December 5

"The views of those who did not rise through its ranks are not always taken seriously enough, perhaps on the theory that they could not have passed the Foreign Service exam."

--Henry Kissinger, regarding the US Foreign Service

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Breaking News!: Kondracke, Peretz: Keep Glassman as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Twilight, Britney Spears and Grand Theft Auto: The Key to Obama's Foreign Policy? - Hoyt Hilsman, Huffington Post: “While most of America's image problem was due to the disastrous Bush foreign policy, it was also the result of America's failure both to craft a compelling message and to deliver that message effectively. In other words, the failure to tell a convincing story. Both the strategy (message content) and tactics (message delivery) of what is called ‘public diplomacy’ have failed miserably in the past eight years, and even before. … So how should the Obama administration institute Public Diplomacy 2.0? First, create a central agency like FDR's Office of War Information (later the US Information Agency) to oversee the public diplomacy efforts of all government departments, including State, Defense, CIA, AID and others. Secondly, enlist the private sector as a partner in public diplomacy. …Thirdly, set achievable, measureable goals. … Finally, employ the most up-to-date communications strategies and technologies.”

A Cairo speech? – Ben Smith, Politico: “The Times reports that Obama is considering giving a speech in a Muslim capital in his first 100 days, a version of a little-noticed campaign promise he made last January. ‘Once I'm elected, I want to organize a summit in the Muslim world, with all the heads of state, to have an honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows every day between Muslims and the West,’ he told Paris Match back then. ‘I want to ask them to join our fight against terrorism. We must also listen to their concerns.’ UPDATE: The campaign promise was made more clearly in his speech the previous August: ‘As President, I will lead this [public diplomacy] effort. In the first 100 days of my Administration, I will travel to a major Islamic forum and deliver an address to redefine our struggle.’”

Re: Obama’s Muslim Address - Eric Trager, Contentions, Commentary: “Abe makes some excellent points regarding the probable meaninglessness of President-Elect Barack Obama’s proposed address to the Muslim world from an Islamic capital. Justin’s question regarding the value of an English-language speech to non-English speakers is also well taken. Still, I’m all for experimentation when it comes to public diplomacy–after all, relatively little is at stake. So here’s one approach that might yield positive results: Obama could use his speech to address our differences with the Muslim world directly, and then highlight areas of prospective consensus to calm.”

Pyramid Scheme? - Tobin Harshaw, New York Times: Reaction to a report that Barack Obama is thinking of giving a speech from a major Muslim capital in his first 100 days in office.

VOL. IV NO. 25, November 21-December 04, 2008 – The Layalina Review on Public Diplomacy and Arab media

Preventing the Triumph of Violence - Michael Gerson, Washington Post: “Guantanamo will and should be closed as a public diplomacy nightmare.”

Now Where Did I Hear That One Before? The Bush-Obama National Security Strategy - Harry Browne, CounterPunch: “According to the NSS [The National Security Strategy of the United States of America], Powell’s State Department was on stand-by, no less than Hillary Clinton’s will be, to go beyond ‘managing our bilateral relationships with other governments.’ ‘In this new era,’ it declared, the State Department’s ‘people and institutions must be able to interact equally adroitly with non-governmental organizations and international institutions. Officials trained mainly in international politics must also extend their reach to understand complex issues of domestic governance around the world, including public health, education, law enforcement, the judiciary and public diplomacy.… [W]e must also be able to help build police forces, court systems, and legal codes, local and provincial government institutions, and electoral systems.’ It’s quite a list – shades of ‘what have the Romans ever done for us?’”

Why Obama Is Less Popular In Asia - Adam Clayton Powell III, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: “Just elect Obama, the thinking goes, and America's public diplomacy problems are solved. Not quite: The data indicate Obama was never as popular in Asia as in Europe. And it turns out President Bush was never as unpopular in Asia as he was in Europe."

VIDEO: Public Diplomacy 2.0 - James K. Glassman, Policy Innovations - The Carnegie Council's online magazine for a fairer globalization: Remarks delivered at the New America Foundation, December 1, 2008

Causefest 2 - Marcia Stepanek, Cause Global: Social Media for Social Change: “Inspired by a sharp rise in the number of Facebook-organized political protests and mass demonstrations this year in cities around the world, dozens of youth activists from the U.S. and abroad met today at Columbia University for Day 2 of the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit—a first-time gathering hosted by Howcast, Facebook, MTV, the U.S. Department of State, YouTube, Google, and Access 360 Media. … James K. Glassman, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the Bush Administration, commended Summit organizers for trying to create what he called 'a giant global conversation about how individuals can oppose violence and extremism and stand up for universal values of tolerance, freedom, justice, and social change.'" NOTE: This detailed posting lists major highlights of the conference.

How To Use The Web To Change The World - RateJamaica - Jamaica and the Caribbean News Blog: “If you are interested in how to use the Web to create a grassroots political movement, tune in today and tomorrow to the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit, which is being sponsored and livestreamed by Howcast. Right now, James K. Glassman, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, is talking about How To Build a Movement Against Terrorism and will soon be introducing Oscar Morales, an engineer deom Columbia who set up a Facebook group called One Million Voices Against the FARC that organized in mass demonstrations on the street in that country.”

Egyptian Activists Challenge Facebook-Enabled Diplomacy 2.0 - Nancy Scola, techPresident: “The anonymous Egyptian youth activist with the Shabab 6 April movement at today's Alliance of Youth Movements Summit at Columbia University law school had a bone to pick with Facebook, but reserved his ire for the American government. It's bad enough that Facebook's group restrictions -- limits on how active members can be, restrictions on booting troublemakers out -- make organizing tricky. But he had far harsher words for the United States government's support of the reign of Hosni Mubarak. Why, he asked, was the U.S. so committed to perpetuating a repressive government against the wishes of that country's citizenry? … [T]he question raised by the challenge of that anonymous Egyptian activist, in my mind, still stands: what happens when this new blend of 'public diplomacy 2.0' conflicts with first-generation diplomacy? What happens when America's self-interest runs smack into the will of a nation's people, newly empowered by Facebook?”

Event Detail - Harvard Kennedy School: Public Diplomacy Using Web 2.0 Technology: Location: Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369; Date: Friday, December 5, 2008; Time:2:30 PM

Connectivity And Networks Rule: Virtuality, Public Diplomacy And The Foreign Ministry - Daryl Copeland, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: “Much more analysis will be required on the issue of how public diplomacy can make better use of the possibilities inherent in the digital universe. The scope for experimentation, like the medium, is limitless.”

State dept benefits from BI - Vicky Burger, Itweb: “The State Department division that runs public diplomacy programmes overseas could prove to be a model to its peers with its use of business intelligence (BI) software, popular with the private sector, to demonstrate the return on investment of its expenditures.”

The United States' Unprecedented Commitment to Africa, 2000 to 2008 and Beyond - Phillip Carter III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Press Release, US State Department: “The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership is a multi-year effort, funded at about $150m per year, to leverage and coordinate military, law enforcement, development, and public diplomacy elements to enhance the capacity of the trans-Sahara region to deter and defeat terrorism, and counter extremist ideology.”

Heritage shoots self with own bullet point - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Re James Phillips and Peter Brookes, Heritage Foundation, 3 December 2008 advocating to “[l]aunch a public diplomacy campaign to explain to the Iranian people how the regime's nuclear weapons program and hard-line policies hurt their economic and national interests”: “So the United States should counter the suppression of independent media in Iran by suppressing the independence of U.S. international broadcasting, forcing the radios to adhere to U.S. public diplomacy talking points about Iran's nuclear program. Some of us think it would be better to allow the U.S. international broadcasters to cover the news. This will include Iran's nuclear program, and reaction thereto, as a matter of course.”

United States Travel Community Lauds President Obama’s Pick for Secretary of Commerce - TravelandTourismNews.com: Roger Dow, president and CEO of the TIA [Travel Industry Association], issued the following statement: … ‘From his previous experience as an accomplished diplomat, Governor Richardson … recognizes the major public diplomacy benefits of international travel to the United states. The people-to-people diplomacy enabled by travel is one of America’s most effective means of strengthening our image in the world.’”

Jolie-Pitt Foundation Awards Second Grant to Global Action for Children: Foundation Reconfirms Commitment to GAC's Work Advocating for Orphans and Highly Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries - PRNewswire-USNewswire: “Today, Global Action for Children (GAC) announced a $100,000 end-of-year-grant from the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. The grant will support GAC's efforts on an Emergency Presidential Initiative for the World's Children (EPIWC) in the new Obama administration, ensure children are not left off the agenda during the growing financial crisis, and help GAC continue its mission of making every taxpayer dollar more efficient in U.S. foreign assistance for children. … Ms. Jennifer Delaney, Executive Director for Global Action for Children stated … ‘Establishing an executive-level office to oversee and coordinate foreign assistance programs for children in developing countries will ensure aid is spent on building healthy future civil societies, economic growth and political stability in developing countries --- not to mention fulfilling a critical U.S. public diplomacy goal.’"

BBC World Service yields to Foreign Office request on Somali pirate report - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: "BBC World Service will, in the long run, protect its reputation by declining government requests more often than it complies with them. And by continuing to insist that it is not part of UK public diplomacy (as it did on 15 December 2005). I hope the BBC issues a statement explaining this episode."

Australian Embassy カルチャー＆インフォメーションアシスタント – Ecentral: "The Public Diplomacy Section of the Embassy is seeking a highly-motivated bilingual person to assist in devising and implementing cultural strategies and providing information on Australia to the general public. The person will arrange publicity and promotion of cultural activities, maintain the Embassy’s internet 'culture centre' and cultural contacts database. They will also respond to telephone, email and fax enquiries from the public about Australia and report on and monitor trends relating to these queries. The position is available in January 2009."

last days - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “Today, I had the aforementioned (possible) last day, plus a presentation on Qatar's PD efforts. I talked about the crux of my paper of Qatar as blessed peacemaker of the Middle East.”

RELATED ITEMS

Obama Should Prosecute Bush Officials Who Designed Torture Policy, Michael Ratner, The Progressive

A Message for the New President: Stop Killing Afghanis - Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, CounterPunch

Winning an Asymmetrical War - Maxwell Kennedy, Huffington Post: We need a president who will no longer allow the terrorists to terrorize us. The media got it wrong. What the terrorists did in Mumbai does not matter nearly as much as how we (and India and Pakistan) respond to what they did.There may be no end to the war on terror, but we can end the terror itself.

Comparing Mumbai to 9/11 Diminishes Both Tragedies
We must not let '9/11' become a horrific status symbol signalling arrival into the fraternity of wounded superpowers - Priyamvada Gopal, Guardian/Common Dreams: To characterise last week's tragedy as India's 9/11 is to privilege the experience of the United States as the iconic form of national suffering. The attacks on the twin towers were appalling but the fetishisation of September 11 disregards the experiences of the millions who have suffered as much elsewhere, sometimes at the hands of the US.

Mumbai's 9/11 Meme - Lakshmi Chaudhry, Nation: A good part of the Indian need to claim the Mumbai attacks as another 9/11 is a call to the world to recognize their loss, to stand with them in their moment of tragedy.

After the Horror - Shashi Tharoor, Time: So India seethes with impotent rage, Pakistan belligerently asserts its innocence, and Washington despairs that its task in Afghanistan has just gotten harder.

'Muted by Reality': Now that Obama has won, we could be in Iraq for a hundred years - James Taranto, Wall Street Journal

Iraq, American Ally: Mesopotamian democracy represents our best hope for political-cultural change in the Arab sphere - Charles Krauthammer, Weekly Standard: Newly sovereign Iraq is today more engaged in the fight against Arab radicalism than any country on earth, save the United States.

Letter From Europe: Experts look to U.S. and Russia to take lead on arms control - Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune

With Obama's help, France, too, can shatter the glass ceiling for blacks: The 'Obama effect' should now be harnessed to call for equal opportunity for French minorities - Anne-Laure Piganeau de Chammard, Christian Science Monitor: French minorities need the affirmative action their American counterparts benefited from.

Team of Heavyweights - Henry A. Kissinger, Washington Post: President-elect Barack Obama has appointed an extraordinary team for national security policy.

The Right Hearts Hillary - John Batchelor, Daily Beast: The GOP's affection for Mrs. Clinton is more than its having confidence that, with her at Foggy Bottom, the Obama administration will not mass-produce plowshares and fly directly to Munich. After eight years of Mrs. Clinton in Congress, the GOP remnant in the Senate is in genuine agreement with her on war policy.

Hillary Clinton -- A Champion for Human Security - Queen Noor of Jordan, Huffington Post

Hillary's Eleanor Roosevelt moment - Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe: One of the lifelong commitments Clinton will bring to her new role is to improve the rights and everyday lives of the world's women. These issues will not be the "women's page" in her portfolio, but integral to the way she views the world and, perhaps, to the way America can exercise its power.

A Few Good Women: Obama ushers in a feminist revolution in foreign policy and national security - A.J. Rossmiller, New Republic

Clinton looks to loyalists for State Dept. staff – AP, USA Today: The former first lady appears set to tap current Senate aides and former White House "Hillaryland" stalwarts, whose reputation for insularity and staunch protectiveness has already set off anxiety among career foreign service officers.

Ending the Mindset - Editorial, Nation: Obama has said he welcomes "vigorous debate" and "dissenting views" from his so-called "team of rivals," but with no oppositional -- or even unconventional -- voice on foreign policy, how will this group of establishment figures bring about the promised transformation of mindset?

A Loud Silence: That's the response from the "antiwar" wing of the Democratic party to Obama's Iraq sellout – Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com: If Obama is indeed a post-racial version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as the lefties hope, then it becomes ever more important to keep a very close watch on his foreign policy. After all, Clare Booth Luce was dead on right when she said of FDR: "He lied us into war."

A Hillary in your Cabinet - R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., Washington Times: Of all the Clintonistas Mr. Obama has appointed, the most bizarre is the appointment of Mrs. Clinton as secretary of state. He himself during the campaign remarked on her lack of foreign policy credentials. "What exactly is [her] foreign policy expertise?" he jeered.

Can This Marriage Last? - Patrick J. Buchanan, Antiwar.com: While Barack has taken a risk naming Hillary, with her national following and ruthless courtiers, Hillary's investment is even greater. Should a clash erupt, as it did between Ronald Reagan and Al Haig, Barack, though at great cost, can terminate her and her career. Would Hillary, a former senator from New York who relied even more heavily than Barack on Jewish contributions and votes, stand by Barack if the two disagree on whether the survival of Israel is at stake? On second thought, the antiwar left is right to be nervous.

The Turf War Brewing Inside the White House: Obama’s pick for national security adviser—Gen. James L. Jones—has a strong independent streak and a well-attuned moral compass that could trigger clashes with other Defense officials - Russ Hoyle, Daily Beast

REMNANTS from BagnewsNotes