October 1

"We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth."

--John F. Kennedy

C-SPAN

GWU Forum On Diplomatic Agendas For The Next Administration: George Washington Univ. hosted a panel discussion on possible diplomatic directions for the next administration. Participants included Brookings scholars and Michael Doran, Dpty. Asst. Sec. of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy. Washington, DC : 1 hr. 31 min.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Brownback Bill - Jeff, The Bling Cycle: “Basically the [Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS)] bill calls for the establishment of the 'National Center for Strategic Communication', a USIA-like agency that would take over Public Diplomacy from State Department. … I'm relieved that this bill will be, for now, a non-starter. When the time is right for this kind of legislation (and there seems to be a sense of inevitability) my big worry is that … foreign publics … will be able to identify NCSC efforts for the propaganda they are, whereas the American public might not.” PHOTO: Senator Brownback.

My 2 Cents on the Brownback bill: Initial Language and Justifications – Craig Hayden, Intermap: "Senator Brownback’s latest piece of legislation, 'the Strategic Communication Act of 2008' is a landmark proposal to reform U.S. public diplomacy efforts at the institutional level – by creating a new National Strategic Communication Center that fuses the responsibilities of the Broadcast Board of Governors with the public diplomacy functions managed by the State Department. … My concern here is that the bill reifies the strength and importance of the enemy. Once again, U.S. rhetoric in this bill builds up the legitimacy of the extremist movement. Which begs the question again - does the War of Ideas - the reason for this Center - leave room for the business and ethos of less aggressive public diplomacy?”

Strategic Communication by Any Other Name - Steven R. Corman, COMOPS Journal: “I have seen strategic communication pretty consistently defined (albeit sometimes implicitly) as comprising four functions: Public diplomacy, public affairs, information operations, and international broadcasting. At least that’s what I teach to my students. I am told that this functional definition originally came from an Army Colonel or General, but I’ve not been able to track that down (if anyone knows, please let me know). Finally I don’t think public diplomacy is an inherently clearer term. … If this new strategic communication entity [National Strategic Communication Center] does good from both domestic and international points of view, then it probably won’t matter very much what it’s called. On the other hand, if we call it the Sweetness and Light Department and its main accomplishments are to deceive international audiences and further ruin the reputation of the the U.S., then the name won’t matter very much either.”

Comments from the blogosphere on Strategic Communication - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner

The Trial and U.S. Public Diplomacy – Graig Hayden, CT Lab/Review: “The moral stain of Guantanamo Bay remains a fungible resource for anti-American sentiment. A clear-eyed embrace of this episode [the Hamdan case] in American legal and foreign policy is not only needed, but could signal a willingness to speak on equal terms with audiences skeptical of platitudes about the moral strengths of American democracy.”

The Financial Crisis and Public Diplomacy -- Freude Bud, Open Source Geopolitics: "Given that the fiscal stability of the United States is dependent upon the fiscal decisions of the central banks of many other nations (as well as the decisions of the much larger private sector), the fiscal Administration of the US may have decided to include a poison pill in order to encourage other nations to play their hands first."

Bring Us Together – Mark Dillen, Foreign Policy Association: Public Diplomacy and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election: "After the turmoil on financial markets and Washington’s response to it, you can be certain that American politics are preoccupying the rest of the world’s leaders and publics."

Why Wouldn't We Talk to Ahmadinejad? - Lauren Coletta, Common Cause Blog: "On September 25th Common Cause President Bob Edgar, Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr., CC advisor Joseph Montville and I attended a dinner hosted by the United Nations Office of the World Council of Churches and other religions groups that featured Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Our involvement was a part of our upcoming public diplomacy visit to Iran to take place later this fall. The theme of the event was, 'Has not one God created us?,' and the guest list included representatives from more than 20 world religions as well as other prominent figures such as UN General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockman and former Norwegian Prime Minister, Rev. Kjell Bondevik."

Broadcasting Board of Governors Tried to Hire John Cochran for a Public Relations Job While Cutting Voice of America Radio to Russia - Ted Lipien, Free Media Online: "Sources say that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) tried to recruit John Cochran of NBC, then ABC News, as their high profile public relations guru. According to earlier reports, the BBG also tried to recruit Paula Zahn, who turned them down. The yearly cost of such a position is well over $100,000. The same bipartisan Board, which manages U.S. government-funded international broadcasts, terminated the Voice of America radio programs to Russia and wanted to end broadcasts to Ukraine and Georgia. Most members of Congress are strongly opposed to these cuts."

Barack Obama’s Latin American Policy Experience - Heydee, myfavpoems: “Honestly, the Democrats winning the White House could help Latin America and its current political and economic condition. Although with some gaps, Obama would like to return America’s leadership in the Hemisphere. He wants to employ American immigrants to US public diplomacy, expand the Peace Corps to Kennedy’s desire of 50,000, and re-establish US special envoy of the Americas in the White House.”

Rebuilding Iraq: Muthanna Province - Aaron Snipe, RealClearWorld: "Understanding Iraq and the development challenges at the provincial level is a Herculean task. While I cannot speak for the policy-makers in Washington, I can speak for the members of my PRT [State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team] when I say that we are making a difference in the lives of the residents of Muthanna. I have also come to know that the contributions we make here will probably never reach the ears and eyes of most Americans back home. Providing Arabic books to needy schools in rural Iraq won’t make headlines back home, but it makes news in Muthanna, and more importantly, a real difference here on the ground. Food distributions to needy families during the holy month of Ramadan is common in Iraq and across the Middle East, but when a U.S. diplomat welcomes the needy – in Arabic – and is the one handing out those bags to widows, people here take notice.” PHOTO: PRT Public Diplomacy Officer Aaron Snipe hands food to a widow in Rumaytha City, Muthanna, during the holy month of Ramadan.

Exploring the Arts - Jeffrey Hirsch, New York Social Diary: Last Tuesday night at the Plaza, the Institute of International Education held their Benefit Gala at the Plaza Hotel and honoring Jordan's HRH Princess Ghida Talal and Alcoa President and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. Special guest for the evening was James A. Glassman, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State. PHOTO: The Princess and HRH Prince Talal bin Muhammad.

Interests and costs in the Middle East – MESH, Middle East Strategy at Harvard: From Steven A. Cook: “The threats to U.S. interests in the Middle East are not terribly surprising. First, in a ‘Back to the Future’ moment it will likely be Moscow, not Beijing, that will be a competitor for influence in the region. The semi-authoritarian or authoritarian nature of the Russian regime and its crony capitalist system fit quite well with the Middle East. Recently, Moscow sent an aircraft carrier into the Eastern Mediterranean and has begun outspending the United States on cultural and public diplomacy in important countries like Egypt. It is unlikely that Russia will supplant the United States as the preeminent power in the region, but the Arab world may soon have an alternative to play off of Washington.”

Embassy Row – Washington Times: Mrs. Kinga Goncz, Hungary’s foreign minister since 2006, cited the U.S. and European reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia as an example of the influence of the trans-Atlantic alliance on international affairs. "I think Russia was operating on the belief that we were still in the previous century, that military strength is enough to defeat a country," she said. "It seems Russia won the battle but lost the war [for public diplomacy]. The damage was quite serious."

Security deal between Serbia, NATO – FlowFlux, Serbianna NewsPost: Head of the media office at the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, Carmen Romero, said that Serbia is coming closer to NATO and that Serbian Defense Minister will visit NATO to sign a security deal.

"Can't Believe Steve": Why Harper Foreign Policy Fails the Test: Speech by Honorable Bob Rae - Press release, Liberal.ca Canada: "The Stephen Harper who would have taken us into Iraq on the basis of someone else's exaggerated rhetoric is not the man who will take us out of Afghanistan by 2011. Nor is the man who has cut funds for public diplomacy and culture capable of understanding what it will really take to curb fanaticism in the world."

The heads of Russian and Georgian churches can play a pivotal role in reconciling the two countries, believed in the Public Chamber of Russia – Eugene, Bat Out Of Hell: “Opinion colleagues supported Bishop S. Ryahovsky. He also believes that it is the Orthodox Church should assume the primary role of peacekeepers in the conflict in the Caucasus. … S. R. … spoke of ‘enormous credibility’ of Alexy II of Russia, that opens up tremendous opportunities for the ROC [Russian Orthodox Church] to become spiritual, public diplomacy, where the State sever relations.’

Netherlands Sponsors Ramadan Festival in UK - NIS News Bulletin, Netherlands: "The Dutch embassy in London has sponsored an Islamic festival. Other countries including the US also did so, Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen says in a letter to parliament. The Party for Freedom (PVV) wanted to know whether it was true that the Dutch embassy in London sponsored the UK Ramadan festival. The minister acknowledges that indeed 15,000 euros has been donated to the festival from the Public Diplomacy Projects budget."

Project Censored: The top 10 stories the U.S. news media missed in the past year - Amanda Witherell, Boise Weekly: "The war on terror is a sort of mind terror," said Nancy Snow, associate professor of public diplomacy at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.

RELATED ITEMS

Geopolitics and the U.S. Election - George Friedman, American Diplomacy: We do know that, given the current limits of U.S. power and the breadth of U.S. commitments, it will take a very clever and devious president to pursue the national interest, however that is defined.

Focus on the 2008 Elections - Foreign Service Journal: From the Table of Contents:
17 / Africa Seeks A True Friend:Barack Obama may be an “African son,” but there is strong support for John McCain’s candidacy on the continent. By Samuel Siringi
20 / Are Canadians Ready For A Leap Of Faith?: Amid their fascination with the Obama phenomenon, our neighbors to the north listen and worry. By Tim Harpe" 25 / Egyptians Expect A Shift In Style, Not Substance: Whatever the outcome in November, most Egyptians do not expect any major changes in bilateral relations.
by Shohrat Aref
29 / Budapest’s Balancing Act: Whatever its outcome, the upcoming presidential election is likely to improve the opinion of Hungarians about the United States. By Ákos Beöthy
33 / Trade Is Central For Uruguay: The debate in Latin America is mainly about whether it makes any difference at all who moves into the White House in January. By Lucía Baldomir
37 / Obamamania, German Style: Are Germans starting to realize that Barack Obama might not be able to fulfill the high hopes they have projected onto him? By Cordula Meyer
41 / Indonesians Hope For Partnership: The fact that Obama spent several years in Jakarta as a boy does not mean Indonesians expect special treatment if he’s elected. By Kurie Suditomo

Gazing at America, the French still see a wild frontier - Steven Erlanger, International Herald Tribune: The French have always found American elections amusing, in a horror movie sort of way. The combination of two recent surprises -- Governor Sarah Palin and America's terrifying financial meltdown -- has brought older, nearly instinctual anti-American responses back to the surface. But says Frédéric Rouvillois: "When women of Louis XV's court would hunt wild boars with their knives, it wasn't less violent or bloody than killing a moose with a scope-mounted rifle.” PHOTOS: President Bush points to his cowboy painting at the White House.

The Example of Our Power: Bill Clinton's verbal chicanery - James Kirchick, Weekly Standard: To terrorists, rogue states, and petty tyrants Clinton’s "power of our example" means nothing; they do not require imperfect American actions to justify authoritarianism, attacks on innocent civilians, or the flouting of all recognized norms of behavior. They will behave in such a fashion whether a Clinton or a Bush is in office.

Obama's Ideas on Foreign Policy Lack Luster - Lionel Beehner, Huffington Post: On foreign policy, Obama appears to have no new ideas. He is partially recycling his past eureka moments, while partially aping some of the Bush administration's recent successes.

Obama and American Anti-Elitism: Anti-elitism is ingrained in us, but we shouldn't misuse that - Carla Seaquist, Christian Science Monitor: We must alter our elitist approach to the world -- the financial crisis now going global is American-made -- and cooperate more. Doing so, America may rise again -- a better, wiser nation.

The End of Arrogance: America Loses Its Dominant Economic Role: The banking crisis is upending American dominance of the financial markets and world politics. The industrialized countries are sliding into recession, the era of turbo-capitalism is coming to an end and US military might is ebbing. Still, this is no time to gloat - Spiegel

Bush's Other Failed War: A Bitter Harvest in Afghanistan - Deepak Tripathi, Counterpunch: As the turbulent presidency of George W. Bush comes to a close, it leaves a legacy of two wars, with colossal economic and human costs. And America needs a president who knows how to extinguish the fires of war abroad and how to lead his own country into a period of renaissance once again.

A US welcome mat for Ahmadinejad - Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe: The high point of Ahmadinejad's week must have been Friday night, after his return to Iran. That was when John McCain and Barack Obama met in Mississippi for their first debate, and Obama reiterated once again his determination to meet Ahmadinejad "without preconditions" if he is elected in November.

Ahmadinejad's evil words aren't just talk: Threats by Iran's president are not empty rhetoric; he means what he says, and we ignore him at our peril - Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times

Violence Declines Further in Iraq; Pentagon Report Cites Factors That Could Rekindle Attacks - Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post

End of Iraq's Awakening? - Robert Dreyfuss, Nation: The bottom line is that despite the deceptive calm in Iraq, the country remains poised to explode.

Rose-Tinted Lens: Would Iraqis greet us with flowers? I made sure of it - Tom Streithorst, American Conservative: It is easy to blame the war in Iraq on Bush or Cheney or the neocons or the Israeli Lobby or Halliburton or Congress or the mainstream media. But that’s not the whole story. Millions of us marched against the war but then went home and did our laundry or watched TV. CARTOON: from Truthdig.

More blowback from the war on terror: The U.S.-backed Ethiopian military has secreted away scores of "suspects" -- including pregnant women and children -- and fueled anti-American rancor in Africa - Jennifer Daskal, Salon

Myanmar on the cyber-offensive - Brian McCartan, Asia Times: As activists and underground journalists have become more tech-savvy, the intelligence service has become more determined to counter the outflow of information.

The Art of War - Carl Kozlowski, Arroyo Monthly: The Norton Simon Museum nods to the election season with a show of propaganda posters exhorting America to support war efforts of the last century. Regardless of their approach, the intent of U.S. propaganda posters during World Wars I and II was the same -- to rally the hearts and minds of all Americans around supporting their country in fighting the biggest wars the planet had ever experienced.


NORMAN ROCKWELL AND THE OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION

“Norman Rockwell took a decidedly different approach in his own wartime works for the government. Working squarely in the framework of his traditional small-town Americana themes, he first created the … Thanksgiving dinner portrait as part of a series of posters based on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech about the Four Freedoms: freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Despite Rockwell’s growing reputation, the Office of War Information refused his work because it deemed him a mere illustrator, unworthy of the advertising men on the project. ‘On the way home, Rockwell saw the Saturday Evening Post and showed them his ideas. They said ‘Stop everything. You’re doing these for us,’” [assistant curator Leah] Rehmbeck says. 'He started doing the paintings there in the 1940s, and that took his career to a whole other level.”

--From Carl Kozlowski, "The Art of War, Arroyo Monthly

NOTE: For years your PDPBR compiler has been trying to organize an exhibit comparing the works of Rockwell and Soviet realist painters. Below: Rockwell's "Russian classroom":