February 8

"a consummate professional, an extraordinary pianist, a great football enthusiast, a presidential adviser, a professor, a diplomat and an extraordinary public servant."

--Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s qualities, cited in that order by Abraham Foxman, Anti-Defamation League's national director, while presenting her with the group’s Distinguished Statesman Award; via Princess Sparkle Pony's Photoblog; image from The Onion; see also John Brown, "Ten Percent Intellectual: The Mind of Condoleezza Rice"

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Why the Muslim World Can’t Hear Obama - Alaa Al Aswany, New York Times: "Mr. Obama’s interview with Al Arabiya on Jan. 27 was an event that was widely portrayed in the Western news media as an olive branch to the Muslim world. But while most of my Egyptian friends knew about the interview, by then they were so frustrated by Mr. Obama’s silence [on Gaza] that they weren’t particularly interested in watching it. I didn’t see it myself, but I went back and read the transcript. Again, his elegant words did not challenge America’s support of Israel, right or wrong, or its alliances with Arab dictators in the interest of pragmatism.”

America’s Scorecard in Iraq - Steven Lee Myers, New York Times: “When Mr. Obama granted his first extended interview as president — to Al Arabiya, the satellite news channel based in the United Arab Emirates — he barely mentioned Iraq at all. In fact, he conspicuously omitted Iraq as he offered ‘a hand of friendship’ in what he pledged would be a holistic push for regional peace.”

Bridging the PD Discourse Gap: The Survey Group – Rob, Arabic Media Shack: “I recently attended a very impressive conference organized by Matt Armstrong of MountainRunner. The conference featured five highly informative panels and if the phrase ‘hearing it from the horses mouth’

ever applied this was one of those occasions because in attendance was a literal ‘who’s who’ of the US Government’s Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications field. I certainly came out with a much better understanding of what this actually entails. Yet, at the same time, this experience reinforced some lingering perceptions of what I consider weaknesses in the US PD approach; it seems to be dominated by insular assumptions about the audience we want to influence. While listening to the panels and audience questions, for example, I did not get the impression that many of the people involved are making a strong effort to try and see things from the perspective of the other side. … Secondly, I think there is a tendency in the US media and blogosphere to exaggerate the influence that Barack Obama’s individual personality is going to have on foreign — or at least Arab — audiences. There is no doubt that he is very likeable, ‘cool’ and America’s first ‘global’ President. But an uninformed observer of the region might get the impression from US media that improving our image in the Middle East, the one place where it’s really bad, is as simple as replacing the 'bad' Bush with the 'good' Obama. But in reality, its about Policies and Not Personalities.” Blog contains response by Matt Armstrong.

"We will engage. We will listen. We will consult."-- Joe Biden – yuanyuan, Perspective on Public Diplomacy: “I felt that Biden's emphasis of more engaging, listening and consulting is a good signal for PD work.” On Biden's speech in Munich, SEE

A very narrow niche for Alhurra - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “Alhurra may need to adopt a niche. It could be a ‘window on America’ presenting an accurate, balanced, an entertaining portrayal of American life, culture, institutions, and politics. This will attract some Arab audiences, though not as large as for a channel offering solid news about the Middle East. Or Alhurra could be … the pro-US channel. By pro-US, it will also be pro-Israel and anti many Arab leaders and movements. This will be a tough sell among Arab audiences. The audience will be very, very small. However, if that audience consists of journalists, government officials, and scholars, the channel might have a useful opinion-leader function.”

A new tongue to win hearts and minds: American program abroad teaches more than language - Michael Slackman, International Herald Tribune: “Access [is]an after school English language program that is a small, almost invisible corner of the United States Department of State's multibillion-dollar budget. It is a low profile, delayed-impact program that aims to promote change and understanding from the bottom up. Since its inception in 2004, it has taught 32,000 students in 50 countries. Access arrived in Egypt about two years ago and 182 teenagers from all over the country, Christians and Muslims, young men and young women, have graduated from the program.” PHOTO: Young women in Egypt are part of Access, an English language program sponsored by the State Department. (Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times) VIA Len Baldyga

Three New Carnegie Council Videos from Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds - DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: "The Carnegie Council has uploaded edited excerpts from the January 29, 2009 release of the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project. Each video is about a minute and a half long."

Bending The President's Ear: Quincy Jones And Others Could Get A Voice For Artists In The White House - Michael Gill, Cleveland Free Times, OH: “Americans for the Arts president and CEO Robert Lynch is among those who had previously called for a senior-level arts advocate in the West Wing.

He acknowledges that Washington has provided some arts support through the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, and that the State Department sends cultural icons on ambassadorial missions. … But he says that even with increased funding, the NEA can't fully leverage the possibilities that American culture offers as a representation of America to the world. … In meetings with members of the Obama transition team, Lynch was told that the administration is taking the Secretary for the Arts idea very seriously.”

Arts Advocacy Update LXXV - The Clyde Fitch Report: The nexus of arts and politics: “A Secretary of the Arts -- or Secretary of Culture -- would not be charged with determining what art or culture is. It would, however, serve to help focus arts policy from a fiscal-impact point of view.”

Vaster than empires - Peter Aspden, Financial Times: “[Neil] MacGregor [, director of the British Museum,] has been putting benign expressions on improbable faces since taking over as director of the British Museum in 2002. He has used the post to remind a world audience of the ideals and principles behind the museum's foundation, and of its role and importance in the modern world. … He dislikes the phrase ‘cultural diplomacy’ for the work that he has been doing, fearing it risks compromising the museum's independence from government, which he holds to be absolute and vital. (What happens when a cultural institution is not considered independent of the government has been strikingly demonstrated by the recent rupture in relations between the British Council and Tehran.) But it is as good a description as any for the part he has played in forming relationships with countries - Iraq, China, Iran - that have presented all manner of political awkwardness to the British government.”

Hardliners block path to the world - Michael Binyon, Times, London: “To any closed society, there are two things that represent a more deadly threat than a foreign army on its borders: liberal Western values and a global language that gives access to the outside world. The British Council’s job is to promote both. Little wonder, therefore, that it has often been the target of governments determined to keep their populations cowed and in ignorance. Little wonder also that it has been accused of cultural imperialism, purveying propaganda or subverting the values of others.”

The Turkish-Israeli cold alliance: Is the crisis manageable? – Today’s Zaman: “[Former Ambassador Özlem] Sanberk underlines that what is lacking in the management of the current crisis [between Israel and Turkey] is not coordination by ‘public diplomacy’ policy. ‘Each and every ministry should have a spokesperson. All the related ministries should have their say, but the direction of all should be aiming the same target,’ he said.”

Project Officer - Jobs-Brussels.com: "Posted by: NATO Posted date: 07/02/09 Location: Brussels ... LOCATION: NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium DIVISION: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY DIVISION Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Countries Section TITLE: Project Officer GRADE: A.2/A.3 1. SUMMARY NATO's Public Diplomacy Division (PDD) plays a key role in explaining the Alliance's strategic and political messages to opinion formers and to the public in general. As NATO's main public interface, PDD works to raise the Alliance's profile with audiences world-wide. PDD also works to promote security cooperation through a variety of programmes in NATO and partner countries and contributes to a continuous process of international security debate and policy creation. Last but not least, the Division also acts as coordinator for most public diplomacy activities undertaken by other divisions at NATO Headquarters (HQ), as well as by other entities belonging to the NATO structure."

Conferences In Israel - Ari Bussel, OpEdNews: “I feel an urge to go back to school, for another Master’s degree. To quench my thirst, I have dreamed in the past to attend the Kennedy School of Government, spending the years instead engaged in Israel’s Public Diplomacy.”

RELATED ITEMS

Middle East mercy mission - James Lyons, Washington Times: With all the suffering in Gaza over the years, offering to send one of the Navy's hospital ships to Gaza should be viewed as one of many required actions to help create a positive atmosphere for moving the peace process forward. Project Hope, as it has done in the past with the Defense Department and the Navy, could coordinate the medical staffing with volunteer doctors and nurses.

Obama-Mania Sweeps Europe as New U.S. President Tops List of Most Popular World Leaders

- Press Release, Harris Interactive, posted on earthtimes.org; VIA

Obama's NSC Will Get New Power: Directive Expands Makeup and Role Of Security Body - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post: The National Security Council will take on all national security matters that are strategic in nature and "of such importance that the president of the United States would care" about them, he said. Action groups from various departments and agencies will be formed around specific issues for as long as it takes to resolve them.

Diplomatic Blogging – blogoir: “There's a lot of [diplomatic blogging] about now. The FCO has a goodly bunch, albeit with tone of unrelenting 'corporate' cheeriness, eschewing anything controversial/awkward in policy or philosphical terms. …

Diplopundit has lots of links to other diplomatic/diplomacy blogs for anyone having a lot of time to spare. Here is an energetic left-of-centre blog by a former State Department officer: Undiplomatic. Or try the "adventures and musings of an American Indian, Public Diplomacy-coned Foreign Service Officer" in Life after Jerusalem on the subject of Hillary Clinton's plans to improve the lot of gay US diplomats. And here is a newish blog by a young diplomatic wife Diplowife and her Misadventures.”

Speaking With the Enemy - Donald P. Gregg, New York Times: The key to successful interrogation is for the interrogator to recognize a prisoner’s humanity, to understand his culture, background and language. Torture makes this impossible.

Torture on trial? A case coming before a federal appeals panel gives the judiciary another chance to examine the secrecy surrounding the government's 'extraordinary rendition' program – Editorial, Los Angeles Times

Guantanamo inmates pose challenge for Europe: Having pledged to provide shelter for up to 60 former detainees, the EU now faces a thorny set of questions: Where exactly should they go? Who pays? What happens to them now? - Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times

The Israel Lobby at Work - Dan Lieberman, MWC News, Canada: Propaganda is most effective when subtly planted and the reader remains unaware that a commentary is actually indoctrination. Sometimes the writer is not cognizant that what he has published has been moved by its propaganda effect -- sources for the material are actually misleading and publication is facilitated when the commentary fits a particular agenda. Two recent publications, a response by United States Senator Benjamin Cardin to an Amnesty International plea and an article in Newsweek magazine, A Plan of Attack for Peace by Daniel Klaidman, Jan. 12, 2009, demonstrate how far Israel’s supporters can reach to mislead the public.

Beyond the Banks - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: It is important to have George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, steadily pushing the diplomacy from above, but nothing will happen without vastly increasing U.S. efforts from below to help West Bankers build a credible governing capacity.
Do that, and everything is possible. Don’t do it, and nothing is possible.

Iraq's Good Example - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post: Bush resisted letting the Iraqis find their own way -- however messy or even brutal -- to reconcile their differences. President Obama should reflect on that as he develops a new approach to the conflict in Afghanistan, another "new" country that looks very familiar as corruption, drug dealing and Taliban control mount.

A Russia Reality Check - Fred Hiatt, Washington Post: Russia is acting more on what it perceives as its interests than out of accumulated hurt feelings. And unfortunately, it seems to view its interests as exerting or maintaining control over neighboring states.

Obama May Postpone Afghan Surge; Severe Problems in Supply Routes Afflict Aghanistan War Effort - Juan Cole, Informed Comment Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: While the attention of the US public and the news media here has been consumed (understandably enough) by the congressional debate over the economic stimulus plan, America's war in Afghanistan has nearly collapsed because of logistical problems.

It’s All Yours [review of The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power by David E. Sanger]- Lawrence F. Kaplan, New York Times: Obama will not craft anew; he will inherit. “The world he is inheriting from Bush will constrain his choices more than he has acknowledged, and certainly more than the throngs of supporters believed as they waved their signs proclaiming CHANGE,” Sanger writes, with justifiable asperity.

AMERICANA

Artist behind iconic Obama poster arrested - Matt Stone, USA Today: A street artist famous for his red, white and blue "Hope" posters of President Obama has been arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti, police said Saturday. Shepard Fairey was arrested Friday night on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a kickoff event for his first solo exhibition, called Supply and Demand.

Two warrants were issued for Fairey on Jan. 24 after police determined he'd tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street art campaign from his early career, Officer James Kenneally said. One of the locations was the railroad trestle by the landmark Boston University bridge over the Charles River, police said. PHOTO: Artist Shepard Fairey poses beside his "Obama HOPE" image, part of an exhibit of his work at the Institute of Contemporary Art Tuesday in Boston.