Week Off

This is a bit premature, but I wanted to let you all know that the FCNL office will be closed next week (I'm taking off tomorrow, thus the early post).

We 2nd year interns(and Maggie!) will be traveling, sleeping, reading, watching movies, eating delicious food, and recharging for September 2nd, when we get to meet the new class of interns. The beginning of September is a wonderfully active and exciting time here at FCNL, and I can't wait for it.

Until then,
Caroline

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Trevor's Summer Reading List

This summer reading list is brought to us by faithful blogger and PPDC intern, Trevor.

Summer Reading List 7: Trevor Keck, Legislative Associate for Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time
By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
I am highly skeptical of books on the New York Times Best Seller List. Yet, my conservative mother told me this book made her see U.S. foreign policy in a new light. Intrigued, I picked up this highly accessible story of a climber turned schoolbuilder in South Asia. Humbled by the hospitality of a Pakistani village after failing to climb K2, Greg Mortenson takes it upon himself to raise funds to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This quick read provides a good example of the types of projects the U.S. governement could be funding to reduce support for terrorism and build bridges of understanding between the U.S. and the Middle East.

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, The Cold War and The Roots of Terror
By Mahmood Mamdani
This book is an excellent history lesson in U.S. foreign policy during the end of the cold war. Mamdani provides numerous examples of how U.S. policies supported groups committing acts of terror when it suited U.S. goals: rolling back the Soviet Union's influence and power. Now that terrorist groups have turned their sights on the U.S., Mamdani says rather than military confrontation with terrorist groups, U.S. foreign policy should devote resources and attention to strategies that erode support for terrorism and recognize legitimate political grievances many have with U.S foreign policy.

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lazy summer days

In case you hadn't noticed by all of the summer reading lists, DC gets pretty empty around August. When I moved here last year, one of the things that surprised me the most was how quiet everything became in the summer. I always knew that Congress took August off, but I had no idea how much that would affect the rest of the city. Offices take shorter hours and study/volunteer groups all go on hiatus. My usually vibrant church seemed particularly empty yesterday with the gospel choir on break and about half of the parishioners gone. I don't remember summers being so quiet for non-students anywhere else that I've lived. For the rest of my life, 'adult summer vacations' will be magical, strange things that I'll associate with Washington, DC.

Because I'm the field intern instead of a lobbying intern, I'm probably not feeling the summer lag quite as much as some of my FCNL colleagues, but the days are still a little quiet. I've been enjoying having more time to work on long term projects, clean off my desk (!) and of course, post on the intern blog. I have to admit, though, that having extra time on our hands can sometimes lead to some mischief for the FCNL interns. This morning, Jr. Intern, Kamala and I had a little too much fun playing with a globe beach ball that we found in the storage room.

However, our office mischief is nothing compared to what our colleagues and friends at the UUA Washington Office Of Advocacy pulled last night. To welcome their new Acting Director (and former intern) Adam to his new position, the interns stayed up all night filling his office with balloons. 580 balloons, to be precise. While certain FCNL interns and former interns have been known pranksters (Sharon, Dan and Nick come to mind) I'm afraid this beats anything I've seen at my time at FCNL. So, FCNL interns, former interns and staff, what's been the best prank that you've seen pulled in the office? Non-FCNL staffers: what's the summer work culture like wherever you are? I hope it's as fun as it is here!

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Peaceful Toilets

When we here at FCNL think about promoting peace instead of war, we tend to think of the big ways to do it – decreasing military spending, sending more diplomats out to American embassies, and promoting dialogue between countries.

But as the Foreign Policy blog points out today, sometimes we need to look at the details to help foster peaceful communities and countries.

Their post focuses on countries that have the lowest accessibility to sanitation facilities, starting off with an anecdote about how complaints from foreigners forced the organizers of the Beijing Olympics to install more sit toilets. This may seem a little whiny – it’s not that hard to use a squat toilet once you have the practice – but I can understand where the athletes, and to a much greater extent, average people in Eritrea and Haiti, are coming from.

When I went to China in 2004, one of the unexpected excursions that were part of my travels with the students was to climb the Fan Jin mountain (it took me about 3 hours). Because I was (or felt that I was) a lazy, out-of-shape American, after climbing the mountain (and coming down, which was possibly harder) my legs were pretty sore. So sore in fact, that it made using squat toilets nearly impossible. The inability to find a toilet that I could use with ease put me in a foul mood, and made me act out in odd and irrational ways. Finding a place to use the facilities became an obsession, and when I was finally in a hotel room with a sit toilet for a few days I used the bathroom (hung out in there really) at least once an hour – just because I could.

Now, this confession of mine is borderline too much information, and possibly proves that I am a sheltered whiny American, but I think that my reaction is proof that depriving people of relatively easy ways to satisfy their basic needs (hunger, disposing of waste matter, thirst) can lead to unrest and irrational behavior.

In addition to focusing on large-scale prevention of war, we should also remember that helping people to live with dignity, self-sufficiency, and actualization can go a long way to achieving peace. After all, unemployed young people are awfully easy to transform into soldiers.

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Update on the Crisis in Darfur

I have posted an update for the "crisis in Darfur" page previously kept up former FCNL legislative assistant Laura Weis, and will continue to provide updates every couple weeks here if anyone is interested. The first update is posted below:

In June, President Bush signed a huge $186.5 billion war spending bill for Iraq that also included funds for the peacekeeping mission in Darfur as well as money for humanitarian, development, and diplomatic efforts in Darfur and South Sudan. In July, the House and Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittees’ marked up their version of the State and Foreign Operations spending bill, which included more funding for U.N. peacekeeping, law enforcement, humanitarian, development and transition assistance for Sudan. However, the foreign operations spending bill will likely not be signed by the President this year. Congressional leaders have said they will not bring any spending bills to the House or Senate floor until the next President takes office in January.

In June, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo filed 10 charges of war crimes against Sudanese President Bashir, which put Darfur back—front and center—in the press. Anticipating a spike in violence, the U.N. and humanitarian agencies scaled back their operations. The U.N.-AU hybrid peacekeeping mission prepared for the worst, yet no large retributive attacks against U.N. personnel or peacekeepers have occurred since the indictment. However, humanitarian groups report, the Sudanese government has tightened its grip, creating further restrictions on travel and obstacles for humanitarian groups. Meanwhile, Sudanese President Bashir went on a “charm offensive” in Darfur. In an attempt to show goodwill, he traveled to Darfur’s historic capital El-Fasher, where he was jeered at by spectators.

On July 31, 2008 the U.N. Security Council voted (14-0) to renew the mandate of the U.N.-AU hybrid peacekeeping mission. In an eleventh hour decision, the U.S. abstained from the vote in protest of language in the resolution, which accepted the possibility of future council debate on suspending the ICC indictment against Sudanese President Bashir. Diplomats from South Africa, Libya and the African Union as well as Africa expert Alex de Waal and former U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios claim the charges pose a threat to the peace process. In a Washington Post op-ed in July, De Waal questioned the judicial integrity of the charges, and argued Ocampo risked politicizing the court. Meanwhile, high profile activists like John Prendergast argue the indictments are integral to justice and peace efforts.

ICC judges are expected to decide whether to act on Ocampo’s request for an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Bashir in October or November. Many believe this creates a vital window of opportunity for the international community to conduct diplomacy and bolster the U.N. force in Darfur. If the ICC issues a warrant for Bashir, many expect the situation to get much worse, as the ICC is said to operate on a system much like the Napoleonic code. For instance, once a warrant is issued, it supposedly cannot be dropped as a concession in peace negotiations. If the ICC retreats and doesn’t issue a warrant for Bashir, the Sudanese President may feel emboldened, and free to continue launching attacks against innocent civilians. While the debate has been colored by those for and against an ICC arrest warrant outside of Sudan, lacking from the debate, has been the voices of Sudanese political parties other than the governing National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum.

Yet, this “window of opportunity” certainly creates a lot of pressure for the new U.N. joint chief mediator Djibril Bassole, who began the uphill challenge of reigniting a stalled peace process several weeks ago. “This will be a difficult mission but it’s not impossible,” Bassole told reporters after meeting with Sudan’s foreign minister in late July. Sudanese on all sides of the conflict are reportedly optimistic about having a full-time mediator in Sudan, rather than two part-time mediators who were criticized for jetting into the country for short diplomatic visits every few months.

On August 12, the force Commander of UNAMID, General Agwai, told reporters in New York that unification of the rebel groups is a key pre-requisite to a meaningful peace process. Rebel groups reportedly number around thirty, and the negotiating positions of the various factions were a key obstacle to the peace process in Sirte, Libya last fall. A key goal for the UN mediator, Djibril Bassole, will be coalescing all the rebel groups behind a common platform in a future round of negotiations with the Sudanese government.

Yet, as reported in the Washington Post several months ago, we need to change how we think about the conflict in Darfur. For instance, as the Post reports “While the government and militia attacks on straw-hut villages that defined the earlier years of the conflict continue, Darfur is now home to semi-organized crime and warlordism, with marijuana-smoking rebels, disaffected government militias and anyone else with an AK-47 taking part, according to U.N. officials.”

The solutions to the conflict aren’t that different. A robust peacekeeping mission is needed. Humanitarian aid is needed. A diplomatic process that provides the people of the Darfur region security, autonomy and a large chunk of Sudan’s wealth to rebuild its war-torn society is also still needed. Yet given the localized nature of the conflict today (as well as prior to the beginning of the rebel offensive in 2003), there should be a renewed stress on local reconciliation and management of scare land in any future peace process.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission still has only about 10,000 military and civilian personnel, and hopes to achieve 80% deployment by the end of the year. Yet, the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations is still unable to get member countries to commit the personnel and equipment it needs for a robust civilian protection force. To highlight the fact that no country has contributed a single helicopter, the Save Darfur Coalition presented the U.N. security council with a helicopter on the day of the renewal of UNAMID’s mandate.

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Project Minerva

A couple of months ago, foreign policy analyst Frida Berrigan argued "the Pentagon's expansion will be Bush's lasting legacy." What does this mean? During the Bush Administration's tenure, the Pentagon's authorities and funding have been grossly expanded. For instance, the U.S. now boasts a military budget greater than all the world's militaries' combined, and a Pentagon which controls roughly 25% of U.S. development and humanitarian assistance.

Stewart Patrick, an expert at the Center for Global Development, recently quipped that what the Pentagon calls "phase zero" (pre-conflict foreign assistance), the State Department and US Agency for International Development calls foreign policy. The Pentagon's expansion of authorities and funds are part of a trend towards the militarization of foreign assistance, and in fact U.S. foreign policy. There are many reasons for the Pentagon not too be involved in providing development and humanitarian assistance. It's extremely costly, and the Pentagon is not trained for providing sustainable development assistance. They are trained to fight and win wars.

Given this backdrop, I read about "Project Minerva" -- a new Pentagon proposal -- with skepticism. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has announced that the Pentagon will allocate $50 million for academics to study: the connections between religion and terrorism; Chinese military doctrine; and proposals for new paradigms for 21st century challenges and conflicts (i.e. like Game theory during the Cold War) among other important issues.

This is not an inherently bad idea. We need sociologists, evolutionary biologists and anthropologists to consider questions posited by anthropologist Hugh Gusteron:

"Is Middle Eastern terrorism somehow inherent to Islamic theology? Is it an inevitable Islamic response to globalization and Westernization? Is it, instead, really a response to poverty and underdevelopment that happens to draw on the language of religion? Or, as Osama bin Laden himself has suggested, is it a response to U.S. military intervention in the region? If the United States draws down its interventionist presence in the Middle East, will al Qaeda leave Americans alone, or will it be emboldened to pursue them to their own shores? Are Middle Eastern countries readily capable of Western democracy, or is this a dangerously ethnocentric neoconservative fantasy?"

Yet, why is the Pentagon funding this research. The answer boils down to four words which goes back to Frida Berrigan's article: the Pentagon has the money. This is not a sufficient reason. Pentagon funding for such research will inevitably taint the findings. For instance, as Gusteron notes "The Pentagon will have the false comfort of believing that it has harnessed the best and the brightest minds, when in fact it will have only received a very limited slice of what the ivory tower has to offer—academics who have no problem taking Pentagon funds. Social scientists call this “selection bias,” and it can lead to dangerous analytical errors."

In short, yes to funding for social science research. No to Pentagon control over such funding.

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Former FCNL intern right on (Iran)

As a second year program assistant, I've already begun thinking about what to do next year: I've been seriously considering graduate school in communications theory, but also might want to stay working for a couple of years. I'm betting it's going to be an anxious year - I don't much care for uncertainty.

Examples like this Op-ed in the Washington Post, however, remind me that my two years in FCNL will hold me in good stead when exploring options for the future. Reza Aslan, an alum of FCNL, and his co-author Bernard Avishai make excellent points about the situation in Iran. (He's also written a book I've been meaning to read: No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.) In the piece I see that hallmark FCNL careful consideration: using common sense to cut through some of the nonsense that can prevail on national and international stages.

I especially liked the response to Benny Morris' Op-ed in the New York Times, which Kate sent around with the subject line "the only alternative to a "nuclear holocaust" is bombing Iran (one of scariest op-eds in US history it seems)." I was glad to have an expert's take on such an inflammatory piece of writing, because, try as I might to keep up with all of FCNL's issues, I am really better versed in best practices for communications than I am on the situation in the Middle East. Thank goodness FCNL helps foster people like Aslan, so I can read some sensible journalism once in a while.

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Some laughter (and tears) for the August recess

One FCNL staff person was so excited (or depressed) about this clip from the Colbert Report that he sent it to me twice to get up on the blog. So take some time from your busy August schedule of relaxing with lemonade next to a lake to enjoy this video. I wonder how Congressman Westmoreland would respond to FCNL's Questions for Candidates?

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"We need to think like the Neo-con's"

In a staff meeting several weeks ago, an FCNL staff member said this statement. The room fell silent for a few moments. Everyone seemed to be pondering what he meant by this statement. I knew exactly what he meant. This is our moment.

For the last eight years, we have lived under the Bush Administration. During six of those years, progressives were trying to figure out just how to stay afloat, how not to lose on every issue we care about. The 2006 elections changed the dynamics slightly, but President Bush still held the veto, and enough legislators were willing to side with the administration in order to prevent any dramatic changes in policy.

2008 is a referendum on who's ideas will fill the gap of the outgoing Neo-Con's. While some influential commentators are still getting prestige (i.e. Bill Kristol was recently awarded a NYT column), the disaster in Iraq has clearly had its effect on the neo-conservatives. Nearly all been ushered out of government and replaced with old-school realists or internationalists. One of the most prominent examples is the replacement of Rumsfeld with the widely heralded Defense Secretary Gates, who has called for a dramatic increase in spending on diplomacy and development as part of a strategy to reduce our country's reliance on the military. Is this the same administration that made preventive war a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy?

So, getting back to "We need to think like the Neo-cons." This doesn't mean, we mean to adopt their tactics--domination and polarisation of the polity. It means, we push Congress and the next Administration hard to implement practical progressive solutions to foster a safer world, like shoring up our diplomatic corps, rebuilding expertise at our development agency, getting rid of our debt at the United Nations, and restoring U.S. leadership through respect for international law.

So how do we get there? That's were thinking "like the neo-con's fits in." Dominating the marketplace of ideas. What are your ideas for the next administration and congress on day 1?

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Joelle's Summer Reading List

Today we have another summer reading list from a former FCNL intern. Many of you may remember Joelle from her occasional posts here on the intern blog. We at FCNL are lucky that while she has left the office, she's stayed in the DC area to work on urban hunger issues, so we still occasionally get to run into her on the metro.

Summer Reading List 6:
Joelle Maruniak, (former) Legislative Assistant for Environmental Issues

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
Where does our food come from, and how does it reach us? In this book, Michael Pollan gets up close and personal with food as he examines the U.S. food chain.

Deep Economy, by Bill McKibben
“Growth” is not a healthy path for our economy, McKibben posits in his latest book. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of living locally: producing our own food, generating our won energy, and entertaining ourselves.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver
In this investigative memoir, Kingsolver and her family chronicle how they spent a year living off of only home-grown and local food. This is a book to be enjoyed not only for its insight into our food economy, but also for its beautiful prose.

I have to admit that while all of the interns have amazing summer reading lists, I'm particularly partial to Joelle's list. When she sent me her reading list, she joked about how all of her posts were about food. I love the way that she was able to combine her love of environmentalism with her love of hunger awareness by making a list of books about food politics (which also, coincidentally, happens to be one of my favorite issues!). I am also a bit partial to this list because it includes one of my all-time favorite authors (both for fiction and non-fiction), Barbara Kingsolver.

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Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

I hate to write another serious post so soon after Trevor wrote about the awful situation in Georgia but I didn't want to let the week pass without commemorating the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As I'm sure all of our readers are aware, Wednesday was the 63rd anniversary of the United States Army dropping an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the attack on Nagasaki.

Fr. George Zabelka, who served as chaplain to the atomic bomb crew and later became a peace activist and worked tirelessly for the abolition of nuclear weapons had this to say about the bombing of Nagasaki:

The bombing of Nagasaki means even more to me than the bombing of Hiroshima. By August 9, 1945, we knew what that bomb would do, but we still dropped it. We knew that agonies and sufferings would ensue, and we also knew – at least our leaders knew – that it was not necessary.

In their first Washington Newsletter after the atomic bomb was used, FCNL (then just two years old) had this to say about the bombings:

Perhaps nothing since the outbreak of the war has so stirred and aroused the American people to the necessity for the complete abolition of war as the use by the United States Army of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which the Japanese claim resulted in at least 70,000 killed and 120,000 wounded and 290,000 made homeless.
-FCNL Washington Newsletter #22, September 14, 1945

Let's hope that our predecessors at FCNL were right and that the memory of this awful event will continue to teach the world (as it taught Fr. Zabelka) that war is not the answer.

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Crisis in South Ossetia

As the 2008 Beijing Olympics opened this morning, Georgia launched a major military offensive to retake control of South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian province with staunchly pro-Russian sentiments. In response, Moscow sent tanks into into South Ossetia with the stated aim of protecting Russian citizens living in the breakaway province. According to Eduard Kokoity, president of South Ossetia, the capital--Tskhinvali--has been destroyed and nearly 1,400 are dead.

According to Georgian Ambassador to the U.N. Irakli Alasania, pro-Moscow seperatists want to "ethnically cleanse" Georgians from the region. Irakli Alasansia incited Georgia's 'responsibility to protect' Georgian citizens, as a justification for sending military troops.

While Georgian president has accused Russia of a "well-planned invasion", it's hard to believe Georgia's move wasn't planned to coincide with the opening ceremony in Beijing. U.S. diplomats have called for restraint and respect for Georgian sovereignty, which is probably has more to do with the geo-politics of thwarting an increasingly authoritarian Russia, not to mention political support for a key ally in the war on terror. Georgia is the third largest contributer of forces to the war in Iraq and received $6.5 million in counter-terrorism aid from the U.S. in Fiscal Year 06.

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How should we feel about the Beijing Olympics?

The Olympics start tomorrow! I’m pretty excited, despite the fact that I generally prefer the winter games to the summer ones. I’m a big fan of figure skating, and I think that the luge and curling events have a touch more whimsy than table tennis and the modern pentathlon.

Nevertheless, the Olympics are here. I’ve been hearing about them since 2004, when I spent the summer in China and my students were already talking about their August 2008 travel plans. But the run-up to these games have made me (and most people, I think) feel ambiguous about just how enthusiastic we should feel with regards to the games and to China’s standing as an example of international responsibility. Their attitudes toward Tibet, political dissidents, journalists, the internet, and air pollution leave something to be desired. Still, the Olympics are just so darn exciting. What’s a socially conscious pomp and circumstance-lover to do?

This month’s issue of Foreign Policy magazine tackles the Beijing ’08 question in their monthly “Think Again” column. I have issues with this section of the magazine general, because sometimes it seems that their contributors use the space to be contrary for the sake of being contrary, rather than to explore both sides of an argument. Nevertheless, it serves as a good jumping off point for the debate, if it doesn’t fully consider all sides of the issue.

Some questions I have after reading it:

• The author, John Hoberman, asserts that the games aren’t apolitical. To this revelation I say, duh. But so what? The games can also serve as a way for countries and athletes to get acquainted in a generally peacefully setting (Munich and Atlanta games aside), which all of those sporting events to get their aggression out. International encounters like this can only be a good thing. Hoberman scoffs at the IOC “fall[ing] back on old clichés about Olympic ‘diplomacy.” It may be clear that the Olympics in themselves do not negotiate peace or guarantee human rights, but they do lay the groundwork for countries gathering on generally equal footing, to talk (sometimes about politics), and enjoy a swim race. That’s where diplomacy starts Hoberman!
  
  
• Also, even if the Olympics are corrupt, political, don’t guarantee human rights, don’t make countries money, etc., so what? Everyone seems to enjoy them, and at the very least it’s an awesome gathering of exceptional athletes. And we get to learn about a new culture from Bob Costas and Matt Lauer (yes yes, NBC is an evil corporate sponsor, but I really like Bob Costas)
  

What’re you all doing for the games? Are you boycotting watching them as punishment for China’s human rights abuses? Do you agree with the FP article? Let me know what you think! At least one of you.

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Welcome to Maggie!

Here at the office we were getting a little tired of goodbyes (note the many goodbye posts on this site) and luckily we have a welcome to report this week! Our new Communications Program Assistant (and the lucky person who gets to listen to me talk constantly as I train her) is Maggie Porter, who hails from Baltimore by way of Colgate. We're very excited to have her as a contributor on the blog, and can't wait to hear what she has to say!

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Sharon's Summer Reading List

This week's summer reading list is brought to you by Sharon. Though she left us a few months ago to get reacquainted with the west coast, her love of practical jokes and good books continues to inspire.

Summer Reading List 5:
Sharon Franklet, (former) Legislative Assistant for Native American Advocacy

Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream
by Greg Sarris
A looping, lyrical telling of Pomo basket weaver and healer Mabel McKay’s life. This story quietly slips like fog into one’s perception and lingers there.

Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea
by Diane Glancy
This short novel juxtaposes Sacajawea’s observations and interpretations – as envisioned by Glancy – with entries from the diaries of Lewis and Clark. The interweave brings the voice and perspective of Sacajawea into strong relief.

or, something from your piece of ground...
This summer, choose a book that speaks for the long history of the peoples and land on which you stand – whether your home territory or somewhere that you vacation. The internet has many sources, including The Internet Public Library’s Native American authors page: http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/. Enjoy!

We miss you, Sharon! And from one Californian to another, I envy your ability to spend your summer in a more temperate climate, away from daily thunder storms (why do they always start up right as I'm getting ready to leave the office?!).

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Some Hope to Cut through the Smog

This morning, I read an article on Bush, China, and diplomacy that made me feel a little bit hopeful.

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