Captain's Log: Mr. Gorbachev...

Stories from the city, stories from the steppe, stories from the sea

*This is a new and occasional written series I have dubbed “Captain’s Log: Stories from the city, stories from the steppe, stories from the sea”. It will be available only for Paid Subscribers. I will be sharing war stories from my life and times.

After returning from Peace Corps Mongolia and biding my time back home in Chicago as a substitute high school teacher to pay the bills, I ended up going further “down the rabbit hole” and spending thousands of dollars on books from Amazon reading everything from John Perkins, Anatoly Golitsyn, and Jacques Vallee to G. Edward Griffin’s Creature from Jekyll Island and Mearshimer and Walt’s The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

I was uncertain of what further course to chart in life, but I knew I was becoming restless once again. Ultimately, I made the decision in 2008 to study International Relations at the Geneva School of Diplomacy (GSD) in Switzerland. At that point, I had become passionate about the study of history, economy, deep politics...the new world order! I wasn’t sure where that might take me, but I knew that I would need to be credentialed to move forward. And a one-year gradate degree was quicker and cheaper than doing the standard two-year program offered at most American universities.

GSD was a new and private school founded around the turn of the millennium. Much of the student body was made up of the sons and daughters of the diplomatic class serving in Geneva from around the world. Some of my illustrious professors included experts such as Dutch-American International Human Rights lawyer Curtis Doebbler who had served on Saddam Hussein’s defense team, former Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Paris representative Ibrahim Souss, and former UN Special Rapporteur and great-grandson of Cuba’s fourth president Alfred de Zayas (both Curtis and Alfred have been guests on Geopolitics & Empire).

Left, Curtis Doebber defending Saddam. Right, Alfred de Zayas visiting Julian Assange.

Some of my classmates included folks like the son of Li Baodong, China’s Ambassador to the United Nations at the time.

Left, Li Baodong at UN. Center, Li Baodong at Hrvoje's 2009 GSD graduation. Right, Hrvoje with Li's son.

Of course, at every graduation, GSD took the opportunity to invite and bequeath to some luminary an honorary degree. It just so happened that Mikhail Gorbachev had been invited to my graduation as the guest of honor. Unfortunately, he was unable to make the trip from Moscow for health reasons. However, his right-hand man and lifelong interpreter Pavel Palazhchenko showed up.

Left, Pavel Palazhchenko with Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan at the 1986 Reykjavik Summit. Right, Pavel Palazhchenko at Hrvoje's 2009 GSD graduation ceremony.