Israel Crowns 'Miss Holocaust Survivor'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Israel is celebrating survivors of the Holocaust--with a beauty pageant? Some 300 women throughout the country applied for the chance to vie for the "Miss Holocaust Survivor" title; 14 took the stage yesterday. The women, ages 74 to 97, were all smiles as they waved to the crowd, but some observers were highly disturbed by the event. "It sounds totally macabre to me," says the head of a major survivor's group.

"I am in favor of enriching lives," she added,"but a one-time pageant masquerading survivors with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful." But contestants felt differently about the show, which organizers say was only 10% about looks. "I have the privledge to show the world that Hitler wanted to exterminate us and we are still alive. We are also enjoying life. Thank God it's that way," said one contestant. The winner? Hava Hershovitz, 78, who was banished from her home in Romania in 1941 and spent three years in a Soviet Union detention camp.

The Old Russian Embassy in Washington D.C.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

Throughout the Cold War, the old Russian Embassy in Washington DC served as a center for spying and espionage. While James Bond never attended a black-tie party at the embassy in any of his movies, his real-life contemporaries may have.

Some of the more noteworthy traitors that provided top-secret information to the Soviets included John Anthony Walker, a communications specialist for the U.S. Navy. He sold a highly-classified radio cipher card to the Soviets for just a few thousand dollars. The decoding card allowed the Soviets to decipher over one million classified U.S. documents causing Walking to be considered one of the most devastating modern spies in U.S. history.

In 1980, Ronald Pelton, a National Security Agency communications specialist, used his photographic memory to pass top-secret information to the Soviets. After initially walking in the Soviet Embassy, he offered classified information to help pay off debt from his bankruptcy. Over 3 1/2 years, he received $35,000 yet never once provided the Soviets with a single document. One of the secrets he informed the Soviets about was the successful tapping of an underwater telecommunications cable which carried Soviet military communications.

In 1973, the U.S. offered the Soviets a new site for their new embassy, located on one of the highest hills in Washington, Mt. Alto (elevation 350 feet). The location provided to the Soviets was the third highest point in DC and offered a line-of-site to the Capitol, the White House, the State Department and even the Pentagon. At the time, in 1973, techniques of electronic surveillance were not widely developed. It was however, feared that over time, the site would have allowed the Russians to successfully intercept secret U.S. radio signals.

The current Embassy of Russia, which was not occupied until 1991 is located at 2650 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington DC 20007.

The old Russian Embassy
1125 16th Street NW
Washington DC 20036

U.S. diplomats in Pakistan facing harassment: State Department

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles

U.S. diplomats working in Pakistan face increasing harassment amid a sharp deterioration in ties in the wake of last year's killing of Osama bin Laden, a State Department report said Thursday.

Such harassment and obstruction is described by U.S. embassy staff as "deliberate, willful and systematic," according to the 76-page report by the department's watchdog, the office of inspector general.

"Official Pakistani obstructionism and harassment, an endemic problem in Pakistan, has increased to the point where it is significantly impairing mission operations and program implementations," the report said.

Harassment included such things as delaying visas for staff, blocking shipments of materials for aid programs and construction work and surveillance of staff and contractors.

The official report, made available Thursday, comes after a February fact-finding tour of the U.S. diplomatic missions in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore.

It urged U.S. officials to ensure that the issue of harassment is raised in bilateral talks with the Pakistani government. The report recommended that the number of video conferences between Washington and Islamabad be rationalized.

Dame Barbara Hay, British Consul General to Los Angeles

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

Barbara Hay took up her appointment as HM Consul General in Los Angeles at the end of July 2009.

Prior to that, Barbara was HM Consul General in Istanbul, where she arrived in early 2004 to lead the rebuilding of the post following the tragic terrorist attack in November 2003 in which 12 colleagues were killed and scores injured. From her base in Istanbul, Turkey's business and commercial center, she was also Director of UK Trade and Investment across Turkey, working with the commercial teams in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir to help British business take advantage of the opportunities Turkey offers as an emerging market.

Since joining the Diplomatic Service in 1971, Barbara has spent much of her overseas career in the former Soviet Union, serving there five times in all and in every decade since her first tour of duty in Moscow in the mid-1970s. These included opening single-handedly a new British Consulate General in St. Petersburg immediately after the August 1991 coup and her appointment as British Ambassador in Uzbekistan and concurrently, Tajikistan from 1995-99. Barbara has also worked in South Africa and Canada as well as in the Foreign and Commenwealth Office in London.

All Barbara's posts have attracted a wide range of visitors, including members of the Royal Family, Ministers, parliamentarians, senior businessmen, cultural figures and academics. She is enjoying a similar pattern and pace in Los Angeles, enabling her and her team to create, enhance and multiply the multifarious connections which the UK enjoys with southern California and the other states to which she is accredited.

Sir Peter Westmascott, the New British Ambassador to Washington D.C.

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

Sir Peter Westmacott became British Ambassador to the United States in January 2012.

This is his second posting in Washington, having previously served as the British Embassy's Counsellor for Political and Public Affairs in the mid-1990s.

Prior to his service as Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Westmacott served as the British Ambassador to France (2007-2011), and as Ambassador to Turkey starting in 2002.

Ambassador Westmacott's 40-year career in the British Diplomatic Service has included postings in Tehran and Brussels, and a seat on the board of the Foreign Office as Deputy Under Secretary. In addition, Ambassador Westmacott served as Deputy Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales from 1990-1993.

Ambassador Westmacott's personal connection to the US extends back even further than his diplomatic posting. In 1942, his father was a sailor on the HMS Illustrious as it underwent repairs in Norfolk Virginia to recover from damage inflicted during fighting at Malta.

He was born in the village of Edington, Somerset in the South West of England in December 1950. He was educated at New College Oxford and joined the Diplomatic Service in 1972. He married Susie Nemazee in 2001; together they have four grown children: Oliver, Laura, Rupert and Safieh.

Q- What does the British Ambassador do?
The British Ambassador is the HM The Queen's and government's representative in the United States and is responsible for the direction and work of the Embassy and its Consulates. Our task here is to present British policies to the American Government and to Americans and to report and explain American policies and views to our own government in London and to promote British interests. I am also responsible for press and cultural relations and for visa and consular services.

Q-What do British Consulates do?
British Consulates help to promote trade and investment between Britain and the USA. They also keep the Ambassador in touch with political, economic and other developments in their Consular districts. The Consuls are also responsible for the consular protection of British nationals who are temporary residents in, or visitors to, their consular district.

Woody Allen Shows up at Hollywood Premiere

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Hundreds of well dressed film fans turned out at the opening night of Woody Allen's comedy "To Rome With Love."

Allen showed up with his wife Soon-Yi Previn at the Regal Cinemas on Thursday in Los Angeles. Throngs of media from all over the world were there, all aiming for an interview with the famous funny filmmaker.

"Paparazzi vs. good seats at basketball games. Loss of privacy vs. no waiting for doctors, even on weekends. Sure, fame has its problems, but the perks are pretty sweet too." admitted Allen in an interview. "I'm not saying it's fair--it's kind of disgusting--but I can't say I don't enjoy it," Allen said.

"There are drawbacks in being famous, but you can live with those too," he said. "They're not life-threatening." Allen examines life in the spotlight in his latest film, "To Rome With Love." "Life is tough regardless of whether you are famous, so it's probably the better choice to be famous. The bad stuff is greatly outweighed by the dinner reservations."

Recently Allen was spotted having dinner with actress Lindsey Lohan. When asked if he was considering casting her in one of his films, he said "no....it was a social occasion."

"A Cat in Paris" (France 2010)

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Movie Review

"A Cat in Paris" is a gem, a treat not to be missed by children or their parents, (or animation-loving adults without kids). The graphic style of Jean Louis Felici and Alain Gaynol is crisp and bright, their characters rendered with line-work, recalling the Matisse and Picasso of 1930's Paris.

Lonely little Zoe has an affectionate pet cat named Dino. When she goes to bed at night, Dino bounds across the moonlit rooftops, leading the honorable, rubbery-armed burglar Nico to the loot. One such outing leads to a nest of mobsters--connected with the death of Zoe's father.

The almond eyes, the sailor pants and tiny feet and the Billy Holiday soundtrack--all create a storybook Paris of the imagination.

"The Women on the 6th Floor" (France 2010)

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Movie Review

This foreign film is a real charmer with a happy ending. Set in Paris in the 1960s, the film is a social comedy that pits the propriety of a middle class French family with the earthiness and humor of Spanish cleaning ladies who work in their apartment building.

It follows Monsieur Joubert (Fabrice Luchini), an unadventurous stockbroker, as he befriends the Spanish maids who live on the top floor of his building.

Maria (Natalia Verbeke), his new maid, introduces him to her compatriots and their simple but happy lives animated by friendship and folklore, in contrast to the relative emotional austerity of his own life. Slowly he recovers his joie de vivre by tasting life's simple pleasures; when his wife (Sandrine Kiberlain), falsely accuses him of having an affair he moves into an empty room in the servants' quarters upstairs, the first time he has had a bedroom of his own.

The film was well received by critics and audiences. "LeMonde" wrote "The entertainment is as good as the actors are pitch-perfect. Fabrice Lunchini and Sandrine Kiberlain are among the best stars." The New York Press reviewed the film at the French Film Festival in New York, calling it "charming."

Interestingly two of the Spanish actresses, Berta Ojea and Concha Galan, did not speak French before the film and learned their roles phonetically.

Available on Netflix.

U.S. Ambassador to France parachutes into Normandy

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

The U.S. ambassador to France paid tribute this week to the brave heroes of D-Day with a daredevil action of his own--a parachute jump from 12,000 feet into coastal Normandy.

Charles Rivkin, 50, took the plunge to high light the role of Allied para troopers in the June 6, 1944, invasion that launched the liberation of Nazi-occupied France. Rivkin was accompanied by a team of elite para troopers from the U.S. Army, as well as by parachutists from France and--in a nod to today's very different alliances--from Germany. Some 25,000 spectators watched from the ground.

Austrian diplomat to speak in D.C. June 8

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

This Friday, June 8 at the Bobstiber Inst. for Austrian-American Affairs in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forum will present a lecture by the Austrian diplomat Wolfgang Petritsch, currently Austria's Ambassador to the OECD in Paris. He will present his views on the United States and Europe in a changing global context.

Admission is free
RSVP: 202-895-6776

Russian Ambassador to the U.S., His Excellency Sergey I Kislyak

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

Sergey Kislyak became Ambassador of Russia to the United States on September 16,2008, having previously served as Russia's deputy minister of foreign affairs since 2003.

Prior to that, Ambassador Kislyak served as ambassador to Belgium and simultaneously as Russia's permanent rep to NATO in Brussels (1998-2003). He has also served various postings in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including director of the Department of Security Affairs and Disarmament (1995-98), director (1993-95), and depty director (1991-93), of the Department of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation and deputy director of the Department of International Organizations from 1989-91. In addition he served in the United States before as first secretary and counselor at the Russian Embassy in Washington (1985-89), and second secretary at the Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1981-85.

Ambassador Kislyak graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Inst. in 1973 and from the U.S.S.R. Academy of Foreign Trade in 1977.

He speaks Russian, English and French and is married with one daughter.

Contact Information:
Embassy of Russia
2650 Wisconsin Ave. NW.
Washington DC 20007

Phone (202) 298-5700

Putin to Snub London Olympics

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

Even though Russia will be hosting the next Winter Olympics in 2014, Vladimir Putin will snub this summer's games in Great Britain, reports the Guardian. Apparently Russia's recently re-elected president is unhappy with Britain for a range of reasons--being accused of human rights abuses, British MPs blocking travel visas for Russian officials implicated in the death of an anti-corruption lawyer, the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvenko in London in 2006--and is taking out his displeasure by dissing the Olympics. Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev will attend instead.

"I think Putin doesn't want to come to Britain and face difficult questions," said one MP. "This is further evidence of the turning inwards of Putin towards a more nationalistic authoritarianism and a rejection of western values."

Putin will not be the only head of state not coming: others include Syria's Bashar al_Assad, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Belarus's Alexander Lutkashenko. But with 120 heads of state expected to attend the London Olympics opening--compared to 87 who went to the Bejing Olympics in 2008--many are saying it will be the largest-ever gathering of national leaders.