These are in no particular order:
10. In the middle of the summer, he finally determined that our window air conditioners don't work but he put off buying a new one until next year because he didn't like the available selection at the store.
9. He refused to fix the heat so it works, but suggested I "just" run down to the hardware store and pick up a 'key' to bleed our radiators.
8. Did I mention that the heating unit and control for the whole building is located in another tenant's apartment?
7. He changed our apartment door locks without telling us, then didn't even have the key when I called to tell him I was locked out. Apparently, the contractor never gave him one.
6. I had TO PAY a locksmith $100 to get back into my apartment.
5. The one, lonely, solitary window in the bedroom is screwed shut. No air, no air, can't...breathe...
4. All the windows in the living room and a corner of the roof are leaking. His solution was to spackle the walls so that it didn't show anymore. Niiice.
3. I spent most of the past year trying to convince him that the building needed a new security door. When our building was broken into last month, he decided to replace the locks.
2. Those locks now require a key to get out of the building (um, can we say fire code violation?). Since the vestibule has two doors, one which is always locked on the inside, and the one with the new locks on the outside, you can actually get LOCKED IN THE VESTIBULE. Which is exactly what happened to Anthony last week when he took the dog for a walk but forgot his house keys. I had to leave work early to go let him out.
1. He's raising my rent. And he sucks.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Taking a quick break after a four hour meeting
I just endured one of the longest meetings ever, so I'm taking a break to post a meme from Rob's Blog.
[1] What is your middle name?McLean – from my grandmother’s last in a string of husbands, no less. Also known as “Grampie.” There is still no explanation forthcoming from my mother.
[2] What color is your mailbox?I don’t have one. There is a 1 ½ inch slot in my building’s front door. And if you really must know, it’s brass.
[3] Are you available?Um, not at the moment. I’m at work.
[4] Have you ever hit a deer?No, but I always wanted to… (SIKE!)
[5] Do you have to drive over a bridge to get home?I don’t drive home. I walk. Unless you’re talking about home squared, in which case I usually fly. In the case that I do drive to home squared, then yes, there are quite a few bridges to cross between DC and Massachusetts.
[6] Do you get the paper delivered to your house in the morning?I pick up The Express on my way into work every morning so I can read it while I’m hitting the stationary bike. I don’t have time for the longer papers (I haven’t learned how to skim), but if I did, I would subscribe to the New York Times. They’re the best.
[7] Who checks the mail in your house?Usually it’s me, but sometimes the other tenants in my building actually beat me home.
[8] Do you have a small driveway?No, I live in the city. I dream of a owning a driveway someday.
[9] Do you know anyone with the same ringtone as you?No. Most people want a ring tone that says something about who they are; I just use the loudest pre-programmed ring I can find that is actually so obnoxious that I’m embarrassed into answering the damn thing.
[10] What do you do first in the morning?1. Jackknife out of bed while simultaneously slamming the alarm into “off.” 2. Piddle. 3. Try not to trip over the cat, who is trying to simultaneously tell me to feed him and getting in my way. 4. Throw on gym clothes, attach a collar to my dog, and go out for a doggy piddle session. 5. Feed the damn cat to get him to shut up. 6. Grab my lunch, my gym bag, and hit the pavement to get to work.
[11] What brand is your printer?HP laserjet somethin’ somethin’ somethin’. I also have a photo printer, HP too I think.
[12] Do you enjoy fighting with people?I like to argue. Fight, not so much (you know I hate to overpower the little guy).
[13] Is your hair naturally straight or curly?Wavy. If it were curly, I wouldn’t wake up with half an afro every morning.
[14] Who was your kindergarten teacher?Mrs. Smail. At least, I think that’s how she spelled it.
[15] Was there a teacher you wanted to see naked?Absolutely not. Where do they hide all the hot teachers anyway?!!!
[16] Are you taller than your mother?Now I am. But that’s only because as she ages, she shrinks. She used to be 5’ 11”, but I’m about 5’ 10” and I’ve got a couple inches on her these days.
[17] Do you have a favorite word?Today’s word of the day is “smarmy.” Now go use it in a sentence.
[18] Are you God?It depends if you believe in Neale Donald Walsh’s concept of religion. I like the idea, but I’m not sure I believe it.
[19] What do you do to get over a broken heart?I am much too practical to let a broken heart get in the way of my life. You just keep living, and in time you heal, you grow, you move on.
[20] Do you have a deep dark secret?I’m sure I have several.
[21] What's the farthest away from home you've ever traveled?Egypt. I was in Cairo and Sharm el Sheikh in 2003 for the Middle East Peace Talks.
[22] Do you enjoy writing in colored pens?Not really.
[23] Does anything hurt on your body right now?I herniated a disk in my back a couple months ago and I am still experiencing sciatica.
[24] Do you often cry during a movie?ALL THE TIME. It’s pathetic, actually.
[25] Do you hate your life?I love it.
[26] Do you get mad easily?I have excellent self-control. It is the sole reason why there are so many surviving members of the human race.
[27] Where’s 27?What on earth does this mean?
[28] What is your biggest pet peeve?I am way too OCD and anal retentive to have just one. Basically, it is best just to stay out of my way.
[29] What is your away message?I don’t have one.
[30] Do any of your friends have kids?Yes, I have a fairy godchild through Christy whose name is Sarol, and I am Auntie Ryan to a lovely young boy named Jaden (son of Ty-Ty and Saleah). And someday, when she is old enough to talk, I will be Auntie Ryan to Hadar too! (Hi Mommy Yael!)
[31] How many pairs of shoes do you own?Probably about a dozen, two pairs of which I wear on a normal basis. I have a definite soft spot for “so ugly they’re pretty” shoes – the kind you find in L.L. Bean, totally comfy, totally woodsy, totally, wretchedly, clown-footedly ugly. LOVE ‘em.
[32] Who should pay on the first date?As progressive as I think I am, I love for the guy to pay. But I usually feel too guilty for that, and go dutch.
[33] How many years older than you are you willing to date?My last two boyfriends were a good 10 years older than me – I think that’s about my max.
[34] Do you have any friends?The best damn friends around!
[35] Do you have any mean friends?No. Why would you want to socialize with mean people?
[36] What is the ugliest color in your opinion?Black. Or maybe lilac – that pastel, purply, gooshy color.
[37] Have you ever liked someone who all your friends couldn't stand?I like all kinds of people – I’m sure there’s a few of them that may not get along.
[38] Have you ever felt like driving off a cliff, seriously?No.
[39] Ever had an enema?Yes. I feel like I need to explain myself here so you get this: my doctor made me do it before I went into surgery in December 2001. Apparently, when you have surgery (in this case, kidney surgery), they want to work with a clean system.
[40] Do you itch your ears?Only when they’re scratchy.
[41] Where were you on 9/11?University of Pennsylvania Archives. We had no t.v., so I didn’t know anything was happening until my boyfriend called. And then I really thought he was kidding.
[42] What brand are the pant/jeans you're wearing right now?Banana Republic – I work for the government, I have to be conservative!
[43] How tall are you?About 5’ 10”.
[44] What is the closest green object?The label on the bottle of Cetaphil lotion on my desk.
[45] What is on your feet?Knee-high nylons, and some conservative brown leather heels.
[46] Do you like watermelon?Absolutely.
[47] What do you want more than anything else in the world?Financial freedom coupled with eternal bliss. This easily translates into owning a comfortable home in the country, traveling and taking on new adventures on occasion, a marriage based on friendship, a fulfilling job….
Just a random comment on the home thought: I just started watching Gilmore Girls on DVD, and my idea of the perfect place to live is Stars Hollow, CT. That’s the kind of one-horse town a girl could really fall in love with…
[48] Do you want to have kids?I think Grace, Pookie and Anthony are enough, but we’ll see. Having children is important to Anthony and if this whole relationship heads where I think it’s heading, introducing a new little monster into this world is a distinct possibility.
[49] What is the brightest color you're wearing?An earthy green – my t-shirt.
[50] Who is the friend you have that you would never have expected to have gotten to know?I never would have “expected” any of my friends. I’m just lucky, I guess.
[51] What flavor was your last birthday cake?Birthdays were never a big deal in my house, so I honestly can’t remember what kind of cake I might have had. There was one year, however, that da’ Momma went all out and had someone bake me a Garfield cake – I believe it was chocolate. But the most important thing to remember is that I really love ICE CREAM. If you want to treat me on my birthday, the nearest Ben & Jerry’s will do. The candles are totally optional.
[52] What’s your mother’s middle name?Ardelle, which incidentally is my grandmother’s first name.
[53] Stupidest movie you ever saw?I feel dumber for having seen a lot of movies. These are hours I’ll never get back, people. And I owe all my thanks to: Super Troopers, Delta Force, Freddy Got Fingered, Tomb Raider II, Anchorman, Along Came Polly…
[54] What cartoon character would you sleep with?Was this survey made up by a man?
[55] Do you like your dad?I love him.
[56] Do you have any TV shows on DVD?No.
[57] Are you wearing makeup?Yes, I’m at work and feel the need to look less like the zombie that I feel. Damn you, grad school, damn you for under-eye circles!
[58] Do you have a tattoo?A whopping 0.
[59] When was the last time you skinny-dipped?Summer of 1997, after graduating high school. There were about a dozen women and it was some stranger’s private beach in Cape Cod. The lone man was forced to stay up the stairs by the road (no peeking!). It was totally worthwhile.
[60] Who do you want to kiss right now?Anthony.
[61] Do you know how to draw?Stick figures are my forte.
[62] Did you ever receive a trophy?Nah, I was more of a ribbons kind of girl – science prizes, math prizes, you know the geek drill.
[63.] Who is your hero?I admire a lot of people but there is no one I really want to emulate.
[64.] Who did you last IM?I don’t remember. I haven’t had IM since undergrad.
[65.] Do you work a lot?Compared to whom? I work my solid 40 at the office, and then another 25+ for grad school (homework/class/etc.), and I try to fit in some volunteering about 3-4 hours a week. Of course, it sounds like a lot but I fit slacking off in there too, and I know plenty of people that work a lot harder and a lot longer than I do (you know who you are - DAVID, JEFF, ESTEE).
[66] What do you do when you are stressed out?I’ll tell you one thing – it’s not called “sleeping.” I get cranky, make a lot of lists, have a lot less patience, and turn into an insomniac. Kind of like I am right now (can we get another “yay!” for grad school?).
[67] Who was the last person that called you?Anthony called me last night around 9:30PM to say goodnight – he was going to bed; I finally got to sleep around 1-1:30AM.
[68] Is there anything you regret?Of course.
[69] Do you know where your family name originated from?Janda, as far back as they can trace it before there were any written records, comes from Austria and literally means “son of Jan” (which when Americanized means “son of John”).
[70] Is there an animal that creeps you out?Just certain humans.
[71] What was the last thing you did for fun?I watched the pilot episode of Gilmore Girls last night – does that count?
[72] Last time you cried?Probably last night watching Gilmore Girls. If not, then it was definitely the other day when I was watching Funny Girl with Barbara Streisand. It’s really, really good – worth the cry.
[1] What is your middle name?McLean – from my grandmother’s last in a string of husbands, no less. Also known as “Grampie.” There is still no explanation forthcoming from my mother.
[2] What color is your mailbox?I don’t have one. There is a 1 ½ inch slot in my building’s front door. And if you really must know, it’s brass.
[3] Are you available?Um, not at the moment. I’m at work.
[4] Have you ever hit a deer?No, but I always wanted to… (SIKE!)
[5] Do you have to drive over a bridge to get home?I don’t drive home. I walk. Unless you’re talking about home squared, in which case I usually fly. In the case that I do drive to home squared, then yes, there are quite a few bridges to cross between DC and Massachusetts.
[6] Do you get the paper delivered to your house in the morning?I pick up The Express on my way into work every morning so I can read it while I’m hitting the stationary bike. I don’t have time for the longer papers (I haven’t learned how to skim), but if I did, I would subscribe to the New York Times. They’re the best.
[7] Who checks the mail in your house?Usually it’s me, but sometimes the other tenants in my building actually beat me home.
[8] Do you have a small driveway?No, I live in the city. I dream of a owning a driveway someday.
[9] Do you know anyone with the same ringtone as you?No. Most people want a ring tone that says something about who they are; I just use the loudest pre-programmed ring I can find that is actually so obnoxious that I’m embarrassed into answering the damn thing.
[10] What do you do first in the morning?1. Jackknife out of bed while simultaneously slamming the alarm into “off.” 2. Piddle. 3. Try not to trip over the cat, who is trying to simultaneously tell me to feed him and getting in my way. 4. Throw on gym clothes, attach a collar to my dog, and go out for a doggy piddle session. 5. Feed the damn cat to get him to shut up. 6. Grab my lunch, my gym bag, and hit the pavement to get to work.
[11] What brand is your printer?HP laserjet somethin’ somethin’ somethin’. I also have a photo printer, HP too I think.
[12] Do you enjoy fighting with people?I like to argue. Fight, not so much (you know I hate to overpower the little guy).
[13] Is your hair naturally straight or curly?Wavy. If it were curly, I wouldn’t wake up with half an afro every morning.
[14] Who was your kindergarten teacher?Mrs. Smail. At least, I think that’s how she spelled it.
[15] Was there a teacher you wanted to see naked?Absolutely not. Where do they hide all the hot teachers anyway?!!!
[16] Are you taller than your mother?Now I am. But that’s only because as she ages, she shrinks. She used to be 5’ 11”, but I’m about 5’ 10” and I’ve got a couple inches on her these days.
[17] Do you have a favorite word?Today’s word of the day is “smarmy.” Now go use it in a sentence.
[18] Are you God?It depends if you believe in Neale Donald Walsh’s concept of religion. I like the idea, but I’m not sure I believe it.
[19] What do you do to get over a broken heart?I am much too practical to let a broken heart get in the way of my life. You just keep living, and in time you heal, you grow, you move on.
[20] Do you have a deep dark secret?I’m sure I have several.
[21] What's the farthest away from home you've ever traveled?Egypt. I was in Cairo and Sharm el Sheikh in 2003 for the Middle East Peace Talks.
[22] Do you enjoy writing in colored pens?Not really.
[23] Does anything hurt on your body right now?I herniated a disk in my back a couple months ago and I am still experiencing sciatica.
[24] Do you often cry during a movie?ALL THE TIME. It’s pathetic, actually.
[25] Do you hate your life?I love it.
[26] Do you get mad easily?I have excellent self-control. It is the sole reason why there are so many surviving members of the human race.
[27] Where’s 27?What on earth does this mean?
[28] What is your biggest pet peeve?I am way too OCD and anal retentive to have just one. Basically, it is best just to stay out of my way.
[29] What is your away message?I don’t have one.
[30] Do any of your friends have kids?Yes, I have a fairy godchild through Christy whose name is Sarol, and I am Auntie Ryan to a lovely young boy named Jaden (son of Ty-Ty and Saleah). And someday, when she is old enough to talk, I will be Auntie Ryan to Hadar too! (Hi Mommy Yael!)
[31] How many pairs of shoes do you own?Probably about a dozen, two pairs of which I wear on a normal basis. I have a definite soft spot for “so ugly they’re pretty” shoes – the kind you find in L.L. Bean, totally comfy, totally woodsy, totally, wretchedly, clown-footedly ugly. LOVE ‘em.
[32] Who should pay on the first date?As progressive as I think I am, I love for the guy to pay. But I usually feel too guilty for that, and go dutch.
[33] How many years older than you are you willing to date?My last two boyfriends were a good 10 years older than me – I think that’s about my max.
[34] Do you have any friends?The best damn friends around!
[35] Do you have any mean friends?No. Why would you want to socialize with mean people?
[36] What is the ugliest color in your opinion?Black. Or maybe lilac – that pastel, purply, gooshy color.
[37] Have you ever liked someone who all your friends couldn't stand?I like all kinds of people – I’m sure there’s a few of them that may not get along.
[38] Have you ever felt like driving off a cliff, seriously?No.
[39] Ever had an enema?Yes. I feel like I need to explain myself here so you get this: my doctor made me do it before I went into surgery in December 2001. Apparently, when you have surgery (in this case, kidney surgery), they want to work with a clean system.
[40] Do you itch your ears?Only when they’re scratchy.
[41] Where were you on 9/11?University of Pennsylvania Archives. We had no t.v., so I didn’t know anything was happening until my boyfriend called. And then I really thought he was kidding.
[42] What brand are the pant/jeans you're wearing right now?Banana Republic – I work for the government, I have to be conservative!
[43] How tall are you?About 5’ 10”.
[44] What is the closest green object?The label on the bottle of Cetaphil lotion on my desk.
[45] What is on your feet?Knee-high nylons, and some conservative brown leather heels.
[46] Do you like watermelon?Absolutely.
[47] What do you want more than anything else in the world?Financial freedom coupled with eternal bliss. This easily translates into owning a comfortable home in the country, traveling and taking on new adventures on occasion, a marriage based on friendship, a fulfilling job….
Just a random comment on the home thought: I just started watching Gilmore Girls on DVD, and my idea of the perfect place to live is Stars Hollow, CT. That’s the kind of one-horse town a girl could really fall in love with…
[48] Do you want to have kids?I think Grace, Pookie and Anthony are enough, but we’ll see. Having children is important to Anthony and if this whole relationship heads where I think it’s heading, introducing a new little monster into this world is a distinct possibility.
[49] What is the brightest color you're wearing?An earthy green – my t-shirt.
[50] Who is the friend you have that you would never have expected to have gotten to know?I never would have “expected” any of my friends. I’m just lucky, I guess.
[51] What flavor was your last birthday cake?Birthdays were never a big deal in my house, so I honestly can’t remember what kind of cake I might have had. There was one year, however, that da’ Momma went all out and had someone bake me a Garfield cake – I believe it was chocolate. But the most important thing to remember is that I really love ICE CREAM. If you want to treat me on my birthday, the nearest Ben & Jerry’s will do. The candles are totally optional.
[52] What’s your mother’s middle name?Ardelle, which incidentally is my grandmother’s first name.
[53] Stupidest movie you ever saw?I feel dumber for having seen a lot of movies. These are hours I’ll never get back, people. And I owe all my thanks to: Super Troopers, Delta Force, Freddy Got Fingered, Tomb Raider II, Anchorman, Along Came Polly…
[54] What cartoon character would you sleep with?Was this survey made up by a man?
[55] Do you like your dad?I love him.
[56] Do you have any TV shows on DVD?No.
[57] Are you wearing makeup?Yes, I’m at work and feel the need to look less like the zombie that I feel. Damn you, grad school, damn you for under-eye circles!
[58] Do you have a tattoo?A whopping 0.
[59] When was the last time you skinny-dipped?Summer of 1997, after graduating high school. There were about a dozen women and it was some stranger’s private beach in Cape Cod. The lone man was forced to stay up the stairs by the road (no peeking!). It was totally worthwhile.
[60] Who do you want to kiss right now?Anthony.
[61] Do you know how to draw?Stick figures are my forte.
[62] Did you ever receive a trophy?Nah, I was more of a ribbons kind of girl – science prizes, math prizes, you know the geek drill.
[63.] Who is your hero?I admire a lot of people but there is no one I really want to emulate.
[64.] Who did you last IM?I don’t remember. I haven’t had IM since undergrad.
[65.] Do you work a lot?Compared to whom? I work my solid 40 at the office, and then another 25+ for grad school (homework/class/etc.), and I try to fit in some volunteering about 3-4 hours a week. Of course, it sounds like a lot but I fit slacking off in there too, and I know plenty of people that work a lot harder and a lot longer than I do (you know who you are - DAVID, JEFF, ESTEE).
[66] What do you do when you are stressed out?I’ll tell you one thing – it’s not called “sleeping.” I get cranky, make a lot of lists, have a lot less patience, and turn into an insomniac. Kind of like I am right now (can we get another “yay!” for grad school?).
[67] Who was the last person that called you?Anthony called me last night around 9:30PM to say goodnight – he was going to bed; I finally got to sleep around 1-1:30AM.
[68] Is there anything you regret?Of course.
[69] Do you know where your family name originated from?Janda, as far back as they can trace it before there were any written records, comes from Austria and literally means “son of Jan” (which when Americanized means “son of John”).
[70] Is there an animal that creeps you out?Just certain humans.
[71] What was the last thing you did for fun?I watched the pilot episode of Gilmore Girls last night – does that count?
[72] Last time you cried?Probably last night watching Gilmore Girls. If not, then it was definitely the other day when I was watching Funny Girl with Barbara Streisand. It’s really, really good – worth the cry.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Shocking
From "Women Go 'Missing' by the Millions" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali:
One United Nations estimate says from 113 million to 200 million women around the world are demographically "missing." Every year, from 1.5 million to 3 million women and girls lose their lives as a result of gender-based violence or neglect.
How could this possibly be true? Here are some of the factors:
In countries where the birth of a boy is considered a gift and the birth of a girl a curse from the gods, selective abortion and infanticide eliminate female babies.
Young girls die disproportionately from neglect because food and medical attention is given first to brothers, fathers, husbands and sons.
In countries where women are considered the property of men, their fathers and brothers can murder them for choosing their own sexual partners. These are called "honor" killings, though honor has nothing to do with it.
Young brides are killed if their fathers do not pay sufficient money to the men who have married them. These are called "dowry deaths," although they are not just deaths, they are murders.
The brutal international sex trade in young girls kills uncounted numbers of them.
Domestic violence is a major cause of death of women in every country.
So little value is placed on women's health that every year roughly 600,000 women die giving birth.
Six thousand girls undergo genital mutilation every day, according to the World Health Organization. Many die; others live the rest of their lives in crippling pain.
According to the WHO, one woman out of every five worldwide is likely to be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
One United Nations estimate says from 113 million to 200 million women around the world are demographically "missing." Every year, from 1.5 million to 3 million women and girls lose their lives as a result of gender-based violence or neglect.
How could this possibly be true? Here are some of the factors:
In countries where the birth of a boy is considered a gift and the birth of a girl a curse from the gods, selective abortion and infanticide eliminate female babies.
Young girls die disproportionately from neglect because food and medical attention is given first to brothers, fathers, husbands and sons.
In countries where women are considered the property of men, their fathers and brothers can murder them for choosing their own sexual partners. These are called "honor" killings, though honor has nothing to do with it.
Young brides are killed if their fathers do not pay sufficient money to the men who have married them. These are called "dowry deaths," although they are not just deaths, they are murders.
The brutal international sex trade in young girls kills uncounted numbers of them.
Domestic violence is a major cause of death of women in every country.
So little value is placed on women's health that every year roughly 600,000 women die giving birth.
Six thousand girls undergo genital mutilation every day, according to the World Health Organization. Many die; others live the rest of their lives in crippling pain.
According to the WHO, one woman out of every five worldwide is likely to be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Now that I no longer have time to write anything substantial, I've become an advertising haven for think tanks and authors...
Last night I attended a book signing and lecture by Zainab Salbi, the founder and President of Women for Women International - the NGO for which I volunteer. The stories of her life, and that of the lives of the photographers who helped complete this book, are absolutely stunning. What is even more, the stories of the women featured in their book are captivating - both depressing and hopeful in ways I can barely imagine, as I sit here in my well-appointed office, surrounded by the comforts of middle-class living. I highly suggest you both buy and read the book to support the cause and to educate yourself on The Other Side of War.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
I may be MIA, but I still read
For those of you who are interested in what is going on with the Middle East, specifically their relations to the U.S., The AEI is a great place to read some of the latest and greatest. This article appeared today, and though it is an essay, there are plenty of facts to be weeded out that can give you a bit of a scare over the state of our diplomatic relations with Iran. I will paste the article for ease of reading at the end of my post.
One last suggestion before I go: I highly recommend you read Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. It may help you develop a more human understanding of the recent history of Iran and the role of women in their society. I am reading it now and it is amazing. Nafisi's writing is very accessible and combined with my recent involvement with charities that focus on supporting women internationally, this book really helps me go beyond the statistics I hear quoted in the news or read in textbooks. The whole situation becomes that much more real, and complicated, and internalized, and...well, you get the picture. Go read the book!
*****
The U.S. vs. Iran
By Michael Rubin
Posted: Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The Iranian government continues to enrich uranium despite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's generous package of incentives--and in defiance of the U.N.'s Aug. 31 deadline. Still, European officials hold out hope for the success of diplomacy. On Sept. 15, Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said, "We are really making progress. Never before have we had a level of engagement . . . as we have now." Diplomats will look for any hopeful sign from Iranian President's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's forthcoming U.N. speech. But can talk work? Successful diplomacy requires that both sides negotiate in good faith and honor commitments. That Tehran's track record undercuts confidence should not surprise. From its very inception, the Islamic Republic has eschewed diplomatic norms.
On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding 52 hostages for 444 days. Warren Christopher, deputy secretary of state during the crisis, called the Iranian move a "flagrant violation" of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. But Iranian officials endorsed the seizure. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini praised the students. His successor as supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, showed support with a visit to the embassy soon after its seizure. Ironically, while the Iranian leadership often demands apologies for transgressions both real and imagined, it continues to uphold the righteousness of hostage seizure, underscoring official contempt for diplomatic convention.
Still, the embassy seizure might be long forgotten had Tehran's disdain for diplomatic norms been the exception rather than the rule. In 1986, former U.S. national security advisor Robert McFarlane's traveled to Tehran. While the Iran-Contra Affair is remembered today for the Reagan administration's attempts to circumvent Congressional prohibition of funding of the Nicaraguan resistance, it also illustrates the inadvisability of trusting Tehran. President Reagan sought to win the release of American hostages in Lebanon but, as soon as Washington compensated Tehran for its bad behavior, its militias accelerated hostage seizure. Diplomatic enticement--bribery by another name--backfired. But diplomacy is not just about incentives; it is also about trust. What could have been just a failed initiative turned to scandal when, on the seventh anniversary of the embassy seizure, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, today the chairman of the Expediency Council, broke a pledge of secrecy and revealed the meetings to the international press.
Iranian authorities showed diplomatic duplicity once again after Khomeini issued a declaration calling for author Salman Rushdie's death. Four months before Khomeini's death, then-president Khamenei demanded that Mr. Rushdie apologize in exchange for cancellation of a religious edict ordering his murder. Mr. Rushdie apologized, but the Iranian government nevertheless kept the bounty in place. President Khamenei was insincere, his diplomacy was a tactic. By winning an apology, he confirmed Mr. Rushdie's guilt.
Iranian lying should not surprise; what should is how often Western governments fall prey to it. The British government demanded that Tehran lift the bounty on Mr. Rushdie's head as a precondition to re-establish relations. On Sept. 24, 1998, the Iranian government said it would do nothing to harm Mr. Rushdie. No sooner had London and Tehran exchanged ambassadors, than Iranian authorities once again reversed themselves.
For U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, the cost of Iranian lying is high. While Iranian diplomats pledged not to destabilize Afghanistan and, indeed, cooperate in its reconstruction, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps sent in operatives disguised as school teachers to further instability. As Afghan President Hamid Karzai struggled to wrest control away from warlords, Afghan commanders intercepted a dozen Iranian agents and proxies organizing armed resistance.
In Iraq, too, Iranian diplomacy has been duplicitous. Prior to the Iraq war, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Javad Zarif, pledged Iranian noninterference to British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Zalmay Khalilzad, then President George W. Bush's envoy to the free Iraqis. But, Iranian journalists now describe how, days after Saddam's fall, the Iranian leadership dispatched 2,000 Revolutionary Guards replete with radio transmitters, money, and supplies. On Nov. 18, 2003, Mr. Kharrazi again pledged good behavior. He lied outright; his promise coincided with a new deployment of Iranian intelligence across Iraq. The Revolutionary Guard stepped up its training of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia. Hasan Kazemi Qomi, previously Iran's liaison to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, became Tehran's top diplomat in Baghdad. Mr. Qomi assured diplomats that "Iran will not accept anything that destabilizes Iraq." Four months later, Iraqi forces captured 30 Iranians fighting alongside Sadr's militia.
* * *
Earlier this month, I traveled to the Middle East to meet Shiite tribal leaders and urban notables from southern Iraq. They described how Iran has transformed its consulates in Karbala and Basra into distribution points for everything from money to shaped charges. That Tehran uses diplomatic pouches and protocols to safeguard its network reflects their insincerity. While the West approaches diplomacy with sincerity, the Islamic Republic mocks diplomatic convention to shield subversion.
Iran's nuclear program raises the stakes of its deceit to U.S. national security. There is little doubt that Tehran's nuclear program is not peaceful. On Feb. 14, 2005, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Kharrazi, secretary-general of Iranian Hezbollah, promised, "We are able to produce atomic bombs and we will do that." In February 2006, Mohsen Gharavian, a Qom theologian well-connected to the Islamic Republic's staunchest ideologues, called Iran's possession of nuclear weapons "natural."
Iran's nuclear program has advanced through the trust of diplomats and their willingness to provide hard currency in the name of dialogue and engagement. Between 2000 and 2005, European Union trade with Iran almost tripled. Tehran invested much of this money in arms and nuclear infrastructure. For more than a decade, through both the Rafsanjani and Khatami administrations, Iranian authorities hid the existence of a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water plant at Khondab. That Western diplomats label Mr. Rafsanjani a pragmatist and Mr. Khatami a reformer underscores the danger of judging Iranian officials by style rather than action.
In February 2003, the Iranian authorities opened the secret plants to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. Their subsequent report was damning: Not only had the Iranian government designed the Natanz facility to house at least 50,000 centrifuges, but Tehran had the import of almost a ton of uranium from China, and could not account for missing processed uranium. During subsequent inspections, Iranian authorities repeatedly changed their stories when asked about the origin of weapons-grade uranium traces. Subsequent inspections exposed other lies. Finally, on Sept. 24, 2004, the IAEA Board of Governors, after recalling a litany of Iranian mistruths, found Iran in breach of its Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement. While Iranian officials have made many subsequent pledges to cooperate, their actions belie their words. They have yet to abide by the Additional Protocol's inspection standards and, earlier this year, turned away IAEA inspectors from Natanz in violation of the NPT.
While diplomacy necessarily involves talking to adversaries, Washington should not assume that the ayatollahs operate from the same set of ground rules. During his long exile in Najaf, Khomeini endorsed taqiya, religiously sanctioned dissembling. From his perspective and that of his followers, the ends justify the means. Hence, Khomeini saw nothing wrong when he told the Guardian newspaper, just months before his return to Iran, "I don't want to have the power of government in my hand; I am not interested in personal power." Tehran may still conduct diplomacy to fish for incentive and reward but, at its core, Iranian diplomacy is insincere. The Iranian leadership will say anything and do anything to buy the time necessary to acquire nuclear capability. That Foggy Bottom still advises against any strategy that might undercut the possibility of some illusionary breakthrough signals triumph not of realism but of negligence. Diplomacy cannot succeed if one side is playing for real and the other only for time.
One last suggestion before I go: I highly recommend you read Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. It may help you develop a more human understanding of the recent history of Iran and the role of women in their society. I am reading it now and it is amazing. Nafisi's writing is very accessible and combined with my recent involvement with charities that focus on supporting women internationally, this book really helps me go beyond the statistics I hear quoted in the news or read in textbooks. The whole situation becomes that much more real, and complicated, and internalized, and...well, you get the picture. Go read the book!
*****
The U.S. vs. Iran
By Michael Rubin
Posted: Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The Iranian government continues to enrich uranium despite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's generous package of incentives--and in defiance of the U.N.'s Aug. 31 deadline. Still, European officials hold out hope for the success of diplomacy. On Sept. 15, Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said, "We are really making progress. Never before have we had a level of engagement . . . as we have now." Diplomats will look for any hopeful sign from Iranian President's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's forthcoming U.N. speech. But can talk work? Successful diplomacy requires that both sides negotiate in good faith and honor commitments. That Tehran's track record undercuts confidence should not surprise. From its very inception, the Islamic Republic has eschewed diplomatic norms.
On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding 52 hostages for 444 days. Warren Christopher, deputy secretary of state during the crisis, called the Iranian move a "flagrant violation" of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. But Iranian officials endorsed the seizure. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini praised the students. His successor as supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, showed support with a visit to the embassy soon after its seizure. Ironically, while the Iranian leadership often demands apologies for transgressions both real and imagined, it continues to uphold the righteousness of hostage seizure, underscoring official contempt for diplomatic convention.
Still, the embassy seizure might be long forgotten had Tehran's disdain for diplomatic norms been the exception rather than the rule. In 1986, former U.S. national security advisor Robert McFarlane's traveled to Tehran. While the Iran-Contra Affair is remembered today for the Reagan administration's attempts to circumvent Congressional prohibition of funding of the Nicaraguan resistance, it also illustrates the inadvisability of trusting Tehran. President Reagan sought to win the release of American hostages in Lebanon but, as soon as Washington compensated Tehran for its bad behavior, its militias accelerated hostage seizure. Diplomatic enticement--bribery by another name--backfired. But diplomacy is not just about incentives; it is also about trust. What could have been just a failed initiative turned to scandal when, on the seventh anniversary of the embassy seizure, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, today the chairman of the Expediency Council, broke a pledge of secrecy and revealed the meetings to the international press.
Iranian authorities showed diplomatic duplicity once again after Khomeini issued a declaration calling for author Salman Rushdie's death. Four months before Khomeini's death, then-president Khamenei demanded that Mr. Rushdie apologize in exchange for cancellation of a religious edict ordering his murder. Mr. Rushdie apologized, but the Iranian government nevertheless kept the bounty in place. President Khamenei was insincere, his diplomacy was a tactic. By winning an apology, he confirmed Mr. Rushdie's guilt.
Iranian lying should not surprise; what should is how often Western governments fall prey to it. The British government demanded that Tehran lift the bounty on Mr. Rushdie's head as a precondition to re-establish relations. On Sept. 24, 1998, the Iranian government said it would do nothing to harm Mr. Rushdie. No sooner had London and Tehran exchanged ambassadors, than Iranian authorities once again reversed themselves.
For U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, the cost of Iranian lying is high. While Iranian diplomats pledged not to destabilize Afghanistan and, indeed, cooperate in its reconstruction, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps sent in operatives disguised as school teachers to further instability. As Afghan President Hamid Karzai struggled to wrest control away from warlords, Afghan commanders intercepted a dozen Iranian agents and proxies organizing armed resistance.
In Iraq, too, Iranian diplomacy has been duplicitous. Prior to the Iraq war, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Javad Zarif, pledged Iranian noninterference to British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Zalmay Khalilzad, then President George W. Bush's envoy to the free Iraqis. But, Iranian journalists now describe how, days after Saddam's fall, the Iranian leadership dispatched 2,000 Revolutionary Guards replete with radio transmitters, money, and supplies. On Nov. 18, 2003, Mr. Kharrazi again pledged good behavior. He lied outright; his promise coincided with a new deployment of Iranian intelligence across Iraq. The Revolutionary Guard stepped up its training of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia. Hasan Kazemi Qomi, previously Iran's liaison to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, became Tehran's top diplomat in Baghdad. Mr. Qomi assured diplomats that "Iran will not accept anything that destabilizes Iraq." Four months later, Iraqi forces captured 30 Iranians fighting alongside Sadr's militia.
* * *
Earlier this month, I traveled to the Middle East to meet Shiite tribal leaders and urban notables from southern Iraq. They described how Iran has transformed its consulates in Karbala and Basra into distribution points for everything from money to shaped charges. That Tehran uses diplomatic pouches and protocols to safeguard its network reflects their insincerity. While the West approaches diplomacy with sincerity, the Islamic Republic mocks diplomatic convention to shield subversion.
Iran's nuclear program raises the stakes of its deceit to U.S. national security. There is little doubt that Tehran's nuclear program is not peaceful. On Feb. 14, 2005, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Kharrazi, secretary-general of Iranian Hezbollah, promised, "We are able to produce atomic bombs and we will do that." In February 2006, Mohsen Gharavian, a Qom theologian well-connected to the Islamic Republic's staunchest ideologues, called Iran's possession of nuclear weapons "natural."
Iran's nuclear program has advanced through the trust of diplomats and their willingness to provide hard currency in the name of dialogue and engagement. Between 2000 and 2005, European Union trade with Iran almost tripled. Tehran invested much of this money in arms and nuclear infrastructure. For more than a decade, through both the Rafsanjani and Khatami administrations, Iranian authorities hid the existence of a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water plant at Khondab. That Western diplomats label Mr. Rafsanjani a pragmatist and Mr. Khatami a reformer underscores the danger of judging Iranian officials by style rather than action.
In February 2003, the Iranian authorities opened the secret plants to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. Their subsequent report was damning: Not only had the Iranian government designed the Natanz facility to house at least 50,000 centrifuges, but Tehran had the import of almost a ton of uranium from China, and could not account for missing processed uranium. During subsequent inspections, Iranian authorities repeatedly changed their stories when asked about the origin of weapons-grade uranium traces. Subsequent inspections exposed other lies. Finally, on Sept. 24, 2004, the IAEA Board of Governors, after recalling a litany of Iranian mistruths, found Iran in breach of its Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement. While Iranian officials have made many subsequent pledges to cooperate, their actions belie their words. They have yet to abide by the Additional Protocol's inspection standards and, earlier this year, turned away IAEA inspectors from Natanz in violation of the NPT.
While diplomacy necessarily involves talking to adversaries, Washington should not assume that the ayatollahs operate from the same set of ground rules. During his long exile in Najaf, Khomeini endorsed taqiya, religiously sanctioned dissembling. From his perspective and that of his followers, the ends justify the means. Hence, Khomeini saw nothing wrong when he told the Guardian newspaper, just months before his return to Iran, "I don't want to have the power of government in my hand; I am not interested in personal power." Tehran may still conduct diplomacy to fish for incentive and reward but, at its core, Iranian diplomacy is insincere. The Iranian leadership will say anything and do anything to buy the time necessary to acquire nuclear capability. That Foggy Bottom still advises against any strategy that might undercut the possibility of some illusionary breakthrough signals triumph not of realism but of negligence. Diplomacy cannot succeed if one side is playing for real and the other only for time.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Almost a homeowner, but not quite
Last night Anthony and I went out with our realtor to look for a new place to call home. Anthony set the stage by minute one with, “Tom, I’m ready to buy a house tonight.”
We found a wonderful condo in Columbia Heights, not far from the Metro and oddly enough, the site of the future Target and Best Buy (maybe even Whole Foods!). The condo is in a beautiful Spanish-style building, is on the top floor, gets a ton of sunlight, has a small balcony, and has some really unique touches like Italian ceramic countertops. The building itself has grilling areas, a fenced-in pet area, and bike storage. Basically, you can see why the unit holds a lot of attraction for us.
Unfortunately, Anthony leaves for UNGA tomorrow and there was no way in hell we could have all the paperwork done in time to make an offer. We’ve put that all off until he gets back in about ten days, and we’re crossing our fingers that the condo isn’t sold by then. Wish us luck.
And in case any of you are wondering what my blog title today is referring back to, we have Shel Silverstein to thank for shaping my early years:
"Almost perfect... but not quite." Those were the words of Mary Hume At her seventh birthday party, Looking 'round the ribboned room. "This tablecloth is pink not white-- Almost perfect... but not quite."
"Almost perfect... but not quite." Those were the words of grown-up Mary Talking about her handsome beau, The one she wasn't gonna marry. "Squeezes me a bit too tight-- Almost perfect... but not quite."
"Almost perfect... but not quite." Those were the words of ol' Miss Hume Teaching in the seventh grade, Grading papers in the gloom Late at night up in her room. "They never cross their t's just right-- Almost perfect... but not quite."
Ninety-eight the day she died Complainin' 'bout the spotless floor. People shook their heads and sighed, "Guess that she'll like heaven more." Up went her soul on feathered wings, Out the door, up out of sight. Another voice from heaven came-- "Almost perfect... but not quite."
We found a wonderful condo in Columbia Heights, not far from the Metro and oddly enough, the site of the future Target and Best Buy (maybe even Whole Foods!). The condo is in a beautiful Spanish-style building, is on the top floor, gets a ton of sunlight, has a small balcony, and has some really unique touches like Italian ceramic countertops. The building itself has grilling areas, a fenced-in pet area, and bike storage. Basically, you can see why the unit holds a lot of attraction for us.
Unfortunately, Anthony leaves for UNGA tomorrow and there was no way in hell we could have all the paperwork done in time to make an offer. We’ve put that all off until he gets back in about ten days, and we’re crossing our fingers that the condo isn’t sold by then. Wish us luck.
And in case any of you are wondering what my blog title today is referring back to, we have Shel Silverstein to thank for shaping my early years:
"Almost perfect... but not quite." Those were the words of Mary Hume At her seventh birthday party, Looking 'round the ribboned room. "This tablecloth is pink not white-- Almost perfect... but not quite."
"Almost perfect... but not quite." Those were the words of grown-up Mary Talking about her handsome beau, The one she wasn't gonna marry. "Squeezes me a bit too tight-- Almost perfect... but not quite."
"Almost perfect... but not quite." Those were the words of ol' Miss Hume Teaching in the seventh grade, Grading papers in the gloom Late at night up in her room. "They never cross their t's just right-- Almost perfect... but not quite."
Ninety-eight the day she died Complainin' 'bout the spotless floor. People shook their heads and sighed, "Guess that she'll like heaven more." Up went her soul on feathered wings, Out the door, up out of sight. Another voice from heaven came-- "Almost perfect... but not quite."
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