I just graduated from the U of M with a degree in Political Science and like all college grads, i am utilizing my degree (joke). Also, I travel (never enough). I have been trying to plot an interesting course through life for myself, because i don't want regrets. I love to dance...and i mean the tango! And not the stupid American tango, but the real Argentine tango...it's hot! Salsa is fun too! E amo tutto italiano! I have been told i work too hard, but i feel that if you aren't motivated, why exist? I try to be the best at everything i can while trying to do as much as I can, which is often my downfall. It is very tough to work full time in finance, run a non-profit, start 2 other small businesses, volunteer for Tempo (MN Opera group), volunteer for an international collegiate Model United Nations, and also find time to sleep, eat and occasionally breathe. I also like art museums and dining out.

Working, and when I'm not busy with work i am practicing for the GMAT as i want to start my MBA this spring...yay for company paid education!

Nothing. I am one of those "lucky" people who are good at everything but not really great at anything, or, that is to say, I have not found my passion yet. Hopefully I will find it someday.

Well, I'm 6' 5", so, that. After the height observation people notice my clothes, or at least i think they do, however, according to my French ladies (I own women), my eyes are amazing: I like them. Anyways, people also notice my attitude and that i carry myself confidently. I am very opinionated and willing to defend my conclusions, respectfully...usually.

(A) Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem, The Road to Serfdom, American Psycho, Shogun, Escape from Freedom, Totalitarianism, Dune (B) American Beauty, American Psycho, Am�lie, Big Fish, The Boondock Saints, Bulworth, Chicago, Down with Love, The English Patient, I heart Huckabees, Igby Goes Down, Intolerable Cruelty, Kill Bill, Life is Beautiful, Lost in Translation, A Midsummer Night's Dream, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Oleanna, Pulp Fiction, The Quiet American, Rules of Attraction, Sanjuro, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Shogun, The Tailor of Panama, The Thomas Crown Affair. (C) Classical, Gotan Project, Air, Steely Dan, The Faint, Macy Gray, Amici Forever, Michael Buble, Modest Mouse, Out Hud, The Postal Service, Sade, Bajofondo Tango Club, Bond, Bright Eyes. (D) I enjoy food, but i truly love sushi/sashimi and Italian cuisine, because both are based on fresh high-quality ingredients, which i believe is the key to creating a palatable meal.

1.Intelligent Conversation 2.Music:Live/Digital 3.Food:Italian and Japanese 4.Liquor:Wine/Gin/Scotch 5.Literature 6.Art/Architecture.

The Way Forward in Iraq

Iraq is a whirlwind of conflict, crime and catastrophe charging toward an unavoidable civil war. The Shia-Kurd dominated government is unable to provide basic services, quell the growing conflict, or begin a course of national reconciliation. Sunni insurgents conflict with the Shia-dominated governmental forces and militias, which also conflict internally. Insurgents have been cooperating with al-Qaeda and foreign fighters and refugees are potentially breed additional fighters. These interwoven obstacles to Iraqi peace and national reconciliation must be considered together for a plan in Iraq to be successful.

A nation’s legitimacy, fundamentally, is based upon an agreement between the people and the government, whereby the government agrees to provide security from undue harm. The Iraq government has failed to provide for the security of Iraqis with its floundering ISF. The security dilemma is a significant factor undermining the Iraq government. The current strategy for reclaiming that lost legitimacy is the surge. The Bush administration believes that the surge, utilizing the clean, hold, and build strategy, will be able “to improve security and set conditions for economic development, political development, reconciliation, and the development of Iraqi Security Forces to provide permanent security (Kagan, 2006, 1).” However, this plan is unlikely to succeed, which is why we need plan B, a new way forward.

The situation in Iraq has not improved over the past few years, but instead has deteriorated. “Once fighting begins, plans are set in motion and attitudes towards the enemy become fixed in ways that are not easily reversible (Walter, 1997, 336).” The attitudes have been cemented for years, making it unfathomable that they would be willing to demobilize, disarm, and disengage their combat forces within an environment void of protective measurements (Walter, 1997, 336). The anarchic state of Iraq, with its criminality, al-Qaeda, insurgents, and militias, cannot find a way to negotiate a settlement of violence because of the security dilemma. “In the absence of a supreme authority, there is then constant possibility that conflicts will be settled by force (Waltz, 1954, 188).” The security dilemma in Iraq cannot be fixed by the U.S. presence. The situation in Iraq is getting worse, with increased factionalization, meaning “that there are multiple, simultaneous civil wars (Simon, 2007, 28).” With the disengagement of U.S. troops, Sunni factions think they can retake Baghdad and with it, their preeminence; the Shia think their majority will maintain political domination (Fearon, 2007, 10). In addition, U.S. disengagement may decrease the presence of al-Qaeda in Iraq because recently, the Sunni have turning against al-Qaeda because they are not tolerant of their aggressive behavior (Lynch, 2007, 2). Although the increased conflict between sectarian groups may encourage Sunni cooperation with al-Qaeda, “al-Qaeda is in no hurry to see the Americans leave (Lynch, 2007, 1).” The U.S. presence in Iraq delays the coming conflict between the sectarian groups.. The disengagement of U.S. forces would enable conflict to work itself out with two probable outcomes, conflict exhaustion or decisive victory. Therefore, the U.S. should disengage militarily within the coming twelve-eighteen months to the periphery of Iraq to facilitate humanitarian operations and refocus on civil war containment.

Decisive victory in Iraq is a potential outcome of Iraq’s civil war. The ISF’s current condition, without U.S. backing, is dire. They would not be able to endure the factionalized militias vying for power, the Sunni insurgents, al-Qaeda and latent criminality. The ISF will fail; decisive victory will fail without regional intervention. There can be no reconciliation without a security guarantee, which is why post-surge disengagement is a winning strategy. The goal of U.S. disengagement is to create an environment conducive to negotiation; conflict exhaustion. No actor within a civil war “exists that can credibly threaten reprisal for the use of force to settle disputes (Fearon, 1995, 384).” This holds true in Iraq. Once a situation involving conflict exhaustion has been reached, participants are more receptive to options; negotiations appear advantageous and could be facilitated using a third-party guarantor (Walter, 1997, 340). Combatants will not trust any guarantor, much like the Sunni will not trust the ISF, because they are potentially beholden to an enemy, such as the Shia dominated government. Therefore, a credible guarantor must meet three conditions: First, the intervening state must be self-interested. Second, the guarantor must be capable and willing to use force to punish treaty violations. Third, the intervening state must appear resolved (Walter, 1997, 340-1). The need of a third party guarantor suggests that the U.S. should maintain a regional force in order to facilitate a negotiated settlement after conflict exhaustion has been reached if needed.

The U.S. forces should be redeployed to the periphery of the country, where refugee camps can be erected and protected (Byman & Pollack, 2007, 45). The U.S. should provide humanitarian aid to the refugees fleeing conflict in Iraq while keeping them within Iraqi borders, lessoning the burden on regional powers (Byman & Pollack, 2007, 45). This would illustrate to the world the U.S. is being responsible for its obligations to the Iraqi people. The U.S. should learn from past experience, which “has shown that large concentrations of refugees incubate irredentist violence and nourish jihadism (Simon, 2007, 31).” Protecting and nourishing those within the camps would allow the U.S. to win hearts and minds within the region. Unfortunately, with U.S. disengagement may come at a greater cost, the increased use of death squads and genocidal violence. The use of these tactics may be deterred with U.S. capabilities near, regardless though, the U.S. would be perceived as complicit in the violence gripping Iraq as well as their inaction for stopping the violence while maintaining a force in the region. U.S. forces should maintain military capabilities in the region to halt Iraq from turning into a terrorist haven and to strike at terrorist facilities. U.S. forces may also act to deter regional powers from encroaching on Iraq. The U.S. should disengage from Iraq’s population centers to facilitate the conflict exhaustion of Iraq and hopefully the cessation of hostilities through a negotiated settlement.

Dinner at a decent restaurant followed by drinks and then a few clubs. I may then go to an after party. Or, I stay in and be lazy, curl up with a book and drink a glass of wine.

I have nothing "private" I'm willing to admit so i shall leave you with a bit of humor: I love beets: "The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious. Slavic peoples get their physical characteristics from potatoes, their smoldering inquietude from radishes, their seriousness from beets. The beet is a melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can�t squeeze blood out of a turnip� The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies. The beet was Rasputin�s favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes. In Europe there is grown widely a large beet they call the mangel-wurzel. Perhaps it is mangel-wurzel that we see in Rasputin. Certainly there is mangel-wurzel in the music of Wagner, although it is another composer whose name begins, B-e-e-t��. Of course, there are white beets, beets that ooze sugar water instead of blood, but it is the red beet with which we are concerned; the variety that blushes and swells like a hemorrhoid, a hemorrhoid for which there is no cure. (Actually, there is one remedy: commission a potter to make you a ceramic asshole�and when you aren�t sitting on it, you can use it as a bowl for borscht.) An old Ukrainian proverb warns, �A tale that begins with a beet will end with the devil.� That is a risk we have to take." ~Tom Robbins

If i sound interesting and not too pretentious (which is something i fight daily to overcome). And if you found my ramblings slightly amusing. Also, if you like beets!