Seemed for a while that the security situation in Afghanistan was improving. But then we got this e-mail Monday about an “anti-government demonstration” from a U.S. Agency for International Development official, warning of potential danger.
The memo, from James Hanlon of USAID, was addressed to “AlCON,” or all concerned.
“70 disabled people are gathered at the Freedom Circle in Kabul to hold an anti-government demonstration,” Hanlon said, and, as a result, “Significant traffic delays are expected at Freedom and Massoud traffic circles.”
“Those operating in and around the Kabul area,” he warned, should “expect long delays and extended periods of exposure” — that’s the key risk — “while stuck in traffic jams.” The security team “recommends that travel be restricted to mission essential until the protest ends.”
Such “flash” reports, the e-mail says, are designed to provide embassy folks and others with information “regarding security or of a hostile threat-related nature.”
Some people might dismiss the notion of a threat from disabled protesters, but those of us from Ohio recall that President William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist from Alpena, Mich., who hid a pistol in a handkerchief wrapped around his supposedly injured hand.
A clean, well-lighted place
It’s not just another Northwest Washington bar with the usual overpriced drinks. The drinks at Hemingway’s Bar, opening in October on 16th Street NW below Columbia Road, are free!
That’s because the bar is in the Cuban Interests Section — in effect the Cuban Embassy, but it can’t be called that, because there are no formal relations between the two countries. Those ice-cold Mayabe beers and those excellent daiquiris are yours for the asking, provided you’ve received an invitation from the Cuban government. Cubans are big fans of Ernest Hemingway, who had a home just outside Havana for some 20 years. The home is a national monument.
The bar, reports Steve Clemons, Washington editor at large for the Atlantic, is “a clever bit of public diplomacy” by the commies, maybe supplanting the traditional “tit-for-tat propaganda” waged through warring billboards and displays put up by the United States inside the grounds of its interests section in Havana and the Cubans outside.
Or it could be the Cubans are somehow trying to promote a further thaw in relations just as the 50-year-old embargo is finally on the verge of toppling — within five or at most 10 years — the Castro brothers. Fidel turned 85 on Saturday, and Raul is 80.
A thaw might be a long time coming as long as American contractor Alan Gross remains in prison after his conviction for distributing satellite telephone equipment to Jewish groups in Havana.
Details, details
There’s been a rush of news about big-time donors, including New Hampshire venture capitalist and Dartmouth adjunct business professor Greg Slayton , going from backing former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty to backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the GOP presidential nomination. Slayton switched even before Pawlenty withdrew.
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