Posted by Kallie Knutson on Jul 04, 2009 - 11:05 AM
![Boats on Lake Michigan with Chicago skyline as backdrop, July 22, 2006. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0704_chicago_skyline_m.jpg)
About the Author: Kallie Knutson serves at the U.S. Mission to the European Union.
The annual Fourth of July celebration is special in Brussels. It is a “tri-Mission” event, noting that Brussels is home to three official U.S. representations, the U.S. Mission to NATO, the U.S. Mission to the European Union, and , of course, the United States Embassy to the Kingdom of Belgium. Accordingly, our celebration gathers guests from 27 member states of the EU and 28 members of NATO (many of which they share in common), and many celebrants from Belgian government, non-profit, academic, and media organizations. Brussels is also…
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Posted by John Whittlesey on Jun 30, 2009 - 02:27 PM
![Sea turtle surfaces for air in waters off Caribbean Island of Bonaire, May 30, 2008. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0630_sea_turtle_m.jpg)
In 2007, a rare Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, whose normal habitat is the warm waters of the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, took a very wrong turn and swam all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to southern England. The turtle was found near Devon, England, nearly dead from starvation and hypothermia.
The turtle, later named Willy, was rescued, taken to the Sea Life Center in Weymouth, and nursed back to health.
In 2008, the NGO Marine Environmental Monitoring contacted the U.S. Embassy in London for help in shipping Willy back to the United States. The Embassy's Environment Section worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wildlife authorities…
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Posted by Ivo Daalder on Jun 12, 2009 - 01:04 PM
![McChrystal, Gates, and General de Hoop Scheffer at NATO, Brussesl, June 12, 2009. [State Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0612_nato_meeting_m.jpg)
It was an extraordinary scene, today, in the NATO Council chambers. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, newly confirmed by a unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate just 36 hours earlier, was introduced by Secretary of Defense Gates to his 41 NATO and non-NATO colleagues who provide forces and military capabilities to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Gen. McChrystal thanked the nations for the honor of leading their young men and women in bringing security and stability to Afghanistan. He will travel to Afghanistan on Saturday and immediately take up command of ISAF operations.
Afghanistan dominated…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Jun 06, 2009 - 05:43 PM
![U.S. and French flags displayed on graves of American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer. 6/05/09 [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0606_remembering_dday_m.jpg)
"Lyndon Johnson once said that there are certain moments when '...history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom.'
D-Day was such a moment. One newspaper noted that 'we have come to the hour for which we were born.' Had the Allies failed here, Hitler's occupation of this continent might have continued indefinitely. Instead, victory here secured a foothold in France. It opened a path to Berlin. It made possible the achievements that followed the liberation of Europe: the Marshall…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on Jun 05, 2009 - 05:34 PM
![Bertrand Herz, Chancellor Merkel, President Obama and Elie Wiesel at Buchenwald, June 5, 2009. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0605_obama_germany_m.jpg)
In Germany today, President Obama held meetings and a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. President Obama and Chancellor Merkel also visited Buchenwald Concentration Camp, where they were joined by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and Bertrand Herz, a survivor of the camp.
The President said: "I've known about this place since I was a boy, hearing stories about my great uncle, who was a very young…
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