October 15

"This is my last meeting with you as secretary, and thank you for not applauding that fact."

--Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to the State Department’s department's Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion; cited also in Princess Sparkle Pony's Photoblog, from which the photo on the left is taken.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Improving America's Reputation -- McCain Would Lecture, Obama Would Listen - Amy Zalman, Huffington Post: “McCain advocates making sure the American message, and our ‘positive image’ gets to foreign publics; Obama advocates forging a dialogue with foreign publics to create a joint narrative about a shared future. McCain believes the United States leads by moral fiat based on its intrinsic leadership role; Obama believes the United States should lead by the example of its own behavior. … McCain believes that the 1998 decision to close USIA was wrong, and has promised to ‘work with Congress to create a new independent agency with the sole purpose of getting America's message to the world -- a critical element in combating Islamic extremism and restoring the positive image of our country abroad.’ Obama believes that efforts at public diplomacy in the Bush administrations State Department have been misguided and has promised to reignite public diplomacy efforts that recall the activities of USIA.”

One Ring To Rule Them All - Lawrence Dietz, Psyop Regimental Blog: "Public Diplomacy and helping other nations rebuild their infrastructure is the responsibility of the Department of State. Their diplomats along with seconded representatives of other Cabinet Level Departments should be driving the nation building, not the Department of Defense. … If the quote attributed to Senator James Webb (D-VA) that 'At a time when this country is facing such a grave economic crisis . . . it makes little sense for the Department of Defense to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars to propagandize the Iraqi people,' is true, it is clear that Senator Webb hasn’t the faintest idea as to the importance of strategic communications and likely has no clue as to why effective strategic communications and information engagement are needed to stab at the heart of what fuels the success of terrorists and insurgents."

Will Military Rule Return to Pakistan—and Afghanistan—in a Year? - China Hand, China Matters: "[Re] the Pakistan Policy Working Group paper [:] … The general drift of the report is that Pakistan’s fragile democracy must be coddled, spared the embarrassment of appearing as America’s lap dog, and showered with financial goodies to get Pakistan hearts, minds, and other useful organs on board the democracy-loving anti-extremist express. Add public diplomacy, NGOs, textile exports etc. etc. In general, one must say that joint operations are better than unilateral incursions."

And a warm welcome to all our friends overseas - Alex Evans, Global Dashboard: “As regular readers will be aware, I’ve long admired the courageous approach to public diplomacy taken by the US Department of Homeland Security, particularly in the fantastically Byzantine process that is immigration at New York’s John F Kennedy airport. Now, DHS are raising their game to a whole new level. As frequent travellers will know, in order to qualify for the US visa waiver program, visitors from overseas now have to apply for special authorisation to do so."

DOW 36,000, Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - Chattering Lass, From the Exurbs: “Let's look back 9 years, to 1999, when James K. Glassman wrote his remarkable book DOW 36,000, suggesting that the stock market was significantly undervalued and would triple its value over 3 to 5 years. By the way: in June 2008, Glassman became Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the Bush administration. And these are the guys who want to privatize social security. Nice, huh?”

U.S. Department of State and Avon Foundation Co-Host 2008 Breast Cancer Global Congress – Notice to the Press, Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James K. Glassman will address the 2008 Breast Cancer Global Congress, on Wednesday, October 15, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri and Director of the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade Dr. Mark Hurlbert will open the event that morning in the George C. Marshall Conference Center at the U.S. Department of State.

Obama: ‘Unshakable Commitment to the Security of Israel’ - Neurotic Democrat: Barack Obama, as quoted by Neurotic Democrat: “And it is my strong belief that that is the battlefield that we have to worry about, and that is where we have been losing badly over the last seven years. That is where Iraq has been a disaster. That is where the lack of effective public diplomacy has been a disaster. That is where our failure to challenge seriously human rights violations by countries like Saudi Arabia that are our allies has been a disaster. And so what we have to do is to speak to that broader Muslim world in a way that says we will consistently support human rights, women’s rights.”

The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: Book Discussion with Nicholas Cull – USC Center on Public Diplomacy: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 12:00pm-1:00pm. The Center on Public Diplomacy is proud to host a roundtable book discussion with CPD faculty fellow Nicholas Cull about his most recent publication, "The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989." PHOTO: Nicholas Cull.

Credibility and the World Service - Andy Pryce, First Secretary Public Affairs Washington, FCO Bloggers: Global conversations: “There is a wide ranging debate underway in Washington on how the US Government should go about influencing overseas. There seems to be a wide range of suggested approaches. Some in Congress had expressed concern about the reporting of Voice of America. Some seem to want more independent public diplomacy initiatives, others do not. The Department of Defence recently signed a $300 million a year contract for the production of supportive media in Iraq. What do readers think that the UK and US can learn from each other approach and ideas?” PHOTO: Andy Pryce.

VOTE For ARTS - Who Says What - Darrell Markewitz, Hammered Out Bits: “A Liberal government will provide income averaging for artists, an important tool for helping this country’s writers, artists and musicians continue to excel. The Liberals have been promising to restore the cuts to Public Diplomacy Programs ... since the first cuts were made to that program in 2006 ... . In addition, they commit to increasing funding for international arts promotion and the Museums Assistance Program, and the creation of a Canadian Digital Media Strategy. "

RELATED ITEMS

Unlocking Gitmo – Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle: It's time to shut down a twilight zone exception to American norms.

Uighurs without a country - Editorial, Boston Globe: Every additional day the 17 Uighurs -- Muslims from a western province of China that has long sought greater autonomy from Beijing -- spend at Guantanamo makes a mockery of the rule of law in the United States. PHOTO: Nury Turkel, a leader in the Uighur-American community, is photographed in his office on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008, in Washington. With no Dalai Lama to promote their cause, Chinese Muslims known as Uighurs have waged a largely anonymous bid for autonomy and cultural survival in their Central Asian homeland north of Tibet.

Some Afghans live under Taliban rule – and prefer it: In provinces just south of Kabul, the insurgents have a shadow government that polices roads and runs courts - Anand Gopal, Christian Science Monitor

Downward Spiral - Editorial, New York Times: the next president must plot a swift, orderly exit from Iraq and begin a swift and serious buildup of troops and aid in Afghanistan -- the real frontline in the war on terror.

The reality of war in Afghanistan - Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe: Deploying more US troops in Afghanistan will intensify this highly dangerous conflict, not calm it.

NIE: Pakistan on Brink - Juan Cole, Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: The new National Intelligence Estimate on Pakistan will apparently depict that country as "on the edge," with "no money, no energy, no government." The fear is expressed that an unstable Pakistan will become a center for al-Qaeda plotting against the US.

Pentagon Challenge: Ask Iraqis How Many Have Died - Robert Naiman, Common Dreams: The U.S. military is planning a large polling operation in Iraq over the next three years to help "build robust and positive relations with the people of Iraq and to assist the Iraqi people in forming a new government," Walter Pincus reports in the Washington Post. This provides an excellent opportunity to revisit an important question: How many Iraqis have died since the U.S. invasion?

Understanding the US-Iran Crisis - Phyllis Bennis, Antiwar.com: Any serious effort to minimize tensions and normalize relations between the United States and Iran must recognize that negotiations and diplomacy, not sanctions, military threats, or military attacks, must be the basis of the U.S. posture toward Iran.

Settling With North Korea - Editorial, Washington Post: The best argument for the Bush administration's latest deal with North Korea comes from those U.S. officials who don't try to pretend it represents a positive step toward the nuclear disarmament of that Stalinist state.

The Nuances of Diplomacy - Peter Rutland, Moscow Times: It's one thing when McCain and Obama discuss whether Russia is an "evil empire" based on their own analyses and interpretations of the country's actions. But we should not put words into Russian leaders' mouths based on our own preconceptions of their intentions.

Next Stop, Ukraine?: What McCain's interest in Crimea suggests about his worldview - Joshua A. Tucker, New Republic: Despite some of his claims to want to foster cooperation with Russia, McCaine will most likely approach future interactions with Russia through a world-view that stresses the importance of standing up to Russia, which in many cases may mean conflict.

Don't Laugh at the Bear : But don't make him bigger than he is - Stuart Koehl, Weekly Standard: Russia can cause mischief, and maybe even seriously interfere with U.S. foreign policy -- but it is not now and will not reemerge as an existential threat to our country, or even to the West as a whole, because it is and will remain militarily weak.

The West must not push Russia away – again: After so many broken promises, integration is key - Alfred Kokh, Christian Science Monitor: Alfred Kokh is the author of the upcoming book, "A Crate of Vodka: An Insider View On The 20 Years That Shaped Modern Russia." He served as a deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin.

Bush Doctrine Becomes DoD Dogma – William Pfaff, TruthDig: By now the “Long War,” realistic or not, will have become orthodoxy for most of the Washington defense and strategic studies community.

Beware of Big Ideas - Leon Hadar, Antiwar.com: In fact, there was never an American Empire in either a political-military or an economic sense. Instead, what happened was that U.S. leaders and American investors, acting in a very opportunistic way, exploited the sources of power -- military and financial advantages -- the U.S. seemed to be enjoying since the end of the Cold War. Photo from Wonkette.

Uncle Sam: Too Fat to Fail? The financial meltdown means government needs a crash diet - Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal: Even before this crisis, intellectuals and pundits were writing off America as certain to be overtaken -- politically and economically -- by the likes of China and India. What's needed is a crash diet. America isn't in decline, but its too-big-to-fail fatsos are pulling it down.

Is Condi an Absentee Landlord? - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to:“OK, so I was just reading the latest Federal Diary by Joe Davidson buried within the Washington Post's business section. It's all about trouble at the State Department, so I was of course thinking, 'Ooh, Condi dirt' … So! The article is all about how nobody wants to work at the State Department anymore, personel levels are so low that tumbleweeds are bouncing down the halls, points are made about diplomacy being coopted by the DOD, and about how State doesn't train anybody to do anything so nothing is happening, etc., etc. People gripe and moan and wring their smooth, manicured hands. Tiny (yet perfectly formed) Robert Gates is interviewed and quoted at length. ’What can I do,’ he moans, ‘when it's not technically my department?' OMG, it's really boring.”