April 9

“There were Italians, Finns, Jews, Negroes, Shropshiremen, Cubans – anyone who had heeded the voice of liberty – and they were dressed with that sumptuary abandon that European caricaturists record with such bitter disgust. … But this, as I say, is my own country and in my opinion the caricaturist who vilifies the old lady in shorts vilifies himself.”

--The character Moses in John Cheever's “The Death of Justina”; cited in Times Literary Supplement, April 3, 2009, p. 5; Cheever image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

In Pd, Obama Shows That Style Is Substance - Rob Asghar, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "In PD, style is substance, though President Bush never seemed able to fully grasp this.

Bush’s style signaled an America that the world distrusted --a provincial and prickly one that presumed that what was best for America was best for the world. Obama’s style recalls the America that the world most respects and envies -- a multicultural person who rose from obscurity, through opportunity, to build bridges rather than walls among peoples." Image from

Global diplomacy aside, Obama gets to work back home - Ljubomira Kalcheva, Visitbulgaria.info: "Obama's overtures to foreign leaders and their public were largely designed to re-set relations after a tumultuous eight years under former president George W Bush, whose policies and attitude towards the international community were widely condemned abroad. The focus of Obama's trip 'was as much about public diplomacy as about the concrete policy agenda,' according to Charles Kaplan, an expert on Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. Obama sought to capitalize on his popularity around the world with a series of townhall-style meetings, in addition to his talks with world leaders." Image from

President Obama and Middle East Expectations - Amr Hamzawy, Marina Ottaway, Gamal al-Ghitany, Salah ad-Din al-Jourchi, Khaled al-Hroub, Mustapha al-Khalfi, Carnegie Middle East Center: "Carnegie’s Amr Hamzawy and Marina Ottaway … conclude: 'Obama’s election was a public diplomacy triumph for the United States, the first real success the United States has won in the Arab world in a long time, and probably the most important one since President Eisenhower backed Egypt’s efforts to regain control of the Suez Canal in 1956. Yet the success could prove short-lived: Arabs were reacting to concrete change, not to words, and are likely to revert to the old hostility unless Obama’s words are backed by concrete changes in U.S. Middle East policies.'" Image from

Obama Protection 6 – Cryptome: "Pledging respect for Islam, Obama turned to public diplomacy on April 7, meeting religious leaders and students and touring ancient monuments in Istanbul on the second day of his first visit to a mainly Muslim nation."

U.S. Drones Helping not Hindering Islamic Insurgency in Pakistan – American Security Project: “An article today from McClatchy (Do U.S. drones kill Pakistani extremists or recruit them?) further bolsters the claim that drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal regions may be doing more harm that good. … Earlier this year, Bernard Finel wrote a blog here, suggesting similarly that the attacks were a public diplomacy consequences were disastrous and at best strategically ineffective.” Image from

Hillary Clinton: "RFE/RL is smart power" – RFE/RL. See also John Brown, "Smart Power In, Public Diplomacy Out?," Notes and Essays

AFRICOMWatch Exclusive: First Details of Operation Objective Voice! - AFRICOMWatch: "AFRICOM has deployed Military Information Support Teams in several African countries and has conducted additional information operations in other nations on the African continent. An AFRICOM official, responding to an inquiry from this blog, was providing the first-ever public details of OPERATION OBJECTIVE VOICE (OOV), known previously as OPERATION ASSURED VOICE - AFRICA (OAV-A). The operation has been described by AFRICOM as 'an operation that strikes at the heart of violent extremist ideology... where multiple agencies partner with African governments to broadcast messages to counter extremist propaganda.' The operation also involves the deployment of Military Information Support Teams, known as MISTs. According to the AFRICOM official, the aim of these information activities is 'to influence the information environment in a way that reduces the effect and influence of Violent Extremist Organizations and their ideology.'" Image from

Guest Post: Must. Be. AWESOME! - Christopher Dufour, MountainRunner: "America's strategic communication / public diplomacy / IO / PSYOP / whatever-you-want-to-call-it apparatus is broken. Everything is wrong. Foreign Affairs Officers consorting with PSYOPpers.

Nothing new in that observation. … In terms of our communication apparatus, we shouldn't be striving for one concerted voice. We should be striving for a CHOIR. We should be assembling an ALL-STAR CAST with an AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR. We should be forming a ROCK BAND with all our combined GUITAR HEROES. We should be AWESOME!" Image from

ROTC back at Harvard in the near future?– Starbuck, Wings over Iraq: “In order to conduct public diplomacy between both the military and the civilian policymakers, shouldn't we invite our future military leaders to network with the future leaders of government and business?”

A Bit On FLG's View Of International Affairs – Fear and Loathing at Georgetown: "We need to balance our short-term, narrow national interests with the longer-term benefit of more democracies. Also, we need to be judicious in our use of force for democracy promotion and creative in our use of other methods such as propaganda, public diplomacy, educational exchanges, etc."

2746 Joseph P. Duggan, “How and Why to Write Effective Speeches”, Lecture to students of communication and international relations at Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Estado de México, March 27, 2009 – octavio islas: "I wrote my share of policy speeches, but I often deliberately picked what Aristotle and company called 'epideictic' speeches.

For example: a toast to the King and Queen of Spain at a white-tie dinner for the National Gallery of Art. Or remarks on the White House lawn at the departure ceremony for the President of Costa Rica. These sorts of things never drew much press attention. The Machiavellians on the White House staff called these 'Rose Garden rubbish' but I saw in them potential to offer the mot juste in public diplomacy and to make a few baby steps in the direction of greater beauty and civility and international and intercultural understanding in the world." Image from

The Japanese government, parliament, and bureaucracy should become much stronger proponents for human rights in Asia: HRW; Japan: Speak out for Human Rights; Human Rights Watch Opens Tokyo Office to Focus on Asia Rights Issues - Human Rights Watch: "'One of our most important tools for defending human rights is our capability to persuade powerful governments to use their leverage on behalf of victims of human rights violations,' said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, who is in Tokyo for the opening [of its Tokyo office]. … 'For Japan to promote human rights successfully and be taken seriously internationally, it needs to use a mixture of private and public diplomacy,' said Roth. 'Too often, as with the current crisis in Sri Lanka, Japan's voice is missing when it could be a powerful force to protect people from harm.'" See also. Image from

Understanding the EU: Student Exchange Center to open in Taiwan – Manith, Perspectives on Public Diplomacy

Where the power lies… - CB3Blog: "Every year PRWeek produces the ‘Power Book’ - the definitive guide to the most influential people in Public Relations (CB3 has yet to grace the pages of said publication!). It includes the likes and dislikes of 100 of the UK’s finest - and can be indicative of trends in communications - i.e it’s what the big boys are thinking and saying. Now, there are a lot of people in communications who may not often glance through a corporate PR magazine - especially those in public diplomacy, information operations and public affairs. So, although this will be a little UK-centric, CB3 just thought it would be useful to provide a quick resume of what the PR powerbrokers are really into …." Image from

Libya's Gadhafi marks 40th year with succession unclear: Likely dynastic rule would emulate other Arab regimes - Iason Athanasiadis, Washington Times: "The change in course toward economic liberalism, if not political reform, may be related to the question of succession to Col. Gadhafi. One of his seven sons is expected to follow him, in keeping with a trend of Arab socialist republics turning into quasi-monarchies. … Until 2007, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, an urbane graduate of the London School of Economics, led Libya's public diplomacy abroad. However, he is said to be unpopular with Mr. Mubarak, who doubts that Saif al-Islam, 37, can control Libya's powerful tribes.” Saif al-Islam Gadhafi image from

As If I Don't Already Have Enough to Do... Email From The Embassy: “... now I have a job. I was just hired on as a sort of a temporary roving employee at the Embassy. Basically, whenever they have projects that need doing on any of the main cones (Political, Public Diplomacy, Econ), they can call me and offer me the project. If I like it, I take it.“

RELATED ITEMS

Envoy laments weak US knowledge about Taliban - Robert Burns, AP: Reconciling moderate Taliban elements with the Afghan government and isolating the hard-liners is a key element in the new U.S. approach to Afghanistan. Another is improving the U.S. counter-propaganda operation in Afghanistan, which veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke said would be "one of the most important things we do" in the months ahead. Holbrooke image from

Extremist Web Sites Are Using U.S. Hosts: Ease and Anonymity Draw Taliban, al-Qaeda - Joby Warrick and Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post: The odd pairing of violently anti-American extremists and U.S. technology companies continues elsewhere and appears to be growing. Intelligence officials and private experts cite dozens of instances in which Islamist militants sought out U.S. Internet firms -- known for their reliable service and easy terms that allow virtual anonymity -- and used them to incite attacks on Americans. … "You can learn a lot from the enemy by watching them chat online," said Martin Libicki, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp., a nonprofit research organization. Libicki said the bloggers rarely spill secrets, and most are "probably using this more for public affairs rather than recruitment." "Public affairs," in many cases, means blatantly anti-Western invective and propaganda.

The meaning of words - Cal Thomas, Washington Times: In his soothing words to the Islamic world, it would have been useful to hear Mr. Obama challenge Muslims to put their own house in order and evict extremists from it.

Will Islam Return Obama's 'Respect'? – Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal: The "respect" Mr. Obama promised to give Islam is going only in one direction. And he knows that.

Bow-ow-ow: Obama's painful missteps - Camille Paglia, Salon: Obama's staffing problems are blatant -- from that bleating boy of a treasury secretary to what appears to be a total vacuum where a chief of protocol should be. There has been one needless gaffe after another -- from the president's tacky appearance on a late-night comedy show to the kitsch gifts given to the British prime minister, followed by the sweater-clad first lady's over-familiarity with the queen and culminating in the jaw-dropping spectacle of a president of the United States bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia. Image from

Obama and the King – David Pryce-Jones, National Review: President Obama’s tour round the world has been absolutely surreal, as he could not stop making promises he is in no position to fulfill, or apologizing for perceived American misdemeanors he is in no position to prove, never mind redress. Surely the unforgettable highpoint of this festival of illusion was in London, when Obama encountered King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. It’s an accepted courtesy to royalty to make a little nod with the head, but film and photographs show Obama bending from the waist in a gesture of humble obeisance, as it were, acknowledging his inferior status.

Obama Honeymoon Over/Too Many Gaffes, Too Few Changes - Allen L Roland's Radio Weblog - President Barack Obama bowing to Saudi King Abdullah during the G-20 Summit.


Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs because that act signifies the monarch's power over his subjects.

Why Is Obama Apologizing for America? - Nicolle Wallace, Daily Beast: “Europeans aren’t better than Americans -- so I can’t figure out why our president is saying sorry to them instead of explaining what makes our country great.” Image from

Obama should define rights of suspected terrorists held by U.S. abroad: To avoid the mistakes of the Bush administration, the president must institute new detention procedures or risk having the courts tie his hands – Editorial, Los Angeles Times

Obama Should Listen to Iraqis, Not Lecture Them: If Obama just asked Iraqis on his flying visit, he would find they think the US is part of the problem and should leave them to it - Jonathan Steele, The Independent/Common Dreams: The truncated four-hour visit's message was that little had changed in US-Iraqi relations. Image from

A Responsible Afghan Strategy - Lawrence J. Korb & Sean E. Duggan, Nation: Unlike the war in Iraq, which was always a war of choice, Afghanistan was and still is a war of necessity. Vital US interests remain at stake in the country.

Obama's Bold Iran Move - Jacob Heilbrunn, Huffington Post: The Obama administration's announcement today that it will directly participate in meetings with Iran about its nuclear program is not appeasement or capitulation or kowtowing or any other unflattering term that holdouts on the right will deploy. Instead, it is an overdue move.

Iran Is Making Fools of Everyone - Mort Zuckerman, Huffington Post:
It is not that the Iranians don't want to talk -- they do. That's all they want to do, playing for time. The only thing that has happened after five years of negotiations is that Iran is five years closer to achieving deliverable nuclear weapons. Image from

Israel Cries Wolf - Roger Cohen, New York Times: Barack Obama should view Benjamin Netanyahu’s fear-mongering over Iran’s nuclear ambitions with skepticism, rein him in and pursue Washington’s opening toward Tehran.

World Without End, Amen: Why Obama's stance on nukes makes me sleep better at night - J. Peter Scoblic, New Republic: The president's speech in Prague last weekend on nuclear policy was about as un-Bush-like as you can get. What was most significant about Obama's speech was less the call for disarmament than his demonstrable commitment to arms control and cooperative security. Image from

On Obama's Foreign Policy: An overture to Cubans – Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle

Coddling Cuba: Why do the members of Congress rushing to befriend the Castros ignore the island's pro-democracy movement? – Editorial, Washington Post: As long as Congress is shunning Cuba's democratic opposition the regime will have no incentive to compromise.

Wrong Again: Empire in Bosnia - Nebojsa Malic, Antiwar.com: Clearly, both the U.S. and the EU were wrong about Bosnia in 1992. They are wrong about Bosnia now. And they have been wrong about Bosnia every step of the way in between. Image from

A bipartisan moment on foreign policy - Doyle McManus, Baltimore Sun: Mr. Obama, the presidential candidate with the most liberal voting record in the Senate, has turned out to be a determined centrist when it comes to foreign policy.

America: a superpower no more: Decline is occurring more rapidly than we think. It's time to embrace a new agenda - Walter Rodgers, Christian Science Monitor:

It's time to lower our geopolitical sights and end America's unrealistic crusade. We shouldn't expect "them" to want to be like "us." It took years for the US to recover its moral authority after Vietnam. It will be an even harder comeback this time. Image from