesian Embassy Gaby Hasnan and Siuaji Raja attend the Indonesian Independence Day celebration.

Linda Rhinehart, senior associate at Wanner Associates, left, and Harry Tirtakusumah, financial advisor at the World Financial Group and president of the Indonesian American Association, attend the Indonesian Inde­pen­ dence Day celebration.

Defense, Military and Air Attaché at the Mexican Embassy Maj. Gen. Victor Hugo Aguirre Serna and his wife Ana Laura Paredes San German attend the Indonesian Independence Day celebration at the embassy.

The Indonesian Embassy was packed with guests as they listened to Ambassador of Indonesia Budi Bowoleksono, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

Air Attaché at the Indonesian Embassy Col. Benedictus Benny Koessetianto, left, and Defense Attaché at the Singaporean Embassy Brig. Gen. Kum Wah Leong attend the Indonesian Independence Day celebration.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) makes a surprise visit to the annual Indonesian National Day reception at the embassy.

Political Affairs Counselor at the Indonesian Embassy Ardian Wicaksono, left, and Patrick Chuasoto of the Philippine Foreign Service attend the Indonesian Independence Day celebration at the embassy.

Daniel Simanjuntak, left, and Norman Goodman, chief of the Voice of America Indonesian Service, attend the Indonesian Independence Day celebration.

‘Jungle School’ Screening

Swiss Farewell

3Gouri Mirpuri, wife of the Singaporean ambassador, left, and Ro King pose in front of a promotional poster for “Sokola Rimba (Jungle School)” at the Freer Gallery of Art. Mirpuri translated and King co-edited the English translation of the book “Sokola Rimba,” about a young Indonesian woman’s efforts to educate tribal children of Sumantra, which has been made into a film that screened as part of the 2014 ASEAN Film Festival.

Founder and CEO of the Institute for Educa­ tion Kathy Kemper, center, bids goodbye to Christine Sager and her husband, outgoing Ambassador of Switzerland Manual Sager, at a farewell reception for the couple held at the Portuguese Residence.

Physicians are not employees or agents of this hospital.

From left, Dr. Rosa Batoreau, deputy chief of mission of the Portuguese Embassy and wife of the Portuguese ambassador; R. David Edelman, a senior advisor for internet, innovation and privacy at the White House; Christina Sager, wife of the Swiss ambassador; Dr. Amy Geng; and Joanne Ke of the International Finance Corp. attend a farewell for the Swiss ambassador at the Portuguese Residence.

Photo: Institute of Education

Ambassador of Portugal Nuno Brito, left, and Ambassador of Singapore Ashok Mirpuri attend a farewell party for departing Ambassador of Switzerland Manual Sager at the Portuguese Residence.

4Indonesian women gather at the Freer Gallery of Art following the Sept.

7 screening of “Sokola Rimba (Jungle School)” as part of the 2014 ASEAN Film Festival, organized by the ASEAN Women’s Circle and featuring movies from eight of the 10 countries that belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. photos: larry luxner

Appointment scheduling • Interpretation Package/Cost estimates 202-715-5100 • helen.salazar@gwu-hospital.com

October 2014

The Washington Diplomat Page 51

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

Egyptian ‘Caravan’

Washington National Cathedral Dean the Rev. Gary Hall, left, and Ambassador of Egypt Mohamed Tawfik welcome guests to the opening VIP reception of the “Caravan” exhibit at the Washington National Cathedral, featuring 48 fiberglass sculptures in prayer painted by 30 Muslim and Christian Egyptian artists and 18 Christian and Jewish western artists.

October 2014

Latvian-Sweden Exhibit

One of the pieces showcased at the premiere of the “Caravan” interfaith arts exhibit titled “Amen: A Prayer for the World,” which runs through Oct. 6 at the Washington National Cathedral and will then move to New York City at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.

Photos: Kate Oczypok

Ambassador of Bahrain Shaikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Khalifa, left, talks with guests at the premiere of the “Caravan” interfaith arts exhibit designed to build bridges of respect, understanding and sharing between the creeds and cultures of the East and West.

Jessine Monaghan, director and senior counsel of government relations at SABIC Innovative Plastics, left, and Jane M. McCune attend an art exhibit at the Washington National Cathedral by the Caravan, an interfaith nonprofit that aims to build bridges between East and West through the arts.

From left, Ambassador of Sweden Björn Lyrvall, Latvian artist Iveta Vecenane and Ambassador of Latvia Andris Razans host the opening of “Vibration of Amber Threads” and “Sami Crafts of Soul, Hand and Mind,” two joint exhibits at the House of Sweden marking Riga, Latvia, and Umea, Sweden, as the 2014 European Capitals of Culture.

photos: lArry luxner

Roberta Miller, left, and Karla Grafton of the Westminster Theological Seminary attend the “Caravan” exhibit of Egyptian and Western artists called “Amen: A Prayer for the World” at the National Cathedral.

Steven Schonberger of the World Bank, left, and Kiki McGrath attend the “Caravan” exhibit of Egyptian and Western artists called “Amen: A Prayer for the World” at the National Cathedral.

Mark Cavolowsky, a mechanical engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, left, and Hannah Bennett attend the “Caravan” exhibit of Egyptian and Western artists called “Amen: A Prayer for the World” at the National Cathedral.

From left, Shai Baitel, Bishop Mariann Budde and Jerome Barry of the Embassy Series attend a “Caravan” exhibit of Egyptian and Western artists called “Amen: A Prayer for the World.”

Latvian textile artist Iveta Vecenane had her tapestries exhibited at the House of Sweden as part of a joint exhibit between the Latvian and Swedish Embassies celebrating Riga, Latvia, and Umea, Sweden, as the 2014 European Capitals of Culture.

Diplomats of Dance

Photos: Dented Lens Photography

Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company Board President Bonnie Kogod, left, and choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess host the debut of the Diplomats of Dance Society, which raised more than $5,000 at its inaugural event in support of Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, Washington’s premier contemporary dance company.

From left, Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company (DTSB) Board member Sylvia Ragheb, Denise Wu, DTSB dancer Christin Arthur and Keith Godfrey attend the inaugural event of the Diplomats of Dance Society to support DTSB.

Diplomats of Dance Society organizer Christelle Gorman, left, and Ambassador of Suriname Subhas Ch. Mungra attend the Diplomats of Dance Society cocktail fundraiser held at the Sofitel Hotel’s Le Bar; funds from the event will go toward the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company’s September trip to Suriname on behalf of the U.S. State Department, and other expenses relating to the 2014-15 season.

Diplomats of Dance Society organizer and Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company Executive Director Nikki Hollander, left, and her sister Holly Danko attend the Diplomats of Dance Society fundraiser for DTSB, which has been described by the Washington Post “not only a Washington prize, but a national dance treasure.”

From left, Ambassador of Suriname Subhas Ch. Mungra, Dana Tai Soon Burgess and Selam Egzeabher attend a fundraiser for the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, which will represent the United States at the Moengo Festival of Theatre and Dance in Suriname and teach master classes in American modern dance.

IRI Gala

Dancing with Stars

Photos: Tre’Lynn

From left, NBC 4 weatherman Doug Kammerer, former NFL player John Booty, NBC 4’s Chris Lawrence, former Washington Redskin Gary Clark and CBS WUSA 9’s Andrea Roane attend a launch party at the Huxley ahead of the Oct. 25 DC’s Dancing Stars Competition.

Page 52

From left, DC’s Dancing Stars Executive Director Susannah Moss, “House of Cards” actor Lamont Easter and event chair Maria Coakley David host a pre-event launch party for the first annual black-tie dancing challenge taking place Oct. 25, in which 11 local celebrities will compete to be crowned the first DC’s Dancing Stars Champion.

Dancers with the Fred Astaire Dance Studio perform at the Huxley at a launch party ahead of the Oct. 25 DC’s Dancing Stars Competition.

Ukrainian pop star Ruslana Lyzhychko, left, accepts International Republican Institute’s (IRI) 2014 Freedom Award from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on behalf of the Ukrainian people, at a Sept. 9 fundraising dinner in Washington. Ruslana is seen by millions as the face of the Maidan Movement.

The International Republican Institute presents its 2014 Freedom Award to President George H.W. Bush on May 19 at a ceremony at his home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Standing, from left, are IRI President Mark Green and board members Connie Newman, Jim Kolbe and Brent Scowcroft.

The Washington Diplomat

October 2014

AROUNDTHEWORLD

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

October 2014

HOLIDAYS AFGHANISTAN Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year

BAHRAIN Oct. 4: Eid al-Adha Oct. 24: Al-Hijrah

ALGERIA Oct. 4: Aïd El Adha Oct. 24: Awal Moharem

BANGLADESH Oct. 4: Eid-ul Azha

ARGENTINA Oct. 13: Columbus Day

BELIZE Oct. 13: Columbus Day

AUSTRALIA Oct. 7: Labor Day

BENIN Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 26: Armed Forces Day

AUSTRIA Oct. 26: National Day

BOTSWANA Oct. 1: Public Holiday

AZERBAIJAN Oct. 4: Gurban Bayramy Oct. 18: Independence Day

BRAZIL Oct. 12: St. Aparecida’s Day

BAHAMAS Oct. 13: Discovery Day

BRUNEI Oct. 4: Eid El-Adha Oct. 24: First Day of Hijriah

BURKINA FASO Oct. 4: Tabaski

CHINA Oct. 1: National Day

CZECH REPUBLIC Oct. 28: Founding Day

GAMBIA Oct. 4: Eid-al-Adha

LESOTHO Oct. 4: Independence Day

BURUNDI Oct. 13: Rwagasore Day Oct. 21: Ndadaye Day

COLOMBIA Oct. 13: Dia de la Raza

DJIBOUTI Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year

GEORGIA Oct. 14: Svetitskhovloba

LIBYA Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year

CAMBODIA Oct. 23: Paris Peace Agreement Day Oct. 30-Nov. 1: Birthday of the King CAMEROON Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha CANADA Oct. 13: Thanksgiving Day CHAD Oct. 4: Aïd al-Adha CHILE Oct. 13: Dia de la Raza

CÔTE D’IVOIRE Oct. 4: Tabaski COSTA RICA Oct. 13: Dia de la Raza CROATIA Oct. 8: Independence Day CUBA Oct. 10: Beginning of the Independence War CYPRUS Oct. 1: Independence Day Oct. 28: Greek National Day (Ochi Day)

ECUADOR Oct. 9: Independence of Guayaquil EQUATORIAL GUINEA Oct. 12: Independence Day EGYPT Oct. 4: Eid El Adha ERITREA Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha FIJI Oct. 10: Fiji Day Oct. 23: Diwali

APPOINTMENTS Bahrain Mohamed Ali Ahmed assumed the position of deputy chief of mission on Sept. 2, having previously served as the assistant defense attaché at the embassy.

Franklin Silva Netto assumed the position of counselor on July 10, having previously served as head of the International Office of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Bangladesh

Pedro Saldanha departed the post of counselor on June 18.

Mohammad Ziauddin became ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States on Sept.

18, having most recently held the post of ambassador-atlarge of Prime Minister Ambassador Sheikh Hasina with the rank and status of Mohammad state minister to the Ziauddin government of Bangladesh (2009-14). He also previously served as ambassador to Italy, with concurrent accreditation as ambassador to Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as permanent representative of Bangladesh to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Ambassador Ziauddin, who joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with seniority in 1974, has also served abroad as third and second secretary at the Bangladesh High Commission in London; first secretary in Nairobi; and counselor and deputy permanent representative at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York. His postings at home include director-general of international organizations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, India director in the Foreign Minister’s Office and chief of protocol for the government of Bangladesh.

Ambassador Ziauddin completed intermediate of arts from Notre Dame College and obtained a bachelor’s degree with honors and a master’s degree in English literature from Dhaka University. He is married to Yasmeen Ziauddin, and they have a son and a daughter.

Brazil Eduardo Frighetto departed the post of second secretary on Aug. 18.

Jean Karydakis assumed the position of first secretary on Aug. 13 and is head of the press section. Karydakis, who holds a law degree, previously worked at the Ministry of External Relations in Brasilia.

October 2014

Czech Republic Marketa Balkova depart the post of political office on Sept. 8, which Balkova held since 2010.

Petra Jacinova assumed the position of political officer on Sept. 1. Jacinova previously served as assistant to the deputy minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague (201314); deputy chief of mission of the Czech Representation in Havana, Cuba (2009-12); and desk officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2009.

Petr Michalek assumed the position of political and economic officer on Aug. 11. Michalek previously served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague (2008-12 and 2013-14) and as a transatlantic diplomatic fellow at the U.S. State Department in the Energy Resources Bureau (2012-13).

Martin Pizinger departed the post of economy and public officer on Aug. 15.

France Gérard Araud, 61, a career diplomat, became ambassador of France to the United States on Sept. 18. He previously held numerous positions within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Ambassador Development, notably Gérard Araud including director for strategic affairs, security and disarmament (2000-03), ambassador of France to Israel (2003-06), director-general for political affairs and security (2006-09) and, most recently, permanent representative of France to the United Nations in New York (2009-14). Over the course of his career, Ambassador Araud has developed specialist knowledge in two key areas: the Middle East and strategic and secu-

rity issues. As regards the latter, he was the French negotiator on the Iranian nuclear issue from 2003 to 2006. In New York, at the Security Council, he notably contributed to the adoption of resolutions on Libya (1970 and 1973), Côte d’Ivoire (1975), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and the Central African Republic, and he participated in debates on the Syrian and Ukrainian crises. He has written numerous journal articles, including an article recently published in the journal Commentaire on the outbreak of World War I, as well as an article in the journal Esprit on the search for a new world order.

Germany Peter Wittig became ambassador of Germany to the United States on May 21, having most recently served as permanent representative of Germany to the United Photo: © Germany.info Nations, representing Ambassador his country on the Security Council durGérard Araud ing its 2011-12 membership. Ambassador Wittig joined the German Foreign Service in 1982. He has served in Madrid, New York (Permanent Mission to the United Nations), as private secretary to the foreign minister at the Foreign Office headquarters, and as ambassador to Lebanon. As ambassador to Cyprus, he also was the special envoy of the German government for the “Cyprus Question.” In 2006, Ambassador Wittig was appointed directorgeneral for the United Nations and Global Issues at the Foreign Office in Berlin. Before starting his career in the German Foreign Service, Wittig studied history, political science and law at Bonn, Freiburg, Canterbury and Oxford universities, and he taught as an assistant professor at the University of Freiburg. He has written articles on the history of ideas and on foreign policy. Ambassador Wittig is married to journalist and writer Huberta von VossWittig, and the couple has four children: Valeska, Maximilian, Augustin and Felice.

Slovenia Vladimir Kolmanic assumed the position of deputy chief of mission on Sept. 8, replacing Ondina Blokar-Drobic, who departed the post Aug. 31.

GERMANY Oct. 3: Day of German Unification GREECE Oct. 28: Ochi Day GRENADA Oct. 25: Thanksgiving Day GUATEMALA Oct. 20: Revolution Day

MACEDONIA Oct. 11: Anti-Fascist Uprising Day MALAWI Oct. 12: Mother’s Day MALAYSIA Oct. 4: Hari Raya Haji Oct. 24: Maal Hijrah

GUINEA Oct. 2: Republic Day

MAURITANIA Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 23: Deepavali Oct. 24: Islamic New Year

GUYANA Oct. 23: Diwali

MEXICO Oct. 13: Columbus Day

HONDURAS Oct. 3: Francisco Morazan Day Oct. 13: Columbus Day Oct. 21: Armed Forces Day

MICRONESIA Oct. 24: United Nations Day

HUNGARY Oct. 23: National Day

MOROCCO Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year

INDIA Oct. 2: Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday Oct. 4: Idu’z Zuha Oct. 23: Diwali (Deepavali) Oct. 24: Muharram INDONESIA Oct. 4: Idul Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year IRAQ Oct. 24: Islamic New Year IRAN Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year IRELAND Oct. 31: Halloween ISRAEL Oct. 3-4: Yom Kippur Oct. 8-15: Sukkot Oct. 15-17: Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah JAMAICA Oct. 18: National Heroes Day JAPAN Oct. 10: Health and Sports Day (Taiku no hi) JORDAN Oct. 4: Eid Al-Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year KAZAKHSTAN Oct. 25: Republic Day KENYA Oct. 20: Kenyatta Day KUWAIT Oct. 4: Eid Al-Adha Oct. 24: Hijra New Year LEBANON Oct. 4: Eid al-Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year

MONGOLIA Oct. 1: Veteran’s Day

MOZAMBIQUE Oct. 4: Peace and Reconciliation Day

Oct. 24: Tamxarit SINGAPORE Oct. 4: Hari Raya Haji Oct. 23: Deepavali SLOVENIA Oct. 31: Reformation Day SOUTH KOREA Oct. 3: National Foundation Day SPAIN Oct. 12: National Day SRI LANKA Oct. 4: Id-Ul-Allah Oct. 23: Deepavali SUDAN Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha SYRIA Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 6: October War Remembrance Oct. 24: Islamic New Year TAIWAN Oct. 10: National Day TAJIKISTAN Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha TANZANIA Oct. 4: Eid El Hadj Oct. 14: Mwalimu Nyerere Day

NEPAL Oct. 23: Diwali

THAILAND Oct. 23: Chulalongkorn Day

NEW ZEALAND Oct. 28: Labor Day

TRINIDAD and TOBAGO Oct. 23: Divali

NIGER Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha

TUNISIA Oct. 4: Aïd El Idha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year

NIGERIA Oct. 1: National Day Oct. 4: Eid-el-Kabir OMAN Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year PAKISTAN Oct. 4: Eid-ul Azha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year PALAU Oct. 1: Independence Day Oct. 24: United Nations Day PANAMA Oct. 13: Columbus Day PERU Oct. 8: Battle of Angamos PORTUGAL Oct. 5: Proclamation of the Republic QATAR Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha ST. VINCENT and THE GRENADINES Oct. 27: Independence Day SAUDI ARABIA Oct. 4: Eid al-Adha SENEGAL Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha

TURKEY Oct. 4: Kurban Bayram Oct. 29: Republic Day TURKMENISTAN Oct. 6: Remembrance Day Oct. 4: Kurban Bairam Oct. 27-28: Independence Day UGANDA Oct. 4: Iddi Adhuha Oct. 9: Independence Day UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha Oct. 24: Islamic New Year URUGUAY Oct. 13: Columbus Day UZBEKISTAN Oct. 4: Eid Al Adha VENEZUELA Oct. 13: Columbus Day YEMEN Oct. 4: Eid Aludha Almubarak Oct. 14: October Revolution Anniversary Oct. 24: First Day of Muharam ZAMBIA Oct. 24: Independence Day

The Washington Diplomat Page 53

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spell out his or her policy vision and leadership strategy. “The challenge is to lead in a way that unites us again and renews the American Dream,” she writes. As for her future:“The time for another hard choice will come soon enough.”

OBAMA INSIGHTS So what should we make of these three very different books — all 1,800 pages of them? What do they tell us about Barack Obama, his first term in office, American foreign policy and the state of U.S. politics? And how will these books be used by historians to understand our time?

I think Gates’s book will have the longest shelf life of the three and may come to be regarded as a classic account of Washington in the early 21st century.The book is honest, hard hitting and even angry. He is mad that American political leaders often fail to appreciate the costs and unpredictability of war and are prone to see military force as the first option.

Gates shows how difficult it is to manage the sprawling Pentagon and how Congress’s parochial perspectives make it impossible to reform the defense budget. He accurately describes America’s complex relationship with Israel, arguing the two nations’ interests are compatible, but not identical — a point few U.S. officials have the courage to make.

His withering criticisms of Vice President Joe Biden, however, struck me as hyperbolic and gratuitous and

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distracted from his otherwise balanced account.While Biden has made mistakes, it’s not clear he has been any more wrong than Gates himself has been on foreign policy issues.

Gates also takes shots at the Democratic leaders on the Hill, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, but goes easy on their Republican counterparts.

And his comparison of the Obama administration to the Nixon administration appears designed to attract attention, and boost book sales, rather than to instruct.

Geithner’s “Stress Test” is a surprisingly riveting account of the 2008 financial crisis and the difficult choices leaders face when trying to respond to an economic meltdown.

He conveys the complexity and exhaustion of policymakers as problems break out in all directions. His central points are persuasive: What is politically popular is often not good policy, and American voters rarely reward leaders just for averting disaster. Put differently, debacle prevention is not an electoral winner.

Clinton’s “Hard Choices” will be viewed as a classic of a different genre: a remarkably careful, cautious pre-campaign book that says enough to merit publication but not enough to reveal very much. To be fair, Clinton provides solid background on various foreign policy challenges but she is so circumspect that it annoys and even angers the reader.

Then again, it would be foolish to write a revealing book now with her presumed presidential aspirations

still alive. And she is not foolish.

What do these books tell us about President Obama?

All three authors depict Obama as a smart, civil, decent man of considerable substance who tries to find the right answer to policy challenges. He treats people respectfully and is willing to dig into problems and tackle them in their full complexity. But he does not emerge as a great political leader with a highly developed intuition and a clear governing strategy.

Gates observes that Obama made little effort to reach out to two groups that would make him a strong foreign policy leader: Congress and international leaders. Geithner argues that when dealing with a financial crisis, a big part of the challenge is intuitive: feeling your way through situations in which nothing is clear and ambiguity is everywhere. We learn from these former insiders that outreach and intuition are not Obama’s strong suits.

All three books show that the United States remains at the center of global political, financial and security matters, but each implies that the country’s dominant role is receding. The recent financial crisis, the venomous budget showdowns between Obama and Republicans in Congress, and the poorly executed wars in Afghanistan and especially Iraq have damaged America’s global reputation. Geithner wisely makes the point that what the United States does is far more significant than what it says. Example counts for

more than do words. Put differently: America does not have a communications problem, it has a governance problem.

As for the state of U.S. politics, Clinton, whose extensive political experiences provide her with impressive standing on the topic, almost completely avoids discussion of it.

There is presumably little to be gained by attacking a political system she hopes to lead in a few years. Gates and Geithner agree the American political system is deeply flawed, rancorous, petty, conflict-prone and compromise-averse. But Geithner, drawing from his experience in battling through the financial crisis, says the United States enacted policies that largely worked. Gates, from his perch at the Pentagon and perhaps from having attended too many heartbreaking funerals at Arlington Cemetery, concludes that the system is failing and not worthy of the brave troops he venerates.

To get as full an understanding of Obama as is currently possible, all three memoirs are worth reading, bearing in mind the specific biases of each author. However, if these three tomes are too much reading, you can just wait for Obama to write his memoir, which I’m guessing will come out a year or two after he departs the White House. This may provide the best explanation of Barack Obama that we ever get.

John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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These contrived attempts to be folksy are distracting.

Another frustrating drawback of the book is that Clinton mentions a number of American and global leaders but then says little about them.

She calls Army Gen. David Petraeus an “effective advocate” and politically savvy but doesn’t elaborate. She calls Netanyahu a “complicated figure” but doesn’t offer many specifics.

She describes German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a firm leader but sidesteps the critical question about whether her policies were wise.

“One could agree or not with her fiscal and monetary policies, but it was impossible not be impressed with her steely determination,” she writes evasively.

Similarly, Clinton provides a bland review of her battle with Obama for the 2008 Democratic nomination but does offer a perceptive account of how he shrewdly and persistently wooed her to be his secretary of state, shifting the focus of his entreaties to the many issues she would work on rather than the mechanics of the job.

She describes Obama as direct,“highly analytical” and not prone to small talk.

She chides the White House staff for being controlling and seeking to stay at the center of all decision making, but doesn’t press the issue.

As for her future ambitions, Clinton says only that the next president must

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