Jakobo.net

Went to the movies w/ my dear fellows Julia and Sid to see V for Vendetta. It has received mixed reviews. Personally, I was fascinated! I think it showed a lot of courage and took up extremely relevant issues! It was astonishing how they drew lines to current events, persons, and trends… At least, that’s how I saw it. I saw links to the Orange Revolution, Patriot Act, Danish People’s Party… Favorite quote (feel free to call me corny): The people shouldn’t fear its government; the government should fear its people!
Highly recommended!

Pentagon
Last week, our fellowship group went to Pentagon and talked to Admiral John Cotton. He gave us insights to the wonders of American warfare and why it’s so important to support it! Truly interesting views and perspectives from one of the insiders… Explained a lot to me! It must be so convinient to live in a world of only black and white! Also, his office is situated right where the plane (supposedly) hit the building. Very interesting in a time where so many people are questioning the official explanation from the adm.

Race and Poverty (thanks to Michelle for making the point that race is merely, and always, a social construction)
We also met with Prof. Peter Edelman. He also spoke to us last summer and I have a (very unrealistic) hope he’ll run for Prez. He speaks about the fundamental inequality in the American society. He threw out horrifying facts (number of people living under poverty line has gone from 31 - 37 mil. since Bush came to power. (which tells me just as much about the pre-Bush society as it does about W)). And gives valid views on reasons behind the numbers (simplified: rule of rich, white men for the last 250 years). Very interesting and indeed encouraging to hear these quasi-socialistic views coming from such a capacity on policy making!

The debate on the council is big here in the US! And very interesting!
I won’t waste neither your or my own time by giving my semi-qualified comments, but rather escort you to two of the best sites I’ve seen on the issue: Bolton Watch and The Washington Note. Mark, a senior fellow and friend, writes for Bolton watch, and I have had a meeting/lecture with Steve Clemons who writes the note. Both of them are extremey knowledgable and commited to the issue! Take a look.
Bueno, wil come back with less nerdy news soon- hopefully also more pics!

Tuesday I was on a tour in la Casa Blanca. It was actually a bit of a disapointment; we saw the reception rooms, the presidential chairs and couches and some other stuff. But hey- it’s not every day you walk into that building, so worth mentioning I guess.

Today, my group met with the wife of the Israeli ambassador to the US. We could have had a really interesting discussion… She went in defense mode from the beginning. Frankly, the ignorant PR-policy and rethorics from both sides in this conflict p*sses me off! Things really coud be so much ‘less worse’, but both sides refuse to take responsibility and recognize issues that are crucial not only to the other side, but to the sorounding world… It’s frustrating! Always interesting to meet people who are close to the proces, of course.

Have been discussing the reforms of UN (specificaly the new Human Rights Council the last days. Bolton postponed a hearing today in the house- I was looking so much forward to go. Check out this awesome page. Mark Goldberg is a senior felow from HiA and a realy good writer. They have around 90.000 individual hits a week and all they do is keeping an eye on UN and Bolton.

Bueno, time for sleep. Hope you are all following the world closely! Let me know if anything happens to it!

Thanks for stopping by! Mange tak!

Wow, I’ve had some pretty amazing last couple of days!
Monday, the Lantos Fellows went to the state dept. to talk about Human Rights, failed states, democracy, non-proliferation and many other interesting issues. We discussed Guantanamo, US foreign policy throughout history, Cuba, etc. It is so cool to have the oportunity to meet with the people who actually call the shots (or at least, tell Condi how, where, and when to call them). It gives us a chance to be (diplomatically) critical and get competent answers!

Today I had my biggest ‘walk of fame’ in my time here in DC so far. I was walking with my Congresswoman and my friend and colleague Jesper to an event in the capitol. On the way we met the President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and chatted with her. Then, we came to the reception, held in the statuary hall in the capitol (which is only used in veeery rare occausions) and listen to both majority and minority leader of the two chambers- senate and house. The Danish, Hungarian and other ambassadors were present too. John Kerry briefly stopped by along with at least ten other members of Congress. And then, next speaker happens to be el presidente of US and A, Mr dubya. Needles to say, I am no big fan and will never ever be! But you can’t help but to be just a little impressed facing the supposedly most powerful man on earth. He went on about freedomblahblahlibertyblah, but didn’t make any embarrassing mistakes… Darn! Then, all of a sudden, Mr. Rumsfeld walks in to the room and says hi. Secretary of defence, Mr Evil, is standing four feet away as I’m talking to Mrs. Lantos after the reception.
Hmm, none of the people I have just mentioned has any idea of my existence and as my Congresswoman so correctly said: “they take the elevators like me and you”. And yet, it’s ‘kind of a big deal’ in Ron Burgendy’s words, to be around all these big guys. They are, afterall, the people who scre… Eh, run the US (world).

Bueno, no more name-dropping. Just thought I’d share my crazy times here.
More to come soon- hopefully pics from this reception and more!
Hakuna Matata

Yeeha, finally I’ve uploaded some pictures. There are some good ones among them; Hansom Sid, Serious Michelle, Ego in a red dress and much more. Take a look here.

When people ask me what I’ve been doing I tend to not be able to answer. So much happens here in so little time!

Every Monday, our group of Humanity in Aciton Congressional Fellows have lectures with veeery interesting persons. I’ve mentioned some of them before on this site; US Institute for Peace, Lawyers defending Immigrants, AEI, etc. Last Monday we met with two legislative experts for them to give us insights to the legislative system, lobbying, etc. (even) More interestingly, though, we met with Qubad Talabani- the son of Iraq’s President. He spoke to us about the current situation in Iraq, the perspective of the Kurds, international recognition of nations and much more. We are truly being presented to some extraordinary characters!

Another set of extraordinary people was on the schedule thursday: A group of young guys my own age, surfers, showed a movie called ‘the Invisible Children’ in the Congress with help from Congressional Human Rights Caucus. These guys bought a video camera on e-Bay, went to Uganda, and made a film about child soldiers. They’ve come back and are now touring US with this amazing piece of work. Furthermore, they have raised money for more than 200 kids in Uganada to go to school. It’s simply impressive and admirable! I urge you to go to their website and contribute in one way or another: invisiblechildren.com

Also, I was at a dinner at the residence of the Morrocan Ambassador. It was rather surreal for the ten of us to sit with the ambassador, his closest staff, Mrs. Lantos and eachother. One of his staffers worked with the UN for some time and promised to tell me some tricks about how to get in

I have decided to come home in start of June, where I have been offered a job at Amnesty International. Looking forward!

Bueno, before I go in info-overload-mode, I will get up and go out in the niiiice sunshine! Soccer at the mall is scheduled to 12:30 (everybody’s welcome to join in!) Tonight will most likely be filled with drinking and partying as Senior Fellow, Karl, is leaving town to go to Germany.

I hope everyone’s in a state of joy now that spring is soon arriving! I will post some pictues before long- keep an eye out!

Thank you very much for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment,
Jakob

Well, I guess the title of this post is actually a lie- have only been in DC little more than 1 1/2 month by now… But from what I’ve experienced the last couple of weeks, it feels more like 1 1/2 year.

First of all, I’ve met sooo many interesting people! My fellowship program is organized so that we have three different lectures/discussion sessions every Monday. Obviously, the cartoons have been an ever occurrent issue, but we have met with people- all experts on their field, and discussed issues ranging from ‘immigration’ and ‘trafficking’ to ‘international peace building’, ‘federalism’, and ‘Africa’ (the last issue wasn’t exactly dealt with in debth in two hours. I guess that’s more like a two-weeks-without-sleep-issue. For more insight on Africa, click here .

Also, this week has been packed with cultural experiences. I went to the Ford Theater (Yes, that’s where good ol’ Abe Lincoln was shoot dead) and saw a play on ‘the Negroes that knew Lincoln’. I wanted so much to like it… But the acting is seen better in an average fourth grade school play. Yesterday, though, I went to the Kennedy Center to see friends of Elly (and mine, I like to think) from the New York City Ballet dance. It was some of the best ballet I’ve ever seen (and I guess I have seen quite a lot for a seemingly straight guy by now). Of course, we had to go out after the show, which is the root of my current headache…

Today, I met with one of the most inspiring women I’ve ever met. She founded the Airline Ambassadors (definitely check out this site!). I hope to get to work with them somehow. Either way, it’s so inspiring and confirming to se how one person can make such a huge difference with pure faith, drive, will, and desire. Amazing!

Work is good, food is ok, company is top and all in all I can say that I enjoy life in DC!

And so, here I am; trying to get ready to go out and explore the nightlife of DC once again… I hope everyone’s good whereever you’re logging on from!
Thanx for stopping by!

Just finished reading Paul Auster’s ‘Timbuktu’…
The story is pretty much about a dog and its travel through the US of A. Obviously, it’s about so much more, but the storyline never leaves Mr. Bones, the dog. As always, Mr. Auster manage to create characters that seem so alive and real to you in so few words. The dog itself, is dearer, I think, to me, than any real dog has ever been (of course, I’ve never had a dog). I wont comment further on the book here, but instead recommend Paul Auster to anyone that likes litterature that’s fairly easy to get through, and still very different in its form, language and ideas. One of my favorites!
I especially recommend ‘the New York Trilogy’, ‘Mr. Vertigo’, and ‘Leviathan’
For more on Paul himself click here or here
Enjoy!
(have just started ‘Malcolm X’ by Alex Haley. If anyone has read it, I’d be more than happy to have comments)