Book: Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangsters, JFK, and Castro Author: Thomas Maier Reviewed by Paul Varian, retired CNN executive producer Gangsters Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, who cut their teeth as street thugs for Al Capone, rose to underworld prominence using brutality, cunning and charm. In 1960, the longtime Mafia pals […]
Serbian Prime Minister Sees NCR Investment Key to Country’s Connected Future
Atlanta hosted its share of VIP guests during Super Bowl week. One who returned home well before opening kickoff was the prime minister of Serbia. Ana Brnabic‘s primary athletic allegiance is to Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, recent winner of the Australian Open, and she has little interest in American football. Ms. Brnabic, her nation’s […]
Books 2018: A Life of Exposing Atrocities, Abuses Through Journalism
Book: Reporter, a memoir Author: Seymour M. Hersh Reviewed by Paul Varian, retired CNN and UPI editor/ writer/reporter On Oct. 22, 1969, freelance Washington reporter Seymour Hersh got a vague tip that the U.S. Army was preparing to court-martial one of its soldiers at Fort Benning, Ga., for the mass killing of civilians in South […]
Amid Tensions With China, Taiwan Seeks to Solidify Its Global Identity
Editor’s note: Paul Varian visited Taiwan in November on behalf of Global Atlanta as a guest of the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is the second in a series of stories about the trip. Standing beneath a windmill on the Taiwan side of the Straits of Taiwan, on a clear day you can just barely see […]
Seeking External Acceptance, Taiwan’s Grapples With Internal History
Editor’s note: Paul Varian visited Taiwan in November on behalf of Global Atlanta as a guest of the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is the first in a series of stories about the trip. They marched in near-silent unison with rifles twirling and gilded helmets gleaming. The five Taiwanese soldiers assembled for the changing […]
Some of Japan’s Youth Are Making a Living by Returning to Old Traditions, Communities
Editor’s note: Paul Varian, retired CNN writer, editor and senior executive producer, visited Japan on a trip hosted by the Mie prefecture and organized by the Japan Foreign Ministry. Bucking the trend of urban migration, many young people in Japan are returning to smaller communities preserve or even revitalize cherished traditions in a country beset by […]
Diving In: Japan’s ‘Women of the Sea’ Blaze Trail for Female Workforce
They were Japan‘s first working women – divers who for centuries have been plunging deep into the sea without breathing equipment to fill their satchels with underwater treasures.
These ama divers, or “women of the sea,” started making a living on their own terms when job options for women were far more limited.
A Look at How Japan Prepared for the G7 Summit
Editor’s note: Paul Varian, retired CNN writer, editor and senior executive producer, visited Japan on a trip hosted by the Mie prefecture and organized by the Japan Foreign Ministry. Some might say the gods are watching over the 42nd G7 Summit in the Ise-Shima region of Japan this week. On Thursday, the first day of […]
Tourism and Brazil’s Legacy of Immigration
Preparing for its return to the world stage as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil is trying to recruit tourists as it once recruited the immigrants who helped create the nation’s rich cultural diversity.
Prominent Czech Jazz Pianist/Composer to Play in Atlanta
Growing up in a country stifled by communist rule, world-class Czech pianist Emil Viklicky was introduced to the sounds of Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Count Basie via Voice of America and later embraced a career in jazz, celebrating its “freedom of expression.”
