The Foreign Service Journal, January 2013

14 JANUARY 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Party’s Over On Nov. 18, eccentric American rock star Andrew W.K. announced on his personal Web site that “The U.S. Dep art- ment of State, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Manama, Bahrain, has invited Andrew to visit the Middle East to promote partying and positive power.” The notice continued: “Andrew will begin his journey sometime in December 2012 and will visit elementary schools, the University of Bahrain, music venues, and more, all while promoting partying and world peace.” As Washington Post blogger Max Fisher reported on Nov. 26, the idea seemed iffy from the start. Bahrain remains engulfed in a second tense year of turmoil, with activists from the country’s majority Shia population pro- testing the Sunni monarchy, while W.K. is best known for outlandish behavior and songs about partying and related activities. As Fisher puts it, “It was not an obvi- ous match, to say the least, and Middle East-watchers greeted it with deep skep- ticism, even as music blogs trumpeted the news.” Sure enough, just a week later State rescinded the invitation, amid conflicting reports of the sequence of events. Asked about the incident at the Nov. 26 press briefing, State Department spokespers on Victoria Nuland responded: “So we had a Bahraini entity that approached the embassy about co-sponsoring a visit by this guy, who I take it is pretty popu- lar there in Bahrain. That was initially approved, and then when more senior management at the embassy took a look at this, the conclusion was that this was not an appropriate use of U.S. govern- ment funds.” Fisher observes that W.K. seems to be taking the news rather hard, post- ing a dejected comment on his site and tweeting, “I’m just blown away. After a year of planning, the U.S. State Dept. just canceled my Middle East trip because I’m too party” (sic). Perhaps, to paraphrase the Bard: “Part(y)ing is such sweet sorrow.” n — Steven Alan Honley, Editor