June 15

“Every working hand on its feet!"

--Bulgarian propaganda slogan during its Communist era; image of "1962 USSR Propaganda cover travel to Bulgaria" from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Obama Effect - Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker: "Three days after President Obama’s address to the Arab and Muslim world, voters in Lebanon went to the polls to elect a new parliament. … The moderate coalition, routinely described as pro-American and pro-Western, took seventy-one seats to just fifty-seven for Hezbollah and its allies. … The words of an American President … were not necessarily foremost in the minds of the Shiites, Sunnis, Druze, and Christians of many theological varieties

and political persuasions who lined up to cast their ballots and dip their thumbs in ink. But most analysts (they’re indefatigable) agreed that Obama’s speech, and the carefully constructed edifice of public diplomacy of which it was the keystone, was a factor in the outcome. … Change is in the Tehran air, and the American President’s openness is part of it. … The President’s words in Cairo were inspiring and indispensable. Whether, years from now, they will be remembered with pride or with pity, with admiration or with mockery, is something that no one, not even most analysts, can say." See also. Image from

Iran: a primer - 孔夫子, the Œcumenical Volgi (The Notorious ŒV), The Gormogons: "Given we’ve got the 'smart power' crew in office—which is to say the New & Improved 'Soft Power'® crew—one would think that we’d be using public diplomacy and rallying international opinion and cooperation (perhaps coupled with covert action) to push the situation [in Iran] in a direction we’d like it to go. But things are awfully quiet these days. No radio address from President Obama. No speech to the Iranian people. Not much at all. Is this because the riots are inconvenient and we’d prefer the devil we know as an interlocutor, or because we genuinely don’t know what we want?"

Krauthammer's Super Snark – Michelle Cottle, The Plank, New Republic: "Obama isn't contending that life here isn't immeasureably better for women here than in Tehran or Kabul; he's simply not posturing that we're perfect. Once again we seem to be stuck on this popular conservative position that any leader's public admission that this country is not a 100% wart-free (even though I'm pretty sure this isn't a secret to most of the globe) is tantamount to equating America's behavior/morals with despots or terrorists. ... primwallflow said: The conservative obsession with moral equivalence is buffoonish and proof that they've completely lost the ability to distinguish between acts of negotiation and public diplomacy." Image from

H.R. 2410: Little Devils in the Details – DS, Diplopundit: "H.R. 2410 Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 passed quickly in the House last week. Of the twenty-seven amendments proposed for this bill, twenty –three were accepted. This bill passed the House 235-187, 11 not voting with 92% of Democrats supporting, 97% of Republicans opposing. You can track the progress of this bill here . One of the amendments that strike me as odd is below. (3) H.Amdt. 183 by Rep. Polis [D-CO2] An amendment numbered 3 printed in part C of House Report 111-143 to broaden the experience within the Foreign Service and encourage Foreign Service officers to pursue a functional specialty by making it mandatory to develop a functional focus during an officer's first two years as well as creating a more diverse promotions panel where functional and regional specialists are evenly distributed. It requires the State Department to make materials from libraries and resource centers, including U.S. films available over the Internet when possible and for the advisory commission on public diplomacy to gauge the effectiveness of online outreach authorized under section 214. Proposed: Jun 10, 2009. Accepted: Jun 10, 2009. (italics added) … . Don’t get any heartburn yet -- this bill has just landed in the Senate; we can’t really say how this is going to look like after it gets a work over in there. But I hope the Consular Bureau is paying attention."

The Iranian election, ensuing unrest, and international media - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Mentions, inter alia, Radio Farda.

Visa Waiver-Vulnerability

or Valuable Anti-Terrorist Tool? - James Jay Carafano, SitRep, Global Security: "The report titled, 'Visa Waiver Program: A Plan to Build on Success' examines the numerous security improvements that have been made to the program since 9/11; the economic benefits of participating in VWP; and the value of the initiative to public diplomacy and America's reputation abroad. Image from

Interview (English version): America.gov, public diplomacy 2.0, citizen ambassadors – Netpolitique: "Following our recent interview of Ms. Chounet-Cambas, from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we further explore the topic of diplomacy & social media with this interview of Tanya Brothen, New Media Officer for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs."

The Story of a Culture: Who are *You*? Who are *We*? – Rita J. King, DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: "Hello, members of the digital culture, wherever you're from in the physical world! I'm on a panel at the #140conf on Wednesday, and I'm going to use *us* as an example of what I mean when I say 'digital culture exists first in the physical world.' … On Wednesday, I'm planning to make a very brief but direct case for why the digital culture is the ultimate tool for public diplomacy at a time of unprecedented collaborative creativity. I'd love to hear from all of you about how you view the global tribe you've come to find within the digital culture. Who are you? What does it mean to be a member of the digital culture?" King image from article.

Canada must shift gears eastward - Rana Sarkar, Globe and Mail: "Canada needs to get ahead of its peers with a co-ordinated public diplomacy strategy enabling us to tell a compelling 21st-century Canadian story, streamlining the cacophony of messages from our various levels of governments. We need to build on our weapons of mass attraction: our immigration system, cultural production and higher education. This means focusing on both short-term and long-term initiatives to improve our brand awareness and loyalty amongst new leaders who know little about us."

Commentary: Bangsamoro Governance: Culture of Co-existence in Islam - Datu Michael O. Mastura, MindaNews: "Ankara’s public diplomacy does not remain hostage to history, however, it takes pride as heir to the legacy of the Ottoman Empire. As a dynamic modern Republic, Turkey has made substantial inroads in mediating roles (or back channel talks) to initiate strategic partnership in key issues in the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia."

Between science, diplomacy and Ambalat dispute - Bantarto Bandoro, Jakarta Post: "The initiative of our legislative members to visit Malaysian policy makers … is positive in its essence. This public diplomacy opportunity … highlighted the constructive partnership between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, a friendship which so far has been the underlying spirit of ASEAN cooperation." Image from

Brussels, Belgium-More Than Just Belgium Waffles - Barton J. Taylor, Marshall Memorial Fellowship-Europe 2009: "After a seven hour flight where day and night transformed within three hours, we’ve now touched down in Brussels, Belgium-home of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization-I told you I was going to find out who this NATO was), the European Commission and the European Union. … [W]e had a lunch meeting with NATO officials-Jonathan Parish, Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of the Secretary General and James Snyder, Public Diplomacy. The conversation featured discus sions on the role of NATO-past, present and future and how since 9/11/2001, the focus has included security issues west of the Atlantic Ocean."

WORKING IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

--Image from

[On Work - Part I] Hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance? - M.J. Pham, Commonalities: "But there is just something about Public Diplomacy work at the Embassy that fits me. I'll write another post soon with my day to day schedule and updates. Just some highlights: I was lucky enough to get to draft the Ambassador's speech for our Fourth of July event and I'm going to observe the Khmer Rouge Tribunal tomorrow."

A Little (or a Lot) on the FSOT - 27monthswithoutbaseball, The Further Adventures...: "I had applied for Management [in the US Foreign Service] after meeting the Administrative Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Rabat (a friend of the Peace Corps Administrative Officer), who loved her job. But as I read more about it in preparation for the Oral Assessment, it sounded to me too much like fixing window screens – sure, it’s more than that, but facilities is part of it and that doesn’t excite me. The other tracks are Economic (working on getting business abroad for American businesses and on tracking/influencing economic policy), Politics (monitoring the politics of the country and again influencing policy – everything but economic, I guess) and Public Diplomacy (outreach to the locals to present America and American values). The last one might be more up my alley but the Administrative Officer mentioned that those people are at events all the time and she had a life – I too want a life outside of work!"

Final Assignment, Spring 2009 – Ren’s Micro Diplomacy: "Here’s my final assignment from my first Public Diplomacy course. We were asked to choose an act of terrorism, briefly discuss the event, and analyze the government/media/public reaction. I focused on the 2004 Madrid train bombing, and the election a few days later. Our professor asked us to keep them around 12 pages, so I kept the scope relatively narrow to stay within the requested length."

RELATED ITEMS

Muted Response Reflects U.S. Diplomatic Dilemma - Scott Wilson, Washington Post: The confused aftermath of Iran's presidential election is complicating the Obama administration's planned outreach to the Islamic republic and underscoring the challenges facing the president's new approach to the Middle East based on shared values and common interests. Image from

The Iranian People Speak - Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty, Washington Post: Iranians view their support for a more democratic system, with normal relations with the United States, as consonant with their support for Ahmadinejad. They do not want him to continue his hard-line policies. Rather, Iranians apparently see Ahmadinejad as their toughest negotiator, the person best positioned to bring home a favorable deal -- rather like a Persian Nixon going to China.

Some Good in a Bad Election - Anne Applebaum, Washington Post: In part because it intuitively disdains anything President Bush admired, in part because it doubts the efficacy, the Obama administration has deliberately stayed away from the whole idea of promoting democracy in general and elections in particular. The impact of democracy -- even halfway, tentative, incomplete democracy -- is unpredictable. Which is of course why dictators try to control it in the first place.

Ahmadinejad: Iranian people will not be intimidated: Reelected Iranian president responds to accusations of election fraud, says vote was 'example for democracy,' blames Western media of waging 'psychological warfare,' adds it has no right to contents results - Dudi Cohen, YnetNews; image from

Jihadist calls for 'Facebook invasion' – WAToday: A member of an Islamic jihadist forum who urged supporters last week to wage a "YouTube invasion" by uploading propaganda videos has called for a similar attack on popular social network Facebook. The SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based monitoring service, reported on Wednesday that the appeal for a "Facebook invasion" was made on Tuesday on al-Faloja, a password-protected jihadist forum.

Netanyahu's Latest Propaganda Offensive - Press Release: Rabbi Michael Lerner, Scoop.co.nz: Progressive Jews Reject Netanyahu's Latest Propaganda Offensive.

Media Matters: 'Huffington Post spreading anti-Semitic hate' Report finds site being used for propaganda, wild conspiracies - Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily

Torture, the painful truth: It may be a blow to our self-image, but torture has been part of the American way for decades - Ben Ehrenreich, Los Angeles Times: Torture, after all, is a venerable American tradition. If not quite as homespun as apple pie

[image from] or lynching,

[image from], it is at least as old as our imperial aspirations.

In 1902, Teddy Roosevelt himself wrote with laconic praise of "the old Filipino method." Image from

Ambassadorships for Sale:

The Few, the Proud - the Maxed Out – Julie Steinberg and Holman Jenkins, Wall Street Journal; image from

IMAGES

New cloud type? It would be 1st since '51 -

Judy Keen, USA TODAY: Meteorologists are deciding whether to ask the World Meteorological Organization to recognize the undulus asperatus, Latin for "turbulent undulation."