November 7

"a useful idiot for Soviet propaganda."

--Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus, regarding Ronald Reagan; image from

BLAST FROM THE PAST

After the honeymoon: Electing Barack Obama president won't be enough to improve America's standing in the world - John Brown, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 26 June 2008

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

Remarks at No Limits Public Policy Conference Luncheon - Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Department of State: "Every conflict we have in the world today is really bound up in whether people will invest in the future, whether they will seek common ground with others, or whether they will either stay frozen or go backwards. And part of our job in the State Department is to better explain what it is the United States represents. We got a little off track over the last eight years. We’re trying to get back on track today. I was very pleased that – some of you know Judith McHale was appointed the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, and she is traveling the world, looking for the ways that we can better connect so that we can tell our story. Because everyone has a story to tell, and everyone needs to be thinking about how we better tell America’s story. Whenever I travel, as Terry said, I try not just to meet with diplomats and officials, but to go out and meet with people.

And that’s been kind of a interesting experience the last nine months, because a lot of people thought, 'Well, why are you doing that?' Well, it’s because no matter what society you’re in, public opinion matters to a greater or a lesser degree, but it matters. You can be an authoritarian dictator, but you still have to listen to what people are saying and thinking. And we needed to do some concerted work to try to create a better communication between our country and others. … I said when I got to the State Department on the very first day that I wanted to see smart power in action. And smart power requires smart people, and we have just a wonderful group of really smart, dedicated people here in the State Department, at USAID, and around the world." See also. Image from

Redesigning Pak-US relations: The Nation, Pakistan: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on her arrival in Pakistan, had said that she had come to 'turn the page' in the US-Pakistan relations. Undoubtedly, the page has yet to be turned. The Kerry-Lugar Bill was meant to win 'hearts and minds.' Therefore, she sought to clarify, dispel doubts and convince. Hillary Clinton used logic and exuded charm. She met every point raised. Certainly, it was an impressive display of public diplomacy - something Pakistan has, yet, to acquire, learn and practice. ... The controversy generated by the Kerry-Lugar Bill has done a considerable good to the people of Pakistan. For one, they are no longer willing to take things lying down."

Obama diplomacy lost in confusion – TedLipien.com: "Speaking softly to dictators while insulting faithful allies seems to be the essence of President Obama’s confused diplomacy. The Obama administration has repeatedly offended Poland’s pride in recent months, making Polish officials extremely suspicious and anxious about foreign policy and military commitments of the new U.S. administration. ... The final blow came when President Obama made his decision to cancel U.S. plans to build the anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic, and chose to announce it on the very day the Poles were commemorating the tragic anniversary of the Soviet invasion of their country. Countless public diplomacy experts in the White House and the State Department, including President Obama’s future ambassador to Poland, did nothing to prevent this completely avoidable insult.

Wired headline said it all: Dear Poland, Happy Soviet Invasion Day. Love Uncle Sam. ... President Obama had canceled his plans to attend the 20th anniversary observances in Germany of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will represent the U.S. Hoping to score a public diplomacy coup ... . Mr. Obama is too busy to Berlin to honor those who fought against communism in Eastern and Central Europe." Image from

What, perhaps, Voltaire would have advised Judith McHale regarding Public Diplomacy - John Brown, Notes & Essays: "Entertaining readers was the key to selling them books and winning their minds: he [Voltaire] didn't want their hearts. But in reality, Voltaire had always been a natural teller of tales. ... To various correspondents he explained what was required. Be brief (short, of course, but more importantly, expeditious), keep the mood jaunty (and casually louche), and above all amuse the reader ... .

Every story should have a central idea which intrigues the reader and makes him think. Be as bold as you wish, but root imagination in truth, not in the commonplaces of fiction, and do it with a lightness of touch that makes fantasy, farce, horror and even startling anachronisms chime with the reader's experience and knowledge of the world. Deal in broad types, not individuals, so that the reader is insulated against his feelings and constantly exposed to the idea, which is the point of the exercise. Never lecture, never be merely frivolous, and never triviliaze the idea at the heart of the tale." --David Coward, "To get the Beast by the tale: Voltaire and especially Candide are still 'infiniment actuel' after 350 years," Times Literary Supplement, October 23, 2009, p. 14. Voltaire image from

Marshall Islands: Ambassadors Fund For Cultural Preservation-Project Grant, Yokwe - "Marshall Islands: Ambassadors Fund For Cultural Preservation-Project Grant [:] Ambassador Martha Campbell, of the Embassy of the United States of America, to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, announcest opening of grant competition for the The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).

This annual competition supports projects in the following categories: 1. Objects and collections of objects from a museum, site, archive, or similar institution; 2. Cultural sites; 3. Forms of traditional cultural expression. Complete project proposals are due to the U.S. Embassy by THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2009. Summaries of proposed projects may be submitted to the Public Diplomacy Office at the US Embassy by THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2009 to facilitate further guidance and/or acceptance criteria to proposing agencies." Campbell image from

"Leveraging" US international broadcasting is a good way of eliminating its audience - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Revitalizing Iraq's Youth, One School at a Time - Staff Sgt. Jason Douglas, Systems: "FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, KIRKUK, Iraq – The village of Chemin, Iraq, commemorated the opening of a new primary school with a ribbon cutting ceremony, Nov. 3.Attending the ceremony was Deputy Director General of Education Fawzia Abdullah Awanis, representatives from Kirkuk's Provincial Reconstruction Team and Soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Forward Operating Base Warrior. According to Stacy Barrios, the Kirkuk PRT chief of Public Diplomacy, the project was a combined initiative between the Kirkuk PRT, the Director General of Education, and U.S. forces in Iraq, in an effort to improve the educational infrastructure and environment in Kirkuk province."

The GAO Report (Beltway Edition): Need-blind admission for the whole world 'round: Shelley Gao, The Stanford Daily: "There are many benefits to ensuring that Stanford be open to the best and brightest around the world. International diversity ensures an exciting experience of peer-to-peer learning. American undergraduates can learn firsthand about different cultures and worldviews from their international friends.

Equally important is the opportunity for Stanford to educate individuals who will return to their home countries. International students have the duty to undertake positions of public leadership and help the world understand American values and ideas. This is the most valuable way they can give back to the United States. Indeed, the 'smart power' approach in foreign policy involves an increasing focus on international education and cultural exchanges. Public diplomacy is crucial to reviving America’s global leadership and advantageous to the United States’ long-term security and strategic interests. Simple interactions have the tremendous potential to break down barriers and help us recognize our shared humanity." Stanford club baseball logo from

USC's Annenberg School for Communication Brings Soft Power to Taiwan: Part I - Jerome F. Keating's writings: "'National Security, Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Smart Power: Future Directions for Smart Nations,' isn't that a mouthful. Yet that was the long and unusual title for the conference on October 29, 2009, a conference sponsored by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). ... Ernest Wilson III, the Dean of the Annenberg School, [spoke about] trends for soft power that were global and the USA, as well as its core of unresolved issues. The need for recognition of and investment in public diplomacy (PD) in human rights as well as showing social groups are making alliances in this is important. Likewise Wilson gave comparisons between Bush and Obama in their uses of PD, but the real problem lay in the unresolved issues. Internally how will citizens exchange work and externally how soft power can be intelligently integrated with hard power, how public diplomacy faces off with trade diplomacy etc.? These remained challenges for the future.

Adam Clayton Powell III, USC Vice Provost for Globalization spoke about innovations in global PD and their implications. He pointed out how the ability of international broadcasting, internet radio and video can reach hundreds of millions and how competitive and comparative advantages must be leveraged, how NGOs must be used and how relationships with diasporas must be maintained. Powell emphasized how nations must not fight the last war but must anticipate the latest technologies from facebook, twitter etc. to the upcoming experiential media. ... Frank Yee Wang, Deputy Director of the International Information Department of the Government Information Office (GIO) spoke on the key tools of PD as Cultural Diplomacy, Global Education and International Broadcasting. But while Wang's topic was on how Taiwan should tell its story and its uniqueness, his lackluster presentation missed a clear opportunity to exemplify just that. ... The Q&A section brought up the matter of financial and political resources are involved, how the nation's leadership must be convinced and tie PD into the national interest to make the message more effective. University think-tanks should aid in convincing leadership. The irony of how the People's Republic of China (PRC) uses Confucian Centers (a name that was anathema in the Cultural Revolution) to spread its PD. Taiwan needs an agency for PD, like Great Britain has a British Council to coordinate and govern its PD." Image from

Diplomacy expert to visit MSU - news.msu.edu: "A public diplomacy expert will visit Michigan State University on Nov. 10 to explain how academia can help improve the global image of the United States. Cari E. Guittard, a nationally recognized expert on cross-culture communication, will host a lecture titled, 'U.S. Public Diplomacy and Global Engagement, Diplomatic Action and Public-Private Partnerships: Where Do We Go from Here?' … Guittard, executive director of the consulting firm Business for Diplomatic Action, believes America has lost the worldwide respect she said it used to enjoy."

Defence application communication: "The recently approved NATO Policy on Strategic Communication defines Strategic Communication as 'the coordinated and appropriate use of NATO communications activities and capabilities – Public Diplomacy, Military Public Affairs, Information Operations and Psychological Operations, as appropriate – in support of Alliance policies, operations and activities, and

in order to advance NATO's aims' (SG(2009)0794). 'It is important to underline that Strategic Communication is first and foremost a process that supports and underpins all efforts to achieve the Alliance's objectives; an enabler that guides and informs our decisions, and not an organization in itself. It is for this reason that Strategic Communication considerations should be integrated into the earliest planning phases - communication activities being a consequence of that planning.'" Image from

Toronto's Middle East proxy war: When Jerusalem's top PR man set out to rebrand his country abroad, he chose Toronto as his test market. As Michael Posner discovers, he had his work cut out for him - Globe and Mail: Toronto ...[is] home to some of Israel's harshest critics . ... Toronto is where the now-annual Israeli Apartheid Week began Moreover, in his regular rounds of public diplomacy with business and community leaders, his core message about Israel - a dynamic and secular society. ... Amir Gissin [former director of public affairs at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and now Israel's consul-general for Toronto] knows only too well how subtly the paint from his palette must be applied. Any suggestion that his government - or even other Jewish organizations - is somehow orchestrating positive coverage of Israel would immediately negate the benefits. In other words, he says, 'we can lose even when we seem to win.' ... It's to [a] more nuanced narrative - Israel as the creative incubator of quality-of-life enhancements - that Mr. Gissin thinks his target audiences will respond. 'Remember, this is not an ad campaign for mineral water or an election campaign for a politician. Rebranding has no end date. Israel is here forever. So what happens tomorrow is less important than the long term. And the more we are able to tell the truth about who we are, the more friends we will win.'"

November 9, 2009. 10:00 am -12:00 noon. Involving the Citizen in Building the New Europe – Democracy Digest: "The Delegation of the European Commission to the United States and Partners for Democratic Change are co-hosting this seminar to discuss the in what ways participation and consultation can be used to deepen citizens’ support for a united Europe and desire to be 'European'? ... Presenters include: ...

Anthony Smallwood, First Counselor and Spokesperson, Head of Press and Public Diplomacy, The Delegation of the European Commission." Smallwood image from

RELATED ITEMS

Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public - Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times: As Americans, including President Obama’s top advisers, tensely debate whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan, Afghans themselves are having a similar discussion and voicing serious doubts. The grass-roots view among Afghans is at odds with those of top Afghan officials, as well as many American military commanders, who strongly endorse a full-blown counterinsurgency strategy, including a large troop increase. These doubts do not tally with some surveys, like the poll taken by the International Republican Institute, in which a majority of Afghans appeared to be positive about Americans and said they thought that the country was going in the right direction.

Martial mythologies - Victor Davis Hanson, Washington Times: We have experienced soldiers and military leadership, a just cause and Western unity. In other words, we have everything we need to defeat the Taliban - except a commander in chief as confident about fighting and winning as he once was as a candidate.

Coup, Uninterrupted – Editorial, New York Times: The Obama administration has worked hard, if somewhat episodically, to try to resolve the political crisis in Honduras. Last week, it looked as if the administration had pulled it off. The deal is now unraveling because of the obstinacy of Honduras’s ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, and the man who ousted him, Roberto Micheletti. But we fear Washington also miscalculated that obstinacy.

Next Step in Russian PR Blitz: Rehabilitate Stalin - Nathan Hodge, Wired. below image from article