The Red Velvet Lawyer

100 Things I Did in 2019 Sara Pruitt Arey, at ReFutureYourLife ,  offers a tool she calls "Harvesting the Energy from 2019."  She suggests that you list 100 things that you accomplished during the year. Instructions: She said to look in different parts of your life, including business/work, home, relationships, health, fun, adventure, learning, and self-development.  She also suggests you include less tangible things, like listening to your intuition or treating yourself with more love and kindness. Use your calendar, emails, or social media posts to help you recall the steps you took throughout the year. Be very inclusive.  Don't leave something out just because you think it quite ordinary.  If the item that pops into your head feels like a positive step, then write it down. She explains that every step forward -- no matter how small -- is progress. This list is evidence of your hugely vast creative power.  When you feel stuck in 2020...

What Happened?   What Didn't? In my last post, I explained a goal setting process I use that involves choosing one to three words for the year as a source of inspiration and anchoring.  In 2019 , I chose the words " Expert " and " Support ."   I explained: Expert  tells me what I believe about my life. It also shows how I expect my work to change or improve the world in the coming year through my leadership. It will be about the books that manifest in 2019 and 2020, along with the related conference presentations and media coverage. Support  will remind me of two things. First, my support for friends, colleagues, and students. But, also the need to find support for my own well-being. I've already started that process when I felt overwhelmed in December. I hired a personal assistant. I also asked my housekeeper to come every week to reset my apartment. And, I once again got weekly massages. Even so, I need more support...

Planning the Transition  to the Third Stage of Life:  Retiring to Thailand For over half a decade, I have used a goal setting technique described by Christine Kane and Chris Brogan .  They advise selecting one to three words to define intentions for the coming year.  Christine's tool for discovering your word for the year is here . Last year , I picked "Expert" and "Support."  The first word acknowledged my desire to be seen as an expert in my field of dispute resolution.  The second word acknowledged my need to build and rely on friends and care-givers who could support my emotional and physical well-being.  My post from last year also describes the words I have picked since 2014. This year, the word I needed came to me easily.  It's "Transition." I learned in the spring semester that Qatar University is forcing me into retirement because I recently passed the retirement age mandated by law. At first I was angry....

A Hero in Qatar's Successful Resistance to the Blockade On June 5, 2017, four neighboring countries --  Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt -- imposed a blockade of land, sea, and air routes to and from Qatar.  In my book chapter , on Qatar's strategic and successful responses to the blockade, I discussed the role of the Hamad Port.  See Paula Marie Young, The Siege of Qatar:  Creating a BATNA that Strengthened the Tiny Country’s Negotiating Power , QATAR: POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES (Nova Science Pubs. 2019). In that chapter, I said: Access to alternative ports played a bigger role in Qatari planning. Its new Hamad Port, the largest port in the Middle East, opened for what appears to be a soft-launch in December 2016, with an accelerated opening of other facilities at the port shortly after the siege began. Qatar made a QR 27 billion ($7.3 billion) investment in the site. Port officials reported an intent to expand its capacity throu...

Strategic Impasse that is Unlikely to Change Absent Third-Party Intervention Pushing the Limits: US –  Iranian Brinkmanship in the Gulf Brookings Doha Center October 20, 2019 Intercontinental Hotel, Doha Qatar Three panelists expressed pessimism and pragmatism last week in assessing the current tensions between the US and Iran.  The moderator, Ali Fathollah-Nejad , Visiting Fellow, Brookings Doha Center, began the program by giving a brief summary of recent actions taken by both belligerents. He described President Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) . In 2018, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iran , that among others things, affected Iran's ability to sell and export oil and natural gas. While European countries promised to mitigate the economic impact of these sanctions, their promises fell short.  As a consequence, Iran adopted a “maximum resi...

Be Prepared U.S. citizens must begin carrying a REAL ID Act-compliant ID or driver's license by this time next year.  To apply for this ID at the state level, the law requires people: to provide documentation showing their full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, two proofs of address of principal residence, and lawful status.  The ID will allow people to travel by air.  A passport will also provide the information required by airport security under the 2005 law. More information appears here . States asked for an extension of the October 2020 deadline because COVID-19 is hampering their employees ability to process the REAL IDs.  Trump granted the extension  See here .

An Expat's Life:  Appetite for the New and Novel As I plan my retirement abroad, I'm reading a ton of books about expat life and living overseas. One book in particular has a passage that seems to sum up very well traits that successful expats share. Here is the quote, Being an expat requires a true appetite for new and novel situations - or at least a hefty tolerance for them - because it's unlikely you'll ever clear up an unfamiliar situation by saying, "This isn't the way we do it back home." Successful expats thrive on novelty and unfamiliar situations. They relish the challenge of figuring out how to get things done, often in new - and possibly better -ways. You will never really know if you are cut out to be an expat until you try it.  Suzan Haskins and Prescher Dan. Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget (2014). Thought it was worth sharing.  I was born ready for the expat life.

Passionate Voices  Seeking an End to the Suffering Last week, I attended a somewhat chaotic event that showcases the intractability of the conflicts that exist in the Arab Gulf region. The event focused on the Yemeni war.  While some of the speakers briefly mentioned international parties, including the US, in their remarks, the focus remained on the interests of Yemenis.  Speakers also mentioned the intervention of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran in the conflict  Their focus may have changed if  Qatar University had hosted the event, just a few days later, after the drone attacks on the Saudi Arabian petroleum facilities on September 14, 2019. The information about the event appears below.  My summary appears after that information.  In summarizing the comments of the speakers and attendees, I suffer from several disabilities.  First, I must rely on the translators because I do not speak Arabic. Second, I have not done any in...