My eating habits...

have been subject to a heated debate. Here is an excerpt of an email conversation B$ and I had a little while ago. Just to get things clear: I am not concerned about my weight in any sense. But sometimes I am worried about the impression people might get when I start, continue and don't stop eating.
Now, here's is one eloquent observation. Enjoy...

"(...) As for your eating habits, its not the actual amount you consume, but how self-reflective and vocal you are while eating, whether its at the beginning of the meal, when you occasionally get this wistful look and declare "I love it" so matter of factly, or when, in the middle of the meal, when you stop, almost in shock, and say (almost apologetically)"I should stop, but I can't," or at the end of the meal, when you look aggressively at me and declare "I eat more than you" as though you had a bigger ... ah, err ... appetite than me. Frankly, I don't think you actually eat more than me, but about the same, which, considering you are about 1/2 of my weight, is impressive nonetheless. I am a more quiet eater, appreciating the food in a more spiritual, meditative way, and hence it only seems to the louder eater (i.e. you) that I may be eating less. Believe me, we are equally big eaters, you and I. (...)".

Offstage is onstage...

My apologies to everybody: The Rice-info turned out to be wrong.

Anyhow, the Security Council today again considered the situation in the Middle East. Much had been and was still being negotiated behind the scenes while delegations were delivering speeches.

Don't expect the international community to come up with any action that might cease the ongoing military strikes. These will go on for another week or two.
Humanitarian agencies will most probably be given access to civilians in need. Their appeal for safe corridors to deliver the supplies they are preparing to ship to the country will most likely be met.
Reconstruction is supposed to be on the destroyer's treat.

Now you figure the rest...

Ozlem

Annan proposes package of actions to staunch bloodshed in Lebanon

It is frustrating and devastating at the same time to see how impossible it seems at this present stage to reach some sort of settlement of the conflict in the Middle East.

Coming back from their mission last night, the UN high level envoys informed Headquarters that there are serious obstacles to reaching a ceasefire or let alone to reducing the violence quickly.
SG Kofi Annan's briefing of the Security Council, which I attended, gave a blunt assessment on the catastrophic conditions on the ground. For his speech and the proposed package of action please see the link http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=19259&Cr=leban&Cr1=

Tomorrow U.S. Secretry of State, Condoleezza Rice, is supposed to give a speech.
I will keep you informed.

Ozlem

An escalating crisis

Once again, we experience the flare-up of violence in the Middle East following the abduction of several Israeli soldiers. The deteriorating conflict between Israel, Palestine and Lebanon has resulted in an escalating deadlock, which led to interference by the UN Security Council (SC).

As an immediate response SG Kofi Annan dispatched a three-person team to the Middle East led by his Special Political Adviser, Vijay Nambiar, including UN envoy to the Middle East Alvaro de Soto and Special Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, to help defuse the major crisis in the region. The SC has welcomed this step and urged all parties to fully cooperate with the UN top advisers.

Convening yesterday, the SC failed to adopt a draft resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinian armed groups from Gaza and for a halt to what it called a “disproportionate” military reaction by Israel, due to a veto by the United States, which called the text "unbalanced and outdated".
The draft would have also called on the international community to provide emergency assistance to the Palestinian people to help alleviate the dire humanitarian situation, and on the Israeli Government to restore and maintain the continuous and uninterrupted supply of fuel to Gaza, and to “act expeditiously” to replace destroyed equipment at the power plant.

Urgent relief is needed as the situation looms to convert from a social to a humanitarian crisis. A total collapse of all services to the Palestinians in Gaza will not be prevented unless humanitarian needs will be met by the international community. Sadly enough, only 31 per cent out of the UN’s revised appeal launched last month for $385 million for humanitarian needs in the occupied territories had materialized so far.
If the international community fails to address the issue appropriately, a downward spiral to a totally uncontrollable situation will be the consequence.

Ozlem

New CK add :))

Hello y'all,

my peeps, P$ and B$, apparently got bored in Vancouver and experimentalized with pictures we took when P$ was still in town.

Let's share what they have come up with. They say it looks like a CK add. Truly, I am flattered. But let me tell you this: Having the doorsteps of a gorgeous house in the Brooklyn Heights as a background did most of the job. Oh ok,...and maybe the new dress I bought did the rest...

Informal Interactive Hearings with NGOs, Civil Society and the Private Sector

http://www.un.org/esa/population/hldmigration/NGO_Hearings.html

Pls see the above link for tomorrow's Informal Interactive Hearings with NGOs, Civil Society and the Private Sector, which the General Assembly will hold.

This is in preparation of the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, which will take place on 14 and 15 September 2006 in New York at UN Headquarters.
Unfortunately, I will miss the HLD which is the first time the UN is dealing with international migration of such scope. It is also of great importance to IOM since it is the leading organization when it comes to international migration and its connection to development.

Later more,
Ozlem

When angels sing...

...it must sound like Amel Larrieux!

A captivating presence, a beautiful spirit and soulful music…we had an awesome night after Brian and I literally rushed through Times Square to catch a wonderful mind.

Amel certainly has lots of love to give away and that night she shared it with all of us.
Tell ‘em, Brian!

Some of the pics…enjoy! (Pls excuse the hairy outlook…I know who’s fault it is, lol!)

A national tragedy...?

Who would have thought that this could ever happen?! After kicking Argentina out , Germany has been kicked out of the Cup itself by Italy on this very sad, sad day.

I am not going to give an analysis of the game, not only because I could only catch the last third of the match but also because I feel I should leave this to the professionals among us. I heard it was a great game from the beginning on though.

Maybe dinner at Balthazar's will be a consolidation. TBH, I doubt it since it will be a farewell dinner for my sis Pav, who is going to leave us and especially me all alone in NYC.

But that is a different story to be told another time...

Oz

PS. I have so much to catch up with. So, friends, stay tuned for new entries of mine.