November 30

“CONSUL, n. In American politics, a person who having failed to secure an office from the people is given one by the Administration on condition that he leave the country.”

--Ambrose Bierce (left), The Devil's Dictionary (1911)

"We should be happy that Hillary Clinton

is apparently going to be secretary of state. On the down side, she does have a tendency toward disaster.”

--Gail Collins, New York Times

“Even before I discovered feminism, I admired the way ant colonies were organized: Everybody answers to a queen.”

--M.G. Lord, reviewing The Superorganism by Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama’s Challenge: Curbing the Pentagon - Giles Scott-Smith, Enduring America: “Areas previously reserved for the State Department and related agencies, in particular public diplomacy, have increasingly been drawn within the military’s responsibility. In November 2007 Robert Gates, the successor to Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, declared that the civilian tools of government needed to be upgraded so that the US could once again explain clearly to the world ‘what we are about as a society and a culture, about freedom and democracy, about our policies and out goals’. It is highly likely that Obama will keep Gates on as Secretary, even as the Secretary of Defense continues to oversee his Department’s outreach into new administrative territory. In December 2006 Gates appointed Michael Doran as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy, with the task of upgrading the Department’s contribution to US information programmes. Significantly, in September 2008 the White House nominated Doran for the position of Assistant Secretary of State for International Information Programs in the State Department. … In many regions the Pentagon is at the forefront in engaging with foreign public opinion, even though this remains, officially, the job of the State Department. During 2008 the military’s lead in developing a ‘whole of government’ approach to stability and security issues around the world will probably only increase the subordination of other departments to the Pentagon’s agenda.”

Information Warfare Matters: We need to confront the jihadist ideology directly - Christian Whiton and Kristofer Harrison, Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. government needs to resurrect the nonviolent practice of 'political warfare' and create an agency to manage it. The Bush administration started this process by providing more resources for public diplomacy and appointing prominent officials to oversee the task. But efforts to explain America's values and ideals to Muslims need to be supplemented with measures that confront directly the jihadist ideology. Mr. Obama's administration could use as a model the British Political Warfare Executive, which rallied support for the Allied cause behind enemy lines during World War II, or the U.S. Information Agency, which helped network opponents of communism and undermine Moscow's intellectual appeal during the Cold War. … Mr. Obama may be tempted to create such an agency under the auspices of the State Department, but political warfare is not a core competency of Foggy Bottom or allied foreign ministries. Diplomats specialize in communicating with other nation-states, and are often ill at ease and ill-equipped to work with those who may upset relations with other governments.”

Persuasion, not popularity, should be Obama’s goal - Examiner Newspapers: “As Barack Obama works to shape his new foreign policy team and its guiding principles, he ought to avoid the trap of treating American popularity abroad as an end in itself. Indeed, too slavish a pursuit of popularity for its own sake might actually get in the way of achieving far worthier, broader objectives. The Ethics and Public Policy Center (a conservative think tank) held a forum last week on the subject of ‘public diplomacy,’ which is how a country’s government communicates not with other governments, but with the citizenry in other nations. Far from mere ‘propaganda,’ public diplomacy is a strategic effort to understand and engage foreign populations and to help them appreciate how U.S. policies would help advance their own interests, too. Jeffrey Gedmin is president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which directs communications efforts in 28 languages. He explained to the EPPC audience the proper goal of public diplomacy. ‘It is not for the United States to be popular,’ he said. ‘[The goal should be] to advance American interests consummate with American values.’ Kenneth Pollack, director of research on Middle East policy at the Brookings Institution, agreed. Good public diplomacy recognizes, he said, that ‘there is not a quick fix’ for low popularity, and that the success (or failure) of actions speak far louder than any words can. But he added this important caveat: ‘Words must accompany the actions. We’re not selling anything, not advertising.’ What we are doing, he said, is patiently explaining how American interests are beneficent.”

Hans N. Tuch’s Arias, Cabalettas, and Foreign Affairs – A Book Review Essay - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: “In my view, not only is the practice of public diplomacy learned in the field and the trenches but it is far more fun and instructive to read the stories of former public diplomacy officers than wade through the prose of authors theorizing about a field they have principally viewed from afar. … Tuch was the US Embassy Bonn’s Public Affairs Counselor when I worked as German Program Officer in the International Youth Exchange Office in the mid-1980s. He was then in a very senior position that capped a long and illustrious public diplomacy career. … [W]hat makes [Tuch’s] book a particularly important contribution to the literature of public diplomacy and US foreign relations is Tuch's eye-witness accounts of earth-shattering historical events. … What also makes this book a valuable resource for those in the new administration and new Congress is Tuck’s emphasis on the importance of American culture throughout his career – not just Hollywood’s blockbuster action and techno-crazed movies - in the projection of the US image abroad – something lost during the post Cold War years.” PHOTO (left): Elīna Garanča canta Bellini

Adaptive Argumentation for Mediated Publics - Craig Hayden, Complex Terrain Laboratory: “A recent Pew study examined the news consumption habits for Americans. It revealed some interesting trends about where people get their news, and which sources were deemed legitimate. I found one aspect of the study in particular to be relevant for those interested in the study of public diplomacy and strategic communication. Basically, depending on how you get your news reflects how you best understand and comprehend the material.”

Moscow’s Mistakes in Georgia Strengthened Saakashvili, Tbilisi Analyst Says - Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia: “In an article posted on Politcom.ru this week, Gulbaat Rtskhiladze, an expert at Tbilisi’s Center for Public Diplomacy, argues that Moscow failed to develop ties with the many Georgians who were sympathetic to Russia or to worry about the Kremlin’s image there and in other post-Soviet republics.”

RELATED ITEMS

Crystal ball for world affairs – Editorial, Boston Globe: According to "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World," there will be an accelerated "diffusion of authority and power" on the world stage in coming years. In 2025, the international system will be more fragmented and multipolar. Ascending powers such as China, India, Russia, and Brazil are projected to enjoy ever-greater influence. To adapt America to the international order that is coming into being, the next administration will need to build alliances and cooperative initiatives with diverse groups of countries.

I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq - Matthew Alexander, Washington Post: “I'm actually quite optimistic these days, in no small measure because President-elect Barack Obama has promised to outlaw the practice of torture throughout our government. But until we renounce the sorts of abuses that have stained our national honor, al-Qaeda will be winning. Zarqawi is dead, but he has still forced us to show the world that we do not adhere to the principles we say we cherish.” Matthew Alexander led an interrogations team assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006.

How to Close Guantanamo - Jack Cloonan and Sarah Mendelson, Washington Post: In his inaugural address, President Obama should announce a date for closure of Guantanamo as a detention facility and introduce a blue-ribbon panel of eminent Americans tapped to review all detainees' files. Never again, if our country is attacked, should we frantically engage in techniques that our enemies have used against our military personnel in wartime.

Playing games at Gitmo - Michelle Malkin, Washington Times: Some top legal advisers and supporters of Barack Obama, whose name detainees chanted on Election Night, are now rethinking the president-elect's absolutist campaign position on shutting the center down and flooding our mainland courts with every last enemy combatant designee. Yes, reality bites. Now, at long last, some liberals have realized that the sacred goal of "regaining America's moral stature in the world," as Mr. Obama put it, may be less important than ensuring that al Qaeda killers don't strike on American ground again. PHOTO: Michelle Malkin.

Ahead for Obama: How to Define Terror - Jonathan Mahler, New York Times: Going forward, the fight against terrorism will have to be something of a hybrid. This is a novel idea, as the Constitution lays out only two distinct options: the country is at war, or it is not. Such a strategy may require building new legal systems and institutions for detaining, interrogating and trying detainees.

Preemptive Pardons: Mr. Bush should resist any temptation to clear officials who devised his anti-terrorism strategy – Editorial, Washington Post

My Husband Was a Blackwater Hero - Marybeth Laguna, Washington Post: Just like soldiers, security contractors based in Iraq face daily threats to their lives. Rather than demonizing these men and women, we should be thanking them for the essential service they provide.

Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq [review of 'Big Boy Rules' by Steve Fainaru] - J. Ford Huffman, San Francisco Chronicle: If Jeremy Scahill's provocative "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" (Nation Books; 2007) is an eye-opener about the political ties and big finances of one contractor, then "Big Boy Rules" is another eye-opener -- and in the end a tear-inducer -- about the loose ties and loose management of contractors' employees.

Obama’s Iraq Inheritance - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: A decent outcome may still be possible in Iraq, especially now that the Parliament has endorsed the U.S.-Iraqi plan for a 2011 withdrawal of American troops.

Road Map in Iraq: When Mr. Obama takes office, a sovereign Iraqi government and a U.S. withdrawal timetable will be in place - Editorial, Washington Post: Having all but destroyed his presidency through mismanagement of the war, Mr. Bush can now fairly argue as he leaves office that his successor will inherit an Iraqi mission that has been stabilized both militarily and politically. There is now a workable road map for winding down the U.S. troop presence in the country and for consolidating the new political system.

Olmert to Obama: Think again – Roger Cohen, International Herald Tribune: “I think Olmert's words should be emblazoned on the wall of Hillary Clinton's eighth-floor State Department office: ‘We must reach an agreement with the Palestinians, meaning a withdrawal from nearly all, if not all, of the territories. Some percentage of these territories would remain in our hands, but we must give the Palestinians the same percentage elsewhere - without this, there will be no peace.’"

Afghanistan in Crisis - Robert Fisk, Truthdig: Partition is the one option that no one will discuss -- giving the southern part of Afghanistan to the Taliban and keeping the rest -- but that will only open another crisis with Pakistan because the Pashtuns, who form most of the Taliban, would want all of what they regard as “Pashtunistan”; and that would have to include much of Pakistan’s own tribal territories.

Fighting the Last War? - Noah Feldman, New York Times: Offering a degree of autonomy to the Pashtun-dominated areas of southeastern Afghanistan may be the one carrot that could draw ordinary Pashtuns away from the Taliban or induce the Taliban to begin a process of internal ideological change

Fallout From Mumbai: A Risk to Progress in Pakistan - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post: Financial aid to Pakistan must now be channeled multilaterally, ideally through nongovernmental organizations that practice strict accountability.

Obama has chance to improve relations with Latin America - Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle

How to Repair Our Relationship With Europe - Matthew Yglesias, American Prospect: Most Americans don't realize the sheer volume of petty bullshit (no other word is adequate) to which European governments and publics have been subjected over the past eight years. A new administration and a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq would clear the air. And steps to show that Europe's high hopes for Obama in terms of basic human rights, diplomatic courtesy, and engagement with issues like climate change would allow Obama to make his case to Europe's people and turn public opinion around.

NATO's First Line of Defense? It Shouldn't Be Here -
Charles King, Washington Post: NATO should remain an option for any country in the Euro-Atlantic area that has internalized the habits of restraint, consensus and prudence that have made it one of history's most meaningful alliances. But building a new line of watchtowers on Europe's eastern frontier is a poor substitute for learning to get along with your neighbors.

The Case for a Really Long Engagement - Washington Post: How should the Obama administration handle these delicate ties? In the run-up to a Dec. 5 conference on "China and the Next Administration," sponsored by Outlook and CNA, a non-partisan think tank, we posed that question to four specialists.

What's the Bush Legacy Worth? I'd Say 20 Years - Avuncular American: An expatriate view of America and the world from Europe by former diplomat Gerald Loftus - Twenty years... That's about as long as it will take for the United States to dig out from the mess Bush has created. Twenty long years of hard labor - starting with an Obama Administration - to build up the nation's moral standing in the world, after the blustering buffoons squandered the country's ability to lead.

India: Please Don't Go Down the Bush-Cheney Road – Juan Cole, Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: The American public, traumatized by 9/11 and misled by propaganda from corporate media, swung right. Instead of rebuking Bush and Cheney for their sins against the Republic, for their illegal war on Iraq, for their gutting of the Bill of Rights, for their Orwellian techniques of governance, the public gave them another 4 years in 2004. This Himalayan error of judgment allowed Bush and Cheney to go on, like giant termites, undermining the economic and legal foundations of American values and prosperity.

Thinking Globally: America’s Rise to Dominance, With Slips Along the Way [review of “From Colony to Superpower” by George C. Herring] - Howard W. French, New York Times: “From Colony to Superpower” rejects the widely accepted notion that the United States has often been an isolationist power.

November 29

“Never Deploy Military Means in Pursuit of Indeterminate Ends.”

-- The title summarizing the all-­important decisions by President Johnson that turned Vietnam irrevocably into an American war in 1965 (from the book, Lessons In Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam by Gordon M. Goldstein)

“The Smartest Man in the Room Is Not Always Right.”

--Former United States ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, regarding McGeorge Bundy

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

3 Streaming Live: James Glassman on Public Diplomacy 2.0, Helene Cooper on her Memoir of a Lost African Childhood, and Barton Gellman on Richard "The Angler" Cheney – Steve Clemons, Washington Note: "Monday and Tuesday this next week, I have three events I am chairing at the New America Foundation . … The first features Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy James K. Glassman who will be speaking on the subject, ‘Public Diplomacy 2.0.’ Glassman will be sharing his thoughts on how new technology, including social networking, is changing the face of public diplomacy - specifically, how new technology fits Glassman's new approach to engaging with foreign audiences by convening and facilitating rather than preaching and directing. Glassman recently spoke at the New America Foundation after assuming his responsibilities (his talk can be viewed here) and made the sensible but not heard enough statement that a chief goal of American public diplomacy should not be trying to get the world to love America -- but rather to help those with grievances and those who want to protest their situation to find non-violent ways to do so. That was a lot more sensible than much of what I heard from either Glassman's predecessor, Karen Hughes, or from the Cheney wing of the Bush White House. Glassman's event will stream live at The Washington Note from 10:00 am til 11:30 am EST on Monday, 1 December.”

Internet Killed the Terrorist Star – Troy, Man Bites Dog: [See Special Briefing To Announce the Alliance of Youth Movement, James K. Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Jared Cohen, Policy Planning Staff, State Department] "Now, I'm not going to criticize strategies that have had effectiveness against groups like FARC, but the situation in Colombia is light years away from the situation here in America. Starting a facebook group called 'Terrorism Sucks!' and getting a bunch of people to join it isn't exactly winning the War on Islamic Fundamental Militancy. Google bombing Osama Bin Laden doesn't have the same effectiveness as actually bombing him. MTV has never been cool. This is a pointless exercise in media warfare where it isn't going to have much effect. But whatever. If you want to ostracize Al Qaeda online, be my guest. I just can't help but think that there might be more intelligent uses of that counter terrorism cash.”

Big Brother Coming For Your Kids...Now! U.S. government taps Facebook, Google, MTV to "Fight Terrorism" - Another Voice (Rev. 18:4): “Recruiting the youth through 'online youth groups' in order to begin programming them to be mindless but obedient new world order junior-zombies. That's a fact and this Big Brother U.S. government-Google-Facebook partnership shows just how big and powerful this next phase of 'population mind control' is to be.”

The Obama/Clinton State Department: Diplomatic Strength is Essential - Gregory Hilton, Armed Forces Radio Network, posted at The DC World Affairs Blog: “President Bush will leave his successor with a strong military but a lack of strength in diplomacy. The American cause is misunderstood in many parts of the world, and our efforts in recent years to appeal to global hearts and minds have not been successful. Our communication failure is especially ironic, because America invented both Hollywood and Madison Avenue. … America’s message is not getting across largely because there is little coordination of overall strategy. I hope the Obama Administration will name an individual who will not confine themselves to the State Department corridors but act as a public diplomacy czar in coordinating many divergent programs. At present, there is too much overlap and many vital outreach efforts are ignored.”

How Should Obama Confront Terror? – J. P. Green, Democratic Strategist: “The policies of the Bush Administration have exponentially increased the number of terrorists, particularly impressionable young people, who are willing to do harm to America and its citizens. Bush's policies have been so disastrous in this regard that it would be hard for the Obama Administration not to improve America's image in the communities where terrorists thrive. The Bush Administration long ago abandoned any sincere effort to meet this challenge, as collateral damage of his ill-conceived military occupation of Iraq. … President Obama could make a tremendous contribution to both U.S. national security and better relations with the rest of the world by providing the leadership needed and the necessary investment to enhance 'public diplomacy' as a higher priority of our international relations.”

Fate of the war on terror: some modest advice for the Obama administration - Ibrahim Kalin, Today’s Zaman, posted at Narrator: “Over the last seven years, the war on terror has been fought more on ideological and political than military grounds. Despite the assurances of the early Bush administration that the war on terror is not a war on Islam and the Muslim world, it has been perceived as just that. This cannot be brushed aside as an issue of misperception or bad public diplomacy. The policies implemented under the name of the war, including the disastrous management of Afghanistan and Iraq after their invasions, have turned the war on terror into a new adventure of nation-building.”

New administration must undue RFE/RL's anti-diplomacy abroad, 11-29-08 - Lev Roitman, Herald News: “Not always… is U.S. public money spent by RFE/RL in the best interests of the radio nor, accordingly, U.S. public image. Under Jeffrey Gedmin, RFE/RL is embroiled in ugly lawsuits with its former employees who, contrary to the strict requirements of Czech labor law, were fired without any reason given to them and with no warning whatsoever.”

Women and Islamic resistance - Maria Holt, muslimnews.co.uk: “The testimonies of … many … women in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories, formed the starting point for a conference on women and Islamic resistance which took place at the University of Westminster on November 7. … The discussion then moved to Lina Khatib’s presentation on women 'as public diplomacy tools'. Dr Khatib, who is based at Royal Holloway, examined the work of the Museum of Martyrs in Tehran and suggested that the Iranian regime uses women, including Lebanese and Palestinian women, as public diplomacy tools to promote a positive image of itself as an Islamic democracy.” PHOTO: Section of the Museum of Martyrs.

Influential Diplomats, Lawmakers and S&T Leaders Explore Promise—and Challenge—of Science Diplomacy – News, The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): “Despite critical unresolved questions over the financing and organization of science diplomacy, the time is ripe for renewed efforts by U.S. scientists and engineers to reach out to colleagues overseas for capacity-building initiatives and collaborations on issues such as climate change, public health, and energy.” Courtesy Alan Kotok.

"On-call" Scientists: AAAS Initiative Connects Scientists with Human Rights Organizations - News, The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Courtesy Alan Kotok.

Jet lag a drag on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd - Steve Lewis, Herald Sun: “[A] defensive-sounding spokesman for the Indonesian Government explained the [Bali Democracy] [F]orum was about promoting the virtue of democratic reform. ‘This is not a forum among democracies, this is a forum about democracies,’ said Umar Hadi, director of public diplomacy in Indonesia's Foreign Ministry. ‘The objective is to strengthen and promote regional co-operation on democracy.’"

Registration is now open plus other announcements - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Registration for the Smith-Mundt Symposium – A Discourse to Shape America’s Discourse – is now open. Registration is free, open to the public, and required to attend the event on Tuesday, January 13, 2009. The Symposium will be held at the Reserve Officer’s Association across the street from the Senate and House office buildings in Washington, D.C. For details on this event, see http://mountainrunner.us/symposium/about.html.”

Tyranny of the Majority: Israel-Bashing as Spectator Sport at Turtle Bay - David Brumer, Brumspeak: David Brumer: “Media analyst, writer, and consultant on Middle Eastern affairs. In 2005 he received ‘Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Public Diplomacy in Support of Israel’ on behalf of his work with The Israel Project. David works as a geriatric social worker and psychotherapist."

RELATED ITEMS

Press and "Psy Ops" to merge at NATO Afghan HQ: sources - By Jon Hemming, Reuters - The U.S. general commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan has ordered a merger of the office that releases news with "Psy Ops," which deals with propaganda, a move that goes against the alliance's policy, three officials said. U.S. General David McKiernan, the commander of 50,000 troops from more than 40 nations in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), ordered the combination of the Public Affairs Office (PAO), Information Operations and Psy Ops (Psychological Operations) from December 1, said a NATO official with detailed knowledge of the move.

Don't expect 'change' to change much - Bishop Council Nedd II, Washington Times: “Several months ago, I joined another friend at a coffee shop in Cairo, Egypt. She told me that the minute Mr. Obama was elected president, the entire world would view America differently (with the implication of positive change). If none of the other very high expectations of Mr. Obama's supporters are met, I at least hope she is right with that one prediction.”

Obama Can End Iraq War 'Responsibly' - Peter Dyer, consortiumnews.com: Perhaps the most profound and far-reaching way for the U.S. to assume full responsibility for the war in Iraq would be for President Obama, as chief executive, to order the arrest and trial of those who incited and initiated the unprovoked, illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The battle for Iran - John Tirman, Boston Globe: History suggests that the more belligerent the United States is, the more rigid Iran will be. More coercion is not only demonstrably ineffective, but likely spurs the sorts of reactions in Tehran that the international community abhors.

Iran Shaping Up As Key Foreign Policy Challenge For Obama: Will the Obama administration change Washington's approach to Tehran? - Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL: For nearly three decades, Iran and the United States have traded accusations and threats. But when Barack Obama is inaugurated as U.S. president on January 20, that long-standing status quo could finally begin to change.

A Latin America blueprint: Obama might find useful a report that recommends the U.S. overhaul its relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: A Brookings Institution report released Monday that urges an overhaul of U.S. relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.

Heed Russia's Warnings About Further NATO Expansion – Ivan Eland, Antiwar.com: The Russian-Georgian war ever, should have made both Ukraine and Georgia leery of depending entirely on a faraway nation for security, given the reality of Russia's local conventional military superiority and nuclear deterrent. Ultimately, if it came down to sacrificing US cities in a nuclear war with Russia to save these two non-strategic countries, the United States would most assuredly balk.

Samantha Power Working On Obama's State Department Transition Team - Matthew Lee, Huffington Post: An adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign who was forced to resign earlier this year after calling Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton a "monster" is now working on the transition team for the agency Clinton is expected to lead. State Department officials said Friday that Samantha Power is among a group of foreign policy experts that the president-elect's office selected to help the incoming administration prepare for Clinton's anticipated nomination as secretary of state.

National Security Pick: From a Marine to a Mediator - Helene Cooper, New York Times: The selection of General Jones will elevate another foreign policy moderate to a team that will include Robert M. Gates, a carry-over from the Bush administration, as defense secretary and Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. By bringing a military man to the White House, Mr. Obama may be trying to cement an early bond with military leaders who regard him with some uneasiness, particularly over his call for rapid troop reductions in Iraq.

AMERICANA

Shoppers on "Black Friday"; from BagnewsNotes

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death - Robert D. McFadden and Angela Macropoulos, New York Times:

"The throng of Wal-Mart shoppers had been building all night, filling sidewalks and stretching across a vast parking lot at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order.

Tension grew as the 5 a.m. opening neared. Someone taped up a crude poster: 'Blitz Line Starts Here.'

By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer. Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault. Six to 10 workers inside tried to push back, but it was hopeless.

Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said."
Video of event at

November 28

Leif Gabrielsen, part of "Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia?" in Oslo. (Office for Contemporary Art)

VIDEO

November 24, 2008 C-SPAN: State Dept Briefing: Public Diplomacy & Online Activist Groups: State Department Under Secretary James Glassman opened the daily press briefing to discuss the Alliance for Youth Movements Summit, to be held in New York City December 3-5, 2008.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

US State Department Chooses April 6th Movement to Take Part in Anti-Extremism Conference - Fathia al-Dakhakhni, U.S. Copts Association: “The US State Department said the April 6th Movement will take part in an international conference in New York on December 3-5. The conference is organized by the US State Department in cooperation with a number of its allies in the private sector under the title: The Alliance of Youth Movements. The US department described the Egyptian movement as the ‘largest’ youth movement in Egypt and said that its support to such movements resulted in disputes with some regimes. … US Assistant Secretary of State James Glassman said the April 6th, among 17 international organizations on the Internet, would take part in the conference that would be held at Col[u]mbia University in New York. He described the movement as Egypt’s largest pro-democracy youth group.”

Brookings Institution Report, Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century – Darren Krape blog: “What’s unique about the Brookings report is the proposal to create a new independent, non-profit, organization, similar to RAND or the British Council, which would work in service of U.S. public diplomacy efforts. Importantly, existing responsibility for public diplomacy in the U.S. government would remain unchanged. This is a key distinction, since other reports (such as this one from Heritage) have suggested consolidating all public diplomacy and strategic communication activities in a new agency (such as a reconstituted USIA).”

Wanted: a National Endowment for Public Diplomacy – Michael Allen, Democracy Digest: "A new agency, modeled on the National Endowment for Democracy, should be established to restore U.S. standing in the world, a new report on public diplomacy concludes. Like the NED, the USA-World Trust would be governed by a non-partisan board of directors, including members of Congress from both major political parties and representatives of key interests in American society."

The Delay-Sayers’ Mistake - Gershom Gorenberg, South Jerusalem “The job of anyone planning a diplomatic initiative includes public diplomacy: Efforts to alter the mood.”

Change From the Top - Kathleen Parker, Washington Post: “Obama may be the change he promised. He is uniquely positioned to change the world on multiple levels. As Jeff Gedmin, president of Radio Free Europe, recently put it: Obama is a weapon of mass attraction. That attractiveness isn't just physical, but is a matter of style. … The change we've been waiting for may not be immediately quantifiable, but personal responsibility, educational ambition and smart public diplomacy -- all by example rather than exhortation -- could go a long way toward curing what ails us.”

Helsinki Commission Urges Baku To Reconsider Moves Against RFE/RL, VOA – RFE/RL: “The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) has sent a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, expressing its concern over the impending termination of radio broadcasts by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and the Voice of America (VOA) on local frequencies.”

This show's diplomacy is for real - and it's worth a hundred Milibands: The V&A exhibition takes Syrians seriously in their own capital, unlike the hectoring - Simon Jenkins, guardian.co.uk: “London's V&A museum has brought to Syria the first star-quality loan exhibition ever seen in the city. It is of 116 ceramic pieces from the finest collection in the world, plus a dozen added from the National Museum of Damascus. … Cultural diplomacy recognises that relations between states can be difficult, even hostile, without being engulfed in mutual abuse. They can continue through trade, tourism and academic exchange as well as through sport and the arts. Such ‘soft’ elements can inform the harder ones, or have no bearing on them. They rarely do harm. … Politics has always trumped culture in Britain's foreign relations. In more than half the world's countries, cultural diplomacy should be taking the lead over politics.”

New Zealand to Hold Cultural Presentation in Seoul Next Year – Korea Times: “Preparation was under way last week for New Zealand to share its cuisine, music, art and movies next April in Seoul. As part of the New Zealand Cultural Diplomacy International Program, the three-day cultural presentation will be the first and largest New Zealand event in Korea.”

Pakistan's Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy: The believers in Islamic mysticism embrace a personal approach to their faith and a different outlook on how to run their country’s government - Nicholas Schmidle, Smithsonian magazine: “Sufism is not a sect, like Shiism or Sunnism, but rather the mystical side of Islam—a personal, experiential approach to Allah, which contrasts with the prescriptive, doctrinal approach of fundamentalists like the Taliban. … Sufis represent the strongest indigenous force against Islamic fundamentalism. Yet Western countries have tended to underestimate their importance even as the West has spent, since 2001, millions of dollars on interfaith dialogues, public diplomacy campaigns and other initiatives to counter extremism. Sufis are particularly significant in Pakistan, where Taliban-inspired gangs threaten the prevailing social, political and religious order.”

APEC and Obama's message – Editorial, Jakarta Post, Indonesia: “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made several speeches and press statements where he took the opportunity to boast of his successes -- including his reduction of the poverty rate -- during his recent 13-day overseas trip which ended Tuesday night, to Washington and Peru, where he attended the G-20 Summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, respectively. … The President's trips should be fruitful not just in terms of public diplomacy and his own personal satisfaction, but also in more concrete economic terms for the country.”

Ethiopia, India still have enormous potential to expand tie; Minister Sufian Ahmed said - Walta Information Center, Ethiopia: “Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Gurjit Singh also said his country aims to diversify range of cooperation with Ethiopia in a way that can benefit next generation of the two nations. ‘Issues like alternative energy sources, cultural diplomacy, bridging the digital divide… and climate change… will bring out other issues on which India and Ethiopia can have important perspectives,’ the Ambassador said.”

Newly Elected US Congresswoman from Nevada Dina Titus Establishes her Writ in Democratic Congressional Caucus - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: “Professor Titus who declared at the September dialogue with the Sri Lankan community that, referring to Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, ‘once you recognize an organization as a terrorist organization it should be treated as a terrorist organization and that such an organization cannot be brought to the negotiating table, was elected to the US Congress to represent the State of Nevada at the November 4 general election. … The gathering in early September that proved to have gained opening to have access to many US Congressmen through Dina Titus to establish a public diplomacy campaign to explain Sri Lankan’s battle against Tamil Tiger terrorism was organized by Sri Lankan political activist Sanje Sedera who chairs the Asian American Democratic Caucus in Las Vegas, a chartered organization by the State of Nevada Democratic Party, and Douglas Perera, a well known Sri Lankan social worker who is the deputy chairman of Sri Lanka America Association of Nevada. This writer was the other in that triumvirate.” PHOTO: Roman Emperor Titus.

RELATED ITEMS

Kafka and Uighurs at Guantánamo - Ray McGovern, Antiwar.com: We can be thankful for Barack Obama's pledge to close the Guantánamo prison, and for the fact that we are free to keep pressing him to proclaim liberty to captives and set free the oppressed -- including, of course, Uighurs and others in similar circumstances.

Don't Repackage Gitmo! - Michael Ratner & Jules Lobel, Nation: Not much will have been accomplished if Guantánamo is shuttered while the practices that underlie it continue.

Conflict Zone: Will James Jones and Hillary Clinton butt heads over Middle East policy? - Eli Lake, New Republic: With domestic policy looming so large in the coming year, few people expect Obama to immediately dive into Middle Eastern diplomacy. Even devoted peace processors have little hope of progress, given the looming Hamas-Fatah civil war.

Planet Obama: Global euphoria is better than the disrepute of the Bush years, but so far our new president’s appeal is entirely symbolic - Theodore Dalrymple, American Conservative: For all his transcendent appeal, Obama cannot overcome the harsh realities of a troubled world.

Deter Iran Using carrots and sticks - Louis Rene Beres, Thomas Mcinerney and Paul E. Vallely, Washington Times: We have elected a new president. To back up deterrence warnings, he will require a compelling infrastructure of sanctions and rewards.

Tutu, Obama and the Middle East - Amy Goodman, Truthdig: As President-elect Barack Obama focuses on the meltdown of the U.S. economy, another fire is burning: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

About Latin America – Editorial, New York Times – Editorial, New York Times: The Bush administration is leaving behind so much turmoil and resentment around the world that President-elect Barack Obama might be tempted to put off dealing with the nation’s extremely sour relations with Latin America. That would be shortsighted. There is a unique opportunity to improve ties with a region that shares key interests and values with the United States.

U.S. faces cyber threat from China – Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle

A Return to Liberal Warmongering? Peace Advocates Must Continue the Battle – Doug Bandow, Antiwar.com: The president-elect's rush to embrace the liberal interventionist establishment in choosing his foreign policy staff suggests that the next four years will be a lot like the last eight in substance if not tone, and a lot like the previous eight years in both substance and tone.

The Fall of Triumphalism - Michael T. Klare, Nation:
Not only will the United States be weaker in 2025 because of the hubris of Bush and Cheney; it will face a world of multiplied dangers, emboldened challengers and a paucity of reliable allies.

Obama Chooses An Unlikely Team of Hawks - Peter Beinart, Time: In Gates, Jones and Clinton, Obama's found people who can do more than sell his foreign policy to Iranians, Iraqis and Israelis; they can sell it to Americans too.

Hillary Clinton as diplomat: Obama's bold choice for his secretary of State shows the two can be partners on the world stage - Editorial, Los Angeles Times

Hillary of State : How much will this cost the Obama administration? – Kimberley A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal: The price of neutralizing Mrs. Clinton as an outside rival, by bringing her inside, could make today's bailouts look cheap.

Clinton Cabinet: The politics of change look surprisingly familiar - Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, American Conservative: Obama is where he is today because he convinced voters that Hillary was yesterday’s news. Only time will tell if she and her old war-room buddies will get the last word.

The Tricks of Translating Thanksgiving - Michele A. Berdy, Moscow Times

IMAGE (Ms. Clinton in her youth)


See also: On the Matter of Size: The inexact science of penis measurement - Kent Sepkowitz, Slate

November 27

by Mr. Fish

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

A leader on fighting terrorism - James K. Glassman, Miami Herald: “The U.S. State Department has joined a public-private group, including tech firms like Facebook, Howcast and Google, that will bring Colombia's anti-FARC organizers together with about 15 other global anti-violence groups in New York in a few weeks to discuss best online practices. Perhaps we'll soon see masses of young people mobilizing against the mindless violence of al Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorists in places like Kabul, Islamabad, London, Bali, New Delhi and Mexico City. There's no more important cause, and Colombia is leading the way.” James K. Glassman is the under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the Department of State. See also.

"What does Mr. Kissinger propose"? - Saudi Arabia United States Relations, Information Service: "Today we present the remarks of former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States Prince Turki al Faisal. … In his remarks Prince Turki's challenges statements made by … James Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.”

Building on the Momentum of Global Goodwill - Jeff Weintraub, So It Goes: “By public diplomacy, I mean ‘civilian instruments of national security – diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development,’ as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called for. Comes now a new prescription for our public diplomacy needs via a just-released report by Brookings Institution scholar Kristin Lord. The report, which was based in part on consultations Lord had with more than 300 people from a wide range of sectors in U.S. society, calls for (and this is from the report's executive summary): 'the creation of a nimble and entrepreneurial new non-profit organization, the USA-World Trust, to complement and support U.S. government efforts' as well as private-sector actions.”

From the American People: Why the Story That U.S. Foreign Assistance Is Working Must be Told Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid: Among the report's recommendations: “We recommend that USAID adopt a more strategic, coherent and multi-year set of communications and outreach goals by identifying resources, key audiences and messages, and the most effective tools and products for partnership opportunities. This needs to be done in close coordination with development partners, the U.S. State Department and other govern-ment departments with foreign assistance responsibilities. … We recommend that USAID should execute and maintain consistent opinion polling and focus groups in an effort to design more contextualized strategies for U.S. domestic awareness campaigns. In campaigns targeted to foreign audiences, the U.S. embassy's political buy-in, particularly in high-profile countries, is essential. Establishing and maintaining coordination between the U.S. embassy and USAID, particularly involving the DOC and Public Affairs Officer (PAO) will greatly contribute to an effective communications process.” See also.

A Thanksgiving Present and Reality Check — Ted Kaufman’s Appointment to the U.S. Senate Seat from Delaware – Ted Lipien, FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog: “Voice of America journalists and other employees who broadcast American news to the world are thankful for the pre-Thanksgiving Day news that Ted Kaufman (Edward E. Kaufman) was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat from Delaware vacated by his former boss, Vice President elect Joe Biden.”

VOA on Facebook and Twitter (but not yet for sale on eBay) - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Turkish Ambassador Admonishes Pres. Obama On Armenian Issues: Harut Sassounian, Huffington Post: “Faruk Logoglu, a former Turkish Ambassador to Washington, recently wrote a lengthy ‘Open Letter’ to Pres.-elect Obama, consisting of 23 points, touching upon various aspects of U.S.-Turkish relations. … Amb. Logoglu's letter, written in a patronizing tone, repeatedly tells Pres. Obama what to do once in office. In point 6 of his letter, the Ambassador demands that Pres. Obama, as one of the first tasks of his administration, ‘implement a broad public diplomacy strategy to win the hearts of the Turkish public,’ in view of the fact that ‘surveys consistently indicate a very unfavorable opinion of the U.S. in Turkey.’ In Logoglu's twisted logic, since most Turks hate Americans, it is Pres. Obama's solemn obligation to take immediate steps to make Turks like Americans!”

Historical Issues Overshadow Japan’s Nation Branding
- Kang Hyun-kyung, Korea Times: “Policy instruments to bolster Korea's soft power include public diplomacy, tourism, foreign investment promotion and cultural goods, and the nation branding strategy is one that encompasses all aspects, [Korea Foundation President Yim Sung-joon] said.”

A Coastie's Guide to the Instruments of Power - Jim Dolbow, An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog: “Diplomacy is defined by the Encyclopedia of Britannica ‘as the established method of influencing the decisions and behavior of foreign governments and peoples through dialogue, negotiation, and other measures short of war or violence.’ It is also very much like ice cream because it comes in many different of ‘flavors’ such as public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, medical diplomacy, to name a few.”

RELATED ITEMS

Obama the Realist - E.J. Dionne, Truthdig: In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush. That is the meaning of Obama’s apparent decision to keep Robert Gates on as secretary of defense and also to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

The Obama Administration, Guantánamo, and Restoring America’s Standing - Glenn Greenwald, ACLU Blog/Common Dreams: There are many steps which President Obama will need to take to put the U.S. back on the path of basic liberties and human rights. But closing Guantanamo -- decisively and immediately -- will signal to the world that he is serious about fulfilling the multiple pledges he made to restore America's standing in the world.

Guantanamo Justice: The Bush administration will finally release Salim Ahmed Hamdan. The Uighurs should be next – Editorial, Washington Post

Save the Economy, and the Planet - Editorial, New York Times: The country has elected a president who believes that meeting the challenge of climate change is essential to the health of the planet and to America’s economic future.

This is No SOP. It Is A Vote To End The Occupation of Iraq - Jonathan Steele – Guardian/Common Dreams: Bush and his ideologues wanted to make Iraq a protectorate and stay indefinitely so as to intimidate Iran and Syria. Now they have been forced to give up, and a newly confident Tehran has been helping its neighbouring Shia-led government in Baghdad to show them the door.

Bush’s Follies Will Destroy Obama If He Lets Them - William Pfaff, Truthdig: Obama has to rid himself of George Bush’s folly. He must make Iraq truly independent. If he doesn’t, it could destroy his administration.

More on the Al-Qaeda slur - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: Global reactions to Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri's controversial condemnation of U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama as a "House Slave" (or, alternatively, "House Negro") have begun to pour in -- including via the top jihad web forums used by Al-Qaida to disseminate its propaganda.

Russian Analyst Predicts Decline And Breakup Of USA – Drudge Report: A leading Russian political analyst, Professor Igor Panarin, has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts. He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska -- it was only granted on lease, after all." Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

Russia's interest in South America should alert the U.S.: Moscow is sending Washington a none-too-subtle warning, but the bigger issue is economic – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: If the U.S. snubs its trading partners in Latin America, it would leave a vacuum that countries like Russia and China would be only too happy to fill -- to the detriment of both our economy and national security.

Life After Foggy Bottom - David Ignatius, Washington Post: In a few weeks, Secretary of State Rice will have only herself to please, and that has had a liberating effect. She talks about her past and future as a person with nothing left to prove. She's leaving Washington for real after Inauguration Day and will return to Stanford University.

November 26

"Thinking: The Business of Washington"

--KAEF Kosovo American Education Fund

Above Bush photo: Sparkle Pony

"The State Department appointment is prestigious enough not to be condescending, yet also keeps Clinton off the Washington circuit more than any other position. She’ll be on a plane or abroad a great deal. Extra bonus: Bill will just love that. Sending his wife to the Middle East is the ex-president’s idea of a good time." Photo from

--Andrew Sullivan

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama can show diplomacy on world stage, revive America's image - Steven R. Corman, Arizona Republic: “Public diplomacy is not a matter of launching messages at targeted audiences, like so many artillery shells. International communication takes place in a large, interconnected and complex system. Such systems can be hard to understand and predict, but they can also become locked into patterns that interpret messages in standard and negative ways, no matter how carefully they are formulated and targeted. Such is the case with U.S. public diplomacy today. Any conventional message we send international audiences is seen as yet another example of American arrogance, an attempt to peddle snake oil or an effort to advance some hidden agenda. In these circumstances, we do not need Madison Avenue marketing. We need a disruption, a game-changer that will jolt the system out of its standard patterns and get international audiences to actively listen again.”

Hillary at Foggy Bottom - Helle Dale, Washington Times: “Foreign policy has … increasingly been conducted by the Pentagon, particularly in the Rumsfeld era. Its regional combatant commands are taking on intergovernmental coordinating functions that previously have been housed in the State Department and the embassies. In terms of public diplomacy strategy and outreach, the Pentagon has moved aggressively and strategically to occupy the turf left open by State in recent times.“

The Case Against Retaining Gates at the Pentagon - Melvin A. Goodman, The Public Record: “Defense Department personnel in recent years have been placed in sensitive positions in public diplomacy and foreign assistance, and active-duty and retired general officers are manning virtually all the key positions of the intelligence community, including the CIA. It is time to enhance the role of the White House in setting U.S. policy and to make sure the National Security Council coordinates the implementation of these policies. Too much power resides in the hands of the military.”

The Saudi Arabian Enigma - Jim Kouri, Post Chronicle: “According to reports, the State Department and USAID are carrying out efforts to counter the global propagation of Islamic extremism, with State's efforts focused primarily on traditional diplomacy, counterterrorism, and public diplomacy and USAID's efforts focused on development programs to diminish underlying conditions of extremism.”

Special Briefing To Announce the Alliance of Youth Movement: James K. Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs – Daily Press Meeting, State Department: “[Department of State spokesperson] Mr. McCormack: … I want to turn the briefing over for a bit to Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, and then Jared Cohen, who’s from our Policy Planning Staff, to talk a little bit about a really exciting and innovative program that the State Department is working on with various partners out in the private sector. It’s called the Alliance of Youth Movement. It’s a meeting that’s going to be held in New York City from December 3rd to the 5th, and it’s working with youth to help combat extremism and to use new trends in social networking, as well as the technical aspects of social networking, to help various groups come together to combat extremism. And it’s really part of – this is, I would say, part of an overall effort here at the State Department to really better use technology, better use various applications of those technology, including social networking and social media to better communicate with the rest of the world and to do our job. You’re well aware of what we’re doing in terms of the briefing room here, Briefing 2.0, Facebook, our blog, and a lot of other efforts that we’ll talk about after this. I won’t bore you with all those right now.”

The US State Department Promotes On-line Youth Groups: The organizations will fight against political oppression and terrorism - Softpedia, Romania: “Big Internet names, such as Facebook, Google, MTV, and Howcast, have already announced their intentions of joining the initiative set forth by the US State Department, of fighting against terrorism, political oppression, and for civil rights. Next week, New York City will host a conference on the matter, with representatives from several such existing organizations from all over the world attending. … ‘The idea is put all these people together, share best practices, produce a manual that will be accessible online and in print to any group that wants to build a youth empowerment organization to push back against violence and oppression around the world,’ James Glassman, under secretary of state for public diplomacy, said in a statement.”
see also a, b, c, d, e, f.

US Public Diplomacy in Moldova - Mihai Moscovici, Give Live Love: “Vineri, in a doua jumatate a zilei, am participat la doua intalniri cu Colleen P. Graffy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs: una in calitate de blogger si alta in calitate de absolvent al programelor de schimb al guvernului SUA. Doamna Graffy este o persoana comunicabila, sociabila si foarte in voga cu ultimele tendinte web 2.0: blogger, Twitter, YouTube… pe langa asta, oriunde in lume, e mereu conectata la internet prin BlackBerry. Cu toate acestea, cel mai remarcabil este ca doamna Graffy nu are aroganta inaltilor demnitari si se comporta de la egal la egal cu bloggerii dintr-o tara din lumea a treia.”

Virtual vs Real Life - Kelly Groft , ABC2 News, MD: “The State Department is even getting in on the virtual world, ‘I think it's important for government agencies to be appropriately engaged in this technology." said Bill May US Department of State, Public Diplomacy IT Office. … [‘]The State Department is one of several federal agencies now conducting business or holding events on the cutting edge -for all the world to see,' [said] … May …'We're really looking at engaging in mutual understanding, developing understanding between the American people and peoples of other countries.' … May says cyberspace is the perfect place to break down barriers. The government recently sponsored a global jazz concert where musicians from places like Mexico, Australia and Germany participated at the same time -while in their own countries!”

State Dept. Blogging One Year Later (Part 4): State Department 2.0 - Nicholas Brod, COMOPS Journal: “This is the fourth part of a five part series on about the one-year anniversary of the State Department’s Dipnote blog. In Part 1 we focused on reviewing DipNote management and processes. In Part 2 we looked at what the State Department bloggers were writing about. In Part 3 we conducted an in-depth content analysis of reader comments on the blog. In this post I look at the larger context of Web 2.0 effort being pursued by the State Department, of which Dipnote is a part. … New forms of social media, many of which the State Department has begun to embrace, offer unique tools for more direct interaction with their audiences for public affairs and public diplomacy efforts.”

Internet resistance – Foreign Policy Association: Middle East -- The official Web log for Great Decisions 2007: “State Department …certainly are not the only people making the argument that as the internet democratizes ideas, the way that young people expect to participate in movements and organizations has changed. Just this week (or maybe last week …) the Economist reviewed a book called Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott who makes a similar assertion about digital youth, purely outside the framework of terrorism/extremism/etc.”

Give me the equivalent of six Apaches and I can duplicate VOA worldwide (updated) - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: On RFE/RL: “Just provide a credible new service, and ‘America's foreign policy interests’ will be served by well-informed publics. Best to leave the talk of public diplomacy, soft power, and improving the U.S. image to the public diplomacy people, elsewhere in Washington."

Thinking: The Business of Washington - KAEF Kosovo American Education Fund: “Washington is home to many think tanks … The Brookings Institution collaborates with think tanks throughout the world, a product of globalization in thinking, leading to a number of highly visible projects from senior fellows and resident experts. In the past several weeks, for example, American Councils has attended a number of briefings on topics ranging from creating a new non-profit to support public diplomacy efforts.”

Experiencing America: Public Diplomacy at Its Best -
Lecture by Nancy G Brinker, Christopher R Hill and Said T Jawad, Heritage Lecture #1103, Heritage Foundation: Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker: “It is a pleasure to be here today, and I appreciate the invitation to share what we are doing at the Office of the U.S. Chief of Protocol to engage with the diplomatic community. … we extended the Office of Protocol to be at the forefront of public diplomacy by creating a new outreach division. Its mission is simple: Give ambassadors the opportunity to experience more of America--exploring these topics, connecting with America's foremost leaders and institutions-- beyond traditional diplomatic circles. In short, help strengthen the bridges of understanding that are at the heart of our bilateral relations.”

Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century Kristin M. Lord, Brookings Institution: “This report presents concrete steps to strengthen America’s efforts to engage, persuade, and attract the support of foreign publics. As part of a comprehensive plan to enhance our government’s public diplomacy, it urges the creation of a nimble and entrepreneurial new non-profit organization, the USA-World Trust, to complement and support U.S. government efforts.”

Global Listening: It's all that it's cracked up to be - Patrick Madden, Type, Talk & Transform World Peace: “I spent the better part of this morning at a briefing on the Brookings Institution's latest report regarding public diplomacy - Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century: . … What was striking to me was less about the report and whether I agree or disagree with the findings (which I was duly quizzed afterward by colleagues and associates), but rather a comment that was made a number of times by the panelists: ‘We need to listen more.’"

Mightier Than the Sword: Arts and Culture in the U.S.-Muslim World Relationship by Cynthia P. Schneider, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy; and Kristina Nelson, author of The Art of Reciting the Quran - John Brown, Review, American Diplomacy: “The arts are essential to giving meaning to our lives, but they are far too complex and all too human to be reduced to vehicles for advancing certain forms of social behavior or political systems. As the report itself states – but not emphatically enough – ‘value art for art’s sake.’”

Rock The Casbah - Jon Taplin's Blog: “The article in this morning’s Times on an all girl rock band in Saudi Arabia called Accolade is a window into a major public diplomacy advantage the U.S. could employ in the Obama administration. … Three years ago, Karen Hughes, in her first week in office as Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy came to the Annenberg School where our Center for Public Diplomacy trains future diplomats in an art that has almost vanished in the Bush Administration. … I … went on to suggest that the State Department sponsor a major tour of Hip Hop artists throughout the Mideast where the genre is very popular. I noted that Jurrasic Five, Mos Def and the Nas were all Muslims and that the tour would have two effects. First the mullahs would tell the kids they could not go to hear this decadent music–and the kids would disobey in their first act of independence from the religious authorities. Second, if the opening acts on the tour were all local bands, they would leave behind an underground scene that would inevitably foster more openness like the Accolade is trying to promote. Ms. Hughes proceeded to ask about whether the Hip Hop artists supported President Bush, to which I replied that they were all strongly opposed to the Iraq War, and that would add to the cognitive dissonance of their appearance. She of course thought this was a terrible idea.”

Options for Influence: Global campaigns of persuasion in the new worlds of public diplomacy - John Brown, Review, American Diplomacy: “Options for Influence is to be praised for seeking to help PD [Public Diplomacy] practitioners develop a ‘strategy’ for their work, but for elucidation on how ‘international actors’ stay afloat in an unpredictable overseas environment, biographical and historical accounts of public diplomacy are perhaps more rewarding (or at least more humorous).”

Peace Corps in a Bottom-Up and Troubled Era - Yossef Ben-Meir, Global Politician: “In the current issue of WorldView magazine, a publication of the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA), President-elect Barack Obama states his support for doubling the number of volunteers to 16,000 by 2011. … There is nearly universal agreement that the United States needs urgently to rebuild its image in the world. Volunteers, as good neighbors and in their dedication to meeting human needs, contribute to public diplomacy and to goodwill among nations.”

Secretary Clinton: Welcome to Colombia – Felipe Estafan, Colombia Report: “Top Obama administration officials must recognize that the United States is not the only international power vying for the attention and potential benefits of relations with Latin American nations. Colombia, as the current strongest ally of the United States in the region, ought to be regarded as an important part of any U.S. strategy to strengthen traditional and public diplomacy efforts in Latin America.”

NATO Mediterranean Dialogue Seminar in Israel - Defense-Technology News: "(NSI News Source Info) November 25, 2008: The NATO Public Diplomacy Division co-organised with the Tel Aviv Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) on 24-26 November 2008 an international seminar on Regional Security Dialogue and Cooperation in the Middle East."

Moral Depravity Exemplified - Eric Trager, Contentions, Commentary: “[I]f the Obama administration is as serious about public diplomacy as it promised it would be, Syrian-American rapprochement will be postponed indefinitely. For all of the ink that has been spilled claiming that the war in Iraq has hurt our standing abroad, there is one thing that would be even more harmful: sending mixed messages regarding where we stand on the most basic moral issues. In this vein, nothing would be more counterproductive than engaging leaders who grant ruthless murderers their highest national honors.”

A new spin on Iran's nuclear fuel - Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Asia Times: “Leading the pack in th[e] media endeavor for a Chomskyian [‘]manufactured consensus’ on Iran's nuclear threat is the nation's leading newspaper, the New York Times. Although known as the voice of the liberal ‘eastern establishment’, the Times is perceived by many as a pillar of support for pro-Israel global public diplomacy and, therefore, it comes as little surprise that the respected newspaper may have been churning out alarmist and misleading articles about Iran's purported nuclear threat.”

What preoccupies young Palestinian minds - Daoud Kuttab, Media Monitors Network, CA: “The occupation is foremost on Palestinian youth's mind. This was made clear in the Palestinian village of Beita, near Nablus, at an event held on November 17: the opening of the youth development resource centre, funded by USAID and some private international technical companies. The audience included US Undersecretary of State James K. Glassman, responsible for public diplomacy and public affairs.”

How not to negotiate with Syria - Itamar Rabinovich, Jerusalem Post: “Israel's negotiation with Syria, actual and potential, about the resolution of their conflicts - is very much in the news now. … Public diplomacy is an essential part of any negotiation and conflict resolution. But so is secret diplomacy.”

Will Obama be good for us? - Tasneem Noorani, The News, Pakistan: “Sen Biden also says that America should treat military aid separately and make it conditional on results. In addition to that, he is also in favour of a 'democracy dividend' – saying that one year of democracy should be rewarded by an additional billion dollars in aid. … Biden has also said that Washington needs to engage the Pakistani people rather than its rulers, and that this should be done through improved public diplomacy, educational exchanges and 'high-impact' projects. Now if Obama adopts the strategic proposals of Biden, whom he took as his teammate for his foreign policy specialisation, Pakistan should find US policy towards it people-friendly, with sustained economic collaboration and a bonus for continuing with democracy.”

Israel, Palestinians seek support through media campaign - Zhang Yanyang, Xu Gang, Chinaview: “Gerald Steinberg, Political Studies Department Chair at Bar Ilan University, told Xinhua in a phone interview … [that] ‘Israel is taking public diplomacy seriously for the first time. The government is actually looking at long-term efforts to reach out, of which YouTube is one of many,’ he said.”

Introducing Israel Studies in U.S. Universities: Interview with Mitchell Bard – “Dr. Mitchell G. Bard is executive director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and a foreign policy analyst who lectures frequently on American Middle East policy. … [Bard:] ‘Unlike the Arab-sponsored programs, AICE is careful not to try to turn teaching positions into public-diplomacy efforts for Israel, even though several pro-Israeli philanthropists would be happy with that. No Israeli professor would be willing to do so.’”

Zardari seeks funds to overcome economic crisis - Ashfaq Ahmed, Gulf News: “The main purpose of President Asif Ali Zardari's two-day visit to the UAE, which concluded on Tuesday, was to secure some ‘economic relief’ for Pakistan … The meeting also decided to launch a public diplomacy campaign to project the Friends of Pakistan initiative.”

Malawi yet to be on Danish support agenda - Charles Mpaka, Malawi's Daily Times, Malawi: “Charlotte Henriksen, Head of Section for Public Diplomacy and Communication in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, could not be drawn into commenting on whether there were immediate plans that the Danish government could review its stand following the change of government in Malawi.”

La nuova propaganda del Pentagono in Iraq - Osservatorio Iraq: “[C]on l’espressione ‘public diplomacy’ si intendono quegli aspetti della diplomazia internazionale non direttamente legati ai rapporti tra governi nazionali; la ‘public diplomacy’ si concentra sui modi in cui un determinato Paese può comunicare con i cittadini di altri Paesi; questi modi includono l’informazione ed altri mezzi mediatici come i film, la televisione, la musica, ecc.”

Role Of Media Propaganda In Iraq Invasion - Ayyoob, Blood: “Involvement of the Bush Administration and State Machinery in Propaganda: The Bush administration was engaged in wholesale fabrication of lies and to a great extent it succeeded in passing them to the audience as indelible truths, when it is ushered into the day to day news chain. … Charlotte Beers, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, has played an important role in this regard thanks to her important role in the advertising industry as well.”

RELATED ITEMS

Weapons Come Second: Can Obama Take on the Pentagon? - Frida Berriga, TomDispatch: As a candidate, Barack Obama stirred our imagination through his calls for a "new era of international cooperation." The United States cannot, however, cooperate with other nations from atop our shining Green Zone on the hill; we cannot cooperate as the world's sole superpower, policeman, cowboy, hyperpower, or whatever the imperial nom du jour turns out to be. Bottom line: we cannot genuinely and effectively cooperate while spending more on what we like to call "security" than the next 45 nations combined.

US-Iraq agreement needs work - Ayad Allawi, Boston Globe. Ayad Allawi is the former prime minister of Iraq.

Bush should include Congress - Bill Delahunt and Oona Hathaway, Boston Globe: The Iraqi parliament is expected to vote today on the security agreement with the United States. Its approval, by the required two-thirds majority, would mark an important moment in the development of Iraq's constitutional democracy. How sad, then, that our own Congress has been denied the opportunity to vote on the agreement.

Start With Syria: A Middle East Deal Obama Could Build On - Aaron David Miller, Washington Post: So, Mr. President-elect, go ahead and try to buck up the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire, train Palestinian security forces, pour economic aid into Gaza and the West Bank, and quietly nurture Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. But don't go for the endgame -- you won't get there. Instead, invest in an Israeli-Syrian peace, and, afterward, you might find, with a historic success under your belt and America again admired for its competence, you will be better positioned to achieve the success you want in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, as well.

Russian-Georgian media war carries on - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Another Falsehood Exposed - Dan Froomkin, washigntonpost.com: When and if the curtain is fully pulled back on President Bush's "war on terror," how much of what he said will turn out to be true, and how much of it will turn out to be fantasy and lies? The more we learn, the more it seems the appeals to fear that Bush used to rally the nation behind him were unfounded.

It's All a Blur - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog
I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO. President George W. Bush shakes hands with Peru's Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde as Peru's President Alan Garcia kisses U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during their meeting at the APEC summit in Lima November 23, 2008. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (PERU). COMMENT: "Oh, this is going to be a very long, drawn-out swan song for Dr. Ferragamo. From now on, she's going to hear nothing but variations of the following two questions: How does it feel to be a failure? Have you picked a title for the book?"

Image from

November 22

President-Elect Barack Obama's Favorite Pizza Comes to D.C. - Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers

VIDEO

Bush Gets Bad Rap In CNN's Supposed G-20 Handshake Incident, BagnewsNotes

NOTE

There will be no postings of the "Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review" November 23-25

RELATED ITEMS

From Heritage to Azeroth - Joshua Fouts, DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: “The Heritage Foundation's Helle Dale and Tony Blankley released a new report today, 'Reforming US Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century,' which almost feels like a companion report to Kristin Lord's Brookings Institution report similarly titled "Voices of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century." The Heritage report, which was teased in a Washington Times editorial by Dale this week, rehashes a lot of important but previously mentioned points for the incoming Obama Administration to consider. And it focuses on public diplomacy's role in countering extremism. As with most of these reports, they touch on the importance of technology, but mostly focus on the systemic bureaucratic problems at hand rather than offering substantive suggestions. … The challenges facing government seem so daunting organizationally and administratively that reports over the past weeks (and years, even!) like the above-mentioned Heritage Foundation report seem focused on the fundamentals rather than some of the more critical details, namely that the culture and way that the world is communicating has changed and changed radically. The policy recommendations that we are preparing for the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project, which will be released in coming weeks, will address a number of these specific issues.”

America's Image in the Age of Obama – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: “RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin and Brookings Institution scholar Kenneth Pollack today assessed the impact of Barack Obama's election as President of the United States on America's image abroad as well as the challenges his administration will likely face as it confronts the 21st Century's 'War of Ideas.' ’In public diplomacy, the messenger matters,’ Gedmin said to a packed house at the DC-based Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). ‘President-elect Obama's global appeal marks a real opportunity for the U.S. to improve its image overseas. But the message matters, too – his administration needs to craft sound policies that advance our interests and values.’ Pollack agreed that the Obama administration represents a chance to improve America's image, but warned that ‘popularity cannot be a substitute for good policy.’

Revitalising America's image: A revival in America's reputation ultimately rests not on diplomacy but substantive policy change - Amr Abdel-Atti, Al-Ahram: “If anyone stands a chance of improving the US's image in the Arab world, Obama does, especially when compared to his pre-4 November rival, Republican candidate John McCain. … However, it still remains the case that if Obama is to improve the US's image in the Arab world he has to change those policies and attitudes that were directly responsible for sewing anti-US hatred … After all, it is impossible to separate national policy from public diplomacy.”

Closed-Minded on the Border - Edward Alden, Washington Post: “Openness to immigrants and to foreign students, entrepreneurs and visitors has long been this country's secret weapon. The world's best and brightest come to the United States in large numbers to study or work temporarily, and many end up staying. Early in the campaign, Obama lamented the post-9/11 decline in visas for foreign students, which he said ‘used to be one of the single best public-diplomacy tools in our possession.’"

State Dept and Pentagon officials At Odds over Gitmo Detainee Policy - Daphne Eviatar, Washington Independent: “Contacted in response to my story yesterday about the debate over national security courts, I spoke today to the former Chief Counsel at the state department focused on detainee issues, who revealed an apparent schism between the State Dept on the one hand, and the Pentagon and executive on the other, when it comes to what to do with the Guantanamo detainees against whom they don’t have any solid evidence. … Although the state department is supposed to have some say on these issues, in particular regarding how ongoing litigation affects US public diplomacy, voices like this former senior state department lawyer’s have obviously been drowned out by DOD, and ultimately by the national security council and the president.”

A Bit Of Theory (Or, Actually Useful Stuff Learned In Grad School) - David Shorr, Democracy Arsenal: “I've been working with Vikram Singh and Derek Chollet of Center for a New American Security on a project that looked for ways to convert all this concern about the problem into meaningful action. Recently we drew up a memo proposing that President-elect Obama tell his national security team to collaborate on a joint FY 2010 budget for defense, diplomacy, and development. … The essence of the proposal from our own project is for the Defense and State Departments and USAID to reach their budget numbers by common agreement -- with DoS and USAID receiving significant increases in funding, as well as, this is important, personnel. … Here are the premises of the argument [among them that: ] … This is not a limited set of discrete problems -- public diplomacy, post-conflict reconstruction, privatization of aid programs -- it is all one big problem of foreign policy effectiveness and atrophied agencies that are not strong enough to pursue America's aims in an increasingly complex world. At just the moment when our relations with the world are at historic lows, we find ourselves with shortfall in our capacity to rebuild those relations.”

Public Diplomacy 2.0 - Upcoming New America Events, New America Foundation: “How the State Department, with partners like YouTube, Google and Facebook, is taking advantage of social networking technology to tell America's story and to encourage young people with political grievances to find outlets for their protests other than violent extremism. Start: 12/01/2008 - 10:00amEnd: 12/01/2008 - 11:30am New America Foundation 1630 Connecticut Ave, NW 7th FloorWashington, DC, 20009 … Featured Speaker The Hon. James K. Glassman Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.”

US Public Diplomacy Council publishes proposals for reforming international broadcasting - Medianetwork

Kim's comments about the Public Diplomacy Council's "Reforming U.S. International Broadcasting for a New Era"- Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “The PDC document contains contradictions that suggest that it was written by a committee. The ‘broad consensus’ was indeed broad. Nevertheless, the PDC has developed thoughtful proposals for U.S. international broadcasting. They should be read, discussed, and debated.” SEE BELOW, bottom of page: "Letter to the Public Diplomacy Council from the Broadcasting Board of Governors' Spokesperson"

Visa Waiver Program Expansion Will Stimulate U.S. Economic Growth - Roger Dow, The Hill Blog: “The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) expansion will strengthen U.S. security, boost America’s vital public diplomacy efforts and stimulate U.S. economic growth.”

U.S. diplomat speaks to students about job opportunities - Kelly McGill, Pioneer Online, OK: “Rick Roberts, a U.S. Department diplomat assigned to the University of Oklahoma, spoke Nov. 18 on ‘Foreign Service and International Education.’ … Roberts said he joined the Foreign Service in 1984 as a Public Diplomacy officer with the U.S. Information Agency. He now speaks to college students to help recruit talent for the State Department.”

Friday, Dipo Domys Executive Didae: “Outlook for public service academy brightens (11/21/08) -- http://www.governmentexecutive.com/: Public Diplomacy. Obama is now talking. The changes at the Air Force were just announced and now Obama wants free school for federal employees. The public Service Academy will give free education to anyone who goes to work for the federal government under the dems like Obama and his executive agencies. The university will hire dems to staff the school and it is the jobs for the staff that will create the academy.”

Senate delegation visits NATO headquarters – Associated Press of Pakistan: “Islamabad: … A six member delegation of the Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production of the Senate led by Senator Nisar A. Memon visited NATO Headquarters and SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) on the invitation of Public Diplomacy Division of NATO.”

Media Matters: Journalism's bang-up job - Ruthie Blum Leibowitz, Jerusalem Post: “Arab perpetrators and their apologists are not only happy to print and broadcast the most gruesome details of their own maimed victims - as well as fabricate and photoshop them at will - but do so purposely, as part of their strategy in the war against Israel. What this means is that the exercise of restraint, based on considerations of sensitivity, makes the PR playing field even less level than it already is. But are the media in a free society supposed to serve as a public-diplomacy vehicle for the state? The answer should be a firm ‘no.’ But what the answer actually is lies somewhere between ‘maybe’ and ‘that depends on who's in power.’"

RELATED ITEMS

The Shout Heard Round the World: Obama as Global Leader - Derek Shearer, Huffington Post: Obama is the American President after all -- but he is, in many respects, also the world's President. What he does will matter to young and old across the globe. The world, like America, is waiting for him to lead.

20 Reasons to Shut Down The Guantánamo Trials - Andy Worthington, Future of Freedom Foundation

Playing Al Qaeda's game – Editorial, Boston Globe: Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda's chief strategist, Ayman al-Zawahiri, want to draw the US into counter-insurgency campaigns in as many Muslim lands as possible. Unlike most Islamist groups that are fixated on overthrowing local regimes, they argue that such near enemies in Egypt, Algeria, and elsewhere have survived only because they are backed by the far enemy in Washington. And so they declared war on America. But this is not America's war; it is a war within Islamic lands between reactionary Islamists and the disparate regimes in those places.

That Iranian "Bomb"? Relax - Robert Dreyfuss, Nation: Once in office, Obama needs to send an envoy to Jerusalem with a simple message for the Israelis: when it comes to Iran, sit down and shut up.

Clinton, Obama and Israel: It's time for the U.S. to reengage in the Mideast peace process - Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times: The flexibility to achieve moral progress through change is one of the characteristics of liberal democracies like the United States and Israel. The common values of liberal democracy are the real basis for the special relationship between our two nations, and nothing would affirm or honor them more than constructive American engagement in a renewed Middle East peace process.

Arabs Should Act Now -- Not Wait for Obama - James Zogby, Huffington Post: On more than one occasion, Barack Obama has stated that he would make Israeli-Palestinian peace a priority, and that he would take a different course than that of his predecessor. But, if we are to be honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge that when Obama takes the oath of office on January 20th, he is likely to find a rather unappetizing situation laid out before him in the Middle East.

Clinton Is Said to Accept Offer of Secretary of State Position – Peter Baker And Helene Cooper, New York Times: Mr. Obama wants to announce the members of his national security team at once. Advisers said he was weighing whether to make retired Gen. James L. Jones, a former Marine commandant and NATO supreme commander, his national security adviser, installing a formidable counterweight to Mrs. Clinton. The president-elect was still trying to decide whether to keep Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on an interim basis or install another choice to run the Pentagon right away.

Obama's valedictocracy - David Brooks, International Herald Tribune: Hillary Clinton at State is problematic, mostly because nobody has a role for her husband. But, as she demonstrated in the Senate, her foreign policy views are hardheaded and pragmatic.

The Cabinet So Far: Encouraging signs, with education reform still in the balance – Editorial, Washington Post: President-elect Barack Obama's picks thus far are experienced, capable, smart and pragmatic. Those adjectives apply to New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (State Department).

Hoping Hillary Says Yes - Alec Baldwin, Huffington Post: “Now the notion of Mrs. Clinton as Secretary of State looms over her every utterance and move and I pray that this becomes a reality.”

Prude Descending a Staircase - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: U.S. President George W. Bush is welcomed by officials as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice walks down the stairs at the airport in Lima November 21, 2008. Bush is in Peru to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado (PERU). COMMENT: “Nothing much to say here. This photo shows, though, what a pain in the ass it must be when Condi visits. Look at all those people! Also, the horrible quality of the photo suggests that it was taken from, like, Argentina with a telephoto lens. Tsk!”

DOCUMENT

Letter to the Public Diplomacy Council from the Broadcasting Board of Governors' Spokesperson

Courtesy Len Baldyga
November 20, 2008

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) takes sharp exception to many points in “Reforming U.S. International Broadcasting for a New Era,” a statement issued by the Public Diplomacy Council (PDC) on November 17.

It is false to claim that the BBG has acted in any way that contravenes Congress. The BBG received Congressional approval for all program changes that have been made, including language service reductions. The PDC should correct its error.

The success or failure of the BBG should be judged on its broadcasting impact.

The post-9/11 public diplomacy charge was clear: to focus on Muslim audiences as an antidote to poisonous propaganda from Al Qaeda and other extremists. The challenge is how best to do that in specific countries, each with unique political factors, diverse media environments, and populations largely hostile to America.

The BBG has met this challenge by shaping broadcasts to fit the exigencies of each target audience. Since 2001, with support from the Administration and Congress, the BBG has launched six major communication channels – including 24/7 Dari and Pashto in Afghanistan, Radio Sawa and Alhurra TV for the Middle East, Radio Farda and the Persian News Network for Iran, and Radio Aap ki Dunyaa for Pakistan -- and ramped up daily broadcasting to Indonesia, Somalia, and other countries. These new initiatives have grown the BBG’s global weekly audience from 100 to over 175 million people. Broken out by country, this number includes: 27 million in Indonesia, 14 million in Iran, 13 million in Afghanistan, 12 million in Pakistan, 11.5 million in Iraq, 7 million in Egypt, 6 million in Syria, and 5 million in Morocco. Over 30 BBG language services now reach in excess of one million people weekly.

The PDC statement misrepresents the BBG’s work in other respects:

• PDC notes that VOA is chartered by statute to present international and U.S. news that is accurate, objective, and comprehensive; to represent America in all its diversity; and to present U.S. policies. But it fails to note that the statute governing broadcasting provides a similar mandate to all BBG broadcast entities. Each of the BBG’s broadcast entities maintains flexibility to tailor content to its audiences.

• Since FY 2000, VOA’s budget has increased over 47 percent, from $127 to $190 million in FY 2008. VOA has added television broadcasts to Afghanistan and Pakistan and increased programs in Persian, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Korean, Somali, and several other languages.

• The BBG has sought efficiencies throughout the organization in order to concentrate resources on language broadcasts. Since FY 2003, 78 percent of BBG budgetary reductions were to administrative, engineering, and support costs. It would not be possible to reinstate particular language broadcasts without additional cost.

• VOA audiences in Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia continue to be served by high-quality VOA television and Internet programming, and by radio broadcasts from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. VOA television and Internet broadcasts in Hindi also continue.

• To assert that the BBG needs “real strategy and analysis” ignores the BBG’s comprehensive strategic plan, available at http://www.bbg.gov/, which details specific actions to yield measurable outcomes. BBG spending on global audience research has increased from less than $3 million in FY 2001 to $9.1 million in FY 2008.

What matters to the BBG is reaching as many people as possible with accurate, balanced news and information that gains their trust and makes a difference in their lives. The focus of discussion needs to be on how U.S. international broadcasters are going to better serve more people with quality journalism to advance U.S. strategic interests in difficult-to-reach countries were democracy and freedom of speech are in short supply.

We share the commitment of the Public Diplomacy Council to excellence in our international broadcasting efforts and value forward-looking discussion of how to maximize our effectiveness.

Sincerely,

Letitia M. King
Acting Director Office of Public Affairs

November 21

"[W]hen I was getting my first experience living outside the US, US Information Agency Director Edward R. Murrow, gave a speech in which he said, ‘The really crucial link in the international communication chain is the last three feet, which is bridged by personal contact, one person talking to another.’ That, in a nutshell, is the role of Public Diplomacy."

--John Burgess, former US Foreign Service officer to the Middle East

SITE OF (MAYBE) INTEREST

Genderanalyzer: Man or woman - who is writing that blog?

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

American Influence in the New Age of Ideology - Shawn Powers, Intermap: "In the November/December edition of Foreign Policy, Bruce Jentleson and Steven Weber welcome their readers into a 'new age of ideology.' … Jentleson and Weber point to America’s ‘appeal for a war of ideas to defeat international terrorism’ as a metaphor for America’s failure to grasp the nature of political influence in today’s age of networks and information. ‘Ideas don’t go to combat; they vie for the commitment of individuals in an arena that is less like a battlefield and more like a marketplace.’ Indeed, Jentleson and Weber suggest that international influence—and I would add, public diplomacy—is now best understood in terms of a marketplace of ideas rather than a ‘battle’ for ‘hearts and minds,’ a reframing that dramatically changes the rules of international politics.”

Executive Summary: Reforming U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century - Tony Blankley, Helle C. Dale and Oliver Horn, Executive Summary #2211, Heritage Foundation: “For America, whose purpose is rooted in the aspirations of freedom for everyone, winning hearts and minds is a critical part of any effective foreign policy. Yet without substantial reforms in its structures and methods of public diplomacy, the United States will remain, as Secre­tary of Defense Robert Gates has said, ‘miserable at communicating to the rest of the world what we are about as a society and a culture, about freedom and democracy, about our policies and our goals.’ It is time for Congress and the President to ensure that the United States fully engages in the war of ideas by creating a comprehensive strategy and framework that utilize strategic communications as an effective, proactive foreign policy tool.” See also

Mightier Than the Sword - Kathleen Parker, Washington Post: “The word is powerful. In fact, one might even say the word is power. No one is more acutely aware of this than Jeffrey Gedmin, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). … Today, the nonprofit, U.S.-funded RFE reaches 30 million people, in 28 languages, in 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Central Asian republics. All for the relatively low price of $83 million. That is approximately the cost of four Apache helicopters and, inarguably, provides a significant bang for the buck. ‘Give me the equivalent of six Apaches and we'd probably change the world,’ said Gedmin over coffee while in Washington this week.”

VOA's jazz history is still in the news - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

IV. 24: Layalina Review on Public Diplomacy and Arab Media

International education - Sandra Sedano, Collegian: “According to the Association of International Educators in the 2006-07 academic year, 241,791 students studied abroad for academic credit, which is an 8.5 percent increase over the previous year. With this increase, the number of students studying abroad represents approximately 1 percent of all enrolled students. ‘The challenges for the 21st century cannot be addressed by the government alone, and therefore, our public-private partnership with non-governmental organizations, businesses, educational institutions and communities are more important than ever to effective public diplomacy,’ Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement on the International Education Week Web site.“

America the Popular: A lesson from students about foreign exchange – Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: "In the media telling, America during the Bush years has been an unpopular and insular country. But one group would seem to differ: young people. The U.S. remains the top destination for students from around the world, while Americans are studying abroad in record numbers too. ... If there's a darker note here, it's that Congress remains uninterested in keeping those foreign students in the country once we've invested in their training -- witness the annual cap of H-1B work visas at 65,000."

Maplewood’s Stone getting noticed - Matt Wilson, City Paper, Nashville: “I looked on in disbelief when I saw that Ken Griffey Jr. was named an American Public Diplomacy Envoy by the State Department the other day. Griffey has always seemed like a spoiled brat who’s never happy with anything and has never really dealt with the press well. So he’s supposed to be a diplomat?”

Keep Gates: But Mrs. Clinton at Foggy Bottom? Can they be serious? – Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: "On the face of it, the apparent offering of the secretary of state job to Hillary Clinton is a clever, interesting choice: An experienced and sophisticated workhorse with her own standing in the country, and bearing a name that is popular in the world, will be the public face of U.S. diplomacy. ... But the downside is equally obvious: To invite in the Clintons—and it's always the Clintons, never a Clinton—is to invite in, to summon, drama that will never end."

The team – zundel: “I have doubts about Clinton for State and Napolitano for Security. But it begins to make sense. Obama assembles a team that can work well with congress. And a team that can hit hard. Clinton has global name recognition—and global credibility. We need strong management of difficult diplomatic negotiation, and strong public diplomacy. She can do public diplomacy. If you’d like a metaphor, think basketball." NOTE: More on Clinton at Foggy Bottom below.

HSPI co-hosts symposium on "Homeland Defense and Security for the Next Administration - GWUMC News: “Under the banner of the Consortium for Homeland Defense and Security in America, the Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) joined with the Center for Strategic & International Studies, the Heritage Foundation, and the Army War College’s Center for Strategic Leadership, to host their third annual symposium on November 19-20, 2008. … Three fundamental elements emerged from the discussion: the need to build international capacity and partnerships to further enable others’ counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency and counter-proliferation efforts; the importance of employing all elements of statecraft, and expanding our appreciation of non-kinetic measures such as public diplomacy, humanitarian assistance and economic measures; and the need to prevent radicalization by formulating, tailoring to context, and supporting counter-radicalization efforts, de-radicalization and disengagement programs.”

Missing the point on more than one level - Mike DeVito, The Smarmy Liberal: “Joe the Soldier, though we thank him for his service, isn’t automatically qualified for government because he did a tour as a grunt or a small unit commander. And his policy advice on national security probably isn’t any more useful than someone who has studied it on a theoretical level, because he only has a ground-level view. Public diplomacy, yes - they’ll have insights on that. But defense policy? Not so much.”

25 Citizens Undergo Diplomatic Training in Egypt - Analyst (Monrovia): “Twenty-five Liberians have departed the country for Cairo, Egypt, to undergo a two-week training program in diplomacy. The delegation, which left the country on Sunday, November 16, 2008, is to participate in a middle-level diplomatic training covering a wide range of topics including development diplomacy, conflict resolution and multi-track diplomacy, and media and public diplomacy. … According to a Foreign Ministry release, the training is being made possible with support from the Egyptian Technical Cooperation Fund under the Foreign Ministry of Egypt.”

RELATED ITEMS

Bracing for a Major Disappointment - William Pfaff, Truthdig: Because of the enormous expectations Obama’s election has aroused abroad, above all among America’s European allies, any Obama-Clinton restoration of Clintonism would be met with incomprehension and disappointment.

From Russia With Loathing - Cathy Young, New York Times: In his Nov. 5 speech, President Medvedev asserted that “we have no inherent anti-Americanism.” True enough, but in recent years, anti-Americanism has been carefully cultivated by official and semi-official propaganda, especially on government-controlled television, which manipulates popular insecurities and easily slides into outright paranoia.

Back-Scratching in America - Alexei Pankin, Moscow Times: Can Medvedev fully trust Obama when it is clear that he readily believes the U.S. media and, even worse, he develops his policy on Russia based on this biased information?

Judge orders release of 5 Guantánamo detainees - William Glaberson, International Herald Tribune: After the first hearing on the government's evidence for holding detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, a U.S. federal judge ruled Thursday that five of the prisoners were not being lawfully held and ordered their release.

Wrenching Choices on Guantanamo - Benjamin Wittes, Washington Post: Closing Guantanamo won't be easy, at least not if Obama means to change the substance of American detention policy rather than merely altering its geography.

What to do with Guantánamo's detainees: Saudi Arabia's rehabilitation plan works. Imitate it - Christopher Boucek, Christian Science Monitor: This Saudi "soft" approach, first formulated a few years ago by a Yemeni judge, Hamoud al-Hitar, is made up of three components: prevention programs to deter average citizens from becoming violent extremists, rehabilitation programs designed to encourage supporters and sympathizers to renounce violence, and aftercare programs to prevent recidivism and reintegrate people into society.

Talking With the Taliban – Editorial, New York Times: Afghanistan’s only chance is a long-term American commitment that also includes far more economic assistance and support for political development.

Middle East Priorities For Jan. 21 - Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, Washington Post: In perhaps no other region was the election of Obama more favorably received than the Middle East. Immediate attention to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute would help cement the goodwill that Obama's election engendered. Not everyone in the Middle East views the Palestinian issue as the greatest regional challenge, but the deep sense of injustice it stimulates is genuine and pervasive.

The A Team - Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker: The team of Barack “Grandpa Was a Muslim” Obama, Hillary “I’m a Clinton” Clinton, and Rahm “Israel” Emanuel (that’s his real middle name! and he was a volunteer with the I.D.F. during the 1991 Gulf War!), with Joe Biden and Bill Clinton pitching in as necessary, would put the new Administration in an extremely powerful position to apply the kind of pressure that would give Israeli politicians the political cover they need to reach a settlement with the Palestinians.

The Iraqi-U.S. agreement - Austin Bay, Washington Times: Two events and one document frame the historical context of two pending agreements that will guide U.S.-Iraqi relations over the next three to 10 years: the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA).

A Framework for Success in Iraq - Michael Gerson, Washington Post: Dealing with the new Iraq will not be easy. It has become a prickly nation, jealous of its sovereignty and determined to avoid even the appearance of American imperialism. But this also means it is becoming a "normal," self-governing country, in the midst of a national debate on its security just six years after the end of a vicious tyranny.

Stuff Happens: The Pentagon's Argument of Last Resort on Iraq - Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: Washington may continue in some fashion to garrison an economically desperate world, but it will never again have the money to occupy a country in the style of Iraq -- largely because the Bush administration managed to squander the American imperial legacy in eight short years.

To Do: Somalia -- The looming crisis in Somalia is an opportunity for Barack Obama to show that he won't repeat the mistakes of the U.S.'s recent past - Jonathan Stevenson, New Republic

US Diplomacy Is Also FDA, USDA, EPA ... – Avuncular American: “Many people are unclear as to what ‘diplomacy’ consists of, and generations of American Foreign Service Officers have tales of how they explain to friends and family that working for the 'State' Department does not mean a dreary job in Harrisburg or Tallahassee or some other state capital. ‘What do you do?’ in an embassy, anyway? Well, anything that the US Government does, to be concise.”

The State Department and the Leadership Agenda – Diplopundit: ”The State Department is an old, traditional organization, and it is set on its ways in more ways than one, kind of really like grandpa w ho likes his coffee at exactly 9 o’clock in the morning among other things. Although it is true that almost all entry level officers do serve in one or two consular assignments and are therefore, captive audience for the Consular Bureau’s leadership initiative, the non-consular coned officers move into different career tracks (such as political, public diplomacy, economic and management) after their first two tours. And while leadership development is embedded into the training of our soldiers, for instance – it is not the same for our diplomatic personnel.” Via

Diplomatically Trying to Close Overseas Pay Gap - Joe Davidson, Washington Post: When State Department diplomats are posted abroad, they lose locality pay. That's the amount added to a federal worker's salary based on where they work. Since 1994, when locality pay started, the increase for federal employees in the D.C. area has amounted to almost 21 percent. Moving overseas from the State Department's Foggy Bottom headquarters and other area installations means workers lose that differential. See also

Hillary Clinton Nomination Is On Track - Anne E. Kornblut, Washington Post

Stop Hillary! Yes we can! – Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com: With Hillary Clinton as Obama’s secretary of state, and a bevy of war hawks ensconced in key national security posts – just like the neocons in the Bush administration -- the War Party will be well-represented in the foreign policy councils of the new administration.

Obama: Don't Hire Hillary - Patricia DeGennaro, Huffington Post

Why Obama Can Keep Gates - Joe Conason, Truthdig: If the prospect of appointing Hillary Clinton as secretary of state irritates the Obama base, what will they make of keeping the man who has executed President Bush’s policies at the Pentagon

Why Obama Wants Hillary for His 'Team of Rivals' - Karen Tumulty and Massimo Calabresi, Time: Viewed cynically, bringing Clinton into the tent could co-opt a potential adversary in 2012 and put a leash on her globetrotting husband, who has a propensity for foreign policy.

One Reason Hillary Could be Extraordinary at State – Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic: Her uncommon understanding of the Middle East could truly revive revive peacemaking.

Clinton: Why She is Uniquely Qualified as Secretary of State - Jennifer Donahue, Huffington Post: If global women's rights is an issue, which it most certainly is, Senator Clinton is matched by no one in her past words and deeds in advance of this cause.

The Great Right Hope: Hillary Clinton? - Noemie Emery, Weekly Standard: As it is, foreign policy is the one area in which Hillary Clinton’s ideas seem somewhat in line with those of conservatives; and at any rate, she is the best thing they are likely to get. For the moment, Hillary Clinton will be the conservatives' Woman in Washington, more attuned to their concerns on these issues than to those of the get-the-troops-home-now wing of her party.

Substitute - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with European Union Secretary General Javier Solana at the State Department, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce ceneta). COMMENT: "The State Department's revolving door had a busy day. And look! It's one of our favorites, excitable Javier Solana, who we love, love, love, even if we aren't sure why, am I right? Wow, is he looking forward to January, I bet! But I wonder where Condi is? But Princess, you say, she's right there! Oh, come on, now, look closer! That is totally, obviously the labor-saving, Disneymatic Condibot standing in while the real one, I don't know, gets her nails done."

Adolf Hitler was mentally unbalanced because he had only one testicle – Pravda.ru: The rumors of Hitler’s monorchism (a medical term designating the absence of one testicle) are not new at all. There is even a song about such a peculiarity of Hitler’s genitals. The lyrics are: "Hitler has only got one ball, Göring has two but very small, Himmler is somewhat sim'lar, But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all. Hitler has only got one ball, The other is on the kitchen wall, His mother, the dirty b——r, Chopped it off when he was small." The song was long reputed to be propaganda-oriented, although military reports confirm that Hitler had been wounded in the groin indeed during the Battle of the Somme.

November 20

"Public diplomacy! Whatta euphemism! But for what, exactly?"

--Comment by Lulu Maude, a reader of Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photoblog (pls. scroll down link for item)

VIDEO

This is sort of sad: Bush Horribly Unpopular At G20 Summit, Wonkette: “What is up here? George Bush is not shaking anybody’s hand, nobody’s shaking his hand, it is an international diplomatic crisis!”

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Streamline, Don't Swell, Our Foreign Affairs Machine - Peter Bridges, Huffington Post: “In foreign affairs, Obama needs to make the State Department what it was once: our government's efficient arm for dealing with the world in situations short of war. Send home half or more of all those embassy attachés from elsewhere, and then simplify the organization of the State Department (and not just State), so that negotiation again means dealing with other governments and not endless meetings inside and between agencies. It took Senator Jesse Helms to bring the U.S. Information Agency back inside State. Should not Obama bring our aid and trade-promotion programs back to State? USIA veterans still wonder if State puts enough weight on public diplomacy; would it do so if aid and trade were also in State's hands?” On USIA see.

The best public diplomacy is less public diplomacy. And other advice for the new administration - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: "’Instantaneous global communications make it impossible for the U.S. government to segregate information intended for domestic and foreign audiences; the Smith-Mundt Act must be amended accordingly.' From 'Basic Principles on Improving U.S. Public Diplomacy,’ Public Diplomacy Council, 17 November 2008. [Elliott Comment:] An interesting if blood-chilling proposal from the Public Diplomacy Council. It would be good for them to issue a paper to describe what content they intend us domestic audiences to receive. Actually, because the BBC can now restrict its broadcast archives to UK users, and its commercial website to non-UK users, this means that the new age of 'instantaneous global communications' includes means for the Smith-Mundt domestic dissemination prohibition finally to be enforced.” On the Smith-Mundt Act, see.

President-elect Obama, we need a new kind of public diplomacy - Kim Holmes, Washington Times: “At the end of the day, strategic communications - the sum total of the government's efforts to influence foreign opinion - is bigger than public diplomacy. It also must explain the purposes of foreign policy to Americans. Americans are understandably averse to government ‘propaganda,’ if propaganda means deception and manipulation. This is not the same thing as the government explaining to citizens what it is trying to accomplish with their tax dollars.” On the anti-propaganda tradition in the U.S., see.

C stands for Culture – and America Centers - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: “[E]ven though the outgoing administration can point to increased funding for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in more recent years, a pittance of it has gone to cultural programs. The lion’s share – except for the two-way Fulbright scholars and researchers program - has been spent on one-way inbound educational ‘exchanges.’ …. Obama’s right about the need to establish, or re-stablish, our Centers or America Houses overseas, but they should also be reopened in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.” On the Bureau of Educational and Cultural affairs, see.

re: "C stands for Culture – and America Centers" – Consul-at-arms: “I'm not a PD guy specifically, although I admire and value my PD colleagues. And while my FS career began after USIA was absorbed into the Department, I had worked for State in other capacities for years. I had the opportunity, even at a fairly late date, to visit still-open American cultural centers and libraries. Let me not put too fine a point on it: every closure of an American library or cultural center was a victory for those who hate America and want to spread that viewpoint around unimpeded.”

Events at the Center: Improving Russian-American Understanding through Cultural Exchanges: Cosponsored by the Likachev Foundation, St. Petersburg, and the Open World Program, Washington, DC - Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Rifftides - Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters... , AllAboutJazz.com: “Murray Fromson has issued the first plea I've seen from a heavyweight journalist to president-elect Obama for a rescue of the Voice of America. Rifftides has often written about that broadcast agency's central role in cultural diplomacy during the Cold War, particularly about the vital part Willis Conover played. I have deplored the Bush administration's attempts to dismantle the VOA at a time when the United States needs friends around the world. Here are two excerpts from Fromson's column today on the Huffington Post web site.”

Public Diplomacy Experts Urge Obama to Stop the Broadcasting Board of Governors from Silencing the Voice of America - FreeMediaOnline.org and Free Media Online Blog – “The Public Diplomacy Council, a nonprofit organization which includes former diplomats, academics and other foreign policy experts, has called on President elect Obama and Congress to take urgent action in reforming publicly-funded U.S. international broadcasting. The Council blames the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), whose members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to manage U.S. international broadcasting, for ignoring strategically important target areas such as Russia, the Balkans, India and the Western Hemisphere.”

A Thanksgiving Message to President Elect Barack Obama About the Voice of America – QuoVadis, FreeMediaOnline.org and Free Media Online Blog: “The members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors have made many mistakes over the past decade. As President, you will have the unique opportunity to reverse those mistakes. And if you do, America’s Voice can once again be heard loudly and clearly throughout the world and regain its place as the beacon of liberty to the world.” On Broadcasting Board of Governors, see.

Zawahiri: Obama is the anti-Malcolm X - Juan Cole, Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: "Ayman al-Zawahiri attacked Barack Obama in a video released on the internet on Tuesday. … The headline in most comments on the video was that al-Zawahiri used a racist slur against Obama, calling him a ‘house Negro’ … . Al-Zawahiri has seen a lot of Muslim politics, and if he is this afraid of Obama, it is a sign that the new president has enormous potential to deploy soft power against al-Qaeda, and al-Zawahiri is running scared.”

Ayman al-Zawahiri's racial epithet - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “State needs to respond both to U.S. audiences (ostensibly DipNote's mission) and abroad (America.gov's mission).”

More on Zawahiri and Racism - Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent: “In the brief period since the release of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s “House Negro” tape, bloggers have gone crazy celebrating the U.S.’s free-of-charge good fortune. … In both policy and public-diplomacy terms, the clay is still wet. Why haven’t we seen the State Dept.’s blog hit the Zawahiri ‘House Negro’ tape yet?”

What Zawahiri's Message Says About Obama and Al Qaeda - Ilan Goldenberg, Huffington Post: "First and foremost, Al Qaeda is an organization that thrives on propaganda. It paints the United States as an evil empire that oppresses its own minorities and has little regard for the rest of the world. Al Qaeda uses these types of narratives to raise funds and recruit. The Bush administration played right into this trap. Its 'with us or against us' mentality and invasion of Iraq damaged America's image around the world and reinforced Al Qaeda's narrative."

Al Qaeda, Obama and Pakistan - Marc Ginsberg, Huffington Post: "Ultimately, the war against Al Qaeda will not be won on the battlefields of Waziristan alone. Ayman al Zawahiri's unwelcomed reemergence from his cave today is a sad reminder how much the Bush Administration's failures are being dumped into Barack Obama's lap."

Al-Qaeda is not the only threat - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “John Sullivan, the co-founder of the Los Angeles Terrorism Early Warning group and lieutenant with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, focusing on emerging threats, reminds us that Al-Qaeda is not the only threat. As such, public diplomacy and strategic communication planning that focuses only on Al-Qaeda is too limiting.”

Tweeting Public Diplomacy - Alyssa Rosenberg, GovernmentExecutive.com: "I've written quite a bit about a push by State Department employees, diplomacy non-profits, and some legislators to increase the size of the Foreign Service, and especially to ramp up staffing of public diplomacy officers, the people who are tasked with getting out there in other countries and actually talking to folks there about who the U.S. is. And so I was pleased to see today via the always classy-looking State Department blog DipNote, that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Colleen Graffy, is Twittering a public diplomacy mission to Bucharest."

Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Receive Fulbright Prize - Notice to the Press, Office of the Spokesman, Department of State, Washington, DC: "Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri and the Fulbright Association will co-host a ceremony honoring Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Friday, November 21, 2008, at 11 a.m. in the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the U.S. Department of State. The 2008 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding will be awarded to Archbishop Tutu for his work for peace in South Africa and elsewhere. The prize carries a $50,000 award provided by The Coca-Cola Foundation."

U.S. public diplomacy: two men on base - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy:
“It's interesting that two of the four public diplomacy envoys are baseball stars. The number of baseball-playing nations is finite: USA, Canada, countries of the Caribbean basin, Japan, Taiwan, and perhaps a couple of others. But the appeal of Ripken and Griffey is certainly apparent in places like Nicaragua. And baseball is more international than, say, U.S. football.”

Peace Corps in a Bottom-Up and Troubled Era - Yossef Ben-Meir, MediaMonitors: “There is nearly universal agreement that the United States needs urgently to rebuild its image in the world. [Peace Corps] Volunteers, as good neighbors and in their dedication to meeting human needs, contribute to public diplomacy and to goodwill among nations.“

Full Disclosure: Philanthropy and Diplomacy - Philanthropy: A Great Decisions 2008 Blog: “The Clintons are in the headlines again - and for two of my absolute favorite topics: transparency and public diplomacy. I’m giddy with excitement at all the ways you can slice the conversation - marriage, careers, national security, politics, philanthropy, international development, republicans/democrats, and can she do it?”

Expected to Receive a Shot in the Arm from Visa Waiver Program Expansion - Hospitality Trends: “The Travel Industry Association (TIA) heralded today's official expansion of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which is estimated to bring approximately one million new visitors to the United States annually. ‘Adding friends and allies to the Visa Waiver Program strengthens U.S. security, boosts America's vital public diplomacy efforts and stimulates U.S. economic growth,’ said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association.”

NATO countries should resume military ties with Russia - (NSI News Source Info), Defense-Technology News -"NATO member countries should restore relations with Russia, including in the military sphere, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has said in a resolution. ... 'The resolution passed by the Plenary Session held on 18 November urged governments and parliaments of NATO member countries to re-establish wide-ranging co-operation, particularly in the military sphere, and to improve and expand public diplomacy efforts with Russia,' the alliance said in a press release."

An open letter to President-elect Obama (I) - Faruk Loğoğlu, Hurriyet: “Surveys consistently indicate a very unfavorable opinion of the U.S. in Turkey. This underlines the need to implement a broad public diplomacy strategy to win the hearts of the Turkish public. That should be one of the tasks of your Administration.”

RELATED ITEMS

Obama and foreign policy: It shouldn't be personal - Lionel Beehner and Vikram J. Singh, Los Angeles Times: World leaders are breathing sighs of relief at the passing of the George W. Bush era. But they risk becoming overly infatuated with Obama. When they look into his eyes, they would do well to seek out American national interests, most of which stay relatively constant across administrations. Whenever foreign policy gets too personalized and chummy, the world is worse off for it.

Closing Gitmo Is Just the Beginning: Building US credibility on human rights will be a long-term project - and closing Guantánamo might just be the easy bit - Suzanne Nossel, Guardian/UK/Common Dreams

More Advice for Obama: How Guántanamo Can Be Closed: Andy Worthington, Counterpunch

Obama’s War: In Afghanistan, the change we need is a shiny new COIN - Clifford D. May, National Review: Although we are not currently defeating the Taliban and other belligerent groups in Afghanistan, we can prevail -- if the incoming administration is prepared to fully resource a sophisticated counter-insurgency strategy similar to that implemented by General David Petraeus in Iraq. The key was transitioning to counterinsurgency -- COIN -- a form of warfare that requires many boots on the ground.

Taliban, US wrestle for the upper hand - Syed Saleem Shahzad
Asia Times: In NATO headquarters in Kabul and Brussels it has been realized that the level of the Taliban's control in Afghanistan is such that they are inching towards a serious escalation of the violence which could create serious turmoil right in the heart of Kabul.

The US strikes deeper in Pakistan - Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times: There is now a genuine alliance between the Pakistani military and US forces against the common foe of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Previously, under former president General Pervez Musharraf, this relationship was blurred by pockets of latent sympathy on the side of the Pakistanis for the militants.

Pakistan PM: US Airstrikes ‘Intolerable’ – Truthdig: American airstrikes in Pakistan aren’t sitting so well with the locals. Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani summoned the American ambassador for a refresher course in “sovereignty and territorial integrity” on Thursday. According to the Washington Post, the two countries have agreed that the U.S. can keep bombing Pakistan if Pakistan can keep complaining about it.

Getting Past Mythmaking In Georgia - Anne Applebaum, Washington Post: Western leaders should support Georgian democracy, not particular Georgian democrats, and prepare a unified response to the Russian military escapades to come. And while the propaganda battle rages in the meantime, stay well on the sidelines.

Obama, Misha and the Bear - Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times: Because Russia behaves irresponsibly -- including its latest disgraceful threat to base missiles near Poland -- the temptation in the Obama administration will be to continue with NATO expansion and perhaps even with the ill-advised missile system for Europe. (We have so many better ways to spend money!) Instead, let’s engage Russia as we engage China -- while still bluntly calling Russia on its uncivilized behavior.

Obama Should Look Into Putin's Record, Not His Eyes: The U.S. has the chance for a fresh start on Russia relations - Garry Kasparov, Wall Street Journal: Will Mr. Obama's desire to be the toast of Europe come at the expense of democracy in Russia?

The Real Issue Isn't a Shield in Central Europe - Fyodor Lukyanov, Moscow Times: If Obama's pledge to incorporate multilaterism into U.S. foreign policy begins with developing a global missile-defense system in close cooperation with other countries, this will be a very constructive step toward building a new multipolar model for global affairs.

Internet drives China to loosen grip on media – Reuters, International Herald Tribune

The Agents of Change on Obama's Transition Team - David Corn, Mother Jones: Tom Donilon, a partner at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, who was assistant secretary of state for public affairs in the Clinton administration, is in charge of the group focusing on Foggy Bottom.

Clinton Decision Holding Up Other Obama Choices - Helene Cooper, New York Times

That crucial bond - Thomas Friedman, International Herald Tribune: When it comes to appointing a secretary of state, you do not want a team of rivals.

Obama's First Drama: Hillary Clinton – David Corn, Mother Jones: Being secretary of state isn't just about giving speeches and touring the world as a celebrity, it's about managing (and now reviving) the creaky and beleaguered foreign policy apparatus of the United States. And Clinton's résumé is not strong on that front.

What's needed at State – Editorial, Boston Globe: Obama shouldn't appoint Hillary Clinton -- or anyone else -- to the vital post of Secretary of State until he is sure his nominee is capable of reviving a much-diminished State Department.

Hillary Clinton to State? - Editorial, Washington Times: If Mrs. Clinton is nominated as secretary of state, it will be in spite of her record and judgment and the problems created by her husband's lucrative speechmaking. There is too much at stake on the foreign-policy front to nominate Mrs. Clinton.

Brief Case - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives on Capitol Hill for a briefing with lawmakers on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci). COMMENT: "Condi wore a pretty new suit yesterday. I like the taffeta shawl collar. And... uhhh... well, that's pretty much it."

November 19

“she’s unsure.”

--An adviser to Hillary Clinton

IMAGES BELOW FROM: Soviet Propaganda Posters – Andri Kyrychok, Looking Through The Lens: “In my college years in Quinsigamond College in Worcester, I studied and did a project on Soviet Cubism and the design elements of Soviet-era art/propaganda. I was always intrigued by the power of the block elements incorporated within the art. Here are some good examples I’ve come across over my time collecting them via the web.”

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Public diplomacy expectations: Complex across-the-board reform - Helle Dale – Washington Times: “The presidential election has done wonders for the U.S. image abroad. There is a danger here that public diplomacy becomes a kind of popularity contest, and that systematic efforts to reach out to foreign publics through the manifold channels of the U.S. government will not receive the sufficient attention under the new administration. Now, the fact that public diplomacy outreach to foreign audiences under the Bush administration was inadequate is a matter of consensus throughout the Washington foreign policy establishment. … What is specifically needed is a new U.S. Agency for Strategic Communication under the guidance of a director of strategic communications. Its director should have the confidence and trust of the president, though maybe not necessarily at cabinet level, and his responsibility would be to coordinate the informational activities of the entire U.S. government, including the vast resources currently commanded by the Pentagon. He would also be responsible for formulating a much-needed comprehensive new communications strategy that would address the activities of U.S. public affairs, public diplomacy, international broadcasting and military information operations.“

Restore the Voice - Murray Fromson, Huffington Post: “Barack Obama has the capacity to overcome the recent image of a global bully by restoring America's reputation as a peace-loving, progressive nation. But he faces far greater priorities during his first weeks and months in office as president than say the future of the Voice of America. An entire generation may well be perplexed by just what the VOA means. But the international buzz caused by President-elect Obama earlier in the month offers him an opportunity to revive what had been a valuable American resource for so many years. In short, the reputation of the Voice needs to be revived and treasured -- not squandered as it has been by the Bush Administration the past eight years.”

A look at State Department's FY09 budget - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Patrick F. Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management, discussed the State Department's FY09 budget request today. The budget request includes 450 new positions for training. … And there's public diplomacy. [Kennedy] ‘There's also been discussion about what is our outreach: are we doing enough in the public affairs and public diplomacy world. There are 39 positions in the budget to expand public diplomacy and educational and cultural exchanges, again, focusing on what the Secretary sees is major needs in the time ahead.’”

Can Facebook defeat terrorism? - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “’The State Department is proud to play a role in highlighting the new wave of civil-society empowerment that is happening online,’” said James K. Glassman, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. 'What is so encouraging is that this effort is being led by public-spirited technology firms like Howcast and innovative educators like those at Columbia University.’”

Communicating with the public - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Sometimes understanding the difference between public diplomacy, public affairs and strategic communication can be challenging. This is especially true in the absence of accepted principles and practices. The result is confusion on the roles and responsibilities and misaligned titles.”

Perceptionmanagers.Org - "’Perception management’ - also known as ‘public diplomacy’ or ‘military support to public diplomacy’ - is a propaganda strategy for controlling how a target population views political events. Refined by intelligence services as they tried to manipulate foreign populations, the practice eventually seeped into domestic U.S. politics as a way to manipulate post Vietnam War era public opinion.”

Ripken Leaves Nicaragua after Travel Warning - Meg Jollett, ABC2 News, MD: “Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. had to make a change to his plans yesterday in Nicaragua. Ripken was scheduled to hold a baseball clinic for Nicaraguan youth in Leon, but had to cancel it because of violence in the area. … The State Department issued a travel warning for the country after the leftist Sandinista party supporters clashed on Sunday with opposition supporters over the November 9 elections. Two people were shot in the incident. Cal Ripken, Jr. is an American Public Diplomacy Envoy for the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.”

lLinks: Cubs Sign Ryan Dempster - Charlie, Bucs Dugout: “Finally, in a story that my brother Sam found weird and emailed to me, Ken Griffey Jr. has been named an American Public Diplomacy Envoy. My initial response was, 'Envoy to what? The 1990s?' Apparently, though, it's fairly common for athletes to take this position. Other envoys include Michelle Kwan and Cal Ripken. Also Fran Drescher, who I can't imagine in a diplomatic role, but that's just me.”

"Lookit!" Says Condi, "We've Got a Charismatic Black Man, Too!" - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, right, introduces baseball star Ken Griffey Jr who has been named as America's newest public diplomacy envoy, Tuesday, Nov. 18,2008, at the State Department in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Mobile Opportunities - Aaron Mannes, Theterrorwonk: “Mobile banking could ease the delivery of aid in disaster situations and be a boon to development programs in general. This is not to spark the debate over whether poverty causes terrorism, that link is tenuous. But poverty does contribute to instability that can create safe havens for terrorists and criminal cartels. Besides which, effective development and disaster relief policies are good public diplomacy as well as being morally just.”

Once again: if the BBC, why not the British Council? – The Language Business: “The contrast between the grilling of the BBC by the Culture, Media and Sport committee is in marked contrast to the simpering more tea, vicar treatment of the British Council by the Foreign Affairs Committee. While the former is concerned with investigating the BBC’s “range of commercial activities in the UK and abroad”, the latter, more airily concerned with public diplomacy, mainly skirts round the subject of commerce and the obvious dangers of a publicly funded organisation competing with genuine enterprise.”

Qureshi foresees a stable, prosperous Pakistan – Associated Press of Pakistan: “Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi … said that Monday’s session of Friends of Pakistan was a success because the participants were in realization of the significant role that the country was playing in the region. …The Foreign Minister said that the element of public diplomacy has also been included in the concept of PoF.”

Miss Colombia or Misunderstood - Felipe Estefan, Colombia Reports, Colombia: “Long live the Queen! Michelle Rouillard Estrada, Miss Cauca, has become the new Miss Colombia. … Granted, the pageant of the Universe, provides an interesting public diplomacy opportunity to promote the country in a positive light. But in Colombia, there is little concern for that.”

RELATED ITEMS

The Arab World Looks to a New America - Gerhard Spörl and Bernhard Zand, Spiegel International: The US has long been a model for many parts of the Arab world, but the Bush administration's foreign policy led to rifts. Now, the region has high hopes from America, but they aren't sure what to expect from President-elect Barack Obama.

Letter From America: Detainees' case a moral failure for U.S. -Richard Bernstein, International Herald Tribune: The 17 Uighurs in Guantánamo are human beings who even the government admits meant no harm to the United States and yet have been involuntarily "housed" for seven years at a place set up for dangerous terrorists.

End in sight: U.S.-Iraq agreement should be approved and withdrawal timetable followed – Editorial, Baltimore Sun

Clinton Said to Be Unsure About Cabinet Job - Raymond Hernandez and Michael Luo, New York Times

Two for the Price of Two - Maureen Dowd, New York Times: If Hillary gets to be the Mistress of Foggy Bottom, Bill’s guilt over his primary tirades, which hindered her chances of becoming president, would be alleviated.

A Force for Good -- but Not at State - David S. Broder, Washington Post: It may be moot and it certainly is presumptuous, but I would be less than honest with readers if I did not say what I believe: Making Hillary Rodham Clinton the secretary of state in Barack Obama's administration would be a mistake.

Secretary Clinton? Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton should get fair consideration, but Bill Clinton's role would have to change - Editorial, Washington Post

Will Secretary of State Be Enough for Hillary’s Army? - Tina Brown, Daily Beast: Secretary of State is a job that could offer Hillary a platform to complete the work she has always cared about most both before and during her time in the White House. She spent the two years of her presidential campaign proving she was an Iron Lady ready to be commander in chief at 3 a.m. But as Mark Penn has said, the 3 a.m. call turned out not to be national security after all, it was the economy. This augurs well for a soft power emphasis in the job of secretary of state.

Propaganda Puppet Mickey Mouse Turns 80 And He's Still the Political Nazi Figure - Michelle Duffy, DigitalJournal.com, Canada: Mickey Mouse is 80 this week -- there are very few entertainment figures in front of him -- Fats Domino springs to mind, yet those early days of Mr Mouse where dark. He was banned from Germany in WW2 and the Italians didn't think he was fascist enough.

November 18

“Mr. Obama … said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so."

--Reporter Jeff Zeleny, New York Times

IMAGES RIGHT AND BELOW FROM: Popaganda: The Pop Culture Revolution - Jeremy Barker, Popped Culture: “Who needs world wars, political ideology and elections to delve into the world of propaganda? Papa Smurf needs you and Waldo is watching. I've got a thing for spoofs and parodies, and if you can tie together two disparate cultural elements, I'm sold. I attribute it to a lifetime of watching shows like The Simpsons and The Muppets. So behold, a collection of pop culture propaganda posters."

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Can Facebook Defeat Terrorism? – Steven Corman, COMOPS Journal: “In early January of this year, a 33 year old Colombian engineer named Oscar Morales expressed his indignation (and that of many other Colombians) against the FARC by launching a Facebook group called Un Millón de Voces Contra las FARC (UMVCF, “One Million Voices Against the FARC”). … UMVCF became the basis for an anti-FARC protest march on February 4th that was one of the biggest civil events in Colombian history. … Press accounts tend to credit the Facebook group itself with causing the march. For example, the Christian Science Monitor’s story carried the headline “Facebook used to target Colombia’s FARC with global rally.” [Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James] Glassman also seems to regard Facebook as a primary cause of the marches. … While there can be no doubt that Facebook played an important role in the events, it is a mistake to assume that it was the root cause of the movement. … Under Secretary Glassman and other commentators like Marc Lynch have correctly pointed out that Web 2.0 technologies may offer important asymmetries (in our favor, for a change) in the effort to resist terrorist groups. But at the same time, the full story of the anti-FARC marches in Colombia shows the danger of technological determinism in these efforts."

Propaganda War: Magic Laptops hit FARC, Chavez - Daniel Denvir, Indypendent, NY: “Since the Colombian government bombed a guerrilla camp on Ecuadoran soil March 1, it has orchestrated a highly effective media campaign backed by material allegedly found on laptops and hard drives belonging to a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest rebel group in Latin America. … These ‘magic laptops,’ which seem to supply evidence of FARC collaboration at an opportune moment for the Colombian and U.S. governments, have formed the centerpiece of a propaganda campaign launched by the Colombian government and security forces, abetted by the media in Colombia, the United States, and Spain.”

A new President, a new era for CD?: Will the U.S. move to a more long-term, sustainable policy on Cultural Diplomacy? Monika Revilla, Cultural Diplomacy News: “Historically the U. S. government has paid attention to cultural diplomacy during times of war, only to interrupt these efforts during times of peace. The success of cultural diplomacy cannot be measured, making it a difficult tactic to rely on, or invest in. After one hundred years, however, there is certainly proof of its importance – as the 'hearts and minds' literature that has recently emerged indicates. President-elect Obama appears to be aware of this, and we can only hope that he has the opportunity, and strength of character, to follow through with his plans.”

VOA in the Plum Book - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “The presidential appointments are 'schedule C' jobs, given to political allies rather than through the competitive Civil Service hiring system. Each U.S. government agency gets a few schedule C's. Most of the schedule C employees I have encountered at VOA and the IBB have been hard workers, interesting company, and quickly get into the institutional spirit of protecting VOA's journalistic integrity. However, because U.S. international broadcasting can succeed only if it is credible, and it can achieve credibility only if it is independent, a senior adviser to VOA who ‘would report to Barack Obama’ is not a good idea.”

New Survey Suggests Continued Growth in International Student Enrollments at U.S. Colleges and Universities - Press Release, PRNewswire, MarketWatch: "International students contributed more than $15B to the U.S. economy in last year; International Education Week begins today International students and their dependents spent more than $15 billion in the United States during the 2007 - 2008 academic year, according to a new NAFSA report released today. … The results of an annual survey conducted jointly by eight leading higher education associations including NAFSA suggest that overall international student enrollments at U.S. colleges and universities are growing. … A NAFSA policy paper to the next U.S. president, issued before the election, emphasized the critical role of international education in advancing U.S. public diplomacy and foreign policy efforts at a time when the global reputation of the United States is at a historic low point.”

Book Review: Two views of what went wrong with the war in Iraq - Claude R. Marx, Boston Globe: "[In his 'Unintended Consequences: How the War in Iraq Strengthened America's Enemies' Peter W.] Galbraith's ideas for repairing the damage [regarding Iraq] include giving the UN more of a role in nation-building (and the United States less), deemphasizing the spread of freedom, using less public diplomacy and more one-on-one negotiations with countries we don't like.”

I am going to write some personal thoughts on the international relations or communication among people - 投稿者 Shigeru 時刻, Feel the Globe: “The Summit on Financial Market was closed in Washington. People say it is G-20 conference. I was a little surprised to see the way of organisation to the press. I can see the symbol mark and the meeting place's walls were covered with the sophisticated design. I am wondering who coordinated this. Which company, and who managed everything? I remember that I have learned a concept ‘public diplomacy’. It might be a good chance to show the US's power in terms of leadership among countries. I would say, the summit was a kind of 'stage' to perform or promote the US as a leader.”

Public Diplomacy and Smith-Mundt in the Asian Tribune - Matt Armstrong, Mountainrunner: “From the Asian Tribune yesterday: 'Sixty years ago, the elements of America’s national power – diplomacy, information, military, and economics – were retooled to meet an emerging threat. The National Security Act of 1947 and the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 were a direct response to a global ideological and military challenge posed by Communism.' Sound familiar? It should. The whole article was copied verbatim from this blog. Flattering, but give credit where credit’s due as requested under the Creative Commons License. I’ve asked they update their article with appropriate credit."

Video: Music and Public Diplomacy - Dennis, Hondo Mesa Records

Friends of Pakistan group for strategic partnerships with Pakistan - Mathaba.Net, UK : “Senior officials from a group called 'Friends of Democratic Pakistan' Monday noted Pakistan faces formidable challenges, and well coordinated international cooperation with Pakistan is needed to address those challenges, Foreign Ministry said.... The High Officials further noted that efforts in public diplomacy need to be made to reach out to the business community and media to positively project the Friends initiative.”

RELATED ITEMS

America’s Wars of Self-Destruction - Chris Hedges, Truthdig: Obama and those around him embrace the folly of the “war on terror.” But the only way to defeat terrorism is to isolate terrorists within their own societies, to mount cultural and propaganda wars, to discredit their ideas, to seek concurrence even with those defined as our enemies. Force, while a part of this battle, is rarely necessary.

Closing Guantánamo: Advice for Barack Obama - Andy Worthington, Counterpunch

No More Torture - Eugene Robinson, Truthdig: The new Obama administration has a duty to conduct its own investigation of the use of torture and tell us exactly what was done in our name.

Diplomacy, Diplomacy, Diplomacy – John Soltz, Huffington Post: It will be up to President Obama to follow-up on the promise of diplomacy to get Iraqi and regional players to all work towards their mutual interest.

Iran's green light in Iraq – Editorial, Boston Globe: Bush failed to achieve his aim of enabling Iraq to become unified, stable, and democratic. If Obama is to prevent Iraqis from descending into civil war after US forces leave, he will have to do so with political and diplomatic prowess, not shock and awe.

Iraq 'Fails' Upward: Iraq's security deal with U.S. shows gains amid 'failure' mantras – Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: It is evident the Iraqi government wants a continuing relationship with the U.S.

Iraq withdrawal plan offers a ray of hope: All sides will have to compromise to make the proposal work – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: A pullback from Iraq would allow the United States to restore its credibility abroad and, just as important, to begin to heal the wounds inflicted by the war at home.

The Blue and White Elephant in the Oval Office: Dual Loyalties Will Doom Obama - Rannie Amiri, Counterpuch: Alas, Arabs and Muslims under Obama’s spell have finally come to their senses. After excusing his behavior for far too long, bringing Biden, “Rhambo” and Hillary on board has confirmed their worst fears about the president-elect: "change" will not be coming their way and Middle East policy will remain decidedly unbalanced.

Barack Obama should address the need for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement sooner rather than later - Gershom Gorenberg, American Prospect

Should Obama chase Osama? On Sunday the president-elect told "60 Minutes" he wants to capture or kill bin Laden. Is he setting himself up for failure? - Juan Cole, Salon: The danger of mounting a major U.S. military campaign to kill or capture Osama bin Laden and destroy al-Qaida is that it risks alienating further the local Pashtun tribes who suffer collateral damage, as well as the Pakistani public in general.

Calling the Empire: With a tough election looming, Hugo Chávez grabs for Barack Obama's coattails – Editorial, Washington Post: Mr. Chávez is one of the hostile foreign leaders that Mr. Obama once said he would meet without preconditions. But the president-elect, has no reason to throw the self-styled "Bolivarian revolutionary" a lifeline.

Keeping Africa on Washington's radar - Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe: With attention focused on the domestic economy and Iraq, Africa rarely came up in the presidential campaign.

How the War on Terror pushed Somalia into the arms of al-Qaeda: It has been the forgotten debacle of the Bush years. But anarchy in the Horn of Africa may soon haunt the West - Martin Fletcher, Times (London)

Only in America? The Wrongheaded American Belief That Barack Obama Could Only Happen Here - David Berreby, Slate: The truth is that Obama-style chiefs of state -- people who came out of stigmatized ethnic minorities or "foreign'' enclaves to lead their governments -- are an uncommon but regularly recurring part of history.

Up in the Air : Will Barack Obama ground the missile defense program? - Alan W. Dowd, Weekly Standard: Candidate Obama was emphatic about his opposition to missile defense -- sort of.

U.S. Not a Threat After All - Alexander Golts, Moscow Times: Judging by the planned military reforms, it is clear that the top brass in their heart of hearts do not consider the United States and NATO as serious threats to Russia's security. But the leaders in the Kremlin and the Defense Ministry are not ready to admit it publicly, and that is why they remain silent about the reforms.

Pass the Colombian Trade Pact – Editorial, New York Times: We believe that the trade pact would be good for America’s economy and workers. Rejecting it would send a dismal message to allies the world over that the United States is an unreliable partner and, despite all that it preaches, does not really believe in opening markets to trade.

Hillary Clinton to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state job: President-elect Barack Obama reaching out to former rivals to build a broad coalition administration - Ewen MacAskill, Guardian

Re: Hillary the Statesman? - Eric Trager, Contentions, Commentary: It is hard to understand how Hillary Clinton would be an acceptable choice as our nation’s top diplomat. After all, Clinton has never studied international relations. She has never written on international relations. She has never advised anyone on international relations. And, during her career in the Senate, she has never sat on the Foreign Relations Committee, nor has she made international relations a major focus of her legislative work.

Hillary Clinton For Secretary Of State? Please No! - Martin Peretz, New Republic: The fact is that Mrs. Clinton, for all her practice in greeting foreign visitors and hosts, does not know much about international affairs.

Christopher Hitchens Calls Hillary Clinton As Secretary Of State a "Ludicrous Embarrassment" - Huffington Post

Hillaryvision - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: "I don't know. It seems like picking Hillary to head the State Department would be a curiously shallow choice for Obama, somebody who we expect to be a little more pragmatic, a little less political. Plus, what's in it for Hillary? Wouldn't she have both more power and a longer shelf life (secretaries of state don't last long) representing New York in the Senate? It seems to me, too, that Richardson has way, WAY more experience in State Departmenty-type things."

IMAGE

November 17

"Earlier today, President Bush was in New York, and he gave a speech about the financial crisis and other major problems facing the country. That's right. The speech was called 'So Long Suckers.'"

--Talk show host Conan O'Brien

If this guy wants to sound like a real president, he will have to quit saying 'gonna' and 'gotta' all the time"

--Wonkette, a propos of Barack Obama

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

What Will the World Think of Us Now? - Nancy Snow, Huffington Post: “In my 2006 critique of U.S. foreign policy, I built a case that we were becoming seen as a one-hit wonder in international affairs--searching for a kind word for others to say about us or some small token of support for which we will heap out praise. Our public diplomacy reflected this search to be the world's American Idol. In the history of nations, we are a great power, often doing our duty as the ‘leader of the free world,’ but doesn't power when made so paramount give us a dizzying feeling? I, an American citizen, see no value in the U.S. being viewed as the Number One country in the world. Number One brings on so many challenges. And frankly it just doesn't hold.”

Re: "On Muslim Tolerance and Terrorists" - Consul-At-Arms: at Solomon's House ('Dialogue and commentary on Iraq, U.S. politics, Western society, more.') has a suggestion regarding Public Diplomacy. Money quote(s): ‘If the Public Diplomacy Officers of the U.S. Department of State made more of an effort to highlight the story of how the perpetrators of Abu Gharib were brought to justice throughout the Muslim World, could that help set things straight? What about concentrating these efforts on madrassa teachers, as Kamal Hamid suggests?’ If only there were more PD officers, perhaps enough to fill all those PD jobs currently vacant (to say nothing of increasing their numbers!).”

US Cultural Foreign Policy - Hollywood and Othering – Robert, volibarigm: “In American culture, undoubtedly Hollywood is an influential mean in U.S. public diplomacy either domestically or outside of its geographical borders.”

We Can't Win in Iraq - Here's Why - Paul Boshears, Kudzu Kongzi: “[P]ublic diplomacy matters, because this may be the only way to understand peace.”

Secretary Of State? Oh no … Mrs. Bill - Kilburn Hall's Weblog: “Hillary Clinton as Secretary Of State is a great choice- for America- … Should Benjamin Franklin, arguably America’s greatest diplomat, witness the harm Albright and ‘Condi’ have done to America’s relations with the rest of the world (and America’s public diplomacy) he would roll over in his grave.”

The Framing of the Georgian Conflict - Chris Borgen, Opinio Juris: “It is important to keep in mind that there are other issues at stake [in the Georgian-Russian conflict], such as (a) whether or not the Russian military action was actually an aggression or an act of self-defense or a treaty-based right; (b) whether the Russian military action was proportionate; and, (c) the big ticket question as to whether or not South Ossetia should be recognized as an independent state. These new reports are part of an ongoing battle to frame the debate–or ‘control the narrative’ as public diplomacy folks like to say– over South Ossetia.”

Medvedev Learned His PR Skills From Chavez - Vladimir Frolov, Moscow Times: “President Dmitry Medvedev's first state-of-the-nation address raised a lot eyebrows abroad both by its content and tone. If the objective was to make people shake their heads in bewilderment, it succeeded beyond expectations. But if the intention was to send a reassuring message to the international community, it was a stunning failure. It is hard to understand why, after so much preparation, Medvedev's team managed to deliver such a disastrous act of public diplomacy. … Medvedev's team deliberated for some time whether Medvedev should send Obama a warm, handwritten note or an impersonal diplomatic cable. They wound up sending him a public ultimatum on missile defense. ‘It was an almost caricature case of the Kremlin being tone-deaf,’ said one prominent Russia analyst in the United States.”

Medvedev Spoils the Party: It will take more than Obama's electoral triumph to improve the United States' strained relations with Russia - Jeffrey Tayler, Atlantic: Putin, Medvedev’s éminence grise, has, as of this writing, said nothing publicly about Obama’s victory at all. Medvedev’s speech and Putin’s silence seem to be calculated slights, intended to send a clear message to Obama: the United States should not take even cordial relations with Russia for granted. Considering how much ultimately rides on cooperation between the two giant countries, this is a matter of no small import.

Открылся блог регионального общественного движения "Народная дипломатия - Общество дружбы с зарубежь – Oleg, Кто не ест суши, тому не делают харакири: “Блог регионального общественного движения ‘Народная дипломатия - Общество дружбы с зарубежьем’. Народ не безмолвствует. Устав регионального общественного движения Blog regional public motion ‘Public diplomacy - a Society of the friendship’. Folk does not keep silent.”

Народная дипломатия-Public diplomacy – Entry pertains to Soviet soccer player Lev Iashin.
http://oondodz.livejournal.com/9381.html

The [Pakistani] Army should respond immediately - Pragmatic Euphony: “More than any civil organisation, the armed forces have historically known the value of communication, propaganda and counter-propaganda. Public diplomacy is a fanciful term used very often nowadays by the military to denote truthful propaganda and the Indian armed forces used it to great effect against Pakistan during the Kargil conflict.”

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U.S. schools' foreign enrollments soar - Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY: The number of foreign students enrolled in U.S. colleges surged 7% last year to 623,805, an all-time high and the largest one-year increase on record. It is the strongest sign yet that post-9/11 declines are history.

Study abroad flourishes, with China a hot spot - Tamar Lewin, International Herald Tribune: Record numbers of American students are studying abroad, with especially strong growth in educational exchanges with China, the annual report by the Institute on International Education found. The number of Americans studying in China increased by 25 percent, and the number of Chinese students studying at American universities increased by 20 percent last year, according to the report, "Open Doors 2008."

For Europe, Obama revives positive image of America's unique identity: US exceptionalism had largely been seen here as a messianic rationale for use of power by a nation assuming special prerogatives - Robert Marquand, Christian Science Monitor: The election of Senator Obama has has turned the "exceptional" discourse in Europe on its head -- suggesting the identity of America is not as fixed as it had seemed, that its "exceptionalism" has many meanings, and that America is exceptional as a force in the world whether it chooses to be or not, for good or ill.

Gitmo Disappointment Coming – Alan Bock, Antiwar.com: It was foolishness to establish the prison camp at Guantanamo without thinking through the possible ramifications thoroughly enough. But that mistake was made long ago, and it will not be easy to unravel.

Grappling With Gitmo: Barack Obama has said he wants to shut down Guantanamo. That's the easy part. What matters is what he does next - Bruce Falconer, Mother Jones: There are no signs yet how the Obama administration will handle the thorny issue of Gitmo.

Iraqis View Security Agreement as having a Flexible Timetable – Juan Cole, Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

US wins early round over Iraq - Sami Moubayed, Asia Times: Following his cabinet's approval of a draft Status of Forces agreement with the United States regulating the US presence in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has the hardest sell of all to convince Iraqis the pact is in their "best interests". Most Iraqis - both Sunni and Shi'ite - are vehemently opposed to the pact, as is neighboring Iran.

A pact with the devil - Pepe Escobar, Asia Times: The big bang is not that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's majority Shi'ite/Kurdish 37-member cabinet in Baghdad has approved the draft of a security pact with the George W Bush (and Barack Obama administrations allowing the US military to stay in Iraq for three more years; it's that the 30-strong Sadrist bloc will move heaven and Earth -- including massive nationwide protests -- to bloc the pact in the Iraqi National Assembly.

Obama urged to forgo Iran threats - Jim Lobe, Asia Times: - A strategy of threats and "provocations" against Iran by the incoming Barack Obama administration is likely to be counter-productive, according to a report released in Washington on Friday by a group of 20 former top US diplomats and regional experts. The group, co-chaired by former United Nations ambassador Thomas Pickering and James Dobbins, a top diplomatic troubleshooter under former president Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush, called instead for the new administration to "open the door to direct, unconditional and comprehensive negotiations at the senior diplomatic level", as well as unofficial contacts and exchanges.

US again misfires on Iranian arms in Iraq - Gareth Porter, Asia Times: The extremely small proportion of Iranian arms in Shi'ite militia weapons caches further suggests that Shi'ite militia fighters in Iraq had been getting weapons from local and international arms markets rather than from an official Iranian-sponsored smuggling network.

Kilcullen on Afghanistan: “It’s Still Winnable, But Only Just” – George Packer, New Yorker: Australian army officer and anthropology Ph.D David Kilcullen: “The situation in Afghanistan is dire. But the war is winnable. We need to focus our attention on the problem, and think before acting. But we need to think fast, and our actions need to involve a major change of direction, focussing on securing the population rather than chasing the enemy, and delivering effective legitimate governance to the people, bottom-up, at the local level. Do that, do it fast, and we stand an excellent chance of turning things around.”

Operation Enduring Disaster: Breaking with Afghan Policy - Tariq Ali, TomDispatch: Domestic pressure in the U.S. to pull out of Afghanistan remains weak, but could grow rapidly as the extent of the debacle becomes clearer and NATO allies refuse to supply the shock-troops for the future surge. In the meantime, they're predicting a famine in Afghanistan this winter.

No End to the Savagery in Afghanistan - Robert Fisk, Truthdig:[T]he very Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 were supposed to end the mass destruction of human life. And President Bush has torn them up. … Maybe a million Pushtu-language editions should be handed out to the Taliban and their followers as well as to the Nato combatants whom Barack Obama absurdly believes will win the Afghan war. But I doubt it would do much good.”

The remaking of NATO – Editorial, Boston Globe: The purpose of NATO in the new century, and its particular role in Afghanistan, will be better addressed in response to unfolding events over a few years, and in consultation with all members of the alliance. NATO was not created for the security environment of this era, and it will have to be remolded to cope with evolving threats.

Team 'Chimerica' - Niall Ferguson, Washington Post: Over the weekend, it was the United States that resisted European calls for a new international regulatory body, opposed significant redefinition of the International Monetary Fund's role and showed no interest in the idea of a global stimulus package. In essence, we need the Chinese to be supportive of U.S. monetary easing and fiscal stimulus by doing more of the same themselves.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Yes! - Madeleine M. Kunin, Huffington Post: Madeleine M. Kunin served as Ambassador to Switzerland for President Clinton.

Hillary at Foggy Bottom? No way! No how! No pasaran! – Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com: By sending the Clintons off on a four-year world tour, Obama rids himself of two rather formidable -- and uncontrollable -- rivals. He also rids himself of sole responsibility for the conduct and success of his foreign policy. Buttons from

November 16

“Unlike a commodity, whose value begins to decline the moment it changes hands, an artwork gains in value from the act of being circulated—published, shown, written about, passed from generation to generation — from being, at its core, an offering.”

--Author Daniel B. Smith, writing about the ideas of Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift

“The average Briton takes one and a half years to use up a pack of dental floss."

--Author Sarah Lyall, author of The Anglo Files, as cited by Washington Post literature critic Jonathan Yardley

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Let’s be realistic about what Obama can accomplish - Guy W. Farmer, Nevada Appeal: ”I would also caution the international community about harboring unrealistic expectations for President-elect Obama, who demonstrated his international appeal when 200,000 Germans turned out for a rousing campaign rally in Berlin … Obama’s policies will have more impact on our international image than his soaring rhetoric. Public diplomacy — overseas cultural and information programs designed to gain support and/or understanding for our policies — should be a top priority for the incoming administration. This will require a complete reorganization of the State Department’s unwieldy and unresponsive public diplomacy structure. … At present, hundreds of positions at U.S. embassies are vacant and diplomatic morale is low because of inadequate staffing, insufficient budgets and poor management. Because our new president needs a strong diplomatic corps to complement our foreign military commitments, the Obama administration should … reiterate the executive order designating State as the lead agency on foreign affairs, including public diplomacy. That would be a good start toward restoring our good name throughout the world.” Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, was a public diplomacy officer during his 28-year U.S. Foreign Service career. PHOTO: Fitzalan Howard: Colonel of the Life Guards, Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps.

Albright Offers Diplomatic Advice to Obama - Georgetown University News: “Living in several countries, in addition to her wide travels, has turned Albright into a strong proponent of cultural diplomacy, which emphasizes cultural understanding in relations.’ People communicate through their cultures in different ways, and we have to see culture as a broad-based concept,’ she noted.” LEFT: The United States government sent jazz musicians overseas as a form of cultural diplomacy. Dave Brubeck, a jazz pianist, and his band were sent to Poland, Turkey, East and West Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Ceylon, Iran and Iraq.

Barack the Musi: 76 Trombones - Julia Woodward, Cornell Daily Sun: “President-elect Barack Obama, the first African-American to be elected president, was also the first president elected with a national arts policy committee (a 33-person committee, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and the founder of the American Film Institute). … He … has suggested the need for ‘cultural diplomacy,’ using art and artists overseas as ambassadors to show the world what America values."

Bush's mixed legacy - Jeffery T. Kuhner, Washington Times: Bush “presided over the most rhetorically inept administration in recent memory - a public diplomacy failure that enabled his opponents to misrepresent his national security strategy and fill the vacuum with lies and half-truths, especially about the Iraq war. It eventually cost Mr. Bush his popular standing at home and abroad, thereby reducing his presidency to rubble. Mr. Bush, however, was farsighted in foreign policy. He toppled two dictatorships in Afghanistan and Iraq, liberating more than 50 million Muslims from totalitarian regimes. His actions broke the back of al Qaeda, disrupted countless terrorist cells, and exposed Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein's corruption of the United Nations through the massive Oil-for-Food scandal.”

Many forms of conventional, unconventional intelligence can help our global efforts - Steve Hammons, Earthpages: “As a result of concerns that America is no longer as widely viewed as a leader, but sometimes rather as a danger in one way or another, efforts in ‘public diplomacy’ have been launched. Some of these endeavors are aimed at the international community. And many similar communications efforts have targeted American citizens. Obviously, the situation is far deeper than simply a public relations problem. And it will require more than PR spin and psychological operations (PSYOP).”

Orientalist paintings take a tour of modern Middle East: Exhibition of 19th-century visions of the 'exotic' Orient recalls the heavy history of colonialism - Iason Athanasiadis, Christian Science Monitor:”[C]cultural dissonance is part of putting on a show on a topic as controversial as Orientalist painting, then taking it on tour to the Muslim world. This effort at cultural diplomacy by the British Council, the British government's cultural arm, will move to Dubai's Emirati neighbor Sharjah after its show in Istanbul ends in January 2009.” LEFT: ‘Odaliesque,’ 1862: British painter Frederick Leighton toured the former Ottoman Empire.

Students flock int'l college fair: Career & Education - Luke Douglas, Jamaica Observer: “Carol Hart, public diplomacy and media officer at the Canadian High Commission, was on hand to support the 10 Canadian institutions on display, and inform students of visa requirements and work options. She said because of a change in Canada's immigration laws, Jamaican students may work for two years in Canada following the completion of their studies.”

One on One: Israel on his mind - Ruthie Blum Leibowitz, Jerusalem Post: “[Nachman] Shai, 62 - senior vice president and director-general for external affairs of the United Jewish Communities - has worn many hats, all of which combine his professional skills with his passions. … He was also one of the three judges on The Ambassador, an Israeli reality TV show in which young Israelis competed for the privilege of becoming an emissary for public diplomacy abroad.”

Falling – Paul Rockower, Levantine: “Friday I biked down to the LA Central Library to work on my paper on Qatar's use of conflict mediation as niche public diplomacy.”

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Iraq’s cabinet approves troops pact with US – Reuters, Financial Times: Iraq’s cabinet approved a pact on Sunday that will allow U.S. forces to remain in the country until 2011, bringing an end to nearly a year of intense negotiations. The pact must still be approved by the Iraqi parliament, but Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said he expects that to happen before the end of the month.

EU Prepares To Get To Work: Europe Wants to Cooperate Closely with Obama – Spiegel International: The European Union is seeking a close working relationship with US President-elect Barack Obama, but it wants to do so with equal footing. In a strategy paper developed by EU foreign ministers, Europe says it is ready for closer cooperation on a number of difficult issues.

Two-faced Tehran: Iran should change its rhetoric if it wants a change in U.S. policy – Editorial, Baltimore Sun: Mr. Obama has responded to the stalemate with Iran with a call for "tough presidential diplomacy" without preconditions. It's an invitation Tehran should not pass up. Demonizing the U.S. or its new president won't bring about the change in U.S.-Iranian relations that Tehran says it seeks and its people deserve.

The urgency of an Israel-Arab Solution - David Kimche, Boston Globe: The outgoing Bush and the incoming Obama administrations, as well as the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, must all come to grips with what is happening here and act decisively and quickly to reinvigorate the peace process and keep hope for a two-state solution alive.

In Japan, the Picture Isn't Quite So Bright - Ayako Doi, Washington Post: While the rest of the world may be cheering the Obama presidency, Japan is decidedly ambivalent about yet another change in Washington. Japanese leaders will, of course, do all they can to get along with the new Democratic president and Congress. But they'll be facing an increasingly introverted public at home, whose opinions of America are about as high as George W. Bush's approval ratings.

Unsettling Times for Jihadists - David Ignatius, Washington Post: Obama makes the jihadists nervous because he is an appealing new face whose ascension undermines the belief that Islam and the West are locked in an inescapable clash of civilizations. So here's the challenge for Obama: Seize the moment; "turn a page" and thereby transform the intellectual battlefield; keep the military pressure on al-Qaeda's hard core, but discard the "war on terrorism" rhetoric; remind the world that al-Qaeda's victims have been overwhelmingly Muslim and that its brutal jihad has brought only ruin.

An African Crisis for Obama - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post: Humanitarian intervention -- proudly proclaimed as a universal mission by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and other Third Way leaders and eventually adopted at the 2005 U.N. summit -- has fallen into serious disrepair.

A Military for a Dangerous New World – Editorial, New York Times: To protect the nation, the Obama administration will have to rebuild and significantly reshape the military.

Clinton as secretary of state: It's not as crazy as you think - Helene Cooper, International Herald Tribune: Foreign policy advisers to both Clinton and Obama said that the two were not as far apart on foreign policy -- particularly the issues of Iran and Iraq -- as they seemed to be during the long battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Don’t Do It, Hillary! The job of secretary of state is full of political hazards for the junior senator of New York - Peter Beinart, Daily Beast

Hillary for Secretary of State? - Emily Yoffe, Slate: Wouldn't Hillary be happier and more effective building her own power base in the Senate?

Team of Frenemies - Maureen Dowd, New York Times: On the down side, Hillary as Secretary of State would be taking over a big and demoralized government bureaucracy, after proving with her campaign that she does not know how to run a big and demoralized group of people. On the up side, she would never have to exaggerate her foreign policy résumé again; this time, she really would be brokering peace and flying into places where they’d try to fire at her. PHOTO from

A Quantum of Anti-Imperialism – Juan Cole, Informed Comment Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: It is a sad state of affairs that Bush's America now appears in a Bond film ("A Quantum of Solace") in rather the same light as Brezhnev's Soviet Union used to.

November 15

"In the last eight years, we have significantly reinvented and transformed every national security agency except the Department of State.”

-- Philip D. Zelikow, who served as counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; on Zelikow and Rice, see

“Question: You’ve been booed off stages recently.

Karl Rove: No, I haven’t. I’ve been booed on stages.”

Questions for Karl Rove: Party Loyalist -- Interview by Deborah Solomon

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama's representative to the world: Who should the president-elect choose to be his secretary of state? Someone whose ethics equal his abilities – Ian Williams, Guardian: "If Barack Obama is going to maintain the huge public diplomacy surge his election has given the US, his choice of secretary of state will be crucial. … The rumour mills race with the names mentioned, and since Obama's foreign policy advisers tended to come from the Clinton-era there is plenty of scope for disaster.”

Engaging the Muslim World: How to Win the War of Ideas - Hady Amr and Peter W. Singer, The Journal of the ACS Issue Groups: “There is a glaring need for the United States to undertake a proactive strategy aimed at restoring long-term security through the presentation of our principles as part of U.S. foreign policy. The tools of public diplomacy and strategic communicationsare the most valuable weapons in America’s arsenal. It is not too late to wield them.”

Editorial: The Obama administration should embrace UNESCO in its public diplomacy – John Daly, UNESCO In The Spotlight: Science And Communications: “The new administration should realize that UNESCO is an important venue in which the United States can wage 'the war of ideas', and that UNESCO has considerable influence in Muslim countries. The Bush administration has helped reestablish U.S. prestige in the halls of UNESCO, and the new administration can build on that start. … The government should seek opportunities to make voluntary contributions to UNESCO where they can promote projects that contribute to our public diplomacy.”

Transformative Mobilization: From Obama’s Campaign Techniques To Public Diplomacy – Monroe Price, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: “The Obama team is pretty clearly sitting on some global version of the kind of organization, energy, and understanding of technology that has extraordinary potential. It netted him those hundreds of millions in contributions but-- more important for public diplomacy -- that mother lode of emotive connection. The issue is how to bottle this, how to turn it to constructive mobilization, and use it as a way of changing dramatically the Manichean narratives out there in the world. Billions seem to want to be connected; they are shouting it from the rooftops.” See also

U.S.-Palestinian Partnership Leaders to Travel to the West Bank - Media Note, Office of the Spokesman, Department of State: ”Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James K. Glassman, together with American Task Force on Palestine President Ziad Asali and Case Foundation CEO Jean Case, will lead a delegation to the West Bank from November 15 through 18. As co-chairs of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership (UPP), they will attend the inauguration of a youth development and resource center in the village of Beita."

Baseball Star Ken Griffey, Jr. To Be Named Public Diplomacy Envoy – ABC News: “On Tuesday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will officially name Griffey as America's next Public Diplomacy envoy. In that role he will travel the world trying to improve the United States' image abroad. He will join other prominent Americans who have been named envoy: Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr, and actress Fran Drescher, star of the 1990s sitcom The Nanny.”

U.S. Public Diplomacy and Smith-Mundt Act - Daya Gamage – Asian Tribune: “The Smith-Mundt Act is particularly relevant today at a time when the U.S. finds itself committed to a global struggle for minds and wills as it was in the early years of the Cold War. Scholars and practitioners of public diplomacy argue about the need to update or modify the Smith-Mundt Act in the New Media environment, where virtual geography displaced the physical.” On plagiarism, see.

Letter From Moscow - Nicholas J. Cull, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: “The purpose of my trip was to meet people interested in the study of Public Diplomacy in Russia and take part in a couple of classes on public diplomacy at MGIMO, the international relations university, which graduates 80% of Russian diplomats. … Public Diplomacy seemed to be rather more of an unknown territory, but they [the classes] took to the core concepts swiftly. They were especially interested in on-line techniques. … The students understood America's Soft Power – the beguiling free-for-all of Hollywood, fashion, and pop – but were hard pressed to consider exactly what Russia might offer to appeal to the world in response.”

Indonesians watch historic election in slew of Midwest states - Jordan Teicher, Berkeley Beacon, MA: "Indonesian journalists jumped head-first into the final days of America’s historic presidential election with a crash course in political journalism at Emerson College. As part of second half of the Emerson Election Project, each of the 10 visiting reporters were paired with professionals from the American news media in battleground states like Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire and Tennessee. The project was created by Emerson professor Dr. Gregory Payne and Tristram Perry, a public diplomacy officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. The program included reporters from radio, online and broadcast backgrounds between the ages of 20 and 70."

Discussion on Careers in Foreign Service with David Firestein - Sarah, Career Services Network: "David Firestein (Deputy Executive Director and Senior Advisor at the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, author, and adjunct-professor at the University of Texas-Austin) is coming to campus [MSU] on Tuesday, November 19, to lead a discussion with students interested in a career in foreign service. The discussion will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Club Spartan, on the 3rd floor of Case Hall. ... David has had a successful and varied career. He is a public diplomacy expert, the author of three books and more than 130 published articles, has served at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and worked at the Embassy in Beijing.”

Want to join the Foreign Service? Advice from a "public diplomacy" diplomat - John Brown, Notes and Essays

A PD Challenge On The Pakistani Side - Rob Asghar, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: “Pakistan faces a significant PD challenge of its own: convincing the nations of the West that it is not a treacherous pseudo-ally.”

Are we "American slaves"? – Inayatullah, The Nation, Pakistan: “High level missions should be sent to Washington and some of the important European Capitals to highlight Pakistanis points of view and to protect our vital interests. Projections should be made in the international media especially the prestigious TV channels like BBC and CNN. Let us learn from India how it communicates its plus points hour after hour and day after day on these international channels. Pakistan all along has remained deficient in public diplomacy.”

RELATED ITEMS

Emanuel Apologizes to Arab-Americans; Israel Blocks Food, Fuel for Gaza - Juan Cole, Informed Comment Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: Prospective White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel called Rose Oakar, the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, to apologize for remarks of his father, Benjamin Emanuel. The elder Emanuel had replied to Maariv when asked whether his son would influence Obama to be pro-Israel, "“Obviously he’ll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to be mopping floors at the White House." The wording, which implied that Arabs are unfit for anything but menial work, provoked protests from Arab-Americans and from the Middle East.

The Change the Old World Doesn't Believe In – Yet - Dan Hamilton and Sushmitha Narsiah, Newsweek: If Europeans could have voted in the U.S. presidential election, they would have voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. More than two-thirds of Germans, Italians and Spanish queried recently by a Harris Interactive poll supported Obama; less than one in ten favored John McCain. Only one percent of those polled in France supported McCain. The main reason Europeans give for supporting Obama is his perceived ability to represent change from the Bush administration. Grass-roots politics in Europe may be changing, but the Old World has yet to discover its own Barack Obama.

Now America Can Right Its Wrongs: There is no doubt that Team Obama is committed to global justice - Geoffrey Robertson, Independent/Common Dreams

President Obama's Chance to Change Course on Cuba - Cesar Chelala, Common Dreams: Lifting the embargo on Cuba is a much less complex endeavor than ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or solving what is rapidlybecoming the Pakistani nightmare. Ending this measure would create an atmosphere of goodwill worldwide of unpredictable, but certainly good consequences for world peace.

The Mother of All Embassies - Christopher Brauchli, Common Dreams: The US embassy in Baghdad is still not officially open.

New Secretary Faces Fixing Under-Resourced State Dept. - Michael Abramowitz, Washington Post: The past two years have brought a flurry of testimony and reports questioning the capacity of the U.S. government to carry out its foreign policy. They have criticized the State Department's efforts to convey a positive U.S. image abroad. And they have questioned the training and readiness of the Foreign Service to carry out functions beyond traditional diplomacy, such as advising Third World governments on training police officers, setting up judicial systems and holding fair and free elections.

Opinion: State of mind: The four important qualities necessary to make a successful and effective secretary of State. - Aaron David Miller, Los Angeles Times: The right persona; the president's confidence; a negotiator's mind-set; deviousness and toughness.

Clinton Among Top Picks For State: Richardson, Kerry Join Senator on Obama's Shortlist - Anne E. Kornblut and Michael D. Shear, Washington Post

Latest Clinton Media Frenzies: Hillary Clinton/Secretary Of State Rumors Flying Every Which Way - Wonkette

Hillary for Secretary? - Gail Collins, New York Times: Here are four good reasons why Hillary Clinton would be a great pick for secretary of state: 1. She would not let the vice president run our foreign policy. Joe Biden is no Dick Cheney, but we just do not want to go there again. We have scars. 2. Obama could live out his fantasy of following the Abraham Lincoln model and filling his cabinet with a team of rivals without having to make Sarah Palin secretary of commerce. 3. Clinton already has a supply of pantsuits sufficient to get her through six months of peace negotiations in the Middle East without coming home for a change of clothes. 4. She might do a terrific job.

The Most Anti-American Nation: Since the AKP assumed power in 2002, Turks have heard nothing positive about the West from their leaders - Soner Cagaptay, Newsweek

Americana

"Here is a White House photo of President Bush meeting with the 'Arizona State University Men’s and Women’s Track Team,' who appear to have won a big game or something in their fake little sport. Now: the hand gesture." From Wonkette

November 14

"Nicolas Sarkozy saved the President of Georgia from being hanged 'by the balls' — a threat made last summer by Vladimir Putin, according to an account that emerged yesterday from the Élysée Palace. . . .The Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. 'I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,' Mr Putin declared. Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. 'Hang him?' — he asked. “Why not?” Mr Putin replied. 'The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.' Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: 'Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: “Ah -- you have scored a point there.”

--Glenn Greenwald, "A positive aspect of the Bush legacy," Salon; photo: Testicules de taureau (Bos taurus domesticus) de race Charolaise (Puy-de-Dôme (63), France).

“Basically, there’s nothing left to cut.”

--Nobel-prize winner Paul Krugman, on the US economy

VIDEO

Edward Bernays, one of the fathers of the field of public relations, on propaganda and public relations with a polemic insert from Steven Pinker’s The Staff of Thought

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Mr. Obama's Promise - The editors, America: The National Catholic Weekly: “Mr. Obama’s choices for secretary of state and a new ambassadorial corps should signal a renewed commitment to engagement and public diplomacy and should indicate that the inflexibly ideological and self-interested policies of the current administration are relegated to the recycling bin of history.”

Commentary: Letter to Obama on the Muslim world - By Arsalan Iftikhar, CNN: “Your unenviable task will be to undo the catastrophic policies of George W. Bush and his fellow neoconservative ideologues, facing the specter of al Qaeda's sinister terrorism while undertaking public diplomacy efforts addressing anti-Americanism around the world.”

'Soft Power' to Help US Restore International Respect - Kang Hyun-kyung, Korea Times: “[T]he Center for American Progress Action Fund … put forth a set of guidelines in four major policy areas including diplomacy and economic policy for President-elect Obama in a 657-page policy recommendation book, titled `’Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President.'’ Experts said that Obama will have to use new exchange and communication tools to convince public opinion leaders around the world to listen to the United States, and to help the world better understand its values and motives. They suggest that he should select a professional to serve as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy to conduct a comprehensive review of public diplomacy missions.”

AdAgeChina: Obama, China, and Public Diplomacy - SiliconHutong: “AdAgeChina.com [for subscribers only] just posted my Viewpoint article on Obama and public diplomacy. My core point: If Obama is to keep his hard choices from backfiring with China, he must make his case to both the Chinese government and the Chinese people. …Conventional diplomacy will form a part of the effort to enlist that support, but it will not be enough. Instead, Obama and his team will need to undertake an unparalleled effort of public diplomacy, and one that shuns the tools and tactics of the Cold War for strategies, approaches, and messages more appropriate to a world rendered naked by the Internet.”

Turning the transmitters on ourselves - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “Come to think of it, when foreigners come to the United States as part of State Department public diplomacy exchnage programs, is that a violation of the Smith-Mundt domestic dissemination prohibition? The nice thing about Smith-Mundt is that is has always been unenforceable, even during the shortwave era of international broadcasting, and especially now in the internet age. But Smith-Mundt did prevent the government from diverting funds intended for international communication to a cheesy domestic PR campaign to advocate US policy goals. I'm afraid that might happen if Smith-Mundt is repealed. Americans have always had access to international news and foreign perspectives. In past years, they had to buy shortwave radios to get this content. Now it's a simpler matter of finding websites, such as BBC, other international broadcasters, newspapers abroad, news.yahoo.com, etc. No taxpayer money need be used. If all the U.S. international broadcasting (VOA, RFE/RL, RFA, MBN, Radio/TV Martí) were combined, it would result in a global newsgathering entity that could compete with the likes of BBC and Al Jazeera. Americans would benefit from having access to such a news service. The trick is to ensure that the funds for international broadcasting are spent on international broadcasting, with domestic consumption strictly a fringe benefit.”

The Defense of the Nation - Carol Gee, The Reaction: “Public Diplomacy as an element of national security has been an abysmal failure under the Bush administration. Here is an example: 'USC Study of Alhurra Withheld from Public; Inquiries of Network's Operation Deepen' from the 11/4/08 ProPublica.'”

Voices Of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy For The 21st Century – Events, Brookings: “On November 25, the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World and Foreign Policy at Brookings will host Kristin Lord, who will present Voices of America, a new Brookings report on the effectiveness of public diplomacy that includes specific recommendations for the next administration. Drawing on extensive research, approximately 300 interviews and the advice of a distinguished board of ten advisers, Voices of America presents a comprehensive vision for U.S. public diplomacy in the twenty-first century. It argues for the creation of a new non-governmental organization to tap extensive private sector expertise and mobilize the talents of Americans and partners around the world. The report also presents wide-ranging recommendations regarding strategy, leadership, organization, resources and methods of U.S. public diplomacy and how this important instrument of statecraft should be integrated into a broader foreign policy strategy.”

Missed me? how about this? – Nasa, A Piece of My Mind: “Extremist groups like al Qaeda are also using military style video games to recruit young Muslims for their cause, the US Defense Department told Congress. According to Dan Devlin, the Defence Department's Public Diplomacy specialist, ‘What we have seen is that any video game that comes out ... they'll modify it and change the game for their needs.’”

Visa waivers – The World Next Week, Oxford Analytica: “From Monday, seven new countries will join the list of nations eligible for the United States’ Visa Waiver Program. The programme allows citizens of accepted countries into the US for tourism or business for up to three months without requiring them to obtain a visa, and the new entries are the culmination of a 2004 roadmap for expanding the scheme. … Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been surprised to learn that many outsiders are critical. There are a number of reasons for this. One is the perceived prejudice over which countries are allowed to join the scheme, with developed counties predominating. While a case can be made that the law enforcement systems of qualifying countries are more sophisticated, the public diplomacy impact of the perceived discrimination is strongly negative. No African, Latin American or Middle Eastern countries are eligible for the scheme.”

Public Diplomacy is Changing the Odds – [Ali Fisher], Wandren PD: A testing ground for new possibilities: “There have been many attempts to pin down what Public Diplomacy is about, and as I’m currently finishing editing The Trials of Public Diplomacy, this has been at the forefront of my mind. Rather than seeking another definition to encapsulate (or exclude) certain actors, methodologies, or bureaucracies, I’ve been seeking to think about what PD is it at its core. To me it is attempting to influence behaviour to change the odds of certain outcomes occurring.” Cited at

BFF Launches Youth Development Campaign - Analyst (Monrovia): “The Global Youth Day activities … were climaxed by a field trip to the Public Diplomacy Section of the US Embassy in Monrovia, where the participants were given opportunity to watch the debate of US presidential candidates, Barrack Obamba and John McCain.”

RI spearheads Asian forum for sharing democratic gains - Hyginus Hardoyo, Jakarta Post: “Having initiated an Asian forum on democracy, the Foreign Affairs Ministry's office of public diplomacy is spearheading strategic directions for the region through the upcoming Bali Democracy Forum.”

U.S Dept of State, Gbinigie, Zulu, others laud SWGN - Azuh Amatu, Showbiz Bits With Azuh Amatus: For The Hottest And Most Authoritative Gists In The Nigerian Showbiz Industry: “Several stakeholders within and outside the nation’s motion picture industry, globally known as Nollywood, have applauded the recently held one-week workshop of the Screen Writers Guild of Nigeria (SWGN). Speaking at the closing ceremony of the epoch event, which was jointly organized by the US Department of State and SWGN, Mr. Andrien Gbinigie, a Nollywood enthusiast and Chairman/CEO of Atlantic Overseas, applauded the guild for its giant strides and enormous contributions to the development of Nollywood and the motion picture industry in general, over the years. … Gbinigie … was thankful to the US Department of State, and Mary Lou Johnson-Pizarro, the Public Diplomacy Officer, for accepting to partner the guild and flying in the key resource person, Prof. Myla Churchill, from the New York Film Academy.”

Event: Nov. 19: U.S. Policy in Iraq: The Challenges Ahead: Charles Francis Adams Lecture; Richard Schmierer, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Middle East Affairs) - Boston News Desk: “Mr. Schmierer is a career Foreign Service Officer and member of the Senior Foreign Service, rank of Minister-Counselor. He is the author of Iraq: Policy and Perceptions (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University, 2007). Mr. Schmierer received the State Department's 2005 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, conferred by The Fletcher School.”

Quoting History: Policies and Actions Must Anticipate Psychological Impact – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Eisenhower … [o]n several occasions … testified in Congress in support of the Smith-Mundt Bill. … Sources: Total Cold War: Eisenhower's Secret Propaganda Battle at Home and Abroad and The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989.”

Marc Lynch on Emanuel - Ibn Yaaqub Al-Amriki: Musings of Another Poli-Sci Grad Who Thinks He Knows (And Actually Wishes He Did) About The Middle East: “Here is a good post by Marc Lynch (aka Abu Aardvark ...) about Rahm Emanuel's appointment as Obama's chief of staff. One thing I like about Abu Aardvark is his focus on the importance of public diplomacy and strategic communication, two things with which I have a bit of experience and the importance of which I think is often overlooked.”

Friday, November 14, 2008 - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “We had an interesting class today in my contemporary Public Diplomacy course. Prof. Gilboa had us read a few articles about the EU's public diplomacy effort. … So how do you sell the EU? Not in EUrocracy that is the current norm of EU PD. Boring or nonsensical stuff.”

Qorvis Signs Top Republican Communicator Karen Hanretty – Press Release, Market Watch: “Qorvis Communications, a leading independent communications firm, announced today that Karen Hanretty, most recently the Communications Director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, will join the firm in December as a Managing Director. … Hanretty, who has been a national political commentator for Fox, CNN and MSNBC for the past five years, joins the agency's senior political strategists, including … Managing Director Matt J. Lauer, a top advisor on public diplomacy during General Colin L. Powell's term as Secretary of State and Operation Iraqi Freedom--all of whom are successful in breaking through the background noise and getting the message to members of both parties."

Announcement: "I am happy to inform all interested parties that the papers of Dr. Leo Crespi are as of today now in the collection of the Seeley G. Mudd University Library, Princeton University. As some of you know the work spans Leo's teaching years at Princeton, his public opinion surveys in Germany under HICOG and WAPOR and his twenty plus years at USIA. The deed of gift stipulates that the papers are open to the research public immediately.Please contact Daniel Linke, Curator of Public Policy Papers at the Mudd Library with any questions regarding this collection. All the best, with thanks,Leo would be pleased. Jeff Crespi jeffcrespi@comcast.net." Via Len Baldyga.

RELATED ITEMS

America Doesn't Need 'Rebranding' - Froma Harrop, Real Clear Politics: No other people so fervently seek the admiration of others as do Americans. On the left, that tendency is obvious. There has been much talk of Obama "rebranding" America as a liberal land of race-blind equality. It is remarkable how many Americans, young people especially, yearn for an "openness seal of approval" from people in countries whose records on racial integration is worse than ours.

Secretary of State Clinton? - Alex Koppelman, Salon: The talk about Hillary Clinton possibly being named as secretary of state in Barack Obama's administration appears to be more than just talk.

Hillary Clinton a contender for secretary of state - Andrew Ward, Financial Times

Change in intelligence? Signals that Obama will reform the bankrupt culture undermined by his embrace of Tenet cronies - Melvin A. Goodman, Baltimore Sun: President-elect Barack Obama is sending conflicting signals on whether he intends to change the bankrupt culture of Washington's intelligence community and to introduce genuine reform to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Barack Obama Takes Charge: Time to Leave Iraq - Doug Bandow, Antiwar.com: The US troops need to come home. Quickly. And completely.

Obama's Chance to End the Fantasy That Is Star Wars: The US has spent $160bn – only to increase the danger to itself and the rest of us - Johann Hari, Independent/Common Dreams: Of course, if Obama ditches Star Wars, the neoconservatives will accuse him of "backing down" and "showing weakness". But is it really sensible to keep spending $10bn a year on an act of self-harm just to save face? The story that began with Reagan's dementia-fantasies should end with Obama's empiricism.

Obama's missile gap: The president-elect is caught between bellicose threats from Moscow and hawks at home – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: Obama must engage Russia on many fronts, not fan its fears. For example, he needs Russia to fully support economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. And because Russia doesn't want a nuclear-armed Iran any more than the United States and Europe do, there's a good chance the Kremlin can be brought on board -- perhaps even in exchange for scrapping the missile shield program.

How Many Villages Must We Bomb Before We Find bin Laden? William Pfaff, Truthdig: Washington’s purpose in attacking what historically has been the most stubbornly impenetrable region of Asia is to lay hands on a man who might not be there and even if he is will undoubtedly leave before American troops arrive -- if they arrive.

How to Win in Afghanistan: A minisurge is not enough. We need more Afghan security forces - Michael O'Hanlon, Wall Street Journal: Working with President Hamid Karzai, the new American administration must make rightsizing the Afghan security forces among its very top priorities.

Burma's junta shows contempt – Editorial, Boston Globe: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee should confirm President Bush's highly qualified nominee, Michael Green, to the recently created post of special representative and policy coordinator for Burma. His mission - to work for the restoration of democratic governance in Burma - is more pressing than ever.

Lead Balloon - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad, listen as President George W. Bush addresses the Culture of Peace meeting of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, Thursday Nov. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams). COMMENT: "OK, this was obviously somebody's idea of edgy humor to put together a thing called 'Culture of Peace' and then... ha, ha... invite George Bush to speak. Isn't that hilarious? No? Whoops, I forgot irony died. From the looks of things, I'd say Condi 'n' Khali totally didn't get it, either. She used to look so fascinated when he spoke!"

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Roderick Conway Morris, "Forgotten art of French illustrator George Barbier is rediscovered at Fortuny Museum show," International Herald Tribune

November 13

“I wasn’t really naked. I simply didn’t have any clothes on.”

--Josephine Baker, about dancing

“An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle.”

--Walter Bagehot, British economist, about diplomacy

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Public Diplomacy Can Help Restore Lost U.S. Credibility - Doug Wilson, Change for America: National Security Policy, A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President, Center for American Progress Fund: “Effective public diplomacy works to understand and help shape foreign public opinion and effectively integrate it into the policymaking process in order to help realize our national security and foreign policy goals. To accomplish this goal, the new president will have to work to restore, recruit, and retain a quality corps of skilled public-diplomacy practitioners and give these men and women the credibility they need to engage with skeptical or hostile foreign publics. He also will have to put new exchange and communication tools to use to convince public opinion leaders around the world to listen to the United States, to help the world better understand our values and motives, and to give us and our policies the benefit of the doubt. The 44th president must select a knowledgeable professional to serve as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.” Via

On Obama and Tempering Skepticism – Karim El Assir, Outsider On The Inside: “Obama is very likely to leave an indelible mark on American foreign policy. … Of particular interest to this writer is his counter-terrorism plan, audaciously named his 'Plan to Defeat Terrorism'. And while that won’t happen, Obama’s plan stands out for the manner in which it details the role that communication will play in this endeavor. In an effort to shore up support for extremists, the plan mentions the importance of speaking directly to Muslim audiences, and training diplomats in media skills and foreign languages in order to provide an American presence on foreign satellite networks. As part of a large scale public diplomacy effort, Obama’s plan aims to build new ‘America Houses’ that would serve as cultural centers in regions of the world where anti-Americanism is so fervent it may play a role in driving people toward extremist groups. The plan also makes mention of providing alternative options for education in countries where Islamic schooling, prone to the absorption of extremist thought, tends to dominate.”

A challenge for Greek Public Diplomacy – International Communication Policy Forum: Eftychia Papachristou: Communicating the next EU enlargement: Turkish candidacy - a challenge for Greek Public Diplomacy, MA International Communication Dissertation, University of Leeds 2008: “From ‘Socrates’ and ‘Leonardo Da Vinci’ to ‘Erasmus-Mundus’ and ‘Euro-Mediterranean Partnership’, it is more than obvious that the European Union deploys multidimensional and coordinated Public Diplomacy activities, even if very often they are not called as such due to fears of confusing Public Diplomacy with propaganda. One of the greatest political challenges the EU currently faces is communicating the Turkish candidacy and its integration to the European values and norms.” PHOTO: Siesta time on Panormos beach, Mykonos island, Cyclades.

Charm offensive, or offensive charm? - Daniel Kennelly, Conventional Folly: “[W]e can still count our lucky stars that China is probably the only major country on earth that does public diplomacy worse than we do.”

Coming Distractions: Two Kinds of Time - Robert A. Kapp, The China Beat: Blogging How the East Is Read: “It gives me great joy to celebrate the reappearance of the best book on China that I have ever read, Graham Peck’s Two Kinds of Time, nearly six decades after its original publication. … Peck himself went to work for the Office of War Information (OWI), one of the U.S. government’s earliest efforts to employ what is now called ‘public diplomacy.’”

Time to go? - 123Goclick News: “Farid Popal is first secretary for political affairs and public diplomacy at the Embassy of Afghanistan in London. He believes it is essential that the UK forces remain in the region. “

Brazilian Obama - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “With Professor Cull away, my Public Diplomacy class had a guest lecturer from our Diplomat-in-Residence Mark Smith. His lecture was more a fascinating talk of anecdotal stories of doing press and public diplomacy work from the US Embassy in the USSR. He had some terrific stories of KGB intrigues and other assorted tales from the Cold War. … After class, I attended a USC Center on Public Diplomacy lecture with Paulo Sotero, who is director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center. He had some greats words to say about Obama's election, calling it the best Pub D act ever. He discussed Brazil's public diplomacy efforts, its role in South America and its oft touted potential that is finally being realized.”

So...How Many Days Now...70? - Joy Tomme, Ratbang Diary: “And Karen Hughes on CNN’s Situation Room...where’d she come from and what’s she been doing since her days as Bush’s counselor and holder of the world’s silliest title, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy? Talk about ignorant! She’s still defending George Bush but now she’s also mouthing gummy platitudes about how wonderful president-elect Barack Obama is in his blackness. (Oh please! tell me born-again-stupid Hughes is not going to manage Palin’s born-again-crass political career. Although it would be a boon for the comics.)”

RELATED ITEMS

Suddenly America is cool again — can you believe it? - Garrison Keillor, Baltimore Sun: The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos, and instead we have us a 47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and when his opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled back.

Obama and Gitmo – Editorial, Washington Times: President-elect Barack Obama plans to close the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay as soon as he is sworn in as president Jan. 20. Giving terrorists access to the U.S. legal system is hardly a cost-free exercise, as a seemingly naive Mr. Obama appears to believe.

Obama & Gitmo: End the demagoguing and know the facts before making policy - Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review: Now, after all their bombast about the urgent need to close the facility -- the better, they harangued, to improve our standing in the “international community” (compared to whose prisons Gitmo is actually a model of humaneness) -- the president-elect must face a harsh reality. For the American community, Gitmo was never the problem, and closing it will not solve anything.

Indefinite Detention Center: Why you shouldn't expect Guantanamo to close any time soon - Joseph Landau, New Republic: Figuring out how to try defendants, while sending home those who've been cleared of charges, will require serious agility and will take serious time. Shuttering that part of our history won't be as easy as one would have hoped.

Obama Pressured to Back Off Iraq Withdrawal - Gareth Porter, Antiwar.com: The promotion of Robert M. Gates as President-elect Barack Obama's secretary of defense appears to be the key element in a broad campaign by military officials and their supporters in the political elite and the news media to pressure Obama into dropping his plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq in as little as 16 months.

The Iraq Refugee Crisis: Scattered Families - Johanna Berrigan, Counterpunch: Recently, the U.S. government announced that it had reached its goal of 12,000 Iraqi refugees for this fiscal year. The United States plans to take in a minimum of 17,000 Iraqis over the next 12 months and an additional 5,000 under a special visa program for Iraqis who formerly worked for the U. S. military. This new goal is inadequate, and unjust.

The Iraq Math War: Epidemiologist Les Roberts knew his tally if Iraq's civilian dead would generate debate - Robin Mejia, Mother Jones: There's no longer much doubt that Iraq's civilian casualties number in the hundreds of thousands. This grim statistic continues to elude most Americans. According to a February 2007 AP poll, Americans' median estimate of the number of Iraqis killed since the invasion was just 9,890. And while the Pentagon has presented limited estimates of civilian casualties, it has yet to release any numbers for the total toll since the invasion.

Ahmadinejad's Letter To Obama, His Response, and Its Impact on the Islamic World - Omid Memarian, Huffington Post: While anti-Americanism has become the Islamic Republic's identity, talking to Iran will diminish the Ayatollah's revolutionary image and force the Iranian government to play a more responsible role and end mischief in the Middle East. Obama's response to Ahmadinejad's letter could be the first step toward drawing a new foreign policy framework in order to bring the United States on the right track.

How to Put the Squeeze on Iran: Cutting off its gasoline imports may be the only peaceful way to get Tehran to abandon its nuclear weapons program - Orde F. Kittrie, Wall Street Journal

Obama and Missile Defense: On this critical issue, the president-elect is not off to a good start - John R. Bolton, Wall Street Journal

Russia vs. Obama – Editorial, Washington Times: The time for proactive action regarding Russia has arrived.

Red Herring: Russian aggression and the genocide excuse - James P. Rubin, New Republic: America and Russia share a large number of common interests; we can and should work together on non- proliferation, climate change, terrorism, and the Middle East peace process. But we must also see to it that Russia pays a heavy price for its use of force in August.

Medvedev's Missile Myth - Alexander Golts, Moscow Times: By convincing Medvedev to immediately go for the jugular the day Obama was elected president, the siloviki were probably hoping that by provoking the new U.S. president with the threat of Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, this would force Obama to take a more hawkish stance toward Russia. In this way, Russia could help turn the clock back to the good old neocon days under the administration of George W. Bush.

Barack to Reality: Obama's Victory Didn't Magically Eliminate America's Problems And Enemies - Christopher Hitchen, Slate: There are vicious enemies and rogue states in increasing positions of influence throughout the world. Yet many Obama voters appear to believe that the mere charm and aspect of their new president will act as an emollient influence on these unwelcome facts and these hostile forces. IMAGE: from Mother Jones

The World Without US - Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com: Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Mitch Anderson, a Romanian-born documentary filmmaker living in the U.S. He was among the last few refugees from Communism during the late eighties. An electrical engineer by trade, Anderson turned to documentary filmmaking in 2004. His new film is The World Without US, a journalistic investigation filmed on four continents. Visit his site at TheWorldWithoutUs.com.

Academia Meets Social Marketing - Shiv Singh, Adweek: Whether it is about social networks and social influence or the creation and growth of online communities, academic research can guide us as we navigate the uncharted territories of the social Web and online communities.

The real and deep purpose of propaganda... - Paul Anthony Melanson, La Salette Journey

Sorry, Makeover was Temporary - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice greets people on the floor of the General Assembly hall at United Nations Headquarters in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008. The occasion was the gathering of world leaders attending a two-day U.N. conference to promote a global dialogue about religions, cultures and common values.(AP Photo/Seth Wenig). COMMENT: "Ooooh, what a letdown! We all got so totally excited by Condi's makeover, but it's all gone, repossessed by the RNC, no doubt. Condi, you should grab hold of that stylist and never let go. Oh well, carry on. The Hairdo Alert Level™ has been lowered, disappointingly."

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Truck laden with fruit. From Boing Boing

November 12

"Why not be an empire of love?"

--Yale history professor Timothy Snyder, regarding the United States. MAP: In the 18th century, sentimental cartography was very much à la mode, with this map as one of the finer examples. ‘Das Reich der Liebe’ (‘the Empire of Love’) by Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, was published in Leipzig in 1777.

“For he must understand (and if possible, love) before he can convince.”

-- John L. Brown (diplomat father of this review's compiler) regarding the role of an American Cultural Attaché

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Changing International Broadcasting in the Obama Era? – Monroe Price, Huffington Post: “International broadcasting could move from primarily a means of projecting perceptions of the U.S. and reflecting (even if indirectly) U.S. policies to one which would be a platform for cooperation, mediation, and reception-- a mode of being informed as well as informing. … Public diplomacy and international broadcasting might be constructed on principles of deeper reciprocity as well as rearticulated targeting. There could be even more collaboration among international broadcasters to achieve this goal. … Reciprocity would involve taking steps to advance popular domestic American understanding of international events as well as penetrating consciousness in regions such as the Middle East or the Caucasus. It would mean a possible repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act, which bars transmission of U.S. financed international broadcasting within the United States, a somewhat pointless prohibition in the Internet era.” See also

USAID's public diplomacy in the Middle East. Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy.

US Navy mission not linked to Russia, Venezuela – AFP: “The six-nation medical mission of a US warship in the Caribbean is not a response to Russian military maneuvers due to take place off Venezuela later this month, the commander of the USS Kearsarge said here Tuesday. ‘Yes, I am aware the Russians coming into this area, but that has nothing to do with this mission, there is no nexus between this mission and their arrival,’ Captain Fernandez Ponds told AFP. … Asked whether the vessel's visit was part of US foreign policy and public diplomacy efforts, Ponds emphasized that ‘my focus and my focus only is humanitarian assistance.’"

A Good Stay in America... – USAF Guy's Milblog: ”Colin Powell said of America that, ‘A good stay in our country is the best public diplomacy tool that we have.’”

RELATED ITEMS

War is from Mars, love is from Venus - Timothy Snyder, Boston Globe: Can the United States recreate itself as an empire of love? We would have to admit our mistakes, and learn from the past. We would have to relearn manners and graciousness.

Why Americans Shouldn't Go Home - Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: Americans really do want our troops to come home, that we actually are looking for "change we can believe in," which would include a less weaponized, less imperial American world, based on a reinvigorated idea of defense, not aggression, and on the Constitution, not leftover Rumsfeld rules or a bogus Global War on Terror.

Foreign policy realignment? - Leon Hadar, American Conservative: Opinion polls reflect declining public support for U.S. global interventionism. In short, there is clearly no enthusiasm for new global crusades, which means that the general public would welcome a more realist foreign policy approach by the Obama Administration.

US military: From kinetic to comprehensive - Carl Baker and Brad Glosserman, Asia Times: There should be a concerted effort to reduce the emphasis in previous national security strategies on military aspects and a more visible role for other agencies such as USAID, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Strolling out of Iraq - Brian M Downing, Asia Times: Against all expectation of a year ago, Iraq might not prove to be the most arduous problems the new administration must deal with.

Iraq May Be the Easy Part - Marie Cocco, Truthdig: It may turn out that leaving Iraq is going to be easier than the calamities we confront when we turn our attention, as the president-elect likes to say, back to Afghanistan.

Kurdistan Is a Model for Iraq: Our path to a secular, federal democracy is inspired by the U.S. - Masoud Barzani, Wall Street Journal: Mr. Barzani is the president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Pass the Pact: U.S. economic woes strengthen the case for free trade with Colombia – Editorial, Washington Post

A Short Honeymoon – Alan Bock, Antiwar.com: Obama faces foreign policy challenges -- largely hangovers from the eight years of Bush foolishness, but also some that would have been apparent anyway -- that he seems to have little or no idea how to approach intelligently or constructively. The most obvious example is his apparent determination to ramp up the war in Afghanistan, already the graveyard of several empires.

The Audacity of Hype: Dissent in the Age of Obama - Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com: Obama's battlefields of choice are Afghanistan and the wilds of Waziristan, instead of boring old Iraq -- which is, at any rate, just about played out as an effective narrative in the ongoing story of our eternal "war on terrorism."

Cold War Hawks Nesting With Obama - Robert Scheer, Nation: Improved relations with Russia are critical to the change toward a more peaceful world that Obama has promised, but it is disquieting in the extreme that some of his closest advisers are inveterate hawks with a history of needlessly provoking tension with the Russians during the Cold War days.

Guantanamo Closure Called Obama Priority - Peter Finn, Washington Post: Announcing the closure of the controversial detention facility would be among the most potent signals the incoming administration could send of its sharp break with the Bush era, according to the advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak for the president-elect. They believe the move would create a global wave of diplomatic and popular goodwill that could accelerate the transfer of some detainees to other countries.

Niall Ferguson On Obama And The Global Crisis: 'A World War without War' – Spiegel International: In a SPIEGEL interview, British historian Niall Ferguson discusses Barack Obama's historical election, Europe's hopes for the new president, the consequences of the economic crisis and his idea of "Chimerica" -- the economic alliance between Beijing and Washington. Ferguson: "The United States has the opportunity to remake itself without Obama having to make many changes to its foreign policy. He will close Guantanamo and declare an end to torture. All he has to do is change the tone and the game will already change because he is the one playing it. That is the real phenomenon. By virtue of his sheer existence, he reestablishes American credibility.”

Where Obama Can Be Bold – Michael Gerson, Washington Post: When it comes to Africa, Obama's roots and popularity on the continent -- evidenced by jubilation at the news of his election -- are a significant foreign policy advantage. Continuing and expanding President Bush's emphasis on Africa would not be narrow but visionary -- and would find a receptive audience among Americans, including religious conservatives, with humanitarian commitments on the continent.

Obama Wins - Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker: A few months from now a blue-and-white Boeing 747 emblazoned UNITED STATES OF AMERICA will touch down on a tarmac somewhere in Europe or Asia or Africa, the door will open, and out will step Barack and Michelle Obama. That is something to look forward to.

Barack Obama and Audacity of Marketing: Bold Strategy Challenging Traditional Assumptions Offers Up an Object Lesson - Matthew Creamer, Advertising Age: At the same time Mr. Obama was building his brand with grand gestures, his campaign demonstrated an understanding of ground-level marketing strategies and tactics, everything from audience segmentation and database management to the creation and maintenance of online communities.

The World President: Great Expectations for Project Obama - Spiegel International: The "American Way of Life," that special blend of deliberate recklessness, wanton waste and a touch of megalomania, is reaching its limits. In recent years, the superpower has gone from one careless mistake to the next. The government was too arrogant, the banking industry was too greedy and the economy, after allowing itself to indulge in obscene scandals, was no longer innovative enough to be able to maintain the country's status as an economic superpower. This has left the United States with massive problems of historic proportions.

After U.S. Breakthrough, Europe Looks in Mirror - Steven Erlanger, New York Times: In the general European euphoria over the election of Barack Obama, there is the beginning of self-reflection about Europe’s own troubles with racial integration. Many are asking if there could be a French, British, German or Italian Obama, and everyone knows the answer is no, not anytime soon.

Information Technology and the Future of Al-Qaeda – Marc Lynch, Abu Aardvak: Al-Qaeda's grand strategy uses terrorism in the service of a "constructivist" mission: spreading and deepening Islamic identity among Muslims, defining this Islamic identity in very specific salafi-jihadist terms against the competing definitions offered by other Islamist groups, and establishing that Islamic identity requires costly participation in a very specifically defined jihad.

Disney set to entertain Middle East - Matthew Garrahan, Financial Times: Walt Disney is making its first foray into Arabic filmmaking with a film it will produce and distribute across the Middle East to tap into growing demand there for family entertainment. “There’s a really strong affinity between the strong family values in the region and the Disney brand,” said Jason Reed, general manager of Walt Disney Studios International Productions.

He Fought the Wars and the Wars Won - Gary Brecher, American Conservative: Our leader was a laughingstock around globe, and he made America the butt of the world’s contempt. But Bush got his wish -- he was a war president and then some. The rest of us were the casualties.

Deconstructing Propaganda - Matt Browner Hamlin, Hold Fast: All Chinese propaganda will do is put the tacky veneer of control over Chinese ongoing, illegal military occupation of Tibet. And as we saw this spring, Tibetans reject Chinese rule as much today as they did fifty-eight years ago when the first Chinese troops invaded Kham and Amdo in eastern Tibet.

12Nov08 - Barry, Propaganda Posters - “Intrigued by the graphic style in Obama’s Posters I couldn’t help it but think that this poster was somewhat similar to some old war propaganda posters from Russia, Germany and The United States. Although the colors are different, the simplistic style is certainly comparable to these old posters."

IMAGES

--Scientist John Hart created a remix of Shepard Fairey's Obama poster from 150 million carbon nanotubes, each of which measured tens of thousands of times smaller than a human hair. That sure is a lot of tiny Obamas. (from Boing Boing)

From The Daily Beast

November 11

SITE OF INTEREST:

Watching America (at which the above appears)

"President Bush took President-elect Barack Obama on a tour of the White House. At one point, Barack opened a closet. Bush said, 'Oh, don't open that!' And a huge stack of unread intelligence memos fell out."

--Talk show host Jay Leno (no link)

“In this excerpt from his book, The Audacity of Hope, Obama recounted two early meetings with Bush. At the second, Bush called Obama over – ‘Obama!’ -- and after some smalltalk, ‘[t]he president turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president's hand,’ Obama wrote. "'Want some?' the president asked. 'Good stuff. Keeps you from getting colds.'” Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt."

--The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Emanuel and public diplomacy - Marc Lynch, Abu Aardvack: “The appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Obama's chief of staff offers an interesting lesson for the future of public diplomacy … the Arab media instantly and overwhelmingly focused on his Israeli origins and some really unfortunate comments made by his father about Arabs. … The Arab reaction to Rahm Emmanuel's appointment was entirely predictable, and had there been a 'public diplomacy' representative at the table it could have been anticipated and the ground better prepared to mitigate negative impacts.”

Expectations high for cybersecurity under Obama - Shane Harris, The National Journal, posted at NextGov.com News: “Obama, by dint of his internationalist foreign-policy approach, his personal background, and his perceived status as the anti-Bush, is a credible vehicle for changing America's image abroad. The bar is not terribly high: Plenty of Democratic and Republican foreign-policy mavens have lamented that the Bush administration relied inordinately on military force, didn't do enough to encourage political reform in Western-leaning Muslim nations, and treated public diplomacy as a marketing campaign rather than a grassroots effort to forge new alliances with key influencers abroad. The resurgence of so-called soft power will likely mark the first year of Obama's foreign policy. Success isn't guaranteed, of course, but expectations are high that his administration will make the effort.”

Professor Obama - Marcia DeSanctis, Huffington Post: “In 2005, the Bush administration appointed fellow Texan Karen Hughes to be Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy. At the time, this meant that Ms. Hughes had to accentuate America's many good works, while having to defend the two wars we were waging. It was a bad time and a tough sell and audiences seemed immune to the positive spin. She could not sway global opinion, no matter how many well-meaning projects we initiated. Polls overwhelmingly showed that the Muslim world preferred freedom and democracy to theocracy. They just did not want it served up by George Bush's PR representative. Rather than preach, build or spread democracy, we proved that our system works. … It's Obama's turn to smile at us from behind the Embassy gates, because through and through, his face represents a lesson in democracy.”

Message from Harry C Blaney III – in John Brown’s Notes and Essays: "I think we have an extraordinary opportunity to not only 'rejuvenate' public diplomacy but also help reshape it for the 21st century........key will be first that we have Obama who will just in himself help that process with the world, and that is a great opportunity we should not waste and we need to follow that with a strong proposal for not only a new and unified (and funded) PD 'agency,' but also for a set of policies and programs that show a new face of America that is relevant to our current challenges and the landscape beyond our borders. But to make that possible all of those who care about this issue will need to work in a large measure of unity and express it in a strong and effective voice (this should naturally be what the profession is all about!)."

Strategic Communication for an Administration-in-Transition - Bud Goodall, COMOPS Journal: “The headlines from WatchAmerica show worldwide optimism and support for President-Elect Obama. Yet, despite this large and welcoming window of public diplomacy opportunity, there are still 10 weeks to go before President Obama is sworn in and can officially represent America. In the meantime, we have a world waiting to see if we have, in fact, something newer and better to offer under a new administration while the old and roundly discredited administration still commands media attention and wields whatever is left of its power. What can Obama do? What should he do? From a strategic communication perspective it would be a serious mistake to let this moment pass.”

Exclusive: Where Does the Fight Against Islamism Go from Here? - M. Zuhdi Jasser, Family Security Matters, NJ: “Is America going to live up to our own ideologies of liberty, freedom, and secular democracy by advocating for such ideas abroad? What will happen to our thus far ineffectual Public Diplomacy program? How will our Public Diplomacy program engage in the Contest of ideas?”

Obama "Youth Corps"? – Mac, Life, The Universe and Mac: “’Obama and Biden will expand AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, engage retiring Americans, and set up an America's Voice Initiative to send Americans who are fluent speakers of local languages to expand our public diplomacy.’ [Comment:] Is Obama saying he wants to send Americans abroad to act as civilian ambassadors? Or is he saying that the government will use civilians as interpreters? I'm thinking the later is probably more like it. A program like this will bring even more divisiveness into a country that is already divided when it comes to language and culture.” See also (a) (b).

Travel'n On Congratulates President-Elect Barack Obama - authorsspeakout.com: “The Travel‘n On Radio Show congratulates President-Elect Barack Obama on his victory and vows to support the new Administration on its efforts to encourage public diplomacy, global citizenship, cross-cultural understanding …”

The State Department keeps up its saavy on YouTube – Steve, Citizen Tube: “State's public affairs team is engaging citizens here at home directly through a series of ‘Briefing 2.0’ sessions. Citizens across the country can submit questions for Sean McCormick, the State Department's spokesman, and he'll answer them in bi-weekly press conferences. Already one session into the project, McCormick seems to be enjoying the chance to engage with citizens directly.”

Radio/TV Martí in the new administration - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

NATO Speech: Speech by NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the ATA Annual Meeting - Berlin, 10 November 2008‏ - tim Blair: News/Sports/Community Blog:...: Jaap de Hoop Scheffer: “The Young Atlanticist Youth Summits in Istanbul, Riga and Bucharest have been great successes, showing that young people are keen to debate NATO issues. Trailers in cinemas in Slovenia, the 'Globsec' ' train from Slovakia – these are further examples of initiatives that were both creative and effective. Some national chapters have now also started to make use of the new media, such as the Internet, chats and blogs. And it goes without saying that NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division will continue to support such efforts. We are now rapidly approaching NATO’s 60th Anniversary – or '60A', as our Public Diplomacy gurus are calling it. What better opportunity for the ATA to demonstrate its undiminished relevance? What better opportunity for trying out new ways of reaching out to our publics? Today, we are launching an exciting new experiment in public diplomacy: the ‘NATO Talk Around the Brandenburg Gate’. Tomorrow six discussion panels in six Embassies will deal with the key challenges facing NATO.“

Sports: Diplomatic Tool or Spark for Conflict? – adele08, National Security: “More often than not, sports matches between adversarial nations have helped ease the tensions and provide an opportunity for good will and positive public diplomacy. … Do these [sports] programs really make a difference in the relationship between countries? The State Department seems to think so, since it began its Sports Diplomacy initiative.”

Can EU Values Sell Like Coke? - Rastko Šejić, Oxford International Review: “Because of the slow European bureaucracy, public diplomacy through NGOs cannot be efficient. Cultural public diplomacy through tactical collaboration projects is a good way of to keep a constant public presence, and has given good results, for example with the revival of the film industry, fine arts exchange, etc. Enlargement policy (a source of political conflict inside of EU) encompasses large funds for infrastructure development of the candidate countries, but it doesn’t contain means for communicating with the local public, which is always left to local governments. Although the EU has invested a lot in rebranding, and we can expect marvelous creations from hired advertising wizards, EU policy and values can hardly sell like Coke. Only active and constant political marketing, as a part of common communications policy, together with the ability to react quickly to changing situations, can really make a difference for the future of the European Union.”

Al-Qaida wrongfooted - Amil Khan, Pakistan Defence: “Since 9/11, American public diplomacy in the Muslim world has been based on the assumption that over a billion people have unfortunately failed to realise that it is a force for good in the world. The multimillion dollar answers have included Hi, a teen lifestyle magazine, and cheerleader television news station, al Hurrawhich aim to promote American interests. But for all the telling, America was not showing the Muslim world how it lived up to its promises. General public opinion in the Muslim world saw the same malevolent intention behind Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay that they blamed for Western support of Muslim dictators and Israeli excesses. Al-Qaida simply tries to tap into that background sentiment and connect it to individuals' own experiences. When America starts showing that it can deliver social justice at home, it makes public opinion in the Muslim world wonder whether it can do so abroad. However, the election only produces a window of opportunity for America, and Britain, to make a serious dent in al-Qaida's rhetoric by proving their commitment to the ideas and principles for which they say they fight. The Obama victory will require follow-up if he is to change perceptions. Closing Guantánamo, as the president-elect has pledged, would be a great start.”

Freedom of speech for diplomats - Martin Regg Cohn, Toronto Star: “Our government bankrolls an extensive, expensive network of embassies that should be allowed to show its stuff and prove its worth. An ambassador should be measured not just by how well he hosts a visiting cabinet minister, but by how well he conducts public diplomacy.”

Außenminister Steinmeier im Audimax der Universität Erfurt – Simone, Forschungsgruppe Public Diplomacy: “Um ein Thema wie Abrüstung auf die Agenda zu bringen, werden auch Public Diplomacy Maßnahmen nötig sein.”

Azerbaijani delegation to participate in international conference within “Dialogue Eurasia” Platform in Antalya – Elbrus Seyfullayev, Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan: “An international conference will be held within the framework of 'Dialogue Eurasia' Platform in Antalya, Turkey on November 13-17. Chief of socio-political department of the President’s Office Ali Hasanov told APA that the delegations from Turkic-speaking states, as well as Russia, Ukraine and Georgia would attend the conference. … The department chief said cultural cooperation, socio-political relations and public diplomacy would be discussed in the international conference covering socio-political relations in Eurasian countries, cultural issues and dialogue.”

Reviewing the 1967 United States Advisory Commission on Information - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “The U.S. Advisory Commission on Information was one of two oversight commissions established by the Public Law 402, otherwise known as the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948. The other commission focused on cultural and educational exchange. Today, there is one commission, the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, that does not have a legal obligation to produce annual reports … . Initially a twice-yearly report, the annual report was serious, detailed, and included recommendations. It was, and remains, a public report delivered to Congress. The 1967 report, available here, is noteworthy as 'public diplomacy' was just coined and about to be pushed to the sidelines.”

Dr. Kiehl to Present Discussion on Colleges and Interntionalization- Ethan Demme, Keystone Conservative: ”A friend of mine and fellow volunteer for the McCain campaign has written yet another book. Here is a little blurb about him and info on where to buy the book, what it’s about and upcoming events. William P. Kiehl: William P. Kiehl is the founder President and CEO of PD Worldwide, consultants in international public affairs, higher education management and cross-cultural communications based in Washington, D.C. In February 2004, he was appointed Executive Director of the Public Diplomacy Council at the School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University. He served in that position through April 2007 when he was elected to the Public Diplomacy Council’s Board of Directors. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in November 2003 but continued to serve as an Instructor in Public Diplomacy in the School of Professional and Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State.”

Chapter 11: Global Communication and Propaganda - Hilda, Global Communication: “IV. Public Diplomacy 1. Is related to government communication campaigns and is viewed as a ‘truthful propaganda’ 2. Gullion’s definition of public diplomacy: ‘to interact with groups, people, and cultures beyond national borders, influencing the way groups and people in other countries think about foreign affairs, react to our policies, and affect the policies of their respective governments’ 3. The main objective of public diplomacy is to inform and influence public opinion internationally, or in other words: ‘win the international public minds and hearts’ 4. In a word, public diplomacy involves monitoring public opinion and engaging in dialogues with international audiences."

Back to Business - Beckim82, Political Indulgence: “[T]hose researchers who are intent on studying the individual-level process have used political psychology as a way to do that, and that's what most FP [Foreign Policy?] lit is about. I think there's probably still a lot left to uncover about how cognitive psychology affects FP decision-making, but I'm not really sure that the public sphere / public diplomacy angle really fits into that mold.”

RELATED ITEMS

VIA

More Than a Rock Star - Anne Applebaum, Washington Post: If some foreigners are inspired to work for greater ethnic and racial equality in their own societies, maybe it doesn't matter that they know more about Obama's good looks than they do about his health-care policy.

Media Speculation On Obama Appointments - Today's Political News From The Editors of US News & World Report and BulletinNews‏: “State. The AP lists Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. John Kerry, GOP Sen. Richard Lugar, Sen. Chuck Hagel and Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the United Nations, as possibilities. Also mentioned as a possible candidate this morning is Gen. James L. Jones (New York Times). Meanwhile, in a column for the Washington Post, Roger Cohen urged Obama to appoint Al Gore to the position.” Obama’s short list of possible foreign policy officials: The President-elect is likely to rely on Republicans as well as Democrats to advise him and carry out policy.

Obama’s emerging foreign policy team faces a troubled world: The goal is continuity in international relationships with a clear break from Bush’s approach - Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor: Top priorities will be Afghanistan, where Obama has said he wants more troops but also a new, broader strategy beyond a military focus; the international financial and economic crisis; an orderly disengagement from Iraq; and what to do about Iran’s nuclear program. In a number of these top-priority areas, the policy itself is unlikely to undergo a wholesale change, so much as the style employed to address policy will look radically different, some longtime foreign-policy experts say.

A map of the world: Despite America's economic woes, foreign policy issues could preoccupy the next president, but a Mideast peace deal won't be one – Our View, Baltimore Sun: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict hasn't gotten much attention of late, and with far more pressing foreign policy decisions facing Mr. Obama, it's unlikely the decades-old dispute over land, sovereignty and security will top his agenda once he takes office. Ending the war in Iraq, policing Iran, containing Russia, securing Afghanistan - these all pose more immediate concerns.

Obama to Explore New Approach in Afghanistan War - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post: The incoming Obama administration plans to explore a more regional strategy to the war in Afghanistan -- including possible talks with Iran -- and looks favorably on the nascent dialogue between the Afghan government and "reconcilable" elements of the Taliban, according to Obama national security advisers.

The Case for US Withdrawal From Afghanistan - Sameer Dossani, Foreign Policy in Focus/Common Dreams: If the idea of immediately stopping all military operations in Afghanistan sounds radical, it shouldn't.
Democracy and Its Death Squad: Obama's Man in Afghanistan - Peter Lee, Counterpunch: It’s kind of hard to wrap one’s head around the idea that operating death squads might be an integral and perhaps the vital component of the vaunted Petraeus doctrine of counterinsurgency. And we shouldn’t let General Petraeus—or his willingness to pander to our desire to distract ourselves with hearts and minds fables of counterinsurgency -- shield us from the truth.

In Pakistan, optimism proves unwarranted - Ali Wyne, Boston Globe: The mood in Pakistan is cheerful - Barack Obama has just been elected president of the world's most powerful country. Although many Pakistanis have voiced misgivings about some of his comments on terrorism, the general belief seems to be that he will pursue a more enlightened American foreign policy than his predecessor.Then again, Pakistanis' optimism has been dashed before.

Let's hope Obama won't be a 'friend of Israel' - Gideon Levy, Haaretz: When we say that someone is a "friend of Israel" we mean a friend of the occupation, a believer in Israel's self-armament, a fan of its language of strength and a supporter of all its regional delusions. When we say someone is a "friend of Israel" we mean someone who will give Israel a carte blanche for any violent adventure it desires, for rejecting peace and for building in the territories.

Obama and the KGB – Richard Lourie, Moscow Times: It's not clear yet what sort of Russia policy Obama will conduct. He won't say much before the inauguration. And so it would have been a perfect time for Medvedev to seize the initiative and make a bold, innovative move to show that Russia was the master of its own fate and capable of "new thinking." But instead, he resorted to the language of threat, the old game of move and countermove.

Reckless Georgia – Editorial, Boston Globe: November 11, 2008It Is Important to know which side initiated the war in August between Russia and Georgia. If primary blame falls on Russia, as Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili claims, a new Obama administration will have limited latitude in rebuilding relations with Russia. If it turns out that Georgia is mostly to blame, the new President Obama will have to make sure Saakashvili understands that a reliable ally does not defy the will of Washington and recklessly implicate America in an unnecessary confrontation with Russia. The inescapable conclusion is that Saakashvili started the war and lied about it.

A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2009 - Lawrence Korb, Miriam Pemberton, Foreign Policy in Focus, cited on IPS: In this fifth annual edition of the “Unified Security Budget,” as with the previous four editions, a non-partisan task force of military, homeland security, and foreign policy experts laid out the facts of the imbalance between military and non-military spending. The ratio of funding for military forces vs. non-military international engagement in the Bush administration’s proposed budget for the 2009 fiscal year has widened to 18:1 from 16:1 in the 2008 fiscal year, according to the report. Via Patricia Kushlis

China's Propaganda in Tibet: Plenty of Viewers, Few Believers - Rebecca Novick, Huffington Post

Vica Nazi Propaganda Comics - Jill, Digital Collections Blog: The Vica Nazi Propaganda Comics is one of the collections we published in our October build. According to WorldCat.org, Duke University’s Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library holds the only copies of this comic in the United States. The Nazi-controlled government in France produced the Vica comic during World War II as a propaganda tool against the Allied forces. The digital collection features the three published issues of the comic: Vica au Paradis de l’U.R.S.S, Vica contre le service secret anglais, and Vica défie l’Oncle Sam (representing the Allied forces: USSR, England, and US). The comics could support research in multiple disciplines, such as World War II history, French language and culture, popular media, comic arts, and propaganda.

Speaking of Makeovers... - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to. PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attends the 2008 Glamour Women of the Year Awards at Carnegie Hall in New York on Monday, Nov. 10, 2008. COMMENT: “What can I say? I've been one of Condi's harshest critics, but last night at the Glamour thingy, she looked... sensational. Condi! Wow!”

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"Stalin's Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov said the problem with free elections is that you never know who's going to win.”

--Richard Lourie, scholar of Russia

"Then he goes in for some deep thoughts, in which the most superficial of Brits always like to indulge when they are flunking a grade."

--Gore Vidal, a propos of British journalist Andrew Gumbel, who wrote critically about him

November 10

“The first to adapt Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ to Dance.”

--President-elect Barack Obama regarding Rahm Emanuel, his chosen White House Chief of Staff, who danced for a year at Sarah Lawrence after turning down a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School; as a freshman, he appeared in a modern-dance piece called ‘Desire’; see also John Brown, “Barack Obama and Fred Astaire: What a Pair!"

“The only thing I’ve ever seen her ask for is a diet soda.”

--Nicolle Wallace, a senior McCain campaign aide, regarding forner Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama's Middle East challenges - Rodger Shanahan, The Interpreter: “[A]ware of the pitfalls of over-promising and under-delivering on long term policy projects, Obama has been far less strident about a US-led Middle East democratization project, which has been a failure for the Bush Administration from the initial ill-fated public diplomacy campaign. Rather, Obama has spoken about the need for political reform, but in more hushed tones and without regional fears of a project aimed at ousting autocrats.”

On Obama and Tempering Skepticism - Karim El Assir – MidEast Youth: “As part of a large scale public diplomacy effort, Obama [plans] … to build new ‘America Houses’ that would serve as cultural centers in regions of the world where anti-Americanism is so fervent it may play a role in driving people toward extremist groups.”

Obama’s victory symbolises end of racial conflict: Gordimer – IANS, Thaindian.com, Thailand: ”US president-elect Barack Obama’s victory would symbolically represent an advancement in recognising the human tribe as one, Nadine Gordimer, Nobel prize-winning South African writer and political activist, said [in Kolkata].” … She was felicitated by the Ministry of External Affairs’ Public Diplomacy Division at the Kolkata Town Hall in the presence of External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee Mukherjee, West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and other dignitaries."

Mark your calendar for January 13, 2009 - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: "That is the confirmed date for 'The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948: Past, Present, and Future', a symposium to discuss the sixty-year old law that continues to set the parameters of America’s international engagement. … The organizer and point of contact for this event is Matt Armstrong."

RELATED ITEMS

Obama Plans Guantanamo Close, US Trials - Matt Apuzzo and Lara Jakes Jordan, Huffington Post

Paying for Eight Years of Bush’s Delusions - Robert Fisk, Truthdig: Obama has got to close Guantanamo. He will have to re-think -- and deconstruct -- the whole “war on terror”. He will have to get out of Iraq. He will have to call a halt to America’s massive airbases in Iraq, its $600m embassy. He will have to end the blood-caked air strikes we are perpetrating in southern Afghanistan and he will have to tell Israel a few home truths: that America can no longer remain uncritical in the face of Israeli army brutality and the colonisation for Jews and Jews only on Arab land.

An Instant Overhaul for Tainted Brand America: But More Than an Obama Election Win Is Needed for World's Current Captivation With U.S. to Outlast Honeymoon - Laurel Wentz, Ad Age: "Winston Churchill once famously said 'Count on Americans to get it right, after they've tried everything else,'" said Keith Reinhard, chairman emeritus of DDB Worldwide and president of Business for Diplomatic Action, an organization working to change global perceptions about the U.S. "This time the world believes we got it right. Now it's up to all of us to prove they are right." Via Cari Guittard.

Some in Africa expect miracles from Obama - Zoe Alsop, USA Today: President-elect Barack Obama's grandmother, of Nyangoma Kogelo, Kenya, is pleased by the news of her grandson's election.

When it comes to Obama, world leaders are champing at the bit - John Vinocur, International Herald Tribune: Barack Obama's presidential victory has created a truly fascinating burst of optimism saying that America and the rest of the world really can work better together. It's a rare and perhaps brief moment.

What The President-Elect Wants From Germany: Obama Win Sparks Hopes and Fears – Spiegel International: Berlin has warmly welcomed the election of Barack Obama. Now diplomats are busy preparing for a more active German foreign policy. But amid all the euphoria there's concern Germany may be asked to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Interview With Syria's Foreign Minister: 'America's Role Is Central' – Spiegel International: Syria has great hopes that President-elect Barack Obama can help push the Middle East peace process forward. "This truly is the time to come to a comprehensive peace," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem tells Spiegel Online in an interview. He also wants to see direct talks with Iran.

The Region: A letter to the president-elect - Barry Rubin, Jerusalem Post: Please bear in mind some important points. In the Middle East, it is not so useful to think yourself popular and show yourself to be friendly. You have to inspire fear in your enemies and confidence in your friends. And if you don't inspire fear in your enemies -- if you're too nice to them -- then you will indeed foment fear among your friends.

Emanuel in 2002: Details of US and Israeli Interests Differ – Juan Cole: Informed Comment Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: “Obama and [named White House Chief of Staff Rahm] Emanuel have a choice. They can work toward Israel's survival by making one last push for a two-state solution now. Or they can dither, in which case a permanent Apartheid situation is inevitable, which I think the world community will find completely unacceptable over time and which might well spell the end of Israel (just as in-you-face Apartheid spelled the end of the old South African government).”

The Russian Question: What's Obama's answer? – Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com: Obama is going to have to make a decision on the Russian question fairly early, because Moscow is taking the initiative, in the case of the missile shield. NATO expansion, the Georgian issue, and the whole strategy pursued by the Bush administration, which amounted to the encirclement of Russia: these issues will not wait.

Russia and its discontents – Editorial, Boston Globe: Once in office, Obama will have to reconstruct US-Russian relations. He could start by accepting at face value Medvedev's statement that Russia has "no innate anti-Americanism." Obama should be ready to cancel deployment of the faulty missile defense system in Central Europe, end the US push for imminent NATO expansion into Ukraine and Georgia, and heed Russian views on issues such as the independence of Kosovo.

Two Hundred Roubles a Head, Pumpkins For Free - Antonina Asanov, Novaya Gazeta, posted at La Russophobe: Twenty thousand people demonstrated in front of the US Embassy in Moscow on Wednesday 2 November. The demo was called "the American show." According to the demo plan, Halloween-style pumpkins were going to be deposited around the embassy, each with a burning candle inside and marked with the name of someone who has suffered from American aggression. Via Mitch Polman.

Iraq: Before & After, and Now - Joshua Hammer, New York Review of Books: The Iraq of November 2008 is a far safer place than it was one year ago. Yet five years of violence and civil war have left a legacy of deep sectarian division.

Black Boomerang – Roger Wilmut, Wilmut's World Wide Weblog: BBC broadcasts during World War Two were regarded as propaganda, because they put forward the British point of view. There is an interesting distinction: these were "white" propaganda because they made clear where they were coming from. There were also, quite separately from the BBC, "black" propaganda broadcasts which concealed their source, and claimed to be from German radio stations.

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--"Take a look at the Cobb County, Georgia police department's latest toy. Donated by the military, the Armored Personnel Carrier -- used by the U.S. Army in Panama -- holds up to nine SWAT commandos. Retailing for $500K, Cobb dropped another $45,000 to tailor it for police use. It can hit speeds up to 60 m.p.h. and has thermal sensors, computerized tracking, night vision, tear gas launchers and more."
BagnewsNotes

November 9

“The first law for a secret agent is to get his geography right.”

--Ian Fleming, in The Man With the Golden Gun

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Worldview: Obama has a chance to restore U.S. image abroad – Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Shortly after the election, I moderated a panel of journalists from Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America who discussed ‘How the World Sees the U.S. Presidential Elections’ for the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. What they said, along with the reaction from other foreign media and leaders, underlines the remarkable opportunities awaiting President-elect Barack Obama. He has a unique chance to stem the tide of anti-Americanism that threatens our security and our ability to lead. ‘That one picture of Obama and his wife, African Americans, holding hands with [Joseph R.] Biden [Jr.] and his wife was worth more than all of the hundreds of millions this administration has spent on public diplomacy,’ said panelist Paulo Sotero, former Washington correspondent for the Brazilian daily O Estado de S. Paulo.” PHOTO: American crocodile.

Obama faces daunting challenges - Earle Scarlett, Jamaica Observer: “On the international scene, former White House-inspired lecturing about the virtues of American values became tedious. The public diplomacy orientation of the present administration has been ineffective on several levels. In general, it smacks of poor Madison Avenue marketing techniques. Targeted audiences are not convinced. They want discussion - give and take - and mutual respect.”

Can the West be saved? - Serge Trifkovic, Locust blog: “Abroad, we are told, we need to address political and economic grievances of the Muslim impoverished masses, we need to spread democracy and free markets in the Muslim world, we need to invest more in public diplomacy. At home we need more tolerance, greater inclusiveness, less profiling, and a more determined outreach to the minorities that feel marginalized. The predictable failure of such cures leads to ever more pathological self-scrutiny and to ever more morbid self-doubt. This vicious circle must be broken.”

Death of Henry Loomis, VOA director 1958-1965 - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy


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The Man of Tomorrow: His election has turned America's global image on its head - Desmond Tutu, Washington Post: The Bush administration has riled people everywhere. Its bully-boy attitude has sadly polarized our world. Against all this, the election of Barack Obama has turned America's image on its head.

Emptying Pandora's box - Roger Cohen, International Herald Tribune: Anti-Bushism, straying often into anti-Americanism, has been the defining ideological current of recent times. Its disappearance with Obama, or at least its retreat, leaves a gaping intellectual void needing to be filled.

Mr. Obama's War: The president-elect must both sustain and reform the fight against terrorism - Editorial, Washington Post: New legislation that would allow the detention of al-Qaeda militants in either the United States or prisons it controls abroad, while banning abusive treatment and providing for regular and full review by independent judges. An early proposal of such a regime by Mr. Obama to Congress, coupled with the announcement of Guantanamo's closing, would signal that he will be serious about fighting al-Qaeda -- and also that he will avoid Mr. Bush's mistakes.

Obama lovefest won't last - Jeff Jacob, Boston Globe: President Obama may speak more softly than his predecessor, but he will still be carrying a very big stick. Like other presidents, he will be loudly condemned when he uses it. As George W. Bush can tell him, the abuse goes with the job.

The U.S. Has Power. What It Needs Is Authority - Ron Suskind, Washington Post: The fact that so many people, from South Asia to Africa to South America rejoiced at Obama's election, provides a rare opportunity for the United States to start the slow, steady campaign to win their confidence, their trust and, over time, their support.

Show Me the Money - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: “So to everyone overseas I say: thanks for your applause for our new president. I’m glad you all feel that America 'is back.' If you want Obama to succeed, though, don’t just show us the love, show us the money. Show us the troops. Show us the diplomatic effort. Show us the economic partnership. Show us something more than a fresh smile. Because freedom is not free and your excuse for doing less than you could is leaving town in January."

Nuance on the March - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post: The Great Mentioning game that grips Washington after every presidential election is in full swing, with Jim Steinberg being mentioned repeatedly for national security adviser; John Kerry supposedly having first call on secretary of state; and Richard Danzig, Greg Craig and Susan Rice, among others, sure to land top jobs.

Kerry could've been honest with us - Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe: In Kerry's case, his interest in being secretary of state in a Barack Obama administration was widely discussed in Massachusetts political circles. The average voter deserved to be clued in.

Iraqi Public Opinion on the Presence of US Troops: Testimony of Dr. Steven Kull, Director, Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), University of Maryland, Director, WorldPublicOpinion.org -
“I will start with the most recent polling. … Seventy percent said they want the Multi National Forces to leave, with 78 percent of this group wanting them to leave within six months or less and 84 percent within a year.”

Score one for Teheran; Zero for Moscow Teheran's Olive Branch - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: It’s clear that the Iranian government wants to talk directly with President-elect Barack Obama about a number of issues.

Peace Be Upon Us: Islamic and Arabic traditions have long been part of American culture [Review of Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots by Jonathan Curiel] - Paul M. Barrett, Washington Post

Books: The Internet vs. books: Peaceful coexistence: The instant knowledge provided by the Web is invaluable, as is the deeper communion provided by books - Beau Friedlander, Los Angeles Times

November 8

"Bez buldirabi"

--Tartar for “yes, we can,” the slogan introduced a few years ago by Tartar President Shaimiev, intended to promote Tatarstan as a model of political and economic development in the Russian Federation

"young, handsome and well tanned."

--Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, regarding president-elect Barack Obama. Right: The PM

VIDEO

Dan Rather on the Broken US News Industry: Mentions international news coverage

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

International broadcasting versus two-way dialogue - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “A main reason for the underperformance of U.S. international broadcasting is that U.S. decision makers, experts, and distinguished fellows think of international broadcasting as just another arrow in the quiver of public diplomacy. This is an attempt to shove the proverbial square peg into a round hole. The round hole is the audience for international broadcasting. They do not tune in to get influenced or persuaded, but to get news that is more reliable, comprehensive, and credible than the news they get from their state-controlled domestic media. Successful international broadcasters cringe when their profession is subsumed under public diplomacy. They recognize their job not as an attempt to change hearts and minds, because no one would listen to or watch such stuff, but to make sure audiences are well informed. Well informed publics vex dictators and terrorists. Two-way dialogue is great, and it should be a part of the U.S. public diplomacy effort. But it will never reach the numbers of people, and have the impact on nations as a whole, than does international broadcasting. And why can't broadcasting ‘engage people’? Good broadcasting absolutely does. It wouldn't have much of an audience otherwise.”

Obama to the World: Yes We Can - Charles J. Brown, Huffington Post: “An Obama administration also is likely to recognize the need to repair America's disastrously dysfunctional foreign policy apparatus: it will provide the State Department with the resources it needs; streamline foreign assistance; reestablish a robust and proactive public diplomacy; and clarify the overlapping (and often confusing) roles of State, NSC, Defense, and Homeland Security.”

Arab Foreign Policy Experts: Obama's "Islamic Family Roots" Will Make The Muslim World Like Us (Plus: Obama State Dept Going Pretty Much How You'd Expect) - Omri Ceren, Mere Rhetoric: “Any successful public diplomacy toward the Muslim world basically requires embracing their pathological anti-Semitism in a way that even a sophistication-enamored Democratic Congress has been unwilling to do.”

The U.S. is like this giant ant farm. The problem is, these people seem to hate ants - David Polansky - Conventional Folly: “[T]he first George W. Bush administration employed doubtless the worst public diplomacy in U.S. history. If a Martian had to glean an understanding of Earth’s geopolitics from the public statements of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, he would never imagine that they were speaking of putative allies, or that America and western Europe had millennia of shared history and culture behind them. … But the range and intensity of anti-Americanism in the world did not spring fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus, upon Bush taking office. … The problems of anti-Americanism are structural in nature. They result from the fact that we are the world’s largest power, that we continue to project our military force and our popular culture to the farthest corners of the earth … as long as Obama holds the maximalist view of our interests that has prevailed since the end of the Cold War … and as long as we remain atop the global pecking order, things are unlikely to change much past this initial honeymoon period.”

Friday, November 6 - Rob Rykowski, The Emerson Election Project: “It is too early to say with certainty how Barack Obama will lead this nation. I can only hope, and do indeed have faith, that we will return to a focus on public diplomacy better practiced during the Clinton years than the last eight … I hope and believe that this election is just the beginning. This election marks a turning point in America and the world at large, and the next time I am abroad, I will proudly say that I – am – American.”

President-elect's Queries to Briefers - Ray McGovern, Antiwar.com:“After a week lecturing at Kansas State University and then in Kansas City, Missouri, I could not shake the feeling that what Kansas and Missouri need most is the equivalent of Radio Free Europe, which was so effective in spreading truth around inside Eastern Europe during the Cold War.” PHOTO: Ray McGovern

Let's Bring Culture Not Only to the White House, But to All of American Government - Richard Jehn, The Rag Blog: Re John Brown, Rejuvenate Public Diplomacy: Bring Culture Back to the White House: “My only question is why would we not desire a Ministry of Culture? Such a government department or agency is commonplace in other nations; why would we not want one in the US?”

“Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy” Roundtable Book Discussion with Contributors – Events, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: “The USC Center on Public Diplomacy is proud to welcome contributors to The Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy to USC for a discussion on this major new publication, published in association with the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.”

Today's Rosy Headlines - Hugh Sansom, Apocalypse Road: “By the way, Kevin Hassett, co-author of Dow 36,000 was an economic advisor to the McCain campaign. James Glassman, the other co-author, replaced Karen Hughes as Bush's Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy — propa[ga]nda minister. All of which just goes to show, if you got The Official American Seal of Approval, you can't help but fall up, up, up, ever up.)"

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Calm down! He's not President of the World: Everyone, from Australia to Kenya, seems to think Obama will improve their lives. They should prepare for disappointment - Matthew Parris, Times (London). "Calm down dear, it's only a US presidential election." See also John Brown," After the honeymoon: Electing Barack Obama president won't be enough to improve America's standing in the world," Guardian.

Arab Bloggers Size Up Obama - Josie Delap, New York Times:

Worse Than Bush? - Ted Galen Carpenter, National Interest online: America’s foreign policy cries out for drastic change, but it remains uncertain whether president-elect Obama will bring the right kind of change.

A View From Europe: Our Obama Problem - Jean Bricmont, Counterpunch: The Obama problem is his extreme popularity in Europe, which is based both on his skin colour and on his “image.” Because people don’t understand how much race relations in the United States have actually changed, they see Obama’s election as a sort of absolute miracle and, since the media present him as a strong alternative to Bush, and hardly report, for example, his plans to send more troops to Afghanistan, they think that he is far more progressive than he actually is.

'Obamamania' Hits Afghan Media – RFE/RL

The Return of Clintonia? Obama and Afghanistan - Lawrence R. Velvel, Counterpunch: Obama has said we should get out of Iraq, but fight in Afghanistan. If he really believes that instead of just having said it for campaign purposes, and if he really does it, then his presidency is already doomed.

Obama and Iran - Juan Cole, Informed Comment Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: “What I cannot understand is why American politicians who speak publicly … not at least acknowledge that to the best information of the American intelligence community, Iran has no nuclear weapons research program, as opposed to a civilian enrichment research program.”

Old Think on a New Day - Editorial, New York Times: One day after the election, the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, declared that he would put short-range missiles on Russia’s border near Poland if the next American leader follows through on President Bush’s plans to build a missile defense system in Europe.

Russia Welcomes the New US President-Elect - Updated - Cheryl Rofer, Whirled View

Conductor Defends Russia, to Strains of Prokofiev - Daniel J. Wakin, New York Times: Back in August, the conductor Valery Gergiev took the stage in Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, and denounced its “monstrous bombardment” by Georgia. Speaking both in Russian and, pointedly for the outside world, in English, he said Georgia had carried out a “huge act of aggression” and praised Russia as a savior. Then Mr. Gergiev — perhaps the world’s most famous Ossetian -- led the Kirov Orchestra of St. Petersburg in what was billed as a memorial concert for the dead in the five-day battle between the two countries. The event gave off a strong whiff of Kremlin propaganda and prompted a flurry of denunciations of Mr. Gergiev for supporting what many in the West saw as the bad actor in the war, Russia, which had intervened with overwhelming force after Georgia’s attack. But three months later Mr. Gergiev remains unrepentant, even proud, of his role.

Storied Figures: At Hillwood Estate, Porcelain Creations Offer A Revealing Glimpse of Russians' March Through Time - Paul Richard, Washington Post: Fragile Persuasion: Russian Porcelain and the Fine Art of Propaganda is on display at Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW, through Dec. 31. "And, of course, we now see Joseph Stalin. At first the dictator appears to be a man of normal scale, but not for long. Stalin soon becomes a giant, towering high above the lesser folk he rules. In one big statuette -- by Aleksei Sotnikov (1904-1989) -- he strides across the land like a streamlined, smooth, implacable greatcoat-clad colossus. (Stalin, actually, was 5 feet 6 inches tall.) Free Americans, we like to think, have never been subjected to such pounding propaganda. But remember Rosie the Riveter? Well, here is Ludmilla the Welder."

Alexander Nevsky is one of the best pieces of propaganda ever made - Phobetor, jyte: “Baby-killing heavily-armored Germans...exciting battles...rallying the people...heroic Russian victory. It's funny in a way. And it's so damn well made.”[video]

Propaganda Art – LAMA: Latin America in the Modern Age: “A few years back, I came across a fantastic book entitled 'Revolucion!' After looking at page after page of the beautiful Cuban poster art inside, I was hooked. Propaganda art has quickly become one of my favorite forms of art around. Between 1960 and 1980, the Cuban government recruited the most talented Cuban artists to create these propaganda posters in order to promote and educate its citizens on everything from national literacy to opposing international political enemies. The posters spread throughout Cuban cities and has helped to define Cuban politics through bright and vivid imagery.”

Mao Propaganda – Uncle Bob’s Conspiracy Blog: Maoist propaganda from the People's Republic of China [video].

Update: Adorable Bear King Still Disappointingly Beardless -Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: PHOTO: In a photo released from the Jordanian Royal Palace, King Abdullah II of Jordan meets with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Aqaba, Jordan, Friday, Nov. 7. 2008. Rice is on a Middle East tour to assess progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.(AP Photo/ Yousef Allan). COMMENT: “A while ago I would have been so excited that Condi was going to meet with King Abdullah, but ever since he started shaving, it just isn't the same. … Earlier, Condi met with Mahmoud Abbas, and they had a press conference, and she was all, like, 'Annapolis! Remember Annapolis?' like anything really happened there or something. It's pretty much all she has left. You'll always have Maryland, Condi!”

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