September 6

"Condafi"

--Princess Sparkle Pony's charaterization of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, upon their meeting in Libya

"Condi is like, so five minutes ago"

--A Reader of Princess Sparkle Pony's Photoblog: I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to (scroll down link for comment)

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Assistant Secretary of State Goli Ameri To Name Fran Drescher as Public Diplomacy Envoy - Notice to the Press, Office of the Spokesman, State Department: Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri will announce Fran Drescher as the newest Public Diplomacy Envoy on September 8, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. Ms. Drescher will join Cal Ripken, Jr. and Michelle Kwan as Public Diplomacy Envoys. “The Nanny” star is a Golden Globe and Emmy nominee, cancer survivor and founder of non-profit organization the Cancer Schmancer Movement. She will support U.S. public diplomacy efforts, including working with health organizations and women’s groups to raise awareness of women’s health issues, cancer awareness and detection, and patient empowerment and advocacy. Ms. Drescher’s first trip in her new role will be in late September and include stops in Romania, Hungary, Kosovo and Poland.

Appointment of New Diplomat Hailed as 'Brilliant' - Bob McCarty, NowPublic: “Meanwhile, the brilliance of the Drescher appointment will become evident soon after Rice implements Phase 2 of her strategy. That phase will involve dispatching Drescher to Moscow where she will meet for several days with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. After listening to Drescher talk for hours and hours on end with no apparent end in site [sic], Medvedev and Putin will beg the United States to withdraw her and, Rice expects, to succumb to U.S. demands that they remove Russian troops and equipment from the breakaway Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Sorry for doubting you, Condi. God bless America!”
See also Foreign LOLicy

Dole Food Company Recognized by U.S. Secretary of State for Corporate Social Responsibility Programs in the Philippines – MarketWatch: Among other contributions, Dole recently planted its millionth tree under the Company's "Chairs-for-Trees" program, increasing the number of desks and chairs available for local schools and, in doing so, implementing recycling and reforestation initiatives. "Public diplomacy and long-term community investment have been at the heart of Dole's core principles for decades," said David DeLorenzo, president and chief executive officer of Dole Food Company. "In the rural areas in which we operate around the world, Dole is working and building communities, even where others are often fighting."

Schedule Of Upcoming Luncheons At The National Press Club - Pr-Canada.Net: October 3, 2008: James Glassman, Under Secretary, U.S. State Department: TOPIC: "The New Age of Public Diplomacy."

2008: GOP Party Platform – Matt, Project on Middle East Democracy: A public diplomacy subsection of the Platform emphasizes that “getting America’s message out to the world is a critical element in the struggle against extremism.”

Fitter, happier, more productive: Conservative heavy-hitters discuss what makes for a safer world - David Roberts, Gristmill: "To hear Lieberman et al tell it, McCain is at heart a multilateralist and an alliance-builder. He's devoted to building schools and nurturing civil society groups. He's loath to use military force and keen to enhance public diplomacy. Why, he's a teddy bear! To boot, according to Lieberman, Iraq is a 'model for the future of the Middle East.'"

Bill Frist on Cindy McCain's Humanitarian Efforts – Fox News, Jean-Louis Kayitenkore Blog: HEMMER: "Listen, you're going to be onstage tonight. You will introduce Cindy McCain." FRIST: "Yes." HEMMER: "What are you going to say?" FRIST: "You know, I'm going to introduce her really using this sort of mantra of medicine and health and caring and compassion as a currency for peace. And I say that because it's a natural with her. It is who Cindy McCain is. America probably doesn't know it yet, but they should. But it is also a part of our public diplomacy, our health diplomacy around the world. And I will use a line tonight and the line will be John McCain and Cindy McCain understand that you don't go to war with somebody who has just saved the life of your child. That really says the story. So yes, we've got hard power out there, but we also have soft power."

Q&A with Lawrence Wilkerson – Interview by Daniel Schulman, Mother Jones: Wilkerson: “To give the administration some credit, we did make a significant shift in focus under this administration, once it was awakened by the attacks of September 11, in the struggle against global terrorism … . However, the lack of an accompanying strategy to use the other elements of our national power -- predominantly our ideas through an effective public diplomacy -- has almost nullified the other gains.“

Obama, McCain graded on tourism issues - Richard Velotta, In Business Las Vegas, NV: The Travel Industry Association has set up a Web site to let people grade the two presidential candidates on addressing five key tourism questions. Among these questions: “Other countries like Australia, the United Kingdom, Turkey and many others spend hundreds of millions of dollars to attract foreign visitors. Foreign visitors are critical to America's economy and public diplomacy efforts. How do you grade Sen. Obama's/McCain's plan to promote the United States and help us welcome more visitors?" The Association has been working hard to get the Travel Promotion Act, a bill that would create a nonprofit corporation in which private funds from the industry would be matched by $10 fees collected from international travelers entering the United States.

Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: Why Is Russia Losing the Media War? - Introduced by Vladimir Frolov, Russia Profile: Ethan S. Burger, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center: "Russia has not merely lost the media war with respect to its decision to send forces across the Georgian-Russian border -- it has convinced most European leaders that they cannot regard Russian foreign policy objectives as benign (even if they are not willing at this time to adopt sanctions against Russia). It is troubling that the Russian government did not anticipate that its actions would be counter-productive and believe that its 'public diplomacy' could expect its media relations to achieve goals that cannot only be obtained by concrete actions."

Dealing With External Influence – C.D. Bhatta, The Rising Nepal: What is needed is a paradigm shift in the traditional method of conducting foreign policy. Nepal has to involve track II actors (such as civil society members) and track III actors (stake holders and citizens at large) on discussions related to foreign policy and informing citizens while signing treaties with neighbouring countries and others (as some treaties in the past were signed either due to ignorance and or under influence). A broader public diplomacy is needed so that Nepal can have a fair say in the treaties and other issues. For this, either we have to establish a public diplomacy cell at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or we need to develop coordination and cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and the Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA).

Bush tours Gettysburg battleground site - Christine Simmons, AP: Robert Kinsley, chair of the Gettysburg Foundation, was in the museum for the president's visit, along with, among others, Karen Hughes, former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs for the State Department.

RELATED ITEMS

Iraqi Officials Express Surprise, Dismay Over U.S. Spying Report – Ernesto Londoño, Washington Post: Iraqi leaders expressed incredulity and disappointment Friday over a report that U.S. officials had spied on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi leaders.

U.S. Teams Weaken Insurgency In Iraq - Joby Warrick and Robin, Washington Post : Small, hybrid teams of special forces and intelligence officers -- “fusion cells” -- are being described as a major factor behind the declining violence in Iraq in recent months. Aiding the U.S. effort, officials say, is the increasing antipathy toward al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) among many ordinary Iraqis, who quickly report new terrorist safe houses as soon as they're established.

Possibly Staged Pics Fueled Georgian Propaganda Push (Updated, Corrected and Bumped) - David Axe, Wired: Did major international media, including wire services Reuters and The Associated Press, clumsily help spread pro-Georgian propaganda during the recent war with Russia? Perhaps so, based on possibly staged photos.

The Russian media has as much bite as a tranquilised tiger - Adrian Blomfield, telegraph.co.uk: While visiting a conservation project in the country's fareast, a trapped Siberian tiger supposedly managed to break loose before charging a hapless television crew. Mr. Putin, clad in combat boots and camouflage gear, hit the charging beast with a perfectly placed shot behind its left ear. In the West, Mr. Putin's antics prompted guffaws and snorts of disbelief. But that is not how many Russians saw it. In a country where real news has been supplanted by propaganda for most of its history, the stunt was readily believed.

Propaganda R Us - Kurt Andersen, KUAR, AR: In "Iron Fists: Branding the 20th-Century Totalitarian State" Steven Heller describes how four famous tyrannies (the Nazi party, Stalin, the Italian Fascists, and Mao's Communist Party) used architecture and design for propaganda and control.

Museum of propaganda, literally – Crimes Against Music: “What looks like a wonderful show on Chinese propaganda art … opens today at the Asia Society in Manhattan. I bought a bunch of these posters in China last year -- there are cheap reproductions of Cultural Revolution-era prints available from street vendors all over tourist Beijing -- and have been reading about the phenomenon in books by Steven Heller and others."

Propaganda – pfriedman, geniocity.com: “Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels. A propaganda organization employs propagandists who engage in propagandism -- the applied creation and distribution of such forms of persuasion.”– Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States, 1996

FOUND ON THE WEB

Selling America through effective Public Diplomacy - AI, American Interest: To disseminate knowledge of, highlight threats to, explore opportunities for, and serve as a platform of advocacy for the preservation and continuance of American hegemony: "I do not need to be convinced of America's judgement of what is good for other nations but to communicate this judgement requires amongst other qualities, good policy and effective listening."

VIDEO

Andrea Mitchell Nearly Killed By John McCain’s War Balloons - Wonkette