December 6

“When I was a Stanford professor,
I tutored a certain Texas governor.
I showed him the countries on a great big map,
And I never scolded him when he made a gaffe.
I tutored Dubya so charmingly
That now I am a cabinet secretary."

--Using music from “When I Was A Lad” by Gilbert and Sullivan, what a journalist sang about Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice several years ago

“At this stage of my life, I would rather remember people than be with them.”

--A former public-diplomacy USIA/State Department employee, of a certain age and once involved in "people-to-people diplomacy," in an e-mail to the compiler of this blog

SITE OF INTEREST

Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi book burnings

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Secretary Gates on a Balanced Strategy - Building Peace: “I don't know if it's appropriate for an officer to gush over his Defense Secretary, but I can't help it: every time Secretary Gates gives a speech or writes a paper, he waters my eyes. ... The secretary's latest paper appears in the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs. A Balanced Strategy: Reprogramming the Pentagon for a New Age explains the 2008 National Defense Strategy and lays out a clear, pragmatic vision for allocating limited resources to prepare for both conventional and asymmetric military operations. Some of the terrain is familiar. Gates--who never misses an opportunity to raise the subject--writes again about the erosion of America's non-military instruments of power like the State Department, USAID, and our public diplomacy apparatus, and the crucial need to rebuild their capacity.”

Following a US Diplomat As She Travels to Armenia - AGBU Blog: “In this brave new world of the Internet, many politicians and business leader around the world have joined Twitter, a micro-blogging tool, to share information about their activities and keep the public or colleagues better informed. Today, I encountered the following interesting post on the U.S. State Department’s Official Blog: Do you twitter? You can follow a diplomat in real-time and learn more about America’s public diplomacy by catching the 'tweets' of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy. She is tweeting now as she prepares this weekend to depart for Iceland, Croatia and Armenia. She will chat with bloggers, meet with the Spokesperson at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, compare notes with journalists, talk with university students, hear about the Fulbright program, have pizza with representatives of the youth wings of political parties and more. You may also follow her travels through DipNote on Twitter. … Follow Colleen P. Graffy on Twitter here. [Read Ms. Graffy's twittering below].”

Observations on what happened in Hebron - Missing Links: News Items From The Arabic-Language Press To Help Fill In The Gaps: “[P]ublic-diplomacy scholar Professor Lynch notes … that the US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, James Glassman, has given a speech called 'Public Diplomacy 2.0', sponsored by an organization called DIP. The speech is full of the kind of idiotic remarks you would expect at an event like this. Lynch notes with evident pride that Glassman mentioned his (Lynch's) name in the talk, with a ‘nice mention of a recent Abu Aardvark post’".

U.S. State Department Team Will Explain U.S. Positions To Online Iranians – MEMRi Iranian Media Blog: “The U.S. State Department has established a special team of Farsi speakers to monitor websites and blogs in Iran, and to respond and to explain the U.S. position, particularly on the Iranian nuclear issue, on chat rooms and online forums. Sources: Jomhouri-e Eslami, Iran, December 4, 2008; Fars, Parsine, Iran, December 3, 2008.”

why is there no Voice of America for Americans? - lokman.tsui, global voices, one world: new media, global communication, journalism - ”The traditional model of public diplomacy, based on the international broadcasting paradigm, of states to states, seems archaic in the light of new technologies. … Why is there a Voice of America for the rest of the world, but no Voice of America for Americans? How would a Voice of the World for Americans look like?” Includes comment by Matt Armstrong.

Fighting on the 'battle space of ideas' - Editorial, theday.com: “In a recent presentation to the Southeast Connecticut Committee on Foreign Relations, diplomat Brian E. Carlson argues that the U.S. overlooked the ability of 'soft power' to extend its influence across the world. ‘Once the Cold War was won we withdrew from the battle space of ideas and others moved in,’ said Mr. Carlson, senior liaison with the Department of Defense for strategic communication under the direction of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. More personnel can be found on a single aircraft carrier than the entire State Department Foreign Services Officers corps, noted Mr. Carlson.”

Regulating the media mayhem: Maintaining the balance between freedom and responsibility of the press is a challenge during such times. A modern, democratic state needs to be prepared to deftly handle this tool of public diplomacy during a crisis – Pragmatic Euphony: “The media failed the nation during the Mumbai terror attacks. … There is an urgent need to create a single point media handler — a Media Diplomat … who should be activated along with the media regulator during any crisis. Impromptu press briefings by various authorities … should not be allowed unless sanctioned/ accompanied by the Media Diplomat.”

What Does Mumbai Mean? - Nissim Dahan, Mideast Youth: “4. Public Diplomacy: If the terrorist wins hearts and minds by seeking to set us against one another, we counter by launching a series of Public Diplomacy Programs which are specifically designed to prop a Vision of Hope up and to carry it forward, including: a program to empower women, a media campaign, a student exchange, a cultural exchange, an expanded version of the Peace Corps, and a series of international conferences on education, religion and the environment. Take, for example, the program to empower women by financing female entrepreneurs, and promoting women’s rights. Who are women? They are the givers of life, and the caretakers of life, and as such are uniquely qualified to reconstitute their societies consistent with a Vision of Hope.”

Will the Dalai Lama wreck the Sino-European relationship? - Stanley Crossick, Stanley’s blog: “Tibet goes to the very touchstone of Chinese sovereignty and anything seen as a threat to China’s territorial integrity is hypersensitive … in the short-term the two sides seek - without any public diplomacy - to find a modus vivendi.”

One on One: Judaism, not Jabotinsky - Ruthie Blum Leibowitz, Jerusalem Post: Likud primary candidate and Manhigut Yehudit faction leader Moshe Feiglin: “We are always asking ourselves why our enemies are so successful at international hasbara [public diplomacy] - why we are always failing, in spite of having much better tools and embassies and emissaries all over the world. The answer is that our enemies operate out of a sense of justice, while we operate from a point of pragmatism. They demand justice; we demand pragmatic solutions.”

Waco businessman, former ambassador not hanging on for phone call from Obama - Regina Dennis, Waco Tribune Herald, TX: “’I have not been contacted by the Obama transition team, and I am not currently being considered for a position in his administration,’ said Lyndon B. Olson Jr., who served as ambassador to Sweden from 1998 to 2001. Yet, Olson still will hold a government office as part of the Obama administration. In April, he was appointed by President Bush to a three-year term on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.”

Friday, December 5, 2008 - Gulliver in Muthanna: “The State Department publishes a monthly magazine entitled State, which contains articles and photographs written by members of the Department's Foreign and Civil Service. … One of my goals this year, both as a Foreign Service Officer, and most especially as a Public Diplomacy Officer, was to get an article about our work in Muthanna published in State. … A few nights ago, just before my boss and I were about to leave the office for the evening, we both did a final web check to see if the new edition of State was up, hoping our article made it in - and if it did, indeed, make it in, would the editing gods have taken mercy on my prose? Lo and behold, it was up on the web, the gods were kind. … I love being a diplomat for so many reasons: the issues, the challenges, seeing the world, and being in the midst of history in the making. Yet one of the best parts of my job as a PD Officer is documenting these wonderfully insignificant-to-the-big-picture moments on film.”

RELATED ITEMS

Trento's Column: NBC is to the Pentagon what FOX is to the GOP - Joseph Trento, storiesthat matter.org: NBC is owned by a military contractor. When General Electric first bought NBC in 1986, NBC News stated publicly that they would reveal conflicts of interest. Twenty-two years later NBC News spreads Pentagon propaganda with impunity.

Tip of the Week - Propaganda Posters - glennw, History Tech: “I spent Wednesday with a great group of middle and high school teachers, talking about the best ways to engage kids in thinking historically. A good chunk of the day focused on using primary and secondary sources. I always have fun being a part of history teachers sharing ideas and resources. Kenny Holthaus of Royal Valley HS shared a site I hadn’t seen before that documents some awesome World War II propaganda posters. I’ve added it to my growing collection of propaganda resources. ... A simple exercise is to have kids compare two images of the same topic from different periods or different countries."

Don't Get Too Close - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO (above): U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holds a press conference Friday Dec. 5, 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. (AP Photo/Jens Dige, POLFOTO). COMMENT: ”So, yeah, Condi's was in India for about two seconds, pretending to help with whatever it is they need help with over there. Everybody loves it when Dr. Ferragamo lends a hand! Remember a couple of weeks ago how she was 'helping' with the financial crisis? And look how awesome that turned out! Onward to new triumphs, girl! Or, in this case, Denmark.”

MODERN TAX-PAYER PAID TWIT-DIPLOMACY

"Hey there! Colleen_Graffy is using Twitter. Twitter is a free service that lets you keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Join today to start receiving Colleen_Graffy's updates.

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Colleen_Graffyit's official--Dipnote announces I'm twittering my trip to Iceland, Croatia and Armenia. Now to pack! http://tiny.cc/CGDipnote1 about 2 hours ago from web

telecon call w Public Affairs Officers in Europe/Eurasia--we want Facebook for all embassies like in Montenegro: http://tiny.cc/USMntgroFB 9:08 AM Dec 4th from web

discussing how to get all of our embassies to do newsletters like this one from Embassy Sofia in Bulgaria: http://tiny.cc/USBulgNewl 2:45 PM Dec 3rd from web

just back from meeting with Ambassador Markarian at the Armenian Embassy to discuss my upcoming trip and get his advice. 10:43 AM Dec 3rd from web

on conference call on climate change w journalists in prep for the UNFCCC meeting in Poznan, Poland next week. 8:03 AM Dec 3rd from web

trying to bring 'visual communications' for public diplomacy interagency--holding meeting to knit up State and DOD 1:27 PM Dec 2nd from web

meeting with Croatian Ambassador, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic to discuss my upcoming trip to Croatia 11:18 AM Dec 2nd from web

re-emerging--changing planes in Denver on way to DCA- 9:41 AM Dec 1st from mobile web

Boarding LAX to SB flight--desperately trying to finish business b4 europe and DC days end! alway living mentally inbtween time zones. 11:24 AM Nov 26th from mobile web

feel like I know Chicago but actually only the airport-always enroute. Beghoff's brill 5:32 AM Nov 26th from mobile web

finally leaving office after futile attempt to dent 'To Do' list. give up. 6AM flight (what was I thinking?) to Santa Barbara for T-Day! 8:02 PM Nov 25th from web

driving past White House--'West Wing' side. Never fails to inspire. 10:10 AM Nov 25th from web
at Brookings for launch of 'Voices of America' on US Public Diplomacy for 21st century 7:20 AM Nov 25th from mobile web

catching up. only gone four days--seems a month. met with Public Diplomacy Desk Officers for Iceland, Croatia and Armenia--the next trip 4:43 PM Nov 24th from web

working on script for training video on 'getting visual.' Not enuf to tell people--we need to show US publc diplomacy visually. Fading fast 7:32 PM Nov 23rd from web

Re Q&A with Romanian students: 'US doesn't care about Palestinians only Israel' here is another link on what US is doing: http://tiny.cc/UPP 11:40 AM Nov 23rd from web

dragging body to gym. try to work out on trips but tough--DC wakes up just as Moldova etc day ends--if u don't keep up u r crushed on rt. 5:48 AM Nov 23rd from web

reading blackberry in bed. the 'Ops Center' sends updates on global events--won't start my day without it 4:56 AM Nov 23rd from mobile web

ready to head home. wandering around State Dept parking garage with my suitcases looking for my car. 2:45 PM Nov 22nd from web

Landed! Back in […]”