Response to Tom's Post about Libya

Thanks for your post Tom. Yes we have failings in US foreign policy. And yes, when you wrote your post the situation for the Libyan people was deteriorating, and we can only hope that intervention will end with a Libyan government representative of the will of the Libyan people. And it is positive that we have invoked UN Chapter 7 and gained the support of the Arab League.

And we can only agree with the thrust of the WSJ editorial that killing peaceful protesters should be stopped. But the subtitle, “Libya is what a world without U.S. leadership looks like,” is, to say the least, highly problematic.

First of all it should be reworded to read, “Libya is what a world with U.S. leadership looks like.” Where did those weapon used to suppress peaceful protesters come from? Who is the greatest arms supplier to repressive regimes? How does our military industrial complex factor in? How does the US empire with its military installation and bases in most of the countries of the world relate to the problems of people in our world?

This is from http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/169760.html (with the sources noted in the quote):

“The U.S. State department controls the flow of American weaponry and weapons systems to other countries. Various reports indicate that U.S. arms are being used against people who have risen against their autocratic governments in the Middle East and Northern Africa that are longtime U.S. allies.

“The reports cast light on the fact that Washington's allies use American arms against their own peacefully protesting citizens.

“US arms sales to Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen

“The U.S. government approved $40 billion in worldwide private arms sales in 2009, including more than $7 billion to Mideast and North African nations that are struggling with political upheaval, according to newly released government figures. AP

“But they did reduce the sales approvals to Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan government to $15 million that year from $46 million in 2008. Daily Mail

“The State figures detailed sales of U.S. defense items for Egypt ($101 million) and Bahrain ($88 million). Daily Mail”

What kind of “leadership” has the world seen from the US? A short list: Iran, Vietnam, Chile, Nicaragua, Indonesia, Saddam, Pinochet, Mubarak, Gadaffi; resisting efforts to mitigate climate change, against the IWC, against the anti mine and cluster bomb treaties; spreading toxic assets and bringing down economies, etc., etc..

The mind set of Americans needs to change. We need to fully understand what our military industrial intelligence security media complex and our empire does to us and the world. We need to understand the State’s disregard for people here and in other countries. Then we need to act, like the Egyptians, sensibly and responsibly.

If not us …. ?

"If not the USA, who?"

At the beginning of this blog in early January, John & Ellen Brightly and I exchanged posts in a brief dialogue. The Brightlys reviewed the multiple failings of U.S. foreign policy, with which I did not disagree. Because this review referred to John Francis' account of Denis' challenge to the early Chorus, "If not you, who?," I framed the Brightlys' implicit question as, "If not the USA, who?"

Today, the deteriorating situation in Libya increases the saliency of this question, as indicated by this eloquent editorial from today's Wall Street Journal. I welcome your responses...

The Obama Doctrine

Libya is what a world without U.S. leadership looks like.

'This is the Obama conception of the U.S. role in the world—to work through multilateral organizations and bilateral relationships to make sure that the steps we are taking are amplified."

—White House National Security Council spokesman Ben Rhodes, March 10, 2011, as quoted in the Washington Post

"They bombed us with tanks, airplanes, missiles coming from every direction. . . . We need international support, at least a no-fly zone. Why is the world not supporting us?"

—Libyan rebel Mahmoud Abdel Hamid, March 10, 2011, as quoted in The Wall Street Journal

***

Whatever else one might say about President Obama's Libya policy, it has succeeded brilliantly in achieving its oft-stated goal of not leading the world. No one can any longer doubt the U.S. determination not to act before the Italians do, or until the Saudis approve, or without a U.N. resolution. This White House is forthright for followership.

That message also couldn't be clearer to Moammar Gadhafi and his sons, who are busy bombing and killing their way to victory against the Libyan opposition. As the U.S. defers to the world, the world can't decide what to do, and the vacuum is filled by a dictator and his hard men who have concluded that no one will stop them. "Hear it now. I have only two words for our brothers and sisters in the east: We're coming," said Gadhafi's son, Saif al-Islam, on Thursday.

Three weeks into the Libyan uprising, here are some of the live action highlights from what Mr. Obama likes to call "the international community":

• The United Nations Security Council has imposed an arms embargo, but with enough ambiguity that no one knows whether it applies only to Gadhafi or also to the opposition. Even the U.S. State Department and White House don't agree.

• The U.N. has referred events to the International Criminal Court for a war crimes investigation. Mr. Obama said yesterday this sent a message to Gadhafi that "the world is watching," as if Gadhafi didn't know. But it also sends a message that leaving Libya without bloodshed is not an option, because he and his sons will still be pursued for war crimes. Had Reagan pursued this strategy in the Philippines, Marcos might never have gone into exile.

• France has recognized the opposition National Council in Benghazi, though the U.S. is only now sending envoys to meet with the opposition for the first time. Dozens of Western reporters can get rebel leaders on the phone, an opposition delegation has visited French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, but the U.S. is still trying to figure out who these people are. The American envoys better hurry because the rebels may soon be dead.

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• The French want a no-fly zone, but the Italians and Germans object. NATO is having "a series of conversations about a wide range of options," as President Obama put it yesterday, but NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen emerged from a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday saying that "We considered . . . initial options regarding a possible no-fly zone in case NATO were to receive a clear U.N. mandate" (our emphasis). The latter isn't likely because both China and Russia object, but no doubt NATO will keep conversing about the "range of options" next week.

• Even as opposition leaders were asking for help, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the world on Thursday that Gadhafi is likely to win in the long-term. The Administration scrambled to say this was merely a factual judgment about the balance of military power, but the message couldn't be clearer to any of Gadhafi's generals who might consider defecting: Do so at your peril because you will join the losing side.

We could go on, but you get the idea. When the U.S. fails to lead, the world reverts to its default mode as a diplomatic Tower of Babel. Everyone discusses "options" and "contingencies" but no one has the will to act, while the predators march.

This was true in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s until the U.S. shamed Europe and NATO into using force with or without a U.N. resolution. And it has been true in every case in which the world finally resisted tyrants or terrorists, from the Gulf War to Afghanistan to Iraq. When the U.S. chooses to act like everyone else, the result is Rwanda, Darfur and now Libya.

***

One difference in Libya is that the damage from a Gadhafi victory would not merely be humanitarian, though that would be awful enough. The only way Gadhafi can subdue Benghazi and the east now is with a door-to-door purge and systematic murder. The flow of refugees heading for Southern Europe would also not be small.

If Gadhafi survives after Mr. Obama has told him to go, the blow to U.S. prestige and world order would be enormous. Dictators will learn that the way to keep America from acting is to keep its diplomats and citizens around, while mowing down your opponents as the world debates contingencies. By the time the Babelers make a decision, it will be too late. This is a dangerous message to send at any time, but especially with a Middle East in the throes of revolution.

There is still time for Mr. Obama to salvage his Libya policy, though the costs of doing so are rising every day. Libya today is what a world without U.S. leadership looks like.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703597804576194690095426116.html

YRC at The White House, September 1994 - Singing for Yeltsins and Clintons

The Yale Russian Chorus sings for the Yeltsins and the Clintons at The White House, Washington D.C. , September 27, 1994


recounted by Bob Anderson (YRC ’87-94, randerson13@nycap.rr.com) on October 15, 1994

The Yale Russian Chorus would always have a rousing kick-off concert each September in mammoth Woolsey Hall.  After attending frequently over 15 years, I joined the group in 1987. The 40^th anniversary concert last year was the most moving musical experience of my life. Denis Mickiewicz, the founding conductor, and over 120 alumni returned. We were 150 strong on stage, bathed in an extraordinary sound.

When I called David Marc Finley, our conductor, to tell him that I would not be able to sing in the annual fall concert because of a death in my family, I learned that the group had just been invited to sing at the White House the next Tuesday for Boris Yeltsin at a state dinner. There was still time to join in; David could submit my Social Security number for a security check. I was fortunate to sing with the chorus in December 1987 for the Gorbachovs at a State Department luncheon. Here was another chance of a lifetime.

The YRC rendezvous was to be 5:00 PM Tuesday at the Lincoln Memorial for a warm-up and 6:30 at the White House. When no one was at the Lincoln Memorial at the appointed hour, I hightailed it to the east wing entrance, finding Brett and Jamie at security check. Yes, security had our names and we were welcome to go inside, the first to arrive. A social coordinator anxiously came to meet us, asking where the rest were. Jamie had gotten a call that the bus from New Haven was late but in D.C. Some things never change. We are hardly ever punctual but miraculously always ready just before the curtain goes up.

From the doorway of the east wing, we spotted the bus pulling up at 6:55, to our relief as well. It would not have worked as a Yale Russian trio… no first tenor. Ushered into a side room for a briefing about protocol, we heard the plan for the evening. We would sing before and after the dinner, at 7:30 and 10:00 PM.  A nervous warm-up and wave of witty comments filled our 20 minute waiting time. We were taken down a long corridor and up a staircase to the corner of the East Room, where risers had been put in place next to large portraits of Martha Washington and William McKinley.

We were to be background music when the reception began at 7:30; each guest and companion would be announced over us as they appeared at the door. In the other corner was the U.S. Marine orchestral ensemble who would share the air time with us. “We haven’t’ come this far to be background music,” said David. He told us to loosen up, look alive, don’t gape, and look at him now and then. Before the first guest of the parade was announced, we began a folk song in full form. Pretty soon there was a raucous cocktail party of politicians, diplomats, celebrities and media personalities milling around in front of us. We were drawing attention and curious glances as we sang about love and adventure, having a great time competing with the loud conversation.

Barbara Walters accompanied by David Geffen was announced. In the growing sea of people Speaker of the House Tom Foley, Minority Leader Robert Michal, Senator Patrick Leahy, Rep. Lee Hamilton, Secy. Lloyd Bentsen, Secy. William Perry, and Secy. Christopher Warren were seen. Notable entrances included the Russian delegation that moved like a school of fish to our side and Vice Pres. and Mrs. Al Gore, a pathway opening for them. The Russian delegation was not mingling but nervously listening and commenting on our singing, responding with elbows in each other’s ribs and sending out hearty applause.  One Russian diplomat discovered a narrow horizontal mirror over the fireplace, put his glass on the mantel and proceeded to comb his hair. Working around the periphery were waiters with appetizers and drinks, making furtive glances at each other.

There were many famous and glamorous people. Kathleen Battle, the stunning opera star in full-length red gown, stood before us with her escort and listened with intent and delight, ignoring guests around her until Van Cliburn came in. He made a beeline to her for a showy hug. Later, he and Lloyd Bentsen exchanged a hearty Texan embrace. John Williams weaved through the crowd and approached Battle. Steven Spielberg seemed to know everyone. Tom Brokaw came in the side door, relying upon his wife to generate conversation.

We were stopped in mid-song when the announcement of the arrival of The President, Mrs. Clinton and the Yeltsins was made. The ensemble immediately broke into, “Hail to the Chief.” Everyone watched the door in anticipation. They never entered the room. After a temporary letdown, marked with curiously darting eyes, the cocktail party resumed.

Kathleen Battle had already captivated us with her attention and applause throughout the reception. David bowed and kissed her hand in gratitude, and we gave her a round of applause. She was to sing after the dinner when all would return to this room. Van Cliburn gave us signs of approval when he was by her side. As the reception ended and the baton handed back to the ensemble, guests began to line up to enter the dining room. When Gershwin’s “Bess You is My Woman Now” filled the emptying room, Kathleen Battle flowed over, stood behind the conductor and, without invitation, buoyantly sang lyrics she could fit into the arrangement.

We returned to our room downstairs, took turns sharing the chairs and local newspapers and tried to absorb the wonder of it all. Some were getting hungry and a scouting party found vending machines nearby. Soon small packages of pretzels and chips appeared, washed down by communal cans of soda.  Adrenaline sated the hunger and long wait. We were next to sing on risers from an alcove of the corridor between the dining room and the East Room where guests would move for a concert by Ms. Battle. The Clintons and Yelstins would stop by us. The moment was arriving. I was excited but not suffering from wobbly knees like the time we sang for Gorbachev at the State Dept in 1987. Now I knew the music.

We were escorted upstairs to the bustling corridor. Young military officers in formal dress and White House social staff set an easy yet deliberate pace of preparation and well orchestrated activity. No one was out of place. Groups were ushered around, cues signaled. This was presidential formality, not rigid but comfortable. We moved in place to the risers, set center stage with a great view. The press and staff, ushered to the sidelines, clustered around columns. When a distance voice announced that the President was coming and we broke into song. From here the story deserves the present tense.

The Clintons and Yeltsins, chatting with each other, turn and stand before us just 15 feet away. Yeltsin is elated, pumping his hands up and down to the rythym. Clinton is standing with a wide-eyed  look, smiling broadly. Mrs. Clinton, in a stunning red satin dress, steps around from behind Yelstin, watching him and glancing at Bill joyously. Mrs. Yelstin remains lost in the second row behind her husband. By this time other guests have filled in creating a circle around the hosts and guests of honor. As we finish the first number Yeltsin breaks into hearty applause, puts his arm around Bill, and turns to show his delight to all gathered. He wants more.

After a second number, also a folk song, Yeltsin begins to sing a song for us to join, but it is not in our repertoire. He joins us when we sing the great soldier song of the War of 1812, Borodino. He puts his hands over his head in dramatic applause and turns to everyone to keep the cadence. He again puts his arm around Clinton, this time at his waist, and just about lifts him up on his hip. Clinton is momentarily taken back but keeps applauding and laughing. Together, they are two big bruisers, Yelstsin just a little broader and taller.

 Our alum Drew Day, US Solicitor General and guest at the dinner, joins us to sing, ankle in a cast aided by crutches. When we begin to sing the love song Kalinka, the rhythm adjusted to encourage traditional clapping, Drew, a first tenor, takes the first solo. David, our conductor, takes the second. After vigorous response, Clinton steps forward to congratulate and embrace Drew, fellow Yale Law School grad. Yeltsin steps forward to congratulate David, gives him a big hug, which David reciprocates with the traditional three kisses to the cheeks. We all are applauding and cheering as well in a wave of excitement.

At this point the social coordinator whispers into Clinton’s ear. Yeltsin, sensing the shift insists upon another song, turning around animatedly for everyone to stay. We sing  to a thunderous response. Farewells are said and the foursome moves to a private room across from the alcove. Now most of the 150 guests, still in the dining room, begin to move past us into the East Room as we continue to sing. Helen Thomas, senior correspondent, loudly exclaims her approval.

Once the 150 guests are in place, the private room doors open and the Clintons guide their guests to the formal entertainment. We get one last wave from Yeltsin and Clinton. It is 10:40 PM. As soon as they are out of sight, we are given the sign in midsong to stop. We will not be allowed to stay in the corridor to hear Ms. Battle. Our glorious moment has come and gone. We have been a big hit and everyone tells us so.

Within 10 minutes we were back out on the street, trying to name the notables we had seen, saying our goodbyes. The bus would proceed to a motel in Virginia for the night. I walked along Pennsylvania Avenue to my car past people holding onto the black iron fence looking for a glimpse of activity in the White House. I decided to drive as far north as I could before my adrenaline stopped. On the road by 11 PM, I joined a caravan of 18-wheelers on a clear starry night, pulling in home in New Haven at 4:15 AM. The adrenaline finally shut off at 5 AM and I fell asleep.

That’s my recollection of how it happened, a glorious once-in-a-lifetime experience, singing at the White House for the Clintons and Yeltsins. The Yale Russian Chorus once again participated in a celebration of goodwill and peace-building.

Is This Not An Important Moment for Chorus Discussions?

Are we not all Egyptians?

But if so, which ones?

Lordy, these Muslim and Christian Egyptians want self-determination, an end to tyranny! What is going on here? And we didn’t even have to invade them.

What is, what should be, our response to Egypt’s (US supported) rulers killing three hundred of their people, arresting or disappearing perhaps over a thousand (according to Amnesty International) because they were peacefully attempting to free themselves?

First Washington sent its consultative envoy who reported back that Mubarak should be given the time to write his legacy!

When Obama went to Cairo, he made a gesture of friendship to the Muslim world.

Now he wants to substitute for Mubarak Mubarak’s intelligence general, known for torture (important for our renditions), to oversee the transition – to what? The Egyptian people know better and we see them reacting in disappointment against the US.

Was this not the perfect moment for our government to stand with Muslim people to help them? Even if for self serving reasons? Would not gaining their good will begin to redress the legacy/consequences of our support for their dictators, etc.? Would it not help take away the most important recruitment tool from Al Quaeda? Would it not help to help to undo some of the effects of our blundering into Bin Laden’s trap by invading Iraq? Would it not be more cost effective than our military efforts which tend to create more enemies? (Would it not benefit us more than the efforts of some of our Congressional Representatives to criticize Muslims in the US for not cooperating more with the authorities – even though their premise has been refuted.)

Robert Fisk of the Independent reports that when he wrote down the English markings on tanks in Tahrir Square the Egyptian military chased him (he ran and escaped into the crowd which is fortunate because the military has been arresting reporters). He reports that the markings included MR which he takes to mean Military Reserve, prepositioned weapons owned by the US, a telling detail related to our empire.

Questions about the relationship between the state and the people were important in the early days of the Chorus – then with regard to the USSR and by comparison with the US. Are they not now? With all of the Chorus’s experience and expertise do we not have something to offer now? If not now ---

P.S. Thanks Henry McHenry for your posting. In a sense we have a “gig” with the White House because we all vote for the occupants and can exercise our freedom to speak out about their policies. Wouldn’t it be helpful for us to first speak amongst ourselves about how the US is ruled and about empire and then do some cultural exchange in the US?

JBrightlyYRCCorrespondence@gmail.com

How can we hitch art to the right transformer?

posted by Henry McHenry (YRC '69-'73)

As one who joined the Chorus after the initial burst of energy -- I don't remember the story of Denis' seismic remark, but I can sense its impact among the people to whom I now belong -- I say sign me up. Even if the Brightlys' resume of the status quo were onesided, it's clear that we need to shift (if not sweep away) an "underlying structure" of cant, of ignorance, of betrayal. And it’s too easy an out to say that with our musical contribution we should be paving the way to the promised land we not only envision but know, intimately and concretely. How is art to be hitched to the right transformers? Can the 92^nd St Y be such a voltage amplifier? What other connections need to be made? Have we ever been in the White House? Seems like it might be a propitious time to get a gig there. Where are the levers? Can we get Hillary invited to the Y?

Thanks for the poke, John & Ellen.

As for another subject, how about stories of where we are in our various lives now? I feel barely acquainted with most of us. So after thirty years as an English teacher and outdoor instructor and exercise leader, I went to nursing school for an RN and found out how much older I am than I think I am. I got the RN, but now have to contemplate actually working full time (the only way they’ll hire a new graduate). There’s lots of others than me to do that, so pace Denis, I may stick to blogging, now that this avenue has opened.

Henry McHenry Jr (’69 -’73)

Historical prologue for 92nd St Y concert in NYC in Jan 2011

Remarks by Harald Hille (my commentary was ad lib, slides are taken from the PowerPoint presentation)

The Yale Russian Chorus is a curious phenomenon, part singing group, part fraternity, part discussion group, that started in 1953 at Yale at the height of the Cold War, when exhibiting a strong interest in matters Russian and Soviet was rather suspect in some powerful circles in the USA.

Yale in 1953 had a Russian Club, which actively, although in a purely academic context, pursued topics in Russian culture and history and the history and workings of the Soviet Union. Students and faculty had almost no access to direct observation, no opportunity to travel, but they wanted to go beyond the constraints imposed by the Cold War, the Red Scare and the mutual demonization operating in both East and West.

The climate of fear was much exacerbated by military doctrines such as Mutually Assured Destruction. Since much of fear is based on ignorance, we wanted to overcome ignorance.

The President of the Yale Russian Club in 1953 was George Litton, an engineering student of Russian parentage, who invited Denis Mickiewicz to give a talk/demonstration on Russian folk songs. Denis was a piano student at the Yale Music School and was born in Latvia of Russian parents. His family emigrated from from Latvia to Poland during the war and from Salzburg in Austria to the USA after the war. Denis came to the Russian Club armed with some scores, his guitar and some vodka. The result was inevitable: a Russian Chorus was formed.

The Chorus soon had about 12-15 members, mostly students of Russian, and after a few months began singing locally.  Denis's model for a Russian men's chorus was Serge Jaroff's Don Cossack Choir, which he had come to know in Austria. The photos show a YRC performance at the New Haven YMCA in 1955 and a chance meeting with Serge Jaroff in the Balalaika restaurant in NYC. As the repertoire grew, including some religious pieces, and the frequency of performances increased, the Chorus became conscious of its role in preserving a musical tradition that was being suppressed in the Soviet Union and in presenting a human face of Russia to Americans.

In early 1958 the Lacy-Zarubin agreement on cultural exchange between the USSR and  the USA was signed, allowing for visits by groups, scholars and tourists from each country. The Chorus now had an opportunity to see Russia at first hand and become cultural ambassadors without portfolio, presenting a human face of America to Russians.

The Chorus began traveling to the USSR in the summer - 3 trips from 1958 to 1960. Each time, we went as tourists not as a singing group.  We did sing, of course, but informally in parks and squares as we walked around town.  We would open with some American songs, often Negro spirituals, and then switch to Russian songs, which had an enormous impact on the crowds listening to us, who then kept us going in conversations late into the evening.  After the 1960 trip, we realized that some of the people we had been talking to had got into difficulties with the authorities.  Not wishing to harm people by our contacts and believing that genuine cultural exchange required open dialog, we stopped going to the USSR for a while and turned towards formal concert tours in Western Europe.

These photos show crowds on Red Square in 1958 and a letter from Sen. Hubert Humphrey endorsing the YRC in 1960.

The Western European trips involved formally arranged concerts in various countries.  The left-hand photos show a review from San Sebastian in Spain and a poster from Paris.  The right-hand photo captures a very dramatic occasion when the Chorus sang next to the spot of the Berlin Wall where a young East German, Peter Fechter, was shot and killed by East German border guards as he was trying to escape over the Wall.  There were East German border guards in the dark windows with machine guns trained on the YRC as we sang.

In 1968 we met a Georgian chorus in a Budapest cafe and exchanged songs all evening. They taught us our first Georgian songs. Later the Chorus would visit Georgia along with European Russia.  The YRC in the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s typically had about 25-30 singers, gave 30 or so concerts during the year and tried to tour in Europe or the USSR once every 2-3 years.

In 1968 we also made our first visit to the Balkans and picked up some Balkan songs. That summer many of us also visited the Eastern Orthodox monastery complex on Mt. Athos, a peninsula in Greece in the northern Aegean Sea.

The YRC has made a number of recordings, including this one with Philips in 1963, an opportunity we gained by winning the first prize for men's choruses at the Lille International Choral Festival in 1962.

The 1959 LP was our first recording and the 2010 CD is our latest, recorded at Duke with Denis Mickiewicz in 2009.

There have been a number of singing groups that have spun off the YRC: a women's chorus at Yale, the Yale Slavic Chorus, which sings mostly Balkan music; Slavyanka in San Francisco, a men's Russian chorus started by some YRC alumni in SF; and Iveria and Kartuli, Georgian groups started by YRC alumni in Boston and New York.

There is still a Yale Russian Chorus that sings at Yale.  It is a smaller and less active group and they have broken with the Mickiewicz tradition since 1995.  Since they sing mostly different music and in a different style, we can longer sing in their concerts nor can they sing in our alumni concerts.  That means that since 1995 we no longer get new alumni and the aging of our alumni group becomes unavoidable.

The alumni gather to sing concerts about once a year in various cities and towns where one of us lives. Typically we rehearse for a day and a half, have a banquet and perform the next day. There have also been major reunion concerts at Yale in the past, several of which have produced recordings. The photos show the 25th Anniversary (1978) and 50th Anniversary (2003) concerts in Woolsey Hall at Yale.

The photos show an alumni concert at SUNY Purchase in the late 1990s and another at Duke University (where Denis is now an emeritus professor) in 2005.

In 2007 Catherine Mattingly made a documentary on the YRC, based on archival footage and photographs and her own coverage of the preparations for the 50th Anniversary.

Photos: YRCAA-Slavyanka Concert

Photos from the YRCAA-Slavyanka Concert (Nov. 2010):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=334519&id=728319487&l=dcf3954b82