November 27

"Office of Professional Responsibility"

--A branch of the Secret Service reviewing how a Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, managed to slip into Tuesday night's state dinner at the White House even though they were not on the guest list; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Americans Are Not Oxymorons: Reflections on President Obama's Afghanistan Plans – John Brown, Huffington Post: "The USG 'public diplomacy' to persuade allies to join the Pentagon's planned additional troop deployment in Afghanistan has, thus far,

been minimal." Image from

The Dirty Dozen: 12 New Policies That Undermine America’s Civil Society - Jennifer A. Marshall and Katherine Bradley, SeeinEye Blog: "7. Using Tax Dollars to Finance Abortion Abroad. On January 23, the President overturned a policy that prohibited the use of U.S. tax dollars for family planning organizations that provide abortions and abortion counseling overseas. 58 percent of Americans disapprove of this decision by the Obama Administration, according to a February 2009 USA Today/Gallup poll.U.S. taxpayers should not have to pay to export this controversial practice abroad, where it serves as poor public diplomacy for the nation’s commitment to life and liberty."

World’s Most Influential Websites – Liriel, idiplomacy.org:

"Obviously, effective public diplomacy takes into account the technology most available to the local populations – with cell phones winning out over PCs, in many cases. Still, the 'good lessons' about how social media is creating new forms of influence are also applicable to governments and individual seeking to engage in diplomacy." Image from

A digital diplomacy community? - Stephen Hale, Digital Diplomacy, Foreign and Commonwealth Office: "Target audience for this blog: people doing digital jobs in embassies and foreign ministries. ... In the Foreign Office, we tend to use the phrases 'digital engagement' and 'digital diplomacy' interchangeably. But there is something distinct about digital diplomacy. It's something to do with the nature of foreign policy, public diplomacy, and global audiences. We're using the tools of digital engagement, but within slightly different boundaries."

Opposing UN Defamation of Religions Proposal - Abu Faris, The Spittoon: "The United Nations has continuously passed non-binding resolutions on defamation of religions since 1999.

However, for the first time ever, a UN body has now proposed a binding treaty to combat the defamation of religions. In response, over 100 NGOS from over 20 countries have signed a Common Statement protesting the resolution against the concept of defamation of religions [which states in part] ... 'Finally, legal efforts alone cannot foster an environment of respect and religious freedom. Education and public diplomacy are vital tools in the protection of a peaceful and robust exchange of ideas and beliefs.'” Image from

NATO to Haaretz: We won't play role in Mideast peace process - Amir Oren, Haaretz: Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero: "I would like to congratulate Israel for the quantitative leap in our relations and I welcome Israel's interest in furthering cooperation with NATO, especially in important areas such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, interoperability, armaments cooperation, the fight against terrorism, civil emergency planning and public diplomacy, to mention just a few."

Sizeable crowds gather to usher in Anglo civic groups - Raphael Ahren, Ha'aretz: "Two Anglo pro-Israel public diplomacy groups were launched this week in Jerusalem with panel discussions including some high-caliber speakers from the English-speaking world.

Both the new local branch of the British Zionist Federation, called European Friends of Israel, and Hadar - Council for Civic Action held their inaugural events in front of capacity crowds in the capital's Menachem Begin Center." Image from

Europe: Prevent Turkey Turning East - Ghassan Dahhan, atlantic-community.org: "Europe should be alerted by Turkey’s foreign policy shift and start treating Turkey as a respected ally, by offering Turkey real EU membership prospects. Turkey is of major strategic importance to Europe and it is up to the politicians of EU member states to alter public opinion. ... Julia Follick, Georgetown University, Gold Contributor (121)[:]Mr. Dahhan, You make a really good point about the need for increased public diplomacy within the EU. Whereas negative public opinion towards Turkey has thus far acted as a brake on constructive collaboration and progress towards eventual EU membership for Turkey, positive public opinion could do more to speed this process than any number of governmental initiatives. A concerted effort towards increased understanding and acceptance of Turkey would also improve the situation of Turkish migrants and minorities in Europe, a development that is long past due. Purposeful, targeted public diplomacy is not something European governments are accustomed to doing, but the second vote in Ireland shows that they are capable of it, and how effective it can be. I hope we see more of this in the future."

Online Course in Public Diplomacy Scholarship - The Communication Initiative Network: "The Policy Center for Roma & Minorities and DiploFoundation, supported by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

launch a call for a scholarship for an online Public Diplomacy course starting in February 2010. The selected applicant will receive a scholarship covering full tuition to attend a 10-week online course in Public Diplomacy, run by DiploFoundation, an international provider of online training in diplomacy and international relations. After completing the course, the selected candidate is offered a 2-month internship at the Policy Center in collaboration with the Department of Public Diplomacy of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Image from

Sarkozy 'very effective' in securing Polanski release - Times Online: ‎ "Roman Polanski’s family yesterday praised the role played by Nicolas Sarkozy in securing the film director’s release on bail after two months in a Swiss prison. ... Mr Polanski holds joint Polish and French citizenship and is regarded as a denizen of the Paris cultural scene where he lives with his wife and their two children. France does not extradite its citizens to the US. At first French politicians including Bernard Kouchner, the Foreign Minister, and Frédéric Mitterrand, the Culture Minister, were outspoken in their outrage at the arrest but after a couple of weeks France’s public diplomacy fell silent. Clearly efforts were going on in the background all along and have now paid dividends. Mr Polanski must turn in his passport and have a surveillance system installed at his chalet, where he will wear electronic tagging, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said in a statement."

RELATED ITEMS

What Are We Doing in Afghanistan? I’ll tell you but it’s off the record … - Domani Spero, Diplopundit:

"The Deputy Ambassador of US Embassy Kabul, Frank Ricciardone was apparently over at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University recently for an evening lecture titled, 'What Are We Doing in Afghanistan?' He sat down with The Herald staff writer Monique Vernon to talk about his life as a diplomat and about American relations with Afghanistan but requested that his lecture be 'off the record.' ... I am trying hard to be sympathetic to Ambassador’s Ricciardone’s position here. But I am having a mighty hard time. Here is one of our top career diplomats talking about what is currently our top foreign policy engagement. I am wondering on the purpose of giving a lecture titled 'What Are We Doing in Afghanistan?' if one can only explain it off the record to a limited number of seats populated by Brown University students?" Image from

He Can't Take Another Bow: An icon of a White House that is coming to seem amateurish – Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: Just as stinging as Elizabeth Drew on domestic matters was Leslie Gelb on Mr. Obama and foreign policy in the Daily Beast. Mr. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and fully plugged into the Democratic foreign-policy establishment, wrote this week that the president's Asia trip suggested "a disturbing amateurishness in managing America's power." The president's Afghanistan review has been "inexcusably clumsy," Mideast negotiations have been "fumbling." So unsuccessful was the trip that Mr. Gelb suggested Mr. Obama take responsibility for it "as President Kennedy did after the Bay of Pigs."

In Afghanistan, real leverage starts with more troops - Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan, Washington Post: Afghan governance will not improve as long as American forces are unable to provide security to the people and improve the capabilities of Afghan forces.

It will not improve as long as Afghans think that the United States is not serious about the effort. Image from

Taleban takes propaganda victories in city at heart of Afghan campaign - Kathy Gannon, scotsman.com: A mark of the Taleban's propaganda success is the widespread belief that a US missile caused a ferocious explosion that killed 41 people and flattened a block in the heart of Kandahar last August. In fact, it was a truck bomb planted by the Taleban.

Iranians in Exile - Roger Cohen, New York Times: President Barack Obama has been too weak on human rights abuses in Iran.

Watchdog warning about TV in post-Soviet states - Veronika Oleksyn, AP:

Government-influenced television is hampering democracy in Russia, Belarus and most post-Soviet countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and it could endanger international peace and security if misused as a propaganda tool, a watchdog warned Thursday. Miklos Haraszti, the outgoing media freedom representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said even TV stations that are not directly state-owned are often in the hands of people close to those in power. Image from

Dreaded Stasi propaganda film shows 5-yr-old kids simulating war games - ANI, Trak.in News: East Germany’s secret police Stasi’s propaganda film made in 1977 shows children as young as five being made to simulate war games. The film was found in the Birthler Archive, the repository of the remaining files and documents of the Stasi, which was shut down at the same time as the East German state 20 years ago.

The black and white footage entitled “The Sun Always Lives” shows boys fighting with live ammunition as shells and smoke bombs explode around them. The film features members of the Communist party’s Young Pioneer youth movement and was filmed at one of their summer camps in the resort of Lubmin am Greifswalder Bodden. Image from