Notes from the Editor Welcome to the latest issue of Diplomacy World, the first In an effort to generate more letters, I am returning to an of 2011. Somehow, between luck and prayer and the old practice I used in my “letters-only” zine Foolhardy combined dedication of the Diplomacy World Staff and decades ago: after the letter column in each issue of the other contributors to this issue, we’ve managed to Diplomacy World will be at least one “discussion assemble another quality issue for your enjoyment. I question” for you to think about and answer. I’ve probably deserve about 5% of the credit, if that. The included the first of such questions this issue. And if only thing I seem to be REALLY good at is bugging YOU have ideas for future questions, send those along people until they agree to write something, just to get me as well. to shut up! Finally, I was happy to receive more convention ads than Before I go any further, I am very happy to introduce usual. The better we publicize upcoming events, the Matthew Shields as our new Club and Tournament more participation everyone will see! This issue even Editor. This was a position which has been vacant since includes an ad for the upcoming TexiCon 2011, where Jim O’Kelley left it a few issues ago. Jim was an (gasp) yours truly will be running a Diplomacy event. exceptional C&T Editor, so Matthew has some big shoes Drop me an email if you want more information or have to fill. I think his contribution this issue shows he is more any suggestions for me. I’ve never tried this before, and than capable. I’d really like to see the event go well. If you’re in Texas or the surrounding area, consider coming to Forth Worth! One thing which this issue is light on (*well, many issues While TexiCon runs three days, this year the Diplomacy are but this one in particular) is feedback from prior event itself is only on Saturday, May 21st. Perhaps if we issues in the form of letters to the editor. I always find can build a following, next year I’ll do two days! that quite disappointing, because not only does your feedback help make Diplomacy World the best it can be, I’ll close by reminding you the next deadline for but it also reminds everyone that people do read this Diplomacy World submissions is July 1st, 2011. thing! Despite each issue being downloaded thousands Remember, besides articles (which are always prized of times from www.diplomacyworld.net before the next and appreciated), we LOVE to get letters, feedback, issue is released (and still downloaded afterward), we input, ideas, and suggestions too. So email me at simply don’t hear from the readers very much. [email protected]! See you in the Summer, and happy stabbing! Diplomacy World Staff: Managing Lead Editor: Douglas Kent, Email: diplomacyworld of yahoo.com Co-Editor: Jim Burgess, Email: burgess of world.std.com Strategy & Tactics Editor: Joshua Danker-Dake, Email: jadddiplomacy of gmail.com Variant Editor: Jack McHugh, Email: jwmchughjr of gmail.com Interview Editor: Jim Burgess, Email: burgess of world.std.com Club and Tournament Editor: Matthew Shields, Email: mchirchill of gmail.comNEW!! Demo Game Editor: Rick Desper, Email: rick_desper of yahoo.com Technology Editor: Chris Babcock, Email cbabcock of asciiking.com Original Artwork Nemanja Simic, Email: nemanja.painter of gmail.com Contributors in 2011: Jim Burgess, Joshua Danker-Dake, Rick Desper, Thomas Haver, Alex Maslow, The Game Master, Larry Peery, Matthew Shields, Nemanja Simic, Richard Walkerdine. Add your name to the 2011 list by submitting something for the next issue! Contributions are welcomed and will earn you accolades and infinite thanks. Persons interested in the vacant staff positions may contact the managing editor for details or to submit their candidacy or both. The same goes for anyone interested in becoming a columnist or senior writer. Diplomacy is a game invented by Allan Calhamer. It is currently manufactured by Hasbro and the name is their trademark with all rights reserved. Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 2 In This Issue: Editorial: Notes from the Editor by Douglas Kent Page 2 Hobby History: My Life With Ulrika: Part 2 (The Simulacrum) by Richard Walkerdine Page 4 Feature: Xenogogic: An Occasional Column Devoted to the World of Diplomacy by Larry Peery Page 6 Convention Ad: Gencon Indianapolis Ad Page 10 Face to Face: Going Clubbing by Matthew Shields Page 11 Feature: A Hole in the Pouch by Douglas Kent Page 13 Feature: And Then There Were None by Larry Peery Page 15 Theme Article: Social Networks and Diplomacy by Alex Maslow Page 16 Feedback: Knives and Daggers – the Diplomacy World Letter Column Page 17 Convention Ad: Origins Game Fair Diplomacy Tournament Ad Page 18 Convention Ad: World DipCon XXI Ad Page 19 Strategy & Tactics: The Turncoat by Joshua Danker-Dake Page 20 Feature: Diplomacy as a Turing Test Vehicle by Jim Burgess Page 25 Convention News: Selected Upcoming Conventions Page 26 Feature: Thoughts on Changing the Starting Builds (Part 1 of 2) by Alex Maslow Page 27 Convention Ad: Evesham Games Day 2011 Ad Page 30 Feature: Australia: How Do I Love Your Dots? Let Me Count Them All by Larry Peery Page 31 Convention Ad: TexiCon 2011 Ad Page 36 Convention Ad: Buckeye Game Fest XII Ad Page 37 Demo Game: Diplomacy World Demo Game – “Rotary Phones & 8-Track Tapes” 1905 - 1906 Results Page 38 Hobby Service: Ask the GM – An Advice Column for Diplomacy World by “Game Master” Page 66 Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 3 My Life with Ulrika: Part 2 (The Simulacrum) by Richard Walkerdine THE STORY SO FAR. Walkerdine is in a lot of trouble. Having re-launched his zine in order to achieve total Alas, he must have noticed a glimmering of hope on my Hobby domination he has now lost Ulrika again and face, for he soon started giggling again. “Of course,” he been captured by the madman Piggott who has just continued, “I realize I can’t trust you to work on my emerged from the Tardis. Is there any way to escape? It behalf so I can’t actually send you in person. All I need seems unlikely. Now read on... from you Walkerdine is a copy of your body, a simulacrum, and then nobody will be any the wiser.” I entered the Tardis, fearing the worst. The look of hope on my face turned to one of despair as And I was right to do so, for it soon became clear that I slumped back and offered no resistance as the evil my situation was even worse than I feared. I was caught Piggott began the process of generating my duplicate... in some sort of Temporal Press Repeater Interface and trapped in the old ‘X’ game press saga from 1977, six His maniacal laughter sounded shrill in my ears as I years in the past! And the hideously deformed madman watched my simulacrum step into the transporter. In a Piggott took little time in explaining his evil plan. second it was gone, and now surely all hope was lost? But that thought sparked another. Surely I had already re-launched the zine? So how could the simulacrum do the same thing? Or had it already done it, as I remembered? Was I even now caught in an endless loop of time, doomed forever to repeat this cycle of the last thirteen months? But no, that was impossible. An endless time loop would have created an infinite number of duplicates already – the world would already be knee- deep in Walkerdines! So what was happening? I emerged in the middle of the control room and stood for a moment, dazzled by the bright lights. “Richard!” cried a voice behind me. I turned, just in time to catch Ulrika as she flew into my arms. “Oh Richard, at last,” she sobbed, “So you see it’s all very simple really,” he giggled. “I’ve “we thought we’d lost you forever.” I comforted her and already used the Tardis to scan the next few years and I looked around. I saw Diana Ross (with really big hair – now know that the only three people who could thwart looks good, I thought), Batman, two Roman legionnaires, me will all soon be gone. You will fold your zine later this Bart Simpson (what was he doing here?) and even Edi year, Sharp will drop out in 1979 and Bullock will finally Birsan, struggling with the coffee machine. Goodness, I retire in 1980. After that it is only a matter of re-launching thought, he managed a world flight but can’t even handle a zine and, with no opposition, regain my position as a coffee machine? But then I smiled as I realized what Hobby Dictator!” had happened – this was almost too good to be true. Instead of being transported to 1982, as Piggott had But I saw a flaw in his insane scheme. “But surely there planned, I had appeared in October 1983, in the current will still be some people who remember the bad old timeframe of the real Walkerdine! Now I would be able to days. Won’t they oppose you?” I asked, hopefully. simply carry on his place. I could leave the real Walkerdine to his fate back in the past and, with a “That’s where you come in,” he replied, his eyes readymade power base, there would be nothing Piggott gleaming. “You see I’ve thought of everything. I won’t be could do to stop me. I held Ulrika more tightly and began operating under my own name. I’ll be using a front-man, to laugh... someone who has an established reputation. In fact it won’t even be my own zine. No, in 1982 I intend to re- Meanwhile, back in 1977. I slumped back onto the chair launch MAD POLICY, and you will be running it for me!” with a sigh of utter despair. I had been trying for more than an hour to free myself from the mass of chains and I gazed at the madman in total disbelief, barely able to padlocks in which Piggott had covered me, but all I had believe that even such a warped and twisted mind such managed to do was to entangle myself even further. It as his could conceive of such a plot. But then I began to was hopeless. I now realized I was doomed to spend the think more carefully and realized he might have made an rest of my days in the evil clutches of this madman. I enormous error. When he sent me forward to re-launch closed my eyes and let the black cloud of depression the zine I would be re-launching a zine I had already re- drift over me... launched! Perhaps I could get out of this mess after all. Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 4 As quickly as I could I changed the controls of the I turned to look at the area of the room near the coffee temporal viewer. I knew I had only a few minutes – I had machine (damn you Birsan, why are you never there left Diana sleeping but she was sure to wake soon and when you’re needed? – go fly some more planes you come looking for me. But then I let out a sigh of relief as wretch (dammit I helped build most of them)!) I found what I was looking for. There he was, the real Walkerdine, still trussed up in chains and trapped by “Shhh... Is anyone else here?” Piggott in the past. And nobody knew except me! “Richard, what are you up to?” I looked again and gasped in astonishment. It was Melinda Holley! “But, Melinda,” I cried, “how can this be? In a flash I switched off the screen and spun around. It You don’t even enter the Hobby for another seven years. was Ulrika, looking very mean – did she know? Is it really you?” “U-up to?” I stammered. She grinned and shrugged. “Well, in a sense...no. Actually I’m The Doctor, but in a very deep “Don’t play the innocent with me, liebchen. I know you disguise.” too well for that. I just walked by your room and saw that Ross woman slipping out. What’s going on?” “Deep indeed,” I muttered, “but can you get me out of this mess?” My mouth fell open as I finally realized what she was talking about. It was no good; something would have to She (he) giggled and took out a hat-pin. Within a few be done. Taking over the entire Hobby and keeping moments she (he) had undone the padlocks and the these two women apart was more than even I could chains fell away. I was free! manage... “Oh Melinda (Doctor?),” I said, “how can I ever thank I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked deep into her you? But can you get me back to my own timeline?” eyes (that often worked quite well). “No Ulrika,” I said quietly, “it’s not what you think. She’s not the real Diana She (he) smirked. “Of course I can,” was the reply, “as Ross, just a simulacrum. I’m teaching her to be a sort of long as you know the steps.” Starship Trooper and give you some backup. I’m doing it “Steps? What steps?” all for you.” I saw a moment of doubt flicker across her face and “To the Time Warp, you idiot. Don’t they teach you realized I was on the right lines. “Backup?” she asked, anything in DW?” “since when have I needed backup? You know I can rub out people better than anyone!” I closed my eyes. This was a lot to take in all at once. I pulled her close and felt her heart beating furiously, certain now that I had won this battle. “Of course you But Melinda (The Doctor) was having none of it. She can Ulrika,” I murmured, “there is nobody better than (he) brushed down my shirt, looked into my eyes and you. But I just want to be sure you are safe. If I lost you I said, “Right, it’s just a jump to the left!” would lose everything.” “I beg your pardon?” “Oh Richard,” she sighed as she sank into my arms. “It’s the start of the dance you idiot. Follow my lead!” I winced as she (he) began a sort of tuneless warble, something between the golden voice of Barbra Streisand and the rough coughing of Bob Dylan. “It’s just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right. With your hands on your hips, you bring your knees in tight.” I was still aching from Piggott’s chains. “Are you sure this will work?” Meanwhile, back in 1977. “Pssst!” “Then it’s the pelvic thrust... Did my ears deceive me, or was there someone else in That really drives them insa-a-a-a-ane....” the room? Suddenly the door flew open and Piggott rushed in, “Pssst...over here.” muttering something about how simulacra could never Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 5 be trusted to follow orders. But then his voice died away strangely familiar. I looked more closely and then froze, as he saw his erstwhile captive swaying back and forth open-mouthed, as the truth finally hit me – it was me! in front of him, while someone who looked like Melinda Holley twittered a mystical incantation. Alerted by the crash and the shout, Ulrika burst into the room, waving her blaster. Then she stopped, suddenly “LET’S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!” uncertain. “What’s going on?” she snarled, looking from Walkerdine to Walkerdine and then back again. “Which And then they were gone! of you is Walkerdine?” I sat at the vidiscreen for several minutes, waiting for my “He is,” I cried, in a vain attempt at a double bluff. heart to stop beating so furiously and my knees to stop shaking. When I had finally left Ulrika she seemed to be “He is,” I cried, in a vain attempt at a double bluff. mollified but the episode had brought home to me just how thin was the ice on which I was skating. Eventually I Then The Doctor intervened. “Miss Meinhof,” she (he) regained some of my composure and decided to check said, “please put down your blaster. Neither of these two on the prisoner again. I turned the controls to 1977 and men will be able to prove that the other is the was soon looking into the earlier Tardis control room. simulacrum under such pressure. I suggest we hold a But what was this? The screen showed a picture of formal inquest, and as quickly as possible. You will of Piggott running around like a madman (well, nothing new course be able to summon as many witnesses as you there) but in the corner, where Walkerdine should have need from Walkerdine’s murky past in order to test been, there was only a pile of chains! them.” Ulrika looked very uncertain, her eyes still darting back and forth from Walkerdine to Walkerdine. But she Before I could react to this latest shock I heard a crash could think of no other solution and, with a shrug, behind me, followed by a curse and a shout. I spun lowered her blaster and accepted. around to find two bodies entangled on the floor... I noticed my adversary was looking as uneasy as I felt As they picked themselves up I realized that one of them myself. bore a striking resemblance to Melinda Holley (but surely it was too soon for her to enter the Hobby?) and the I noticed my adversary was looking as uneasy as I felt other was a man who looked strangely familiar. I looked myself. more closely and then froze, open-mouthed, as the truth finally hit me – it was me! (TO BE CONTINUED) We materialized in mid air and fell to the floor. I cursed Caution: Objects in Richard Walkerdine’s brain may and Melinda (The Doctor) shouted as I landed on top of be farther away than they appear. her (him). We disentangled ourselves and, as we rose, I realized there was someone else in room that looked XENOGOGIC: An Occasional Column Devoted to the World of Diplomacy by Larry Peery OK, I didn’t spend a lot of time (maybe 10 minutes) staff member of the school newspaper, called The Colt. thinking about what I was going to call this re-birth effort. After a year of writing the usual sports stories, bios of I toyed with the idea of calling it World Diplomacy (how deceased or retiring teachers, etc. my instructor/advisor original), or dip and Diplomacy, or even dip and Dippers, and I had a discussion as to what kind of writing I really but when I tried to explain those last two even I got liked and would be good at. Nothing quite fit. I wasn’t confused by the convoluted peeriblah. So, tradition won detail oriented enough to be an editor. I didn’t care a out, and XENOGOGIC it is. XENOGOGIC was the name hoot about sports. And social gossip wasn’t my thing. of my personal Diplomacy publication dating back to So, we decided, not knowing what else to do with me, 1966. Hobby old-timers may recall it. Newer hobbyists that I would be a regular columnist. probably never have. However, even most old-timers don’t know where the name XENOGOGIC came from. The first two questions were: what to write about and Here’s a bit of really old history. I was in high school what to call my new column. Since I was also a Latin from 1963-1965. I was also a journalism student and a student I thought a Latin name sounded interesting and Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 6 different, which is why a came up with a title based on started in. He began with freedom of the press, the need two Greek words, XENO and GOGIC. As far as I know I to protect sources, and even identities of writers at created the word. The two words meant, in combination, critical times (with an evil look at the principal who was “knowledge” and “all encompassing” or, put simply starting to look a bit gray). Then he turned and looked at “know it all”, which all high school students think they do, me, and the cat was out of the bag. I got two trophies, a of course. Interestingly, if you do search online pen, a new typewriter (which lasted me into the 1980s), dictionaries you’ll find another definition of Xenogogic and a check for $500! Oh, and one very pissed off written by some scholar based on his research in Greek. principal. And that’s how XENOGOGIC came to be. Beware, it’s a fake! So what are our plans for the new XENOGOGIC? Note I So, title chosen, the question was what to write about? I wrote “our” not “my.” That’s because I hope you’ll don’t even remember many of my subjects but I do become an important part of this effort, assuming you remember two columns that were especially popular with haven’t already blown it off or fallen asleep! We plan to my fellow students and equally unpopular with the go back to XENOGOGIC’s roots covering unexpected school principal. One criticized a bond issue, $23 million subjects from unusual angles, but adding to that a focus to build seven new schools. (By contrast the local school on both diplomacy (a la Henry Kissinger) and Diplomacy district where I live now is spending $110 million to build (a la Allan B. Calhamer). We’ll be offering some news, one new high school). The other faulted the school’s features, and opinions; but not a lot of game reports or driver training program. The principal was upset enough stats. That’s just not us. I encourage you to send me an to ban those issues from being distributed off campus, email with your feedback, links to items you may have especially to other school journalism departments or the read online, or your own stories of your experiences in public media. Needless to say they were hot items in the the world of dip and Diplomacy. And, as we go forward I underground press of the day. Oh, one other detail. I hope you‘ll realize that they are indeed one world, not didn’t have my name on the masthead of the column. It two. The over-lap is pretty amazing sometimes. simply said, “TTT Publications.” Nobody, but my instructor and the paper editor knew I was the one Perhaps the best way to give you an idea of what we writing the column. hope to do is to give you an example. So let’s have it. Grab a beer or soda, and relax. Prepare to laugh and shed a few tears as we go back in time in the world of dip & Dip. New York Times, 3 March 2011 How to Lose a Country Gracefully By Bill Keller Keller calls them “two of the greatest losers of the last century.” He’s writing about Mikhail Gorbachev who lost Russia, and F. W. de Klerk who lost the richest country in Africa --- and to the manner in which they lost it.” It’s a thought-provoking and stimulating piece. Let me know whether you agree with him or not. From the desks of Rev. Brian Bailey, Edi Birsan, Dr. Walter Buchanan, and Jim Burgess At the traditional end of the year class awards ceremony, Winter 2010 all the usual awards and scholarships (42 in the sciences, none in the liberal arts, 3 in the fine arts) were Edi, Walter, and Jim shared news of the passing of John read out to the assembled graduates, faculty, and staff Smythe who I fondly remember as a fellow player and to much applause from one and all. I had been told to sit publisher from the 1960s and 1970s. What each with the award winners, but it seemed pretty obvious that mentioned and what I remember was how nice John I hadn’t won anything since I had no ribbons, trophies, or was, even as he was planning to grab you last center! checks to show off. Then, just as the principal (ah, my nemesis reappears) was about to close the ceremony Another old-timer is the Rev. Brian Bailey, a member of the publisher and editor of the local newspaper (a great the LTA Dip group that was active for many years writer and still writing, Neil Morgan. Check him out online beginning in the mid-1960s. Brian recently reappeared in if you want to see some great column writing) walked on the States after spending years in PNG, where he told to the stage. Obviously nobody was expecting that. He me the natives made superb Diplomacy players (and told the students, etc. that he was there to present a being only a generation or two from being real head- special award on behalf of the local journalism society hunters themselves why not?). I’m sure he’d love to hear and national Quill and Pen organization. And then he from other old-timers. Drop him a line at Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 7 [email protected] (I hope that’s right) or PO Box 865, Woodland Hills, CA 91365. From the Media Remembering the Last Doughboy at 110 From the Media Winter 2011 Richard C. Holbrooke and Christopher M. Warren Pass On If Frank Buckles had died in his 60s or 70s, he probably Winter 2010 would not be remembered today at all. But, he was the last surviving doughboy of WWI and lived to be 110. As Holbrooke was a longtime US diplomat and architect of such he has become a vibrant part of his country’s the 1995 Daytona peace accords, and was working on history. Although he was an ambulance driver and a the same sort of task in Afghanistan and Pakistan when non-combatant his story is very moving, especially his he passed away. He was known for being audacious, last battle on behalf of the nation’s District of Columbia combative, and talkative, even something of a bully. The War Memorial’ which comes as close to being a national very qualities that make him successful as a diplomat WWI memorial as any we have. The Memorial needs kept the profession’s top prize, the secretary of state job, repairs badly and Buckles tried to cajole or shame the out of his grasp. Holbrooke was 69. Congress into finding the money to repair and maintain it. Who knows, he may yet win his last victory! First there Former secretary of state Warren M. Christopher was 85 were 4.5 million. And now there are none. at his passing. Christopher was Clinton’s secretary of state from 1993-1996 and logged in 780,000 miles From the New York Times, 5 March 2011 traveling as part of his career, a record that still stands. Father of the Cobra Passes on Two highlights of his career were the Bosnian peace By the Associated Press agreements and negotiating the release of American hostages in Iran. Warren was known as a true Mikhail Simonov, 81, designer of Soviet Air Force planes statesman and one of the country’s premier diplomats. including many of the best designs of the Sukhoi He was also a man of deep roots, born in North Dakota. Company passed on recently. Simon’s Su-27 (e.g. their If Jack McHugh was our Holbrooke, then David Hood equivalent of the US F-15) was known for its cobra was our Warren, a quiet gentleman who spoke softly, but maneuver, which required a skilled pilot to bring the always got his message across. Watching Holbrooke plane to a very slow speed and then point the nose and Christopher working together was the perfect straight up in the air, giving the impression the plane was example of “the good cop, bad cop” syndrome. standing still. The post-Communist Russian government sold hundreds of his planes to foreign countries, bringing “How does this thing end? I don’t know,” he said last in badly needed revenue. summer, talking about the overwhelming obstacles the US faces in Afghanistan and Pakistan . “It is really the From the Boston Globe, 3 March 2001 toughest thing that I’ve ever attempted.” – Richard Gorbachev to Receive Russia’s Highest Honor Holbrooke By the Associated Press “My career, reputation, and effectiveness,” he wrote in Mikhail Gorbachev (see first entry above) will receive his 2001 memoir, “Chances of a Lifetime,” “derived from, Russia ’s highest decoration, the Order of Saint Andrew, and depended upon, my being a private, discreet, from President Dmitry Medvedev at a Kremlin ceremony. reserved, and sometimes modest person.” – Warren M. Gorbachev, 80, presided over the collapse of the Soviet Christopher Union in 1991, and today is far more popular abroad then he is at home. Perhaps he’s best recognized From the New York Times, 2 February, 2011 recently for his appearance in an ad for Louis Vuitton Frank Wisner, the Diplomat Sent to Prod Mubarak luggage. If you know the ironical story behind that, let By Sheryl Gay Stolberg me know. I’ll be impressed. Seventy-two year old retired ambassador, businessman From the Daily News, 9 February 2011 and foreign policy realist, Wisner is among the few Russia Celebrates Day of Diplomats surviving former top government officials who served By Buddhapriya Ramanayake when America was “the” super-power and world cop. Proving that even an old warhorse still has its uses, he The date of the holiday, 10 February, is associated with served as Bush’s peace negotiator in Kosovo, and then the history of Russia ’s first foreign affairs agency, the opposed the Iraqi war against Bush’s wishes. No doubt “Posolsky Prikaz”. On that day in 1549, falls its first he’ll still be around for future missions if he lays off the mention and clerk Ivan Viskovaty became its first head martinis. by being “entrusted with the ambassadorial business.” Today Russia has diplomatic relations with 191 “One of the supreme American diplomats of the last 30 countries. The Foreign Affairs Ministry has 236 to 40 years.” – R. Nicholas Burns embassies, consulates, and representative offices Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 8 attached to international organizations. Now that’s A Witness Sees History, Restaged and Rewritten bureaucratic growth! By Max Frankel From the New York Times, 3 February 2011 From USA Today, 21 March 2011 As Crisis Unfolds Overseas, Diplomats Gather in Home of 1,400 Calorie Monster Burger Shapes Up Washington with Turkey Burger By Brian Knowlton By Bruce Horowitz Nearly all the top US diplomats from around the world Frankel, one of the great NY Times writers of the last met here recently, summoned by Secretary of State century, writes about what it was like to be in Beijing for Hillary Rodham Clinton to consider new strategies to the Nixon-Mao meetings himself, and then reviews the energize diplomacy and streamline development, but revival of John Adam’s opera “Nixon in China .” Did you their arrival coincided with one of the most tumultuous know that the only time Air Force One was flown by a moments for American diplomacy in recent memory. foreign crew was on the last leg of its flight into Beijing Suddenly focus has shifted from Afghanistan , Pakistan , for that meeting? Horowitz reports that CKE Restaurants and Iraq to the Mediterranean littoral. The world is in (e.g. Carl’s Junior) is adding a low calorie turkey burger flame, and in Japan that’s quite literal. Mrs. Clinton to its usual fat-loaded line of hamburgers, etc. I can’t called the meeting a “first-ever in American history all- wait to try one. Maybe for Thanksgiving Dinner. hands-on-deck ambassadorial conference.” Now that’s a World DipCon! From Slate, 30 November 2010 What’s a “diplomatic cable”? From the New York Times, 22 March 2011 By Brian Palmer Arab Revolts Force Diplomats to Remake Lives and Careers I love Slate. If you don’t read it regularly you should. In By Sheryl Gay Stolberg light of the recent Wiki Leaks case (And what do you think of it?) Palmer examines the question, “What’s the Job Wanted: Gainful Employment as Professional difference between a modern-day cable and an e-mail?” Diplomat. Prefer non-Arab location. Former Libyan Do you know? It’s more interesting than you might think, ambassador to USA seeks permanent, secure position. especially if you’re a hobby publisher, editor, or writer; or Assets include: one ex-embassy, located on the just want to be a better informed reader. seventh-floor of the Watergate; one Mercedes (low miles), one Audi, etc. Philippine support staff optional. Next Time Date TBA From the Media By Larry Peery New Books to Watch For! Larry Peery Next time, assuming there is one and that largely depends on you, I’d like to explore two topics: War Do people still read real books? Here’s a few to watch Memorials and Monuments, especially those located in for. Donald Rumsfeld, the man I love to hate, has the countries of the classic Diplomacy board and dating recently published his memoir, “Known and Unknown.” from the WWI era; and second, the Dip Femme Fatale Rumsfeld’s book is a masterpiece --- of finding ways to Triplets: Madeleine, Condi, and Hillary. Yes, that’s what avoid responsibility for his mistakes and ways to blame I’m thinking about. If you’ve visited any of the WWI others for his failures. memorials and monuments in Europe or North America ( Canada and the USA ), and have a story or picture to “The harder I work, the luckier I am.” – Donald Rumsfeld share, please do. And if you have any thoughts about the diplomatic careers of these three ladies, by all “The Mozart Conspiracy” hits thrilling, suspenseful notes. means to share those as well. If you do any comparisons Imagine if Mozart had collaborated with Tom Clancy with female Diplomacy players, by all means give it a instead of Ponti, with Dan Brown as editor. That’s what go? Margaret Gemignani, Kathy Byrne-Caruso, Melinda this one promises to be. Holley --- which one reminds you of whom? “Sun Tzu at Gettysburg : Ancient Military Wisdom in the That’s it. Modern World” offers a really different look at this, perhaps the most important battle in US history. I Larry Peery has long been a fixture in the Diplomacy guarantee you one thing. After you read it, your opinion community – sometimes more noticeable, of Robert E. Lee will never be the same! sometimes less. He was also Lead Editor and Publisher of Diplomacy World for a sizeable period From the New York Times, 11 February 2011 , and (issues #41 through #59). USA Today Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 9 GENCON INDIANAPOLIS 26th ANNUAL DIPLOMACY TOURNAMENT th th August 4 - 7 Four qualifying rounds of Diplomacy running from Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning. The seven best country winners are selected to compete for the championship on Saturday night, which is played until a concession or solo is achieved. GenCon is held at the Indianapolis Convention Center in downtown Indy. Register for the tournament through the GenCon registration system, which also gives you access to hotel room blocks in the downtown area. "Gen Con Indy is the original, longest running, best attended, gaming convention in the world. For nearly 40 years, Gen Con Indy has been setting the trend and breaking records. Last year, more than 26,000 unique attendees experienced Gen Con Indy. The biggest complaint we hear is that there is simply too much to do, see, and experience. Get lost in a phantasm of art exhibits. Stare at jaw-dropping costumes, or better yet, wear one of your own. Meet the movers and the shakers in the gaming industry. Check out the newest games and get a sneak peek at the latest editions." Contact Thomas Haver for details at [email protected] http://www.gencon.com/2011/indy/default.aspx Diplomacy World #113 – Spring 2011 - Page 10