January 2008

Reflections on the Balkan Winter

Planes, trains and renegade cabbies. Turkish coffee served in American-sized cups. A Muslim brewery in Sarajevo and a Rugby Pub in Ljubljana. A conversation in Sarajevo about the San Francisco based President of a professional association I belong to. And the highways, byways and Cyrillic advertising of Republika Srpska.

Those were some of the enduring memories of my wintry whirlwind trip to the Balkans, touching on four countries of Former Yugoslavia and capped off with New Years in Budapest. I've written about them in much detail in the previous postings below--also capturing adventures like the Night Train to Vienna (from which I was evacuated) and two days in the not-ready-for-the-First-World Serbian capital of Belgrade. I've also posted an album, available through a link at the appointed location.

Would love your thoughts--particularly if you've spent some time in the region!

Primary Colo(u)rs

The US political season is off to a roaring start, with no clear leader in either the Republican or Democratic races for the Presidency. Indeed, with Hillary Clinton's resurgence in New Hampshire and no less than three Republicans winning early state contests, the possibility that these contests will turn into four-month, knock-down, drag-out bloodbaths becomes more tantalising by the day.

The battle for delegates will head to some unlikely places on February 5, when Democrats Abroad opens the first-ever Global Primary to apportion its delegates for the Democratic Party's presidential nominating convention. While state contests in (states) will draw most of the attention and all of the resources, Democratic voters outside the US will have our own primary where our votes proportionately will matter far more than those cast on US soil.

In the Netherlands, where I'm active on the Democrats Abroad communication group, voting will be kicked off officially on the evening of the 5th at Amsterdam's Balie events centre·from 5 PM to 9 PM at De Balie, Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10 (near the Leidseplein), Amsterdam, with speeches from leading local experts on the American scene, the city's Deputy Mayor, and the US Consul General. While there will be no official representation from the campaigns, local supporters of Clinton and Senator Barack Obama will sharpen their elbows and attempt to make their cases to the few uncommitted voters who make it to the event.

Most Democrats in the NL, and in the rest of what George Bush calls "Abroad" will cast their votes over the Internet--making the DA Global Primary a significant test of this voting technology. Delegates will be apportioned to candidates by their share and size of the vote in each contested country, with national caucuses convening to select delegates to regional and global caucuses and ultimately to the nominating convention in Denver in August. As this represents my first chance to throw my hat into the caucus ring since I was elected as a Gary Hart delegate to the regional caucus in Wisconsin's State Senate District 1 in 1984, I will again seek a regional caucus seat.

I will do so as an enthusiastic backer of Senator Barack Obama. I don't agree with Obama on every issue, but there is an underlying passion, intensity and integrity that Obama brings to the table, along with an ability to galvanise and build a movement for real change in America. The Clintons, showing family unity unprecedented since the arrival on the scene of a certain Nice Jewish Girl from Los Angeles, mock and deride Obama for being insufficiently substantive, and for lacking the 'policy experience' that compares to that earned by Mrs C. through her unimpressive stint as a US Senator, her disastrous tenure as her husband's Health Care czar, and her career as influence broker and gatekeeper in the Arkansas Governor's Mansion.

I'll concede Hillary has more policy experience. But as we are learning day by day in an ever-globalising world, policy offers far less leverage for real change than the ability to galvanise and mobilise people. Capital, ideas and energy move across and around borders at astounding rates of speed. Attempts by one jurisdiction to legislate bad things away often yield worse collateral damage when the jurisdiction gets cut out of markets and processes. In Barack Obama, we have a presidential candidate who has a much sharper idea of how today's world works, and isn't promising us a rerun of "That '90s Show."

I'll be casting my vote in the Netherlands...for the next President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Up the Kriek

Cherries and beer aren't words one normally hears in the same sentence--unless you happen to be relaxing in a cheerful beer cafe in the Benelux.

Cherry beers, called Kriek in the Benelux in honor of the species of cherry used to flavor such brews, occupy a beloved niche in the beer scene here, and a number of the more popular versions are available in the US and UK.

They tend to be appreciated for three reasons--as a refreshing, sweet-sour alternative to a mid-day soft drink, a tipple favored by women who have been conditioned not to drink 'beer' for social acceptance reasons, or, in my case, as a taste-bud-resetting alcohol-lowering pause to a session scaling the lofty heights of the Benelux brewers' art.

Generally, kriek beers are brewed using open fermentation and airborne yeasts, which explains why most such brews come from the area around Brussels as it's the only place such yeasts are found in the wild. They are brewed from a sour mash called 'lambic' derived from barley and wheat malt, and with the addition either of whole cherries, cherry juice or cherry syrup, depending on the brand.

The most popular Kriek in the world is BelleVue, with wide international distribution. It's more of the 'cherry syrup' variety, but it has a complex flavor and I find it very refreshing. More traditional is Boon, brewed with whole cherries and sold in corked 375ml and 750ml bottles. And my favorite--Liefman's from Flanders, which is brewed with Flemish brown ale instead of lambic, and is available at top beer pubs, off-licenses and liquor stores.

Wishing you a cherry...er...cheery January, that's FlightKL18.