What’s up world!  Hope all is well wherever you are, and for those in college, hope everyone’s finals studying is going well.  The semester is coming to a close soon, but that does not mean that things are slowing down around here at the NESA Center by any stretch of the imagination.  
     
A little while ago, I mentioned that we had the opportunity to work during NESA’s Senior Executive Seminar (SES), the seminar of the highest level.  The two-week long seminar addresses strategic concerns of the Near Eastern and South Asian countries as well as those of the U.S.  From issues such as the Arab-Israeli Conflict to how to address the Iranian nuclear issue, over thirty participants from fifteen different countries listened in on several speakers and would later separate into small discussion groups.

This is the discussion group that I sat in on for two weeks and had the opportunity to listen to diplomats and military officials about proper strategies needed to bring more regional stability to the Middle East.

         
As an intern, one of my favorite responsibilities is to sit in the breakout room and take notes on significant remarks made by the participants.  It was especially interesting to see how certain delegates from particular countries addressed certain issues.  For example, countries that are further away from the region were less inclined to discuss about the Arab-Israeli Conflict than the countries closer to the region.  From this and other encounters in the breakout room, I’ve learned that while countries recognize that their national issues affect countries around them, those same countries are out for their own national interests first and others second. 
       
The highlight of this past week was visiting the NEWSeum, a museum devoted to exhibiting the history of journalism for the last several centuries through articles and a series of different exhibits.  One of my favorite exhibits, yet also the most saddening, was the 9/11 exhibit, which displayed newspapers from all 50 states as well as about 30 different countries showcasing their way of reporting such a devastating tragedy.  What was most interesting to me was just seeing the different ways different newspapers reported the story. I would imagine if I were in that situation and I had to report on the 9/11 attacks, I wouldn’t really know where to start--I would be in such a state of shock. Another interesting exhibit was the Elvis Presley exhibit, which discussed Elvis’s impact on music, popular culture, as well as journalism.

This map shows the amount of press freedom that is recognized in each country around the world.  An extensive study conducted annually by think tank Freedom House, the map shows the countries in green as free, those in yellow as partly free, and those in red as not free.

Now for those who are following other Washington Center bloggers, they are all on their last week here in D.C.  I, on the other hand, have been asked by NESA to stay an additional two weeks to help them out on their upcoming seminar with Yemeni military officials.  So that you all can get a more in-depth look at what exactly goes down during these seminars, I plan to do a daily post starting next Monday and ending next Friday on all of the seminar events, including the people that I will get to meet, and the topics discussed, so please stay tuned for that soon! Until then, take care, and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week.

Peace!