CCI News Archives - Page 13 of 19 - Center for Citizen Initiatives

“Gorky Park, Golden Park” Responses

August 27, 2018

Dear CCI Friends!

Regarding my printing of the “Gorky Park/Golden Gate Park” article I sent out by Harvard Professor Matthew Bunn, many of you have really ‘raked me over the coals’ (as my Kentucky father would say)! I have not previously had so much protest to an article as this one … my first admonishment came from Professor Steve Cohen.

Thank you for caring about the truth … and thank you for making me realize that I am getting so accustomed to reading these verbiages such as… “Putin is a thug,” “Putin meddles in our elections,” “when Putin invaded Georgia,” “when Russia invaded Crimea,” … by people whom I know KNOW BETTER, that I don’t even stop to question it. The remainder of Bunn’s article was great and may have scored high by many who read it! But he, like others, panders to mainstream newspapers and magazines by using these types of cliches to get more important points in print which otherwise won’t ever be known.

Where have we come to in our country if we feel it necessary to tell a lie in order to get a piece of truth out into the public forum?

And where have I come to that I ignore it and give the writer a pass, knowing that he is trying to bring forth an idea that may jolt others and make them think seriously about issues that need to be exposed?

I personally have never used an untruth to deliver a truth … but I have printed those who have. You have my word, I won’t do it again… unless I immediately disclose that “this false information is here to expose a truth that otherwise would not be circulated.”

Thanks for taking the time to get in touch with me. You have made me a more conscientious American.

http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/401172-in-gorky-park-with-nuclear-worries

Sharon (signature)
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

Come to Russia with CCI via “Foto/Diaries”!

August 3, 2018

Dear Friends,

We are a month away from CCI’s next citizen-diplomacy “signature” trip to Russia. It departs August 30. We believe in more contact, not less … especially when both sides have weapons of mass destruction aimed at each other. While official levels are having very little interaction, it behooves us as citizens to have as much contact as possible on the ground––we need to discuss the deepest of issues between us and then share this information as widely as possible.

We plan to bring you along with us by daily emails––including ‘Foto/Diaries’ of what we are experiencing across Russia, hoping you will pass along this information to your friends, colleagues, families and Congress members. A videographer will accompany us for each segment of travel. A range of YouTube videos will be available shortly after we return home.

Our primary objective in Moscow is to hear from and question eight expert presenters: President Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Pozner, Vladimir Kozin, Andrey Kortunov, Chris Weafer, Dmitry Babich and a couple more that are yet to be confirmed. We will video them all to share with you. We will see traditional sites before leaving the capital city.

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Citizen Diplomacy: A Critical Need in 2019

July 19, 2018

Dear CCI Friends,

Please excuse my absence in reporting during these days surrounding the Trump-Putin Summit. It was critical to take “time out” to re-energize. In order to continue with my increasingly unmanageable workload, I’ve hired CCI’s first staff person since 2009. Maddelyn Bryan, a recent graduate from the University of San Francisco joined CCI on July 1 to train with me as CCI increases its programmatic work beyond what we’ve done during the past ten years.

CCI, to my knowledge, is the only organization in the field of citizen diplomacy between the US and Russia that has remained intact and working since the beginning of the 1980s. By the end of the ‘80s, other organizations closed their doors. We switched from plain goodwill travel programs to training young Russians how to survive in the radically different conditions of the 1990s. This was when the new Russia literally fell apart.

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The Making of the Enemy

June 12, 2018

Dear CCI Friends,

It is 4 am. I awakened this morning from jet lag in a gated community of private homes on the West Coast.

Swirling around in my mind was, “The Making of the Enemy,” a phrase of past decades. It has never seemed more relevant to me than now.

I had watched the gradual making of “Russia as the enemy” since 2001, although I didn’t register the significance of what I was seeing at the time. I just thought that George Bush, et al, needed to be educated regarding Russia. At first it was mild criticism, then it was blaming, then rejection, demeaning and demonizing along with distancing, ignoring and acting as if Russia didn’t matter … as if Russia and Russians have no significance at all. Strange since it’s the largest country in the world and laden with subsoil riches.

Last evening, an event celebrating the graduation of my grandson was held in their spacious family home in Oregon. Teenagers and friends in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s gathered to acknowledge Sean, a straight A student.

In the clatter of happy voices, one could hardly hear people next to oneself. I chose a sofa on the edge of the room where guests next to me turned out to be local lawyers. Someone mentioned that I had just returned from Russia last night. The lawyer nearest me immediately spouted with drawn face, “What about the disturbances at the World Cup competitions underway?” [Continue Reading]

Away from Office – Taking Sister Cities International Group to Russia

May 26, 2018

Dear Friends,

I am leaving on May 27th for Russia, taking a Sister Cities International group of officers and volunteers. Our program will be packed and there will be little time to scan or respond to emails.

If you are inquiring about CCI’s August 30 – September 15 trip to ten regions of Russia, please contact Sylvia Demarest at smdranchtexas@sbcglobal.net.

I will return on June 15. For anything of immediate importance, please continue to be in touch.

All the best,