November 10

"He was willing to accept a job as lead supervisor in shipping and receiving, even though he has a degree in international relations and public diplomacy."

--The Janesville Gazette (Wisconsin), regarding Christian Lopez, who prepares packages for shipment at Professional Power Products of Darien; image from article

VIDEO

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: 21st Century Statecraft

EVENT

Communication Roundtable - Winning Hearts and Minds: American Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century a Johns Hopkins University Date: 11/16/2009
via ninjaclectic: .@JohnsHopkins

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

International letdown - Helle Dale, Washington Times: "Once in office, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton emphasized a new era of communication with audiences worldwide. Public diplomacy had been a problem area for the George W. Bush administration, but the new administration pushed its message aggressively to young audiences via the new media, Internet and cell-phone technology. Marketing the personal appeal of the president to audiences in Africa and the Muslim world seemed especially promising.

Being personally popular and publicly apologetic about the United States may be enough to win a Nobel Prize, but it's no way to conduct effective foreign policy. Indeed, setting the bar of expectations so high has actually created a problem. Even media solidly on the side of the Obama administration have started to notice. … What about institutional means of transmitting U.S. policy to foreign publics - as well as foreign leaders? The administration is still working on that. The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review process has just begun. The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees Voice of America and other U.S. international broadcasting services, remains in limbo. The terms of all nine board members have expired, and the White House has made no nominations to fill the posts. Such inaction typifies the Obama administration's failure to engage substantively in public diplomacy - despite all the president's appealing imagery, symbols and oratory." Image from

US committed to Pakistan: Holbrooke - Anwar Iqbal, DAWN.com: "Mr Holbrooke said that in Pakistan, Mrs Clinton ‘embarked on two trips at once’, the private meetings with the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister, the military and the opposition. But at the same time, she also did massive public diplomacy, making herself available to editors, television, radio, Fata leaders, students, women and business leaders, and ‘very hostile journalists, very aggressive sceptical journalists’, said Mr Holbrooke. ‘In every discussion, when there was a disagreement — and there were plenty of disagreements — she said, in effect, the same message: We are friends who have some disagreements.’"

Testing Pak-US Ties - Maleeha Lodhi, Khaleej Times: ‎"The US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan was a striking and impressive display of public diplomacy. Rarely has a visiting American official, much less a secretary of state, reached out to speak directly to such a wide cross section of Pakistanis.

Ms Clinton’s energetic three-day trip aimed to reset the tone of an increasingly troubled bilateral relationship. How far this diplomatic mission to 'clear the air' helps to narrow the trust gap between the two countries is another matter." Image: Hillary Rodham Clinton, second right, prays together with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, right, in front of the grave of the Poet Muhammad Iqbal, at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore on Thursday. Photo: APAP, Islamabad

Don't Take Netanyahu to the Woodshed - Steven J. Rosen, Middle East Forum: ‎"If the president wants to avoid the appearance that a positive meeting with Netanyahu means he is deaf to Palestinian concerns, a solution is close at hand. The meeting, or at least the public diplomacy about the meeting, should be primarily about Iran, not the Israeli-Palestinian morass."

PMO: Friedman wrong about Israel - Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post: "Veteran New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman made waves in Israeli politics on Monday for suggesting that the US abandon efforts for an Israel-Palestinian peace deal. ...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's media adviser, Nir Hefetz, responded on Israel Radio that Friedman's analysis was wrong when it comes to the Israeli side but right regarding the Palestinians. ... But Netanyahu's minister of Diaspora affairs and public diplomacy, Yuli Edelstein, told Army Radio that he agreed with Friedman that the US should stop pushing for concessions to move the peace process forward." Image from

Dangerous Trajectories: Obama's Approach to Arms Control Misreads Russian Nuclear Strategy - Ariel Cohen, Heritage.org: "As the deadline for START follow-on treaty negotiations approaches, U.S. policymakers and Congress need to focus on the long-term objectives rather than the short-term goal of simply concluding arms control agreements at any price. Specifically, the U.S. should [inter alia] : ... Fight anti-Americanism with more effective public diplomacy. The Russian state-controlled media and some in Moscow's expert community are propagating a negative image of the U.S., repeatedly alleging that America wants to undermine Russian security. This often plays into the hands of those who seek to justify increased military budgets. Through the State Department and independent research institutions, the U.S. should promote a robust debate on U.S.-Russian relations, encouraging those who seek improvement. U.S. security experts should engage their Russian counterparts and the media in in-depth discussions of common security threats, such as Afghanistan and radical Islamist terrorism. Through international broadcasters, Internet communities, joint conferences, and visits of American security experts to Russia, the U.S. should engage Russian opinion leaders in debating nuclear weapons, arms control, and other defense-related subjects. The U.S. should communicate to the Russian people the truth that America is not entertaining plans to attack Russia."

Dangerous Trajectories: Obama's Approach to Arms Control Misreads US-Japan collaboration on high-speed rail - The Daniel Kliman, Japan Times: "[D]uring President Barack Obama's upcoming visit, Japan could propose a recurring dialogue on high-speed rail. ...

[T]he dialogue would serve as a powerful tool for public diplomacy. Most Japanese would view collaboration on high-speed rail as a symbol of the bilateral partnership's continued dynamism. Additionally, Japan's position of leadership in an endeavor involving the U.S. would be a source of national pride. In the U.S., the dialogue would raise Japan's public visibility." Image: Now Kawasaki Heavy Industries has unveiled plans to develop a new high-speed train which is expected to achieve a speed of 217 mph (350 kph).

Farewell and thanks - Tamara Cofman Wittes, Middle East Strategy at Harvard: "This will be my last post on MESH for the foreseeable future. On Monday I will take up new responsibilities that will take me away from the wonderful discussion that unfolds on this page. I’ll be serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, with specific policy responsibilities that include democracy and human rights (and, yes, the Middle East Partnership Initiative) along with public diplomacy."

JW 'Bill' Marriott to Receive Churchill Centre Award For Leadership - press release, SYS-CON Media: "The Churchill Centre today announced that it plans to bestow its Award For Leadership to J.W. 'Bill' Marriott

for his lifelong commitment to promoting democracy through progressive free market practices and fostering an open and transparent global business culture. Mr. Marriott will receive his award at a ceremony and dinner on Tuesday, November 10 at the Washington D.C. Four Seasons Hotel. ... The ceremony and dinner will include tributes to Bill Marriott by former Governor Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, U.S. Senator Evan Bayh, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale and former U.S. Senator Gordon Smith." Marriott image from

How VOA inspired Roman Polanski - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Not the voice to sell our values - Tim Wilson, The Australian: "Australia's support for liberal democracy, human rights and free markets is essential for a prosperous world, and the least we could do is practise them in tendering out the job to broadcast them to the world. Instead of granting the ABC [Australian Broadcasting Corporation]

Australia's public diplomacy responsibilities, Australia should have an open tender process, and include in the selection criteria the obligation to prove a strong track record of promoting Australian values. At least then, if the ABC fails in its bid, they'll only have themselves to blame." Image from

History of Public Diplomacy – Liriel, idiplomacy: "Matt Armstrong, mountainrunner.us blogger, gave a history of public diplomacy, starting off with the pronouncement: 'We are at our very heart propagandists.'”

The failure of the “diplomatic” argument - Lena, SIS 640 Communiacs: The Creative Domain Of The Fall 2009 Sis 640 [AU]: "Modern-day conduct of foreign affairs heavily depends on communication, especially when it comes to public diplomacy and non-traditional warfare. After all, it’s about perception management

and 'manufacturing consent,' be it domestic, or within a foreign public: control over info. That’s the key." Image from

International Reporting: Get Into It! –Nick, SIS640 Manic: "It becomes clear, rather quickly, from both a public diplomacy perspective and an international reporting mindset that the 'CNN Effect' is likely an unfounded myth. I find it interesting to see the differences in background ideologies between public diplomacy and international reporting as they are described in the different readings."

War on Terrorism”, more like Scare the people! -nikole.fernandez SIS640: "The Group Four Blogging Corps: In this week’s reading by Robin Brown, he explains the importance of presenting international events and how the flow of information is utilized. To do this, he uses the example of the 'War on Terrorism' that took place after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The author mentions that the United States has used three different paradigms in communicating the war on terrorism. These are: the Information Operations (IO) doctrine,

which is 'any effort to attack or defend the information necessary for the conduct of operations'; public diplomacy, which joins international broadcasting, cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, and overseas information activities; and lastly, political news management, or otherwise known as the ‘spin’, which tries to persuade the public that one side of the truth is actually the reality of it. Brown then goes on to describe the flaws of each paradigm that leads to each one’s loss of effectiveness and credibility." Image from

South Africa - Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to undertake a visit to Srilanka, 11-12 November 2009 - ISRIA: "For more information contact Chief Director for Public Diplomacy, Saul Kgomotso Molobi on 082 940 1647."

RELATED ITEMS

Why 'Surge Light' won't work- Richard Cohen, Washington Post: America has been at war there since 2001, at war in Iraq since 2003, and like Britain between the world wars, is out of both treasure and patience. Leave Afghanistan to the drones and the Special Forces. It's no way to win, but it's a good way not to lose. Below image from



The U.S. needs to teach Hamid Karzai a thing or two: The Afghan leader needs to learn how to act as a wartime leader. Perhaps George W. Bush could offer some pointers - Max Boot, Los Angeles Times: Maybe it's time for Obama to summon his predecessor -- as Bush himself summoned his own father and Clinton on several occasions -- and ask him to undertake a special mission: Give Karzai some pointers on how to be a leader in wartime.

Why die for Karzai? Does U.S. support for the Afghan president really make sense?- Tom Hayden, latimes.com: T he United States seeks to gain the military upper hand with more troops, thus strengthening a negotiating position, while at the same time curbing Karzai's desire to enter talks with his Afghan adversaries. This is the choice facing Obama: Whether to send more Americans to their graves in support of Hamid Karzai while at the same time blocking the emergent quest for peace negotiations in Afghanistan

In Defense of Hamid Karzai: Afghanistan's failures are not the fault of its president – Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal: Our failures in Afghanistan so far have mainly been our own, and they are ours to fix. To blame Mr. Karzai is to point the finger at the wrong culprit in the pursuit of disastrous, dishonorable defeat.

From Berlin to Baghdad: Will the peoples of Islam tear down their walls as the people of Central and Eastern Europe tore down theirs? – Fouad Ajama, Wall Street Journal:

Once again, there arises the question in our midst of whether political freedom, broadly conceived, can and ought to be taken to distant lands. In the George W. Bush years, American power and diplomacy gave voice to a belief in freedom's possibilities. A different sentiment animates American practice today. For the peoples of Islam, the question can be squarely put: Will they tear down their walls in the manner in which the people of Central and Eastern Europe tore down theirs? Image from

'Strategic reassurance' that isn't - Robert Kagan and Dan Blumenthal, Washington Post: No serious person would imagine a grand alliance and "special relationship" between an autocratic China and a democratic United States. For the Chinese -- true realists -- the competition with the United States in East Asia is very much a zero-sum game. For that reason, "strategic reassurance" is likely to fail.

Walker film series documents Chinese propaganda - Erin Carlyle, City pages; Minneapolis/St. Paul News Blog: One of the best ways to understand a culture is through the films it produces. The Walker's ongoing film series is the motherlode of Chinese political culture.

If you want to understand the cultural forces shaping China over the past 60 years, "The People's Republic of China: 60 Years of China on Film" will do the trick. Marked with the imprint of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution and its aftermath, the films are a fascinating look at Chinese ideas and propaganda. Image from article.