"You have been listening to propaganda. Only 640,000 people died in the prisons. Only 640,000!”
–Recently deceased General Valentin Varennikov, dismissing claims that Stalin had been responsible for millions of deaths
"Bush: 'We Don't Torture'"
--Headline, CBS News (2006)
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Steering a New Course - Editors, America Magazine: 
"President Barack Obama inherited in January a foreign policy almost as universally unpopular as the H1N1 virus. With few notable successes, such as his admirable effort to combat AIDS in Africa, Mr. Bush’s bellicose foreign agenda, rooted in the dangerous delusion of American exceptionalism, had alienated most of the world. What the new administration needed to do immediately was change the tone, extend an open hand and proffer some plain old courtesy to a weary world. Mr. Obama has done this and more, adding substance to style with hints at meaningful, constructive changes in U.S. foreign policy. In his first 100 days, the president aggressively pursued public diplomacy.'' Image from
Update on Saberi - jessturner, Media International: "U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxanna Saberi has ended her hunger strike. ... The situation with Saberi has put a strain on the Iranian-American relationship. Public diplomacy is certainly key. The US wants to protect its citizen and her rights. Iran wants to protect its right as a sovereign nation to enforce its laws. Neither country wants to lose any ground in this delicate power struggle. As the international community carefully watches the situation, it will be interesting to see the role public diplomacy plays."
Mention of "Genocide” makes US Ambassador to UN Susan Rice to get emotional - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: "When the word 'genocide' is mentioned anywhere and anytime [US Ambassador to the UN] Dr. Susan Rice gets emotional, and astute political strategists in the Western Tamil Diaspora who represent the agenda of the Tamil Tigers appropriately strike that ‘red hot iron’ identifying President Obama’s closest foreign policy advisor and his ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice as the target to ‘stump’ Sri Lanka. ... The sentiments and pronouncements in her statements will help to understand the mind-set Dr. Rice has developed about the Sri Lanka situation. And ‘discovering’ this mid-set will be important for political analysts and Sri Lankan authorities to develop countermoves to negate Global LTTE Propaganda, its unscrupulous public diplomacy and ‘strange’ strategic communication that has cost Sri Lanka some goodwill which is tied to foreign economic assistance.''
An Understanding Government report - By Mitchell Polman, Free Media Online: ''Today, questions remain as to how international broadcasting operations should be managed. As a Senator, Vice President Biden was among those most involved in the discussion. How the Obama Administration will approach international broadcasting remains to be seen, but it is likely the BBG’s [Broadcasting Board of Governors] many perceived missteps are going to lead to some changes. In these challenging times, America can ill afford such tumult in its overseas broadcasting services.'' On BBG, see
VOA Hindi, Craotian, and Greek would be eliminated in 2010 federal budget - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy
Report: expanded jamming of Radio Martí (updated) - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy
Mutual Interest, Mutual Respect - James K. Glassman Blog - "I gave a speech today at the Soref Symposium of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on 'mutual interest and mutual respect,' a felicitous phrase that President Obama has used several times. 
Marc Lynch of George Washington University, Rob Satloff of the Washington Institute, and I each talked for about 15 minutes and then answered questions in a lively session with a distinguished audience, which included Joseph Nye of Harvard, whose work on soft power has had a huge influence on me and practically everyone else in public diplomacy. I was pleased and honored to meet him. Some parts of my speech you have heard before (alas). But I draw your attention to a paragraph near the end. I want to develop the idea further: 'Let me close by adding another interest that ties in with the Grand Conversation and with mutual respect: It is to expand digital communication around the world, especially in the most vulernable places, like Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Afghanistan, sub-Saharan Africa, and more. Such expansion should be the policy of the U.S. and its allies, and it should be a smart and efficient policy, implemented with inexpensive computers, like the One Laptop Per Child Program, and mobile phones, the cheapest digital infrastructure.'” Glassman photo from his blog.
Beyond "Violent Extremism" - Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: ''Yesterday afternoon I spoke at the plenary session of the Soref Symposium, the annual spring conference of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on the future of public diplomacy and the 'war of ideas' in the Obama administration.... [L]et me just highlight a few of my key points: first, 'combatting violent extremism' is an inadequate framework for America's engagement with the Muslim world; second, the challenge today is rooted in the appeal of 'resistance', which is in turn rooted in mass, popular, and political issues rather than religious ideologies; and third, the appropriate response is not to conflate the various elements of 'resistance' into a single threat but to disaggregate them, reframe the issues and eliminate its political appeal.''
A major setback in the war of ideas - Peter Feaver, Foreign Policy:
"Now, I happen to think that the war of ideas is one policy area where the Bush administration struggled for too long. Only at the very end, when James Glassman took over lead responsibilities as Under-secretary for Public Diplomacy at State, and when he had a willing and able partner in the Pentagon through the office of 'Support for Public Diplomacy,' was the Bush administration making adequate headway.'' Image from
America’s Answer to China’s 50 Cents Party: K Street Lobbyists - Gauravonomics Blog: Gaurav Mishra’s Weblog on Social Media & Social Change: ''We know ... that the Bush government used both mainstream media and the internet for domestic and foreign propaganda during the Iraq war. In another context, we also know that public relations agencies and lobbyists in the US regularly use the internet to spin misinformation and promote their self-serving agendas. Now, the same people are beginning to work closely with the State Department and the Department of Defense to use the internet for public diplomacy. With the boundaries between public/ private, defense/ diplomacy and domestic/ foreign becoming blurred, there are serious concerns about whether public diplomacy 2.0 is merely propaganda 2.0, meant to misinform and mystify both domestic and foreign audiences."
One step taken, more to come - William Kiehl, My 
PD as Global Therapy: Can the Family of Nations Get Along? Rob Asghar - Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: ''An abundance of theories and approaches attempt to explain and predict and shape family process, with varying degrees of success. Like diplomacy, family systems theory is an emerging art, not a perfect science. But I believe it has great potential to inform formal and public diplomacy in the coming decades, and I intend to examine it more here in coming months.'' Image on Fish Therapy from
Engage: White House 2.0 continued: nchestnut, Whose Hearts & Minds does public diplomacy target? - ''In the age of cell phone cameras, instant communication and disappearing norms of privacy for public figures, it is difficult to believe that the web can be a successful tool for propaganda.''
Cal Ripken: A Shortstop In China - Baseball Ink: – "[A] documentary chronicling 1. Cal Ripken, Jr.’s inaugural overseas diplomatic assignment as US Goodwill and Sports Ambassador – will be broadcast tonight in high-definition on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) immediately following the Baltimore Orioles vs New York Yankees post-game show.'' Link has trailer of documentary. See also (1) (2)
Alarm Bells Sounded in Washington Over China's Rising “Soft Power” - Thomas Wilkins, ChinaStakes: 
“'Cyberspies' breaking into US government computers kicked off alarm bells in Washington last week at a hearing by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission entitled 'China’s Propaganda and Influence Operations, Its Intelligence Activities that Target the United States, and the Resulting Impacts on U.S. National Security.' ... 'During the course of 2007, the Chinese government began an explicit focus on 'Soft Power’ as a dimension of foreign policy,' said Dr. Nicholas Cull, Professor of Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. He described 'Soft Power' as enhancing Chinese culture 'through methods including management of the internet and investment in cultural institutions at home.' Dr. Cull said that the primary audience is global, as expressed by Shanghai correspondent David Barboza that 'China aims to create a global news empire.' However, Dr. Cull's conclusion said 'China is doing nothing wrong in its public diplomacy drive. It is wise from China’s point of view. The wrong would be for the west to ignore it. The appropriate response of the west should be to meet the overtures for exchanges in the spirit in which they are intended and to accept opportunities to know [C]hina better and facilitate China knows more the west.' 'I believe that the United States needs to expand its public diplomacy because that is the only way to effectively conduct foreign policy in the twenty first century. Anything that this committee can do to encourage the rebuilding of American public diplomacy would be a wise investment in this country’s future and the future of the ideals on which it is built,' concluded Dr. Cull.'' Image from
Citizen Diplomacy - Caroline Jaine, Public Diplomacy: How to build and manage the perception and reputation (usually of a country) to a global audience: "It is clear to me that since I left the Diplomatic Service, not only do I still represent my country, but that I can sometimes do it better." See also.
Consular and Diplomatic Representation for Small or Developing Countries - Consul.cc - "The Consular Chamber of Commerce is uniquely positioned to assist small or developing countries in selecting consular or diplomatic representation globally. ...
[C]ountries appoint honorary consuls who might be consuls who only seek the title, and are not at all experienced or interested in business diplomacy or public diplomacy. This ... is often fruitless. The best possible honorary consul for a given country is the one who will best and most actively promote that country's cultural and business interests." Image from
From Gold Farmers to Kings: Online Gaming in China - Steven P. Jefferson & Peter Winter - US-China Today:
RELATED ITEMS
Democracy at Gunpoint Guarantees U.S. Defeat - William Pfaff, Truthdig: An extremely doubtful long-term reliance on democracy development is the recipe not for a long war, but for an unending one. The people of Afghanistan and Pakistan will in the end settle it, but only after the foreigners have gone home.
Suicide Rates for U.S. Soldiers at Record High - Truthdig
Communist Propaganda - JamesBranam's Blog:
"Hi all, One of my hobbies is collecting old Communist propaganda from the former Czechoslovakia. As most of you know by now, I worked in Air Force intelligence during the Cold War. My job was to listen to Czech and Slovak pilots, tank drivers, artillery crews, etc. It was a really exciting job, believe me. If you were to enter our writers' office here at Sun, you'd see pictures like the one above. Here is the translation: 'No American agent will pass through our village.' Let's see, how many villages have I pass though? lol. If you want to see more pics, just got to http://metrotango.org. Cheers!"A Pacific Warning: Australia prepares for U.S. decline - Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal
Those French know how to live - Editorial, Los Angeles Times: A new study shows our Francophone friends are thinner, better rested, better fed and have a longer life span than Americans. Image fromMORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY:
"[S]ay I'm a seeker after truth; say I'm a lover of my kind, say I'm an author of books if you like; or, best of all, just say I'm a student."
--Henry James, father of the author; cited in Paul Fisher, House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family (New York: Henry Holt and Company) p. 114
"Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars"
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