Sweden’s Diplomatic Superstar Sweden’s Jan Eliasson—former Swedish ambassador to the United States who is now president of the U.N. General Assembly and his country’s foreign minister—came back to Meridian International Center on June 26 to join author and Washington Diplomat columnist John Shaw in celebration of Shaw’s latest book, “The Ambassador: Inside the Life of a Working Diplomat,” which examines Eliasson’s diplomatic career. “I thought the book was a good thing to do to show the special character of diplomacy—that’s it’s not just life under the chandeliers but it’s heavy lifting and hard work,” began Eliasson, who is most often referred to simply as “Jan” whether he is in Washington, at the United Nations, or in Sweden. “We need more transparency and I thought this was a good chance to project the transparency which is typical of Sweden,” Eliasson told the overflowing crowd of Washington colleagues and friends, including current Swedish Ambassador Gunnar Lund. In answer to a question whether the United Nations is outdated, Eliasson suggested that the General Assembly needs to be reformed “to have a stronger role” and the Security Council needs to be enlarged “to better represent the world today…. The problem is which countries should be chosen [to join the Security Council], how do we find the right formula…. We need global solutions to global problems but there is so much distrust,” he said. “The U.N. without the U.S. is weak and the U.S. needs the U.N.,” he added forcefully. “In the end, international cooperation is in each country’s national interest. Of course, that is easier for the smaller countries to understand than the larger countries like the United States. “We must build mutual trust,” he said. “If diplomacy becomes superficial, we all lose.” Author John Shaw got lots of laughs when he told how Eliasson first reacted to his idea of following one ambassador, day and night, for two years to chronicle the demanding job of a modern ambassador, close up. “Jan said, ‘So you want me to be the guinea pig!’ “I read everything that Jan had written in English,” recalled Shaw. “And we had 50 hours of private one-on-one interviews together. First, we started to get together every Friday afternoon and then we switched to Sunday afternoons at the residence where we weren’t so disturbed by staff lining up outside his door,” Shaw said, noting that the only off-limit topic was intelligence. Through all this, “Jan led the most uncompartmentalized life and that might be why he has such a long list of supporters.” As an example, Shaw said, “Even when he was deputy foreign minister and had missiles coming at him every minute, he always looked for the big picture. “He always knew to nurture high-level contacts and inject Sweden’s view of the world into the debate,” explained Shaw. “Jan also does small things well, remembering people’s names and he works at it, reviewing guests’ lists … perfecting the art of the 45-second conversation. “Jan is a large, forceful figure, probably what is more familiar to Americans than to Swedes,” continued Shaw. “He is not the stereotypical Swede. He is always pushing the edge.” From 1988 to 1992, when Eliasson served as Sweden’s representative to the United Nations, he was also the U.N. secretary-general’s personal representative on Iran and Iraq. During that time, he probably spent more time with Saddam Hussein than any other Westerner ever has since. “When Saddam was in the room, you could feel the fear,” remembered Eliasson. “He had his strengths and he could be charming but no one dared say anything bad about him…. It was like no one telling the emperor that he had no clothes on.” Ever since that appointment, which was followed by six years of fighting between Iran and Iraq and hundreds of thousands of deaths, Eliasson said he has become “obsessed with prevention.” Now juggling two gigantic jobs, Eliasson hardly finds time to share his country retreat on Gotland with his wife Kerstin, Sweden’s secretary of science, and their three children and five grandchildren, but he has never forgotten the lessons he learned from nature. “Diplomats are like honey bees,” he explained to more than 100 of his fans. “People think we fly around and forget our friends but they’re wrong. We may have a life like a vagabond, but that’s why we may be even more attached to friendships.” Sweden’s Jan Eliasson signs a copy of John Shaw’s book “The Ambassador: Inside the Life of a Working Diplomat” for former U.S. Representative to the United Nations Esther Coopersmith at the Meridian International Center.

Colombia Opens Residence to Charities and Opera Colombian Ambassador Andrès Pastrana and his fashionable wife Nohra have hit this town with a bang. And why not? After all, he is a recent president of Colombia, and the couple clearly has the “know how” to get attention for what’s important to them. In June, they hosted two operatic evenings to benefit two very different causes. The first was to help the 10,000 Colombian children who are born with cardiovascular problems each year. Because 40 percent of Colombians do not have any type of health care, Colombian doctors Reynaldo and Camilo Cabrera created the Fundación Cardio-Infantil at the Instituto de Cardiologia in Bogotá in 1973. Today, 276 children have had 596 surgeries. To benefit this foundation, the Pastranas opened their home for a first-time black-tie event that raised $200,000 and featured Colombian opera star Valeriano Lanchas, now with the Washington National Opera. Earlier in his career, Lanchas was anointed as a Domingo Cafritz Young Artist here in Washington. The Pastranas’ second operatic event was a thank-you dinner and recital for the Legacy Society members of Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) who have included WPAS in their wills. Soprano Ashleigh Rabbitt, a native of Washington who has performed before for WPAS, won over her audience when she asked her fiancé Joshua Sekoski, a baritone, to join her for several romantic numbers, including “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South Pacific.” Of course, Colombian coffee was served at the end of each evening to make sure that all of the guests remembered where they were so graciously entertained for a good cause. From left, wife of the Colombian ambassador Nohra Pastrana, Colombian bass player Valeriano Lan, and Ambassador of Colombia Andrès Pastrana attend a fundraiser for the Fundación Cardio-Infantil at the Instituto de Cardiologia in Bogotá. (Front page) From left, baritone Joshua Sekoski and his fiancé soprano Ashleigh Rabbit and Ambassador of Colombia Andrès Pastrana attend a thank-you dinner and recital for the Legacy Society members of Washington Performing Arts Society.

Japan’s Good Neighbor Policy No one’s quite sure when it started, but every June the Japanese ambassador and wife welcome their neighbors, members of the media, and congressional contacts and their families to Japan’s annual barbeque party in their big backyard at Japan’s Nebraska Avenue residence. The midday sun is hot but you can always cool down with a tall Japanese beer or a dip in the pool. Kids love to roll down the long grassy hill, and some diehard tennis buffs even bring their rackets to sweat on the ambassador’s court. It’s a lovely afternoon of barbeque, sushi and other Japanese culinary delights, and I keep wishing that more embassies would take the hint: Please let us come play in your backyard. Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato, left—pictured with Peter Hickman of the National Press Club—and his wife Hanayo Kato (front page) hold an annual barbeque party at their residence.

One Ambassador’s Hero: Thomas Jefferson “Thomas Jefferson was a genius. He was so thoughtful,” said departing Lithuanian Ambassador Vygaudas Usackas at the musical and culinary feast that Bulgarian Ambassador Elena Poptodorova arranged for her NATO brother. Usackas wrote his doctoral theses on America’s beloved ambassador to France and is still enamored with Thomas Jefferson’s “long-lasting legacy—a power source of ideas and insights.” Usackas and his family, who are on their way to serve in St. James Court, will not leave for London until they experience one more July 4 in Washington. “For five and a half years I have been thrilled to be in this county. I have gone to 47 states, excluding Alaska, Hawaii and both Dakotas…. What I found on the road are America’s uniqueness and the strengths of the melting pot,” Usackas said. “For 50 years, we were captive under the Soviet regime, but now we will rise from the ashes,” said this former student protest leader who was influenced by reading Jefferson’s works. “I feel sorry for my parents and their generation who had to live their lives under the most severe periods of the Soviet yoke. “We must not take freedom for granted,” concluded the grateful ambassador. From left, Bulgarian Ambassador Elena Poptodorova and Lithuanian Ambassador and Mrs. Vygaudas Usackas hold The Washington Diplomat cover from January 2003 that featured all of the ambassadors from the new NATO member countries.

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