http://www.lavoix.lu/wort/web/en/luxembourg/articles/2011/11/168385/index.php
Just for the fun of it, here is another quote from Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639): "An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent abroad to lie for the good of his country."
Two notes about that quote:
1. In Sir Henry's century, he could not imagine Perle Mesta, an ambassador who would be called Madam.
2. I found no lies in the Wort interview.
I did however notice the absence of the ambassador's priority to look into the Luxembourg tax haven story. But that declaration of intent was at a hearing before Congress. Then you learn at Charm School that some things should get done, not talked about. Done in a charming way. Here is a reminder:
One has to give compliments for Ambassador Mandell's nice start. Most ambassadors never get to give an interview.
Won't start at the Tour de France 2013: Emile Lamberty, Pierre Meyer, Marcel Holtgen and Egide Thein of Union Cycliste Dippach, Luxembourg ca. 1963
If you plan to win the Tour de France in 2012, and you don't (maybe you end up second again, who is this?), you can plan on 2013. You'll start from Corsica, which has never happened before. It is called the Isle of Beauty. People have their authentic character, and in stereotypes, they sometimes explode devices. And their literature tells about gruesome vengeance, the well known vendetta, a word that is an export from there.
If Contador is whitewashed these days, then Andy Schleck and Andy's brother, Frank is his name, have to defend their honor: seen from Corsica, whatever whitewash is decided anywhere on the continent is just unacceptable.
http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/7276318/tour-de-france-visit-corsica-2013
Robert A. Mandell
Ambassador of the United States of America to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Following his nomination by President Barack Obama and confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Robert A. Mandell was sworn in as the 21st Ambassador of the United States of America to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on October 25, 2011, in Washington, DC.
Prior to becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg, he was Chairman and CEO of Greater Properties Inc., a closely held commercial real estate venture in Central Florida. Previously, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Greater Construction Corp. from 1998 until 2005. Greater was a family-owned homebuilding business established in Central Florida in 1965. During its history, Greater built 45 new communities in which it sold more than 12,000 homes in Central Florida. In October 2005, Greater Construction was sold to Meritage Homes, Inc., an Arizona company, and became part of the twelfth-largest homebuilder in America.
Ambassador Mandell has been involved in several capacities in the federal, state, regional and local governments. Two years ago President Barack Obama appointed him to serve on the President’s Export Council, where he was Vice Chairman of the Trade Promotion and Advocacy Subcommittee, as well as a member of the Small and Medium Sized Business Engagement Subcommittee. He took an active part in advancing President Obama’s goal of doubling exports within five years.
He also served on the Board of Directors of Florida Hospital, a 2000-bed, acute care hospital in Florida and part of the Adventist Health System. The Ambassador also was on the Audit and Finance Committee of the Adventist Health System. Other boards he served on include the Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research of LaJolla, California, and the Vermont Studio Center. He also was on the Central Florida Advisory Board of Orange Bank.
Additionally, Ambassador Mandell was Chairman of the State of Florida Environmental Regulation Commission from 1987-1990; Chairman of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority in 1990 and 1991 and Vice Chairman from 1992 to 1995. He was a member of Orange County Chairman Richard Crotty’s Transportation Commission in 2002 and the Blue Ribbon Panel on Education for the Orange County Public School System in 2004-2005.
The Ambassador is a 1969 graduate of the University of Florida with a BS in Advertising and, in 1972, a Juris Doctor degree. He is an “AV” rated lawyer in the Martindate-Hubbell legal list. In addition, he graduated from the Harvard Business School’s OPM Executive Program in 2000.
Ambassador Mandell is married to Julie Walker Mandell and is the father of two boys: Zack, 26, and Xan, 20. Mrs. Mandell has two children: Lauren, aged 17, and Daniel, 25. The Ambassador’s hobbies are painting, traveling, and reading.
This is a dramatic change from the usual old drum that Luxembourg is a secrecy haven, though we would prefer the more refined "commitment to confidentiality". How does that sound?
Well that isn't even true anymore. Luxembourg is now committed to eXXXtreme transparency. I would call it the naked truth. In a smart move, Luxembourg opened its doors to companies like Manwin, "the leading international provider of high-quality adult entertainment", that owns the largest network of adult websites in the world. The world is Luxembourg and everything outside, which is very big!
Manwin just acquired Playboy. Playboy is ours now! Manwin claims 60 million daily visitors on its websites. Manwin can't lose. That's 120 times Luxembourg's population. There must be some foreigners visiting those sites. So it is safe to claim that now we even spread transparency around the globe. But hey, don't worry: if you are a visitor on these sites, we'll understand that it's strictly for scientific research and educational endeavours, and we keep the visitors' list confidential.
Here are my very official sources:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/playboy-enterprises-inc-and-manwin-close-deal-133032238.html
