Perspectives on power and music, plus diplomatic comings and goings.

By Gail Scott

Benny Goodman performs for a young audience in Red Square. Moscow, Soviet Union, 1962 (Courtesy of the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Benny Goodman Papers, Yale University)

What’s Power on Embassy Row?
To many, power on Embassy Row means getting instant return calls from the White House. Others count the number of Cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court justices they can attract to a dinner. Some count their Sunday morning talk show appearances as badges of power.

But on the fifth anniversary of the American occupation of his country, Iraqi Ambassador Sameer Shaker Sumaidaie wishes he had less “power.”“I don’t see myself as ‘powerful,’ he said recently. “In the old days, when communication was so different, ambassadors wielded the influence of their nation in the host country. The British ambassador in a small country projected the power of the whole empire. Today, communication is much more direct between heads of state.”

Read the full story

One envoy says ‘I do;’ another says ‘I don’t’

By Gail Scott

Portuguese Ambassador João de Vallera plants a deft kiss upon the hand of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Eastern Inaugural ball at Union Station.

Diplomatic Nuptials
Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir is a bachelor no longer! While we weren’t watching he got married to beautiful widow Farah Al-Fayez, 27, with whom he is now living (along with her six-year-old twins) in his McLean ambassadorial residence. Everything was below the radar until someone noticed that Al-Jubeir, 47, was smiling a lot more.

Another Arab ambassador who is young and quite handsome may be available again. If you were invited to the March 7 wedding, don’t worry about buying this dashing envoy a gift. The nuptials are off and no one is sure why. His staff is as shocked as the rest of us.

Inaugural Keepsakes
It’s already March, but diplomats are still trading inaugural photos of each other as if they were baseball cards. A special favorite: the one of dapper Portuguese Ambassador João de Vallera kissing the hand of not-yet-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Eastern Ball at Union Station. De Vallera himself captured another “the-world-is-one-place” moment of his Jordanian colleague, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, with his red native head scarf against the gorgeous blue sky.

Read the full story