September 23

"Never mind the facts. Just give me the truth."

--A fictional Benjamin Franklin, uttering lines evidently inspired by Groucho Marx, in the play by Trevor Griffith, "A New World: A Life of Thomas Paine"; cited in Times Literary Supplement (September 18, 2009), p. 17; image from

IMAGES

Below Images from Modernizing Propaganda: Avant-Garde Postcards – Challis, Inspire 76: These images are from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection of Japanese Postcards at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. They feature some very avant-garde propaganda postcards that were distributed in world war 2.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Field: Where Foreign Policy Succeeds or Fails Public Diplomacy Today Part 4 - Patricia H. Kushlis and Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled View: "Public diplomacy’s role is to move governments by inspiring their citizens to see American goals as good for them, too. … Informational, educational, cultural—these are the co-equal mutually-supportive elements of an effective PD program.

Properly orchestrated, they enhance the overall American image, making the U.S. better understood and more attractive as an ally. … The heart of a public diplomacy program abroad has always been the American Center, a welcoming full service information operation with a good collection of American books and journals and banks of computers and a congenial professional staff to help each visitor, whatever his or her rank, make the best possible use of them. To save money in recent years, American Centers have been closed and materials have been transferred to a minuscule 'American Corner' in a local library."

Twitter Diplomacy: One-Way Broadcast or Dialogue? – Joshua S. Fouts, DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: "In conversations over the past few months with US Foreign Service officers, for forthcoming articles I am writing about the role of social media in foreign policy and public diplomacy, a theme has appeared: In the rush to use social media and appear technologically au courant, diplomats have expressed frustration that they are simply being told to use the technology without any context. … I find that Twitter's potential is maximized when it is treated as a conversation. Indeed, diplomacy and especially public diplomacy, is often most successful when the audience feels like they are being listened to. In 1992 when I was at the Voice of America, the mantra in the halls was 'from monologue to dialogue,' which was an effort to demonstrate that VOA was not just about broadcasting a message, but engaging listeners in a conversation."

Public diplomacy: Virtual Student Foreign Service - newmark: craig from craigslist indulges himself: "The State Department is really serious about using the Net to get people to reach out to people in different countries. This is the '21st Century Statecraft' stuff, person-to-person public diplomacy. I figure it's our way of reminding the world that our government and people are serious about American values again. The next step is the 'Virtual Student Foreign Service' where students considering this form of public service can actually do something real."

More Problems at State - Jobs at home – Legit work: "Josh Rogin at ForeignPolicy.com tells us about a forthcoming GAO report on the State Department.

These conditions clearly indicate major impediments to effective public diplomacy as well as demonstrate the need for Defense Department strategic communication and military public diplomacy resources (primarily, but not exclusively, MIST – Military Information Support Teams). Too many public diplomacy officers circulate only within the elite circles in their countries because of the lack of resou[rces]."

Imbalance Between Departments of Defense and State Dangerous for U.S. Foreign Policy - Vanessa Parra, Reuters AlertNet: "A shortage of qualified and available U.S. Foreign Service Officers and other personnel has created a vacuum that the U.S. is forced to fill with military personnel, said a new report by Refugees International released today. Drawing on the Full Strength of America: Seeking Greater Civilian Capacity in U.S. Foreign Affairs highlights the urgent need to build up U.S. civilian agencies in light of the severe inequity between the Department of Defense and the State Department. One example lies across the Sahel and Maghreb, where soldiers are conducting development and public diplomacy tasks because there aren't enough civilians."

The Neocons, the BNP and the Islamophobia Network - Tom Griffin, posted by Garibaldi at loonwatch.com: "The CSP [Center for Security Policy] and the Policy Forum have been endorsed by some of America’s wealthiest conservative foundations.

The Philanthropy Roundtable recommended both organisations in its 2006 publication, The Struggle Against Radical Islam: A Donor’s Guide (pdf) which criticised the US Government for failing to develop political warfare and public diplomacy programmes modelled on those of the Cold War, and called on private sector donors to fill the gap."

CNN interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "NETANYAHU: I think that people should not rush to judgment. I think that these are two new administrations, my own new government and the new government in Washington. We have found a way to communicate. I think we have resolved a lot of the issues between us. We can have differences. That happens among the best of friends. It even happens in our own families. But I think there's a growing closeness that I have found. What people don't know - and I'm not referring to the public diplomacy - but I want to tell you something about private diplomacy. There's virtually not a day that goes by that the Obama administration and my own government don't communicate on a very senior level on very important matters in a very confidential and respectful way."

Pakistan-US ties should be built on trust and confidence: FM Qureshi – Associated Press of Pakistan:

"Questioned about reasons behind rise in anti-American sentiment in the Pakistani public, the foreign minister [Qureshi] felt the US had failed in public diplomacy."

Abdullah Bin Zayed holds meetings on the sidelines of Climate Change Summit - WAM - Emirates News Agency: "The UAE minister's [H.H Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan] meeting with Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Anders Fogh Rasmussen discussed a number of security issues such as the situation in Afghanistan and joint efforts to enforce stability and security in the country. In the meeting, Rasmussen thanked the UAE for playing host for the forthcoming conference on public diplomacy next October."

CPD Conversations in Public Diplomacy -- Teresa La Porte: The Public Diplomacy of the EU – Events Details, USC Center on Public diplomacy:

"The USC Center on Public Diplomacy is proud to host CPD Visiting Scholar, Teresa La Porte, for a Conversation in Public Diplomacy. Teresa La Porte will lead a roundtable on the public diplomacy of the European Union, exploring how the EU communicates to member States. La Porte image from article."

Clinton & Congress – Kim, Scrivners:

"When I have some time, I'll have to post a bit about what I'll be doing in public diplomacy and why I chose this career path instead of teaching. (I often get confused responses and questions about how I ended up in government after studying literature for so long.)"

International Religious Freedom Report 2002 – posted at Rohingya Info Corner: "Burma has been ruled since 1962 by highly repressive, authoritarian military regimes. … In November 2000, the U.S. Government actively supported the decision of the International Labor Organization to implement sanctions against the regime based on the Government’s continued systematic use of forced labor for a wide range of civilian and military purposes. The U.S. Embassy has promoted religious freedom in the context of its overall dialog and policy of promoting human rights. This has involved numerous contacts with government officials, private citizens, scholars, representatives of other governments, international media representatives, and international business representatives. Embassy staff have met repeatedly with leaders of Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic religious groups, members of the faculties of schools of theology, and other religious-affiliated organizations and NGO’s as part of their reporting and public diplomacy activities."

Michael Kaiser’s Cultural Diplomacy: Would a ‘Pepsi Ballet’ Help U.S. Artists? – Leonard, Clyde Fitch Report: "While Kaiser [President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]argues against cultural diplomacy in the way it has been practiced, on and off, since the end of World War II, he is not suggesting that America roll up its cultural carpet and bring our talent back home.

His idea is that cultural diplomacy must be reconstituted, reframed, reimagined and reimplemented to increase our bang for the buck . … [H]e seems to suggest that the nation’s directly encourage private industry to financially support what the government cannot. … It’s difficult to imagine, for one thing, how this plays out: Would the U.S. government permit Pepsi, say, to brand itself as part of a performing-arts tour to foreign countries in exchange for sponsorship support? When the State Department pays for a visit by American artists to another land, the artists are representing the U.S. as a nation. When Pepsi pays for a visit by American artists to another land, the artists are representing, well, who?"

RELATED ITEMS

Below images from The Smithsonian Institution's an online collection of seed catalog art; via. See The Armed Propaganda Teams of Vietnam, SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.), which states: "This article will discuss the Armed Propaganda Teams of the Government of Vietnam in depth. ... The Van Tac Vu teams are mentioned in ... [an] official memorandum dated January 1968. It says in part: ... The second mission of the teams is called 'cultural seed planting,' in which the teams visit the village school and the children are taught patriotic songs of Vietnam and told in simple terms the goals of the government and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam."

Under Attack - Mark Dillen, Public Diplomacy:

Yes, the achievements of Barack Obama and his campaign staff in last year’s election can offer inspiration and ideas to political organizers around the globe. But the problem is that the same skill set can be applied to manipulate public opinion while the real news is concealed or ignored.

Exclusive: GAO report finds State Department language skills dangerously lacking - Josh Rogin, The Cable, Foreign Policy: About a third of Foreign Service officers in jobs that require language skills don't have the proficiency required to do their jobs, hurting America's ability to advocate its interests around the world, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

U.S. ambassador needed - James Mancham, Washington Times: Unlike China, Russia, India, the United Kingdom, France and even Cuba, the United States does not maintain an embassy in Seychelles. What weather conditions need to be in place for the United States to reopen its embassy and play its own role of people-to-people diplomacy? Sir James Mancham, K.B.E., is the founding president of the Republic of Seychelles.

Worst foreign policy ever – Editorial, Washington Times: Then there is the catalogue of Mr. Obama's embarrassing moments on the world stage, a list which includes: giving England's Queen Elizabeth II an iPod with his speeches on it; giving British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a collection of DVDs that were not formatted to the European standard (by contrast, Mr. Brown gave Mr. Obama an ornamental desk-pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, among other historically significant gifts);

calling "Austrian" a language; bowing to the Saudi king; releasing a photo of a conference call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which the president was showing the soles of his shoes to the camera (an Arab insult); saying "let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel's"; saying the United States was "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world"; suggesting Arabic translators be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan where Arabic is not a native language; sending a letter to French President Jacques Chirac when Nicolas Sarkozy was the president of France; holding a town-hall meeting in France and not calling on a single French citizen; and referring to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when he meant Cinco de Mayo. Also of note was Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton giving Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a "reset" button with the Russian word for "overcharge."

The Bagram difference - Equating the Afghanistan air base with Guantanamo is a mistake, but detainee rights are still a concern – Editorial, latimes.com: Inmates in U.S. custody, including Afghan citizens, should have the assistance of lawyers in petitioning for release. Detainees seized far from the battlefield should be taken into American custody, where they should be tried as terrorists, with all the protections and avenues of appeal available to criminal defendants.

Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War - Peter Baker and Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times: President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase

in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday. A shift from a counterinsurgency strategy to a focus on counterterrorism would turn the administration’s current theory on its head.

Cracks in Iran’s Clique - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: Obama officials want to be careful not to say that all they care about is a deal that neutralizes Iran’s nukes, and, if we get that, we have no problem with those in power in Tehran. That would be a rebuff of Iranian democrats.

A Middle East Handshake: President Obama is learning why Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking isn't easy – Editorial, Washington Post: The summit President Obama convened Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fell well short of the administration's hopes.

A Cold Shoulder To Liberty - Michael Gerson, Washington Post:

The Obama administration includes some very principled, liberal defenders of human rights such as U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and National Security Council staffer Samantha Power. But it seems dominated, for the moment, by those who consider the human rights enterprise as morally arrogant and an obstacle to mature diplomacy.

The Obama doctrine - Frank J. Gaffney Jr., Washington Times: Undermine our allies. Embolden our enemies. Diminish our country. Those nine words define the Obama doctrine with respect to American security policy.

Schools Look Abroad to Hire Teachers - Sam Dillon, New York Times:

Some American school districts have turned increasingly to overseas recruiting to find teachers willing to work in their hard-to-staff schools, according to a new report by a national teachers union. Courtesy LB

Conference Report: Strategic Communication in Countries Emerging from Violent Conflict – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us

The Power of 140 Characters: Twitter in the Middle East [originally posted at July 26th, 2009: Tel Aviv Notes, Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University (PDF)] posted by Tal Pavel, advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org Via