December 9

"'Courting Condi' is a movie by British filmmaker Sebastian Doggart that portrays the quest of a love-struck man, actor Devin Ratray, who wants to win the heart of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice."

--Wikipedia
Courtesy GL

VIDEO

1930s Propaganda: We Work Again

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Obama Administration and Islamist Parties: Any Hope of Turning a New Page? - Mustapha Khalf, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “[T]he U.S. administration’s unilateral and illegitimate decision to go to war with Iraq is a proof of a U.S. foreign policy that leads to destructive chaos, alienates allies, and seeks followers. The resignation of several heads of the Office of Public Diplomacy clearly shows this crisis of credibility. … In addition to a unilateral ideology and lack of credibility, the failure of the Bush administrations was due to a policy ambiguity resulting from conflicting priorities in the Middle East: supporting Israel’s security while pressing for the democratization of the region; ensuring the flow of oil, protecting allied regimes while fighting terrorism, opening markets, and pursuing public diplomacy.”

Gate(s)way To The Future - Richard Harrison, American Foreign Policy Council: “In his recent article in Foreign Affairs, ... [Secretary of Defense] Gates advocates a 'balanced strategy' incorporating 'soft power' tools such as greater public diplomacy and proactive engagement in countries around the world, as well as a surge in the number of Foreign Service officers and U.S. Aid employees. At the same time, he also stresses the the importance of maintaining credible military power to deter countries, such as Russia and China, which have made growing investments in their militaries. Perhaps most importantly, Gates highlights the need to adapt the military to fight a new kind of war, where asymmetric warfare and counterinsurgency trump conventional standing armies. By selecting Gates, then, the new president has also blessed a warfighting approach that is responsive to the changing nature of our current conflict, and intended to proactively shape it. And that is indeed a hopeful sign."

Should Glassman stay put? - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “[Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James] Glassman is willing to listen and to learn. Most importantly, as past chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and now under secretary of State for public diplomacy, he understands the complementary roles of international broadcasting and public diplomacy. Most U.S. decision makers and experts don't, thinking that international broadcasting, public diplomacy, psyop, disinformation, and goodness knows what else, should all be smooshed together as coordinated ‘strategic communications.’ I have doubts about some of Glassman's Public Diplomacy 2.0 ideas. But what's important is that he is trying stuff, and some of those new approaches will actually work. So, yes, let Glassman succeed himself."

“Conversation, not Dictation”: Public Diplomacy 2.0 - I&D Blog: “As Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, James Glassman has vamped up efforts to debate with jihadists on the internet. In fact, Glassman has completely retooled the federal government’s virtual presence, hoping to harness the power of web 2.0 interactive technology to fight a ‘war of ideas,’ a sort of public diplomacy 2.0. … [Glassman] seems to believe that instead of lecturing the world about ‘American values’ from our city on a hill, public diplomacy efforts should be aimed at the facilitation of their practice and I think he’s right. An actually open debate about democratic values (not simply PR to ‘sell’ American policy) will expose extremism for the shallow dogmatism and violence it actually represents.”

Let's not Forget Public Diplomacy 1.0 - Mitchell Polman, Public Diplomacy Blog, University of Southern California center on Public Diplomacy: “It is important that public diplomacy programs target their audiences appropriately. The State Department's use of the Internet, chat rooms, and Facebook is valuable in engaging extremists of all sorts that commonly use the Internet both to spread their views and to plan attacks upon others. However, we need to keep in mind that preventing people from becoming extremists in the first place is also important and ‘old technology’ still needs to be an important part of that. Public Diplomacy 1.0 is still very relevant in today's world.”

Diplomats Use Twitter To Give The World TMI - Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent: “It wasn’t long ago that the State Dept. was basically internet-illiterate. Now Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public

Diplomacy Colleen Graffy is oversharing on Twitter.”

21st Century Diplomacy, Tweet-style - Jim Arkedis, All Our Might: “Deputy Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy is in Reykjavik, grabbing coffee and speaking to students at the University of Iceland. How do I know this? Spencer Ackerman figured out that she is on Twitter. This just strikes me as the back-ass-wards, ineffective, all-show-no-substance approach to problem solving that we’ve come to expect from the Bush administration.”

Morning Reading List, 12.08.08 - mediabistro.com, NY: “DipNote asks, 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.’"

Diplomats defend U.S. abroad - Cydney Weiner, GW Hatchet: “Two U.S. ambassadors to South American countries discussed the fight against anti-Americanism Friday during an event sponsored by the School of Media and Public Affairs. Earl Anthony Wayne and Frank E. Baxter, the ambassadors to Argentina and Uruguay respectively, detailed the ways they have used public diplomacy to improve relations between the United States and other countries. Wayne said that public diplomacy is the ‘top priority’ for any ambassador.”

U.S. international broadcasting is "disengaged from the broader U.S. public diplomacy strategy." Good - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Re the contention in "Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century," Brookings Institution, November 2008, that "America’s broadcasting strategy and organization needs a serious review and rethinking to adapt to the age we live in. The Broadcasting Board of Governors is a confusing jumble of broadcasting agencies that are currently disengaged from the broader U.S. public diplomacy strategy,” Elliott states that “[p]eople do not go to the effort of tuning international broadcasts to get the latest public diplomacy. They tune in to get the latest, reliable, credible news. One of the chief purposes of the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 was a get U.S. international broadcasting ‘disengaged from the broader U.S. public diplomacy strategy.‘ This would allow USIB to achieve credibility, without which there is no audience.”

The New Voices Of America - Speedy Gonzalez, Esdeladea Unrestricted, Perpetual, Multi-Front, Planetary Cultural Warfare: "There are many sound, intelligent and practical ideas in Kristin Lord’s new Brookings report on reforming U.S. public diplomacy, titled 'Voices of America.' … but regrettably unsatisfying. The tactics are there; what is missing is mission, purpose and strategy. Indeed, there is a unique public diplomacy mission of our age, just as there was a unique public diplomacy mission of the Cold War era. Today, that mission is how to identify, nurture and support mainstream Muslims in the ideological and political contest against radical Islamism and how to win backing for such efforts from nations and peoples in non-Muslim societies around the world. Everything that is new and special about America’s public diplomacy effort should be targeted toward that goal.”

Strengthening the Visa Waiver Program - Jena Baker McNeill, James Jay Carafano and James Dean, Special Report #30, Heritage Foundation: “President-elect Obama, your comments on the Senate floor regarding the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) demonstrate that you recognize the program's substantial public diplomacy benefits. The VWP has undergone tremendous changes since its inception and remains a vital tool for improving America's image around the globe.”

Batman is Batman: Culture, Media, and Public Diplomacy - Craig Hayden, Intermap: “[T]here is no obvious link between the success of U.S. entertainment culture and some sort of metric for public diplomacy… at least for now.”

The New Liberal Media Agenda – The Madison Avenue Journal: “The BDA [Business for Diplomatic Action] is a private-sector a-political non-profit directed by preeminent communications, marketing, political science, global development and media professionals. BDA's mission is to enlist the U.S. business community in actions to improve the standing and reputation of America in the world. The organization is leading the private sector effort to provide constructive business solutions for public diplomacy programs and initiatives.”

TIA, Business Roundtable Merge - George Dooley, Travel Agent, NY: "’America needs travel now more than ever— to create jobs, stimulate economic growth, and further the vital public diplomacy interests of the United States,’ said Caroline Beteta, CEO of the California Travel and Tourism Commission, who will serve as national chair of the U.S. Travel Association for 2009. ‘We look forward to working with leaders in Washington and our entire membership to maximize travel's unique ability to address America's most pressing problems.’"


Får vi klimadebatten til at batte? - Om effektmåling af dansk public diplomacy - Flemming Johannese, Kommunikationsmåling

Denmark’s International Image – Simon Anholdt, Kommunikationsmåling

Marty Peretz: Samantha Power Only Wants To Invade Israel Because She Loves It So Much - Omri Ceren, Mere Rhetoric: "Just once I would like to see a liberal be a 'true friend' to Israel in some way that doesn't involve undermining the US-Israel relationship. Because when State Department public diplomacy envoys are sucking up to the Arab world, their pleas for friendship don't seem to 'always require questions.' I suppose that that's because Arab countries are so much more progressive than Israel - and tend to be more steadfast allies."

RELATED ITEMS

Universal Declaration Of Human Rights At 60: Keeping the commitment to dignity for all - Ken Levine and Robert Leikind, Boston Globe: When the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791, the notion that a citizen could be cloaked with specific rights -- such as the right to vote, to freedom of conscience or to the sanctity of one's home -- was a revolutionary concept that marked a dramatic departure from existing ideas about the relationship between government and the governed. This idea of freedom has proven so compelling that it has steadily spread around the world.

From John Yoo to Chuckie Taylor: Chapters in Imperial Hypocrisy - Paul Craig Roberts, CounterPunch: The US government does not have a monopoly on hypocrisy, but no other government can match the hypocrisy of the US government. It is now well documented and known all over the world that the US government tortured detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and that the US government has had people kidnaped and “renditioned,” that is, transported to third world countries, such as Egypt, to be tortured.


Nuts and Deadbolts: A blueprint for the closure of Guantanamo Bay - Jack Goldsmith and Benjamin Wittes, Slate

The Trouble with Closing Gitmo - Salameh Nemat, Daily Beast: Obama will have a host of complex legal, political, and logistical issues to contend with before he can shut down the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay and do away with the current military commissions legal system.

Now for an Honest Debate on Gitmo - William Mcgurn, Wall Street Journal: The basic fact of Guantanamo: The problem is the people, not the place. The real issues for the president-elect are as follows: Where in America would you put these men? Would you release them on American soil if they are found not guilty? What about those whose home countries will not take them back? And what do you do with the toughest cases: those for whom the evidence is insufficient for a trial, but sufficient to tell us they are far too dangerous to release?

A Whitewash for Blackwater? - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Putting national security in the hands of private companies and private soldiers was bad practice from the start.

The debt we owe Iraqi interpreters: After the foolish mask ban, more protection is a must - Michael Breen, Christian Science Monitor: In some cases, interpreters and their families may need to be moved onto US bases where they can be protected. Interpreters under serious threat should be quickly resettled in the United States.

Keeping Track of Change - Eugene Jarecki, Truthdig: For anyone seeking real reform of America’s foreign and defense policies in the years ahead, the introduction of Barack Obama’s national security team last Monday was a mixed bag.

Obama team eager to intervene: Obama and his picks likely to stick their noses into more foreign disputes - Alan Bock, OC Register

The Silent Winter of Escalation - Norman Solomon, Antiwar.com: Bedrock faith in the Pentagon's massive capacity for inflicting violence is implicit in the nostrums from anointed foreign-policy experts. The echo chamber is echoing: the Afghanistan war is worth the cost that others will pay.

Obama's Team of Conformists: A 'team of rivals' is of one foreign-policy mind – Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal: Mr. Obama has assembled a team of intellectual clones. Not only that, it's one that neatly conforms to the same foreign-policy consensus that typified much of President Bush's second term. It's somewhat startling to observe that if Ms. Rice had been retained by the new administration she would have fit right in.

AP: Cracks Appear In Obama Foreign Policy Team - Matthew Lee, Huffington Post: During the presidential campaign, some Clinton aides saw incoming U.N. ambassador Susan Rice's early decision to back Obama as a betrayal because of her previous role as a high State Department official during President Bill Clinton's administration. Rice's desire to place her own team in Washington could fuel speculation that those tensions will carry into the new administration.

A way out of Iraq: Obama's deja vu all over again - Tara Wall, Washington Times: As the war has expanded beyond Iraq and Mumbai has showed us the threats are not imagined, what a President Obama will do once he is officially in the driver's seat will be telling. What he ends will only be the beginning.

Global rainmaker - Arnaud de Borchgrave, Washington Times: National Security Adviser-to-be retired Gen. James L. Jones is a soldier diplomat -- and scholar. His towering presence compels his interlocutors to look up. Super cool with an easy going demeanor, Mr. Jones also has that all too rare gift in Washington -- an institutional memory.

Captain Bush's great white whale - Muhammad Cohen, Asia Times: It seems less likely that we'll see bin Laden in handcuffs than Rice and Bush walking hand in hand into the sunset tethered to a final, phenomenal foreign policy failure in Pakistan.

The Terrorists Want to Destroy Pakistan, Too - Asif Ali Zardari, New York Times: Asif Ali Zardari is the president of Pakistan.

Facing the Iranian threat: Obama must act forcefully to confront Tehran's nuclear weapons ambitions and support of terror - Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, Baltimore Sun: Ironically, the economic crisis has strengthened Mr. Obama's financial and diplomatic leverage against Iran by precipitating a collapse in oil prices.

Hawks Campaign to Preempt Iran Talks - Ali Gharib, Antiwar.com: Accusing Iran of a covert plan to pursue nuclear weapons under the guise of peaceful ambitions, most Washington voices advocate a policy of preventing the Islamic Republic from getting the bomb. But the substance of those policies varies widely.

Letter From Washington: Cooperation with China critical for Obama - Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, International Herald Tribune

China, Clay and Qin Shihuangdi - Taylor Holliday, Wall Street Journal: At Atlanta's High Museum of Art "The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army" presents both an up-to-date report on the excavation of the entire tomb complex and a thorough reassessment of the first emperor. It sheds new light on the man behind the army, seeking to enlighten Westerners about what the exhibit calls one of the greatest military and government leaders of all time.

Missile defense success - James Hackett, Washington Times: The choice for Mr. Obama is clear. He can follow France, Germany and Italy in appeasing Moscow. Or he can lead NATO, press for admission of Georgia and Ukraine into the alliance, and begin building those missile defenses in Poland.


Predator For a Predator - Richard Cohen, Washington Post: “What I would like to do -- not that you've asked -- is have a Predator drone circle over Robert Mugabe's luxurious villa until this monster of a dictator who has brought such misery to Zimbabwe runs screaming from his home and into the arms of his own people. What happens after that is none of my business.”

Bush won't get credit for Africa – Mona Charen, Washington Times: From the beginning of his administration, President Bush has pushed for more aid to Africa. Motivated perhaps by his deeply felt Christian faith (relieving poverty in Africa has become a major charitable push among evangelicals), the president has pressed for greater aid to Africa across the board.


Burger King's greasy campaign - Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe: Burger King wants to colonize the farthest reaches with fat, sugar, and salt.

AMERICANA


Pamela Anderson, love of Borat

Inside the Mind and Inbox of Rahm Emanuel - FamousDC: Have you ever wondered what Rahm Emanuel’s inbox looked like? Probably not, but in case you had … wonder no more.

Thanks goes to the geniuses at HolyTaco.com for the inspiration. And please note, this is a spoof and not intended to be taken seriously. Seriously. Written by 15 minutes ·