February 17

“The vast majority of [U.S. public diplomacy funds] continues to be spent on education and cultural programs. But I changed the emphasis to national security, much to the pleasure of the DoD and frankly other parts of the interagency.”

--Former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman

“Ripping down others’ brands has not typically been, historically, at the center of the public diplomacy agenda …

We need to tear down Al Qaeda’s brand and build up the brands of our friends whose interests coincide with ours.”

--Michael Doran, who recently stepped down as the senior-most public-diplomacy official at the Pentagon

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

A new Murrow for US public diplomacy - Lawrence Pintak and William A. Rugh, Daily Star, Lebanon: “The response to the naming of the next public diplomacy chief should not be, ‘Who?’ even among the cognoscenti. The appointment of a journalist renowned in the US and respected in the halls of power abroad will require no explanation. The acclaim in America will echo in the international media. … Reporting the news and telling America's story to the world are - emphatically - not the same thing. Yet journalist-as-public-diplomacy-czar is not an oxymoronic concept. The job description is similar for both: Effective communication skills; an instinctual understanding that the people of the world view America through many prisms; and, most of all, credibility.” SEE ALSO; PHOTO (OF EDWARD R. MURROW) FROM

Think Again: Barack Obama and the War on Terror - David M. Edelstein, Ronald R. Krebs, Raw Wealth: "Obama Will Wage the ‘Battle of Ideas' Better Than George W. Bush [:] Doubtful. Yes, Obama, by his presence and personality, has changed the atmospherics of U.S. foreign relations. America's reputation around the world has for some time been at a nadir, so there is nowhere to go but up. But the United States' poor image abroad has not been the result of a marketing failure, and, thus, better public diplomacy will not lead to victory in the 'Battle of Ideas.' Anti-Americanism thrives, not because others misunderstand the United States, but because they perceive its aims and tactics all too well. The Bush administration's greatest perceived foreign-policy failures -- Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo, unimpeded global warming -- could not have been overcome with better public diplomacy, and recent improvements in trans-Atlantic relations cannot be credited to an improved sales pitch. The world is rightly waiting to see if Obama will match his words with actions. Public diplomacy can matter only at the margins.”

Future of Public Diplomacy Unsettled at State: Experts Wonder Whether Vision Will Be PR or National Security - Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent: “As President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton near an announcement of a top State Department official to promote the United States’s image abroad, some veterans of the public diplomacy field wonder if the administration views job as a national-security position or a public-relations one. …

Some fret that the fact that there is no undersecretary a month after Clinton’s confirmation-hearing emphasis on 'smart power' — a term designed to encompass a range of foreign-policy tools, of which public diplomacy has long been considered key — indicates a diminished role for public diplomacy.”

Public diplomacy agonistes: Fear over the direction of “R” – Laura Rozen, Foreign Policy: “[S]ome U.S. public diplomacy experts fear the new administration will forget the hard-earned lessons of the recent past, treating the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy job as a Madison Avenue-type advertising position, rather than a national security post.”

Take A Chance On Me - Spencer Ackerman, Attackerman: “What a day. Woke up hungover in a Parsippany, NJ Holiday Inn; stumbled through a too-short goodbye to newlyweds Liz and Tim; drove back to D.C. -- actually, rode back to D.C., since Attackerlady drove, owing to some lingering complications with my license; wrote a 2000-word reported piece about the public-diplomacy apparatus at the State Dept. that Obama and Clinton have inherited, slated for 8 a.m. publication; and, with a sinking feeling in my stomach, saw that Laura Rozen got at a lot of that piece in her evening post.“

Alhurra Should Return to the Federal Fold - Hussain Abdul-Hussain, OpEdNews.com: "For Alhurra, the BBG created the Middle East Television Network (MTN), which became a recipient of a federal grant from Congress. Free of the federal watchful eye, Alhurra recruited staff randomly as contractors, not federal employees." On BBG, see

Hillary's Web Offensive - Matthew Cooper, TPM: "During the 2008 presidential campaign, the Obama campaign famously ran circles around its opponents when it comes to digital technology and outreach. ... Hillary Clinton's off to a pretty good start at State when it comes to technology. Some of that is owing to the digital outreach of James Glassman, the author and conservative publisher who ran public diplomacy under Condi Rice.”

Al Qaeda, Online - Bruce Falconer, Mother Jones: “There's a holy war online. On one side is a network of Al Qaeda propagandists eager to use the Web to spread their message and broaden their influence in the Muslim world. On the other is a group of Saudi religious scholars who are prowling the Internet for Islamic extremists who they can convert to moderation.

Based in Riyadh, members of the so-called Sakinah ('Tranquility') Campaign have been infiltrating extremist websites and chat rooms since 2004, seeking to engage Islamist sympathizers in religious dialogue. … In late 2006, the United States launched its own effort—though unlike Sakinah, one that eschews any participation in religious debate. Having begun with a staff of two, the State Department's Digital Outreach Team now employs nine full-time bloggers—speakers of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, who post comments to news sites, discussion boards, and sometimes even personal blogs. Brent Blaschke, a career Foreign Service Officer who oversees the program, emphasized that his bloggers stay away from tricky discussions about jihad and the 'nitty-gritty of the Koran' in favor of explaining US foreign policy. … Have they been successful? It's impossible to say, Blaschke admits. 'We have little anecdotes suggesting some people like what we're saying…but in terms of swaying opinions, I couldn't give you a good answer.'"

Obama and the counter-insurgency era - Anthony Fenton, Asia Times: “Early signals indicate that United States President Barack Obama will continue driving the ‘counter-insurgency era’ that began under his predecessor George W Bush. … The integration of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ power is known as ‘smart power’ a concept that is generally credited to Joseph Nye, a member of the US foreign policy elite, and former official under presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. But it is the 2006 CSIS Commission on Smart Power report, which Nye co-chaired, that is more likely the source for the shift in rhetoric that would be introduced by Gates and then used by the Obama administration. … One of the key ‘guiding principles’ that the CSIS commission suggested to the incoming administration was to ‘elevate and integrate ... development, diplomacy and public diplomacy into unified whole’.

Public Diplomacy & New Technologies – Matt Armstrong, Mountain Runner: “MountainRunner’s #1 Rule of Public Diplomacy: think and operate by, with, and through ‘locals’ (socially, ideologically, culturally, not necessarily geographically) because the medium is not the message, the people are.”

Sartre Debates an Islamist - Jennifer Bryson, Public Discourse: “State Department public diplomacy seems to believe that if they just repeat promotion of ‘U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!’ like a broken record it will sway our adversaries to turn away from hateful ideologies.”

American Art should be seen – not? - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: "If the Obama Administration is serious about reestablishing America Houses (or Centers) throughout the Muslim world then it needs to rethink the current restrictions on exhibits – because, believe me, there needs to be something attractive and compelling on the walls and in the exhibition halls of those institutions. Maybe the Art in Embassies art is – for whatever reasons – off limits to those of us plebians, but then a public diplomacy office with sufficient funding, know-how, and ability to coordinate exhibits (and this takes skill and know-how) needs to be established. It can be done – but not the way the State Department’s public diplomacy efforts, staff and budgets operate now.” On the Art in Embassies program, see

Center for Global Public Relations Launches Feb. 21 - News Release, UNC Charlotte: “UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will launch a new Center for Global Public Relations (CGPR) Saturday, Feb. 21, with a series of panel discussions featuring industry professionals from across the United States. Experts will discuss international communications issues and give recommendations for the industry in a 21st century global, multicultural society. … Panel discussions include: … ‘Multinational Corporation PR and Public Diplomacy,’ featuring Ron Rand, retired brigadier general and now director of communications for Lockheed-Martin, and Bob Grupp, president of Grupp Global Partners LLC.”

Baseball: Griffey may actually be what M's need – Dave Boling, Idaho Statesman: “Junior [baseball player Ken Griffey Jr. ] has assumed the role of senior statesman to such an extent that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appointed him an American Public Diplomacy Envoy in November. In that capacity, he was supposed to go represent ‘the values of the United States’ on a trip to Panama in January, but it was canceled.”

Death to the Axis - Mark Dillen, Public Diplomacy: The World Affairs Blog Network, Foreign Policy Association: “It doesn’t count as public diplomacy — not yet. But the way in which the Iranian authorities have permitted foreign media visits, especially coverage by major American media (e.g., NPR and the NYT) , not to mention official Iranian comments on bilateral relations, suggests a whiff of change toward caring what the Western world thinks. And this could hold some slight promise for progress in diplomacy of all sorts, public and otherwise.”

Change the world ... - http://klazz.blogspot.com/2009/02/change-world.html, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: “Driving to the office today, the words printed on the T-shirt of a motorcyclist in front of me caught my attention – ‘Change The World’. Instantaneously, the question ‘How?’ popped up in my mind. Yes, how can he or me or we change the world.I related about this later in the afternoon at the start of my talk on ‘The Role of the Media in Public Diplomacy’ at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations. Public diplomacy has been widely seen as the transparent means by which a country communicates with publics in other countries aimed at informing and influencing audiences overseas to promote its national interest and advancing its foreign policy goals. The task is primarily handled by the Foreign Ministry. At its best, journalism or the media can build bridges to change the world by promoting understanding between nations.”

Cinema: a valuable public diplomacy tool - Felipe Estefan, Colombia Report: “Cinema has become a tool for nation-building, but also for the mass communication of a nation’s idea of itself, and as such, one of the most successful tools of public diplomacy. Colombia must support outlets of visual expression that respond to this purpose. … Hollywood’s status as the most powerful cinematographic machinery around the world, has made it a significant asset in American public diplomacy efforts. Hollywood not only has contributed to the branding of the American identity, but it also has contributed to branding, often misleadingly, other national identities. … The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ought to be collaborating to find effective models to support the production, distribution, and promotion of Colombian cinema, nationally and around the world.”

Qatar’s Public Diplomacy [Research Paper] - Paul Rockower, PubD 599, University of Southern California: “Qatar signifies how a small nation can use niche diplomacy as a means of increasing its prominence, while simultaneously exploiting that niche to improve its own security situation.”

Georgia: Tbilisi Uses Divine Diplomacy In Its Dealings With Russia - Giorgi Lomsadze, Eurasia Insight: “The Georgian government .. has been circumspect about commenting on or publicly acknowledging the patriarch’s [76-year-old Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarch Ilia II] role in restoring some form of communication with Moscow. …

‘This was a public diplomacy effort meant to coax politicians to the negotiations table,’ commented Deacon Mikael, who also serves as the Georgian patriarch’s secretary. ‘The patriarch’s position is that we should be able to have neighborly relations with Russia, but not at the expense of giving up Georgian territories.’"

Biography, David Comp, Chicago Illinois, United States -
International Higher Education Consulting Blog™:“David Comp currently works as the Senior Adviser for International Initiatives in The College at The University of Chicago. … His research focuses on the use of international education for soft power and public diplomacy efforts; methodology of data collection on global student and scholar mobility and on the history of international education exchanges.”

PR and Marketing versus Reality – Laura, Press Placer: “The recent appointments by Obama simply do not bode well. As much as we all like things to change, speeches and rhetoric are simply not enough to change actual policies. Therefore, we must all remain vigilant and alert, and above all, pay attention to non-main-stream news sources, because our national press corp is essentially dead.” Mention of public diplomacy in one of the Reader comments to this blog.

RELATED ITEMS

Mrs. Clinton Goes to Asia: The secretary of state has important business in four different countries - Dan Blumenthal, National Review: Should Clinton articulate a regional vision for peace, prosperity, and democracy, she will be speaking not only to Asians already living in democracies, but to the Chinese people as well.

Renounce Extraordinary Rendition - Philip Giraldi, Antiwar.com: It is time for CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta and President Barack Obama to state clearly and emphatically that the United States will no longer practice extraordinary rendition and that any terrorist suspect moved overseas will be allowed a fair and open trial to determine his or her guilt or innocence.

Rehab for Jihadists: The Gitmo problem is also a Yemen problem - Stephen F. Hayes & Thomas Joscelyn, National Review: Al Qaeda in Yemen has "conducted 20 attacks against U.S., Western, and Yemeni targets" as of September 2008. It is clear that the U.S. intelligence community sees the growing threat coming out of Yemen. Does the Obama administration?

Barack of Afpakia: The left is already doubting Obama's Afghan surge – Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: Mr. Obama may find himself relying on some surprising people for wartime support -- to wit, Bush Republicans and neocons.

A reality check for Obama in Afghanistan: He's facing pressure to increase US troop levels there. Has Washington learned nothing from the Soviet experience? - Walter Rodgers, Christian Science Monitor: Obama must remember that it is intolerable in the eyes of Muslims to be subjugated and occupied by non-Muslims, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan. Obama needs to be mindful of this as he decides whether to expand a war in southwest Asia, a historic graveyard of empires.

Giving South Korea the lead - Paul Hackett, Washington Times:
Giving South Korea full responsibility for the North would free Washington from the angst of the North's constant antics.

Living With A Nuclear North Korea - Selig S. Harrison, Washington Post: If the United States can deal with major nuclear weapons states such as China and Russia, it can tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea that may or may not actually have the weapons arsenal it claims.

Hugo Chavez's staying power: Now that the Venezuelan president is no longer checked by term limits, he has solidified his role as an autocrat -- and a force that the U.S. must engage - Editorial, Los Angeles Times

President for Life? Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, unfettered by term limits – Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: With his difficulties at home, Mr. Chávez needs Mr. Obama's public approval far more than the U.S. needs Mr. Chávez's diplomatic cooperation.