Getting to Know T.E. Lawrence “of Arabia” (1888-1935)

The book Selected Letters of T.E. Lawrence, discussed here, is more revealing of his character than is his most famous work, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

He also wrote and published The Mint during his subsequent service as an ordinary airman in the newly-formed British Air Force (1918). TEL preferred to be known upon entering the military service, first as “A/c (aircraftman) Ross,” then, finally, T.E. Shaw. (He had been in the diplomatic service, not the military,  during his Arabian days).

He lived like a monk in many respects. He abstained from sex, engaged in self-flagellation (he had at least one male friend flagellate him, during a limited period), deprived himself of all comforts except for recorded classical music and endless reading, drove himself in his work beyond the capabilities of most men, denied his own talents to others, engaged constantly in self-deprecation and tended toward depression, often contemplating death.

After his Arabian days, which lasted around two years, he continued government service as an aide to Winston Churchill. As Secretary of State for the Colonies (1921-1922) Churchill played a large role in determining the fate of the territories that had been detached from the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The photograph to the left shows him during the Cairo Conference (1921), walking with T. E. Lawrence. The conference was concerend with establishing the government, ethnic composition, and political boundaries of Iraq and other portions of the Middle East. ([Source].

Left to right: Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell and T.E. Lawrence in Egypt, after World War I. Bell and Lawrence helped to create the Hashemite dynasty in Jordan and define the outline of the modern state of Iraq.

Before entering any government service, TEL was an accomplished archaeologist, specializing in ancient crusader castles in the Middle East. He had a wide-ranging knowledge of artifacts and history, grounded originally in his education at Oxford University. He retained throughout his life the friendship and admiration of many of his classmates and fellow scholars, and inspired others to his friendship including many powerful and otherwise famous figures such as: George Bernard Shaw (no relation) and, especially, his wife Charlotte Shaw; Lady Astor, Ezra Pound, Noël Coward, Sir Edward Elgar, E. M. Forster, Robert Graves, Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Hardy (his correspondence was only with Florence Hardy), E.T. Leeds, Eric Kennington, King Hussein of the Hejaz, Sir Hugh Trenchard, Lord George Lloyd, and Gertrude Bell.

His origins were difficult. He was one of five boys born to his unmarried parents. His parents were lovers and his father left his wife to live with his new family. His parents never married and, through this and other circumstances, TEL’s family name was always uncertain—hence his changing his last name at least twice, and finally, legally, to Shaw.

Lawrence’s mother, Sarah Junner Lawrence seemed to TEL as controlling and unpleasant to be with, but he was conscientious, in his many letters to her, in buttressing her seemingly low self-confidence as she worked in China as a missionary for many years. The above link will show the origins and makeup of the Lawrence family.

After his Arabian and Foreign Office service he joined the Air Force as a common airman, wanting to be as anonymous as possible and wanting to be in touch with “real work.” He was bounced from the Air Force because of the unavoidable publicity forever following him, so he then joined the Army which he hated. He finally was reinstated in the Air Force where he designed and tested “flying boats,” creating a whole new tool of warfare.

Above is a portrait of “Colonel T.E. Lawrence,” 1919, by Augustus John. “Colonel” was a working rank granted to him while working as a diplomatic and intelligence officer, despite his not being in the military. And, it gave him status with the Arab leaders he was working with in the British effort to defeat the Ottoman Turks.

All through his military service he wrote and received many letters to and from notables of all kinds, and ordinary servicemen he had befriended over the years. He occasionally socialized with Lady Astor, the G.B. Shaws and other luminaries, always dressed as a common soldier or airman.

As his many years in the air force drew toward a close, and as he contemplated doing very little afterward, he felt more and more oppressed by the volume of letters he received, feeling a moral obligation to answer them—and answer them he did with great depth, humor and insight. But this conscientiousness took an enormous toll on him, about which he constantly complained. As he was leaving the military service he sent out postcards to all his correspondents that he would not be writing much any more.

After mustering out of the Air force in his mid-forties, feeling quite old and used up, “as a leaf fallen from a tree,” he retired to an unplumbed cottage he had purchased years before, and occasionally rode his motorcycle, when he could afford the petrol expense. He was an avid MC rider through his service days. Here he is with George Brough, the manufacturer of his bike.

He died following a crash on his motorcycle while avoiding hitting two bicyclists on the country road he was speeding down.

It took a massacre…

…to fully reveal that which the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan repeatedly told his government, to no avail, and at the cost of his job.

Craig John Murray was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002-2004. While serving in that nations’ capital, Tashkent, he accused the administration of Uzbekistan President Islom Abdug‘aniyevich Karimov of human rights abuses. Murray repeatedly complained to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office that intelligence linking the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to al-Qaeda, suspected of being gained through torture, was unreliable, immoral, and illegal. He described this as “selling our souls for dross”. Murray was subsequently removed from his ambassadorial post on October 14, 2004. [Source]

Craig Murray has chronicled his saga in the book Murder in Samarkand, which I have recently read and which has prompted this article.

Murray’s main point is that the USA, from 11 September 2001, was so intent on fighting “the war on terror” that its government tolerated the kind of official behavior in Uzbekistan which it declaimed against under Saddam Hussein’s Iraq—that is, repression, torture and atrocities on its own people. Further, the then government of the United Kingdom fully supported the USA position and was complicit in consciously ignoring violations of human rights, under the United Nations Charter including, especially, the use of torture to gain “intelligence.”

The British government has denied this, to date.

REPORT OF THE UN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, February 2003—Mission to Uzbekistan: Civil and Political Rights, Including the Questions of Torture and Detention and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. [Please click on the report's title, above, to access it in MS Word and PDF format)].

Karshi-Khanabad is an airbase in south-eastern Uzbekistan. Between 2001 and 2005 the United States Air Force used the base, also known as K2 and “Stronghold Freedom”, for support missions against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. [Source]

The USA ended its official relationship with Uzbekistan in late 2005 when it “closed its air base in Uzbekistan that was used for Afghanistan operations, a shutdown ordered by Uzbek President Islam Karimov after the United States joined calls for an international inquiry into the authoritarian leader’s handling of the Andijan uprising.” [Source]

The Andijan massacre occurred when Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops fired into a crowd of protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan on 13 May 2005. Estimates of those killed on 13 May range from between 187, the official count of the government, and 5,000 people, with most outside reports estimating several hundred dead. A defector from Uzbekistan’s secret service alleged that 1,500 were killed.

Calls from Western governments for an international investigation prompted a major shift in Uzbek foreign policy favoring closer relations with Asian nations. The Uzbek government ordered the closing of the United States air base in Karshi-Khanabad and improved ties with the People’s Republic of China, India, and Russia, all of which supported the regime’s response in Andijan. [Source]

The unrest in the Ferghana Region has a lot to do with its minority Tajik population which were then (possibly still are) repressed and labeled, at various times, as Islamic extremists. Some observers claim that the repression drove some Tajiks toward extreme Islamism. But there is no doubt that at least a small fraction of Tajik-Uzbeks belong to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

The region’s ethnic politics are complicated by the fact that the Soviet Union purposefully changed the borders of the “Soviet Republics” of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as you can see from this tortuous border around the Ferghana Valley.

[Source of Map. Please click on the image for clearer detail.]

For a variety of reasons the designers of the Soviet “national delimitation” in Central Asia discriminated against the Tajiks, having deprived the newly formed republic of Tajikistan of the two most important centers of Tajik urban culture, Bukhara and Samarkand, as well as regions of Fergana, Surhandarya and Khwrazm which were awarded to Uzbekistan. The majority of population in Uzbekistan are Tajiks. In the words of William Beeman, professor of anthropology at Brown University: “The Tajik situation in some ways resembles that of post-colonial Africa. Tajiks have been given an impossible piece of territory with disparate population and have been forced to make a nation out of it.”

The majority of Tajiks live outside border of what is known as Tajikistan today.The largest number of Tajiks are living in Uzbekistan, where the majority of Tajiks are forced to be registered as Uzbeks (the Tajiks on the official Uzbeki data, make about 4% of the population of this republic), but the real number of Tajiks living in Uzbekistan believed to be over 50 percent (11-14 millions) of the population.“ [Source]

I offer, in closing, these observations and sources regarding the Republic of Uzbekistan:

[Image Source]

…(N)on-governmental human rights watchdogs, such as IHF, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, as well as United States Department of State and Council of the European Union define Uzbekistan as “an authoritarian state with limited civil rights” and express profound concern about “wide-scale violation of virtually all basic human rights.” According to the reports, the most widespread violations are torture, arbitrary arrests, and various restrictions of freedoms: of religion, of speech and press, of free association and assembly. The reports maintain that the violations are most often committed against members of religious organizations, independent journalists, human rights activists and political activists, including members of the banned opposition parties. In 2005, Uzbekistan was included into Freedom House’s “The Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies. [Source].

Press Service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Governmental Portal of the Republic of Uzbekistan

President Visits Ferghana Region

Dictator of the Month, December 2006

US slams Uzbek election as unfree, unfair and laughable [January 12, 2000]

The Dismal Record of African Leadership…

…and the Past Role of European Countries

Who am I to say this, and how dare I say it?

I am merely responding to the announcement made by the prize committee of The Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership that no prize will be awarded this year. Here is the press release. The main web page of the parent organization describes the nature and origin of the prize:

The Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership. The prize is awarded to a democratically elected former African Executive Head of State or Government who has served their term in office within the limits set by the country’s constitution and has left office in the last three years.

The Ibrahim Prize consists of US$5million over 10 years and US$200,000 annually for life thereafter. It is the largest annually awarded prize in the world. The Foundation will consider granting a further $200,000 per year, for 10 years, towards public interest activities and good causes espoused by the winner.

In October 2006, Dr. Ibrahim launched the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to support good governance and great leadership in Africa. In 2007, Dr. Ibrahim stepped down as Chairman of Celtel International to concentrate on this initiative.

Founded in 1998, Celtel International has brought the benefits of mobile communications to millions of people across the African continent. The company operates in 15 African countries, covering more than a third of the continent’s population, and has invested more than US$750 million in Africa. In 2005, Celtel International was sold to MTC Kuwait for $3.4 billion.

Before I tell you of the past winners of this prize, I want to draw a picture for you of the grievous state of governance and leadership throughout the continent of Africa by calling attention to a few historical and present facts and factors.

Facts on Africa

There are 53 internationally recognized countries in the continent of Africa, including the six island states of: Cape Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Seychelles.

Of these 53 states, 52 are former colonies of, or protectorates of, or were occupied by, one or more of several states in Europe: Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. The only country not so colonized or dominated, Liberia, was settled by freed slaves from the USA, its territory having been expropriated in 1822 from the many local tribes who had not formed a nation state.

[Image Source. Please click on the image for greater clarity]

The total population of the 53 countries in 2008 was over 929 million.

Seven of the 53 countries contain over 51% of the continent’s population: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan and Tanzania.

Only six of the countries have annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person greater than the world average of US $10,400. (GDP is a proxy for standard of living, rather than a direct measure of it): Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Libya, Gabon, Botswana, Mauritius.

To get a notion of the relative poverty of living even at the world average GDP per person per year of US $10,400, here are the figures (in US Dollars) of the top 20 countries and the European Union, which has 27 countries in its membership:

[Please click on the image for greater clarity]

Fifty-two of the world’s 192 countries have a GDP/person below $2,300 per year. Thirty-six of these countries are in Africa. Think of it: on average, the 689 million people in these 36 African countries subsist at a level approximately 7%, and less, of that enjoyed by the average person in a European Union country. The savagely-led country of Zimbabwe is at $200 per person per year. Zimbabwe’s dictator, President Robert Gabriel Karigamombe Mugabe, has been in power for almost 30 years, ever since the predecessor country, Rhodesia, was overthrown.

As mentioned above, every one of Africa’s countries, except Liberia, has been, at one time or another and in varying degrees, a vassal state of one or more European countries. It is well known that, with some exceptions, these states, while under foreign domination, were stripped of natural resources and essentially plundered. The stripping of natural resources continues in most of these countries today, with relatively few examples where a diversified economy under true democratic rule obtains.

Of the six countries currently at a GDP level above the world average, most are still extracting minerals from the soil as the major part of their economy: oil, diamonds, manganese, timber.

It is well known that the world’s major economies have poured money and aid into Africa, to no lasting effect, again with a few exceptions. This, in my view, shows the futility of sending money and goods into countries to help people who are ruled by despots and thieves.

Dr. Mo Ibrahim has the better idea, in my view. As can be seen above and under the links provided, his foundation will reward with significant money and recognition those African leaders who turn away from pillage and one-man rule, toward democracy that is not merely in name only; and, toward raising the standard of living for the people through good husbandry of resources and in diversifying the economy.

The prize has been awarded since 2007. Here are the awardees (text and photos taken directly from the foundation’s website):

Joaquim Alberto Chissano, 2007—Mozambique

In 1992, President Chissano helped to end Mozambique’s 16-year civil war and reconcile a divided nation, working tirelessly to negotiate piece with the RENAMO (Resistência Nacional Moçambicana) rebel group. To cement the reconciliation President Chissano offered 15,000 places in Mozambique’s 30,000-strong army to former opposition RENAMO soldiers.

President Chissano implemented a deliberate shift from Marxist-Leninist ideology to multiparty democracy and a mixed economy. He successfully negotiated a reduction in Mozambique’s debt repayments and oversaw reforms that have led to sustained economic growth. During his time in office, Mozambique began the journey of reconstruction and development, with improvements in healthcare, increased access to education and greater empowerment of women.

Between 2003 and 2004, President Chissano served as Chair of the African Union. During his presidency he was a powerful advocate for Africa on the international stage, particularly in promoting the debt relief agenda.

Festus Gontebanye Mogae, 2008—Botswana

At his inauguration ceremony in 1998, President Mogae vowed to address poverty and unemployment. His time in office was characterised by programmes to develop education and health infrastructure, and to privatise parts of the economy, notably the airlines and telecommunications industry.

Under President Mogae’s stewardship of the economy and careful management of the country’s mineral resources, Botswana experienced the steady economic growth that has characterised its post-independence history. Having been one of the poorest African countries at the time of independence, President Mogae consolidated Botswana’s place as one of the most prosperous countries on the continent.

After decades of enforcing strict anti-corruption measures, Botswana is regularly ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in Africa. Describing the principles that guided his time in office in his final State of the Nation address, President Mogae said that “prudent, transparent and honest use of national resources for your benefit has been my guiding principle and code of conduct”.

Following the Botswana Democratic Party’s victory in the October 2004 General Election, President Mogae was sworn in for a second term in November 2004. He again promised to fight poverty and unemployment, and pledged to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in Botswana by 2016.

In April 2008, in accordance with Botswana’s constitution, President Mogae stepped down as President, having served two terms in government. He was succeeded by Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

—

Addendum

In the face of massive aid in money and goods perennially provided African people by other countries and NGOs through the governments of their respective countries, small and direct-to-the-people efforts pay off at least equally well. In the above photo showing orphans in Kenya, you will see Jacinta Njoroge Lahti, a native of Kenya and a resident of Sweden, who founded the depicted orphanage and school. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Stockholm International, which club continues to be a major supporter of the school.

Note on figures used in this article

All figures were derived from The CIA World FactBook

Back in the USSR

Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee, it’s good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I’m back in the USSR
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US
Back in the US
Back in the USSR
(Lyrics by John Lennon & Paul McCartney)
© SONY BEATLES LTD; SONY/ATV TUNES LLC

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) dissolved 25 December 1991, almost 18 years ago. There were 15 “republics” in the union. What, now, are the names of these countries? How are they doing?

I asked myself these questions as I prepared to write an article on Uzbekistan, a former republic of the USSR.

As for how the fifteen, individually, are “doing,” the answer has to be, in part: “compared to what?” I chose to compare a few demographic statistics with The World as the reference point. As I have so often in these pages, I went to the The World Factbook of the Central Intelligence Agency of the USA.

I chose seven demographic measures:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita

Life expectancy at birth for females

Life expectancy at birth for males

Net migration per 1000 population (number of immigrants minus number of emigrants)

Infant mortality (usually within 30 days of birth) per 1000 live births

Fertility rate (number of births per year, per the number of all women)

The live birth rate per thousand population, minus the death rate per 1000

I arrayed these seven measures by country and compared each characteristic to that of the world, whether more, or less, favorable.

[Please click on the image for clearer detail]

For the specific data in each country and the world, click here

I then gave a score to each country by subtracting the number of negative results, compared to world averages or ratios, from the number of positive results (a positive number shows a positive comparison to the world, and the converse for negative number):

Countries Scoring “+3″: Belarus, Kyrgyzstan

Countries Scoring “+1″: Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Uzbekistan

Countries Scoring “-1″: Turkmenistan

Countries Scoring “-3″: Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Ukraine

So what makes Belarus and Kyrgyzstan so special—at least with respect to world averages and ratios? (One must keep in mind that probably none of the readers of this article would care to live in an area where these demographics are at or near World averages and ratios; and, that the data aggregation agency, in this case the CIA, is at the mercy of the quality of data collection and reporting in each country).

Belarus
Despite low fertility and high overall death rate, Belarus has high GDP per capita, low infant mortality, high life expectancy at birth for both females and males, and more people are entering the country than leaving it. So, the overall population is growing. It does seem counter-intuitive for the population to be growing despite low fertility and high death rate, but perhaps there is still some in-migration of ethnic Belarusians from the other former republics who were dispersed during the Soviet era.

“Since 1996, Belarus has been negotiating with Russia to unify into a single state called the Union of Russia and Belarus.” [Source]

In looking at the nature of Belarus’s government before and since the dissolution of the USSR (see under the “Belarus” link, above), there is much room to doubt the accuracy of information coming from, essentially, a totalitarian state in existence for 70 years.

Kyrgyzstan
More people leave Kyrgyzstan than enter it, as residents, and GDP per capita is low, but all the life and health data are high. “Kyrgyzstan has undergone a pronounced change in its ethnic composition since independence [1991]. The percentage of ethnic Kyrgyz increased from around 50% in 1979 to nearly 70% in 2007, while the percentage of European ethnic groups (Russians, Ukrainians and Germans) as well as Tatars dropped from 35% to about 10%. The Kyrgyz have historically been semi-nomadic herders, living in round tents called yurts and tending sheep, horses and yaks. This nomadic tradition continues to function seasonally as herding families return to the high mountain pasture in the summer.” [Source]

Nine countries are scored “+1.” Rather than list and discuss them individually, I will present what they have in common.

Statue of Lenin, founder of the USSR, in Tiraspol, Moldova [Source]

The life expectancy at birth for females is higher than The World average.

Other than for Kazakhstan and Russia, the life expectancy at birth for males is higher than the world average. Russia is lowest at 59.3 years, compared to the world average at 64.5 years. It is remarkable that the life of expectancy at birth for females in Russia is 73.2 years, almost a 14 years more than for males.

All, except Russia, have more people leaving than entering the country as residents. Note, again, that there has been a general migration of expatriates toward their countries of origin after the dissolution of the USSR.

The infant death rate for all 15 countries is lower than the world average. The three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) are lowest in this measure, by far (a good thing), between 6.5 and 8.8 deaths per thousand births. The world average is 40.9. Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are highest, at 20.2, 23.4 and 25.7 infant deaths per thousand births, respectively.

The fertility rate of all 15 countries is well under the World average of 2.6 children per woman. A country needs around 2.1 live births per woman in order to maintain the country’s population at a given level.

Except for Uzbekistan, the difference between the birth rate and the death rate (BR minus DR) is lower than the world average of 11.8 per thousand population (not good). Russia is lowest at a difference of (negative) 5.0 per thousand people.

Turkmenistan (“-1″)
The only three positive factors for this country are life expectancy for males and females, and the birth rate minus the death rate. “The former Communist Party, now known as the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, has been the only one effectively permitted to operate. Political gatherings are illegal unless government sanctioned. Turkmenistan is among the twenty countries in the world with the highest perceived level of corruption …” [Source]

Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Ukraine at “-3” score
The GDP per capita of all three countries is below the World average of $10,400, with Tajikistan by far the lowest at $1,800. Life expectancy for males born today is less than the World average, for all three. Except for Ukraine (at 8.9) the infant death rate is above the world average of 40.9 deaths per thousand live births. The fertility rate for Azerbaijan and Tajikistan is well above the World average, but Ukraine is among the lowest countries at 1.3 births per woman. Similarly, the birth rate far exceeds the death rate in Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, but Ukraine is the lowest of all fifteen countries in this measure at (negative) 6.2; that is, the there are 6.2 more people dying than being born, per thousand population, in the current year.

1 Armenia 2 Azerbaijan 3 Belarus 4 Estonia 5 Georgia 6 Kazakhstan 7 Kyrgyzstan 8 Latvia

9 Lithuania 10 Moldova 11 Russia 12 Tajikistan 13 Turkmenistan 14 Ukraine 15 Uzbekistan

There is hard living almost everywhere in the former USSR. Look at the averages of these seven measures for the 27 countries of the European Union vs. those of Russia, the largest country, by far, of the former SSRs, and the most dominant, politically and economically:

European Union GDP per capita: $33,700 Life expectancy, female: 82.0 Life expectancy, male: 75.5 Net migration: 1.5 Infant death rate: 5.7 Fertility rate: 1.5 Birth rate minus death rate: -0.4

Russia GDP per capita: $16,100 Life expectancy, female: 73.2 Life expectancy, male: 59.3 Net migration: 0.3 Infant death rate: 10.6 Fertility rate: 1.4 Birth rate minus death rate: -5.0

I have been to two countries of the former USSR: Estonia and Latvia. Despite the obvious enthusiasm of the people for their freedom from totalitarianism, and the resultant social and economic progress, the ravages of the Soviet rule are still quite apparent.

With all respect to the poetry of Messrs. Lennon and McCartney, let’s not go back to the USSR.

Civil Society Must Succeed Where Governments Have Failed

The headline for today’s column is an idea I took away from a peace conference, held two days ago in Stockholm, a paraphrase of what I heard from journalist and academic, Dr. Carmen Sammut, from Malta.

The conference and its workshops, press conferences and reception lasted the whole day and evening of September 21, “an auspicious day,” but I was able to attend only the morning session, which was sufficient for the purposes of this weekly blog article.

Anna Lindh, inspiration for The Anna Lindh Foundation, a co-sponsor of the conference

Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs), alliances and voluntary organizations had a role to play in this gathering of journalists, diplomats, academics and others under the heading Restore Trust, Build Bridges.

The label “auspicious” was given this gathering by one of the speakers due to the convergence around the date, September 21, of these of these events and traditions:

The autumnal equinox

The International Day of Peace has been established by the United Nations for this date

The celebration of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)

The end of Ramadan, in the Muslim faith

The Feast Day of Saint Matthew

In that the conflict most referenced during the morning’s session was that centering in Jerusalem, a holy city for the three faiths referenced above, the observation was apt. At least one other conflict was referenced, the one centered in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Another important point was made: those who are directly affected in local conflicts, and who support peaceful settlement, are more numerous than those who seek combat to resolve disputes. Their voices are poorly heard, however, under the noise and visual presentations of “mayhem” that capture the attention of the various news media. The three speakers representing the press told us of efforts by The Euro-Mediterranean Media Task Force to promote a proper balance between the immediate facts on the ground in a local area, and the larger picture including those who are relatively quiet (or inadequately reported on), the oft-referenced “grass roots.” Evidence of such grass roots peace efforts is found in the Blue and White Peace movement in Israel, promoting a two-state solution. A similar movement of Jews in the USA was cited, as well.

The keynote speaker in the morning session was André Azoulay, President of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue Between Cultures. Among many observations based in his extensive and high-level experience in both Arab and Jewish cultures, he cited the hopeful note and presence of the new U.S. President, Barack Obama, and the latter’s presentation at Egypt’s Cairo University, June 4, 2009. Mr. Azoulay dwelt a bit on Mr. Obama’s use of quotations from the Quran and his opening remarks in Arabic, showing “respect” and “humility” to his hosts, considering it “a major historical point”. This positive impression was buttressed by the later remarks of communications consultant, journalist and columnist Ramzi E. Khoury, a Jordanian by birth.

So, I have cited three major points from just the morning portion of a full-day and evening conference. I consider my time well-spent if I can come away with just one new idea or insight from a full day’s meeting.

Looking at China’s Foreign and Security Policies

Many international organizations have located their headquarters in Stockholm. One of these is SIPRI, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Last Friday SIPRI sponsored a half-day presentation by scholars from China, Finland and the USA entitled China and Global Security: an expert seminar on current and future directions in Chinese foreign and security policy. The chairman of the seminar was Ambassador Börje Ljunggren of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Coordinator of the Stockholm China Forum and former ambassador to China.

The expert panelists were:

Professor Jin Canrong, Associate Dean, School of International Relations, Renmin University of China, Beijing.

Professor Robert S. Ross, Professor of Political Science at Boston College, Associate, John King Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, Harvard University, and Senior Advisor, Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Jia Qingguo. Associate Dean, School of International Relations, Beijing University.

Linda Jakobson, Senior Researcher, Programme on China and Global Security, SIPRI

Several things motivated me to attend this public seminar: I have been acquainted with SIPRI through its former director having addressed my (English speaking) Rotary Club in Stockholm; in that I don’t communicate well in Swedish, I take opportunities to attend interesting forums offered in English; and, I thought the seminar might offer something I could include in this journal, which it has. It was held in the modern and airy Stockholm World Trade Center.

What follows is an overview and summary from written notes. A few statements and facts stood out for me:

According to Professor Jin Canrong, China’s way is to “exert power in a humble way.” For readers who may harrumph at this notion, it was instructive for me to hear from these experts that China is not monolithic in all things, the big exception being that its national politics reside within a single party. The phrase was interesting to me in that it resembles words attributed to the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. This view, as stated, is not shared by others on the panel (I was told this privately).

With respect to industrial development, China stands approximately where the USA stood in the 1920s.

The total workforce of China is greater than the total population of Europe. [I was not sure I heard correctly, so I looked at data on the Internet to verify this. I find that China has 965 million people in the age group 15-64 years. The population of the 27 EU countries is 492 million. There are 18 other countries in Europe, including Russia which stands in Asia as well. I think a rough calculation on the back of an envelope would verify that the claim under review is probably close enough for government work. If you want to know my sources, contact me].

There is a rise in nationalistic feeling in China, a pride, which in extreme expressions could work against China’s official desire for harmonious relationships with other countries. A quick reference was also made to the dominant Han portion of the population needing to recognize the value and merit of the scores of minority populations in China.

China has long had a policy, often iterated at the United Nations, of non-interference in the affairs of another country. [I thought this sounded very like the "prime directive" of the fictional Star Trek television series and movies]. With regard especially to China’s extensive investments and interests in Africa, however, it was felt by some that this policy may have to be modified in special circumstances.

There seemed to be general agreement among the presenters that there will always be a tension within and without China, given its great size, between the need for peaceful relations with other countries and the need for China to feel secure within its borders. The more China pursues security through investment in military preparedness, however, the more nervous other countries will be, thus working against peaceful relations. Security needs are in the realms of borders including coasts, airspace and better technology.

A theme that floated through the discussion, especially the extensive Q&A sessions, is that USA and China have mutual interests in cooperating, but China cannot allow itself to feel or be seen as being unduly influenced by the USA.

The Taiwan issue seems to have been addressed by the USA in recent years to China’s satisfaction, if not to Taiwan’s, thus decreasing tensions between the USA and China over this long-standing point of conflict.

USA President Obama was given good marks for a new and potentially more constructive posture toward China, but it was recognized that it’s too early to see if this posture will result in tangible progress from China’s point of view and the point of view of scholars who look for win/win outcomes for both countries.

Much was said about past, current and potentially future relations with China’s nearest neighbors, especially North Korea, South Korea and Japan. In that the issues are delicate and complicated I will not try to characterize them here, but refer you the SIPRI’s China and Global Security Programme website for developments and references.

Special note was made of the recent first collaborative effort between elements of China’s navy and other navies in pursuing pirates off the eastern coast of Africa. This was a very big and popular news item in China for several days.

Toward the end of the seminar one questioner wondered about the lack of reference to China’s largest neighbor, Russia. Jia Qingguo thought the two countries had resolved, to mutual satisfaction, a variety of ancient and recent disagreements and tensions very well. Ms. Jakobson said we need to be realistic in any assessment of Russia, and that she considered the relationship between China and Russia a “marriage of convenience.” I made the inference that Russia would change the relationship when it felt in its interests to do so.

Last in this summary review of the seminar I offer the insight that despite China being a Communist country and, therefore, presumed to have a ’socialist’ economy, a rapidly diminishing proportion of the workforce works in the public sector [*see footnote]. It is a capitalist country, according one of the Chinese scholars present. It has a large and growing middle class. Currently, 49 million Chinese travel abroad as compared with 18 million Japanese. These facts buttress the assertion by one of the speakers that a new state/society relationship is developing in which society is gaining in strength with respect to the state.
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Footnote

*According to a study by Li Chengshui, chief of the State Statistics Bureau (SSB) in 1981-84, that was made public on October 12, [in 2006] the public sector employed only 32% of China’s industrial and service workers, and accounted for 37% of the country’s GDP. This represents a huge change from just over a decade ago. In 1995 the public sector accounted for 78% of GDP. According to Li, between 1995 and 2005 the number of private enterprises rose from 660,000 to 4.3 million, the number of workers they employed increased from 8.2 million to 47.1 million. Their capital base rose during this period 26-fold, from 226.2 billion yuan (US$30 billion) to 6133.1 billion yuan ($829.5 billion). In a speech delivered at the Beijing University on May 19 [2007], Li pointed out that the “private sector economy signifies the formation of a new capitalist class”.

The Black Sea

This is about an area of the world that remains, for those of us oriented primarily toward North America and Europe, a historically complicated and geographically confusing melange of ancient empires initially forged by warrior kings and their hordes on horseback, a parade of vast “-stans” marching eastward that are little understood and imperfectly located, wide-ranging and centuries-long religious and cultural and commercial conflicts, and names that are difficult to be immediately grasped, much less to remember.

The stimulus for writing this overview comes from my reading of a fascinating book: The Black Sea: A History, by Charles King.

From The Black Sea.

…[W]riting the history of nations is…about silencing voices. It [draws] lines around people, excising connections among human communities and reading onto the messy past the lineaments of pure identities and immutable boundaries…This book asks the reader to listen to some of [the] still voices from the past. It is about how…the Black Sea has more often been a bridge than a barrier, linking religious communities, linguistic groups, empires and, later, nations and states into a region as real as any other in Europe or Eurasia. [p.12]

[Map source]

From this beginning the book shows us the flow of history in the region of the Black Sea, sweeping from south to north and back, and similarly east to west, but mostly from the east. The Empires of the Middle East, up to and including the Ottoman Turks, pushed north to control the sea and its assets: seafood, ports, shipping lanes, peoples. Many people of the North and West, especially Imperial Russia, pushed back and sought to overtake. Over time, as western European countries exerted powerful diplomatic, commercial and military power, the lake became neutralized. Throughout all centuries there were recurring waves of conquerors, and continuing influxes of migrants, usually pastoral people fleeing the east.

But all this took millennia. The lands adjacent to the sea were populated and, in varying degrees, controlled by:

Median Empire (Medes) 728BCE – 559 BCE Achaemenid (Persian) Empire (550 BCE – 330 BCE) Scythians (750 BCE – 250 BCE) Macedonian Empire (808 BCE – 168 BCE) Seleucid Empire (312 – 63 BCE) Parthian Empire (250 BCE – 226 CE) Cimmerians (714 BCE – 55 BCE) Sarmatians (ca. 250 BCE – ca. 250 CE) Dacians (82 BCE – 271 CE) Ostrogoths: (250 CE – 375 CE) Huns (360 CE – 480 CE) Avar Empire: (522 CE? – 580? CE)

Sassanid Empire (226 CE – 651 CE) Khazars (ca. 500 CE – 965 CE) Bulgars (482 CE – 972 CE) Seljuk Empire (1037 CE – 1194 CE) Mongol Empire (1206 CE – 1368 CE) Byzantine Empire (330 CE – 1453 CE) Trebizond Empire (1204 CE – 1461 CE) Russian Empire (1721 CE – 1917 CE) Ottoman Empire (1299 CE – 1923 CE) The Caliphate (632 CE – present?) Tatars: (ca. 1150 CE – present) Circassians (ca. 1600 CE – present)

One can get an idea, and some direct perception, of the movement and, importantly, the admixture of peoples over time from this visual presentation of the Middle East empires and nations.

To this day small and large ethnic and religious groupings of ancient peoples continue to exist throughout Europe and Asia in this region, even if their individual genetic heritages may have been infused with those of neighboring and invading tribes over the millennia. This is what makes the notion of country or nation so difficult in this area. Up until recently, for instance, to be “Greek” was not necessarily even to be ethnically or genetically Greek, but to belong to the Eastern Orthodox religion, no matter where one lived.

Please click on all images

The geography and physical characteristics of the Sea and its tributaries are also important, of course. Here are the major rivers supplying the fresh water, the top layer of this great sea:

Bzyb Çoruh Danube Dnieper Dniester Don Kizil Irmak

Kodori Kuban Rioni Sakarya Southern Bug Yeşil Irmak

And, yes, you read it right that the top layer of the Black Sea is fresh, while the bottom (and dead) layer is colder salt water from the Mediterranean Sea, flowing through the Bosporus.

Another important feature of the sea is that is two or, perhaps, three seas in one.

Image Source

As you can see from the above, there are two counter-clockwise surface currents in the left and right portions of the lake which make navigation between them sometimes difficult. The Sea of Azov is a smaller and distinct body, as well.

There are two types of sea currents in the Black Sea: the surface currents, caused by the cyclonic pattern of the winds, and the double currents in the Bosporus Strait and Kerch Strait, caused by the exchange of waters with adjacent seas. The surface currents form two closed circles. The width of the western circle, opposite the Danube Delta, reaches 100 km and decreases towards the south. The velocity of the current is about 0.5 km per hour. The width of the eastern circle varies between 50 and 100 km, and the velocity is 1 km per hour. Source

[Image source, Encyclopedia Britannica]

A salient aspect of the larger region within which the Black Sea is located, is a great prairie stretching from China through Southern Europe through which the “Golden Horde” and other eastern pastoral people gained access to the west. These prairies are called “steppes” and are celebrated in stories and music, presaging the “old west” legends of the prairie in North America.

The Black Sea: A History is rich in detail and overview, and I will follow through on a list of books, people and subjects for further study, including:

Trajan’s Column (image to the right)

Pompey the Great, Emperor of the Roman Republic

City of Miletus in Anatolia

Greek historian Herodotus

Constantine VII

The Travel of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece by Abbé Jean-Jacques Barthélemy

Mithridates VI Eupator

The Council of Nicea

Fall of Constantinople

Marco Polo

Doge of Venice

Volga-Don Canal

In addition, I have now gained an interest in looking also at the great salt water sea (or lake) to the east, The Caspian Sea, and a further look at the nature and history of the Steppes of Central Asia.

What great dividends from the purchase of a single book!

Many thanks, and my admiration of the author’s scholarship and writing skills, to Charles King.

Vilnius—European Capital of Culture, 2009

The title of this week’s article comes from the presentation made by Mr. Sigitas Brazinskas to our English speaking Rotary Club on 5 March. Mr. Brazinskas is Commerical Attaché of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Stockholm. What follows was inspired by Mr. Brazinskas’s presentation; it is not a transcription. The year 2009 is important for Lithuania for at least two reasons:

Historically, the name “Lithuania” will be 1,000 years old.

Culturally, the capital, Vilnius, is designated by the European Union (EU) as one of the two European Capitals of Culture, along with Linz, Austria.

Lithuania was mentioned for the first time, in written sources, in 1009. Later, Lithuanians conquered neighboring lands, finally establishing the Kingdom of Lithuania in the 13th century. In the 15th century Lithuania became the largest state in Europe. In the 18th century, however, it was erased from political map. In February 16, 1918 Lithuania was reestablished as a democratic state. It subsequently faced many drawbacks including many deaths in World War II, and further catastrophes after being annexed by the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s Lithuania restored its sovereignty and continued to grow into an economically strong country [Source (edited)].

Mindaugas is generally considered the founder of the Lithuanian state. He stopped the advance of the Tatars towards the Baltic Sea, establishing international recognition of Lithuania and turning it towards Western civilization. His coronation date, July 6, 1253 is accepted as the date Lithuania became a country.

Vincas Kudirka (1858-1899): the Lithuanian poet’s portrait from the 500 Lithuanian litas banknote issued in 2000

In that we are discussing the culture of Lithuania, as well as its history, I should mention Vincas Kudirka (1858-1899), a Lithuanian poet and physician, and the author of both the music and lyrics of the Lithuanian National Anthem, Tautiška giesmė. He is regarded as a National Hero. Kudirka started to study medicine in Warsaw in 1882. During his studies, he was arrested as a subversive for having a copy of Das Kapital in his possession, and was expelled from the University of Warsaw, but later re-admitted. He graduated in 1889, and worked as a country doctor in Šakiai and Naumiestis. Kudirka began writing poetry in 1888. Simultaneously he became more active in the Lithuanian national rebirth movement. Together with other Lithuanian students in Warsaw, he founded the secret society Lietuva (“Lithuania”). The following year the society began publishing the clandestine newspaper Varpas (“The Bell”), which Kudirka edited and contributed to for the next ten years. In issue number 6 of Varpas, in September 1898, he published the text of Tautiška Giesmė, which would officially become, in 1918, the Lithuanian National Anthem, set to music written by Kudirka himself for a violin. Also, Kudirka published a collection of Lithuanian popular songs and was also a noted writer of satire. He died of tuberculosis in 1899, at age 40. The second verse of Tautiška Giesmė was engraved on his gravestone.

Europa and the Bull; Tarquinian Red figure Attic stamnos, circa 480 BCE

A “European Capital of Culture” is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one calendar year during which it is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and cultural development. A number of European cities have used the City of Culture year to transform their cultural base and, in doing so, the way in which they are viewed internationally. The European Capital of Culture program was initially called the European City of Culture and was conceived in 1983 by Melina Mercouri, then serving as Greek Minister of Culture. Mercouri asserted that culture was not given the same attention as politics and economics and that a project for promoting European cultures within the member states should be pursued. The European City of Culture program was launched in the summer of 1985 with Athens being the first title-holder. In 1999, the European City of Culture programme was renamed the European Capital of Culture. Here are the upcomg yearly designations:

2010: Essen, Istanbul, Pécs

2011: Turku, Tallinn

2012: Guimarães, Maribor

2013: Marseille-Provence, Košice

The Old Town of Vilnius, a UNESCO World Heritage site [Please click on the image]

To end this presentation, I quote Mr. Brazinskas: “What is unique about the Vilnius-European capital of culture this year? A practical, large-scale, multi-institutional, nation branding exercise; a cultural program setting economic goals; a large scale volunteer program with Ambassadors, Volunteers and Welcome projects.” Should you have an interest in visiting Vilnius and Lithuania this special year, go here for a calendar of events. Sveiki atvyke (Welcome!)

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Sources leading to travel information and accommodations:

http://www.travel.lt

http://www.tourism.lt

http://www.vilnius-tourism.lt

http://www.vilnius-convention.lt

Other sources used in this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindaugas

http://www.mrscomophotography.co.uk/Lithuania.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Capital_of_Culture>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincas_Kudirka

Annual Report on Communicable Diseases in Europe, for Year 2006

The first report, for 2005, was reported in the 19 May 2008 issue of this journal.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was established in 2005. It is an EU agency with aim to strengthen Europe’s defences against infectious diseases. It is seated in Stockholm, Sweden. The mission of the ECDC is to identify, assess and communicate current and emerging threats to human health posed by infectious diseases.

ECDC works in partnership with national health protection bodies across Europe to strengthen and develop continent-wide disease surveillance and early warning systems. By working with experts throughout Europe, ECDC pools Europe’s health knowledge, so as to develop authoritative scientific opinions about the risks posed by current and emerging infectious diseases.

The second annual report, discussed in this issue of The Pavellas Perspective, can be obtained here and is the authority for the facts I present. Any differences are due to my errors in transcription and interpretation.

Also, one should keep in mind that the information reported (sometimes not reported) by some countries and organizations will not be accurate, complete or consistent with reporting requirements of the ECDC:

All the information on infectious diseases in this report comes to ECDC either directly from EU, EEA/EFTA countries or from a variety of different European disease surveillance networks.

Nonetheless major challenges regarding the accuracy of reporting still exist. ECDC is working to standardise and harmonise reporting from all sources to create a more accurate, understandable and accessible Europe-wide information system. Our aim is to continuously strengthen our information resources so that Europe as a whole can be rapidly informed about current and emerging infectious disease threats.

The findings contained in this report for year 2006 are not significantly different from the first report, for year 2005. As ECDC’s organization and the quality and reliability of its information sources mature, however, it will provide more focus on key issues to be addressed:

Please click on the image

In the [current] report we have included, for the first time, a more detailed chapter on a special topic, to enable a more in depth discussion on an issue of importance to European public health. This year the subject chosen for special attention is healthcare-associated infections (HCAI), an issue high on ECDC’s
agenda.

I note here that this issue is of world-wide importance as our misuse of antibiotics has allowed microorganisms to mutate at rates faster than the rates of our improvements in the efficacy of antibiotics.

For the record, here are the two summary charts for trends and incidences of the communicable diseases tracked in this annual report. You can compare these to the similarly-formatted charts I included in my review of the first report. [Please click on the images for an expanded and more readable view].

You can see these charts in the official report, as well.

I recommend you download this valuable report and read SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS on pages 1-8, including the two charts inserted above.

Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann’s First Published Novel

The title of the novel has been known to me since I can remember such things, and I thought possibly I had actually read it when I was recently urged by someone to read it. I hadn’t before, but now I have.

One can easily find a summary and analysis of the book on the Internet, such as at here at Wikipedia. I have a different, but not contrary, view of the book which I offer below.

“The most popular novel by the greatest living man of letters”

The edition I bought at BookBuyers was published in 1952 when Thomas Mann was 77, three years before his death. It seems almost shameless for Pocket Books, Inc. to engage in such hyperbole in their presentation of this admittedly highly-regarded novel, Mann’s first published novel at age 26. Mann’s being granted the Nobel Prize for literature was due at least as much for his later and more mature book, The Magic Mountain. In my view, Buddenbrooks is a wonderful and well-told story, but not as timeless as The Magic Mountain. Also, some of the other important living men (and women) of letters in Mann’s generation include:

Robert Frost (1874-1963) Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879-1957) Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) Helen Keller (1880-1968) George Jean Nathan (1882-1958) William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) Frances Parkinson Keyes (1885-1970) Ezra Pound (1885-1972) Edna Ferber (1887-1968)

Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) Christopher Morley (1890-1957) Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) Henry Miller (1891-1980) Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) Pearl Buck (1892-1973) Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970) James Thurber (1894-1961) Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) Ben Hecht (1894-1964)

And, these are only the American men and women of letters during Mann’s lifetime.

But nonetheless and be-that-as-it-may (“and,” as humorist, comedian, musician and all-around great guy Steve Allen would remark immediately upon saying the latter phrase, “it probably is”), there is a great deal in Buddenbrooks making it commendable to your reading, if you can get past the initial tedium of necessarily learning about the family members and getting used to the social manners and ways of speaking at the time and place of the story (the nascent German state, around 1840-1880).

The full title of the original volume was (translated from the German) Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family.

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg, Prince of Bismarck (1815 – 1898)

My initial impression was that I was about to be immersed in a 19th century German soap opera about the middle and higher classes. I was determined not to let this deter me, and I was glad of this resolve not too shortly thereafter. The backdrop of this drama includes wars between various European entities including France, Prussia, some German city-states and Austria–all culminating in the unifying of the modern German state in 1871 under Otto von Bismarck.

The soulful underpinnings of this story, however, involve the clash of values between those represented by the Protestant church and those of the rising of mercantilist middle class. Additionally, there are the yearnings of the lower classes to be free of the ignominy of being, essentially, serfs to the noble classes and those of the middle classes attempting to emulate the nobility.

The fortunes of family Buddenbrooks are based on the family business, grain brokering for the most part. The business passes down the male line and ends with the death of the last of the male Buddenbooks who wished only to be a musician. This, of course, is a very simplified summary. There are many characters, related by blood, marriage, commerce and politics, carefully and fully drawn and with whom the reader can identify closely–with distaste or sympathy.

I was particularly moved by the religiously-oriented elder matriarch and the musically-oriented youth who ended the story. The two central characters are brother and sister, children of the matriarch and the last of those who were connected with the family business. The sister had the burden of marrying men (she divorced twice) whose positions seemed useful, at the time, to the family business or family fortune.

It seems a cautionary tale for those who are on a path to abandon soulful values for the lure of fortune and influence. Additionally, it shows what perhaps is the inevitable path of any family in its cycles of rising and falling and possibly, as in this case, disappearing.

The Unified German State in 1872

I don’t read German so I can’t remark on the original prose. The translation seems to capture well the linguistic subtleties and regional differences (e.g., Hamburg vs. Bavaria).

An unexpected element of the story is how much the French language and some French manners were part of the family’s atmospherics. One male ancestor married a French woman whom we see briefly in the beginning of the book.

Having now read Buddenbrooks I feel I have done myself a favor. As a writer-in-training, I saw how the author cleverly structured the beginning of the novel to introduce the characters, and how he used a family diary to help us understand the history of the family. Such devices are invaluable in providing the detail necessary to understand the nature and trajectory of the novel’s characters and actions.

Aside from how it was instructive to me, I enjoyed the story and how it was told. In addition, I kept in mind my recent reading of Mann’s much later Novel, The Magic Mountain and could discern the author’s philosophical and literary trajectory thereby.

I suppose I should now read his Death in Venice which I have waiting for me in my bookcase.

So many books, so little time …