Ivan's next base: Washington

Earlier (on March 9, 2006 in "Congratulations Ivan") it was reported that Ivan, following his graduation, was working on an invitation for a special research assignment in the U.S.A. Recently Ivan received confirmation of his appointment, from May until December (2006), at the renowned American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C. AEI (www.aei.org) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to scholarly research in areas of economic, social and political, and foreign and defense studies. According to his formal Letter of Assignment, Ivan will be "performing independent, academic research alongside one of AEI’s scholars, Dr. Michael Ledeen. Dr. Ledeen’s wide-ranging expertise covers many areas of foreign policy, including the Middle East, Europe, U.S.-China relations, terrorism, and intelligence". Ivan is expected to concentrate on various issues concerning the Middle East.

The office address will be:

American Enterprise Institute 1150 Seventeenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036

Congratulations to (now Dr.] Tom

An earlier posting ["Good luck TOM, Nov. 23, 2005] already mentioned Tom and his departure for Harvard Medical in Boston. In the mean time Tom has been been back twice and both times for special occasions worth mentioning. Tom's first retun was early February [2006]. Main purpose of this first visit was to defend his thesis ["Tumor-selective coronaviruses as potential anti-cancer agents."] and to receive the honors of a doctorate from the University of Utrecht. . Tom received high accolades, not only for his superb academic work, but also for the presentation in the form of his book. As a sideline Ivan shared some of the praise, because Ivan had produced the book at Tom's request. Following the formal part of the ceremony, [now Dr.] Tom celebrated the special occasion in true tradition: with family and many friends, lots of booze, nicotine, and until the small hours. Some impressions [thanks to Harry Brieffies who produced the collages.]

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The second visit, a few weeks later, was on special invitation from a professional medical association in order to receive the honors [and price money] for 'the best thesis of the year'. [No pictures.] Well done Tom!

Enkhuizen from the Air

This [top] satellite picture gives a good view of the old part Enkhuizen. In particular it clearly shows that the old town was partly surrounded a fortification and a moat running from South-West to the North. This perimeter has been the city limit from its creation in around 1650 until 1950 when the city started to expand again. The [post-1950] new developments of the town can be seen North of the original fortified perimeter. The remainder of the town is surrounded by the lake [formerly the Zuiderzee], mainly running from North-East to South-West. The bottom picture also shows the agricultural areas in the North and the West of Enkhuizen. The different blocks are individual parcels of land with different crops. The line in the bottom of the picture running from the South to South-East is the 30 kilometers long dam [dyke] across the lake from Enkhuizen to Lelystad. This dam was only recently constructed (1960-1970). It has a two-lane road and a bicycle track.

Sieta has moved

Following her move to further independence Sieta has now settled in a lovely ancient house that she recently acquired. Its location is super: in a courtyard in the medieval centre of beautiful Haarlem. The satelite picture shows the centre of Haarlem and Sieta's location [see the dot]. The 'Spaarne River' is in the left hand corner below.

Spring has arrived

Finally Spring has arrived in the Netherlands as is evidenced by [see top pictures] our Magnolia in full bloom, our blue Grape Hyacinths [Muscari armeniacum in Latin, or Blauwe Druifjes in Dutch] and our wild apple blossom [pictures bottom left and right].