Word: months
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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Returning to Harvard after a month of living “la vida sencilla”—the simple life—in Latin America was weird, but in a good way. New friends, new experiences, and a new tan (now peeling) had entered my life, and it was refreshing to come back to school with an enriched perspective. This semester, I want to carry on “la vida sencilla,” really getting to know people, taking time to appreciate where I am and whom I am with, and focusing on the things that...
...common sense, I-don't-get-it attitude toward the stupidity of bureaucracy. Now that he's past worrying about climbing within that bureaucracy, he has the confidence to break it. At the height of the Iraq surge in 2007, which Gates supported, more than 100 soldiers a month were dying. It's almost impossible as an outsider to understand why the Pentagon would not want to build the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, that would have saved many of those soldiers' lives. Instead of budgeting for MRAPs, the Pentagon was still spending money on outdated weapon...
Like Obama, Gates can consume reams of information. His photographic memory is legendary. He is a voracious reader of history, spy novels and pulp fiction. He's subscribed to the Book-of-the-Month Club for 50 years. And he is careful, meticulously so. One decades-long colleague told me Gates will cancel a briefing if he hasn't done his homework. "Preparation for him is a cathartic experience," says his spokesman Morrell. He vents brutal answers to imaginary questions so he can be more diplomatic on the Hill. He's vigilant about the stagecraft of statecraft, even taking...
...have forged a formidable partnership. "They were both clearly very hardworking students in school," says a Pentagon aide. They speak frequently on their secure phones, comparing notes before they go to the White House. They meet once a week and have lunch at either the Pentagon or State every month. ("The notion of Condi and Rumsfeld having lunch together? Or Rumsfeld and Powell?" says a Clinton staffer.) Not long after the war-council meetings drew to a close and Obama gave his West Point speech, I asked Clinton about Gates' methods. "He listens more than he talks. He is very...
...Wilders is convicted, he faces up to 16 months in prison. But he appears to be relishing the proceedings thus far, likely hoping the trial will give his party a boost ahead of next year's national elections. Speaking to the court last month, Wilders even quoted Thomas Jefferson, saying that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. "I believe in my heart and soul that freedom in the Netherlands is being threatened," he said. "It is not only our right but our obligation as free people to speak...