January 23

“The reaction of State Department employees as Hillary Clinton arrived this morning apparently bears comparison to the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II.”

--Scott Horton, “Glinda Arrives at State,” Harper’s; via


"Bush-hating disorder: A pathology for our time"

--Headline of article by Richard Haddad, Washington Times

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Update at 2:54 p.m. ET – Oval Office, USA Today: "’We are going to reinvigorate America's commitment to public diplomacy,’ [Vice President Joe] Biden declares. ‘For too long we have put the bulk of the burden on our military.’"

Friends With High Numbers – Al Kamen, In the Loop, Washington Post: “Official Washington is abuzz with word that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is poised to tap a longtime friend and Democratic mega-donor as her undersecretary for public diplomacy. Judith A. McHale, one of the area's most prominent female executives, who stepped down in 2006 as president of Discovery Communications, may take a job that has been especially difficult given Washington's reputation abroad. Her résumé doesn't reflect an excess of diplomatic experience, but we're reminded that this is a job that involves selling a message. McHale has been close to Clinton for decades and was an early and prolific fundraiser for the former first lady's presidential bid. During the 2008 campaign cycle, McHale donated $109,600 to Democratic politicians and campaign committees, campaign finance records show. Wow! Not that good a job.” PHOTO: Chief executive Judith A. McHale leads Discovery Communications Inc. as it explores new ways to expand the company's television networks. (By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

rumors of a bad public diplomacy choice – Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: “This [McHale as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] would be a terrible, terrible selection. I don't know Judith McHale at all, and obviously have nothing against her personally. But the position of Under-Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs should go to someone with experience in and a vision for public diplomacy, and who will be in a position to effectively integrate public diplomacy concerns into the policy-making process. Appointing someone with no experience in public diplomacy but with a resume which 'involves selling a message' has already been tried: the first post-9/11 Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Charlotte Beers, whose tenure lasted only 17 months (October 2001-March 2003), focused on 'branding' America through television advertising showing happy Muslim-Americans, and is generally considered to be an utter failure. … During the Presidential campaign, Obama talked often and effectively about global engagement and public diplomacy. But during the primary I had noted Clinton's inattention to public diplomacy.”

History’s Most Accessible Inauguration Provides A Spotlight On Change - Jared Cohen, World Tweets: “While it is a coincidence that the historic nature of this presidential election coincided with the first opportunity for the entire world to watch through various digital media outlets, what we experienced here in America is not a twist of fate. The world watched and we showed them what we mean when we talk about democracy and American values. It was public diplomacy at its best.”

Rebooting America's Image - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “I attended a lecture today by Dean Wilson, who heads Annenberg, on "Rebooting America's Image." … Dean Wilson had been appointed to Obama's transition team to deal with public diplomacy. … As for tips for transition for PD, Wilson noted three points: 1) get organized, 2) get out of Washington, and 3) get digital. Getting organized requires leadership, and more boots on the ground. He noted about how there are more military lawyers in DOD than diplomats at State. It also requires sustained leadership, not the rotating chair at undersec for PD, which has seen 7 or so heads in the 12 years since PD was taken over by State. As for getting out of Washington, he pointed out the role that other parts of the country (ie Los Angeles) can play in having a PD impact. As for getting digital, it is all about harnessing new technologies to promote public diplomacy efforts and being innovative in the use of new systems.”

Slow Out of the Gate on Public Diplomacy Reform? - Steve Corman, COMOPS Journal: “If the USIA is not to be reconstituted, then how will the problems cited by the various calls to do so ... be addressed? There is general agreement that the (Bill) Clinton-era dismantling of the USIA has not served us well, leaving our public diplomacy efforts with low priority and poor coordination.

After multiple Bush administration false-starts on fixing the coordination problems (2002 Office of Global Communications, 2002 Strategic Communication Policy Coordinating Committee, 2004 Interagency Strategic Communication Fusion Team) I would like to hear about some out-of-the-box organizational changes designed to address them, and more about if and how the PD function is going to be bumped in priority.” ON USIA SEE

Four Elements of a Strong National Security Plan - Rep. Adam Smith, The Hill's Congress Blog:

“Current development efforts are too underfunded and inefficient to successfully tackle global poverty and address weak states. Further, our civilian agencies lack sufficient capacity in terms of personnel and resources to carry out an effective foreign policy. Some of the biggest deficiencies exist in public diplomacy and development efforts, but the gaps are nearly across the board, and our military has been forced in recent years to fill them. We need to empower the State Department, USAID and other civilian agencies to take the lead in these critical endeavors.”

Building on the Momentum of Global Goodwill - Jeff Weintraub, So It Goes : "[W]e should all sit up and pay attention to recommendations that the U.S. have a consciously planned and execute program of public diplomacy. 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.” SEE ALSO

Armenian Journalist Hopes Obama Administration Will Protect Foreign Workers Rights at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Ted, FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog: “During the last months of the Bush Administration, Edward E. Kaufman, [a] former Democratic BBG member who is now a U.S. Senator from Delaware and was previously Joe Biden’s chief of staff, worked closely with BBG’s former Republican chairman, neoconservative Bush appointee, James K. Glassman, who later became the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. They agreed to terminate VOA radio broadcasts to Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and India.”

Virtual Islam: Peace, Love, and Some Understanding? - Bill Berkowitz, Religion Dispatches: “After a year of exploring digital Islamic communities, Joshua S. Fouts and Rita J. King, Senior Fellows at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, produced a report which concludes: ‘engaging with people in virtual worlds who self-identify as Muslim can be part of a broader public diplomacy strategy to foster inclusive perspectives on religion, society, and coexistence.’”

International Students Obtain Practical Education at Community Colleges – Lisa Rosenberg, AACRAO Transcript, DC: “The Community College Summit Initiative Program is a State Department Scholarship program that provides foreign students practical training at U.S. community colleges.


ccording to the Chronicle of Higher Education, community colleges, with their ‘expertise in work-force education, may often be the best places for future leaders in developing economies to get training.’ The program is in its second year and reflects a growing desire for the U.S. to improve its public-diplomacy outreach to foreigners of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Most participating colleges have created special tracks for the students in the program, combining academic course work, English-language study, and a class on American civics and government.”

Watching Oprah in a Syrian refugee camp – Kristen Gillepsie, worldfocus.org: “In a region where people overwhelmingly disapprove of American policy toward the Arab world, Oprah has quietly emerged as a better cultural ambassador than any public diplomacy effort in recent memory. As the months passed, I heard more from fans of Oprah.

They are women representing a spectrum of class and religious orientation — conservative women, veiled women, liberal women and even women who don’t speak much English but read the Arabic subtitles. Mazen Hayek, the marketing director for MBC4, the channel that airs ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ in the Middle East, says the enormous positive feedback the station receives speaks for itself: ‘The best reward [is] hearing people tell you, we learn more from the Oprah show than from our schools, our universities. So the effect of Oprah on people’s lives is very positive.’”

Smith-Mundt Symposium in the Blogosphere + - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: Includes comments elecitied by the Symposium.

Analysis: This time, Israel got the public diplomacy right - Hirsh Goodman, Jerusalem Post: “Evidence suggests that Israel's public diplomacy efforts during Operation Cast Lead were planned as professionally and precisely as the IDF's military operation. Clearly, both in terms of media relations and information security, lessons have been learned from past experience. Israel put in place what seems to be a well-oiled, focused, disciplined and well-navigated public diplomacy bureaucracy that disseminates messages and supporting materials in a timely and organized way. … The basic conditions posed by massive force being deployed in densely populated areas would pose a challenge to any public diplomacy establishment. Those responsible seem to be doing a solid job under difficult circumstance and against very heavy odds.” SEE ALSO (1) (2)

Croatia hails EU initiative to resolve border row with Slovenia – Europe - Euro News 24: “Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Thursday praised an offer by the European Union to help solve a border row between his country and Slovenia that has blocked Zagreb's EU accession talks. … Sanader late Wednesday met EU enlargement commissioner Oli Rehn here. Rehn presented him with a number of initiatives which he had shown just hours earlier to Slovenian officials, although no details have been disclosed. ‘This is a bilateral issue but it has become a European problem,’ Rehn told journalists upon his return to Brussels. … ’It's better that we work on the basis of silent diplomacy than public diplomacy at this point in time,’ he added.” SEE ALSO (1) (2)

LTTE-sponsored Rally in Washington: Rallying the West to reverse territorial loss in Sri Lanka - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: “In the midst of this propaganda (shall we call it a strategic communication on the part of the LTTE) the Tamil Tigers have taken to the streets in front of the Indian Embassy, and before that in New York before the United Nations. And this public diplomacy and strategic communication of the LTTE seem to have buried the real nature of the outfit which practiced genocide to persecute, harass and finally remove members of the other two ethnic groups Sinhalese and Muslims from the LTTE-controlled North in the late eighties and early nineties.”

Kennedy Center to host international relations lecture on Friday - Amy McDonald, BYU Newsnet –“The Kennedy Center for International Studies [at Brigham Young University] will host an international relations lecture on new approaches to foreign aid Jan. 23 at noon in B092 JFSB. Aaron Sherinian, managing director for public affairs in the Department of Congressional and Public Affairs at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), will present ‘U.S. Foreign Assistance: Why We Do It; Why It Matters; New Approaches.’ … Prior to his assignment at MCC, he served as press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, where he was responsible for embassy relations with media outlets in the country and acted as the ambassador's media advisor in promoting U.S. government public diplomacy objectives.”

University of Pittsburgh Calendar of Events, Feb. 4-11 – NewsFromPitt: “2/6 Marwan Kraidy, a professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, will deliver a lecture titled 'Arab Media and U.S. Policy: A Public Diplomacy Reset.'”

RELATED ITEMS


Obama DOD: Order Mercy & Comfort For Gaza Victims – Gerald Loftus, Avuncular American: “The United States Navy operates two hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort. … Deployment of one of the hospital ships off the coast of Gaza could be one of the very first actions ordered by the new Commander in Chief.”

Send a Navy Hospital Ship to Gaza? - Christopher Albon, War & Health: “As readers probably already know, I am a strong supporter of hospital ships for medical diplomacy. However … [a] major (and not unreasonable) criticism of employing the Navy as medical diplomats is that, no matter their true intentions, the mission is still a US military operation using military equipment. This was even an issue for the USS Kearsarge in Nicaragua where the US is on good terms. Thus, I hesitate to imagine how a US military ship off the Gazan coast would play out in the arab street (whatever its hull color).”

More inauguration and the world media - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Will Obama image translate into tourism? - Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY: Despite the inauguration of a president who could generate warmer feelings -- and more tourists -- for the USA, the U.S. tourism industry is bracing for a decline in higher-spending international visitors. This year, the number of foreign visitors is expected to dip for the first time since 2003 as the economic crisis spreads and consumers worldwide curb spending.

Enlisting Freud's Nephew - Strategy Page: The one area where the United States in particular, and the West in general, lags is public relations (or spinning the media). This is particularly galling to American commanders, because modern PR was invented by an American (Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud) 80 years ago. Out of that came many modern advertising and promotion techniques. Aside from Douglas MacArthur (and a few other generals), the military has not really picked up on the need to use the media for military (and non propaganda) purposes. That, however, has been changing. For the last two decades, the U.S. military has been well aware of the problem, but has not made an all out effort to deal with it.

Hamas, Propaganda Fuel Hatred of Israel - Arnaud de Borchgrave, NewsMax.com, FL: The propaganda war, from YouTube, to MySpace, to FaceBook and other electronic conveyor belts make it a lot easier to recruit jihadis and then brainwash them to volunteer for a suicide mission. Gaza, thus far, has been a force multiplier for Taliban in Afghanistan, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and elsewhere in Pakistan.

Q&A: "A Lot of the Gaza Story Is Being Left Out": Miren Gutierrez interviews Nancy Snow, propaganda expert – IPS

Winning and Losing in Gaza - Richard Falk, Nation: Neither the United States nor Israel has discovered the limits of military power in the contemporary world. The leaders of both countries seem unable to learn the lesson of recent history: that occupation in the postcolonial world rarely produces the desired results at an acceptable cost. It is from this perspective, despite a horrific price in lives and suffering, that the Palestinians may be slowly winning the "second war," the legitimacy war, whose battlefield has become global.

So Far, Obama's Missed The Point on Gaza... - Robert Fisk, The Independent/UK/Common Dreams: For the people of the Middle East, the absence of the word "Gaza" -- indeed, the word "Israel" as well -- was the dark shadow over Obama's inaugural address. Didn't he care? Was he frightened?

Change Gaza Can Believe In: Tearing Up Washington's Middle East Playbook - Tony Karon, TomDispatch: In Gaza in the last few weeks the Bush approach imploded, leaving Obama no choice but to initiate a new policy of his own. Hopefully, it will be one rooted in the pragmatism for which the new President is renowned.

Unanimous Consent: When Israel acts, Congress applauds. No debate required - Glenn Greenwald, American Conservative: In most of the world, the Israeli attack on Gaza is viewed as an intensely controversial act and, more commonly, an excessive, unjustifiable, and brutal assault on a trapped civilian population. But not in the United States -- at least not among America’s political and opinion-making elite.

Buying Time: Why George Mitchell is the perfect envoy not to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Shmuel Rosner, New Republic: Even if Mitchell can somehow overcome each side's inertia, his achievement or failure will not be determined by new road maps or modified Obama parameters. Mitchell's success will be determined by the ability of the Obama administration to engage Iran effectively, and by its ability to turn the regional tide.

Old Hand for an Old Mission - Jackson Diehl, Washington Post: Imagine a U.S. administration prepared to demand tangible steps toward peace by both Israelis and Palestinians -- and to publicly challenge an Israeli government's dodges. That might or might not improve the prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. But it would have the effect of returning U.S. policy to about where it was in October 2001 -- the first time George Mitchell got a Middle East assignment from a president.

An Unenviable Job – Editorial, New York Times: To succeed, Mr. Mitchell will need strong support from President Obama and, we hope, a good relationship with a new Israeli prime minister who is fully committed to a two-state solution. It is a tough job. We wish him luck.

Can Clinton and Her Envoys Rebuild U.S. Diplomacy? - Massimo Calabresi, Time: If the weary diplomats at the State department want nothing more than action on the diplomatic front, they're certainly going to get it from Holbrooke and Mitchell.

Obama Foreign Policy Heavyweights Emerge – Nancy Snow, Huffington Post: They are are now tasked with trying to, yet again, resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict (George Mitchell) and oversee construction of peace over chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Richard Holbrooke). PHOTO: Richard Holbrooke.

Obama's Guantánamo Mistake: He's Not Closing Gitmo the Right Way - Brandt Goldstein, Huffington Post: Obama has issued an executive order -- a directive from the president -- to shut down the prison. That alone is not enough. What Obama must do now is work with Congress to enact a federal statute that outlaws forever the use of Guantánamo as a detention facility.

Chaos and Lies: Why Obama Was Right to Halt the Guantánamo Trials - Andy Worthington, Antiwar.com


Bush's 'War' On Terror Comes to a Sudden End - Dana Priest, Washington Post: President Obama yesterday eliminated the most controversial tools employed by his predecessor against terrorism suspects. With the stroke of his pen, he effectively declared an end to the "war on terror," as President George W. Bush had defined it, signaling to the world that the reach of the U.S. government in battling its enemies will not be limitless.

Bookending the Bush Era: Unraveling Bush's excesses - Obama's three orders on detainees and interrogation show how tough it will be to undo what Bush did – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: Obama deserves credit for ending the worst of the Bush administration's excesses in the "war on terror." As he does, he should not introduce shades of gray into issues that call for black-and-white clarity.

Has Obama Dropped the "War on Terror"? - David Corn, Mother Jones: De-emphasizing the war metaphor would be a significant change. But if it is a deliberate change, the White House does not want to acknowledge it.

Getting Rid of the "War on Terror" Mindset: The Obama administration marks the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq. But it's less clear what it means for the larger "war on terror" - Matthew Yglesias, American Prospect: Back during the campaign, meanwhile, Obama said he didn't just want to end the war in Iraq, he wanted to "end the mindset that got us into the war in the first place." The idea of a hazily defined "war on terror" would certainly seem to qualify as an important part of that mindset. But thus far, Obama and his team have been mighty ambiguous on the issue.

So Much To Be Undone - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Before President Obama can do, he must undo. Repairing the damage that George W. Bush did to the nation's values, honor and pride will be complicated and, at times, politically inconvenient. But nothing is more urgent, and nothing will ultimately reap more benefits at home and abroad. Obama should form an official blue-ribbon panel, some sort of "truth commission," to investigate Bush's conduct of his "war on terror" and report to the American people.

Obama Must Halt America’s Moral Decline - William Pfaff, Truthdig: Bush II exercised violence -- inspired by an infantile political Manichaeism concerning “Islamic terror” -- and a lawless foreign policy that further divided the nation, bringing us to where we are today. The United States became an enduringly divided nation, which has lacked a legitimate, unifying and governing political and moral authority and order. This is what elected Barack Obama.

War Planning: Iraq will test whether the pragmatic will trump the political in President Obama's administration - Editorial, Washington Post: Pragmatism calls for working within the agreed U.S.-Iraqi plan, and for allowing adjustments based on positive and negative developments in Iraq, rather than on any fixed and arbitrary timetable.

U.S.– Japan: An alliance in need of attention - Richard J. Samuels and James L. Schoff, International Herald Tribune: Greater Japanese contributions to global order are needed, be it in maritime security, helping failed states, or bolstering UN peacekeeping missions. In return, Washington should cede proportionate decision-making power.

How Russians Interpret Obama - Michele A. Berdy, Moscow Times: In a passage in Obama's inaugural speech, one translator had some problems with English verb forms and may not have known American society very well. Obama said, "A man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant," which came out in Russian: человек, отец которого приехал в эту страну и которому ещё 60 лет назад не разрешили бы работать в ресторане (a man whose father came to this country and who even 60 years ago would not have been allowed to work in a restaurant). Americans know that he could have gotten a job there; he just couldn't have sat at the counter.

State Department Staff: Ding Dong the Witch is Dead - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I STILL keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to