New York artist Leonard Rosenfeld created this portrait of David Petraeus in 2004, inspired by Petraeus’s famous question on Iraq: “Tell me how this ends.�
Thank you Marc Schulman for the suggestion to read Jim Lehrer’s lengthy interview with the General Petraeus on PBS NewsHour.
I have been doing a bit of research on this General, and the Lehrer interview confirms my findings that this Chief of the US army in Iraq is not an ordinary soldier/human being…
Well, to be precise, he is a ‘Dragon’. Let me talk first about this dimension of his personality before I discuss the PBS NewsHour interview. Let’s have some fun…
David Howell Petraeus is a ‘pucca’ Dragon in the Chinese astrology (born November 7, 1952) and the element that governs him is ‘water’. And that’s it – fire and water!!! Contradictory?
Says my favourite Chinese astrologer Suzanne White: “Unlike other Dragons, this Dragon is a tad more moderate and his verve is tampered by the influence of Water. He gives the impression of high-born gentility, likeable and,well, scholarly and informed.”
She says that this Dragon cannot kowtow to a bunch of ‘witless cigar-smoking guys’…either success comes ‘because of his talent, his unusual gifts and his remarkable brilliance, or he simply cannot be bothered. He would rather go and live in the country and raise goats.’
“This Dragon is intuitive, and can advise you on almost any thing. He has the capacity to be a soothsayer.
“If he does not know an answer to a direct question he will say so”. (Those of you who have read Gen Petraeus’s interview given to PBS NewsHour would find how true this statement is. Read about this in my next post.)
“Love is his main objective…Family, children and long friendships are the mainstay of his emotional stability. He lives for improving the structure of his family and thrives on the approval and gratitude he receives from them.”
This Dragon is “creative,…innovative” and multi-talented. Does not like conformity. “He knows how to marry the new with the established and come up with plans which surprise us by their improvisational yet solid sturdiness…”
Well, I can’t go beyond this length in this post without annoying TMV’s editor-in-chief Joe Gandelman who keeps reminding us contributors to be brief. So I take up Gen Petraeus’s interview in the next post tomorrow.
But I can’t sign off without providing this ‘Dragon’ General’s Chinese astrological forecast for the year 2007: “…Your most divine dreams will start to come true this year. Harmony re-enters the picture too.
“Your private life smooths out…Behave modestly: It wouldn’t hurt to tone down your act, be gentler, lower your voice, take an occasional back seat in the arguments.
“Be more humble – if only for the purpose of gaining the goodwill of those who, previously, found you far too overwhelmingly fiery.
“My advice? Structure. Discipline. Focus.”
Meanwhile for General Petraeus’s profile please click here…
If you wish to buy Suzanne White’s book “The New Chinese Astrology” from the Amazon…please click here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.