"I know -- look, I'm sure there are some of my friends out there saying, I thought this guy was a market guy; what happened to him?"
--President George W. Bush
"See, you know the way a bailout works? Here's the way a bailout works. A failed president and a failed Congress invest $700 billion of your money in failed businesses. Believe me, this can't fail."
--Jay Leno
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
G.O.P. Press Release: "How The Democrats Created The Financial Crisis" - M.S. Bellows, Jr., Huffington Post: “Kevin Hassett, … economist with the American Enterprise Institute, … is best known as the coauthor of a bestselling 1999 book titled Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting From the Coming Rise in the Stock Market, which argued that the stock market was undervalued, advised people to invest heavily in stocks, and predicted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would rise to 36,000 sometime between 2002 and 2004. … Hassett's coauthor, James K. Glassman, currently serves the Bush Administration as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs -- a strange little office formerly held by longtime Bush advisor Karen Hughes, whose association with Mr. Bush dates back to his Texas days.”
Bloggers Roundtable with Under Secretary James Glassman - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: “[I]n my view, if Glassman does one thing in the few remaining months in his tenure, I hope it relates to revitalizing the information infrastructure both at home and in our Embassies abroad. They need to go hand in hand. This desperately needs to happen - particularly in the challenging new media climate - and fast.”
State Department's Fearsome Secret Weapon: State's Trolls 'Push Back' Against Anti-U.S. Bloggers - Nolocontendere, Piglipstick: Looks Better Now: State employs eight professional Internet "trolls" whose job it is to log onto blogs in unfriendly countries and "push back" against what Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman says is misinformation about the U.S.
Broadcasting Board of Governors Staff Still Works Hard to Make Voice of America Radio Unavailable in Russia and Ukraine but VOA is Fighting Back - Ted Lipien, Free Media Online Blog: “As of now, the BBG executive director is still the most incredible winner by any Washington standards of bureaucratic maneuvering. He managed to eliminate VOA radio broadcasts from Washington to one of the most important world powers despite the overwhelming opposition to this move among the members of Congress of both parties. … The victims of this incredible bureaucratic cabal are the Russian people, U.S. public diplomacy, the U.S. taxpayers, the U.S. Congress, VOA Russian broadcasters, and — ironically — the BBG members themselves who have been embarrassed by their decisions to terminate VOA radio broadcasts to Russia, Georgia, and Ukraine.”
Collaboration and Innovation in Government - Schmilsson Nilsson, DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: “In January 1991 I had my first epiphany about the potential of the Internet to change the world … And it was with this in mind that I set a course to work at the U.S. Information Agency, the State Department's cultural outreach entity. … To my good fortune … I had arrived at a hybrid organization: VOA was part of the USIA but was also an independent news agency with a separate mission that was not easily supported by the technology teams at USIA and the State Department. … The VOA experience was an important one: It illustrated how people with innovative ideas and a drive to change could exact change and creativity to problem-solving.”
A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2009 - Robert Gard, Chris Hellman, Travis Sharp, and Leonor Tomero, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: It is recommended that the House and Senate Budget committees create a joint national security subcommittee whose purpose would be "to set spending targets across all major components of the U.S. national security establishment's budget: defense, intelligence, homeland security, and foreign affairs/development/public diplomacy."
Islamabad Bombing I: Brute Force Tactics – Newly Syndicated Author, The Political Conundrum!: The attack on the Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen was a sophisticated, multi-pronged strike that included two carbombs and gunmen. Although the attack took ten lives, it did not penetrate the Embassy itself. There may be lessons learned from this semi-successful attack that can be incorporated into future strikes -- but Embassy security will also adapt. However, the fortress-like status of American Embassies around the world exacts a high price on U.S. efforts to conduct effective public diplomacy.
marijuana leaf belt buckle – Stephanie Evelyn, todaybutbuy: "[T]he daily [State Department] briefing -- where journalistic representatives from both U.S. Media and all the foreign media based in Washington can ask questions on any aspect of U.S. Foreign policy -- has been permamently moved from mid-day (12:30pm or so) to 10:30 a.m. The reason is all about U.S. Public diplomacy for foreign audiences. Having a U.S. Spokesman out there in front of the cameras at 10:30 in the morning Washington time allows the department to get America's message to the Middle East, Europe and even Africa before the end of the business day there.”
How About a Different Kind of Rescue Plan? - William Fisher, The World According To Bill Fisher: “But there is a third, and arguably the most compelling, argument for fully funding the Peace Corps: It is one of our pitifully few foreign policy success stories. There could be no more powerful message about America than volunteers flying off to work in often hostile and dangerous places with no agenda other than helping the less fortunate. When John F. Kennedy launched the Peace Corps in 1961, I was a very junior member of his administration. I was perhaps too inexperienced to fully appreciate the enormous potency of low-profile person-to-person public diplomacy.”
Iftar with the Ambassador - Schmilsson Nilsson, DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: “Cynthia Schneider told us before we left that we had to meet with Tilly de Groot at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. … So it was not without some irony and much happiness on our part that it was Tilly de Groot who would invite us to the Iftar dinner. Of the embassies I've either worked in or visited, there has always been one local employee at the embassy (a "foreign service national" as they are affectionately called in state department lingo) who really seems to run the place. They know everyone in the city (and country).“
Fran Drescher Skit for Episode 2, KindaLateShow Writer's Room: “Here is Madhuri's skit that will be airing live this Sunday as the opener. … in other news, actress FranDrescher has been named the new U.S. Public Diplomacy Envoy. At the moment Ms. Drescher is touring Iraq, with the aim of promoting America’s public image abroad. We join her now live from Baghdad.”
Georgia Tech Opens New EU Academic Center - Mike Rast Jr., GlobalAtlanta, GA: The Georgia Institute of Technology hosted members of Atlanta’s diplomatic, business and educational communities at a reception opening its European Union Center of Excellence Sept. 19. Anthony Smallwood, head of press and public diplomacy for the EU delegation in Washington, attended the opening. He said Americans talk a lot about dealing with different European countries, but not much about dealing with the EU as a body.
Liberals Offer Income-Averaging for Artists, Total Reinvestment in the Arts – anndouglas, One Woman. One Blog: What one woman and one blog can do: “[Among] the highlights of the arts and cultural reinvestment program that Stéphane Dion unveiled over the weekend: … reinstate funding to the Public Diplomacy Program (PDP), which allows our diplomats overseas to use Canadian artists and cultural personalities to promote Canada and gain access to and influence decision makers.”
Address by Eddie Mbalo (NFVF) at the Intergovernmental Indaba on Film – TPA, The Producers’ Alliance: “Address by CEO of the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), Eddie Mbalo at the Intergovernmental Indaba on Film held on Tuesday, 2 September 2008 at the CSIR International Convention Centre. The Director General of the Department of Arts & Culture Mr Themba Wakashe would have given some contextual matter to whet our appetite about the role of the state in film development. As a matter of highlights these are some the points he would have made [include] … Film as means of Public Diplomacy.”
Senate To Hold Confirmation Hearings For New Us Ambassador To Turkey – Mizgîn, Rastî: “It looks like there will be Senate confirmation hearings next Wednesday (24 September) for the next US ambassador to Turkey, James F. Jeffrey … Who is James F. Jeffrey? You can get the official rundown of his career from the State Department … ‘Ambassador Jeffrey, in collaboration with the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, will lead the Bureau's Iran Policy Team and coordinate Bureau public diplomacy and internal management, serving as Acting Assistant Secretary.’”
A Trip to the Embassy, Family Drama, and a Broken Laptop – roamingnome, If you catch me at the border, I got visas in my name -- brian’s travel log: “Last week turned out to be a pretty ‘busy’ week in relative Fiji terms. After luckily checking my email Tuesday afternoon after work I found out I had to be at the embassy at 9:45 in the morning for the security check-in. Our interview was scheduled for 2pm, but I guess plans were changed. I met with the Public Diplomacy Officer who was a really nice guy. After our interview, filmed by my cameraman Samuela, who was a really cool guy I even got to go upstairs to the offices."
RELATED ITEMS
Fossilized Foreign Policy: On the international scene, Barack Obama is five years out of date - Victor Davis Hanson, National Review: If elected, a President Obama would probably not do much differently abroad than what we are doing right now.
Shell oil opens office in Baghdad after 36-year absence - Sam Dagher, International Herald Tribune
Downhill in Afghanistan: The most remote place on earth is now the most dangerous - Jonathan Power, Arab News: Both history and present day activity suggest Afghanistan can never be subdued by outside powers.
Ashes of Empire - Philip Giraldi, antiwar.com: Staying in Afghanistan to stop international terrorism is a fiction, as the presence of U.S. forces has, if anything, served as a magnet and recruiting tool for the insurgents.
Iran Slips Away: Even as its nuclear program accelerates, the impetus to stop it loses steam – Editorial, Washington Post: Amid the financial crisis and the worsening violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran's nuclear program and Western efforts to stop it have slipped down Washington's list of priorities. That's just what Tehran's ruling mullahs were hoping for.
Remember Iran? - Editorial, New York Times: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Rice could still make history if she got on a plane to Tehran to deliver an offer of a grand bargain.
Bush's stealthy use of the U.N.: Although publicly he trash-talks the body, he has repeatedly used it to help gain legitimacy for his foreign policy moves - Stephen Schlesinger, Los Angeles Times
Russia's perception of reality - David Stromberg, Jerusalem Post: Putin calls the free press "the propaganda machine of the so-called West" -- this after he systematically took state control of television and newspapers in a country notorious for the murders of journalists during so-called peacetime -- but more telling is the fact that Russia had closed off access to Western media from the devastation of Georgian villages in South Ossetia for which its army provided cover.
Russia engages in 'gangland' diplomacy as it sends warship to the Caribbean – Times (London): Pavel Felgengauer, a leading Russian defence expert, told The Times: “It’s to show the flag and the finger to the United States. They are offering a sort of gangland deal -- if you get into our territory, then we will get into yours. You leave Georgia and Ukraine to us and we won’t go into the Caribbean, OK?” He described the visit as “first and foremost a propaganda deployment,” pointing out that one of the support vessels was a tug in case either of the warships broke down.
Rear View - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: “Yes, well... Condi. Condi's still coasting. It's funny that some of you have expressed concern about what I'll do when she's gone, but it should be obvious that she already checked out a long time ago.”
AMERICANA
Political Fashion Face Off: Condi Rice, Michelle Obama - Danielle Bolton, The Black Snob: Politics, Pop Culture and Pretentiousness
MORE QUOTATIONS
"Think of America as a town with one casino, in which the only economic activity is gambling. Most people lose, but the casino keeps lending them more money to play. Eventually, of course, the casino must go bankrupt. At this point, the townspeople people vote to tax themselves in order to bail out the casino. Collectively, the gamblers cannot help but lose; individually they nonetheless hope to win their way out of the hole."
--Spengler, Asia Times
"Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson"
--Hal, Bailout Satire
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