BarkellWH -> RE: Flamenco defined by law to keep Andalusia in step with history (Apr. 14 2023 18:20:42)
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Fiona Hill was one of the highest ranking members of the Administration to testify stoutly against Trump in his second impeachment. After that she wrote "There's Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century." The main title is a quote from her father, whose employment at the coal mines ended when they closed. Her mother was a nurse. Through her mother her father found work as a janitor in a hospital. Her father advised Fiona to do everything she could to get a good education. It was the only path out of the stagnant backwater of northern England for a bright, ambitious girl. She succeeded. She excelled at the local public schools, and attracted the support of the local Labor Member of Parliament. He and other relatively successful local people cued her in to sources of support, and spoke up for her. She was invited to apply to Oxford. She didn't know that the invitation to dinner was part of the interview process, so she ate with friends instead. All the rich kids knew, because that was something their family or friends told them. But nobody told Fiona, so she missed the dinner and didn't get into Oxford. She made into Saint Andrews instead, earned high honors, spent time in Russia, as an exchange student. She came to the USA and got a Masters and a PhD from Harvard. She was an intelligence analyst under G.W. Bush and Obama, and wrote the book on Vladimir Putin (up until 2014); "Mr. Putin: An Operative in the Kremlin." Later she was on the National Security Council. Under Trump she was Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council. I saw her in a TV interview after she was back at the Brookings Institution. Complimented on her accomplishments, she said, "Even with my degrees and experience, with my accent I would never have had such jobs in the British government." Having worked for the British government as a contractor part time for several years, I nodded in agreement. As an American, they couldn't place me in their class system. I had British friends from a variety of backgrounds. But the status of each didn't necessarily depend upon their abilities, knowledge or experience. By the time of the interview Fiona had been in the USA for a long time. Her accent didn't seem all that strong to me, but an astute Englishman no doubt could have put her birthplace within 50-mile radius. "There's Nothing For You Here" recounts the many obstacles in the path of a poor girl with a bad accent from a backward part of England, and how she overcame them, with the help of people and institutions. The last couple of chapters of her book are devoted to summarizing the British institutions where a girl from a bad place, with a bad accent, but a sharp mind and ambitious disposition could find support. She contrasts this with the relative lack of such institutions in the USA, leading to even greater difficulties for disadvantaged youth in this country. RNJ Richard, I don't know that any of the above has anything to do with the Andalusian attempt to legislate the definition of flamenco. Nevertheless, I share your admiration and appreciation of Fiona Hill. I, too, watched her testimony and read her book, and she is a prime example of someone who not only took advantage of what help was available to her, institutional and personal, but had the initiative and drive required to see it through. She is in the top tier of Russian analysts and deserves the accolades she has received. As has been noted, Hill is something of an outlier, given her modest background and obstacles she faced. We have had similar individuals who reached the highest levels of American government as well. John J. McCloy comes to mind. A man of modest background whose drive and determination saw him through Harvard, president of the World Bank, appointed High Commissioner for Germany by President Truman, and other diplomatic posts. Speaking of Truman, he is another example of a man of modest background who obviously reached the highest levels of American government. There is always an element of help along the way, but the primary element is individual initiative and drive. And Fiona Hill demonstrated that in spades. Bill
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