Peaceniks and Thought-Provoking Leadership
An Irish rock star-turned-self-declared peacenik, a four-star general, a former American president, and an international banker walk into a room…
 It may sound like the beginning of a joke, but that room in fact was filled with more than 900 leaders from over 50 countries who came out to honor this motley crew of global power players at the Atlantic Council’s 2010 awards dinner, held April 28 at the Ritz-Carlton.
Interdependence was the theme of the evening — appropriate given the Atlantic Council’s mission to promote the central role of the Atlantic alliance in addressing the world’s most pressing issues. That theme was also echoed by the honorees themselves, who represented the vastly different forces that bind transatlantic interests in an interconnected world.
For its annual awards dinner, the Washington-based council pays tribute to leaders who have made “distinctive contributions to the strengthening of the four pillars of the transatlantic relationship: political, military, business, and humanitarian.”
 This year that group featured former U.S. President Bill Clinton for his work that led to the Dayton Accords, peace negotiations in Northern Ireland, NATO enlargement and NAFTA. The Atlantic Council also presented its first-ever Humanitarian Leadership Award to Bono, lead singer of U2 and co-founder of the ONE and (RED) advocacy campaigns, which fight disease and extreme poverty in Africa.
On the military front, the award was presented jointly to Gen. Stéphane Abrial of the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and Gen. James Mattis, commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, for paving the way for France’s full re-entry into NATO as well as the military bloc’s work in Afghanistan.
And Josef Ackermann, chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank AG, was recognized for his business acumen during the recent financial crisis.
 The honorees are in good company: Past accolades have gone to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and U.S. Gen. David Petraeus.
In fact, the annual awards dinner has become a veritable who’s who of Washington — and the world. Among the 900 guests at this year’s swanky affair were 10 current or former heads of state and government, two dozen members of Congress, 40 ambassadors, and 35 global chief executives, along with numerous top officials from the Obama administration.
Even the introductions were done by heavy hitters in their own right — among them, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, and National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones.
Under normal circumstances, the list of VIPs might mean never-ending speeches, but another reason the Atlantic Council dinners have grown so successful is their refreshing candor and bipartisanship — tinged with both humor and serious commentary that makes for a fast-paced evening (even though it can run about four or five hours).
The sheer mix of speakers from such diverse backgrounds also made for some lively presentations that reinforced the core message of the Atlantic Council — that we’re all in this together.
And that includes a “peacenik” like Bono, as the musician and humanitarian described himself to the star-struck crowd. “Now, I look at John McCain, a former military guy; I look out at this audience; a lot of military past and present, a lot of brass, spit and polish. And I wonder, who let the peacenik in?” he said to laughter.
“And I want to answer the question with a question of my own: Who are all the other peaceniks that are in this room and the ones with the stars and bars on their formalwear? You, because I’m talking to you, military men and women, as well as the politicians who’ve been out there making our argument for us and making it so powerfully — the idea that America has a stake in the ending of extreme poverty.”
Although he praised the U.S. national security strategy’s focus on the so-called “three Ds” of defense, diplomacy and development, Bono also lamented that the “last two Ds get a fraction of the government budget compared to the first.”
 He even called out Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and his proposed $4 billion cut to President Obama’s $58.5 billion foreign assistance budget for the 2011 fiscal year.
But the Irish singer also pointed out that he has some unlikely allies in his corner, like that “hippie” Jim Jones, “and how about that cat, Bob Gates? He’s done a lot of covert work in his time — black ops — but who’d have thought he’d be calling a budget chairman to fight for the 150 Foreign Assistance Account? A secretary of defense who hammers Congress for more aid? I mean, are you people on drugs?”
In all seriousness, Bono said he was “deeply moved to discover that many of you who are here are equally offended by the hemorrhaging of human life around the world, especially when we know that not-too-costly interventions can stop the bleeding.
“I am not suggesting that we do each other’s jobs — far from it,” he added. “I’m not suggesting that soldiers start wearing flowers in their hair or carrying stethoscopes or fertilizers in their packs…. But what I think Gen. Jones, Secretaries Gates and [Hillary] Clinton, Sen. McCain and others are getting at is that somehow these worlds of defense and development are inextricably linked.
“Winning the peace, we hear, is critical to winning the war,” he continued. “But even better would be not having to go to war in the first place, right? You don’t have to be a number cruncher or a policy wonk to see that bad governance, economic stability and poverty have something to do with political rest and even violence. It’s not a coincidence that when civil war breaks out in Sierra Leone, it’s a country with a per-capita income of $180 a year.”
Seen through this perspective, Bono argued that the “interdependence of development and security really needs to be understood for the safety of your troops, the protection of your national purse and the betterment of lives around the world. It is smarter and cheaper to make friends now than to defend yourself against enemies later.”
 That may be true, but taking the long-term view is a lot easier for music legends than sitting politicians, who naturally veer toward the most politically expedient route. Then again, making painful decisions for the overall good is also what international leadership is all about. Hence, honoree Bill Clinton stressed that being president often means making unpopular choices for benefits that may not be immediate or apparent to the public — citing examples that are just as relevant today as they were more than a decade ago.
Presiding in a post-Cold War environment, “there were many people who were saying, well, we ought to just reduce our international involvements. America was having a tough economy. And we just really don’t need to be doing this,” Clinton said, citing U.S. and NATO involvement in the Balkan wars and specifically the Bosnian conflict following the massacre at Srebrenica. “When we did it, a majority of the American people were still opposed to it. When we went into Kosovo later in my second term, the majority of the American people were opposed to it,” Clinton said.
A similar dilemma confronted the president in 1995 during the Mexican peso crisis, when then-Treasury Security Robert Rubin warned Clinton that “Mexico’s got two hours to live and if we don’t give them a loan guarantee, they’re going to go belly-up tomorrow.”
“Bob Rubin made the case. Somebody made the arguments against it,” Clinton recalled. “I said, this is not close — give them the loan. And all the younger people there in the room literally thought I should be given immediate psychiatric care. They said, look, we just lost the Congress. You just got your brains beat out once. Now you’re doing something that 79 percent of the people are against. Are you out of your mind?
“I said, OK, let’s don’t do it,” Clinton continued. “Let’s tell them, sorry. Then a year from now when Mexico is still reeling, when people have been hurt south of Mexico, when we have another million illegal immigrants, when there are more narcotics coming across the border, when every Mexican hates our guts because they think we’re greedy and selfish and uncaring about our neighbors and people ask me what in the daylights are you doing letting this mess develop, my answer is going to be, well, on the day I could have stopped it, there was a poll saying 79 percent of you were against it. And it quieted all the opposition.”
Offering another vivid example, Clinton drew parallels with Argentina’s financial woes a decade ago and the current economic meltdown in Greece. “I remember pleading for help for Argentina when they got in trouble not long after I left office. And one of the members of the second President Bush’s administration who was a very good friend of mine … we had a heck of an argument over this,” Clinton recounted. “He said, why should we help them? They screwed up. I said, yeah they did. I said, do you ever need any help when you didn’t screw up? Last time I checked, that’s when we all need help,” the former president quipped.
“I say that not to be self-serving, but to point out that one of the things that has held the world together since the end of the Cold War is a generalized understanding that whether we’re fighting or working together … our destinies were more intertwined than ever before. This is the most interdependent age in human history,” declared Clinton, who since leaving office has focused on humanitarian and development causes through his foundation and Clinton Global Initiative.
 “We live in an interdependent world. It has three huge problems,” he elaborated. “It is too unequal. It is too unstable. And because of the changes in the climate, it is not sustainable. And so I submit to you that whether you’re honoring someone like my friend Bono who sang in the rain at my library dedication or generals in a joint command for NATO or pushing the Afghan mission or a great banker who also believes that we can change the way we produce and consume energy — every one of them in different ways is involved in affirming our common humanity.”
Hammering the message home, Clinton said “divorce is not an option. That’s all interdependence means. We cannot get away from each other no matter how distasteful we might find the fact.”
“Most people see geopolitics as a zero-sum game. There has to be a winner and a loser. And we Americans, we really like those zero-sum games,” he added. “But we need to get used to games where both sides win in real life.”
Ever the natural storyteller, Clinton then brought into sharp relief how “none of us have to win at someone else’s expense.”
“The best example of this on earth that I have encountered is in Rwanda,” he said. “When I went there after I was president the first time and I was working on setting up their AIDS program for them, a reporter from America went there and said [to a cab driver], ‘Aren’t you mad that Bill Clinton’s here working? I mean, he said himself that he should have acted in 1994 to stop your genocide and it’s one of his great regrets.’”
Clinton then recalled the cab driver’s response: “First, he did not make us kill each other. We did that all by ourselves. And second, at least he came here and apologized; no one else has. And right now we’re looking at the future and we need all the help we can get.”
“In other words,” Clinton said, “this guy did not have a zero-sum ethic.”
Likewise, he remembered a Tutsi woman who lost her husband and seven of her 10 children during the genocide. She teamed up with a Hutu woman to form a basket-weaving enterprise.
“I mean, these women were amazing and they did so well training women in basket-weaving that young men began to show up and ask to be trained. And about a year after they started taking young men, this 26-year-old man asked if he could see the boss,” Clinton recounted. “And he went to see her and broke down in tears. And he said, ‘You have been wonderful to me, but I can’t live with myself any longer. I murdered one of your sons … I know you have three older children in the military. Send for one of them to come and kill me. That would be justice. And I will stay here and work for you every day until he comes.’
“And this woman, who had lost seven of her 10 children, said, ‘What good would that do? I forgive you. Get up and go back to work.’
“Now, could you do that?” Clinton asked. “I don’t know if I could. But I know one thing: Every time I start feeling sorry for myself, I think about that. And I say that because everybody’s got a legitimate beef. It’s kind of like Argentina messing up. Most of your resentments are based on something that’s real. Most of your identity that drives you to have to have a loser in order for you to be a winner is based on something that’s real. It may be real, but it is not sustainable in the 21st-century world.”
He added: “That woman may have little education and little in common with you, and she may have never crossed the Atlantic Ocean, but she is a citizen of the 21st century because she thinks her common humanity is more important than the interests in differences which darn near destroyed her country.”
Summing up the mood of the evening, he concluded, “If we can fight non-zero-sum games in a way that embraces the positive and reduces the negative, and none of us escapes our responsibility, we’re going to be just fine. Don’t bet against America; don’t bet against the Atlantic community. Everybody that’s done it so far, in the end, has lost money.”
From top to bottom photos:
From left, Chairman of the Atlantic Council Chuck Hagel, U2 lead singer Bono, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) attend the Atlantic Council’s 2010 Annual Awards Dinner at the Ritz-Carlton honoring Bono with the Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership award for his work as co-founder of the ONE and (RED) campaigns against poverty and preventable diseases.
From left, Chairman of the Atlantic Council of the United States (ACUS) Chuck Hagel, National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, former President Bill Clinton, and Atlantic Council President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick Kempe attend the ACUS awards dinner, which honored Clinton for his distinguished international leadership that led to the Dayton Accords, peace negotiations in Northern Ireland, NATO enlargement and NAFTA, among other accomplishments during his presidency.
From left, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Gen. Stéphane Abrial of the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Gen. James Mattis, commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, and Chairman of the Atlantic Council’s International Advisory Board Brent Scowcroft attend the Atlantic Council Awards Dinner, where Abrial and Mattis shared the award for distinguished military leadership.
Shamim Jawad and Ambassador of Afghanistan Said Tayeb Jawad attend the annual awards dinner for the Washington-based Atlantic Council, which, for nearly 50 years, has promoted constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the world’s most pressing challenges.
Ambassador of New Zealand Roy Ferguson, left, and Ambassador of Cyprus Andreas S. Kakouris were among the 40 ambassadors — as well as 10 current or former heads of state and government, two dozen members of Congress and 35 global chief executives — at the 2010 Atlantic Council Awards Dinner.
Ambassador of Azerbaijan Yashar Aliyev, left, and Ambassador of Ireland Michael Collins attend the 2010 Atlantic Council Awards Dinner, which was hosted by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
Top three photos: Atlantic Council / Bottom three photos: Anna Gawel
Not All Goes According to Plan at Africa Day Festivities
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch contributed by B'anca Glenn
An air of regal sophistication filled the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on May 25 as African ambassadors and diplomats gathered for the annual gala dinner celebrating Africa Day. But amid the usual messages of progress and challenges was a very unusual interruption rarely heard in polite diplomatic gatherings.
 At first, it was all going according to script. Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, began his remarks by applauding how far Africa has come since colonial rule and reiterated the Obama administration’s support for the continent. But he also called for greater accountability, arguing that “our ability to achieve our shared long-term goals of democracy, stability and prosperity on the continent depends entirely on the integrity and effectiveness of African leadership.”
But when Carson specifically pointed fingers at Zimbabwe, which has been under ironclad rule by Robert Mugabe for the past 30 years, that criticism didn’t exactly sit well with the country’s ambassador in Washington, Machivenyika Mapuranga, who proceeded to heckle the State Department official.
In very un-ambassador-like fashion, Mapuranga shouted that Carson was “talking like a good house slave” and that “we will never be an American colony” before being escorted out of the room by Ritz-Carlton staff, as audience members booed in the background.
It wasn’t your typical diplomatic disagreement, that’s for sure, but Carson took the confrontation fairly well, coolly responding, “It seems that Robert Mugabe has some friends in the room tonight.”
“You can sit in the audience in darkness, but the light will find you and the truth will find you,” he added, noting that such an outburst would never even have been tolerated under Mugabe’s regime.
The Diplomatic Pouch contacted the Zimbabwean Embassy about the incident but the embassy stated that the ambassador had no comment on the matter.
And although Carson’s comments on Zimbabwe attracted the most attention, he had plenty of harsh words to go around.
 “Despite their inspirational beginnings, many African states did not have the best of leadership in the ensuing decades of independence. Individuals committed to fairness, integrity and democratic nation building — such as Botswana’s first president Seretse Khama and Senegal’s first president Leopold Senghor — were exceptions. In most other cases, a range of factors including corruption, weak democratic institutions, authoritarianism and ethnic chauvinism resulted in coups, military governments, armed conflict, human rights abuses, atrocities and genocide,” Carson charged.
He bluntly added: “Many African leaders violated the core human rights and sovereignty principles enshrined in the OAU [Organization of African Unity] charter, and some treated their populations as badly if not worse than their colonial predecessors.”
In particular, he leveled criticism at Mauritania, Guinea, Niger and Madagascar, each of whom have experienced recent military coups, as well as the democratic backsliding in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, the Central African Republic and even Nigeria, whose 2007 elections “were the most fraudulent and disorganized in the country’s history,” according to Carson.
He also lamented the ongoing violence that has wracked Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But Carson did note the significant strides the continent has made over the last 50 years, praising nations such as South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda and Liberia for boosting economic development and reducing conflict.
 “Since the early 1990s, a growing number of African states have managed to stabilize themselves through varying combinations of improved leadership and international involvement. Although still encumbered by numerous problems, post-conflict states such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda and Angola are nonetheless at peace and in varying stages of recovery and democratic transition,” he pointed out. “In the economic sphere, we have also seen notable progress in many parts of Africa, with almost a decade of sustained growth prior to the onset of the global financial crisis. Over the past two decades, Mauritius, Ghana, Rwanda, Botswana, Tanzania, Uganda and Cape Verde have liberalized their economies, embraced market reforms, and adopted pro-business policies.”
Carson concluded by quoting the words of President Barack Obama that “Africa’s future is up to Africans.”
And key to that future is the African Union, a 53-member bloc that was formed as a successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Africa Day marks the 47th anniversary of the OAU and is a time to reflect on the challenges that continue to plague the continent — and the initiatives that are tackling those challenges.
To that end, as chief sponsors of the event, Chevron and Coca-Cola each presented videos about their corporate responsibility and commitment to African nations. Coca-Cola for instance started the Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) to help provide fresh water to communities throughout the continent. By 2015, the company hopes to provide at least 2 million Africans with clean water and sanitation.
 On a much wider scale, Africa has made major gains in improving the health of its people, in part thanks to partnerships with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as well as the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
In fact, leaders used this year’s Africa Day to recommit themselves toward achieving the health-related U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
“In 2001, Africa’s heads of state signed the Abuja Declaration and committed to the eventual creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a public-private partnership and the largest multilateral financing institution in the fight against major causes of illness and mortality on our continent,” wrote Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry and Chadian Ambassador Mahamat Adam Bechir, co-chairs of the Africa Day commemorations in Washington.
“Since then, the Global Fund has fostered stronger health systems in Africa, saved the lives of millions of women and children across the continent, strengthened economies of African countries through healthier workforces, and fostered partnerships between the public and private sectors,” the envoys wrote in a recent blog on Huffington Post, noting that the African Union Summit in July will be a perfect opportunity to showcase the continent’s reinvigorated commitment to the health sector.
 “I applaud this important commitment as proof that our friends in Africa are making precious resources available to protect the health and future of the continent,” said Timothy Wirth, president of the U.N. Foundation, a public charity created in 1998 with philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support U.N. causes and activities. “As we move into a pivotal period to replenish the Global Fund, such strong leadership and dedicated resources from African nations are more important than ever,” Wirth said.
Dr. Daniel Carucci, vice president for global health at the U.N. Foundation, agreed that this proclamation is important because, although progress has been made over the past nine years, African nations “will demonstrate to their people that health is central to their efforts to improve prosperity, and will demonstrate to donor nations that they themselves are equally committed to improving health.”
From top to bottom photos:
From left, counselor at the Djibouti Embassy Issa Bouraleh joins Ambassador of Djibouti Roble Olhaye and his wife Amina Farah Ahmed Olhaye at the Africa Day reception held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
Ambassador of Mali Mamadou Traore, left, and Ambassador of Benin Cyrille S. Oguin attend the Africa Day reception.
From left, Gen. Mogoruti Ledwaba of South Africa, his wife Lorette Ledwaba and Pam Moloto attend the Africa Day reception.
Ambassador of Ghana and Mrs. Daniel Ohene Agyekum attend the Africa Day reception.
From left, Shirley Rivens Smith, president of DC-Dakar, U.S. Africa Sister Cities and also Ms. District of Columbia Senior America, and Gregory Simpkins, a specialist in African policy development and vice president of policy and programs with the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, attend the Africa Day reception.
Photos: B'anca Glenn and Emily Mangozza
British Toast Candidates at Election Party
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch contributed by James Morrison
Guests who climbed the marble stairs from the foyer to the main hall of the British ambassador’s residence encountered three cardboard candidates: David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader with a serious look on his face; Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democratic leader with a boyish grin; and Gordon Brown, the normally dour-looking Labor leader with a big smile.
 A short walk down the hall to the main reception room and rose garden, guests were startled, some amused, at another cardboard cutout of a famous British political figure. There, partially in the shadows, stood Winston Churchill, dressed like an American gangster from the 1930s, complete with a bowler hat, a pinstriped double-breasted suit and a Thompson submachine gun.
At the end of the hall stood British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, in the flesh, mischievously inviting guests to embrace a nonpartisan spirit and sample all three customized cocktails, shaken or stirred especially for the May 6 election night party at the British Embassy compound on Massachusetts Avenue. Each represented the colors of the three political parties.
A blue drink with vodka, the Cameron Calypso, stood for the Conservatives; a yellow drink with rum, the Clegg Clipper, denoted the Liberal Democrats; and a red one with champagne represented Labor.
The ambassador, himself, drank sparkling water with a slice of lime.
Many of the guests on the warm spring evening had no doubt about the outcome of the election, which, as it turned out, would not be decided for nearly another week.
Christopher Hitchens, the British-born raconteur with Vanity Fair magazine, was certain of a Conservative victory. His British colleague Martin Walker, former editor of United Press International in Washington and now a senior director of A.T. Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council, predicted a hung Parliament. Walker would be proven right when Cameron and Clegg formed an odd-couple coalition of the center-right Conservatives and the center-left Liberal Democrats.
Like Hitchens, Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, was confident of the first Conservative resurgence since Labor took control in 1997.
“The British public have spoken out,” said Gardiner, another British transplant in Washington. “This is a good night for the Conservatives.”
He conceded that Cameron is no Margaret Thatcher but noted that many younger members of the party are trying to pull the party further to the right.
 “This is not the same party of the 1980s,” he said, referring to the years when Thatcher was prime minister. “But there is still a Thatcher-ite rump, especially among younger Conservatives.”
For other guests, just roaming through the ambassador’s rose gardens and taking in the atmosphere of the Georgian-style diplomatic mansion was satisfaction enough, even for some of Washington’s most seasoned political figures.
Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report, considered one of the most influential journals of politics, was awestruck by the graphics used by the BBC on its televised election coverage, beamed into the ambassador’s residence from flat-screen TVs in every corner of every room.
“The BBC does a better job than the American networks,” he said. “It’s designed to show people what’s going on … rather than to showcase personalities.”
Rep. Mike McIntyre, a North Carolina Democrat and co-chairman of the House Scottish caucus, raved about the reception.
“Its a wonderful way to promote the positive British-American relations we are so thankful for,” he said. “It’s a way to show our common heritage.”
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, and his English-born wife Elizabeth watched the reports on a large-screen TV in the drawing room.
“This is a very exciting election to watch,” he said, adding that he was impressed by the “intellectual caliber” of the candidates in their American-styled televised debates during the campaign.
 “Clegg’s performance put the Liberal Democrats into a position to influence the balance of power. Cameron did a very good job, talking about changes, and Brown hammered Cameron.”
Watching the election coverage made his wife a little homesick. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else on election night,” she said.
Among the first returns reported were those from Sunderland, a northeast English region with a special relationship to Washington, D.C., because it is the ancestral home of George Washington.
However, Sunderland is no bellwether precinct. As always, it went Labor.
From top to bottom photos:
From left, husband of the Indian ambassador Ajay Shankar, British Ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, and Ambassador of India Meera Shankar attend the British election night party, co-hosted by BBC World News, at the British Residence on May 6.
Lady Sheinwald, left, and Ambassador of Denmark Friis Arne Petersen watch the U.K. elections at the British Residence (with writer James Morrison working in the background).
From left, NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for American Progress John Podesta, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan discuss the British elections at a viewing party held at the British Residence.
Photos: British Embassy
Arab-American Group Bestows Gibran Awards
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch contributed by Victor Shiblie
 Khalil Gibran was a 19th-century Lebanese poet, philosopher and artist whose work continues to inspire millions of people many years after his death. In his memory, the Arab American Institute (AAI) Foundation recently bestowed its annual Khalil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards at a dinner marking the foundation’s 25th anniversary.
The April 21 gala, held at Washington’s Renaissance Hotel, attracted 700 people from across the nation.
The Corporation for National and Community Service received AAI’s Award for Institutional Excellence, while Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was honored for his efforts to promote sister-city relationships throughout the Arab world as well as Arabic-language programs in Chicago public schools.
Daley accepted the award “on behalf of all the residents of Chicago, because only with their full support can we undertake building the kinds of relationships that lead to greater understanding among cultures and greater friendship among nations.”
 AAI also honored Juma Al Majid of the United Arab Emirates. Among other things, the well-known businessman and philanthropist established the Juma Al Majid Center for Culture and Heritage as a library, research institute and restoration center to train preservationists in state-of-the-art restoration techniques. UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba accepted the award on behalf of Al Majid.
In one of the evening’s most touching moments, AAI President James Zogby presented an award of special recognition to Mr. and Mrs. Abdulrahman Zeitoun of New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina devastated his city in 2004, the Syrian-born businessman spent five days and nights in his canoe, distributing supplies and rescuing hurricane victims — and was promptly jailed as a suspected terrorist.
Zeitoun was held for weeks without contact with his family or attorney, then released and exonerated of all charges. He became the subject of the best-selling book “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggars. Last year, the Zeitouns launched a foundation using the proceeds from Eggers’s book to help rebuild New Orleans and ensure the rights of all Americans.
 “I did nothing special,” Zeitoun said in accepting the award. “I did what anyone would do — what we would all do.”
The evening’s keynote speaker was Susan Rice, U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, who said that President Obama has pursued a new era of American leadership and comprehensive engagement in the Middle East based on mutual interests and respect.
“Together with our partners, we seek a world of greater education and deeper opportunity, a world that rejects violent extremism and embraces human dignity, a world of development, democracy and prosperity,” said Rice, “a world where a child can grow up in Gaza, in Baghdad, in Bamako, in Tel Aviv or in Kabul, free of fear and want, and with the opportunity to live his dreams.”
Rice also reiterated Obama’s commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and its Palestinian neighbors.
“The president has defined this goal as a vital U.S. interest,” she said. “Now, none of us need to be reminded that this is very tough work. But we believe that through good-faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree to an outcome that ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and Israel’s goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israel’s security requirements.”
Rice reminded her audience that the status quo “has neither produced long-term security nor served the interests” of either Israelis or Palestinians.
“Our efforts must be driven from both above and below. That’s why the United States is focused on two mutually reinforcing tracks: resuming negotiations between the parties, and helping develop the institutions of a future Palestinian state,” she explained. “We strongly endorse the Palestinian Authority’s two-year state-building plan and are doing all we can to support it.”
Rice admonished both Israel and the Palestinians for not doing enough to resolve the decades-old conflict.
“Our position remains clear: We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity. Israel should also halt evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes. At the same time, the Palestinian Authority should continue to make every effort to ensure security, to reform its institutions of governance, and to take strong, consistent action to end all forms of incitement.”
 Arab states must do their share as well, she added. “All too often, those who worry about the destabilizing impact of extremists are not doing enough to bolster the Palestinian Authority’s legitimate efforts,” she said. “It is in the Arab states’ interests to advance the Arab peace initiative with concrete actions that make it easier for the Palestinians to pursue negotiations and achieve an agreement.”
In addition, Rice reaffirmed U.S. support for Lebanon and full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701.
“Our engagement with Syria will not come at the expense of Lebanese sovereignty and independence. And I should add that it is my personal privilege to work closely with the government of Lebanon and its representatives as a fellow Security Council colleague. The Obama administration looks forward to continuing those efforts in the years ahead. Because as Kahlil Gibran once wrote, ‘To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do.’”
From top to bottom photos:
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice speaks at the 2010 Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards Gala, where she said that President Obama has pursued a new era of American leadership and comprehensive engagement in the Middle East based on mutual interests and respect.
Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates Yousef Al Otaiba, right, talks with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (also pictured below), who was honored at the Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards Gala for his efforts to promote sister-city relationships throughout the Arab world as well as Arabic-language programs in Chicago public schools.
Ambassador of the Arab League Hussein Hassouna, center, talks with Palestinian Representative to the United States Maen Rashid Areikat, left, and Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) at the 2010 Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards Gala at the Washington DC Renaissance Hotel, marking the Arab-American Institute Foundation’s 25th anniversary.
Photos: Arab American Institute
ASEAN Promotes Trade in Both Washingtons
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch contributed by Larry Luxner
Asia’s fastest-growing trade bloc is pursuing an aggressive U.S. promotional strategy — one that earlier last month targeted two jurisdictions: Washington state and Washington, D.C.
 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is comprised of Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. These 10 countries enjoy some of the world’s healthiest economies and boast a combined gross domestic product of $1.5 trillion.
On May 5, ASEAN’s flourishing ties with the United States were celebrated at a dinner organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council and underwritten by corporate heavyweights Oracle, Philip Morris International, Microsoft, Chevron, Oracle, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar and Freeport-McMoRan. The event at Washington’s Four Seasons Hotel attracted 220 diplomats, business executives and other dignitaries, including trade ministers from the 10 ASEAN member countries.
“ASEAN stands between China and India at the center of global trade routes, but in the minds of the public, it often stands a distant third,” said Alexander Feldman, president of the US-ASEAN Business Council.
“As we first proposed this road show to the trade ministers in Bangkok last August, we had one goal: to show why Southeast Asia cannot be overlooked, and to place it firmly on the map in the minds of U.S. policymakers and business leaders as well as the general public,” he added.
“ASEAN represents nearly 600 million people across 10 diverse, vibrant developing nations. Those 600 million people are building, purchasing, innovating and creating — and driving the growth of one of the world’s most important economic regions. In 2015, the Southeast Asian Economic Community will draw those 600 million people even closer, into a single economy that straddles the crossroads of global trade, and will provide untold opportunity for American business.”
 According to Feldman, the average ASEAN citizen consumes twice the value of U.S. products annually as the average Chinese, and nine times as much as the average Indian.
Feldman also noted that the Southeast region is the largest destination in Asia for U.S. foreign direct investment, drawing three times as much FDI from the United States as China, and nearly 10 times as much as India.
“As ASEAN continues to develop, it will face challenges. Its infrastructure needs to grow. Those 600 million people will need better health care. Food security will lead to hard decisions on biotechnology and genetic engineering. Energy production will need to be greatly increased to meet the needs of a growing middle class and further commercial development. And the need to connect the people and countries of Southeast Asia will lead to the development of new and better roads, ports and bridges, both physically and increasingly virtually — through high-speed broadband connections,” Feldman explained.
“All these infrastructure projects will need to be financed as there are more important needs than can be financed by Southeast Asian government budgets alone,” added Feldman. “These are all areas U.S. companies have experience working in. As ASEAN completes its regional integration, we will need to move from a country-by-country strategy to finding solutions that address the region’s unique challenges as a whole.”
 The visiting nine-member ASEAN delegation included Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu; Pehin Dato Seri Setia Lim Jock Seng, second minister of foreign affairs and trade of Brunei; Pan Sorasak, secretary of state of Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce; Nam Viyaketh, minister of industry and commerce of Laos; Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysia’s minister of trade and industry; Thomas G. Aquino, senior undersecretary of the department of trade and industry of the Philippines; Nguyen Cam Tu, Vietnam’s vice minister of trade and industry; and Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of ASEAN.
The star of the evening was Indonesia’s Pangestu, who spoke following short introductions by Joseph Alhadeff, Oracle’s vice president of global public policy, and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis.
In her impeccable English — perfected during her years as a student at the University of California-Davis — Pangestu laid out the case for paying attention to Southeast Asia, which saw $180 billion in two-way trade with the United States in 2008.
In fact, Southeast Asia’s total trade has skyrocketed from around $400 billion in 1993 to over $1.7 trillion in 2008 — and U.S. foreign direct investment in Southeast Asia reached $150 billion in 2008, making it the largest destination for American FDI in Asia.
“The reason for our road show is to remind all of you in the United States that there is a region called Southeast Asia,” she said. “People know Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, but they don’t make the connection that we are one region that has gone through a process of economic integration.”
What Pangestu says carries great weight, given that Indonesia alone has a population of 227 million — nearly 38 percent of ASEAN’s total. It’s also where President Obama lived much of his childhood, and where he’s likely to spend three days during a long-delayed Southeast Asian trip next month.
“Starting our road show in the state of Washington was a correct decision,” she said. “Seattle is home to a lot of familiar companies — Boeing, Microsoft and Starbucks among them — and it’s the place where the first APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] leaders summit was held. It’s also a gateway to the Pacific.”
Pangestu added that “we were able to meet the governor, local officials and congressmen who were very engaged with us. Sen. Jim McDermott, who we’d have difficulty seeing here in D.C., gave us an hour of his time, discussing trade policy.”
But Indonesia’s trade minister also emphasized that this engagement needs to go beyond government-to-government relationships.
“It must also involve stakeholders. We face this on a daily basis,” Pangestu said. “It’s important to have these kinds of people-to-people links, because it makes it less likely to have miscommunication.”
She added that “trade policy does tend to run into domestic political issues, so bringing in the constituency we believe was a very good recommendation,” said Pangestu, whose delegation also met with three other Democratic lawmakers in the nation’s capital: Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan, and Rep. John Tanner of Tennessee.
“We need to do it again and again and again. I think our experience with the state of Washington also emphasized the need to go outside Washington, D.C. In our next road shows, we have a lot of other states to cover. We must strategically address the issues and see every action plan as a way forward, which promises to bring us to a higher level of U.S.-ASEAN engagement.”
Top photo, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu discusses trade opportunities with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which encompasses 10 countries that enjoy some of the world’s healthiest economies and boast a combined gross domestic product of $1.5 trillion.
Pangestu joined other trade ministers along with officials from the US-ASEAN Business Council, such as Marc Mealy, the council’s vice president, middle photo, for a dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., as part of a “road show” that took the trade delegation to both D.C. and Washington state.
Bottom photo, Goh Chour Thong, first secretary at the Embassy of Singapore, sings a Chinese pop song for the enjoyment of participants at the US-ASEAN Business Council dinner on May 5 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Photos: Larry Luxner
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