This is definitely my last post for the time being. To slightly edit a phrase made famous by Richard Nixon: "You won't have Prince Roy to kick around anymore." Tomorrow I leave by car for Washington, DC and plan to take my sweet-ass time getting there (at least ten days). But fear not---I'll be staying with grad school pals all along the way so it won't cost you US taxpayers one penny extra above the $30 per day meals and $.36 per mile which I would get regardless. I actually had some responses to the comments in my previous post, but alas, no time. I may do so once I get settled, if the subject is still topical. Anyway, you'll be hearing from me soon.....
- posted by Prince Roy @ 10/21/2003 01:32:00 PM| |

 
My house is a freakin' war zone at the moment, but hopefully that all changes bright and early tomorrow when the movers come. I may have to rethink this State career---moving severely sucks and in State we're guaranteed to do it pretty much every three years. But come to think of it, maybe I just need to stop collecting so much crap. We need to minimalize. It's not that we have a lot in the way of material possessions---just books (mostly mine), clothes (mostly hers) and our dinner/stove ware. I've come to the conclusion that our next big decision revolves around where exactly the Realm will manifest itself here in the corporeal, mundane world. By next year I plan to plop down a good chunk of money on a stake. Right now, I'm thinking the Pacific Northwest---probably outside of Eugene, Oregon. More on this as it develops..... But what this post is really about is to let all of you know that you should drop whatever it is you're doing and go read a report in the NY Times Magazine called The Last Emperor RIGHT NOW (free registration required). It is all about the madman we love to hate, Kim Jong Il, Dear Leader of the Workers' Paradise known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Granted, I'm no Korea Hand, and I'd be interested in what Korea Bloggers like The Marmot would have to say about it, but the article addresses an aspect of the American way of looking at the world that troubles me. That is, we like to demonize our adversaries as 'insane', 'crazy', 'a madman', etc. Quite often however, these people turn out to be very rational actors, given the circumstances they find themselves in, and it is only our unfamiliarity with the political culture of these countries that leads to our bewilderment. Sadly, this often results in inappropriate and ineffective policy on our part. This was exactly the case with Mao Zedong, and anyone who would argue that Mao was a crazed, illogical (or 'inconsistent', as some like to contend) ruler simply has a very shallow, incomplete understanding of Chinese culture and politics. Of all the first generation PRC leaders, Mao had the most profound grasp of Chinese history and the political intrigue of the imperial courts. He possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of the dynastic histories and often consulted some obscure episode from the past to plan his strategies in contemporary political struggles. His habit of keeping opponents (and allies) off-balance was not an indication of dementia, but a traditional, effective tactical ploy of Chinese statecraft used time and again over many millennia. You only have to look at his record in dealing with the USSR and the US. He played the two against each other almost to perfection, and made a complete chump out of Henry Kissinger, totally manipulating Kissinger by stroking his massive ego. In fact, for much of the 1980s and 1990s, Kissinger was the most effective voice of the Chinese government. But don't worry---they rewarded Hank well for his efforts by making sure the US corporations that consulted him (and paid him millions) for his China 'knowledge' and official PRC contacts got plum deals. I wonder if we're making the same mistake with Kim Jong Il that we did with Mao Zedong.....
- posted by Prince Roy @ 10/20/2003 02:40:00 PM| |

 
The movers come on October 20 and I've already made contact with people in my class who are in the LA area. We're going to have a get-together that night and I'll leave the next day. We have a Yahoo group for the members of our class, and the resumes of some of these people are pretty damn impressive. All kinds of languages, too. I count four Mandarin speakers, including me. Youngest? Four are only 23 years old. Oldest is 56. I am relieved to see that there are people older than me in the class. These stats only represent the third of the class (33) that have joined the Yahoo group. I understand there are around 95 of us in total. If anyone is thinking of the Foreign Service as a career, here are two Yahoo groups that have all kinds of information about the examination process: The first, for the Foreign Service Written Examination (FSWE). Then, for the Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA). Should you pass the exams there is another Yahoo group that exists for those waiting to receive a class assignment, then there are others for specific classes. All in all, these resources are useful, but the groups can be highly stressful, especially the one for those waiting on a class---a lot of people get very intense about the process. I stopped going to the site for months because it only increased my anxiety.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 10/10/2003 02:20:00 PM| |

 
I have to make a quick post here to commemorate my wife's first execution of her most important duty as a US citizen---yep, we went bright and early to our neighborhood polling station. I got a booth next to hers just in case her chads got 'knocked up', but it went off without a hitch. So we are both unwilling participants in the lunacy that is the California Recall. Too bad we won't be here for the next one if Arnold wins. Petitions are already at the printers, so I'm told. If you haven't done this already, here's a fun site called The Political Compass. I think it provides a more accurate reflection of one's ideological leanings because the terms "conservative" and "liberal", "left" and "right" are rather insufficient in many ways---the site gives a good explanation of what I mean here. My wife took the test and her score put her as close to center as is humanly possible---an exact bull's eye. OK, now back to arranging the moving date. It's finally starting to sink in that I'm going into State, but until I actually get on with it in terms of the physical aspects it won't seem real.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 10/08/2003 02:50:00 AM| |

 
I plan to pull out of LA by Oct 22/23; between now and then I must schedule the movers to haul all our stuff away. Luckily, we don't have that much and will get rid of most large items anyway. People relocating to the DC area for the State Department get a really nice per diem for the first two months--then it operates on a sliding scale for the next two months. This makes it much easier to move since we most likely won't be in DC longer than six months. We'll put most of our belongings in the State Department storage facility. I've reserved a corporate apartment near the training location, and with any luck will remain there the whole training period. I will drive out to DC, and the Government pays mileage plus hotel/food so it should be an enjoyable trip. I plan to stop and see some old mates from grad school in Colorado, Kansas City and maybe Indiana. I'll try to get in at least two more posts before I go but I'm not making any promises. I'll be installed in my new temp home on November 2 and it will have Internet access so I'll update sometime that first week.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 10/07/2003 05:11:00 AM| |

 
WHOO-HOO!!!!!

Wow, some really good news...I received a very unexpected wake-up call yesterday morning from the US Department of State. They had a last-minute opening in the November 2003 Foreign Service orientation class, and called me to see if I would be interested. It has been my goal to be a Foreign Service Officer in the State Department ever since graduate school, and in the Spring of my second year in law school (4/02) I took and passed the Foreign Service Written Exam (FSWE). Then in September of that year I passed the Foreign Service Oral Assessment (FSOA), which State offers to successful FSWE examinees. Find out more about the exams here, along with other information about what it is exactly that US diplomats do. After I passed the exams, State initiated an extensive background investigation, which took almost nine months in my case because I've lived in several different countries, not to mention that my spouse was born in the 'strategic competitor' PRC. I finally got all clearances in early August, literally days after the November class filled. I thought I would have to wait until the next class in January 2004 until I got a slot, and with next year's budget still not resolved I've been on pins and needles the whole time. Since I figured I had a good shot at getting an offer from State I did not interview with law firms my final year in law school, nor did I take the bar exam in July. So I put all my eggs in the State basket, but I believed it was worth it to go after my life's ambition. I'm very relieved it's all worked out, and I'm fired up to say the least. I will be leaving LA in about two weeks to move out to DC for training. I still don't know where I'll wind up overseas. We bid on a list of embassy openings during our first couple of weeks in class, and then if we require language training we remain in the Virginia area for as long as a year, depending on the difficulty of the language. I'm hoping something in China or Taiwan is available, but there are plenty of other places I'd love to go, too. The gist of this news means that I may not post much from mid-October when I leave LA until I get settled in the DC area. I also plan to change the focus of Prince Roy's Realm, for the better I think. I hope it evolves into a kind of online journal of my diplomatic career as well as musings about the various peoples and cultures I come into contact with all over the world. I have some big plans which at some point will call for getting my own domain name and server since I hope to put up a lot of photos and other materials. But maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself... I truly enjoy being a part of the China Blog Mafia community, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to John for his kind offer to host me on Sinosplice. It'll be great if all of us can meet in China...soon. I'm good for several rounds of cold West Lake Beer, or whatever local swill is available in my post city.

- posted by Prince Roy @ 10/02/2003 02:25:00 PM| |