Tag: Middle East
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Backgammon in Iran
This episode of the SoftPower/FulStories podcast features John Limbert’s experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer and diplomat in Iran.
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Profile: Christopher Hill
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He would be alone, learning a new culture much as he had as a Peace Corps volunteer in Buea, Cameroon, navigating ambiguity by instinct.
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We Interrupt the Regularly-Scheduled Program…
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The start of war against Iran by Israel and the United States requires recognition of others’ service and misery before resuming regularly-scheduled programming on Peace.
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Hostage Crisis III and the Ghosts of Camelot
Metrinko was cleaned up and brought to meet Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Ali Khamenei. In the room were a camera crew and the SFIL spokesperson, Niloufar Ebtekar
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Peace Corps Turkey and Iran
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Before enduring 444 days of captivity at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Michael Metrinko served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey (1968-70) and Iran (1970-73).
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Profile: Michael Metrinko
Afghan Finance Minister Ghani steeped Metrinko and Peace Corps Director Vasquez in nostalgia from his years learning English and basketball with PCVs in Kabul
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Iran Hostage Crisis II
Limbert’s poise, broadcast in Iran and around the world, leveraged Khamenei’s own culture into a polite message discrediting those holding the Americans captive
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Profile: John Limbert
Even after 5 months as a hostage John Limbert retained his identity as a diplomat, engaging Iran’s future Supreme Leader in language and custom Khamenei couldn’t ignore
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Marine Security Guards at 70
The Marine Security Guard program this week celebrated 70 years protecting U.S. diplomatic missions around the world. Happy Fourth of July to the Ambassadors in Blue. Two books covering their service, one non-fiction, the other fiction: Greg Matos’ Shattered Glass—The Story of a Marine Embassy Guard… recounts the December 2004 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.…
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Peter Van Buren–We Meant Well
Van Buren’s book stands shoulder-to-shoulder with many other great war books. The food is bad and the environment gritty. The Colonel’s in charge; body armor’s strapped on; everybody piles into helos or Humvees to leave base. A young soldier, comrade torn by hot shrapnel, ignores the bloody gristle staining his cheek to stop the damn bleeding.…
