My Page: Brad Turner

New West Column

Kenya’s top attorney is a crooked politician helping to fleece an unstable country with a weak economy, a U.S. diplomat wrote in a cable released by WikiLeaks in November. Writing from Nairobi, the diplomat requests that Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako and his family be denied entry to the U.S. before he makes another of his frequent visits to America.

Wako, the diplomat writes, deserves pressure from the U.S. He has helped to institutionalize misconduct by Kenya’s leaders by refusing to prosecute corrupt Kenyan officials for the previous 18 years. In one egregious instance, the diplomat writes, Wako made no move to prosecute anyone connected to the Goldenberg scam, which cost Kenyan taxpayers an estimated $500 million.

Recovering some of that money, the diplomat writes, could have helped to stabilize Kenya and improve its economy—which the diplomat compares to the economic output of Wyoming.

New West Column

Like Bugs Bunny before him, Joe Biden likes the way “Albuquerque” rolls off the tongue.

Biden paid tribute to everyday foreign policy buffs in the Duke City during a March 2009 meeting in Chile with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. In the leaked cable, Biden acknowledges rocky relations between America and Spain during the Bush administration. But there’s no reason that can’t change “instantly,” he says, laying on a thick dose of the famous Biden charm [more]

New West Film

Each January, movie critics and film buffs flock to Park City, Utah, to cover the Sundance Film Festival, the West’s premiere showcase for independent film. For 10 days, it’s the center of the American film world. The Telluride Film Festival, another resort town showcase of independent cinema, also makes headlines each September.

These marquee festivals are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to independent film in the West. Movie lovers around the region can also check out the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival held each February in Missoula, Montana; the Albuquerque Film Festival held each August; and the Idaho Film Festival held each March in Boise.

For a list of indie cinema events in the Rockies, check out our new film festival map. It’s sorted by date and includes links to each festival on the list.

New West Fiction

Beginning today, New West is holding a call for short fiction pieces in hopes of putting a spotlight on a few talented writers. We’re especially interested in featuring fiction by authors who write about themes relevant to our coverage area: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

If you’re a writer who thinks your work fits the bill, we want to see your submission. If you’re friends with a talented writer whose work deserves attention, tell them about us. The deadline to submit a short fiction piece is Monday, Feb. 28. Pieces should be no longer than 5,000 words.

New West Column

Yemeni President Ali ­Abdullah Saleh and U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan met in March 2009 to discuss moving Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to another prison. Throughout the leaked cable detailing the meeting, Saleh refuses the proposed American plan of moving the detainees to a 120-inmate facility in Saudi Arabia.

Saleh shows interest only in building his own detention center in Yemen, and he demands $11 million from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia for construction costs. Yemeni opposition parties, he says, won’t be happy with him if he agrees to transfer the Yemeni citizens at Gitmo to a prison in Saudi Arabia.

U.S officials reject a handful of alternate suggestions from Saleh, including sending the detainees to ADX Florence. The federal “supermax” prison in Colorado is sometimes called the Alcatraz of the Rockies, and Saleh refers to it as the “Moayad prison.”

New West Column

In the Lifestyles of the Kazazhstani Leadership cable, an American diplomat describes a visit to a home owned by well-connected Kazakhstani tycoon Aleksandr Mashkevich. As co-founder of mining powerhouse Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., Mashkevich sits at a comfortable No. 287 on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires with a estimated worth of $3.3 billion.

The cable’s author gives a snooty, biting description of the home in the capital city of Astana, as well as his dining experience there. “It is not clear what Mashkevich is spending his billions on,” the diplomat writes, “but it is certainly not culinary talent.” The writer groans about enduring repeated dinners of boiled meat and noodles and says the waitstaff appears to be the product of a “cafeteria training academy.” The diplomat does, thank heaven, show a soft spot for the wine list at Chez Mashkevich: “The wine, at least, was somewhat upscale with reasonably good French vintage bottles uncorked for the guests.”

Editor's Note

For the past two months, I’ve had the very enviable task of taking over as editor at New West, working with the site’s contributors and collaborating with our staff to plan what New West will look like in 2011 and beyond. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t said hello to you. I want to take this space to properly introduce myself and share with you some of the changes we’re exploring.

Long before I became editor of New West, I became a frequent reader of the site. As a reporter on Colorado’s Front Range, I loved writing about development, environmental cleanups, agricultural issues and the regional arts scene—topics that help define the intersection of the past, present and future in the Rockies. The first time I stumbled across New West, its writers grabbed my attention by covering these types of stories in exciting ways. My goal as editor is to continue and build upon this tradition.

New West Update

Schools in the Rocky Mountain West snagged four of the eight slots in a new list of the best American colleges for winter enthusiasts compiled by U.S. News & World Report.

The list steers students looking for a place to combine higher education with skiing or snowboarding toward these schools in the Rockies:

New West Update

UPDATED: The Clark Fork Coalition is posting video on YouTube from today’s event.

Today marks a milestone in the Milltown Dam cleanup project east of Missoula. Beginning at noon, workers will divert the Clark Fork River back to its channel. For nearly three years, it flowed through a bypass channel while crews removed the dam and hauled away arsenic-tainted sediment behind the structure.

Can’t make it to Milltown for the festivities? Watch a live video feed of the diversion.

NEW WEST FEATURE

The property where the Unabomber lived during his bombing campaign is for sale.

The 1.4-acre parcel once owned by mail bomber and recluse Ted Kaczynski in Lincoln, Montana, is on the market for $69,500, a local real estate agent announced this week.

“Own a piece of infamous U.S. history!” the listing says. “This is a one-of-a-kind property and is obviously very secluded.”

The wooded parcel is discounted from an initial price of $154,500 and is an ideal spot for hunters and anglers, with the Missouri and Blackfoot rivers and Bob Marshall and Scapegoat wilderness areas nearby. “Power and water (are) not on the property but are available,” the listing notes.