September 22

"(Reporter Teodor Marjanovic): Can you imagine a street or a square in Baghdad being named after George W. Bush one day?

(Baghdad Mayor Al-Isawi): No."

***

"Charlie Gibson: Now I'd like to get back to the Bush Doctrine. Do you agree with it? And, would you like me to remind you of what it is?

John Kenney: I know that a bush is a shrub. A shrub is a plant. A plant is green. Sometimes it's other colors, I believe, though frankly I'm not sure. Do you see where I'm heading with this?"

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Blogging Diplomacy? - Gary William Murning Online: “I was … especially sceptical when I read today on the US Department of State’s official blog that the US is engaging in 'blogging diplomacy'. … The problem, for me, lies in the fact that these people -- the US Digital Outreach Team -- identify themselves when posting on other people’s blogs as working for the United States Government, something I suppose they naturally have to do. ... From where I’m sitting, it more closely resembles blogging propaganda. And if it looks like that to me, well, I’m sure those with a rather more radical outlook won’t be as easily swayed as James K. Glassman, Under-Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, might hope.”

Storing War Stories - Liz Los, virtualpolitik: “Speaking of the military, I recently learned about the Army's fascinating Flickr site, from where I navigated to the YouTube channel and Twitter hub also run by the Soldiers Media Center. All three social media venues are interesting as efforts at public diplomacy and institutional branding.”

The Spectacle of War: Insurgent video propaganda and Western response - MountainRunner: "The State Department’s world view has largely, with again the notable exception of the dynamic 'new' ideas from Under Secretary Glassman, remained fixed on states when it should have been on states and non-states."

Jihad and the Growing Surrender of American

Counterterrorism - Jeffrey Imm, Family Security Matters, NJ: On July 31st, the Washington Times published an article (ironically titled "War of Ideas") where it interviewed James K. Glassman, the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Mr. Glassman was proud of his efforts within the government to promote Jihad-supporting Al-Sharif as an example of programs to "push back against violent extremist ideology."

Partnership or enduring relationships, what’s the most that can be expected? – Wandren PD: “Many current programmes are developed to be heavily centralised, focusing authority on the P[ublic]D[iplomacy] organisation, causing the programme to be reliant on it for coordination and financial support. Inevitably, when funding or official support ceases the initiatives grind to a halt. This in many instances means the impact is limited to the time frame of the funding. Engaging with decentralised or dispersed networks would have the potential to extending the impact, by passing responsibility for the initiative on to others. This has the potential to increase longevity but reduces control, a trade off that would have to be addressed on a case by case basis.”

This Week's Senate Committee Schedule - BobGeiger.com: September 23, 2008 at 02:30 pm: Hearings to examine the elements of the federal government responsible for coordinating our public diplomacy, including their respective missions, organizational structures, workforce, and management. (Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee.)

The VOA cafeteria is no longer the "Zhivkov” - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “For decades, we occupants of the VOA headquarters building endured a basement cafeteria that featured indifferent service and even more indifferent food. I dubbed it the 'Zhivkov,' because it was my idea of what the cafeteria at Radio Sofia must have been like during the depths of the Cold War years. For relief, many of us would walk a block to the Skenteris's cafeteria in the Ford Building, one block away. Now we have the Skenteris food service, while the House staffers have been Zhivkov'ed.”

España arenga a sus embajadores - Felipe Santos, diplomacia pública: "El presidente del Gobierno español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, recibió el pasado lunes 8 de septiembre a los 130 diplomáticos españoles con misión en el extranjero que participaron en la V Conferencia de Embajadores … El eslogan que ha presidido el encuentro de este año era 'Diplomacia Pública y Política Exterior': un tema novedoso en su formulación, pero ni mucho menos en su contenido, que se encontraba entre las prioridades de la política exterior que estableció Zapatero en su discurso del pasado 16 de junio en el Museo del Prado."

公共外交的新时代 -跨越千年的见证人, blog.sina.com.cn: Mentions Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James K. Glassman.

PHIPUBA Topics - caycastanos's journal: 3rd Topic: Assessing the efficacy of public diplomacy through the practice of sister-city diplomacy.

Reggae concerts united states – Williams, saye: “Joe higgs- a look at this great forgotten reggae star, he toured with the wailers for their first united states and band leader, and opening musical act for the concerts. Navy band for europe, will give concerts in three bucharest flagship plays pop, classic rock, hip-hop, reggae, and maintained by the public diplomacy office of the united states.”

Largely outdated thoughts on Doublethink in media – dave, shifting spanner: "Evidence of strategic doublethink in the past has included the widespread support generated by Ronald Reagan for his ‘friendly dictators’ in the 1980s thanks to concerted framing activities by the NSC’s Public Diplomacy arm."

3 classes, 2 presentations, and the sniffles - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “Last weekend, began with a 'glocal' party of my fellow pub-d students at the house of Rima. … Sunday was spent preparing for a presentation for my class on Historical Pub D on the Allied re-education of Japan and Germany (I made a cookbook- recipes for reeducation), then on a group project for my Global Issues Pub D class. … Wednesday was our first group presentation for Global Issues pub d. It is kind of a reality show of Pub D. We get a scenario, and have a week to come up with a project and budget to present in front of the class and 'murder board' … . I stayed in the Comparative Pub D class with Prof. Gilboa, and was really glad I did. Especially for the readings we had. This week, we had China as a case study, and we went into their public diplomacy outreach.”

RELATED ITEMS

Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia on the rise in Europe, decline in US - Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service

Fighting Terrorism With Education -- TAP talks to Sam Carpenter, founder of Kashmir Family Aid, which fights poverty and extremism by building schools in Kashmir - Daniel Strauss, The American Prospect

Bush Crafts a Handoff - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post: For Barack Obama, the winnable war is Afghanistan. John McCain makes the same claim for Iraq.

Events in Iraq muddle candidates' differences - Matthew B. Stannard, San Francisco Chronicle: Obama and McCain are no longer polar opposites on the war in Iraq.

All change in the US's Afghan mission - Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times: With the situation in Afghanistan further than ever from being settled, the U.S. response, much like the financial crisis, is to throw more money and resources at the problem.

Time for a New Pakistan Policy – Alan Bock, antiwar.com: Simply sending money and weapons with no accountability, meddling clumsily with little or no understanding of internal Pakistani politics, and hoping for the best do not a real policy make. It's time to rethink it from the ground up.

Pakistan's contradictory faces: In a country rife with extremism I saw civilized culture and a triumphant human spirit - Teri Rizvi, Christian Science Monitor: “In numerous conversations with Pakistanis during our 10-day trip to Lahore … most didn't talk about the rising tide of violence. … Some see the war on terror as someone else's war, a war America has waged on Islam. Some believe the Taliban should be placated in case the country needs these warriors for its on-again, off-again conflict with India.”

Propaganda Is a Two-Way Street: Iran, Israel, and the looming threat of war - Sadegh Kabeer, antiwar.com: Israeli hawks have no legitimate casus belli for going to war against Iran, and any future act of aggression by either side must be staunchly opposed by antiwar activists.

Iran plays the mediator - Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, Asia Times: Contradicting the United States' negative image of Iran as a rogue state threatening its neighbors, its foreign policy machinery is churning out proactive initiatives aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region, with particular focus on the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Everyone Needs to Worry About Iran - Richard Holbrooke, R. James Woolsey, Dennis B. Ross and Mark D. Wallace, Wall Street Journal: Everyone must understand the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran and mobilize the power of a united American public in opposition.

Don't kowtow to Iran: U.S., Israel face key decisions - Thomas G. McInerney, Washington Times: Where is Winston Churchill? He is nowhere to be found in the Western leadership. However, this may change in the coming elections in Israel and the United States.

A Peace From the Bottom Up - Jackson Diehl, Washington Post: The former Soviet refusenik and Israeli political gadfly Natan Sharansky argues that the United States should focus on building Palestinian civil society rather than backing Abbas.

A better way with Russia – Editorial, Boston Globe: Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice gave a tough speech Thursday lamenting the "dark turn" in Russia's conduct. Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered a more dispassionate view the same day, noting that there is no real military threat from Russia. American policy would be better shaped by Gates's unflustered view of Russia.

How to Protect Russia From U.S. Contagion - Vladimir Frolov, Moscow Times: Russian leaders are taking sweeping measures to insulate the economy from the financial contagion that is now sucking the United States into an economic black hole.

Castro Looks for a U.S. Lifeline - Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal: Americans have shown that they are ready to help hurricane victims, but loans that will prolong the power of a despotic and incompetent regime is no way to relieve Cuban misery.

Liberty For Not-All: Rethinking "The Global War on Terror" - James Pinkerton, Huffington Post: We can begin by remembering that terrorism is not an ideology, it is a tactic -- a way for people to kill other people. So the cure for terroristic deeds is not freedom, it is control.

Bill Clinton's Interventionist Legacy: President Clinton may be out of office, but his policies carry on - Steve Chapman, Reason: Most of the complaints made about Bush's foreign policy were also made about Clinton's foreign policy. In many ways, Bush represents a dismal continuation of what went before.

The fleecing of America - Roger Cohen, International Herald Tribune: There's been a steady transfer of wealth away from the United States in a shift most Americans have not yet grasped. But there has been no accompanying transfer of responsibility. New powers are free-riding as if it were still the American century.

US Empire: An Orgy of Debt - Eric Margolis, Toronto Sun/Common Dreams: When great empires run onto the financial rocks, their power quickly ebbs.

Free World Colossus: In the new Cold War, the U.S. is the revolutionary force - Lee Congdon, American Conservative: The United States’ determination to foment democratic revolution in every region of the world can only mean interventions without end and, inevitably, conflict with states unimpressed by democratic dogma.

The American Empire: Too Big to Fail? Who gets bailed out -- and who doesn't – Justin Raimondo, antiwar.com: The very bigness of the American Imperium, the sheer scope of its rulers' ambition, is precisely what is fated to bring about its downfall, and a very messy and painful descent it will surely be.

A New and Revealing Study of the Influence of the Neocons: The Making of Recent U.S. Middle East Policies [review of Stephen J. Sniegoski, The Transparent Cabal: The Neoconservative Agenda, War in the Middle East, and the National Interest of Israel, Enigma Editions, Norfolk, Virginia, 2008] - Bill And Kathleen Christison, Counterpunch: The neocons are also very skilled propagandists and are more than willing to spin “facts” in many situations in ways that often do not leave readers with an honest, unvarnished version of “truth.”

Court Historian: Andrew Roberts, the Anglosphere’s greatest modern mythologist, may be perfectly suited to sanitize the Bush presidency - R.J. Stove, American Conservative: Roberts’s newfound vogue rests almost entirely upon A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900. Words cannot convey exactly how frightening a man becomes when he turns from historian to propagandist. The Roberts-style revolutionist advocates democratism, sexual liberation, endless war against “Islamofascism,” a Ponzi-scheme economy, and the dictatorship of the Anglo.

AMERICANA

Presidential debate fingerpuppet papercraft – boinboing: Here's a free downloadable set of papercraft candidate finger-puppets so that you can stage your own presidential debates.