December 25

From Boing Boing

“America’s most famous pedestrian.”

--Edward Weston, known for such feats as walking from Boston to Washington in 10 days for Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural ball and walking backwards for 200 miles in St. Louis;
cited in Sean Hughes, “The Lost Art of Walking: A wide-ranging look at the unexpected pleasures of walking,” Christian Science Monitor

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Where Things Stand: Alhurra - Dafna Linzer, ProPublica, NY: “This month, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, under pressure from Congress, finally made public a 70-page report on Alhurra. Commissioned by the government and written by the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy, the report calls Alhurra a failure and concludes it suffers from weak journalism and poor programming. The Bush Administration's public diplomacy efforts have long drawn criticism from Democrats. President-elect Obama is contemplating major changes. ‘I think we've got a unique opportunity to reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,’ Obama said earlier this month. Obama chose the dean of USC's Annenberg School for Communication, Ernest J. Wilson III, to lead the transition team for the BBG and other U.S. public diplomacy efforts inside the State Department.”

Diplo-Twittering at the Department of State - Nathan Hodge, Wired: “Take a look at [Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen] Graffy's Twitter: it's basically mind-bullets from a harried senior State Department official. ('Back from the gym, off to the office'; 'FYI: Bed, Bath and Beyond Coupons don't really ever expire'; 'catching flight to Santa Barbara for Christmas--thx 4 your replies on article, will catch up when I land.') Twitter can be a great tool: think here of the tweet-by-tweet accounts of the Mumbai terror attacks. But on the American Foreign Policy Council blog, Ilan Berman questioned its use as an instrument of public diplomacy: 'When America speaks, the words need to inspire and empower. ... Color me skeptical, but I somehow doubt that email blasts about a U.S. diplomat’s frenetic travel schedule will accomplish the same goal against our adversaries today.'" PHOTOS (ABOVE AND BELOW): Graffy in Estonia.

According to Graffy, Diplo-Tweeting is actually working - Matthew Burton, Personal Democracy Forum: “[Colleen Graffy is] using Twitter exactly how I think professionals should be using it: she mixes her message with personality. I praised her for trying a new form of communication, but when it comes to whether it is actually effective, I could only speculate. Graffy's editorial in today's Washington Post provides actual evidence that Twittering makes her a better diplomat.” Posting contains comment by Ilan Berman, Vice President of The American Foreign Policy Council.

State Department – a twittering we shall go - Steven Hodson, The Inquisitr, Australia:

“The fact that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy (man that was a mouthful) Colleen Graffy is using Twitter to advance US public diplomacy should just get the Twitter PR rolling.”

A good news story for public diplomacy and global engagement - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that Under Secretary Jim Glassman has only recently begun asking for more money, but shouldn’t his boss be the one knocking heads in Congress?”

Parliamentary minority has questions to Public Chamber - Rustavi 2: “The parliamentary minority has questions to the members of the public chamber, a group of famous Georgian public workers and experts, who visited Moscow a few days ago and announced about forming a Georgian-Russian commission, which is to work on resumption of dialogue between Moscow and Georgia.

The opposition MPs will meet with the chamber members later today. They want to know how far the public diplomacy can go and what the perspectives of relations with Russia are in near future. The members of the public chamber plan to meet with other political subjects too.” PHOTO: Russia vs. Georgia at beach volleyball contest at Beijing Olympics.

War in Afghanistan spawneda global narco-terrorist force – pavocavalry, Red Army Afghan War: From "War in Afghanistan spawned a global narco-terrorist force" by Jeffrey Steinberg, Executive Intelligence Review, October 13, 1995: "Under National Security Directive 3, signed by President Reagan in early 1982, Vice President George Bush was placed in charge of the entire global covert action program. It was Bush's Special Situation Group (SSG) and Crisis Pre-Planning Group (CPPG) at the White House, that deployed Oliver North, Richard Secord, 'Public Diplomacy' head Walter Raymond, and the entire Iran-Contra crew. Throughout the 1980s, the Afghan War was the largest single program under this Bush chain of command.” ILLUSTRATION: Ad placed by the Young Republicans, one of the groups under the cognizance of the Office of Public Diplomacy and discussed by Oliver North in a March 20, 1985 memorandum.

RELATED ITEMS

Hiring Window Open for Foreign Service Officers - Alan Kotok, ScienceCareers.org, DC:

The New York Times on Saturday described the U.S. State Department's accelerated efforts to recruit more foreign service officers (FSOs), the people who staff American embassies and consulates overseas. While FSOs come from a wide range of disciplines, some scientists find these jobs rewarding, particularly when they can apply their earlier training.

Promoting peace in Afghanistan – with a lighter touch: A provincial reconstruction team's visit to a remote area underscores the challenges of winning hearts and minds - Danna Harman, Christian Science Monitor: A provincial reconstruction team (PRT) has landed in remote Barge Matal, and everyone – from the elders up the mountain trails to the girls who usually spend their days hidden from view – wants to make requests, lodge complaints, and generally be part of the action. Born out of the mantra that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won by military means alone, the mission of these small units – 26 in total -- is to coordinate with local leaders and do development work -- thus winning Afghan hearts and minds.

Iranian Shoe-Throwing Contest - Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL: The Iranian authorities are still milking the shoe-throwing incident for all it's worth. A shoe-throwing contest is due to be held at a university in Tehran on December 24.

Iraq: The Necessary Withdrawal - Juan Cole, Nation: There are powerful reasons for which the United States should mount an orderly withdrawal from Iraq. The first and most important is that the Iraqis want it. As president Obama inherits the responsibility to do everything he can to allow Iraq to go forward without further calamities and to repair, through reparations or aid, as much of the damage as possible.

A Letter To Barack Obama: Middle East can turn on a new axis - Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Asia Times: After so many years of misguided, lop-sided and self-injurious US policies in the Middle East, a golden new window of opportunity exists as a direct result of Obama’s election.

South Asia descends into terror's vortex - M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times: It is highly unlikely that any new leadership in Delhi will emulate current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ardor for India's strategic partnership with the US.

Pakistan's spies reined in - Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times: In Pakistan, foremost is curtailing the powerful military dominated intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the second is the unveiling of a new strategy in Afghanistan. American military officials have gone the extra mile to set up an incentive package to make these plans successful.

The highs and lows of Sino-US relations - Jing-dong Yuan, Asia Times: While the Bush administration has been credited with managing the complex relationship with China rather well, despite -- or perhaps because of -- its preoccupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its priorities in combating terrorism, debates continue within and outside the administration on the critical issue of how to deal with a rising China in the long run.

Shadow boxing with North Korea - Donald Kirk, Asia Times: The incoming administration of president-elect Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his designated secretary of state, pick up where President George W. Bush and Rice are leaving off. The expectation is they will come up with a new formula, possibly including the prospect of a peace treaty to replace the Korean War armistice, but no one's betting North Korea will abandon its nuclear program without some major power shift that appears unlikely as long as Kim Jong-il stays alive.

Forging new relations with Russia – Editorial, International Herald Tribune: Obama should signal to the Russians that he wants better relations. For every gesture, the United States would make clear it expects a tangible response, starting with help in ending Iran's nuclear program and continuing with cooperation against international terrorism and a withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia.

How Obama Can Reform Russia Policy - Anatol Lieven, Nation: Washington simply cannot afford the geopolitical distraction of confrontation with Russia when the United States faces such immense challenges elsewhere. What is more, Russia can be of great help on what should be two linked priorities of the new administration: achieving détente with Iran and putting together a regional coalition to help stabilize Afghanistan and eventually replace the US and NATO presence there.

Hard Facts and Soft Diplomacy - Richard Lourie, Moscow Times: U.S.-Russian relations are at a mild impasse. Once in office, President Barack Obama can't publicly and immediately quash the plans to deploy missile interceptors in Poland or call for deferring NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine. He would lose face. For the same reason, the Russians will not withdraw their recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia's independence, nor will they withdraw their forces from those areas.

Major foreign policy test awaits Obama in Somalia: Ethiopia confirmed this week that it will pull troops out of the troubled nation, a move that experts worry could allow the country to fall into the hands of Islamist insurgents - David Montero, Christian Science Monitor

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“’They dropped a million pounds of bombs,’ Mr. Kissinger said. Nixon was pleased. ‘Goddamn, that must have been a good strike!’ he said.”

--Scott Shane, “Indexed Trove of Kissinger Phone Transcripts Is Complete,” New York Times