Just a few snaps - actually a test of linking together a bunch of devices in preparation for some travel that I hadn't bothered to figure out how to do yet. It is all very convenient and well integrated.
Casual notes from where ever I happen to be, photos, crude video, natural history notes, travel, friends in other places.
| Format: | Book |
Author: | Maier, Karl, 1957- |
Title: | Angola : promises and lies / Karl Maier. |
Publisher, Date: | London : Serif , 2007. |
Description: | 224 p. : map ; 22 cm. |
Subject: | Angola -- History -- Civil War, 1975-2002. |
Angola -- History -- 2002- | |
Angola -- Social conditions. | |
Notes: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-216) and index. |
ISBN: | 1897959524 (pbk.) |
9781897959527 (pbk.) |
Publishers Weekly Reviews
Combining finely detailed
reportage with anecdotal snapshots of the horrors of war, Maier, a
correspondent for The Independent and the Washington Post who began
reporting on Angola in 1986, offers an explanation of the Angolan civil
war for the rest of us. His engrossing chronological account lays out
the nearly two decades of conflict that have ripped apart the southern
African nation. An inability to resolve differences rooted in race,
political ideology and tribal ethnicity has set contemporary Angola on
a highway to hell instead of the road to prosperity its vast reserves
of natural resources promised. Maier notes with some irony that
American oil companies have continued their drilling operations
throughout the war. He also intelligently positions the conflict's
historical import as one of the last battlegrounds for the combatants
in the Cold War. Despite a glossary defining the plethora of acronyms
that riddle the pages, some readers may have a hard time following
which faction is fighting for what side during, first, Angola's war for
independence from its colonial Portuguese rulers and, second, the
lengthy civil war that continues today. Maier tells his story in the
present tense, which makes the book read like dispatches from today's
paper. The writer's sharp eye for detail catches a swarm of hungry
Angolans falling upon a bag of maize that foreign aid workers have
dropped onto an airport tarmac. The powder sifts through their
emaciated fingers as they try to stash it in strips of fabric tied
around their concave chests. More of this kind of personal observation
and reflection would have added to the book's compelling narrative.
(Sept.) Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information.
| Format: | Book |
Author: | Devlin, Larry. |
Title: | Chief of station, Congo : a memoir of 1960-67 / Larry Devlin. |
Edition: | 1st ed. |
Publisher, Date: | New York : PublicAffairs, c2007. |
Description: | xi, 288 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., map ; 25 cm. |
Subject: | Devlin, Larry. |
Diplomats -- United States -- Biography. | |
Intelligence officers -- United States -- Biography. | |
Espionage, American -- Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 20th century. | |
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- Civil War, 1960-1965 -- Personal narratives, American. | |
United States -- Foreign relations -- Congo (Democratic Republic) | |
Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Foreign relations -- United States. | |
Notes: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
ISBN: | 9781586484057 (alk. paper) |
1586484052 (alk. paper) | |
LCCN: | 2006028475 |
Booklist Reviews
When Belgium ceded independence to the
Congo in 1960, one of the cold war's most acute crises erupted. The
French-speaking Devlin was there as the CIA's man in Leopoldville
(today, Kinshasa) with a charge to defeat a Soviet and Chinese
Communist surge into the country. This memoir shows the author in best
light as a station chief with personal courage and cultural astuteness,
a quick thinker in sticky situations, many potentially lethal. The
hair-raising incidents, often at roadblocks, once with burglars in his
house, so common in Devlin's narrative will instill those interested in
operational intelligence careers with the 24/7 risks of a posting in
the field, while his involvement with political developments in
chaotic, post-independence Congo contributes primary testimony to the
history of the period. Devlin acknowledges, for example, receiving an
order to assassinate leftist premier Patrice Lumumba, but says he
opposed it as immoral and did not carry it out. Including his personal
impressions of Mobutu, the eventual victor in Congo's early 1960s
turmoil, Devlin's retrospective will rivet the espionage set.
((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 2007)) Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
A
spy comes in from the dripping heat.Devlin, long retired from The
Company, recounts a busy career fending off Soviet ambitions in Africa
as a CIA agent and then station chief, a spook’s version of ambassador.
In most parts of the world, he writes, that rivalry was an aptly named
cold war, whereas in Congo, where he was stationed, it was decidedly a
hot one. Newly independent from a once-rapacious Belgium, for whose
colonial administrators Devlin has little use, Congo faced its first
major crisis when the new leader, Patrice Lumumba, “promised all
government employees a pay raise, all, that is, except the army.” In a
country where the army has all the guns, that is always a dicey
proposition, and Lumumba found himself facing civil war, urged along by
the American government, which wanted to see him gone; one memo of Aug.
26, 1960, puts its baldly: “if Lumumba continues to hold high office,
the inevitable result will at best be chaos and at worst pave the way
to a Communist takeover of the Congo. . . . Consequently, we concluded
that his removal must be an urgent and prime objective and that under
existing conditions this should be a high priority of our covert
action.” By his account conscience-stricken, Devlin resisted doing the
wet work. By other accounts, which Devlin cites, he was roundly
implicated in the eventual ouster and assassination of Lumumba. Given
what seems to be an air of late-in-life candor, it seems reasonable to
trust the author, but you can’t ever know for sure. In whatever case,
Lumumba’s absence opened the door to long-reigning dictator Mobutu,
whom Devlin considers a pretty good guy overall; America’s interests
were thus well served, thanks as much to Soviet ineptitude as to
anything the CIA did.An unusually open look at CIA operations in the
Eisenhower-Kennedy era, adding an interesting, perhaps controversial,
footnote to the still-much-debated death of Lumumba. Copyright Kirkus
2006 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
In
this vivid, authoritative account of being CIA station chief in Congo
during the height of the Cold War, Devlin brings to life a harrowing
tale of postcolonial political intrigue, covert violence and the
day-to-day reality of being a key player in a global chess match
between superpowers. Posted to Congo in 1960, Devlin quickly found
himself at the swirling center of conflict— the Belgian colonial
rulers had pulled out, the local strongmen had begun what would be a
decades-long struggle for power and the Soviet Union was sending agents
to influence events. Arriving on the scene with his wife and young
daughter in tow, Devlin finds "central authority had broken down; there
was no one in control who could prevent random acts of barbarity." As
the country begins to fall apart and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba
starts flirting with the Soviets, orders come from Washington for "his
removal." Within weeks Lumumba is not only out of power but dead. While
the rest of the book is full of exciting cloak-and-dagger derring-do
and scrapes with death, it is this incident that haunts Devlin. He
devotes the last chapter of the book to a point-by-point refutation of
his or the agency's involvement in Lumumba's death. That alleged
assassination is often used to illustrate the hypocrisy in U.S. foreign
policy. Devlin's straightforward, plainly written approach to the task
lends credence to his assertion of innocence. (Mar.)
"This book's
great strength is to put the contemporary, postwar condition of Angola
into a historical context and to show how the present cannot be
understood without this highly particular past. It is also very useful
as a basis for the comparative analysis of African polities and
economies." -- Chris Cramer, professor in development studies and chair
of the Centre of African Studies, School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London
Multiparty
elections in 2008 will, it is hoped, cement a transition towards
peaceful stability in Angola, which has suffered from over forty years
of violent civil war. Since the end of the conflict in 2002, there has
been renewed optimism that Angola, a former Portuguese colony with
abundant natural resources, would finally evolve a political system
that would ensure the country's sustained economic and social
development. Some scholars and economists argue that the Angolan people
could be on the cusp of a giant leap forward, based on the state's
booming oil sector, which would lay the groundwork for long-term
economic prosperity. But is this a realistic scenario?
Patrick Chabal and Nuno Vidal's Angola
is a thorough introduction to the history and present-day reality of
one of Africa's most complex countries. Contributors, who are all
leading scholars in the field, offer incisive and original analyses of
Angola's colonial history, its economic, political, and social
evolution since independence, its current structural issues, and its
prospects for the future. Essays begin with a probing look at Angola's
difficult past and then discuss its move away from hegemonic domination
towards a multiparty political system and a civil society.
Patrick Chabal is professor of Lusophone African studies at King's College London, University of London.
Nuno Vidal lectures in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Spring Bird Phenology for the Portland, Oregon Metro Area
Compiled by Christopher Hinkle and Adrian Hinkle, February 2008
This list is based on observations through Spring 2007 in Multnomah, Columbia, Clackamas, and Washington Co., including data compiled by Harry Nehls as well as personal observations from many other Portland-area birders.
|
Average arrival Species Number of years Earliest arrival
Feb 09 Tree Swallow 14 Jan 15
Feb 24 Sandhill Crane 20 Feb 2
Feb 25 Rufous Hummingbird 16 Feb 4
Mar 03 Violet-green Swallow 19 Feb 10
Mar 04 Say's Phoebe 13 Feb 18
Mar 04 Turkey Vulture 10 Jan 29
Mar 16 Osprey 13 Feb 26
Mar 19 Orange-crowned Warbler 11 Mar 5
Mar 21 Cinnamon Teal 10 Feb 26
Mar 31 Long-billed Dowitcher 16 Mar 4
Apr 02 Cliff Swallow 13 Mar 16
Apr 04 Common Yellowthroat 15 Mar 23
Apr 04 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 12 Mar 23
Apr 05 Black-throated Gray Warbler 16 Mar 9
Apr 06 Greater Yellowlegs 11 Mar 26
Apr 08 Brown-headed Cowbird 11 Mar 15
Apr 08 Barn Swallow 11 Mar 24
Apr 09 Caspian Tern 08 Mar 30
Apr 12 Cassin's Vireo 19 Mar 26
Apr 12 Vaux's Swift 21 Mar 7
Apr 13 Purple Martin 12 Apr 2
Apr 16 Yellow-headed Blackbird 12 Apr 4
Apr 18 Chipping Sparrow 08 Apr 6
Apr 19 Hammond's Flycatcher 16 Apr 10
Apr 19 Wilson's Warbler 18 Apr 12
Apr 20 Nashville Warbler 22 Apr 14
Apr 20 House Wren 12 Apr 10
Apr 22 MacGillivray's Warbler 11 Apr 15
Apr 24 Pacific-slope Flycatcher 13 Apr 13
Apr 24 Solitary Sandpiper 19 Apr 10
Apr 25 Hermit Warbler 12 Apr 14
Apr 26 Warbling Vireo 10 Apr 22
Apr 26 Western Tanager 13 Apr 20
Apr 26 Western Kingbird 16 Apr 4
Apr 26 Bullock's Oriole 15 Apr 13
Apr 27 Black-headed Grosbeak 14 Apr 22
Apr 27 Yellow Warbler 12 Apr 8
Apr 29 Calliope Hummingbird 11 Apr 4
Apr 30 Blue-winged Teal 12 Apr 3
May 01 Swainson's Thrush 12 Apr 14
May 01 Dusky Flycatcher 13 Apr 22
May 02 Olive-sided Flycatcher 12 Apr 13
May 02 Western Wood-Pewee 11 Apr 15
May 05 Lazuli Bunting 14 Apr 26
May 13 Yellow-breasted Chat 10 May 1
May 14 Willow Flycatcher 13 Apr 30
May 28 Eastern Kingbird 12 May 16
May 31 Red-eyed Vireo 10 May 23
Jun 08 Common Nighthawk 13 May 26
Special thanks to Harry Nehls for sharing data records and to the many
contributors from the local birding community. Special thanks to John
Fitchen, Andy Frank, Wink Gross, Tom McNamara and Elaine Stewart for
sharing numerous sightings.
The List of Arizona birds lists every wild bird species ever seen in Arizona, as recorded by the Arizona Bird Committee. The following markings have been used:
Birds listed as either accidental or hypothetical should not be
expected to be found anywhere in Arizona with regularity, and are put
on an official Review List, with reports of these birds requested for
submission to the Arizona Bird Committee with full details (including
when possible, photographic, tape, video, or sketch documentation). The
order is as given by the official Arizona Bird Committee list, with
some modifications according to recent taxonomical changes. Introduced,
casual, accidental, hypothetical, extirpated and extinct species are
included in the total species counts for Arizona.