April 11

“Believing that advertising or marketing campaigns can change international perceptions of countries is, in fact, just as naïve and just as lazy as trying to make somebody lose weight by massaging the parts of their body that look too fat.”

--Simon Anholt, managing editor, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy (February 2009; by subscription); image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

After Glow Of Obama's Foreign Trip, Tough Choices Remain - Brian Whitmore, RFE/RL: "By nearly all accounts, Obama's trip, with its town-hall meetings, open-air speeches, and chummy photo ops, was a triumph of public diplomacy. But analysts say the president's success in translating his considerable popularity abroad into more substantial international support for U.S. priorities is limited by real and deep divergences of interests between the United States and its European partners -- not to mention with rivals like Russia."

Obama Demotes the Jews - Edward Alexander, Connections, Commentary: “Far more disturbing than Obama’s appointments … has been his own obsession with appeasing the forces of militant Islam through flattery and oily sycophancy, embodied in his now famous bow from the waist before Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. His public utterances have been characterized by a hammering insistence on the need to 'respect' Islam. He urged this no fewer than seven times in his Al-Arabiya interview, as if emulating George Galloway’s far left and pro-Hamas 'Respect Party' in England. At least as crucial for understanding Obama’s cold indifference to Jewish fears is what he has not said, especially during his recent grand tour of Europe, the continent that in his mind represents the high moral standards that America must strive to satisfy." Image from

Re: Obama Demotes the Jews, Connections, Commentary - Eric Trager - "Edward [Alexander], I share your concerns regarding President Obama’s recent visit to Turkey. Rather than mimicking former President George W. Bush’s redundant banalities regarding our 'respect' for Islam, I would have preferred that the President speak more frankly about the issues that currently divide the U.S. from many within the Muslim world - including our divergent views on terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, theocracy, and the treatment of women. After all, this is the essence of public diplomacy: reaching out to foreign publics on contentious issues (such as terrorism), as opposed to repeating agreeable things (such as that we respect the predominant faith of a given foreign public) exclusively. However, I strongly disagree with your main point: namely, that Obama’s failure to speak frankly to the Muslim world - on his first trip to a Muslim country as President, no less - constitutes the White House’s 'demotion' of American Jews."

Prospects for Iran-US Negotiations - Ali Asghar Kazemi, Strategic Discourse: "It seems that the Islamic leaders are not yet prepared to enter into an open public diplomacy with the United States due to a number of understandable reasons for a revolutionary-ideological regime that has created a taboo about any rapprochement and dealing with the 'Great Satan' during the past thirty years. … It seems therefore that Iranians are very cautious about how to engage into some sort of talks with the United States without losing face at home." Image from

Should a Muslim Be Put in Charge of US Public Diplomacy? - Dan Gilgoff, God & Country, U.S. News & World Report: "George W. Bush went through four public diplomacy undersecretaries—Charlotte Beers, Margaret Tutwiler, Karen Hughes, and James Glassman—who also focused on improving America's image in the Muslim world. None succeeded. Some failed spectacularly. Could it be time for a Muslim in that slot?"

American U. in Cairo Presents a Documentary About Second-Life Journalism - Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education: "Those who attended the Virtual Journalism Conference at Washington State University this week may have glimpsed the future of global journalism in a brief documentary about an avatar-to-avatar news conference. The news conference, which took place in February in the virtual platform Second Life, gave eight Egyptian political bloggers a chance to directly question James K. Glassman, the public-diplomacy czar under form President George W. Bush."

Taliban leader listens to VOA when he can't sleep - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

WTF? Military Web 2.0 Report Actually Making Sense - Noah Shachtman, Wired:

“[I]t's refreshing to read a study on ‘Social Software and National Security,’ out of the Pentagon-sponsored National Defense University, that actually makes sense. Written by Mark Drapeau and former Pentagon CIO Lin Wells, the upcoming paper takes a clear-eyed view of what these new apps can do -- and makes some smart, if basic, suggestions for how government types might uses the tools. … [From the report:] ‘We describe four broad government functions of social software that contribute to the national security missions of defense, diplomacy, and development. … The fourth function is Outbound Sharing whose purpose is to communicate with and/or empower people outside the government. This includes a range of efforts such as focused use of information and communications technology (ICT) during stabilization and reconstruction missions, connecting persons in emergency or post-disaster situations, and communicating messages in foreign countries as part of public diplomacy efforts. It also includes functions like using multimedia and social media for better communication with citizens as part of public affairs.’" Image from

Updates for Georgia, Lebanon, and Syria: Georgia - Middle East and Eurasia Political Analysis: "The best thing the government [of Georgia] has going for it right now is that the opposition remains somewhat divided. Interestingly, the government created a Twitter account just in time for the protest, presumably to put its own spin on the events. It will be interesting to see if they continue to make use of this new outlet for public diplomacy."

Mo[l]odova's "Twitter Revolution" - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Web 2.0 - Darren Coen’s Blog: "Public diplomacy ... Web 2.0 initiatives have been employed in public diplomacy for the Israeli government. The country is believed to be the first to have its own official blog, MySpace page, YouTube channel, Facebook page and a political blog. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs started the country's video blog as well as its political blog."

Honduran president to sue ex-US diplomat for slander - Thaindian News: "Honduran President Mel Zelaya has said that he will sue former US diplomat Otto Reich for slander after the erstwhile official said Honduras’ leader had condoned corruption at state-run telephone company Hondutel. … Noting that Reich is currently representing US telephone companies seeking to do business in Honduras, the president said his accuser had a personal financial stake in the matter at hand. … As head of the US Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin American and the Caribbean between 1983 and 1986, the Havana-born Reich ran illegal covert operations in support of the former Nicaraguan Contras, a label given to various rebels groups opposing Nicaragua’s military government (Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction) between 1979 and 1985." Image from

Playing Nation Branding - Nina, Perspectives on Public Diplomacy: "From a nation branding perspective I would argue that there has definitely been effort put into reshaping the perceived image of Germany and reframing the country as a technological-savvy and wine growing country."

RELATED ITEMS

No Pain No Gain Taking the fight to the pirates - Seth Cropsey, Weekly Standard: The principles that are being tested in Iran and off the coast of Somalia hold no matter how many Americans are wrongfully detained by hostile governments or international outlaws: the United States is obliged to protect its innocent citizens. Failing to do so effectively invites more and bigger trouble.

Obama and Habeas Corpus -- Then and Now - Glenn Greenwald, Salon: If there was any unanimous progressive consensus over the last eight years, it was that the President does not have the power to kidnap people, ship them far away, and then imprison them indefinitely in a cage without due process. Has that progressive consensus changed as of January 20, 2009? I think we're going to find out.

New Rhetoric for Old Wine?: Obama's Afghanistan Plan and India-Pakistan Relations - M. Reza Pirbhai, CounterPunch: Particularly since the Bush administration began missile strikes on Pakistani targets, and Obama has continued this policy with deadly effect, editorial and opinion pages in the Pakistani press have been screaming that such violations of Pakistani sovereignty are part of a US plot to destabilize, invade and extract Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities, while transferring nuclear technology to India.

Talking Peace in Prague, Dropping Bombs in Pakistan: Hard Rain Keeps Falling - Chris Floyd, CounterPunch

Return to What Negotiations? - Gordon Prather, Antiwar.com: Iran has nuclear rights.

The Vietnam War lesson we must remember when Afghanistan votes: Saigon's rigged presidential election undermined U.S. efforts decades ago; similar corruption in Kabul can only aid the Taliban today - Rufus Phillips, Los Angeles Times

China's Threat to the US Is Exaggerated - Ivan Eland, Antiwar.com

Cuba, the Low-Hanging Fruit for Obama, Braces for Change - Richard Walden: Huffington Post:

Changing U.S. policy towards Cuba is the low-hanging fruit on President Obama's foreign policy agenda. Change can be accomplished at the stroke of a pen. Image from

The power of horror in Rwanda: Fifteen years ago, efforts at genocide killed about 800,000 Rwandans. Now that tragedy is providing the government with a cover for repression - Kenneth Roth, Los Angeles Times: The challenge for world leaders 15 years after Rwanda's genocide is to overcome guilt and look beyond the enforced peace of the Kagame government to build the foundation for more organic, lasting stability.

America’s Imperial Wars: We Need to See the Horrors: - Dave Lindorff, Common Dreams: Even today, most Americans oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not because of sympathy with the long-suffering peoples of those two lands, but because of the hardships faced by our own forces, and the financial cost of the two wars. Image from

Graphic Content Shepard Fairey Is Not a Crook - Steven Heller, New York Times:

Even before Shepard Fairey’s Barack Obama “Hope” poster became the focus of legal and ethical scrutiny -- for Fairey’s use of Mannie Garcia’s A.P. news photo as the basis of the now ubiquitous image — some design critics and practitioners had already questioned the street artist’s habit of “sampling” existing imagery. But Fairey’s image-making follows the lead of earlier rogue art and design movements, like Dada in the 1920s or psychedelia in the 1960s, as well as the Situationalists in the 1970s, and even the retro/postmodernists (i.e., designers who borrowed passé commercial art styles) in the 1980s and 1990s.