February 25

“[T]o call for a return to public diplomacy, this time on steroids …

sounds like a good idea but there are at least a couple of difficulties with it.”

--Charles "Chas" Freeman Jr., reportedly appointed chairman of the National Intelligence Council -- which is responsible for producing national intelligence estimates -- in a speech in 2006; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Philadelphia Story - Mark Dillen, Public Diplomacy – The World Affairs Blog Network, Foreign Policy Association: “The wired world is reading fewer newspapers and, as publishers compensate by raising newstand prices, more readers are driven away. We are left with cable and satellite television, Internet media, and other evolving approaches. There are some implications for public diplomacy here. As with PR and advertising, the lesson is for practitioners to be nimble and hone skills in all media.”

The White Oak Recommendations On Public Diplomacy – William Kiehl, My PD Blog: “The recommendations are not exactly a great surprise or a departure from conventional wisdom and with the seventy or so people gathered around 'the White Oak table', so to speak, it would be remarkable to gain an agreement on anything but the conventional. And while I do agree with nearly all of what was listed in the recommendations (after all, a quick reading of them might strike anyone as a perfectly reasonable approach) I do get the feeling that there was an element of group think at play here.” Recommendations at; image from

Clinton takes diplomacy to the people - yuanyuan, Perspectives on Public Diplomacy: “The wielding of public diplomacy in her [Clinton's] Asia trip was closely observed by Chinese scholars, one of whom call it post-modern approach, meaning beyond the state-to-state/gov-to-gov contacts.”

AFRICOM: Failing And Flailing - EB - Hidden Unities:

“Matt Armstrong ('Mountainrunner', who has been doing INCREDIBLE work on public diplomacy in Washington D.C. and elsewhere) responded to my post with a well-informed analysis of how AFRICOM’s marketing was going badly but the concept was still solid. A year has passed, and AFRICOM has only continued to fail, not only in its marketing, but in its execution.”

U.S.-India Relationship Broad, Strategic, Diverse and Growing: An interview with Ambassador David C. Mulford By Laurinda Keys Long – 123oye's Online Article Resource: "[Q:] There has been quite a change in the process of Indians obtaining U.S. visas. How was that accomplished?

[A:] “You know, our so-called visa blitz was perhaps the most satisfying thing from a public diplomacy standpoint because we had arrived at the point, in the middle of 2006, where the waiting period was 187 days for an Indian citizen to get a visa interview. We convened the leadership of the Mission and determined that we would address and fix that problem. Within the space of some months we did, by reducing the waiting period to six days everywhere in India. And the most impressive thing, perhaps, is that we have maintained the waiting period at less than 14 days most of the time and in most places in India since, with very few exceptions.”

Michelle Kwan To Visit Ukraine - Office of the Spokesman
Bureau Of Public Affairs, State Department: “American Public Diplomacy Envoy Michelle Kwan will travel to Ukraine on February 28th where she will visit Kiev, Yalta, Sevastopol, Bakhchisarai and Odessa. This eight-day trip marks the figure skating champion’s fourth tour as an American Public Diplomacy Envoy for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. As a Public Diplomacy Envoy, Ms. Kwan promotes cross-cultural dialogue with international youth and increases understanding of America by sharing her story and life experiences. Kwan’s activities during her trip will include participating in a roundtable discussion with university students, visiting high schools, conducting skating clinics and meeting with alumni of other Department of State exchange programs.”

Guantanamaybe - Cool bot world news: “Jimmy Carter passed an executive order that CIA agents could no longer be undercover at USIA (Public affairs, press, and cultural exhanges officers). He felt they undermined the credibility of the US Public Diplomacy effort. And although it was a bit inconvenient for the CIA, sometimes you weigh and measure what makes sense in terms of the credibility of the nation. Whew!”

New Kid On The Blog - afew, European Tribune: “We get mail: ‘NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Strategy, Dr. Stefanie Babst, argues that public diplomacy needs to respond to the challenges of the Web 2.0 world and is encouraging NATO to be 'more courageous in using digital tools to directly interact with the public' ... What would you say to the NATO-blog initiative? “

Integrating Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: a workshop in Rome for 25 diplomats by FERPI, the Italian professional association - Toni Muzi Falconi, PR Conversations: “In agreement with the Diplomatic Institute of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FERPI -the Italian Federation of Public Relations- is holding in the English language, on March 3,4,5,and 6 in Rome a four session workshop on Public Diplomacy for 25 mid career Italian diplomats according to this program.”

Diplomatico= venditore? - DiploMentor: “Per email Angelo mi segnala una intervista a Mario Cuomo recentemente apparsa sul Corriere della Sera. … Cuomo tocca … il tema della 'public diplomacy' che ho piu' volte affrontato nel blog.”

Event: CPD Distinguished Speaker Series: The Public Diplomacy of the Emerging World Powers: India - Shashi Tharoor – Association of Indian Students at USC: “Date: 10th March ... The USC Center on Public Diplomacy presents former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, as part of the CPD Distinguished Speaker Series: The Public Diplomacy of the Emerging World Powers. Based on his recent book The Elephant, the Tiger, and the Cell Phone, Dr. Tharoor will discuss India's rise to world leadership and how India represents itself to the world through public diplomacy.”

Political Science Degree Career: Steps to Becoming a Foreign Service Officer – James, College-Pages.com:

"A political science degree career with the Foreign Service can follow one of five tracks. Applicants may decide to enter management affairs, consular affairs, economic affairs, political affairs, or public diplomacy."

RELATED ITEMS

Comparing the Areas of Responsibility of State and Defense (Updated) - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner

Paging Uncle Sam - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: “In random conversations here in Seoul with Korean and Asian thinkers, journalists and business executives, I found people really worried:

Could it be, they ask, that the Americans don’t know what they are doing, or, worse, that they know what they are doing but the problem is just so much bigger than anything we’ve ever seen?” Image from

Obama's Intelligence Choice: The president picks a China apologist and Israel basher to write his intelligence summaries - Gabriel Schoenfeld, Wall Street Journal