January 31

“Give us bombs for peace.”

--American diplomat Richard Holbrooke, pleading for air force action in the Balkans, during a telephone call to colleagues in Washington, September 5, 1995, as mentioned in his book, To End A War (p. 132); see also.

“Serbs ... respected only force or an unambiguous and credible threat to use it.”

--Holbrooke, To End A War, p. 152. PHOTO: Richard Holbrooke with Serbian strongman Milosevic

SITE OF INTEREST

American Voices Association: American Music and Culture Abroad

John Ferguson (L),
Executive Director,
American Voices


PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Muslim world reacts positively to Obama's outreach, and expectations have been raised - Warren P. Strobel, Miami Herald: “Obama's outreach to Muslims since he took office is ‘a superb first step,’ and has undercut the propaganda of al-Qaida and other Islamic radicals, said

former ambassador Edward Djerejian, who chaired a 2003 panel on public diplomacy toward the Muslim world.” Image via LP.

What type of leader do we have? - Chuck Raasch, The News Journal, DE : “Obama's interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya indicated he will himself engage in public diplomacy, that his message will be less confrontational and that he sees both as essential parts of the presidential bully pulpit. Obama's interview drew wide praise in Arab media, but critics at home said he was too apologetic.“

Obama on Al Arabiya: more discussion (updated) - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Towards a More Effective Public Diplomacy Campaign - Arabic Media Shack: “I’m not convinced that US Public Diplomacy in the Middle East is rooted in solid grasps of how the target audience – Arabs and Muslims — view things. … I think its fruitless for US public diplomacy campaigns to try and discredit Al-Qaeda. … Simply saying nothing about Al-Qaeda is probably better than trying to make an argument to the people of the region that Al-Qaeda is illegitimate. Why? Because almost everyone in the region would reject, on principle, the idea that Al-Qaeda does not have the right to use force against the US military in the Middle East.”

Obama policies to benefit from feelgood factor – Paul Gillepsie, The Irish Times: “Even if the changes he makes are more stylistic than substantive, more to do with process and consultation than policy outputs, and even when he makes the screw-ups inevitable in any opening presidency, the fact that [Obama] is not George Bush and is good at public diplomacy will smooth the way towards a friendlier relationship with allies and adversaries alike. So argued Daniel Drezner, professor of international politics at Tufts University, a prolific author and blogger on the subject.”

More American misunderstanding of international broadcasting - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “Radio Sawa is not, or at least should not be, ‘sell,’ soft or otherwise. In the Arab World, people are generally using television for news, radio for entertainment. Radio Sawa provides a youth-oriented entertainment that draws in audiences, who are there to hear brief but reliable newscasts that provide an antidote to the anti-American propaganda coming from other sources. Reliable news in larger doses would be the job of Alhurra.”

@rmack Agrees: Obama's Outreach to China Should be Social - China Media Blog: “[T]he new US administration needs to extend its diplomatic outreach to China beyond the nation's leadership, its foreign affairs apparatus, and elites by reaching out to the Chinese people, and social media is a way to do it. … [T]he shift in thinking required to capture the potential of new media [is] simply too large for journalist-bureaucrats steeped in an old-media tradition. … . So as much as it might seem to make sense on paper to leave the government's international social media outreach to the VOA or Radio Free Asia, doing so misses the point. Turning a conversation over to an agency that is seen as the de-facto propaganda arm of the government undermines their credibility and thus their ability to conduct conversations, but more important it limits the scope and effectiveness of the online public diplomacy effort. … If public diplomacy is to be conducted over social media, we need hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of participants on both sides. … Who will win the global contest for hearts and minds depends on more than just media, but America cannot assume it will win that contest without an effort.”

What Kind Of Arts & Cultural Leader Will Obama Be? - András Szántó, The Art Newspaper: “Public diplomacy: Under Hillary Clinton, the State Department is expected to dust off the arsenal of ‘soft’ statecraft to burnish America’s image in the world. Sponsorship for cultural and educational exchanges, exhibitions and festivals, heritage and preservation could uncork funds for the visual arts. Questions abound: would Secretary Clinton recreate the United States Information Agency (which her husband’s administration merged into State)? Would public diplomacy initiatives range beyond hot zones like the Middle East? Does today’s art faithfully represent America’s positive ideals, as Abstract Expressionism was believed to have done during the Cold War?”

Grim reminder in Russia - Arthur I. Cyr, Washington Times: “The double murder in Russia of two prominent young human-rights advocates is a remorseless reminder that the Cold War may be over, but brutality has not been abolished ….

Long after the Cold War, Voice of America still has an important mission; coverage of this case should be sustained. … [D]uring the height of the Cold War the Dwight Eisenhower administration wisely promoted artistic, scientific and wider cultural/educational exchanges with the Soviet Union. A more open society is more likely to oppose the killer and the thug. Mr. Obama should indicate he's like Ike."

Innovation and Shortcomings in US Public Diplomacy – Jameson, Perspectives on Public Diplomacy: “[A] key role for public diplomacy in the context of the overall institution of U.S. foreign policy can be establishing a "constituency" for the State Department. … For instance, DoD has everything from major commercial interests to large military populations inside and outside of the U.S. that are directly reliant on the ‘business’ of the DoD. While it is not realistic to expect the State Department to develop a similar constituency, in size or type, it could be useful to consider the role of public diplomacy in informing the U.S. population and engaging it more fully in the ‘business’ of foreign policy. In other words, the new U.S. administration's notion of a dialogue and teamwork must aim inward as much as it does outward in restoring, but also transforming, America's image.”

Effective leadership judged at the polls – US Prof Errante - Njabulo Dlamini, Swazi Observer, Swaziland: “Professor Edward Errante - a specialist in American law - said elections were the most important mechanism for any society to gauge effectiveness or otherwise of its leadership. He was responding to various concerns from civic groups who had attended a digital video conferencing at the US Embassy, Public Diplomacy Section on Friday.”

One bishop’s public diplomacy - Douglas LeBlanc, GetReligion.org: “When the Episcopal Bishop of Washington participates in a conference on religion and politics, it’s not necessarily newsworthy. When that conference takes place in Tehran, Iran, and the same bishop has a private meeting with the theocratic nation’s top spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Hoseini Khamenei, it deserves more attention. Interfaith Voices, an independently produced public-radio show, featured a fine interview with Bishop John Chane [PHOTO]. At one moment Chane describes his work, which will lead to another conference in the United States later this year, as public diplomacy.”

Thoughts on Meridian International Center - U Street Girl: “The mission of the Meridian International Center is ‘advancing international understanding through public diplomacy and global engagement,’ so it’s pretty cool they also host a well-curated art gallery, donated by the Caftritz Foundation.”

Tourism industry submits proposal to Mills - Ghana Business News: “The Private Sector of Ghana’s Tourism industry under the umbrella of the Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF) has delivered a letter full of recommendations to His Excellency President Mills [. Among them:] … Synergizing the roles of the Ministry of Tourism & Diasporean Relations (MoTDR) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in promoting a consistent image of Ghana[Brand Ghana] Internationally through aggressive National Tourism Marketing & Promotion and Public Diplomacy respectively.”

West unaware Sri Lanka’s true story - Barbara Crossette Faults overseas diplomats & Colombo’s 'short-sightedness' - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: “Ms. Crossette is now a travel essayist and a freelance writer on foreign policy and international affairs. … . Iterating Sri Lanka’s failure on overseas public diplomacy and strategic communication Ms. Crossette says: ‘Sri Lanka, a small country without powerful international backers, still has not made its case in the West, where old habits and perceptions die hard.’"

UNESSO Laura W. Bush Traveling Fellowship International Travel Fellowships for Summer 2009 Application Due: March 1, 2009 - Joseph McKeen, [Bowdoin] Center for the Common Good: “This fellowship is intended for American college/university students who express an interest in international collaboration but as of yet had not been afforded many opportunities to travel abroad. The length of time for the travel is expected to be between 4 and 6 weeks and should include interaction with individuals from other nations. During his/her travel, the recipient should be willing to participate in public diplomacy events arranged with the pertinent U.S. State Department Consulate, Mission, and/or Embassy.”

RELATED ITEMS

Humbled Masters At Davos - David Ignatius, Washington Post: U.S. officials, who can't seem to resist being pitchmen at such global gatherings, mostly stayed away at Davos. The Obama administration's absence gave a "post-American" feel to the session, but that's deceiving. Barack-o-mania is as strong among the global titans as it is everywhere else.



Palestinian Myth Machine: The humanitarian crisis in Gaza evokes sympathy, but responsibility for it lies at the feet of Hama - Mona Charen, National Review

The BBC’s warped impartiality: The BBC delights in finding Palestinian spokesmen who lack media skills and whose speech is difficult to understand, while always wheeling in trained and polished Israeli PR people - Stuart Littlewood, Middle East Online

Mideast Facts 'n Spin: Time for Mitchell's Model - Avuncular American: An expatriate view of America and the world from Europe by former diplomat Gerald Loftus: Everybody's doing an assessment of the most recent fighting. Mitchell will be assessing what has changed since he last ‘did’ peace processing, and will be looking deeper and broader than the still-smoldering Gaza. For now, the after-action reports are still focusing on image, PR, spin, and public opinion.

Mr. Mitchell in the Mideast: The Obama administration would do well to follow the advice he already offered -- eight years ago – Editorial, Washington Post: Even as it builds confidence, though, the Obama administration needs to show that the United States is still committed to a separate Palestinian state, and to countering those on both sides who are working against it.

Using the Holocaust to Attack the Jews - Walter Reich, Washington Post: There's genuine anger in the Muslim world, as well as in Europe and elsewhere, about Israel's actions in Gaza. And there are also plenty of people who are angry at Israel because it stands for the reviled United States. But the reality is that much of the vitriol directed at Israel has indeed been spouted by anti-Semites.

Be Not Afraid: Terrorists rely on intimidation and deception. We can’t be fooled, and we must resist - Gabriel Ledeen, National Review: Why do democratic and liberal nations condemn Israel for fighting against terrorists who deliberately target civilians? The fundamental answer to this question is that we, as democratic and liberty-loving societies, are afraid to identify candidly the defining nature of our common enemies.

Hamas is a Mideast reality: The group has evolved dramatically as a movement that can't be wished away by the U.S. and Israel - Fawaz A. Gerges, Los Angeles Times

Samantha "We Should Invade Israel" Power Appointed To NSC – Omri Ceren, Mere Rhetoric. PHOTO: Samantha Power.

How to Export an Awakening: Afghanistan, viewed from Iraq - Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Joshua D. Goodman, Weekly Standard: None knows better than he that U.S. progress in Iraq over the past two years owes much to the rise of the "Awakening" movement, an alliance of Sunni tribesmen, Iraqi nationalists, ex-Baathists, and others united by the goal of driving al Qaeda from their country. Gneral Petraeus oversaw U.S. forces' work in partnering with, protecting, and spreading the Iraqi Awakening. Now he has presented a plan to U.S. allies to spur a similar movement among Afghans.

Holbrooke: Insensitive Choice for a Sensitive Region - Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy in Focus/Common Dreams

Options for Iraq, and for US – Editorial, Boston Globe: At best, the Iraqi elections will produce leaders who seek to insulate Iraq from the influence of overbearing neighbors, include previously excluded Sunni Arab political forces, and resolve Kurdish-Arab conflicts. That will go a long way toward creating the stability needed to facilitate the complete withdrawal of US combat troops President Obama promised.

A New Approach to Terrorism – Kerry Kennedy, Huffington Post:

We must act globally because terrorism is a global problem. But labeling those efforts as the so-called Global War on Terror has been destructive.

End of the War on Terror - Philip Giraldi, Campaign for Liberty: The war on terror has been a fiction since the phrase was first articulated by President George W. Bush nine days after 9/11.

Anywhere But Yemen: One group of Guantánamo detainees will prove especially difficult for the Obama administration - Stephen F. Hayes & Thomas Joscelyn, Weekly Standard

Jurisprudence: Cancel Water-Boarding 101 -- The military should close its torture school. I know because I graduated from it - David J. Morris, Slate: In order to ensure that the atrocities of Guantanamo aren't visited upon the world by future administrations, Obama must also eviscerate the structures that enabled and supported torture. At the top of a long list is the U.S. military's secretive torture school, known as SERE, which stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape.

Russia's Crisis I: Obama's opportunity? - Andrew C. Kuchins and Samuel Charap, International Herald Tribune:

The Obama administration now finds itself in a unique position. For the first time in nearly 10 years, the Russians have the economic impetus to work with us.

Russia's Crisis II: Confusing friend and foe - Viktor Erofeyev, International Herald Tribune: Now Russia finds itself in total isolation, losing its last allies.

Will there be a thaw in US-Russian relations? - Cathy Young, Boston Globe: Obama's policy on Russia has struck the right note, confronting autocracy but leaving the door open to partnership.

The Russians Are Coming? - Christian Cary, New York Review of Books: In reality we are not entering a "New Cold War" or anything like it. Treating Russia like an eternal enemy probably won't be very effective.

George Bush’s Gift To The World: The End of American Imperialism - David Michael Green, Common Dreams:

George Bush left us many gifts, but perhaps the greatest of them is that he has ruined the sport of imperialism in America, maybe forever. The fun has really gone out of eviscerating small foreign countries.

Speculation About Where Clinton Will Travel First - Mark Landler, New York Times: The Obama administration, officials said, is determined to spread its senior people around. With so many big names trooping off to Europe, they said, Mrs. Clinton can deliver a greater diplomatic punch by going to Asia.

Lawsuit challenges Clinton eligibility: State department officer claims Constitution bars appointee from serving

- Chelsea Schilling, WorldNetDaily

IMAGE

January 30

“A master of the damp squib and the farcical media hype, you bring dishonour even to the white shirts you wear. Intimate with the powerful, you have bathed in obscene wealth since childhood and typify what slightly low-brow magazines … continue to call the ‘caviar left’ …. A philosopher without thought but not without connections, you are also the author of the most ridiculous film in the history of cinema.”

--Michel Houellebecq (L) regarding Bernard-Henri Lévy (R); cited in The Times Literary Supplement, January 23, 20009, p. 13

DOCUMENT

What if Hamas was in your neighborhood? at; from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama's Personal 'Public Diplomacy': A Very Preliminary Assessment - Robert Satloff, Policy Watch #1467, Washington Institute for Mideast Policy: “Collectively, the new president's actions and words constitute an unusually high-profile and personalized ‘public diplomacy’ campaign to correct what he perceives as a serious strategic problem for the United States: a souring of the relationship between Washington and ‘the Muslim world.’ … It is regrettable … that Obama did not deliver his first interview to an Arab audience on al-Hurra, the U.S. government-funded Arabic-language satellite channel. … [A]s important as the president's early comments have been in setting a new tone and style to America's engagement with Arab and Muslim peoples, these statements need to be supported by officials who can translate them into policy. In relations with Arabs and Muslims -- and specifically vis-a-vis the contest against radical Islamist extremism -- this means the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, who is, by statute, effectively the U.S. government's ‘commander-in-chief’ in the battle of ideas. So far, no person has been named to fill this position, which carries national security responsibilities far beyond those of most third-ranking officials in the State Department.” PHOTO: Robert Satloff

Outreach, Yes. Apology, No. We've Never Been Islam's Enemy: - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post: “If Barack Obama wants to say, as he said to al-Arabiya, I have Muslim roots, Muslim family members, have lived in a Muslim country -- implying a special affinity that uniquely positions him to establish good relations -- that's fine. But it is both false and deeply injurious to this country to draw a historical line dividing America under Obama from a benighted past when Islam was supposedly disrespected and demonized.”

First interview choice met with excitement, enthusiasm: Obama reaches Arabs, Muslims via Al Arabiya - Courtney C. Radsch, Al-Arabiya, United Arab Emirates: “According to people in involved in the arrangements for the interview, the administration had made the decision to give the first presidential interview to an Arab television station. The U.S.-funded Al Hurra was not an option because it is not permitted to broadcast in the U.S. and has a negligible audience share in the Middle East … . The choice of venue and topic sent a powerful message not only to the Arab and Muslim worlds but also to the Arab and Muslim-Americans who felt marginalized during the campaign, when Obama was 'accused' of being a secret Muslim and his middle name, Hussein, was used as a slur.” PHOTO: Al Arabiya's Yamen Abdal Wahab (L), Nate McCray, Hisham Melhem and Muna Shikaki (L) with Barack Obama.

Obama's Impressive Beginnings as an Honest Broker in the Middle East: The Psychology of Perspective-taking Where Perspective is Hard to Find - Drew Westen, Huffington Post: “Watching President Obama's interview on Al-Arabiya this week was striking in multiple respects, not the least of which, of course, was that an American president actually did an interview with an Arab network with a largely Muslim viewing audience -- and did it in the first week of his presidency. … It has been so long since a U.S. president exercised in foreign affairs, let alone in the Middle East, that distinctively human faculty that begins in preschool but takes years to develop: the capacity to take the perspective of the other -- to imagine, reflect on, and respond in accordance with inferences about what the other person sees, thinks, and feels.”

Barack Obama: Diplomat in Chief - Jon Rainwater, Groundswell, from Peace Action West read it and stop weeping: “President Obama made his first personal foray into world diplomacy this week and he didn’t even have to leave the White House. On Monday he gave his first formal interview since being sworn in to the Dubai based Al-Arabiya network. … [I]n one symbolic act, Obama telegraphed his willingness to perhaps begin to reframe the 'war on terror' as actually a bit more about communication across cultural divides and a bit less battle on the battlefield. …

Too often the term ‘public diplomacy’ has been bureaucratic jargon for a mix of Voice of America programing and slick global advertising campaigns. That type of public diplomacy is thus a euphemism for propaganda. This was true especially during the Bush administration. What we really do need is a broader conception of ‘public diplomacy’ that improves cooperation across the globe through understanding how all our nation’s words and actions impact international relations.”

Obama reaches out to the Arab World - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: “Although reactions to the interview were largely positive, reports the Los Angeles Times, Fawaz Traboulsi, columnist for the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, disagrees. ‘It is strange to see [Obama] address the Arab world and not have a word to say about the plight of the people in Gaza or the embargo on the Gaza Strip,’ comments Traboulsi.”

U.S. not your enemy, Obama assures Moslems – The Guardian, Nigeria: “The [Obama Al-Arabiya] interview, according to the Associated Press (AP), was a dramatic piece of public diplomacy aimed at capitalising on the new American president's international popularity, though it balanced America's traditional commitment to Israel, whose security Obama called ‘paramount.'”

Obama on Al Arabiya: more discussion - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

VOL. V NO. 03, January 16- January 29, 2009 - Layalina Review on Public Diplomacy and Arab Media

Expanding the Sample Group – Rob, Arabic Media Shack: “How can we measure whether the new public diplomacy strategy is working? Or the new US foreign policy in the Arab world? I would suggest that the best, if not only way to measure this is to look at the consistent responses of the top Arab intellectuals.”

More Than Guantanamo – d-day: “[T]he revelation that we're using Bagram [Air Force Base in Afghanistan] as an off-the-books Guantanamo, would be grave for public diplomacy and our relationship with the world.”

Mr. Obama, Set Vietnam Free: American soft power can spur democratic change - Duy Hoang, Wall Street Journal:

Among the recommendations: “The U.S. should engage with all facets of Vietnamese society. Education is a key area. Programs for Vietnamese youth to study at U.S. colleges should receive increased funding. At the same time, opportunities need to be created for U.S.-based academics and experts to share ideas with audiences in Vietnam, for example through forums organized by the U.S. embassy in Hanoi.”

Opportunity not to be missed by Obama - Anak Agung Banyu Perwita and Bantarto Bandoro, Jakarta Post: "The Obama administration might have learned from the fact that Indonesia and the US have, in the past ten years or so, been unable to avoid irritants in their bilateral ties. Maybe they do not understand each other well enough. Perhaps this can also be a major test for Obama's public diplomacy, to win the hearts of the Muslim world."

Do VOA and RFA [Radio Free Asia] lack street cred in China? - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

GOP, Can You Spare a Dime? - Nancy Snow, Huffington Post: “Kudos to James Glassman, the outgoing undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. First, his position could use a shorter title or acronym. Image czar has been put forward, but that doesn't make sense for a democratic society. Nor does Glassman's suggestion that the public diplomacy undersecretary engage like a military commander in a war of ideas. But Glassman is correct to say that President Obama should drop the use of the phrase, ‘Muslim world.’"

Clinton Science Czar Offers Ideas To Obama – National Journal: “Christopher Bronk, a Baker Institute technology fellow, believes the new administration should place a renewed emphasis on information technology. … [H]e recommended that the U.S. be more pragmatic with its IT policy by appointing a federal chief technology officer -- a position that Obama plans to fill. [His] report also recommends that the State Department create an entity to engage in digital public diplomacy and a clearly enunciated national policy on Internet monitoring.”

Q&A: "U.S. Must Take Seriously What the World Thinks" - William Fisher interviews John Brown, public diplomacy expert – IPS: “Brown spoke with IPS about how Obama can restore the U.S. image overseas, which sunk to a new low under the eight-year tenure of the George W. Bush administration.”

Military 2.0: Should You Fear the Killer Robots? - Mother Jones: “In his new book, Wired for War, Singer takes an in-depth and at times frightening look at the growing use of robotics by the military—a development that he argues will be looked on as ‘something revolutionary in war, maybe even in human history.’ Recently, he spoke with Mother Jones about the unforeseen ripple effects of these new technologies … Mother Jones: Was there anything in particular that surprised you or scared you as you researched the book? Peter Singer: …[T]he international ‘blowback’ issue was much bigger than I suspected, which became very clear after interviews with folks in the Middle East. I knew, of course, broadly that there were serious issues with our public diplomacy, but how dire it was when it came to our new military technology was a little bit surprising even to me.”

American killing machines: Robotics are revolutionizing today's battlefields, but what kind of blowback might this kind of science-fiction warfare bring? - P.W. Singer, Los Angeles Times: "In the long term, robots even affect the very human 'war of ideas' so crucial to winning the fight against radical movements. What is the message we are sending with our 'unmanning' of war, compared to how it is being received by people around the world?"

Public Diplomacy and Nation Branding: Conceptual Similarities and Differences - Gyorgy Szondi, Public Diplomacy and Nation Branding: Conceptual Similarities and Differences, Clingendael Discussion Paper in Diplomacy November 2008, posted at International Communication Policy Forum: "Depending on the degree of integration, five conceptual models are outlined, each with potential pitfalls as well as advantages. According to the first approach, public diplomacy and nation branding are unrelated and do not share any common grounds. In other views, however, these concepts are related and it is possible to identify different degrees of integration between public diplomacy and nation branding. In the final version, the concepts are exactly the same, public diplomacy and nation branding are synonyms for the same concept."

Building engagement and trust through the exchange of knowledge and ideas – Cultural relations Blog: “[I]t was great to hear Hillary Clinton acknowledging the valuable role of culture in the new Obama Administration’s approach to international relations. Can she and he take it a little further? I think they need to. … During campaigning, President-elect Obama pledged to 'renew American diplomacy to meet the challenges of the 21st century.…rebuild our alliances….meet with all nations, friend and foe, to advance American interests', but also admitted that 'resources for cultural diplomacy are at their lowest level in a decade.' Cultural relations means listening, being open enough to talk, to change yourself and your own views as much as you expect others to change. It also requires engagement of significant proportions of Americans with significant proportions of aspirational and influential people from all around the world – genuine people-to-people engagement, at scale, is the transformational step in U.S. international relations. For cultural relations to really work there needs to be a clear distance between the organisations charged with this activity and the government of the day.”

Office space snafu at State - Carolyn O'Hara, Foreign Policy:

“Proximity to the Secretary is everything on the 7th floor of the State Department building, and we hear that the much-respected Burns, the under secretary for political affairs (or 'P'), and his staff have been bumped from the relatively central office suite normally reserved for P and unceremoniously reassigned to the less-desirable 'G' suites down the hall. The folks in the G offices (normally for the under secretary for global affairs) are apparently being bumped even farther down the hall to the 'R' offices, normally occupied by the under secretary for public diplomacy. Where the R folks are going is anyone's guess, but it's presumably the far-from-coveted 6th floor -- hardly a good message to send about the importance of public diplomacy under a new administration.”

"Media as Global Diplomat" February 3 - Paul D. Kretkowski, Beacon: “I'll be attending the ... USIP-sponsored conference at the Newseum next Tuesday, featuring Amb. James Glassman (late of Karen Hughes's old job at State) and Amb. Edward Djerejian of the James Baker Institute for Public Policy. Ted Koppel moderates panels such as ‘Public Diplomacy 2.0: Rethinking Official Media’ and ‘Independent Documentary and Participatory Media.’”

Europa Und Die Usa: Neue Wege Zur Zusammenarbeit – Nina, Nina in Washington: "In meinem neuen Kurs 'Global Perspectives on Public Diplomacy' steigen wir, ganz wie es sich für die heutige multimediale Welt gehört, in die Blogger-Welt ein. Einmal in der Woche muss jeder Teilnehmer der Veranstaltung etwas posten. Mein erstes Thema lautet: A new Era of Transatlantic Relations? Basierend auf einer Studie des German Mashall Funds (GMF) und einem Artikel des GMF foreign policy Chefs stelle ich die Frage, ob die USA und Europa wieder auf einen Nenner finden und welchen Einfluss Barack Obama drauf hat. Hier geht es zu meinem Beitrag."

A New Era of Transatlantic Relations? – Nina, Perspectives on Public Diplomacy: "President Obama’s inauguration on January 20 has been well received in many European countries -- including Germany. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, the image of the U.S. among the European public has suffered. ... The wide-spread popularity of President Obama in European countries literally raises hope of an improved transatlantic cooperation."

Book - Threats in the Age of Obama - Zenpundit, Chicago Boyz: “I am both excited and very pleased to announce the release of Threats in the Age of Obama by Nimble Books [e]dited by my friend Michael Tanji … . Tanji recruited an impressive stable of experts, many with high level USG and private sector experience, in intelligence, cyberwarfare, terrorism, pandemics, nuclear proliferation, human terrain, information operations, public diplomacy, foreign policy and national security.”

RELATED ITEMS

Obama Used the Word Muslims Want to Hear: Respect - Deepak Chopra, Huffington Post: At his inauguration, President Obama said: "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect."


How Cooking For the Taliban Gets You Life in Guantánamo - Andy Worthington, Antiwar.com: Although President Obama has set in motion a policy that addresses the prisoners' future, their long desire to have an opportunity to question the basis of their detention is currently being addressed not in the White House but in the district courts, following an epic, four-year struggle between the Supreme Court and Congress to grant them their wish.

Close Torture Loopholes, Physicians' Group Urges - William Fisher, Antiwar.com: While applauding President Barack Obama's recent executive orders banning torture and other harsh interrogation practices, medical authorities are calling attention to a little-reported section of the Army's Field Manual on Interrogation that they say still allows the use of tactics that can constitute torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment under U.S. and international law.

BBC Draws Protests With Decision Not to Air Aid Appeal for Gazans - Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post: Rage at the BBC reached a new level this week after the network decided not to air a humanitarian appeal for victims of the recent violence in Gaza. In response, more than 22,000 people have complained to the BBC, 162 members of Parliament have signed a protest letter and hundreds of viewers have canceled their television licenses or staged sit-ins at BBC offices.

An Open Letter to George Mitchell: Greetings and advice for President Obama's Middle East envoy - Gershom Gorenberg, American Prospect: Most of all, your arrival is a statement of conviction by the new administration that diplomacy can make a difference, that conflict is a choice rather than fate, that last year's mistakes are not inevitably the dress rehearsal for next year's madness.

Mitchell's Mission: Don't strengthen Hamas - Mark A. Heller, International Herald Tribune

For Palestinians, Obama's Message is Crystal Clear - Ramzy Baroud, Common Dreams: Aside from Obama's unparalleled clarity, thus far, on his utter and "unconditional" commitment to Israel, he, along with his officials, continue to borrow similar vague slogans that were used enthusiastically by the Bush administrations: national security, national interests, spreading of American ideals, values, and all the rest.

Five Myths About the Afghanistan Escalation - Brandon Friedman, Huffington Post: In order to move forward at all in Afghanistan, it's going to take more troops. Myth #4: The Afghan people don't want us in their country.

Obama's missing timetable for Afghanistan: With a coming NATO summit, he must be clear on his goals for a war that isn't going well - Editorial Board, Christian Science Monitor

Iranian Revolution@30: Simultaneously dangerous and decrepit - Clifford D. May, National Review: The Iranian Revolution is 30 years old. The new administration still has time to limit its final death toll.

NATO: Dead Man Walking - William Pfaff, TruthDig: NATO is not real; one might think it the more important organization, since it (or parts of it) makes war, but its independent existence is virtual; it is an adjunct of the United States, and serves no other purpose.

Rules of the Game – Editorial, New York Times: If the United States is going to have any credibility in arguing that others must restrain their nuclear ambitions, it must restrain its own.

Sino-American Relations Under Strain: Are Democrats planning for a trade war with China? - Irwin M. Stelzer, Weekly Standard

A mission to Burma - Editorial, Boston Globe: Obama would be acting within the tradition of nonviolent resistance if he aligned America with Burma's democrats.

Diplomatic Means, Militaristic Ends - Doug Bandow, Antiwar.com: Unfortunately, while the personnel have changed in Washington, the policies have not. The U.S. is still determined to micro-manage affairs around the globe. It just plans on ordering people about more nicely.

Teens Prefer Online Games to Social Nets: Also, the number of teens using e-mail has dropped significantly over the past four years - Mike Shields, AdWeek

IMAGE


FROM

January 29

“The number of lawyers at the Pentagon today is larger than the entire U.S. diplomatic corps."

--Georgie Anne Geyer, "Time for diplomacy," Washington Times

“The only thing I ask is that people be respectful.”

--Ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, regarding “what we faced and how we went about it”; VIA

"My old, modest-sized office has been carved into four cubicles."

--Ex-presidential adviser Karl Rove, regarding his former space in the White House

SITE OF THE DAY

Yulia Tymoshenko (with thanks to PSP)

OBAMA AL-ARABIYA INTERVIEW

President Obama Engages the Arab World -- Reactions -
Saudi Arabia United States Relations, DC: Reactions from US and foreign press.

Arena: On Obama's chat with Al Arabiya - Fred Barbash, Politico: Reactions to the interview of: Joseph Nye, Harvard University; Shibley Telhami, University of Maryland; Yousef Munayyer, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee: Walter Dellinger, attorney; Charles Calomiris, Columbia University: Chester Crocker, Georgetown University: S.E. Cupp, conservative commentator: Bradley Blakeman, Republican strategist: Samuel J. Brannen, CSIS; Kristin Lord, Brookings Institution.

Obama Extends Hand To Arabs and Muslims: He Says U.S. Has 'Not Been Perfect,' Gets a Generally Positive Response - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post: “Responses so far to Obama's outreach [including the Al-Arabiya interview] have been largely positive, but further action is awaited.”

Obama on al-Arabiya - Kathy Gilsinan, Columbia Journalism Review: “It remains to be seen whether the interview was an unequivocal victory for public diplomacy. But it was hand extended to those willing to put down the remote.”

Not a Bad Start – MDC, Foreign Policy Watch: “I'm a day late in pointing this out, but President Obama gave his first television interview to a foreign news station - a Middle Eastern, Saudi-owned one at that. The problems the US has in the regions are myriad and diverse. … I won't bore readers with specifics or obvious points, but being engaged this early on in his administration - both in actual diplomacy and in public diplomacy - is critical to turning the tide of the mutual frustrations of the last eight years. Call it being benignly preventive. His avoidance of ‘with us or against us’ language or a false dichotomy of good vs. evil was also refreshing.”

Arab reaction to Obama - SmallShop -- Video News: “Since President Obama's interview with Al Arabiya last night, State Department public diplomacy officials have been closely monitoring reaction in the Arab media -- TV, newspapers, radio and blogs -- to get a sense for how the interview is playing.”

Bloggingheads: Obama's Muslim Speech – New York Times: "Heather Hurlburt of the National Security Network and David Frum of NewMajority.com debate whether President Obama should give a speech to the Muslim world."

Barack Obama and Hesham Melhem: The Interview - Nancy Snow, Huffington Post: “Obama could have talked to Al Hurra, the U.S. taxpayer-sponsored Middle East TV Network that was founded on Valentine's Day 2004. A sit-down on Al Hurra would have been a boon to that fledgling network, but it's not the station with a tag line that reads, ‘Your leading source for news in the Middle East.’ He was wise not to choose Al Jazeera, though it is still the most popular satellite television news channel in the Middle East. Al Jazeerah's ratings jumped even higher during its around-the-clock coverage of the Gaza conflict. Nevertheless, Al Jazeera would have been a political hot potato and this president seeks to remain Mr. Cool.“

Obama Must Transcend Israeli/Palestinian Divisions - John Esposito, Washington Post: “U.S. public diplomacy should address not only public relations (through educational initiatives and exchange programs) but also key foreign policy issues. Gallup findings (See, John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think) indicate a desire for the respect (reflected in Obama's inaugural speech). When asked what the West could do to improve relations, majorities reported that it should respect Islam and Muslims, not consider them inferior, and provide technological, economic assistance.”

5 state plan and Obama on al Arabiya - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “Obama was on al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite network, talking about new beginnings for the region. A good start indeed.“

The Public Diplomacy - Mark Dillen, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "You might think Barack Hussein Obama would choose a safer audience than the Arab world for his first TV interview as President. But he chose Dubai-based Al Arabiya, and he chose well."

OTHER PD ITEMS

Guest Blog by James Glassman: Obama Should do More Arabic and Farsi Chats on All Networks, Including US-Funded Operations – Steve Clemons, The Washington Note: Former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy James Glassman: “President Obama deserves congratulations for his interview on Al Arabiya, a network that has shown responsibility and professionalism, lately in stark contrast lately to Al Jazeera. As someone who has dealt with all the major Arabic language stations, I suggest that his next interview should be on Radio Sawa, the U.S.-taxpayer-funded radio network that is aimed mainly at young people, with a mix of music and public affairs. It's the largest single Arabic-language net in the Mideast and has a big audience in some critical markets, including the West Bank, where it's broadcast on five separate FM stations. Next, he should do a call-in show, 'Roundtable With You,' on Persian News Network, a U.S.-funded satellite stream in Farsi that reaches more than 28 percent of Iranians each week. PNN is the best way directly to reach the Iranian people.“

Gazans brace for response as militants fire rocket into Israel - Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspaper, Olympian: “[Special envoy, George] Mitchell isn't meeting with Hamas, however, because the Islamist militant group refuses to renounce its pledge to destroy Israel. Despite the decision, [Ahmed] Yousef [deputy foreign minister in the Hamas-led Gaza Strip government’said that he expected the Obama administration to begin secret or public diplomacy with Hamas eventually.”

Wanted: an Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “We need an Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs who is a leader, manager, and facilitator that can hit the ground running with the full support of the President and the Secretary of State. This person must be found, nominated and confirmed as quickly as possible. The Under Secretary position is just too important to be left empty or filled by an under-qualified individual.”

Time for diplomacy - Georgie Anne Geyer, Washington Times: “Not only has our architectural diplomacy changed in the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld Dark Ages, but the very essence of our cultural relations with the rest of the world has changed. While the headlines scream 'Afghanistan, Gaza, Iran,' the fact is the core of our diplomatic problem can be found in the sheer lack of able men and women involved in diplomacy. … The disintegration of our diplomatic corps, which of course is centered in the State Department, whose job it is to engage, convince and deal with other countries and their governments, has not garnered a lot of attention, until now. … But after the Clinton administration's utterly foolish abolishing of the U.S. Information Agency, which had explained America to the world since President Dwight Eisenhower founded it in 1953, and after surviving somehow the George W. Bush years of American savagery, there is suddenly hope. … Ironically, it will be up to Mrs. Clinton to undo much of her husband's work, if she will. But at least we've begun.”

State Department Reorganization – Bill Kiehl, PDWorldwide: “Reorganization of the Public Diplomacy function at the State Department is a necessary first step and something that can be done immediately without legislation. But make no mistake--it is not enough to remedy the situation. Public Diplomacy needs centralized coordination, a new operational agency and a reenergized mission with the funding commensurate to its importance to our national security and foreign policy goals. The following proposal [in above link] by four retired USIA officers is just this sort of first step on the road to reforming our Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century.”

Quadrennial Defense Review: Building Blocks for National Defense - Baker Spring and Mackenzie Eaglen, Backgrounder #2234, Heritage Foundation: “While cross-cutting issues like public diplomacy and cyber security are best addressed primarily in the National Security Strategy, the 2006 QDR appropriately highlighted strategic communications while emphasizing that responsibility must be integrated horizontally on a government-wide basis. DOD leaders' and combatant commanders' understanding and operational application of strategic communications has matured markedly over the past three years.”

Money Matters: Korean Blogger Jailed - Allison Doolittle, Perspectives on Public Diplomacy: “A financial blogger in South Korea was jailed last week for blogging on his country’s economic policies. … The situation reveals an emerging challenge for PD practitioners. How should governments respond to blogs? In this case, media coverage seems to favor the blogger.”

U.S. Department of State and Jazz at Lincoln Center Launch 2009 Concert Tour of The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad - Media Note, Office of the Spokesman, U.S. State Department, Washington, DC: "The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, is pleased to launch the 2009 concert tour of The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad.

The program will send ten American quartets abroad to present original American music, including jazz, urban, and roots. Quartets from across the United States auditioned in New York City and ten were selected to represent American culture through concerts, jam sessions, classes, and person-to-person interaction with foreign audiences who historically have had few opportunities to meet Americans firsthand. These American musical ambassadors are following in the footsteps of legends Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, and other great American jazz performers."

Universalism doctrine - Viola Herms Drath, Washington Times: “Raised and educated in a multicultural environment, Barack Obama's vision of universalism informs his call for a new era of responsibility. … [T]he concept that the camaraderie and bonding between men and women at arms are universal and transcend borders, provides an inspired venue for American public diplomacy outreach.”

Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism - A Review [of Weigel, George. Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism: A Call to Action. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, and Auckland: Doubleday, 2007. 195 pages] - Knight's Castle: “Weigel … asserts that deterrence is unlike to be of much use against those who seek martyrdom. There are some useful suggestions here, including espousal of a major coordinated campaign of public diplomacy.”

Bullying Fiji, Part 2: The Inside Game – Pablo, Kiwipolitico: “It would be advantageous if there were military to military contacts between the NZDF and Fijian military commanders that might serve as a quiet parallel track to the public diplomacy now ongoing.”

Rood is new RPOF Finance Chairman - Matthew in Florida Politics Blog, posted at all Florida Blog: “Mr. [John] Rood [w]as United States Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas where he served until 2007. In his role managing the Embassy and its 300 employees, Ambassador Rood worked to resolve bilateral issues with the Government of the Bahamas, improve relations between the two countries, oversee Consular Services and use public diplomacy to share United States values with The Bahamas.” PHOTO from: Quincy Parker, "US Envoy Says Doing Business In The Bahamas Is Difficult."

FAREWELL TO CONDI

Phoning it In - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I STILL keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to:

“The good news is that Condi has done her first post-Bush interview, a chat with the very friendly Stanford Report. The bad news is that there's nothing to take away from it.”

DOCUMENT

(posted here with the kind permission of the author)

Warsaw Fulbright Talk, January 23, 2009, by Yale Richmond

I have been asked to give a little history of the origin of the Fulbright Program in Poland.

My story starts 50 years ago in the summer of 1958 when I arrived in Warsaw as Cultural Attaché at the American Embassy. That was two years after 1956 and the “Polish October,” a revolution that replaced a Stalinist regime with one of national communism, and sought a program of reform through, as it was called, a “Polish road to socialism” that did not follow the Soviet model. But the new Polish government also sought improved relations with the West, which included reestablishing Poland’s historic cultural relations with Western Europe and the United States.

The Ford and Rockefeller Foundations were among the first to help achieve that aim, Ford in the humanities and social sciences, and Rockefeller in the natural sciences, by enabling leading Polish professors and senior scholars to study in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. In 1957, Ford gave $500,000 for those Polish exchanges, and another $80,000 for books for 8 Polish universities. Ford and Rockefeller funding continued in the following years.

But when I arrived in Warsaw I was disappointed to learn that there were no student exchanges, perhaps because no one in the American Embassy had such experience, as I had, in other countries where I had served.

And here I must introduce Margaret Schlauch, Chairperson of the English Department at Warsaw University, a world-renowned authority on Middle English, Chaucer, and Nordic literature. Schlauch, an American, had been Professor of English at New York University for 25 years. Seven of her books still in print. She was the sister-in-law of Leopold Infeld, a Polish-born nuclear physicist, who had worked with Einstein at Princeton. Infeld, in 1949, was offered, and accepted a position as Poland’s top nuclear physicist, and Schlauch came to Poland to join the Infelds, her only living relatives. But in her letter of resignation to New York University, Schlauch said that politics and ideology also played a role. She affirmed that she was a Marxist and did not intend to deny it. Poland was pleased to have such a distinguished scholar, and appointed her as head of English Dept at Warsaw University.

But the American Embassy did not have any contact with Schlauch, and refused to recognize her presence in Poland. It was time to change that policy, I thought, and I got permission from Ambassador Beam to call on Schlauch, and to propose an exchange of university students and lecturers.

Schlauch welcomed my visit, and said she had been waiting for me to call on her. We easily reached agreement to start with the exchange of 4 American and 4 Polish students, including one from her department who turned out to be Franciszek Lyra--who is here with us today--and to exchange one lecturer in American studies, and one in Polish studies.

But in the first year, Academic Year 1959-60 we had an American lecturer, not in Warsaw as planned, but in Krakow, at the Jagiełłonian University where it was diplomatically explained to me, he would be less visible to the Soviet embassy in Warsaw.

The following year, however, we had an American lecturer in literature in Schlauch’s department at Warsaw University, by chance, Hugh Gloster, a former student of Schlauch at New York University.

The Poles, however, preferred to send research scholars to the United States, rather than lecturers, half of them in Science and Technology, and half in Social Sciences and Humanities. From that modest start, there eventually developed a Fulbright Program directed by a Polish-American Commission, with, as I recall, as many as 17 American lecturers in Polish universities, and 17 Polish research scholars, in one year in various academic fields, including American history.

The Americans who came to Poland left as friends of Poland, as did those of us who served in the American Embassy in Warsaw, because we always had a soft spot in our hearts for Poland. Polish Ambassador to Washington Romuald Spasowski, whom I knew well, called those of us in the State Department who had served in Poland, “my Polish Mafia,” because he could count on us to help him do what was best for Poland. Niech Żyje Polska!

But those exchanges of students and lecturers were only part of the U.S. effort, after the “Polish October” of 1956, to reestablish Poland’s historic ties with the West. And in my remaining time today I want to mention briefly a few more exchanges that were possible in “People’s Poland, as it was called in those years.

First, the IMG Program (Information Media Guaranty) which allowed Poland to import from the United States books, newspapers, periodicals, motion pictures, and author’s rights, and to pay for them in Polish zlotys. That enabled the Polish public to buy American books in English, to read bestsellers translated into Polish, to see recent Hollywood films in their local kinos, and to see American plays performed in Polish.

Over a 10-year period, $7 million worth of such products were imported, and American books were on sale to the public in the Academy of Sciences book store on the first floor of the Palace of Culture.

And here are some other things that were possible in People’s Poland. Poland had International Press and Book Clubs where Poles could read the foreign press, most of them communist. But the communist newspapers of London, Paris, Rome, and New York often carried more interesting news than the communist newspapers of Eastern Europe. There were 18 of those Clubs throughout Poland, and the main one was at the corner of Nowy Swiat and Jerozolimskie in the heart of Warsaw. I visited there and found, among all the communist newspapers from around the world, the Paris Herald Tribune, but no Time or Newsweek.

So I called on the Director of the Press and Book Clubs, Mme. Helena Michnik, a woman who, I later learned, was the mother of Adam Michnik, now chief editor of Gazeta Wyborcza, and offered her free subscriptions for Time and Newsweek for all 18 of her clubs, which she accepted with a big smile. And when I visited several of the Clubs later, Time and Newsweek were on display.

I often called prominent Poles and asked to come and talk with them. The only one who ever refused me a visit was Politburo member Zenon Kliszko, the right hand man of Gomulka, and the man in charge of ideology.

Another event I would like to mention is how the Wall Street Journal came to Poland. Many prominent Americans visited Poland in those years, and one of then was Warren Phillips, publisher of the Wall Street Journal. As customary for important visitors, our ambassador gave a lunch for Mr,Phillips, followed by a briefing on Poland by senior embassy officers. After the briefing, Mr. Phillips turned to the ambassador, “Jake” Beam, and asked “Mr. Ambassador, what can the Wall Street Journal do for you?” The ambassador, as surprised as the rest of us, turned to me and said, “Yale, what can the Wall Street Journal do for us?”

“Somehow I came up with an innovative idea. “Mr. Phillips,” I said, “there are 18 Higher Schools of Economics, Wysza Szkoła Ekonomiczna, sort of like our graduate schools of business. Can you give each one a six-month subscription to the Wall Street Journal?” “Sure,” said Mr. Phillips, just send me the mailing addresses, which I did the next day, and a few weeks later I visited some of those Higher Schools of Economics, and there in the libraries I found the Wall Street Journal hanging on the racks next to Moscow’s Pravda and Izvestiya.

In all those exchanges we had in Poland, there was a Ripple Effect, as it is called in Polish, I believe, a zmarszczki. When you drop a stone into the water, you get a ripple effect, and the ripple effect of those exchanges of people and information media reached as far as Moscow. Poland, as you know, has often been called “Russia’s window on the West,” because for Russians, Poland was the West, and whatever came to Poland from the West often reached as far as Moscow and beyond.

In 1968, for example, when the Soviets finally overcame their longtime opposition to sociology--which they considered a bourgeois science--and established an Institute of Sociology in the Soviet Academy of Sciences, I was Counselor for Press and Culture at the American Embassy in Moscow. And when I saw the announcement in the Moscow press, I telephoned and asked for a briefing on the new Institute of Sociology.

I was received correctly and was given a briefing on plans for the new Institute by a young Russian, a member of the new generation of Russian sociologists. At the end of the briefing, I asked if Polish sociologists had been helpful. “Yes,” replied the briefer, “the Polish and Yugoslav sociologists who had been to the United States were very helpful.”

January 28

Obama's first interview as president (Al-Arabiya TV exclusive): YouTube Over 800 comments to date.

SPECIAL EDITION: OBAMA AL-ARABIYA INTERVIEW

1) Positive Reactions

The fallout from Obama's interview: day one – Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: “With a day's perspective, Obama's al-Arabiya TV interview still looks like a home run. The response from the Arab world has been mostly positive.”

Obama brings new tone to Mideast – Financial Times:
“Mr Obama, more grounded in reality, has long realised one of his main tasks as president would be to restore America's reputation in the world at large, and in the Arab and Muslim worlds in particular. He has made a good start. The Al Arabiya interview was, to a remarkable degree, almost explicitly about tone. Mr Obama repeatedly used the words ‘respect’ or ‘respectful’, saying the US had to drop many of its preconceptions, learn from its mistakes, and listen. The first US president able to say ‘I have Muslim members of my family’ emphasised he wanted a measured political conversation with the region as a whole: ‘the language we use matters,’ he said.”

Re: Talking to the Muslim World - Shadi Hamid, Democracy Arsenal: “I'm of the ‘show-not-tell’ public diplomacy school of thought too, but I also think rhetoric is quite important in the Arab and Muslim world independent of what follows it. … Obama has begun telling a new story.”

Obama to Arabs: "what you'll see is someone who is listening" – Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: “It's impossible to exaggerate the symbolic importance of Barack Obama choosing an Arabic satellite television station for his first formal interview as President -- and of taking that opportunity to talk frankly about a new relationship with the Muslim world based on mutual respect and emphasizing listening rather than dictating. His interview promises a genuinely fresh start in the way the United States interacts with the Arab world and a new dedication to public diplomacy. … Not al-Hurra. Wouldn't it be nice if the United States had its own Arabic-language satellite television station to present such exclusive, desirable interviews? Oh, wait... the U.S. has spent half a billion dollars on one which nobody watches. Forget the Broadcasting Board of Governor's endlessly optimistic presentation of fabulous increases in al-Hurra's audience and market share. Obama's choice to give his ground-breaking interview to the Saudi al-Arabiya and not to the American al-Hurra is as clear a statement as it is possible to make of al-Hurra's failure.”

Barack Obama's public diplomacy - Martin Schram, Capitol Hill Blue: “Faster than a command to ‘lock-and-load,’ President Obama this week swiftly deployed and targeted a powerful but little-used weapon that could be crucial to winning what America once called its war on terror. … And it was targeted this week at the Arab world. It is public diplomacy. The decision to deploy the weapon of public diplomacy came when Obama decided to grant the first television network interview of his new presidency. He bypassed the usual alphabet soup of suspects (ABC, CBS, CNN, FNC, NBC, MSNBC) and selected al-Arabiya.”

The Al-Arabiya Move – Andrew Sullivan, Daily Dish, Atlantic: “Part of the rationale for Obama's presidency from a foreign policy perspective was always his unique capacity to rebrand America in the eyes of the Muslim world. Since even the hardest core neocons agree that wooing the Muslim center is critical to winning the long war against Jihadism, Obama's outreach is unremarkable and should be utterly uncontroversial. Bush tried for a while to do the same. But Karen Hughes is not exactly Barack Obama. And the simple gesture of choosing an Arab media outlet for his first televised interview as president is extremely powerful. It has the elegance of a minimalist move with maximalist aims. It is about the same thing as inviting Rick Warren or supping with George Will: it's about R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”

Obama Speaks to the Muslim World – The Liberal Journal: “Obama is came through on his promise to engage in public diplomacy. … While Obama acknowledged that he will ultimately judged by his actions, not his words, the symbolism of making his first major interview a direct appeal to the Muslim world is a significant action in and of itself.”

Al-Arabiya's Game Changing Interview with Barack Obama: A New Punctuation Point in US Foreign Policy – Steve Clemons, The Washington Note: “This interview is the initial punctuation point in Obama's global public diplomacy. By most accounts, Obama's decision -- shocking to some, refreshing to others -- to talk to the Muslim world in his first formal, sit down press interview hit the ball out of the park."

"Abu" Obama's Muslim Stimulus Package - Marc Ginsberg, Huffington Post: “In an unprecedented unveiling of the new Democratic ‘soft power’ public diplomacy, the immensely popular Obama wasted no time following directly upon his Inaugural Address outreach to the Muslim world by granting his first presidential television interview to the region's highly respected 'Walter Cronkite' -- Hesham Melham, to reach out directly to an audience of hundreds of millions. It is just a matter of time before some journalists in the Arab world attach the affectionate moniker "Abu" (father) to their newly minted American friend.”

The Public Diplomat -- Foreign Policy Association: Public Diplomacy and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election – “By initial indications, the ten-minute interview was a big success. … [Obama] certainly was a consumate public diplomat. … It’s worth noting that, having decided to reach out to the Arab public, the Obama White House had choices. They could have used a U.S.-government owned broadcaster such as Alhurra, with scant audience and limited credibility, or the freight-laden Al Jazeera, tainted in Western eyes by its popularity as a medium used by al Qaeda. They chose wisely Al Arabiya, whose satellite signal made it available throughout the Arab world.”

Obama's Charm Offensive In The Arab World – dday: “President Obama's tendency to dialogue with those not disposed to him may be a hindrance when dealing with Republicans, but in the arena of public diplomacy it's going to be a great help. Obama sat down with Al-Arabiya television yesterday, not a US front but a real Arab network, and made a call for dialogue and peace. … The interview with Al Arabiya, an Arabic-language news channel based in Dubai, signaled a shift — in style and manner at least — from the Bush administration, offering what he depicted as a new readiness to listen rather than dictate.”

Public Diplomacy In Action - Bravo! - KSH, Communication Artistry: "Another wonderful step in the right direction [Obama interview].”

Obama on al-Arabiya – Matthew Yglesias, American Prospect: “I think there’s a need for gestures that set a context of mutual respect in which disagreements about policy are seen as disagreements about policy rather than reflecting a deeper religio-cultural chasm. … I think you see [this] succeeding to an extent in the tone of al-Arabiya’s writeup of what Obama said about [in his interview] Israel—it’s critical, but it doesn’t dominate the discussion and disagreement isn’t taken as vitiating everything else he says. That’s important.”

Israel a strong ally of the US: Obama - The Hindu: “Even as he reached out to the Muslim world presenting a new face of his public diplomacy, US President Barack Obama has asserted that Israel will remain a strong ally of America. ‘Israel is a strong ally of the United States. They will not stop being a strong ally of the United States,’ Obama told the Al Arabiya television in an interview.”

Short on Substance but Obama Tone to Muslim World Was Striking – Ian Black, Maylasian Inside: “[The interview] certainly bears repeating as a high-profile exercise in public diplomacy.”

Obama speaks of his Muslim roots in TV interview: America is not an enemy of the Arab world, network told - Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press: Quotes Professor Marc Lynch on public-diplomacy significance of the interview.

Obama's quick start raises hopes - Jim Lobe, Asia Times: Quotes Lynch on interview.

How to Talk With Muslims (If You Must) – steve, Alexandria
Crossroads of Civilization: Quotes Lynch.

Obama Reaches Out To Muslims... - Tim Fernholz, American Prospect: Quotes Lynch.

Obama on Al Arabiya - Laura Rozen, Foreign Policy. Quotes Lynch.

Obama Greets Muslims & Arabs -- New President Chooses Arab TV for First Interview - Reach Out & Touch Someone: Covers reactions to the interview.

Obama's first formal interview to Al Arabiya - John Aravosis, AMERICAblog News: Quotes Politico on the interview.


2) Neutral Reactions

Will Obama's Middle Eastern public diplomacy work? – James Forsyth, spectator.co.uk: “One of the big questions of the Obama presidency is can he actually use his popularity to go over rulers’ heads and straight to their people. Obama’s interview with Al Arbiya, a 24 hour Middle Eastern news channel, was an attempt to do just that. Obama emphasised his willingness to listen and repeatedly talked about ensuring about a better future for the children. He struck a far more doveish tone than he did either in his inaugural address or on the campaign trail; it was clear quite his comments were not aimed at a domestic audience. We’ll have to wait and see if this approach works. My concern is that it muddles his message and the soft-pedalling on issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme will encourage the Iranians to test his resolve. But maybe I'm under-estimating how effective Obama's direct pitch will be.”

Not a bad first step for Obama's public diplomacy - Daniel W. Drezner, Foreign Policy: “I have no idea whether this [Obama interview] will have any effect on the region.“

Obama Interview Underscores State of Mideast TV – Alvin Snyder, Middle East Times: “It should come as no surprise that U.S. President Barack Obama granted his first formal TV interview to the Middle East Arabic channel Al-Arabiya. In the Middle East, the moderate news channel Al-Arabiya drubs other Arabic news channels in popularity, including the controversial Al-Jazeera and the U.S. government's Al-Hurra - the latter of which is getting better numbers than before, but nothing to match Al-Arabiya's.”

Does Obama Snub of Alhurra Signal a Shift? - Dafna Linzer, ProPublica: “President Obama chose a Saudi-funded television network today for his first interview aimed at an Arab audience, passing over the U.S. government’s own heavily-funded Alhurra station. Obama’s predecessor pumped more than $500 million into Alhurra, which has been plagued by serious staff problems, financial mismanagement and long-standing concerns inside the U.S. government and Congress regarding its content. The president’s decision to go with Al Arabiya led several media watchers to wonder whether Alhurra would continue to receive the same kind of cash flow from the Obama administration as it enjoyed under former president Bush."

What May be a Big Deal or Nothing Much - Just Above Sunset: Quotes several blogs on Obama interview.


3) Negative Reactions

Obama’s Public diplomacy – mregypt, Arabic Media Shack: “I cannot find any other reason for the fuss that’s made for Obama’s speech except one: that he came after Bush. I hardly noticed any attention to the interview in the Arab street, as for the Arab media I only noticed a passing reference here. If anyone attempted to talk with one of the top Arab commentators about this interview I am confident that you will hear answers like ‘the US has fixed interest that are not made up only by the president’. … Furthermore, choosing Al-Arabiya is puzzling. If you want to approach the Arab world, do you choose a channel known to be friendly to the US and a voice of the Saudi royal family?”

Obama Talks to the Arabs - Eric Etheridge, Opinionator, New York Times: Summary of blog reactions to the Obama interview among them negative ones from Commentary, National Review, and Weekly Standard.

Tough, Principled And Direct Diplomacy - Page One - Bart DePalma, Citizen Pamphleteer: “On Monday, Mr. Obama granted his first television interview as President to the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya Network as what was billed as public diplomacy to the Muslim world. While this interview could be viewed as diplomacy, Mr. Obama was neither tough, principled or direct.” Quotes Politico.

Obamaganda Alert: “Watch Obama reach out to Muslims” - RBO: Criticizes comments praising Obama’s interview.

Obama stresses his own strong Muslim ties in Interview with Arabic News Network out of Dubai – Libertarian Republican: “Operatives, spokesman and supporters, strenuously denied Obama's ties to Islam during the 2008 presidential campaign. Now as president, obama is fully embracing it. In an interview with Al-Arabiya Network, a radical Anti-Jew, and Anti-American Television News service, obama pledged that under his rule, America will change, and become more accom[mo]dating to Muslim values and culture.”

Obamas first ever post presidential interview goes to.... - Project Reality: “Arabic cable TV network Al-Arabiya (full transcript)!!!!!!!!!! So now we truly see that he was in fact a secret Muslim!!”


OTHER PD ITEMS

Gallup survey: Iraq matters most (if you don't include Israel) – Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: “It's no surprise to anyone that the Bush administration has left a tattered American image in the broader Middle East. … The Bush administration's last Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Jim Glassman, used to say that Global Strategic Engagement should focus on delegitimating the enemy (al-Qaeda) rather than improving America's favorable ratings in these surveys. I guess that worked out as planned, then.”

Dear President Obama: in Talking to China, Remember its People - Rebecca MacKinnon, Huffington Post: “One-way monologues through the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia don't have much street cred with China's Internet generation, to be honest. It's time to upgrade your public diplomacy strategy for the 21st Century. Just as you have used new technology to engage with the American electorate, your China policy can be greatly strengthened if you conduct a real conversation with the Chinese people. Listen as much as you talk; provide a much-needed platform for open discussion. The U.S. embassy in Beijing should build a Chinese-language website modeled after change.gov, focused not just on U.S.-China relations, but on the range of concerns and interests.”

Korea-U.S. relations under Obama (4)]Balance: Obama's keyword for East Asia – Korea Herald: “Skilled public diplomacy strategy is in need on both ends of the Pacific.”

Adding Visa Waiver Restrictions: The Wrong Course for Congress - Jena Baker McNeill, James Jay Carafano, and James Dean, WebMemo #2248, Heritage Foundation: “A new bill, S. 203, sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kyl (R-AZ) would impose severe restrictions on membership in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Adding more restrictions to the VWP would be a huge mistake, hindering efforts to enhance a program that provides significant security, economic, and public diplomacy benefits through cooperation with our closest allies around the world. Rather than adding new restrictions, Congress should work to further expand this program.”

Obama, Congress Enlist 'Direct to Constituent' Communications - Mark Hannah, Media Shift: “Professional communicators are paying close attention to the rise of "direct to consumer" (DTC) communications. This is a phenomenon largely enabled by the rapid proliferation and adoption of online technologies, whereby organizations can communicate directly to the public without filters or mediation from the press. … It will be interesting to see who among our elected representatives will embrace this new platform. … It also remains to be seen whether and how direct-to-constituent communications programs will fall under the jurisdiction of the Smith-Mundt Act, the post-WWII law that authorized several public diplomacy and strategic information initiatives abroad, but which prohibits the Executive Branch from distributing ‘propaganda’ to Americans. This law is the subject of considerable debate in the world of public diplomacy, based mostly on the ambiguity of the term ‘propaganda’ (Indeed, the famous Rosie the Riveter and 'Uncle Sam -- I Want You for the US Army' posters could be reasonably construed as propaganda under a wide-ranging definition).“

Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds Launch is Fully Booked - DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: “Response to the January 29 release event for the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds reports has been overwhelming and has exceeded the space limitations at the Carnegie Council.”

India’s Smart Card - Dhruva Jaishankar blog: “India’s greatest weakness is its inability to harness its soft power effectively in recent years, a failure less of policy than of public diplomacy. India has received scant praise for the enormous restraint it has shown in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.”

Pakistani visit of the secretary of state for public diplomacy - ACTmedia, Romania: “Secretary of state Valentin Naumescu made a working visit to Pakistan, where he had talks at the Federal federal foreign ministry, at the Ministry of Culture and signed an application program for the cultural cooperation accord between the government of Romania and of Pakistan between 2007-2010.”

America's Disgraced NeoCons: Glorifying Death in the Name of Peace - Alex Constantine's Blacklist: “USIA was the fed's overseas Cold War ‘public diplomacy’ front. In this period, under Reagan, [Norman]Podhoretz escalated covert operations of the USIA, then directed by Walter Raymond, a former senior CIA official.”

IMAGE


Left: Alhurra anchors on air Dec. 23, 2008, before the conflict in Gaza. Right: Anchors wore black after the fighting broke out on Dec. 27, 2008. FROM

January 27

"The last mass trials were a success: there will be fewer, but better Russians."

--Soviet special envoy Ninotchka, on her arrival at the Paris train station, updating her fellow Communists about the latest news in Moscow; in film Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo (1939)

“Commissar Razinin: How can the Bolshevik cause gain respect among the Muslims if your three representatives Bujlianoff, Iranoff and Kopalski [in Constantinople] get so drunk that they throw a carpet out of their hotel window and complain to the management that it didn't fly?”

--Also from Ninotchka

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama: U.S. not your enemy - JamiiForums.com: “President Barack Obama presented a humble and conciliatory face of America to the Islamic world Monday in the first formal interview since he assumed office, stressing his own Muslim ties and hopes for a Palestinian state, and avoiding a belligerent tone — even when asked if America could 'live with' an Iranian nuclear weapon.

The interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya Network was a dramatic piece of public diplomacy aimed at capitalizing on the new American president's international popularity, though it balanced America's traditional commitment to Israel, whose security Obama called ‘paramount. … The occasion for this interview was the departure of Obama's special envoy, George Mitchell, to the Middle East, and a more aggressive and optimistic approach to that conflict than some argued that the circumstances dictated.’”

The Great Communicator Takes to Al-Arabiya - Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone: “How much confidence and sense of purpose does it take for a man who was pilloried by the fever-swamps as a ‘secret Muslim’ throughout the primary and general elections to give his first Presidential interview not to the liberal loyalists at MSNBC, but to Al-Arabiya, an Arab TV network with a reach of 23 million viewers. This is public diplomacy, my friends. This is a man who is serious about winning back hearts and minds. This is the power of Barack Hussein Obama’s celebrity at its height, leveraged to speak to the Arab Street. What’s ‘smart power’? This is smart power.”

Obama on Al Arabiya – Ben Smith, Politico: The interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya Network was a dramatic piece of public diplomacy aimed at capitalizing on the new American president’s international popularity. 'I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries,’ Obama said, according to a White House transcript. ‘My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.’” Includes transcript.

Obama selects Al Arabiya for first television interview as president - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Covers media reactions to interview and notes: “The choice of Al Arabiya rather than Al Jazeera is interesting. Al Arabiya is generally considered the more moderate of the two, at least from a US perspective.”

Turning A Page - James Morrison, Embassy Row, Washington Times: "President Obama is turning out to be a new asset for public diplomacy, as U.S. ambassadors refer to his unique personal story and call for change in their own appeals to foreign audiences. ‘We expect President Obama's ability to reach across political, generational, ethnic and racial lines to characterize his approach to international issues as well,’ Ambassador Daniel V. Speckhard wrote in a Sunday newspaper article in Greece.“ MAP: Embassy Row in Washington, D.C.

Obama Challenged to Move From War on Terror to Routine Vigilance - Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Shane Harris, and Corine Hegland, National Journal: “[D]espite efforts by Bush's first, much-steamrolled secretary of state, Colin Powell, to rebuild his department, State remains not only understaffed but also a house divided where Foreign Service diplomats feud with USAID workers. … Meanwhile, the Bush administration repeatedly gave public diplomacy short shrift. ‘For public diplomacy, the entire budget [per year] is what we spend in a month in Iraq,’ said Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism expert at Georgetown University. ‘We've been very successful in the short term in killing and capturing [terrorists]. Where we've been more remiss is in breaking the cycle of recruitment and regeneration that sustains these groups and ensures we're going to be fighting for a decade to come.’" PHOTO: Bruce Hoffman

How badly did Gaza poison the well? – Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: “There's no question that Gaza has weakened the hand of moderates and strengthened more extremist voices across the political spectrum.

It would be a mistake to simply reduce this political contest to ‘support for al-Qaeda’, however. It should be obvious, but too often isn't, that a whole lot of Arabs and Muslims who have no patience whatsoever for al-Qaeda's ideology or tactics are furious about Gaza. Reducing the full spectrum of political opinion to al-Qaeda's extreme, marginal salafi-jihadism is a way of marginalizing and ignoring legitimate, widely-held Arab political beliefs. Abandoning that Bush-era rhetorical gambit could open up real possibilities for new political initiatives and public diplomacy... if the Obama team is willing to make that change.”

Djerejian's New Foreign Policy - Armed Liberal, Winds of Change.NET: “[T]he notion that Al Quieda is only as powerful as we make them is kind of silly. It's one thing to talk of a forceful public diplomacy that minimizes them and tries to find different levels of engagement; it's quite another to believe that we can simply decide that AQ simply doesn't matter.”

The 80-20 Rule and U.S. Public Diplomacy – Joe Johnson, Jjohnson47's Weblog - “Public diplomacy has been a common theme in the Administration’s early days. And yet, here I think the 80-20 rule applies. By electing Barack Obama American voters brought back 80 percent of global respect for the United States. The remaining 20 percent is the hard part; a splendid image will not guarantee success in keeping America prosperous and safe. ... [P]ublic diplomacy is worth a new look and added investment. I’m not in favor of recreating the U.S. Information Agency as some have suggested. Public diplomacy is by nature a subset of diplomacy, and diplomacy belongs to the State Department. But it’s not an easy fit. The conduct of public diplomacy has not been very effective in recent years in part because its core process - strategy and planning - is not highly valued at State (as it is in the military, for example.) … A genuine communication strategy and a clear commitment to professional standards should be the hallmarks of measures to sharpen public diplomacy - even more than additional resources, however desperately needed.”

Secretary of State Clinton and VOA – Alex Belida, VOA News Blog: “[Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s comments during her recent confirmation hearings] come at a time when there has been much discussion about improving U.S. public diplomacy --- sometimes with proposals that would draw VOA into some new U.S. global communications strategy. We at VOA believe, like Mrs. Clinton, that we can do our best work and serve our audiences best when we are able to operate independently.”

Memorandum to Secretary Clinton – Internews: “Based on decades of experience in international development, we believe a foreign policy goal of universal access to quality local information would reflect the strategies and values of an Obama presidency. Local media and communications technologies can empower communities to make their voices heard, connect to the global marketplace of goods and ideas, and build grassroots democracy. Media and information technologies can exponentially amplify American ‘soft power’ approaches to development, diplomacy and national security. … [Among the recommendations:] Strengthening the capacity of locally owned media in the local language should be central to our overall strategic communications and public diplomacy agenda, with funding levels adopted accordingly.”

Another American PR disaster in the making? – Clive Davis, Spectator.co.uk: “I think we can all agree the last eight years were a catastrophe in terms of public diplomacy. Marc Lynch is less than thrilled to discover who's in the running to become Hillary Clinton's chief sales rep … Not all of his commenters agree. Btw, note how well-informed and constructive the conversation is down there [on Lynch’s Foreign Policy blog]. It's a shame Brit blogs seldom rise to that level.” SEE ALSO

The Secretary Of State's Other Job - David Shorr, Democracy Arsenal: “As the new administration works to rebalance defense, diplomacy, and development in our foreign policy, the inidicator to watch is the rate of growth in State and USAID personnel. As Derek Chollet, Vikram Singh and I wrote in last month's Foreign Service Journal, the essence of the problem of weak civilian capacity an inadequate workforce to mend our relations with others and promote American aims in an increasingly complex world. There are many items on this agenda: post-conflict reconstruction, increased foreign assistance, public diplomacy, bureaucratic streamlining... But the foreign policy equivalent of ‘infrastructure investment’ is significant growth in the size of our foreign service (including the USAID foreign service).”

Musical Chairs on State's Mahogany Row - Nukes & Spooks:

“Losing out in all this [the ‘real-estate battle’ for office space at the State Department] is the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, perhaps not by coincidence a job that has not yet been filled. State's chief image-maker (designated R in bureaucratic parlance) is moving across the building to a lovely, two-story high office once inhabited by George C. Marshall, our source says. It's really quite nice digs, if a bit farther away from the center of power.”

Obama's test: Bringing order to the national security policy process - Gordon Adams, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: “[T]he new administration will need to focus diplomacy and foreign assistance on long-term strategic goals, rebalance the toolkit of statecraft, and bring coherence to a widely dispersed set of institutions. … For instance, at State and USAID, I'll be watching for the following: … Will the administration transform the foreign service so it brings in a new type of recruit who receives training throughout his or her career, is assigned across offices and agencies to learn the skills today's diplomats must have, and is rewarded with top diplomatic appointments? And will the administration make a concerted effort to increase the number of U.S. foreign-service officers? Will the administration revitalize and staff our public diplomacy, creating a more focused, autonomous capability to take Washington's message overseas? “

Infectious Diseases, Foreign Militaries, and US National Security - Christopher Albon, War & Health: “Today, Amazon starts selling Threats in the Age of Obama, a book edited by Michael Tanji and containing a contribution by yours truly titled ‘Infectious Diseases, Foreign Militaries, and US National Security’. The book is a crash course on emerging national security threats. Each of the more than 20 contributors (and Michael) tackle a different aspect of national security, from cyberwarfare to public diplomacy.”

YouTube and Israel's Public Diplomacy – Steve Clemons, The Washington Note: “I found the [IDF] video … on the IDF Spokesperson's Unit YouTube Channel. I can't get the sound to play, but the text on the screen says it all. I want to be clear that I am not posting this video to support the Israeli position, but to show that the IDF is serious about using YouTube as a medium of public diplomacy.” MORE ON NEW MEDIA'S USE IN THE GAZA CONFLICT BELOW.

Goodbye Note From Trafficking Leader Mark Lagon - Amanda Kloer, Change.org's End Human Trafficking Blog: “As we celebrate the inauguration of a new President and a new era, we must also sadly say farwell to a great leader in the human trafficking movement. Ambassador Mark Lagon, Former Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. Department of State, left his postition last week. … Here is a short farewell message from him: ‘Dear Friends in the Fight to End Modern-Day Slavery: This is the last day of my 20 month tenure of diplomacy, public diplomacy, and grant-making-taking me to 27 countries. It's been a privilege working with you in the movement to end today's forms of slavery, and I look forward to continuing to do so as Executive Director of Polaris Project.’”

Sherry Rehman - Profile – Pakistan Travel & Culture: “Ms. Sherry Reham (Sherbano Rehman) is the Honorable Minister for Information and Broadcasting government of Pakistan. … In past She has been a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly (2002-2007) and Central Information Secretary as well as President of Policy Planning for he party Pakistan Peoples Party. … In the National Assembly, Rehman has served as Convener of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Media and Public Diplomacy for Kashmir.”

Ari Bussel – OpEdNew.coms: “Ari Bussel is an activist with a deep passion and commitment to truth. His continuous fact-finding missions to the Middle East to secure truthful and factual information about the status of the situation are disseminated to a worldwide audience through his letters, journals and articles. Bussel is a graduate of UCLA and Stanford. His area of expertise is Israel's Public Diplomacy.”

Edward Clay - americanvaluessummit.com: “Sir Edward Clay KCMG (born 21 July 1945) is a retired British diplomat, formerly a High Commissioner and ambassador. … 1997-1999: Director, Public Diplomacy and Public Services, FCO, London.”

RELATED ITEMS

The Obama Conspiracy: Why some foreigners can't believe Obama won the presidency fair and square - Anne Applebaum, Slate: A number of international observers eschewed the general adulation and concluded, simply, that the entire event -- the election, the inauguration -- was a hoax.

Really Soft Power - Gary Schaub, New York Times: The State Department is supposed to direct American foreign policy, but it lacks the human and financial resources to fulfill its mission.

Pentagon's terror 'recidivism' claims blasted as 'propaganda' - David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster, Raw Story: Ever wonder how many of President Bush's terror war detainees were released, only to "return to the fight"? "Their numbers have changed from 20, to 12, to seven, to more than five, to two, to a couple, to a few, 25, 29, 12, and then 24," quoted Keith Olbermann on Thursday's edition of Countdown.The latest figure, 61, which was carried unchallenged by CNN, the MSNBC host noted, appears to be nothing but "propaganda."

Terrorism’s Twelve Step Program - American Congress for Truth:

Commentary on # 1 of Bruce Hoffman’s “Terrorism’s Twelve Step Program,” in which he states: “A more focused and strengthened interagency process would also facilitate the coordination of key themes and messages and the development and execution of long-term ‘hearts and minds’ programs.” “Re #1, talk about delusions, ignorance, lack of research and analysis! that an academic cannot grasp the history and dogma of Islam and relate it to the events taking place around the war shows…. as has been said elsewhere, not all Muslims are terrorists but almost all terrorists are Muslims, carrying out the commands of the Holy Books and their prophet - to not see this connection is ludicrous, to say the least.”

Muslim World Hails End of a Despised Symbol - William Fisher, Antiwar.com: While the decision of President Barack Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba and end the practice of interrogation techniques that violate international law made front-page news throughout the United States, press reaction in the Middle East was far less extensive -- but generally favorable.


Guantanamo: A symbol of US resolve - Eric Fehrnstrom, Boston Globe: Obama views Guantanamo as a symbol of repression and abuse; others see it as a symbol of American resolve. One thing is for sure: its dismantling will not appease our enemy. Let's hope it doesn't embolden them.

Guantanamo Is No Blot on U.S. Honor: The president still hasn't said where to hold the worst of the worst – Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal

A dangerous step on interrogations – Editorial, Washington Times: Ironically, President Obama's executive order last week protecting terrorist suspects from waterboarding -- the practice of making someone fearful he is about to drown in an effort to induce him to cooperate with interrogators -- will spare foreign cutthroats from the very practice that the U.S. military has used on its own men thousands of times as a way of training for deployments in war zones when they might be captured and subjected to such things as waterboarding. By affording terrorists protections they do not legally deserve -- and that don't involve maiming, mutilation and other legitimate torture -- Mr. Obama is taking a very calculated risk

Torture? Prosecute Us, Too - Richard Cohen, Washington Post: It is imperative that our intelligence agents not have to fear that a sincere effort will result in their being hauled before some congressional committee or a grand jury. We want the finest people in these jobs -- not time-stampers who take no chances. SEE ALSO

IMAGE from Truthdig

Obama's call to arms: By rejecting Bush's torture tactics, the new president is urging Americans to reclaim their principles -- and their courage - Gary Kamiya, Salon: Torturing exposes American troops to torture, degrades America's reputation and in the long run undermines our ability to win an ideological war. But the ultimate reason not to torture must go beyond instrumental logic: It must be moral.

Put Torture on Trial – Philip Giraldi, Antiwar.com: President Obama has said no to torture, but the beat goes on. It appears that some in the media and the government want to preserve the option of being able to physically harm a helpless prisoner to obtain intelligence.

How Obama's New Rules Keep Intact: The Torture Ban That Doesn't Ban Torture - Allan Nairn, CounterPunch

Afghan Prison Poses Problem in Overhaul of Detainee Policy - Eric Schmitt, New York Times: For months, a national debate has raged over the fate of the 245 detainees at the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But what may be an equally difficult problem now confronts the Obama administration in the 600 prisoners packed into a cavernous, makeshift prison on the American air base at Bagram in Afghanistan.

Writers Pressure Obama Over Afghanistan – Truthdig: Truthdig columnists Chris Hedges and Robert Scheer are among the notable writers who have signed this appeal urging President Obama to rethink Afghanistan. The ad, appearing in The Nation and The New York Review of Books, warns that “a new beginning will not be possible as long as we continue to spill the blood of the men, women, and children of Afghanistan.”

Obama's Team Stumbling into Afghanistan Trap – Steve Clemons, The Washington Note

Wake-Up Call to Obama: Afghanistan is No Threat to America - Dave Lindorff, CounterPunch: Obama, if he orders an expansion of the war in Afghanistan, and thus takes ownership of that conflict, will be well on the way to destroying his own presidency.

Obama and Iraq : The risks of a premature U.S. withdrawal – Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: Here's the lose-lose scenario: Allow Iraq to deteriorate by withdrawing too soon and push into Afghanistan without a better strategy. Mr. Obama has inherited a victory in Iraq that he can't afford to squander.

Iraq's Next Vote: How elections can work in an unstable country – Editorial, Washington Post: Mr. Maliki's platform does augur an Iraq that will be relatively secular, that will assert its independence from Iran and that will remain allied with the United States in the fight against al-Qaeda. If that prospect is advanced this weekend, Iraqis -- and their American partners -- will have elections to thank.

Deterring an Iranian nuclear attack: Arrow missile's key role in Israel's defense - Louis Rene Beres and Isaac Ben-Israel, Washington Times: In the especially urgent matter of Iranian nuclearization, President Obama should also quickly acknowledge the overwhelming mutuality of strategic interest between Israel and the United States. A fully nuclear Iran would prove an intolerable hazard to New York, Washington and Los Angeles and to Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.


Anti-Israel Propaganda Will Not Deter Obama - Marty Nemko Blog: It is time for, pardon the expression, change: replacing the Palestinian and Israeli PR gotcha game with passion for the dream of Palestinians living side by side with Israelis, in which, like in Israeli schools, Palestinian children are taught to dream of becoming doctors, teachers, and social workers, not to grow up and blow up.

Hamas and the War of Misinformation and Propaganda – Right Side News: An analysis of several components in the victory myth which Hamas attempts to perpetuate, as evidenced in statements made by Hamas leaders and on the Hamas media, in comparison to the situation on the ground.

The propaganda war against Israel - The Terror Journal [posting article under another title by Mona Charen in Towhall]

The Rise of Citizen Propaganda - Yigal Schleifer, Istanbul Calling: Elements of the of the online war over Gaza provided another example of the rise of what some are calling "citizen propaganda." As Ethan Zuckerman, a research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, puts it: "Rather than becoming the cafe of the world, where we interact on common ground, the Net has become a very effective place to rally people to your own cause and try to coordinate their actions."

Blogs, YouTube: the new battleground of Gaza conflict: Both sides used the Internet to rally supporters and shape public opinion - Yigal Schleifer, Christian Science Monitor

Pyongyang's shot across Obama's bow: A new challenge from North Korea - Bruce Klingner, Washington Times: President Obama should realize that there may not be a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear problem. While hopeful for successful six-party talks, the Obama administration should concurrently start contingency planning with South Korea and Japan to consider next steps if negotiations no longer seem to be a viable policy option.

Health before ideology: Obama is right to overturn a ban on U.S. foreign aid to groups that provide abortion services. The policy is good for global health and should be made permanent – Editorial, Los Angeles Times

Combat the terror of rape in Congo: The world must act to stop this weapon of war - Marc Sommers and Kathryn Birch, Christian Science Monitor: The UN's 17,000 peacekeepers in the DRC struggle to protect civilians because its force remains far too small to end violence and warfare in a country the size of Western Europe. Worse, some UN soldiers have been accused of contributing to the sexual abuse of civilians. That's why the Obama administration must act boldly. His team can demonstrate America's commitment to upholding human rights and forcefully moving against all forms of terrorism.

Looking for Peace Openings in Congo - Editorial, New York Times: A political settlement is the only hope for a durable peace. African leaders, the United Nations, the United States and China (a major new regional investor) must exert more pressure on all parties -- starting with the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, and the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame -- to implement such an accord.

Obama’s secretary of defense is still a Bush man - Jeff Huber, American Conservative: Assuming Barack Obama was serious about effecting change in U.S. foreign policy, he could hardly have made a bigger mistake than keeping Robert Gates on as secretary of defense.

Is America exceptional or just ho-hum? - Herbert London, Washington Times: Either we come to appreciate American exceptionalism or we end up with American mediocrity.

Carleton Lecture to Examine Vintage WWI Propaganda Posters – Carleton News, Carleton College: Laura Behling, professor of American Literature and culture at Gustavus Adolphus College, will speak on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 4:30 pm in the Gould Library Athenaeum. Her presentation, entitled “Come On! Participatory Patriotism in American World War I Posters,” highlights the changing attitudes of the American public during a war whose horror prompted a radical reexamination of political, social, and economic values. This event is free and open to the public.

IMAGE

Exterior of movie house showing ads for Garbo picture, Ninotchka. Location: Stuttgart, Germany; Date taken: May 1949; Photographer: Walter Sanders

“English Lady Getting Visa: Thank you. Oh, by the way, I've heard so many rumors about laundry conditions in Russia. Is it advisable to take one's own towels?

Russian Visa Official: Certainly not, Madam! That is only Capitalistic propaganda. We change the towel once a week.”

--Also from Ninotchka

January 26

“One year from now, Gitmo won’t be closed … If it is, there will be an uproar in the U.S. about where to put these people.”

--Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush Karl Rove

ANNOUNCEMENT

Musicians For Harmony, in collaboration with The Iraqi Student Project, Saint Peter’s Church and the Midtown Arts Common, is pleased to present: MUSIC FOR PEACE, Friday, March 20, 2009 at 7:30 pm Saint Peter’s Church, Lexington Avenue at 54th Street. More information at

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Brand Obama Trumps Brand America – Nancy Snow, Huffington Post: “For years, so many of us who work in the public diplomacy and nation branding business have bemoaned the loss of American credibility in the world. …

There were many symptoms of Brand America's power loss: Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Axis of Evil, Shock and Awe, Hurricane Katrina. Then along comes one guy who steps into this media and mind space to reboot our national image in a manner of a year. Brand Obama has trumped Brand America.”

Comment [no. 2] - Public Diplomacy is not marketing! - Greg Sanders: Better living through empiricism: “The idea that public diplomacy is ‘marketing’ or ‘selling America’ has been put forth by a combination of people who don't understand what public diplomacy is about and Bush administration critics and people who fall into both categories. … As a public diplomacy practitioner for the State Department I have never once been asked to ‘sell’ something or ‘market’ something. Indeed, if I was ever too heavy handed in trying to convince the foreigners that I worked with on a point of any sort I could have gotten into trouble. I'm sure Hillary and Ms. McHale [rumoured to be the next Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] understand this. I wish others like Mr. [Professor Marc] Lynch [George Washington University] would take a deep breath before bringing the knives out. The need for somebody who appreciates the importance of public diplomacy and who has both the imagination and management skills to reinvigorate it are too great to pile on before Ms. McHale has even had a chance to begin. At the very least we should wait for her confirmation hearings before commenting. I also have to disagree with the all too common contention that we need a 'new USIA'. …Trying to create a new bureaucracy would be a time sucking venture that would only lead to bureaucratic turf struggles that would detract from the core mission.”

Wither the War On Terror? - Michael Kraft, Counter Terrorism Blog: “The War on Terror is Dead, sayeth the Washington Post. But the struggle, or whatever we may wish to call it, continues. … [There is] the need to pay attention to the nuts and bolts programs, such as antiterrorism assistance courses for other countries. [There are] growing concerns about weapons of mass destruction, and the need to improve coordination, and public diplomacy efforts.”

Hillary Clinton: Telling America’s Story Largely the Task of the Voice of America, But the Bush Administration Leaves VOA Barely Surviving - Ted Lipien, FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog

Assessing Global Learning Outcomes - Misha, Full Agenda: Musings on higher education, global learning, institutional growth and transformation, international development, politics and everything else...: “Evidence of the impact of global education could form the basis of a compelling argument in favor of the Simon Study Abroad Act, which aims to dramatically increase the number of U.S. students learning abroad.

Currently, the Simon Study Abroad Act is touted as a foreign policy tool to address U.S. competitiveness, public diplomacy and defense needs ... , but surely global education benefits the U.S. in other ways (this is not to mention the interests of the global community).”

Grigol Vashadze: No relations with Moscow while Russian[s] are still here - Pridon Dochia, Daily Georgian Times, Georgia: GT: What do you think about the role of public diplomacy and the relations between clergy in resolution of Russia-Georgia relationhip problems? … GV: ‘As for public diplomacy, I can say one thing here. All our citizens have to tighten, not cease, relations with their Russian colleagues, friends, and relatives. We have to tell the truth to all of them, but at the same time we have to be very careful when, let’s say, we establish contacts with NGO’s and select partners in Russia, because our good intentions might make us the unwitting participants in a KGB game.’”

When Environmentalists Legitimize Plunder - Michael Barker, Swans Commentary: “In the past, [David] Barron [the chairman of the PR firm Barron-Birrel] served as the chairman of a group called the Jefferson Educational Foundation, an organization that, according to William I. Robinson, 'coordinated the [Reagan administration's] anti-Sandinista 'public diplomacy' programs" during the 1980s.'”

Dodgeball, Cricket and Roller Derby – Paul Rockower, Levantine: “After my morning of interviews, I trudged out in the rain and down to school for a dodgeball tournament. I set up a team of my classmates, the Pub D Fightin' Culls. We all got dressed up in ridiculous clothing- long socks, short shorts and headbands and began our quest for honor and glory. As team captain (oh captain, my captain), I gave the opening pep talk, telling the team that we had to focus on the basics of public diplomacy if we wanted to win. As a team, we had to listen to each other; we had to advocate; we had to culturally exchange the balls as fast as we could at the other team; we had to internationally broadcast our dominance; we had to carry out psychological warfare.”

RELATED ITEMS
Guantanamo closure a blow to Al-Qaeda propaganda: analysts - AFP: A US closure of Guantanamo Bay could deprive militants of a major propaganda tool and help Pakistan in the fight against extremism, analysts said Sunday.

President Barack Obama is shutting down Guantanamo, but the way he has done it is only a beginning. If he and Congress do not take additional measures, the United States will have shut down Guantanamo the wrong way - Brandt Goldstein, RFE/RL

Kosovo Albanian separatists hire propaganda firm - Serbianna: Kosovo Islamic Albanian separatists have hired a propaganda company Saatchi & Saatchi to portray their government in a positive image. Separatists are to pay pay $7.3 million for the propaganda spreading.

Sources: Nye to be named U.S. Japan envoy – UPI: Former U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Joseph Nye has been informally designated as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, sources say. Nye knows Japan well, Sunday's Yomiuri Shimbun said. He co-authored with former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, the "Armitage Report," which advocated a strong relationship between Japan and the United States. Nye is a proponent of the "soft power" diplomatic approach, which places importance on taking into account different cultures and values. PHOTO: Joseph Nye. SEE ALSO

Diplomacy returns – Boston Globe: Whatever the titles bestowed on former senator George Mitchell and erstwhile diplomat Richard Holbrooke, their respective appointments send a heartening message that President Obama and his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, are serious about elevating the role of diplomacy in US foreign policy.

Dear Barack, From Dima – Mark Teeter, Moscow Times: Moscow's version of Obamamania reached new and intriguing heights last Thursday, when RIA-Novosti announced that effective immediately its readers could "send a message to the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama."

How to warm US-Russia relations: The US should drop its schoolmarmish attitude and cooperate - Alexandra Vacroux, Christian Science Monitor: Involving other countries in programs we care about neutralizes the irritation and suspicion that Russians feel when Americans self-importantly march into Moscow, proclaiming they are ready to "teach" the Russians everything they need to know. Increasing opportunities for students and professionals to visit the US thus remains one of the best means of sharing and spreading our values.

Obama's challenge in Afghanistan – Editorial, Washington Times:
The main currently known foreign-policy challenge for President Obama during the next four years will be navigating troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan -- and determining how allied forces will be deployed in the latter military theater. So, what happens when American and NATO troops try to root out the poppy trade? The insurgency grows. The only way out of this is to find an alternative source of revenue for the people.

Obama's Vietnam? Friday's airstrikes are evidence Obama will take the hard line he promised in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But he should remember what happened to another president who inherited a war - Juan Cole, Salon: If Obama thinks the drone attacks on FATA are a painless way to signal to the world that he is no wimp, he may find, as Lyndon Johnson did, that such military operations take on a momentum of their own, and produce popular discontents that can prove deadly to the military mission.

Obama's Vietnam: Hey, hey, BHO, how many years until we go? – Justin Raimondo, CounterPunch: A Vietnam-style counterinsurgency conflict spreading across the Afghan-Pakistan border and reaching into the wilds of Central Asia would dwarf the present quagmire in Iraq by several degrees of magnitude. Yet Obama was and still is touted as a peacemaker and an agent of "change."

A War on Pakistan's Schoolgirls - Yasmeen Hassan, Washington Post: To avoid the mistakes of the Bush administration, not only should there be greater accountability for how the funds of 2008 Biden-Lugar bill in the Senate calling for a tripling of nonmilitary aid to Pakistan are used, but the money should be conditioned on the Pakistani government taking active steps to curb the Talibanization of the country and, in particular, to uphold and protect the rights of girls and women.


Fresh hope for US-China cooperation - Anne Wu, Boston Globe: Last but not least, the two countries should deepen mutual understanding at the grassroots level, including the general public and media. This year is the year of the bull in China. Hopefully, the inauguration of Barack Obama will usher in a bullish period for US-Chinese relations.

A little more on the Chinese censorship of Obama's speech - James Fallows, Atlantic: The people in charge of China's propaganda apparatus, among the least worldly and most rigid-minded people in the entire country, apparently considered it a good and prudent idea to cut off Obama -- even if the vast majority of their fellow citizens would consider such paranoia to be extreme and bizarre.


Gaza War Pushes Arabs to the Brink - Robert Dreyfuss, Nation

Gaza media update for 25 January 2009 - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

With Gaza, Journalists Fail Again - Chris Hedges, Truthdig: The assault on Gaza exposed not only Israel’s callous disregard for international law but the gutlessness of the American press. Israel waged an effective war of black propaganda. It lied craftily with its glib, well-rehearsed government spokespeople, its ban on all foreign press in Gaza and its confiscation of cell phones and cameras from its own soldiers lest the reality of the attack inadvertently seep out.

The newspeak of Israeli propagandists – Professor Avi Shlaim, Oxford, Letter to the Editor, Guardian: Over the last four weeks the powerful Israeli propaganda machine has been churning out lie after lie about Hamas in order to excuse its own inexcusable onslaught. Israel stopped journalists going into Gaza, preventing any independent reporting on the war crimes its forces were committing.

On Proportionality - Gaza; Peace n' Freedom: You don't have to be a hardcore activist to understand that the Israeli propaganda claims of 'self-defense' are skewed or outright lies (although there are always a few who wish to swallow propaganda rather than looking at the situation on the ground).

Geopolitical poker - Arnaud de Borchgrave, Washington Times: Peace Now activists to the contrary, the perennial Israeli-Palestinian crisis is one Mr. Obama can afford to leave in the hands of the diplomatic pros who have built careers on the "Mideast peace process."

Reality Check: Israel decimated Hamas; now it's time to bring it back to life - Efraim Halevy, New Republic: Surely the prospect of weaning Hamas from the hands of President Ahmedinejad is worth a try, and if successful, it could bring the Israelis and Palestinians closer than ever to peace.

On the Wrong Side - Uri Avnery, CounterPunch: Israeli leaders have relied on unlimited American support, from the massive supply of money and arms to the use of the veto in the Security Council. This support may now be reaching its limits.

Design Tutorial: Creating a Propaganda Poster - David Sykes, crestock.com

HOW WE WILL REMEMBER HIM


IRAQ, AL-ASAD AIR BASE : US President George W. Bush waits behind a camouflage curtain before being announced to speak to the troops at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq’s western al-Anbar province 03 September 2007. FROM; VIA

January 25

"You know the most effective public diplomacy I've seen? It's basketball."

--Deputy Secretary of State during the Bush administration Richard Armitage, who launched a bipartisan Commission on Smart Power for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies with Harvard professor Joseph Nye, Jr.

“And I will be among the 20% who will not have an avatar version. Maintaining the coherence of the actual version of myself will be a sufficient challenge in 2011.”

--International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy commentator Kim Andrew Elliott, reacting to the comment that “The Gartner Research firm predicted in April 2007 that 80% of all internet users will have an avatar version of themselves by 2011.” On avatars, see

"When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains
And the women come out to cut up what remains
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier."

--Rudyard Kipling, “The Young British Soldier,” 1892

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Obama public diplomacy honeymoon - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Public Diplomacy is not marketing! - Greg Sanders, Better living through empiricism: "This [Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] will be an easier job under Obama’s Presidency and Clinton’s State Department as we’ve got better ideas and better policy. But really the US Information Agency or something like it should be restored. Public Diplomacy is really the long game, form connections with other people and tell the truth about what we’re doing. If it is [Judith] McHale [rumored to be the new Under Secretary] her best bet to get some good career people under her that she listens to. That should help her figure out how the nature of this job is different than her prior jobs. … [S]he may be great and I hope that’s the case.” ON McHALE SEE. ON USIA, SEE

Think Again: Barack Obama and the War on Terror: - David M. Edelstein, Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Policy: "Obama Will Wage the ‘Battle of Ideas' Better Than George W. Bush [.]’ Doubtful. Yes, Obama, by his presence and personality, has changed the atmospherics of U.S. foreign relations. America's reputation around the world has for some time been at a nadir, so there is nowhere to go but up. But the United States' poor image abroad has not been the result of a marketing failure, and, thus, better public diplomacy will not lead to victory in the ‘Battle of Ideas.’ Anti-Americanism thrives, not because others misunderstand the United States, but because they perceive its aims and tactics all too well. The Bush administration's greatest perceived foreign-policy failures -- Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo, unimpeded global warming -- could not have been overcome with better public diplomacy, and recent improvements in trans-Atlantic relations cannot be credited to an improved sales pitch. The world is rightly waiting to see if Obama will match his words with actions. Public diplomacy can matter only at the margins. As much as he might wish it, Obama does not enter the Oval Office with a clean slate.”

Will Clinton’s push for ’smart power’ bring networked diplomacy? - Angelo Fernando, Social Media Today: "At the heart of diplomacy, says incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (speaking at her visit to the State Department yesterday) is smart power. I trust this is not as something analogous to ’soft power.’ To me smart power would be all about taking diplomacy into a 3.0 world.

We all understand what 2.0 stands for, since this thinking debuted three years ago. Like web 3.0 thinking (see Google’s Eric Schmidt take a crack at it), the folks looking at how to engage in diplomacy 3.0 would do well to understand how information, ideas, even value systems move virally across networks. They would do well to look at a paper that was written by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, titled ‘Network Diplomacy.' Amazingly, it was written in 2001! It’s about networked intelligence, dialogues, listening, sharing and trust.”

Revolution, Facebook-Style - Samantha M. Shapiro, New York Times: “Although there are countless political Facebook groups in Egypt, many of which flare up and fall into disuse in a matter of days, the one with the most dynamic debates is that of the April 6 Youth Movement, a group of 70,000 mostly young and educated Egyptians, most of whom had never been involved with politics before joining the group. … In Washington, there is increasing interest in the April 6 Youth Movement. James Glassman, the outgoing under secretary of state for public diplomacy, told me he followed the group closely. ‘It’s not easy in Egypt, and in other countries in the Middle East, to form robust civil-society organizations,’ he said. ‘And in a way that’s what these groups are doing, although they’re certainly unconventional.‘ … Other State Department officials told me they believe that social-networking software like Facebook’s has the potential to become a powerful pro-democracy tool.” SEE ALSO

Place branding: Is it marketing, or isn't it? -Simon Anholt, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy: “As one ploughs through the ever-increasing quantity of blogs, articles, interviews and academic papers where place branding or public diplomacy are discussed — and interestingly enough, more and more of them mention both in the same context — one gets a reassuring sense that one important message is finally beginning to permeate the general consciousness: that communications are no substitute for policies, and that altering the image of a country or city may require something a little more substantial than graphic design, advertising or PR campaigns.” SEE ALSO. PHOTO: Simon Anholt

Guantanamaybe - Iris and David, We’re Just Sayin: “Jimmy Carter passed an executive order that CIA agents could no longer be undercover at USIA (Public affairs, press, and cultural exhanges officers). He felt they undermined the credibility of the US Public Diplomacy effort. And although it was a bit inconvenient for the CIA, sometimes you weigh and measure what makes sense in terms of the credibility of the nation. Whew!”

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games: Public Diplomacy Triumph or Public Relations Spectacle? - CPD Spring Symposium, US Center on Public Diplomacy: “The USC Center on Public Diplomacy, the USC Center for International Studies and the USC US-China Institute are proud to announce a symposium on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games: ‘Public Diplomacy Triumph or Public Relations Spectacle?’ The symposium will bring together scholars and practitioners to share research insights on China's public diplomacy strategies and the impact of these games on perceptions of China's soft power resources and global attitudes towards a rising China.” SEE ALSO

The International Message of National Identity – LK Advani's Blog: “I understand that in April 2006 the Ministry [of External Affairs of India] created a special Public Diplomacy Division because government felt that 'in today’s world, successful foreign policy practitioners need to have an open and regular dialogue with civil society, NGOs, academia, think tanks and the media.'”

Saakashvili described the care of their ex-comrades in the opposition as proof of democracy and freedom in Georgia - Boris Valerman, Look twice!: “Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Friday said in a live television broadcast to the citizens. He painted a very rosy picture. Georgia is a true democratic state, as evidenced by even the transition of many of his former allies in the opposition. From the economic crisis, Georgia has suffered less than other countries, although the fight against unemployment crisis and the president named a priority for his government at the moment. Russia, Saakashvili [said,] is still not trusted and welcomed contact with it only at the level of ‘public diplomacy.’"

RELATED ITEMS

Foreign voices on Washington's performance, past and future: How did the Bush administration affect them and their countries? And what are their hopes for the new administration? - Los Angeles Times

To Combat Obama, Al-Qaeda Hurls Insults: Effort Hints at Group's Consternation - Joby Warrick, Washington Post

The terrorist group has unleashed a stream of verbal tirades against Barack Obama, each more venomous than the last. Regardless of how Obama is viewed now by the Muslim world -- savior, menace or something in between -- the opinions will almost certainly change in the coming months. For Muslim countries, as for the United States, perceptions based on rhetoric and image will soon collide with reality as the policies of the new administration take form

Poll shows 63% in U.S. backed Israeli attack on Gaza – Deseret News. SEE ALSO

What is Web 2.0? – Nitesh, Nitesh's Technical Blog: Web 2.0 initiatives have been employed in public diplomacy for the Israeli government. The country is believed to be the first to have its own official blog, MySpace page, YouTube channel, Facebook page and a political blog. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs started the country's video blog as well as its political blog.

The UN's Orwellian Language on Israel - Richard L. Cravatts, American Thinker: “In the chorus of denunciation from much of the world community of Israel's defensive incursion into Gaza, nowhere was the feverish bleating more evident than from the UN's Human Rights Council, the perennially biased 47-member group of panjandrums that replaced the Israel-loathing UN Commission on Human Rights in 2005. … In few places where public diplomacy and negotiations are conducted is there such visible moral incoherence and hypocrisy as regularly occurs in Human Rights Council sessions.”

Media, Propaganda and the Gaza Conflict - Nancy Snow, Huffington Post: “From my vantage point, which is to say from my perch as a watcher/listener/viewer of mostly American media, it appeared that Israel's use of force in Gaza was excessive from the start.”

Gaza and Jenin: The same propaganda? - Carl in Jerusalem, Israel Matzav: The world media is already crying about a "massacre" that took place in Gaza using "white phosphorus" and other weapons that are "illegal" under "international law." In 2002, after more than 20 suicide attacks inside Israel in which about 100 civilians were massacred, Israel went after the terror infrastructure in Jenin and other Palestinian towns. Palestinians staged a "massacre" in which the world believed. Like today, in Gaza?

A Bold New Move – An Investment for the Future - Ari Bussel, Canada Free Press, Canada: "If one asks oneself about the current situation in Gaza, the answer would probably include these buzzwords: ‘Siege,’ ‘humanitarian crisis,’ ‘refugees.’ Even the more informed individuals, including many in the pro-Israel crowd, would succumb to the same. This is probably Israel’s greatest failure in this Operation. The Operation was not fought only on the ‘round and from the air. People the world over took active part in the Public Diplomacy Front. The ‘Siege’ from before the Operation still continues a month later. The idea of a ‘Humanitarian Crisis’ is so embedded in our mind’s eye that we look at ways to help, to force the Siege to break. And so billions of fresh money are committed to the betterment of the Gazans, no lessons learned from the past.“

Some thoughts on the situation – Forecast Highs: “Holocaust Memorial Day is on Tuesday, and there has been so much Gaza-Holocaust parallels going on during and after Operation Cast Lead, that I wonder how this year’s event will go down. … With so many examples lately of … people calling for boycotts of Israel, I feel as if there is a steady deligitimization of Israel going on. How did we become the bad guys? Haven’t we been hit by rockets for the past eight years? All the talk of Israel’s public diplomacy working well this time, as compared to the Second Lebanon War, seem very hollow to me now.“

This Is Not a Test - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: Iran as a key player in Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy. The Clinton team tried to woo Syria while isolating Iran. President Bush tried to isolate both Iran and Syria. The Obama team, as Martin Indyk argues in “Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East,” “needs to try both to bring in Syria, which would weaken Hamas and Hezbollah, while also engaging Iran.”

Even Ordinary Iranians Took Up This Banner - Azadeh Moaveni, Washington Post: The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marshaled its own resources to incite rage over Israel's offensive in Gaza to distract attention from its own myriad failures. And it worked.

Closing Gitmo Just the Beginning - Eric Margolis, The Atoronto Sun/Common Dreams: Now is an excellent time for Obama also to close the U.S. base at Guantanamo and return it to Cuba. Gitmo is a military white elephant. Returning it to Cuba would be a good start to thawing relations between Havana and Washington.

When Gitmo Was (Relatively) Good - Karen J. Greenberg, Washington Post: Had the United States been willing to trust in the professionalism of its superb military regarding the detainees, it could have avoided one of the most shameful passages in its history.

Obama's Vietnam? - Jeffrey T. Kuhner, Washington Times: Afghanistan threatens to destroy Barack Obama's presidency. Lost in the Inauguration euphoria this week is that our celebrity-in-chief is poised to commit a massive strategic military blunder -- one that will squander American blood and treasure, and perhaps mark the end of our superpower status. The United States is sleepwalking toward disaster. Mr. Obama is now following Kennedy's footsteps. Afghanistan will be his Vietnam.

Remembering Germany - Roger Cohen, International Herald Tribune: Germany is important to the United States right now. It's time to rekindle a dormant relationship.

Bush: The Great Liberator - Matt Patterson, Baltimore Sun: “[A]s someone whose family resides on the Eastern Seaboard, I will be eternally grateful to him for taking the fight to al-Qaida overseas, which it would be foolish to argue has had no impact on the subsequent tranquillity of American cities.

And as a lover of liberty and a believer that all people everywhere deserve to be free, I see him as the great liberator of our time - and one of the great leaders of all time.”

January 24

"[T]he Arts Endowment [NEA] cannot and has never operated like a centralized ministry of culture. It has never possessed the resources to impose its will on the American arts world."

--NEA Chairman Dana Gioia

“[H]e would welcome a ministry of culture because then he would know where the enemy was.”

--Regarding the painter John Sloan; cited in John Brown, review of Casey Nelson Blake, Editor, The Arts of Democracy: Art, Public Culture, and the State (2007)

“The arts are, unexpectedly, big business.”

--Denise Low, poet laureate of Kansas

VIDEO

WW2 Russian Propaganda Art – posted by Samuel Dixon

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (note: below posters from:99 WWII Propaganda Posters)

Public Diplomacy - Kevin Drum, Mother Jones: “Public diplomacy cheerleader Marc Lynch is unhappy over the news that Hillary Clinton may be about to choose an undersecretary of state for public diplomacy whose roots are in marketing, not statecraft. … Maybe Judith McHale will be brilliant at the job. Who knows? We'll have to learn more about her. But it would sure be nice to get someone for this job who speaks a few languages, has spent a lot of time overseas, and doesn't think of the job as merely a branding exercise. Stay tuned.” Comment by an Anonymous reader: “Well, her father was a diplomat. Maybe that qualifies her for foreign service work.”

"Selling A Message" - Patrick Appel, Andrew Sullivan Daily Dish, Atlantic: “Marc Lynch is worried by the rumors that Hillary Clinton will tap longtime friend and Democratic mega-donor Judith Hale as her undersecretary for public diplomacy.”

Daily Sources 1/23 - freude bud, Open Source Geopolitics: “Jeff Stein at SpyTalk reports that some of President Obama's first public diplomacy initiatives will target South America. Obama is scheduled to attend the April 17 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, ‘which may turn out to be his international debut as ambassador-in-chief.’”

Inauguration week round-up: Clinton, Geithner, China, and Gitmo - David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy: Tim Geithner [nominated Secretary of the Treasury] is going hard after the Chinese for manipulating their currency to keep prices low on their exports. While this is a legitimate concern, the monetary policy saber-rattling is political grandstanding here that is not the most effective way of delivering a message to a Chinese government that is already worried that an Obama Administration tactic will be to scapegoat them. …

Sometimes the best diplomacy is not the most public diplomacy.”

Launching Medical Diplomacy To Gaza – Gerald Loftus, Avuncular American: “I doubt seriously that there is any more urgent medical-humanitarian mission right now than Gaza. And whatever the form and amount of US aid to Gaza via the UN and the Red Cross, it doesn't have the impact - and, let's face it, the public diplomacy payoff - of a gleaming white hospital ship flying the US flag. Hospital ship - not gunboat - diplomacy - that's another way the new Administration could mark the difference with its predecessor.”

Hospital Ships: What exactly are they for? - Alanna Shaikh, Global Health: “The kinds of hospital trips are excellent public diplomacy. They are seen as evidence of American caring and generosity. … The problem is that you just can't provide very good care from a hospital ships. … Good medical care needs follow-up, and hospital ships don't stay in one place long enough to provide follow-up. … Hospital trips demoralize local health care providers, and reduce people's faith in their skills.”

Obama takes 'smart power' approach: Until Bush, the U.S. always knew military force alone wasn't enough, even for a superpower. As it rediscovers this truth under Obama, some see an opportunty for a grand unified theory in foreign policy - Lynda Hurst, Toronto Star: “The smart use of power is an updating of Woodrow Wilson's theory of liberal internationalism (stable democracies are less likely to go to war). It's the post-war Marshall plan to rebuild a shattered Europe in ways that would repel communism. It's John F. Kennedy creating the Peace Corps and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). … [T]the smart-power approach must include public or ‘citizen diplomacy,’ the exchange of ideas, peoples and information. … Problem is, though many soft power tools – from cultural and educational exchange programs to development aid – already exist, they're scattered throughout government, with nothing linking them with military power into a grand, unified approach to the rest of the world. Other tools have been gutted: foreign service hiring freezes; staff cuts at USAID; and the termination, after 46 years, of the U.S. Information Agency.”

Anybody Know What 'Smart Power' Means? - Lionel Beehner, Huffington Post: “Hand it to Hillary Clinton. She's managed to sum up the bold new direction of US foreign policy into a bumper-friendly catchphrase: smart power. … But let's face it: the phrase is nothing more than an empty policy that launched a thousand think-tank brown bags. …To me, the phrase's usage smacks of someone who really hasn't thought over what her policies are . … Also, I'm suspicious of the word ‘smart.’ … [T]he word ‘smart’ tends to sugarcoat nasty stuff. After all, smart bombs still kill innocents. Smart sanctions still mostly target civilians and not the government.”

Public diplomacy in the new administration - Emily Tavoulareas, zzzeitgeist: “Is it just me, or does the term 'Public Diplomacy' seem to buzzing all over DC these days? Particularly since the election of President Barack Obama, there has been a renewed discussion of how the new administration could/would/should rebuild America’s image abroad. …

I consider LISTENING to be the missing link in current US public diplomacy efforts. The development world seems to have a similar fault… . [T]oo much talking and ‘teaching’ and not enough listening and learning. Diplomacy should be, and can be, a two-way interaction. … While it is logical that the US government would focus on public diplomacy, I would argue that the best public diplomats are American citizens. Just as career diplomats play a critical role in government to government strategic communications, shouldn’t strategic communications with the general public be people to people?”

Public Diplomacy is not Public Relations - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “America's ‘public diplomacy’ was until 2008 focused on changing the subject and hoping people would ignore today and focus on the future, both of which were unsurprising failures. Today, we have an opportunity to reestablish public diplomacy as the tool of national security it must be. The promised sea-change in our foreign policy and the return of the United States to a position of global leadership will not come from deeds alone. … The power to engage global audiences is a national security imperative and must not be a mere tool of public relations.”

From our readers - Western leaders don't 'get' global comms - Jem Thomas, director of CB3 Communications, PR Week UK: “[W]hen it comes to strategic communications and public diplomacy, senior leaderships of the West often fail to 'get it'. Despite a general recognition that domestic and foreign policy are linked, government interest in communications wanes dramatically once targets fall outside domestic borders. … 'Hearts and minds' is a tired cliche, but to nurture effective soft power and consensus, the most crucial battle for 'hearts and minds' should first be fought not on the global stage but in government offices, foreign ministries and development agencies.”

U.S. Foreign Policy: Dangerous - Destructive? - Hubertus Hoffmann speech at Trinity College Dublin, social-sciences-and-humanities.com: “As a great power, the U.S. will never have only friends. Yet she need not produce more enemies than necessary. The U.S. must be the Flag of Liberty and Democracy in the world and the Fire of Human Progress as the Founding Fathers demanded. Public diplomacy is essential for American foreign policy, as well as a clean, ethical image. America must believe and fight for 'absolute values' and it is important for the soldiers to follow a code of honor (Fritz Kraemer). The U.S. needs a Holy Fire.”

Will Cuban dissidents' dissent lead to the descent of Radio Martí? (updated) - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “I thought the point of the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 is for senior appointments to be made by the firewall Broadcasting Board of Governors rather than by the president. If new senior managers, such as the the director of Radio/TV Martí and the director of Voice of America, are named by, or because of, the new administration, this would be an indication that U.S. international broadcasting lacks the independence necessary to achieve the credibility that is required for success in international broadcasting. It would also beg the question: why does the BBG exist?

Reflections of an Ambassador: Interview with Mary Ann Glendon - Irene Lagan, Zenit.org: “Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, who represented the United States before the Holy See, has already returned to Boston, where she is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University. [Glendon]: ‘The Holy See has diplomatic relations with 177 nations; its moral voice reaches almost every corner of the earth, and its networks of parishes, dioceses, and humanitarian aid workers make it an extraordinary ‘listening post.’ Much of my work also involved ‘public diplomacy’ -- speaking and writing on issues of common concern to the United States and the Holy See.”

President chairs Institute for Peace and Democracy meeting - Antara, Indonesia: “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono chaired Institute for Peace and Democracy meeting at Tampak Siring Palace here on Saturday morning. … Attendees from the Foreign Affairs Ministry [included] Director General for Public Diplomacy and Information Andri Hadi.”

Is Diplomacy Hot Again or What? – DS, Diplopundit: ”I have to admit that I got a little dizzy yesterday watching Steve Kashkett [a leader of AFSA, the State Department union]’s body movement as he spoke (if he is a PD officer, FSI needs to update its training modules on public speaking).

Sorry, but I want a diplomat there who can speak without notes. I hope AFSA is keeping notes for next time. Ambassador Bill Burns did his part just perfectly. I watched the videos and scrolled through the blog comments in the official blog, DipNote (under new management). It crossed my mind that Hillary may exactly be the remedy for the inattentiveness of the American public to the Foreign Service and the work of the State Department."

Program Analyst (Special Assistant): Job Code: ECA-2009-0045 - AILA Career Center: “This position is located in the Office of Private Sector Exchange (EC), Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) [State Department]. The Office is responsible for administration and oversight of the Department's Exchange Visitor Program. The Program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries through educational and cultural exchanges.“

Drank the Kool Aid – Cheryl, i kick english, they tell me lies: “There are a few other Master Programs I am interested in, so I will certainly look into that, as well. Maybe I will study International Studies in Vienna? or wait a year, and do Public Diplomacy at USC? Though somehow those programs both seem much tougher than the one I am applying to now, so maybe that's wishful thinking.”

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY



Quincy Jones Leads Chorus Urging a Cabinet-Level Arts Czar - Jacqueline Trescott, Washington Post

Behind the Scenes: Will artists enjoy amazing adventures with Obama? - Lynn Israel, Columbia Tribune: “Here’s the Obama-Biden plan, edited for space reasons [including]: ● Promote cultural diplomacy: American artists, performers and thinkers representing our values and ideals can inspire people both at home and all over the world. Through efforts like that of the United States Information Agency, America’s cultural leaders were deployed around the world during the Cold War as artistic ambassadors and helped win the war of ideas by demonstrating to the world the promise of America. Artists can be utilized again to help us win the war of ideas against Islamic extremism. ● Attract foreign talent: Obama suggests opening America’s doors to students and professional artists in a kind of two-way cultural understanding that can break down the barriers that feed hatred and fear. As America tightened visas after 9/11, the world’s most talented students and artists, who used to come here, went elsewhere. Obama will streamline the visa process to return America to its rightful place as the world’s top destination for artists and art students."

Do live arts need federal boost? Theaters look to '30s in push for bailout - Gordon Cox, Variety: "As long as the government is handing out bailouts, how about one for the performing arts? … [G]overnment support of legit seems a near certainty. Obama's stated arts policy during the campaign included promises of boosted partnerships between schools and arts orgs; the promotion of cultural diplomacy; and health care and tax fairness for artists. ‘The government put money into General Motors,’ says Bernard Gersten, exec producer of Gotham nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater. ‘And they produce more flops than Broadway!’"

Obama stands behind the arts as a vehicle for real change - Denise Low, Kansas City Star: “I was delighted that Obama included poet Elizabeth Alexander in his inaugural ceremony.

This is a potent symbol. Also, he has a position paper that supports arts education, an artist corps, increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, cultural diplomacy, health care for artists and tax fairness for artists.” Denise Low is poet laureate of Kansas. PHOTO: Elizabeth Alexander

Professor examines the influence of US culture - Brendan Benedict, The Heights: “[C]ulture can be a double-edged sword. [Professor Martha] Bayles cites a Pew Global Attitudes Survey that found that a majority of citizens of Muslim nations, along with Russia and India, have negative views of American film and music, most likely due to the proliferation of sex and violence. Janet Jackson's infamous Super Bowl halftime show probably didn't help either.

Bayles said, ‘But when people with no other source of information about America take vulgar, violent, vitriolic examples of popular culture - the film 'The Dark Knight,' say, or the TV show 'Desperate Housewives' - as an accurate reflection of reality, the impact can be negative and far-reaching."

Musicians For Harmony Sets 3/20 Concert To Benefit Iraqi Student Project – Jazz: “Musicians For Harmony's commitment to cultural and educational work with Iraq continues to reap tangible results, and the March 20th concert reflects the growing success of M4H founder Allegra Klein's organization.

Established shortly after September 11, 2001, Musicians For Harmony has earned significant and growing attention for its charitable efforts in the years since. Each fall, they present a commemorative 'Concert For Peace' in New York City featuring internationally renowned classical and world music artists.”

Olympics choreographer arrives for residency - Lucie Zhang, Duke Chronicle, NC: “Shen Wei [is] founder and artistic director of Shen Wei Dance Arts. .... So far, Wei and his company have hosted master classes on [the Duke] campus, given presentations at the Franklin Humanities Institute and helped student choreographers with the upcoming Lunar New Year performance. Scott Lindroth, vice provost for the arts and professor of music, said that Wei's involvement in these events highlights his eagerness to show that ‘dance can engage issues broader than just pure choreography’ and that ‘art can serve as a tool for cultural diplomacy.’"

Cap in hand, calculator at the ready - James Bradshaw, Globe and Mail: “Canada's arts community has the federal government's ear more than at any moment in recent years, and its prebudget suggestions for how to boost the country's creative economy are piling up. … Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore has, in fact, all but promised that current funding levels are safe. Some critics, however, would like him not merely to avoid further cuts, but to reverse the ones his government has made. Most notably, they would like to see funding for touring and cultural diplomacy immediately reinstated.”

Iranian treasures bound for Britain - John Wilson - BBC: “Across a conference table in an Iranian vice president's office, tea and sweet pastries are offered before cultural diplomacy. An ancient clay cylinder, regarded by scholars as the world's first declaration of human rights, helps to seal a deal that could open a new diplomatic channel between Britain and Iran. … I'd been warned that, as a BBC journalist, I might not be welcomed into this Iranian government building in traffic-jammed downtown Tehran. The launch of the BBC's Persia TV service has prompted a furious denouncement of British 'spies' in the country. … Facing us on the Iranian side is a team led by a deputy vice-president. [Mr Neil] MacGregor’s [director of the British Museum] primary role is to secure the loan of artefacts, ornaments and Persian silk carpets for the British Museum's forthcoming exhibition Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran.”

Vietnam pursues foreign policy of peace in 2009 – QDND.VN: “In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency recently, Mr [Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia] Khiem, who is also Foreign Minister, reaffirmed the country’s policy of pursuing peace in its foreign affairs in 2009 to create favourable conditions for the country to promote national construction and defence and to increase its international prestige.


… To do this, he said the Government will take a dual diplomatic approach, combining State-to-State diplomacy with people-to-people diplomacy while developing a comprehensive overall approach to diplomacy, politically, economically and culturally. With regard to cultural diplomacy, he said that efforts will be made to improve overseas Vietnamese affairs, better protect Vietnamese nationals and increase the efficiency of overseas-targeted information to meet the requirements of a new stage in cultural relations. 2009 has been chosen as the ‘Year of Cultural Diplomacy’ as it is one of the three pillars of a comprehensive diplomacy, he emphasised."

RELATED ITEMS

Teacher on a World Stage: Obama May Find It Hard Not to Overshadow the Club He Has Joined - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post: There is no reason to think that the political earthquake Obama launched in the United States three years ago will stop at the water's edge or has already run its course.

Radio Shack'd: Euphemized & Bettered – M1, Swedish Meatballs Confidential: Kinetic operations -- aka "shooting wars" -- are in contrast with "psy ops," psychological warfare, or civil affairs operations, such as building schools or setting up health clinics.


Israel’s Propaganda War in Gaza: Once David Now Goliath - Ong Weichong, Khaleej Times Online: In an age whereby anyone with a camera-phone and Internet access can instantly propagate his or her version of ‘truth’ to the world at large, militaries and governments must realise that it takes more than fuzzy images of so-called precision strikes to win the propaganda war. The military-centric approach and knee-jerk reactions of Israel’s propaganda Goliath suggest the lack of a clear credibile strategy.

Public Relations, Propaganda, Call It What You Will - Steve Schippert, ThreatsWatch.Org: Israel is responding to successful media campaigns by terrorist groups designed to shape international opinion and arouse loud condemnation. And both Hizballah and Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas have been wildly successful at doing precisely that. And that is the whole point of the Israeli communications efforts.

Appointing Mitchell: Obama's Signal to Peace – James Zogby, Huffington Post: In appointing former Senator George Mitchell as Special Envoy for the Middle East, President Barack Obama made clear his determination to pursue Arab-Israeli peace. Mitchell, an Arab American, was former Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate and widely recognized for his role in achieving peace in Northern Ireland. He has the stature the job demands.

Can George Mitchell Astound the Skeptics, Again? - Daniel Levy, Huffington Post

The Wrong Man for the Job - Scott Ritter, Truthdig: Not only has Richard Holbrooke (named emissary to handle Afghanistan issues) demonstrated a lack of comprehension when it comes to the complex reality of Afghanistan (not to mention Pakistan), he has a history of choosing the military solution over the finesse of diplomacy. The Dayton Accords, after all, were built on the back of a NATO military presence. This does not bode well for the Obama administration.

A False Move on Gitmo: Obama’s lofty talk does nothing to resolve detainee situation – Editors, National Review

What to Do About the Gitmo Detainees: The ball is in Congress's court - Stephanie Hessler, Weekly Standard: To close Guantánamo, there must be comprehensive legislation covering detainee trials, continued detention, and release. A few days after the election, the New York Times ran a full-page ACLU ad urging Obama to close Guantánamo "on day one, with the stroke of a pen." If only reality were as simple as rhetoric.

For Detainees, Obama Off to Good Start - Andy Worthington – Antiwar.com

The Risks of Releasing Detainees - The Editors, New York Times

New Era of America Leadership? - Gordon Prather, Antiwar.com: Surely President Obama will soon realize -- as does most of the world -- that Iran has broken no NPT rule and that for at least the past eight years it is the United States that has been the most flagrant violator of NPT rules.

Is the US About to Treat the Rest of the World Better? Maybe... American foreign policy is subject to structural pressure that has not dissolved - Johann Hari, The Independent/UK/Common Dreams: Obama has made energy independence -- a massive transition away from foreign oil and gas, and towards the wind, sun and waves -- the centre of his governing programme. If the US is no longer addicted to Bolivian gas, then its governments will be much less inclined to topple anybody else who wants to control it.

Obama's Pentagon: Bowing to the Masters of War? - Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch: The American people did not elect the Pentagon. They elected Barack Obama based a good deal on his promise to get US troops out of Iraq sooner rather than later. Since he was elected, Mr. Obama has hedged on this promise.

Solutions For An Insolvent World – John Judis, New Republic: So US retrenchment of sorts is necessary -- and that requires compromise and choosing our enemies carefully. Our problem at the present is that we are limited in our exercise of hard and soft power.

Repudiate the Carter Doctrine - Michael Klare, Foreign Policy in Focus/Common Dreams: Twenty-nine years ago, President Jimmy Carter adopted the radical and dangerous policy of using military force to ensure U.S. access to Middle Eastern oil. This principle -- known ever since as the Carter Doctrine -- led to U.S. involvement in three major wars and now risks further military entanglement in the greater Gulf area. It's time to repudiate this doctrine and satisfy U.S. energy needs without reliance on military intervention.

The Return of Carterism? - Arthur Herman, Commentary: Now Barack Obama comes into office, trailing clouds of Carterite rhetoric and Carteresque ideas about the inutility of military force, the sovereign worth of “aggressive diplomacy” (an incoherent and meaningless phrase), and the need to accommodate ourselves to a world in which we are no longer even an economic superpower, let alone an example to mankind.

Bloggingheads: Barack Obama’s Exceptionalism – New York Times

The Bush Ambassadors – An Epilogue – DS, Diplompundit: Bush appointees can now sign up as a Bush-Cheney Alumni Association member. All employees, appointees, and interns of President George W. Bush as well as campaign donors and volunteers are eligible to join. Members will receive valuable benefits, including access to an online community, alumni updates, opportunities to be involved with the Association, and invitations to events and activities sponsored by the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE’S NEXT STARRING ROLE?




"The Americans are violently oral. ... Even the American passion for laxatives can be explained as an oral manifestation."

--W.H. Auden

"An oral fixation (also oral craving) is a fixation in the oral stage of development manifested by an obsession with stimulating the mouth (oral) first described by Sigmund Freud, who thought infants are naturally and adaptively in an oral stage, but if weaned too early or too late, may fail to resolve the conflicts of this stage and develop a maladaptive oral fixation. In later life, these people may constantly 'hunger' for activities involving the mouth.

--Wikipedia

January 23

“The reaction of State Department employees as Hillary Clinton arrived this morning apparently bears comparison to the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II.”

--Scott Horton, “Glinda Arrives at State,” Harper’s; via


"Bush-hating disorder: A pathology for our time"

--Headline of article by Richard Haddad, Washington Times

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Update at 2:54 p.m. ET – Oval Office, USA Today: "’We are going to reinvigorate America's commitment to public diplomacy,’ [Vice President Joe] Biden declares. ‘For too long we have put the bulk of the burden on our military.’"

Friends With High Numbers – Al Kamen, In the Loop, Washington Post: “Official Washington is abuzz with word that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is poised to tap a longtime friend and Democratic mega-donor as her undersecretary for public diplomacy. Judith A. McHale, one of the area's most prominent female executives, who stepped down in 2006 as president of Discovery Communications, may take a job that has been especially difficult given Washington's reputation abroad. Her résumé doesn't reflect an excess of diplomatic experience, but we're reminded that this is a job that involves selling a message. McHale has been close to Clinton for decades and was an early and prolific fundraiser for the former first lady's presidential bid. During the 2008 campaign cycle, McHale donated $109,600 to Democratic politicians and campaign committees, campaign finance records show. Wow! Not that good a job.” PHOTO: Chief executive Judith A. McHale leads Discovery Communications Inc. as it explores new ways to expand the company's television networks. (By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

rumors of a bad public diplomacy choice – Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: “This [McHale as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] would be a terrible, terrible selection. I don't know Judith McHale at all, and obviously have nothing against her personally. But the position of Under-Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs should go to someone with experience in and a vision for public diplomacy, and who will be in a position to effectively integrate public diplomacy concerns into the policy-making process. Appointing someone with no experience in public diplomacy but with a resume which 'involves selling a message' has already been tried: the first post-9/11 Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Charlotte Beers, whose tenure lasted only 17 months (October 2001-March 2003), focused on 'branding' America through television advertising showing happy Muslim-Americans, and is generally considered to be an utter failure. … During the Presidential campaign, Obama talked often and effectively about global engagement and public diplomacy. But during the primary I had noted Clinton's inattention to public diplomacy.”

History’s Most Accessible Inauguration Provides A Spotlight On Change - Jared Cohen, World Tweets: “While it is a coincidence that the historic nature of this presidential election coincided with the first opportunity for the entire world to watch through various digital media outlets, what we experienced here in America is not a twist of fate. The world watched and we showed them what we mean when we talk about democracy and American values. It was public diplomacy at its best.”

Rebooting America's Image - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “I attended a lecture today by Dean Wilson, who heads Annenberg, on "Rebooting America's Image." … Dean Wilson had been appointed to Obama's transition team to deal with public diplomacy. … As for tips for transition for PD, Wilson noted three points: 1) get organized, 2) get out of Washington, and 3) get digital. Getting organized requires leadership, and more boots on the ground. He noted about how there are more military lawyers in DOD than diplomats at State. It also requires sustained leadership, not the rotating chair at undersec for PD, which has seen 7 or so heads in the 12 years since PD was taken over by State. As for getting out of Washington, he pointed out the role that other parts of the country (ie Los Angeles) can play in having a PD impact. As for getting digital, it is all about harnessing new technologies to promote public diplomacy efforts and being innovative in the use of new systems.”

Slow Out of the Gate on Public Diplomacy Reform? - Steve Corman, COMOPS Journal: “If the USIA is not to be reconstituted, then how will the problems cited by the various calls to do so ... be addressed? There is general agreement that the (Bill) Clinton-era dismantling of the USIA has not served us well, leaving our public diplomacy efforts with low priority and poor coordination.

After multiple Bush administration false-starts on fixing the coordination problems (2002 Office of Global Communications, 2002 Strategic Communication Policy Coordinating Committee, 2004 Interagency Strategic Communication Fusion Team) I would like to hear about some out-of-the-box organizational changes designed to address them, and more about if and how the PD function is going to be bumped in priority.” ON USIA SEE

Four Elements of a Strong National Security Plan - Rep. Adam Smith, The Hill's Congress Blog:

“Current development efforts are too underfunded and inefficient to successfully tackle global poverty and address weak states. Further, our civilian agencies lack sufficient capacity in terms of personnel and resources to carry out an effective foreign policy. Some of the biggest deficiencies exist in public diplomacy and development efforts, but the gaps are nearly across the board, and our military has been forced in recent years to fill them. We need to empower the State Department, USAID and other civilian agencies to take the lead in these critical endeavors.”

Building on the Momentum of Global Goodwill - Jeff Weintraub, So It Goes : "[W]e should all sit up and pay attention to recommendations that the U.S. have a consciously planned and execute program of public diplomacy. By public diplomacy, I mean ‘civilian instruments of national security – diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development,’ as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called for. Comes now a new prescription for our public diplomacy needs via a just-released report by Brookings Institution scholar Kristin Lord. The report, which was based in part on consultations Lord had with more than 300 people from a wide range of sectors in U.S. society, calls for (and this is from the report's executive summary): ‘the creation of a nimble and entrepreneurial new non-profit organization, the USA-World Trust, to complement and support U.S. government efforts’ as well as private-sector actions.” SEE ALSO

Armenian Journalist Hopes Obama Administration Will Protect Foreign Workers Rights at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Ted, FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog: “During the last months of the Bush Administration, Edward E. Kaufman, [a] former Democratic BBG member who is now a U.S. Senator from Delaware and was previously Joe Biden’s chief of staff, worked closely with BBG’s former Republican chairman, neoconservative Bush appointee, James K. Glassman, who later became the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. They agreed to terminate VOA radio broadcasts to Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, and India.”

Virtual Islam: Peace, Love, and Some Understanding? - Bill Berkowitz, Religion Dispatches: “After a year of exploring digital Islamic communities, Joshua S. Fouts and Rita J. King, Senior Fellows at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, produced a report which concludes: ‘engaging with people in virtual worlds who self-identify as Muslim can be part of a broader public diplomacy strategy to foster inclusive perspectives on religion, society, and coexistence.’”

International Students Obtain Practical Education at Community Colleges – Lisa Rosenberg, AACRAO Transcript, DC: “The Community College Summit Initiative Program is a State Department Scholarship program that provides foreign students practical training at U.S. community colleges.


ccording to the Chronicle of Higher Education, community colleges, with their ‘expertise in work-force education, may often be the best places for future leaders in developing economies to get training.’ The program is in its second year and reflects a growing desire for the U.S. to improve its public-diplomacy outreach to foreigners of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Most participating colleges have created special tracks for the students in the program, combining academic course work, English-language study, and a class on American civics and government.”

Watching Oprah in a Syrian refugee camp – Kristen Gillepsie, worldfocus.org: “In a region where people overwhelmingly disapprove of American policy toward the Arab world, Oprah has quietly emerged as a better cultural ambassador than any public diplomacy effort in recent memory. As the months passed, I heard more from fans of Oprah.

They are women representing a spectrum of class and religious orientation — conservative women, veiled women, liberal women and even women who don’t speak much English but read the Arabic subtitles. Mazen Hayek, the marketing director for MBC4, the channel that airs ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ in the Middle East, says the enormous positive feedback the station receives speaks for itself: ‘The best reward [is] hearing people tell you, we learn more from the Oprah show than from our schools, our universities. So the effect of Oprah on people’s lives is very positive.’”

Smith-Mundt Symposium in the Blogosphere + - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: Includes comments elecitied by the Symposium.

Analysis: This time, Israel got the public diplomacy right - Hirsh Goodman, Jerusalem Post: “Evidence suggests that Israel's public diplomacy efforts during Operation Cast Lead were planned as professionally and precisely as the IDF's military operation. Clearly, both in terms of media relations and information security, lessons have been learned from past experience. Israel put in place what seems to be a well-oiled, focused, disciplined and well-navigated public diplomacy bureaucracy that disseminates messages and supporting materials in a timely and organized way. … The basic conditions posed by massive force being deployed in densely populated areas would pose a challenge to any public diplomacy establishment. Those responsible seem to be doing a solid job under difficult circumstance and against very heavy odds.” SEE ALSO (1) (2)

Croatia hails EU initiative to resolve border row with Slovenia – Europe - Euro News 24: “Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Thursday praised an offer by the European Union to help solve a border row between his country and Slovenia that has blocked Zagreb's EU accession talks. … Sanader late Wednesday met EU enlargement commissioner Oli Rehn here. Rehn presented him with a number of initiatives which he had shown just hours earlier to Slovenian officials, although no details have been disclosed. ‘This is a bilateral issue but it has become a European problem,’ Rehn told journalists upon his return to Brussels. … ’It's better that we work on the basis of silent diplomacy than public diplomacy at this point in time,’ he added.” SEE ALSO (1) (2)

LTTE-sponsored Rally in Washington: Rallying the West to reverse territorial loss in Sri Lanka - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: “In the midst of this propaganda (shall we call it a strategic communication on the part of the LTTE) the Tamil Tigers have taken to the streets in front of the Indian Embassy, and before that in New York before the United Nations. And this public diplomacy and strategic communication of the LTTE seem to have buried the real nature of the outfit which practiced genocide to persecute, harass and finally remove members of the other two ethnic groups Sinhalese and Muslims from the LTTE-controlled North in the late eighties and early nineties.”

Kennedy Center to host international relations lecture on Friday - Amy McDonald, BYU Newsnet –“The Kennedy Center for International Studies [at Brigham Young University] will host an international relations lecture on new approaches to foreign aid Jan. 23 at noon in B092 JFSB. Aaron Sherinian, managing director for public affairs in the Department of Congressional and Public Affairs at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), will present ‘U.S. Foreign Assistance: Why We Do It; Why It Matters; New Approaches.’ … Prior to his assignment at MCC, he served as press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, where he was responsible for embassy relations with media outlets in the country and acted as the ambassador's media advisor in promoting U.S. government public diplomacy objectives.”

University of Pittsburgh Calendar of Events, Feb. 4-11 – NewsFromPitt: “2/6 Marwan Kraidy, a professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, will deliver a lecture titled 'Arab Media and U.S. Policy: A Public Diplomacy Reset.'”

RELATED ITEMS


Obama DOD: Order Mercy & Comfort For Gaza Victims – Gerald Loftus, Avuncular American: “The United States Navy operates two hospital ships, the USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort. … Deployment of one of the hospital ships off the coast of Gaza could be one of the very first actions ordered by the new Commander in Chief.”

Send a Navy Hospital Ship to Gaza? - Christopher Albon, War & Health: “As readers probably already know, I am a strong supporter of hospital ships for medical diplomacy. However … [a] major (and not unreasonable) criticism of employing the Navy as medical diplomats is that, no matter their true intentions, the mission is still a US military operation using military equipment. This was even an issue for the USS Kearsarge in Nicaragua where the US is on good terms. Thus, I hesitate to imagine how a US military ship off the Gazan coast would play out in the arab street (whatever its hull color).”

More inauguration and the world media - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Will Obama image translate into tourism? - Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY: Despite the inauguration of a president who could generate warmer feelings -- and more tourists -- for the USA, the U.S. tourism industry is bracing for a decline in higher-spending international visitors. This year, the number of foreign visitors is expected to dip for the first time since 2003 as the economic crisis spreads and consumers worldwide curb spending.

Enlisting Freud's Nephew - Strategy Page: The one area where the United States in particular, and the West in general, lags is public relations (or spinning the media). This is particularly galling to American commanders, because modern PR was invented by an American (Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud) 80 years ago. Out of that came many modern advertising and promotion techniques. Aside from Douglas MacArthur (and a few other generals), the military has not really picked up on the need to use the media for military (and non propaganda) purposes. That, however, has been changing. For the last two decades, the U.S. military has been well aware of the problem, but has not made an all out effort to deal with it.

Hamas, Propaganda Fuel Hatred of Israel - Arnaud de Borchgrave, NewsMax.com, FL: The propaganda war, from YouTube, to MySpace, to FaceBook and other electronic conveyor belts make it a lot easier to recruit jihadis and then brainwash them to volunteer for a suicide mission. Gaza, thus far, has been a force multiplier for Taliban in Afghanistan, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and elsewhere in Pakistan.

Q&A: "A Lot of the Gaza Story Is Being Left Out": Miren Gutierrez interviews Nancy Snow, propaganda expert – IPS

Winning and Losing in Gaza - Richard Falk, Nation: Neither the United States nor Israel has discovered the limits of military power in the contemporary world. The leaders of both countries seem unable to learn the lesson of recent history: that occupation in the postcolonial world rarely produces the desired results at an acceptable cost. It is from this perspective, despite a horrific price in lives and suffering, that the Palestinians may be slowly winning the "second war," the legitimacy war, whose battlefield has become global.

So Far, Obama's Missed The Point on Gaza... - Robert Fisk, The Independent/UK/Common Dreams: For the people of the Middle East, the absence of the word "Gaza" -- indeed, the word "Israel" as well -- was the dark shadow over Obama's inaugural address. Didn't he care? Was he frightened?

Change Gaza Can Believe In: Tearing Up Washington's Middle East Playbook - Tony Karon, TomDispatch: In Gaza in the last few weeks the Bush approach imploded, leaving Obama no choice but to initiate a new policy of his own. Hopefully, it will be one rooted in the pragmatism for which the new President is renowned.

Unanimous Consent: When Israel acts, Congress applauds. No debate required - Glenn Greenwald, American Conservative: In most of the world, the Israeli attack on Gaza is viewed as an intensely controversial act and, more commonly, an excessive, unjustifiable, and brutal assault on a trapped civilian population. But not in the United States -- at least not among America’s political and opinion-making elite.

Buying Time: Why George Mitchell is the perfect envoy not to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Shmuel Rosner, New Republic: Even if Mitchell can somehow overcome each side's inertia, his achievement or failure will not be determined by new road maps or modified Obama parameters. Mitchell's success will be determined by the ability of the Obama administration to engage Iran effectively, and by its ability to turn the regional tide.

Old Hand for an Old Mission - Jackson Diehl, Washington Post: Imagine a U.S. administration prepared to demand tangible steps toward peace by both Israelis and Palestinians -- and to publicly challenge an Israeli government's dodges. That might or might not improve the prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. But it would have the effect of returning U.S. policy to about where it was in October 2001 -- the first time George Mitchell got a Middle East assignment from a president.

An Unenviable Job – Editorial, New York Times: To succeed, Mr. Mitchell will need strong support from President Obama and, we hope, a good relationship with a new Israeli prime minister who is fully committed to a two-state solution. It is a tough job. We wish him luck.

Can Clinton and Her Envoys Rebuild U.S. Diplomacy? - Massimo Calabresi, Time: If the weary diplomats at the State department want nothing more than action on the diplomatic front, they're certainly going to get it from Holbrooke and Mitchell.

Obama Foreign Policy Heavyweights Emerge – Nancy Snow, Huffington Post: They are are now tasked with trying to, yet again, resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict (George Mitchell) and oversee construction of peace over chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Richard Holbrooke). PHOTO: Richard Holbrooke.

Obama's Guantánamo Mistake: He's Not Closing Gitmo the Right Way - Brandt Goldstein, Huffington Post: Obama has issued an executive order -- a directive from the president -- to shut down the prison. That alone is not enough. What Obama must do now is work with Congress to enact a federal statute that outlaws forever the use of Guantánamo as a detention facility.

Chaos and Lies: Why Obama Was Right to Halt the Guantánamo Trials - Andy Worthington, Antiwar.com


Bush's 'War' On Terror Comes to a Sudden End - Dana Priest, Washington Post: President Obama yesterday eliminated the most controversial tools employed by his predecessor against terrorism suspects. With the stroke of his pen, he effectively declared an end to the "war on terror," as President George W. Bush had defined it, signaling to the world that the reach of the U.S. government in battling its enemies will not be limitless.

Bookending the Bush Era: Unraveling Bush's excesses - Obama's three orders on detainees and interrogation show how tough it will be to undo what Bush did – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: Obama deserves credit for ending the worst of the Bush administration's excesses in the "war on terror." As he does, he should not introduce shades of gray into issues that call for black-and-white clarity.

Has Obama Dropped the "War on Terror"? - David Corn, Mother Jones: De-emphasizing the war metaphor would be a significant change. But if it is a deliberate change, the White House does not want to acknowledge it.

Getting Rid of the "War on Terror" Mindset: The Obama administration marks the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq. But it's less clear what it means for the larger "war on terror" - Matthew Yglesias, American Prospect: Back during the campaign, meanwhile, Obama said he didn't just want to end the war in Iraq, he wanted to "end the mindset that got us into the war in the first place." The idea of a hazily defined "war on terror" would certainly seem to qualify as an important part of that mindset. But thus far, Obama and his team have been mighty ambiguous on the issue.

So Much To Be Undone - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Before President Obama can do, he must undo. Repairing the damage that George W. Bush did to the nation's values, honor and pride will be complicated and, at times, politically inconvenient. But nothing is more urgent, and nothing will ultimately reap more benefits at home and abroad. Obama should form an official blue-ribbon panel, some sort of "truth commission," to investigate Bush's conduct of his "war on terror" and report to the American people.

Obama Must Halt America’s Moral Decline - William Pfaff, Truthdig: Bush II exercised violence -- inspired by an infantile political Manichaeism concerning “Islamic terror” -- and a lawless foreign policy that further divided the nation, bringing us to where we are today. The United States became an enduringly divided nation, which has lacked a legitimate, unifying and governing political and moral authority and order. This is what elected Barack Obama.

War Planning: Iraq will test whether the pragmatic will trump the political in President Obama's administration - Editorial, Washington Post: Pragmatism calls for working within the agreed U.S.-Iraqi plan, and for allowing adjustments based on positive and negative developments in Iraq, rather than on any fixed and arbitrary timetable.

U.S.– Japan: An alliance in need of attention - Richard J. Samuels and James L. Schoff, International Herald Tribune: Greater Japanese contributions to global order are needed, be it in maritime security, helping failed states, or bolstering UN peacekeeping missions. In return, Washington should cede proportionate decision-making power.

How Russians Interpret Obama - Michele A. Berdy, Moscow Times: In a passage in Obama's inaugural speech, one translator had some problems with English verb forms and may not have known American society very well. Obama said, "A man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant," which came out in Russian: человек, отец которого приехал в эту страну и которому ещё 60 лет назад не разрешили бы работать в ресторане (a man whose father came to this country and who even 60 years ago would not have been allowed to work in a restaurant). Americans know that he could have gotten a job there; he just couldn't have sat at the counter.

State Department Staff: Ding Dong the Witch is Dead - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I STILL keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to

January 22

"It's more than just books, it's much more than just lectures … We're here to help her create and enhance an agenda that is very important to her in her post-government career."

--William Morris Agency NY office co-chief operating officer Wayne Kabak, cited in Paul J. Gough, “Condoleezza Rice signs with WMA”; via Sparkle Pony; Rice photo from; creature from; see also John Brown, "10 Percent Intellectual: The Mind of Condoleezza Rice"

“[L]ike many consumers of lesbian romance novels, I have developed a bit of a thing for the men, and especially the women, of the protective services.”

--June Thomas, Slate

"Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress."

--Headline in the Onion (November 5, 2008)

“There is a need for transparency and accountability in a mission where most work necessarily remains hidden from public view.”

--Dennis C. Blair, the retired admiral who is President Obama’s choice as the nation’s top intelligence official

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

History's Most Accessible Inauguration Provides A Spotlight On Change - Jared Cohen, Huffington Post: “While it is a coincidence that the historic nature of this presidential election coincided with the first opportunity for the entire world to watch through various digital media outlets, what we experienced here in America is not a twist of fate.

The world watched and we showed them what we mean when we talk about democracy and American values. It was public diplomacy at its best. Whether one is a Democrat or a Republican, it is in our national interest for the world to be glued to all forms of machinery and devices that will give them access to the founding principles that our nation was built upon.”

What Exactly Did Hillary Say To The Senate About Public Diplomacy? - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: “I especially don’t see where she [Clinton] described America Houses in more than the most general terms. Or if you found her quoted elsewhere on the more specific descriptions included in your article – I'd appreciate knowing the source or sources.

I also wonder if there’s a bit more 'wiggle room' in Clinton’s negative reaction to an independent public diplomacy agency than indicated in Pincus’ article.”

Q and A with pre-confirmation Secretary State Hillary Clinton (Updated) - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Written Q&A between Senators Kerry and Lugar and presumed Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, are below. In the Lugar Q&A, public diplomacy-related questions, including broadcasting (oddly listed as separate from public diplomacy), are on pages 84-87, questions 139-142. The original report is here. It is an image-only 102 page, 4mb PDF. I’ve uploaded a searchable version of the PDF here (warning 78mb PDF!, but it is searchable). Senator Kerry’s Q&A with HRC is here and a searchable and bookmarked (for public diplomacy-related questions) version is here (72mb PDF). Excerpts from both are below the fold. Also, her testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations committee can be found here.”

President Obama's First Public Diplomacy Move? Deploy a Naval Hospital Ship to Gaza - Will Youmans, Palestine Center: “Treating Gaza's health care crisis with action would go a long way to address the urgent medical needs of Gazans and re-position the United States, whose image suffered tremendously due to the government's complicity in the recent Israeli offensive, as a force of good in the region. … In a 2006 speech, Karen Hughes, the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the time, said, ‘medical diplomacy, medical outreach, is one of the most effective ways that we can reach out people to people across our world.’" Image from

International Travel to United States: Will Aid Secretary of State Clinton’s ‘Smart Power’ Mission – Press Release, Hospitality 1st: “Roger Dow, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association (formerly Travel Industry Association), released the following statement on the confirmation of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and her commitment to ‘smart power’: ‘We support Senator Clinton’s ‘smart power’ goal for the new Administration, and believe travel is an underused tool in America’s public diplomacy efforts. Welcoming more visitors to the United States should be a top priority for the State Department and entire Obama Administration. Research shows that those who have visited the United States are more favorable towards America and her policies. Not only do those who visit have a better view of America, but nine out of ten travelers tell their friends and relatives about their travel experiences.’”

Old skool – The Arabist: “I kept re-reading this short piece by John Mearsheimer for the last month and a half. For a realism-based US foreign policy in the Middle East that does not unnecessarily load itself with unworkable ideas like democracy-promotion or public diplomacy, it does have good basic principles.” Arabist’s reponse to a comment: “As for public diplomacy, its entire basis is that you can convince people to like your policies no matter what their impact is. It’s a waste of time and essentially a propaganda effort.”

Will Cuban dissidents' dissent lead to the descent of Radio Martí? - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Day One Begins - Jonah Czerwinski, Homeland Security Watch: “[T]his is a blog about homeland security. Readers may recall a series of posts here analyzing the homeland security positions of the presidential candidates in which I reviewed the tenets of then-Senator Obama’s platform. It included a broad set of goals to combat terrorist threats and keep Americans safer at home, including resilience, nonproliferation, public diplomacy, and information sharing.”

New U.S. leadership can tap ‘transcendent warfare’ - Steve Hammons, The Remote Viewer: “[I]n the 1970s physicists, psychologists, intelligence officers and others began to discover that the method called 'remote viewing' – a type of extrasensory perception (ESP) – could sometimes be used with good results in addressing certain intelligence-gathering situations. …

As interesting as it is, remote viewing to gather intelligence information may just be the tip of the iceberg in the use of transcendent concepts. This understanding may present potential for applications in public diplomacy, communication operations, peace operations, conflict prevention and resolution, humanitarian activities, psychological operations (PSYOP) and similar efforts.”

A rare take on political warfare from a Free Chinese general - J Michael Waller, politicalWarfare.org: “In putting together my spring course on public diplomacy and political warfare, I re-discovered a rare English translation of an important political warfare book by a prominent Chinese nationalist general. General Wang Sheng wrote Theory and Practice of Political Warfare, first published in Taipei in 1959. He ran the General Political Warfare College as a close confidant of Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek.”

Public relations and theory – Cmns 1290 Stacey Mei: “I think there are several important points to take home from the week’s readings. … I believed that PR organizations were simply devoted to gaining profit through the advertising of their product. However, PR practice involves many roles besides gaining profit like crisis management and public diplomacy. So, profit focus is not the main or only objective of PR.”

Sundance goes to Abu Dhabi? Maybe, Redford says - Bob Tourtellotte, Reuters: "Now this is a cultural exchange. Sundance kid Robert Redford has said that his Sundance Film Festival is engaged in early talks to lend its name to a sister film festival in Abu Dhabi." VIA: Cultural Policy Listserv

What Bush Did Right - Karen Hughes, Daily Beast: “I believe two of his least-popular decisions, the surge of troops into Iraq and the massive rescue of our financial system, have paved the way for Barack Obama’s presidency to be far more successful than it otherwise would have been. …

Soon, I expect we’ll be welcoming Afghan women, leaders of emerging democracies, dissidents fighting for freedom, and those who are leading the fight against disease and poverty in the developing world to the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.” Karen Hughes was counselor to President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2002, and undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs from 2005-2007. She is now global vice chairman of Burson-Marsteller, a communications/public-relations firm.

RELATED ITEMS

Clinton to State employees: 'This is a new era' – AP, USA Today: "There are three legs to the stool of American foreign policy: defense, diplomacy and development, and we are responsible for two of the three legs," said the former New York senator and one-time first lady. "And we will make clear as we go forward that diplomacy and development are essential tools in achieving the long-term objectives of the United States." Clinton's mandate from President Barack Obama is to step up diplomatic efforts and restore the nation's tattered image abroad.

The Remaking of America - Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times: A BBC poll in 17 nations found that on average 67 percent believed that President Obama would improve America’s relations with the rest of the world; just 5 percent thought the opposite. There are two immediate litmus tests by which the world will begin to judge Mr. Obama at once. The first will be his handling of Guantánamo and torture. A second test is Middle East policy.

The inauguration and the world media - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Obama Inauguration: How The World's Press Covered The Big Event – RFE/RL

"Western publics know less about the countries their governments are planning to invade" - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Obama's soft power may be hard for Beijing to swallow - Tom Holland, South China Morning Post: Mainland television viewers eager to tune into United States President Barack Obama's inauguration speech didn't quite get the full picture. When Mr Obama praised earlier generations of Americans who "faced down fascism and communism", state-controlled China Central Television cut away to the studio....

Pact on Chinese Treasures Wins Praise - Randy Kennedy, New York Times: In its final days, the Bush administration has reached a long-anticipated agreement with China that will ban imports of a wide range of Chinese antiquities into the United States to help stanch the growing illicit traffic in such artifacts. VIA: Cultural Policy Listserv

VIDEO: Arabs sceptical on Obama – Al Jazeera

Israel’s Propaganda War - Part 2 - Palestine Monitor: Through its grass-roots effort of organizing people via email, Facebook, internet blogs, text messages, and using time-tested propaganda strategies, Israel hopes to end the Gaza conflict without having their international image tarnished. Unfortunately for it, the scale of destruction and death in Gaza is not something they will be able to explain or justify once the truth about Israel’s war in Gaza, like those “disturbing’ images,” begin to filter out to the world.

Israel accused of executing parents in front of children in Gaza: Israel has refuted allegations of war atrocities in Gaza after Palestinian children described how their parents had been "executed" by Israeli troops - Murray Wardrop, Telegraph.co.uk: Israeli spokesman Mark Regev suggested the claims could be Hamas propaganda and said an investigation was under way.

Failure of the iron fist: Israel's destructive campaign in Gaza - Nabil Al-Tikriti and Ranjit Singh, Washington Times: If insanity is trying the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome, then U.S. and Israeli foreign policy in the Middle East has long since entered the realm of the insane. As if striving to prove this maxim, Israel's recent invasion of Gaza both damages American and Israeli security and harms prospects for regional stability. Uncritical backing of the attack on Gaza rendered American prestige and reputation hostage to Israeli actions.

Israel and Gaza, now: Shaky cease-fire declarations have stopped the killing. And a new U.S. administration is stepping in – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: Obama must engage fully and evenhandedly to ensure thr Gaza cease-fire.


First Steps at Guantánamo – Editorial, New York Times: In June 2007, the White House claimed it was working on a “number of steps” that had to happen first -- but getting started was really hard. Well, maybe not so hard. It took President Obama less than 12 hours. Before midnight of his first day in office, he took the obvious and vital step of halting the military tribunals at the prison camp. And he reportedly is considering a draft executive order that would direct that the prison be closed entirely within a year.

2,688 Days - Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post: President Obama has inherited a set of tools that successfully protected the country for 2,688 days -- and he cannot dismantle those tools without risking catastrophic consequences.

Zimbabwe Could Use Some U.S. Attention: Mugabe doesn't recognize any African authority - Roger Bate, Wall Street Journal

Obama Should Quit War on Terror, Talk to Hamas and Taliban - Nathan Gardels, Huffington Post

A New Era of Accountability - Robert Scheer, Truthdig/Nation: In language that echoed the hysteria of the Bush-era neoconservatives, Obama stated on Tuesday, "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred." Nope, as Obama has acknowledged on other occasions, it's far more complex than that.

Calling a Time Out - George McGovern, Washington Post: How about a five-year time-out on war -- unless, of course, there is a genuine threat to the nation?

No more "wars of choice": If the Democrats will stop trying to out-hawk the Republicans, the Obama administration can begin rebuilding America's economy and military -- and international image - Michael Lind, Salon: The greatest geopolitical challenge facing the Obama administration is therefore not jihadism, a threat that is serious but limited, nor is it bringing permanent peace to the Middle East, important as that is. It is averting a second Cold War among the industrial great powers. To that end, Obama should repudiate the failed strategy, pursued by the Clinton as well as Bush administrations, of seeking to establish American hegemony by keeping other great powers -- China and Russia in particular -- as humiliated, weak and isolated as possible. A new American liberal internationalism means genuine power-sharing in international security and international economic institutions, with China, Russia and India as well as the major states of the Muslim world, Latin America and Africa.


It’s Over—and Not a Moment Too Soon - Marie Cocco, Truthdig: In foreign policy, it will be decades before we can know the full consequences of Bush’s invasion of Iraq and the failure to have properly planned for an occupation. The renewed bloodshed in Gaza cannot be laid at Bush’s door. But Bush refused for years to engage the United States in the arduous but necessary duty as an indispensable broker in the Middle East conflict.

President Bush By The Numbers: CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller Offers A Numerical Assessment of the Bush Presidency - CBS News: Among them: Number Of News Conferences At Which Shoes Were Thrown At Him: 1. State Dinners For Foreign Leaders: 6 -- Vicente Fox of Mexico; Pres. Alexander Krasniewski of Poland; Pres. Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines; Pres. Mwai Kibaki of Kenya; Queen Elizabeth II of UK; Pres. John Kufuor of Ghana.

January 20/21

Image from: Wonkette

“They wanted to make absolutely, positively certain that W. was gone.”

--Columnist Maureen Dowd, regarding the “four million eyes turned heavenward, following the [Bush] helicopter’s path out of town.”

“[L]et's celebrate the obvious: We're still here, more or less, and they're gone.”

--Cultural critic Tom Engelhardt

Helicopter Photo: BagnewsNotes

VIDEO

A Full Minute And Seven Seconds Of Dick Cheney In His Wheelchair, Without Commentary - Wonkette

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Hillary Clinton, Public Diplomacy, and the Middle East - Jennifer Bryson, Public Discourse: “In her response to ‘Questions for the Record’ in the confirmation process, Secretary of State nominee Senator Hillary Clinton signaled a focus for public diplomacy which is unlikely to bolster national security and other foreign policy interests in the coming years. She seems poised to base her leadership of U.S. public diplomacy on the unexamined assumption that promoting America itself should be the primary, perhaps even sole, objective of U.S. public diplomacy. … Public diplomacy is about us in so far as it serves our security and other national interests, but it is not all about us all the time. To be effective, we need to engage foreign audiences in ways which are relevant and attractive for them. If the lone song our public diplomacy Foreign Service Officers sing is, ‘me, me, me, me, me,’ they will find an ever-shrinking audience.”

Letter to Obama on the Muslim world - By Arsalan Iftikhar Special to CNN, posted at Watandost: “Your unenviable task will be to undo the catastrophic policies of George W. Bush and his fellow neoconservative ideologues, facing the specter of al Qaeda's sinister terrorism while undertaking public diplomacy efforts addressing anti-Americanism around the world.”

Goli Ameri Gives Farewell Speech About Public Diplomacy - Payvand's Iran News – “Ameri [was] the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), which seeks to foster mutual understanding between peoples across the world through a variety of cultural and educational exchanges. …

In her speech, Ameri spoke about the challenges of U.S. Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century and new opportunities in the digital age. ‘The definition of public diplomacy has been tweaked and modified over the years, but the core meaning has remained constant: the mandate of public diplomacy is to understand, inform, engage, and influence foreign publics,’ said Ameri. ‘No aspect of the U.S. Government's public diplomacy is more of a marketplace, more of an open dialogue and more of an ongoing community-driven interchange than our international educational and cultural programs.’”

CHF International Announces craigslist Founder Craig Newmark Supports Microfinance in the Palestinian Territories – Newswire, Microcapital: “Internet entrepreneur Craig Newmark, founder of that classified advertising website 'craigslist' where you can acquire anything from a nanny to a used guitar, has another passion, supporting peace in the Middle East by backing microfinance in the Palestinian Territories. … ’As an individual, I was encouraged to do this kind of thing by the U.S. State Department, the Palestinian Authority, and the Israeli government, and I was inspired by Madeleine Albright, when she explained to me that I was doing a little public diplomacy, says Newmark, who has long sought peace in the region."

With Liberty and Talent for All - John Hagel, Edge Perspectives : “We will all develop our talent even more rapidly if provided with the opportunity to interact with other equally talented people outside our country. This is not a call for building walls and sheltering our talent from the challenges of others. More substantively, our public diplomacy place more emphasis on assessing talent development trajectories of countries around the world. We might become much more focused on building deeper relationships with the countries that are most successful in developing the talent of their people, so that the talent of our respective countries can get better faster by working with each other. At the same, we might provide a more compelling role model for governments, and perhaps more importantly the populations, of countries that are lagging in talent development.”

Lessons in times of turbulence? - Cultural relations blog: “That’s the deal breaker for me with cultural relations – it knocks down ‘barriers to intercourse’ and works dynamically to connect people immediately, and over the long term, so that relationships can be built, fostered and nourished. With such a clear connection between trust, relationships, trade and prosperity, the need for cultural relations is greater than ever. Cultural relations – unlike other systems - operates best when it’s not subjected to tight regulation, and that’s what marks it as vitally different to Public Diplomacy.”

VOA as domestic news agency - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “The Greensboro (NC) Telegram reprints a Voice of America story, by Kent Klein, about Barack Obama's train trip on 17 January. ... [Elliott comment:] Full credit was given: ‘This article was written by Kent Klein of the Washington DC bureau of the Voice Of America news organization, which is operated by the US Government.’

Some at VOA may have preferred the wording ‘funded by the US governmen’" rather than 'operated.’ The use of VOA material by U.S. media entities generally does not run afoul of copyright or Smith-Mundt domestic dissemination provisions (see previous post). Usually, however, VOA stories covering international affairs are used.”

2009 Smith-Mundt Symposium: A discourse to shape America's discourse – Matt Armstrong, Mountain Runner: “Posted Symposium Transcripts: (former) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Mike Doran to 2009 Smith-Mundt Symposium ... . Posted Symposium Transcripts: Under Secretary Glassman keynote and my welcome to 2009 Smith-Mundt Symposium. Transcripts for the January 13, 2009, Smith-Mundt Symposium will begin appearing online as I review them. Federal News Service did a superb job transcribing the 8.5 hours of audio so quickly.”

Social media and the Gaza conflict - Will Ward, Arab Media and Society: “Gaza also intruded into a long-planned press conference held in the virtual world Second Life. During the event, Egyptian bloggers pitched questions about America’s stance on the crisis at outgoing U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy James Glassman, or rather at his avatar, digitally rendered in an impossibly well-tailored suit and pixilated pocket square.”

More than one million Israelis recruited to monitor blogs: Israel hires army of bloggers to fight image war - Al-Arabiya, United Arab Emirates: “The [Immigrant Absorption] ministry media department directs volunteers to websites that are considered 'problematic' in hopes of focusing attention on the positive aspects of Israeli life and the way Israelis suffer because of being under a constant threat of terrorism, the Jerusalem Post reported Monday. Within 30 minutes of announcing the hasbara, or public diplomacy, program five volunteers had applied, said Halfon." More on the Internet and the Gaza conflict in below "related items."

BrandKenya: The task of Branding Kenya’s exports – Njuguna, “The Brand Kenya Board was formed in March 2008 to develop a national identity and image to market the country internationally as a tourism and conference destination, export leverage, Foreign Direct Investment, internal and external public diplomacy. To this end, the Board is developing a strategy to create a strong and positive image for Kenya as well as foster international confidence in the country.”

RELATED ITEMS

World Reacts to Obama's Inauguration [Photos] – Washington Post

World leaders welcome Barack Obama: But their messages contain hints of the challenges the new U.S. president will face - Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times

Obama to Europe: Ich bin ein listener - John K. Glenn and Kristin M. Lord, Politico: Even if European leaders want to cooperate with the new administration, they must still make the case for why their citizens should shoulder new burdens in difficult times. Their success is more likely if Obama demonstrates that he is willing to listen to allies’ concerns and understands their domestic politics.

The U.S. can reclaim 'smart power': Hard and soft power used together can give the country the tools to lead - By Joseph S. Nye Jr., Los Angeles Times: Smart power is the combination of hard and soft power. Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. America can become a smart America -- a smart power -- by again investing in global public goods, providing things people and governments of the world want but have not been able to get in the absence of leadership by the strongest country. Development, public health and coping with climate change are good examples. By complementing U.S. military and economic might with greater investments in soft power, and focusing on global public goods, the U.S. can rebuild the framework that it needs to tackle tough global challenges.

Russia Must Deploy ‘Soft Force’ Against the West’s ‘Soft Power,’ Moscow Analyst Says - Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia

Israeli Psychological Operation "Spread War to Iran" to Hit Airwaves During Inauguration - Signs of the Times News: A propaganda battle designed to promote the plan to spread war throughout the greater Middle East is now under way and will soon hit the airwaves in the United States. The plan will be presented as a television advertising campaign to promote Israel as the victim of terrorism backed by the government of Iran. The advertising campaign is due to air on television during the inauguration period of President-elect Barack Obama. The organization responsible for this soon to be aired propaganda is "The Israel Project."

The Well-Oiled Arab Propaganda Machine - Aviva Woolf, Arutz Sheva, Israel: Israel Resource News Agency Director David Bedein says that the war in Gaza wasn’t only a war of weapons but also was a war of words. In the video below, Bedein explains that the Arabs have an organized and systematic press campaign to arouse western sympathy.

An "army of bloggers" on both sides of the Gaza conflict - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Waging the web wars - Riyaad Minty, Al Jazeera: The recent war in Gaza has pushed the boundaries of traditional media as the debate on the conflict opened a new front - online. Though television has continued to provide viewers with in-depth coverage of the conflict, it did not sufficiently allow the average, frustrated person on the street to express their views. Enter the "social" internet -- currently termed "War 2.0" or "War of Words" -- where people from around the world used social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to express their opinions to a global audience.

The (Now Silent) Guns of January - Editorial, New York Times: The Gaza cease-fire gives President Obama some breathing room to consider how the Gaza war affects prospects for a new peace initiative -- but not a lot. The new president has said he will work for a peace deal from Day 1 and we hope he means it.

Perfect timing: Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire fits the schedule of incoming U.S. president – Our View, Baltimore Sun: Mr. Obama needs to appoint a strong but imaginative negotiator as Mideast envoy, someone who will prod but also guide the two parties toward a resumption of peace talks. Mr. Obama was reportedly considering George J. Mitchell, the respected former senator from Maine, for that job. He would be an astute interlocutor.

Obama and the Middle East, Part V - Robert Dreyfuss, Nation: The first thing that Barack Obama has to understand about Iran: there is no hurry.

The Other Quagmire - Judith Miller, Daily Beast: Gen. Petraeus has said in interviews that while a “surge” of forces and some of the counterinsurgency tactics he pioneered in Iraq may be effective in Afghanistan, too, the two countries are very different, and Aghanistan will require a different overall approach.

Those familiar with the general’s thinking say he agrees with the Obama team about pursuing a regional solution, better-coordinated NATO support, and more effective, less corrupt local governments. Richard Holbrooke, tipped as special envoy to the region, has called the US foreign aid program in Afghanistan “the single worst” he’s seen since Vietnam. “It is a recruiting tool for the Taliban.”

Should the US Pull the Plug on Israel? Hosing Obama Israeli Style - Chuck Spinney, Counterpunch: It does not matter that the Israelis have slaughtered over 1300 people in the Gaza Ghetto against a loss of of only 13 Israelis, because Congress is cheering, having passed a resolution of overwhelming support (390 to 5) in the House. And it does not matter that Obama is hosed and will probably be humiliated into toeing the line from the git go, because he has pledged to preserve the special relationship.

Kosovo's quiet victory over violent ethnic nationalism -- Conflict-ridden world take note: Soft power and elections can work - Elizabeth Pond, Christian Science Monitor

Taking the Demons Out of the Relationship - Fyodor Lukyanov, Moscow Times: Many observers have written that the change in leadership in the United States will open up new opportunities for U.S.-Russian relations. It is hard to argue with this for the simple reason that bilateral relations could hardly get worse than they are now

Greater Than the Great Depression? The Day the Earth Still Stood What Will Obama Inherit? - Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: If you watched Secretary of State designate Hillary Clinton breeze through her confirmation hearings, she seemed like the wonky picture of confidence, mixing the usual things you say in Washington ("We are not taking any option off the table at all") with promises of new policies. Looking at her, or our other new and recycled custodians of empire, it's easy enough to avoid the obvious thought: that they are about to face a world -- from Latvia to Somalia, Gaza to Afghanistan -- which may be in far greater disarray than we imagine.

False Dawn: Obama's election doesn't mean peace is breaking out all over – far from it - Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com: Whereas the Bushies were obsessed with the Middle East, and pretty much confined their wars to a single region while exercising "soft" power and covert actions on a global scale, the Obama-ites have broader concerns. Which means a wider range of opportunities for foreign meddling.

Obama Offers Internationalist Vision - Jim Lobe, Antiwar.com: Obama devoted in his inauguration speech more attention to foreign affairs than to the economy in a series of implicit rebukes to the unilateralist and militarist tendencies of the Bush administration.

The Bush legacy - Thomas Sowell, Washington Times: The irresponsible charge that in the case of Iraq "Bush lied"

for some nefarious purpose -- to trade "blood for oil" or to generate business for Halliburton, for example -- is more than a slander against him. It undermines our whole nation and gives comfort to our enemies around the world.

Military Propaganda: Now In A Theatre Near You! - Mande Wilkes, FITSNews: Anyway, previews are the reason we’re perennially late to the movies. Finishing the Twizzlers during the previews leaves us food-bored during the movie, and that’s just a downer. But this time we weren’t just early enough for the previews, we were actually there before the previews … which is when they play the commercials. Yeah, there are commercials in theaters now. Who knew? You really do learn something new every day … Anyway, among the spots were ads for, of all things, the U.S. military. That the American government has the money -- not to mention the need -- to advertise military service is even more inexplicable to us than even the existence of theater commercials.

State Department Web Site Wants to Pretend Condi Never Happened - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: I STILL keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to

VIDEO

The Only Way To See Barack & Michelle Obama’s First Dance, Wonkette.

See also John Brown, "Barack Obama and Fred Astaire: What a pair!" Notes and Essays

IMAGE


--From The Nation

January 19

"Start low, go slow, rise high, strike fire and sit down."

--a Black preacher's dictum

“Be brief, be honest, and be seated.”

--A well-known line for a toast

"Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages."

--Dave Barry

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Clinton's Goals Detailed - Walter Pincus, Washington Post: ”While Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton

spoke primarily in generalities during her four-hour confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, her formal introductory statement and her 79-page written answers to questions for the record laid out some specific programs and goals that offer clues and insight on the incoming administration's foreign policy. In the battle of ideas, she said, the United States would go on the offensive implementing President-elect Barack Obama's pledges to open ‘America Houses’ in cities across the Arab world. These facilities, fashioned after a Cold War-era program, would have Internet libraries, English lessons and stories about Muslims in America. An initiative labeled ‘America's Voice Corps’ would recruit young Americans with language and public diplomacy skills to speak with and listen to people in the area. Completing the package would be a Global Education Fund to provide $2 billion for primary education around the world. But, she said, there would not be a return of the independent U.S. Information Agency.”

How to Regain the Public Diplomacy Initiative - Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled View: “It’s time to recognize that, in the world we inhabit today, sophisticated public diplomacy skills are as important as they ever were, I think. It’s time to rectify that naive post Cold War mistake and reconstitute an independent public diplomacy agency to serve as the voice of an open society and a democratic people. Only a single official public diplomacy agency can do the whole job, do it continuously, do it persuasively, do it cost-effectively.”

Restoring The US Standing Lies In Restoring Cultural Diplomacy - Martin Davidson, Australia.To: In a poll commissioned by the British Council, we found that nearly two-thirds of Americans were worried about the US's standing abroad, over 8 out of 10 thought it was important for the US to build better relationships with other countries and 79% said that improving the country's reputation and understanding abroad should be a major priority for the new government. … In my view, the answer to rebuilding these alliances lies precisely in Barack Obama embracing cultural diplomacy, or what we call cultural relations, as an invaluable instrument in his foreign policy toolbox and re-invigorating the resources depleted over the last decade. The United States Information Agency, which for almost half a century ran cultural and educational exchanges among other things, closed in 1999 when it was folded into the State Department. … Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, called for its resurrection during his election campaign. And last month the American think-tank, the Brookings Institution, recommended the creation in the US of a new public diplomacy body. But restoring trust and understanding in the US overseas won't be a quick fix. … Cultural relations is not about business, not about governments, not about institutions, it's about people. But for cultural relations to work there needs to be a clear distance between the organisations charged with this activity and the government of the day; it is not about direct messaging of the views of one or other government. Cultural relations is only effective when it is undertaken in partnership with others and informed by mutual respect for other cultures. Cultural relations is different from other areas of public diplomacy because it is built over, and for, the long term. PHOTO: Martin Davidson is chief executive of the British Council, the UK's international cultural relations organisation.

Think Again: Barack Obama and the War on Terror - David M. Edelstein, Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Policy: “Yes, Obama, by his presence and personality, has changed the atmospherics of U.S. foreign relations. America's reputation around the world has for some time been at a nadir, so there is nowhere to go but up. But the United States' poor image abroad has not been the result of a marketing failure, and, thus, better public diplomacy will not lead to victory in the ‘Battle of Ideas.’

Anti-Americanism thrives, not because others misunderstand the United States, but because they perceive its aims and tactics all too well. The Bush administration's greatest perceived foreign-policy failures -- Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo, unimpeded global warming -- could not have been overcome with better public diplomacy, and recent improvements in trans-Atlantic relations cannot be credited to an improved sales pitch. The world is rightly waiting to see if Obama will match his words with actions. Public diplomacy can matter only at the margins.”

Obama Must Shoulder Weight Of Global Expectations - Jitendra Joshi, Daily News Egypt: “The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, summarizing contributions received from Middle East writers, thinkers and social activists in a new report, said the Arab world was agog at Obama’s victory. ‘Obama’s election was in a sense a public diplomacy triumph for the United States, the first real success the United States has won in the Arab world in a long time, and probably the most important one since president (Dwight) Eisenhower backed Egypt’s efforts to regain control of the Suez Canal in 1956,’ it said.

‘Yet the success may prove to be short-lived: Arabs were reacting to a concrete change (over Suez), not to words, and are likely to revert to the old hostility unless Obama’s words are backed by concrete changes in US Middle East policies.’” SEE ALSO

Janet Napolitano Testifies at Senate Confirmation Hearing: Hearing to Confirm Nomination as Homeland Security Secretary - Jennifer McFadyen, About.com: “When asked for her stance on the GAO recommendations for the visa waiver program and recent ESTA issues, Napolitano said that she had not had an opportunity to look at the the issue closely, but expressed her desire for balance--a balance that needs to be struck ‘between the security needs of our county and and public diplomacy.’"

Brookings: STI for the Arab World - John Daly, Thoughts About K4D: “The Brookings Institution has done some interesting studies on science and technology in the Arab States and how S&T cooperation between those states and the U.S. can be useful to U.S. foreign policy. These include: Science and Technology in U.S. Relations with the Islamic World [.] This is the result of a conference hosted by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in January 2005. ‘A consensus on several recommendations emerged from the workshop. The U.S. should set clear goals for its scientific and technological cooperation with the Islamic world, and develop an over-arching strategy to achieve them. This should be explained to the American public, and optimal use of U.S. public diplomacy in the Islamic world should be made.’”

Public Diplomacy Discourse Formation - Craig Hayden, Intermap: “So it’s been almost a week since the informative and evidently well-attended Symposium on the Smith Mundt Act of 1948: A Discourse on America’s Discourse. … Suffice to say, the conference grew to be much more than a meditation on this artifact of Cold War legislation. Here are some basic takeaways: 1) The dissemination ban contained in the Smith-Mundt Act was for many an irrelevance. … 2) The difference of perspective between what we might call 'traditional' PD experts, usually from the ranks of the former USIA (retired or otherwise), and those charged with implementing new policies of public diplomacy.”

Israeli Civilian Irregular Information Defense Group - Civilian Irregular Information Defense Group: Re “Israel recruits ‘army of bloggers’ to combat anti-Zionist Web sites” By Cnaan Liphshiz: “Sounds like New Media engagement by Civilian Irregular Public Diplomacy Auxiliaries. I’d love to see the Foreign Ministry’s list of ‘problematic’ English-language Web sites. The Bush Administration could have done something almost exactly like this, could have rounded up an Army of Counter Insurgent Supportive Bloggers to represent the pro-victory side on anti-war blogs, could have pushed back. Hook this Army of Bloggers up to GIYUS and Megaphone and let the CYOP begin.”

Thai-US [and US-ASEAN] relations should change little under Obama - Achara Ashayagachat, Bangkok Post Opinion, posted at KI Media:

“Harry Harding, Georgetown University professor of international affairs [:] … believes the Obama administration should be more engaging and involving Asia to fill the gaps due to Washington's previous selective engagements within the region. The US, said Mr Harding, needs to rebuild its power through both military, economic and soft-power influences, although the Asian region might not want to see any particular domination. ‘We need to be less rhetorical and be moderate in such issues as human rights and rebuild our economic competitiveness by being a champion of freer trade, and revive the vibrancy of public diplomacy to regain the US' soft power,’ the American scholar said.”

Leaders' Wives - Beril Dedeoglu, Turkish Press - “The wives of the Lebanese, Libya, Syrian, Qatari, Azeri, Jordanian and Pakistani leaders came to Turkey as the guest of Emine Erdogan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's wife. …

[T]he activities carried out by representatives of the state through official channels are supported by a less official channel thanks to their wives. In other words, while the men continue state diplomacy, the women carry out public diplomacy. The leaders aim directly at decision-makers, but their wives do this indirectly.”

Official elaborates on arrest of gang of saboteurs - Mathaba.Net, UK: “The [top Iranian Ministry] official said the U.S. administration was after bringing about a soft overthrow of the Islamic state in Iran by positioning its agents throughout the regional countries including the UAE, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, Kuwait as well as a number of other countries. The official, who serves as director-general of the anti-spy department in the ministry, further told reporters in a news conference here on Monday that the U.S. government used such pretexts as public diplomacy, cultural and scientific exchanges, joint research projects, direct connections among Iranian and American citizens, transfer of latest medical achievements and other tactics to advance its 'soft overthrow' programs.” SEE ALSO

Iran optimistic about Iraq’s security, national sovereignty: FM Spokesman – ISNA: “Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi and Iraq's National Security Adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie has conferred the two countries’ ties in political, cultural and media domains in Baghdad. … Qashqavi for his part underlined the importance of public diplomacy and the media role in this regard and said Iran could aid the country in technical and training issues of the media field.”

About me - Javad Rad, وبلاگ عکس مربوط به برادران راد: baba: “PhD student of North American Studies to: Understand and Inform the public about US Public Diplomacy and Soft Power.” RIGHT: Javad Rad

Vietnam 6 – Drew and Liz blog: “While my wife spent a week last fall in the Middle Kingdom, I traveled with my friend Gordon to Ninh Binh. … We spent some time practicing our Vietnamese talking to the owner, Toan Anh De, and his wife. He had just returned for a visit to the U.S. and couldn’t stop talking about it – he showed us a picture of himself in front of the Capitol that he planned to blow up and put next to the front desk in place of the current photo of him and the Deputy Prime Minister. He has studied U.S. hotels for his plans to build a new resort complex and talks about his wonderful trip to all his friends and fellow businessmen. Better public diplomacy than any Embassy officer can provide.”

RELATED ITEMS:

Smart Power - Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker: Thesis: Hard Power. The kind fetishized by the outgoing Bush crowd, especially Cheney. Guns, bombs, tanks. Humvees, Hueys, M16s. All about blood and guts. Antithesis: Soft Power. The kind preferred by certain thinkers and political scientists, including, most prominently, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., the Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations at Harvard. Movies, books, songs. Ideals, diplomacy, moral authority. All about hearts and minds. Synthesis: Smart Power. The kind favored by -- well, here’s Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State-designate.


Pentagon IG Clears Pentagon Of Iraq Propaganda Push - Cernig, Crooks and Liars

How to Deal with Government Propaganda on the Web
- George Washington, OpEdNews: How should we deal with the onslaught of American and Israeli government-sponsored bloggers defending those governments' actions (see this and this)? Well, one way is to ask bloggers who appear to be parroting pro-goverment propaganda without any thought the following question: Has the American, Israeli and/or any other government directly or indirectly instructed or requested that you write supporting any of their actions, policies or positions, or helped to organize or in any way supported you in making any writings?

Mindjacking Down Gaza Way - M1, Swedish Meatballs Confidential: In the last two and a half years, Israel's army has learned a thing or two about psychological warfare. The most effective propaganda campaign in this war has certainly been waged by Israel.


Video: Hamas 'victory' propaganda film for kids - Israel Matzav: On the first day of the Hamas ceasefire with Israel, Hamas TV has released a propaganda film to bolster its claims that it won the war in Gaza and killed 49 Israeli soldiers. The animated film depicts Israeli soldiers as cowards, and vows that soldiers who dare to come to Gaza will face "certain death."

Some anti-Hamas propaganda from Israeli FM - Uncensored News from Israel: Those of us who lived in the Soviet Union won’t be shocked as similar event were common in Russian schools.

Why Israel won't survive - Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada: Israel began its massacres with full support from its Western "friends." Then something amazing happened. Despite the official statements of support, despite the media censorship, despite the slick Israeli hasbara (propaganda) campaign, there was a massive, unprecedented public mobilization in Europe and even in North America expressing outrage and disgust. Gaza will likely be seen as the turning point when Israeli propaganda lost its power to mystify, silence and intimidate as it has for so long.

Who’s in Charge—Obama, the Pentagon or Israel? - William Pfaff, Truthdig: Israel’s useless, senseless and self-destructive assault on the people of Gaza, and upon the U.N.‘s headquarters and warehouses of food and medicine, has proved globally devastating to the reputation and moral credit of Israel. Even in the United States, there has been a precipitous drop in support for what Israel has been doing, and for Israeli policy in general.

Livni's Smile: The Boss Has Gone Mad - Uri Avnery, Counterpunch: The Israeli Barak understands that if the American Barack gets angry, that would mean disaster. Conclusion: the horrors of Gaza must stop before the inauguration.

Eyeless in Gaza - Roger Cohen, New York Review of Books: Israel, backed by the United States, has been intent on proving that Hamas must wither and die rather than exploring ways in which it, like the Palestine Liberation Organization before it, can move toward being part of a two-state solution. That is a strategic mistake.

Obama should tell Israel to face facts - Roula Khalaf, Financial Times: The reality is that however belligerent and unpleasant Hamas’s policies may be, its popular support will not evaporate, and the organisation itself will not disappear. So if the Obama administration wants to help Israel find security, its advice must be to face reality.

U.S. Signs Peace Treaty with Al Qaeda, Agreeing to End Occupation of Afghanistan and Halt the Policy of Disproportionate Force - Drew Westen, Huffington Post: Everyone, regardless of which way their brain tilts on this issue, should be excited at the prospect of President Obama and his Secretary of State (perhaps with an assist from a second Clinton with some experience in the region) making better use of Camp David again.


How Not to Make Peace in the Middle East - Hussein Agha, Robert Malley, New York Review of Books: The surest way to diminish Obama's appeal to the region would be for him to present a plan with no real future in the company of leaders burdened by their past. Among the flurry of recommendations the next administration will receive, Obama could do worse than consider some simple advice. Don't rush. Take time, take a deep breath, and take stock. Who knows, fresh and more effective policies might even ensue. Now that would be change we could believe in.

How to Deal with Iran - William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, Jim Walsh, New York Review of Books: The US can impose costs on Iran, but it cannot impose its will. The same is true for Iran. Progress requires on both sides a greater focus on strategy rather than tactics.

Pakistan in Peril - William Dalrymple, New York Review of Books: Eight years of neocon foreign policies have been a spectacular disaster for American interests in the Islamic world, leading to the rise of Iran as a major regional power, the advance of Hamas and Hezbollah, the wreckage of Iraq, with over two million external refugees and the ethnic cleansing of its Christian population, and now the implosion of Afghanistan and Pakistan, probably the most dangerous development of all.

Russia strategy needed - Janusz Bugaski, Washington Times: President Obama will face two stiff challenges -- rebuilding the Atlantic alliance and dealing with a neo-imperialist Russia. Above all, Washington must reject any moves toward redividing Europe into Cold War zones or sacrificing the security of any European state. This can be accomplished by intensifying links with all of Europe's new democracies and offering NATO aspirants a clearer road map toward inclusion.

What Obama Means to the World - Gary Younge, Nation: From inauguration day people's perceptions of Obama will no longer hinge on what he is but on what he does.

The Power of the Ballot - Fred Hiatt, Washington Post: Then incoming Obama administration seems to be inclining, in its foreign policy, toward a philosophy that says: Voting matters, but maybe not as much as economic development, or women's rights, or honest judges. Its adoption as U.S. policy would be a terrible mistake, for America's security as well as its moral standing.

He Kept Us Safe, but... - Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post: Under Bush, America has been put on a quasi-war footing, has spent billions on "homeland security," has massively complicated its immigration and visa system, has put friction into the gears of trade, has retreated from its open attitude toward foreigners, and has seen its Constitution circumvented. But Bush has kept us safe.

The Next War President - William Kristol, New York Times: Keeping us safe has been Bush’s most impressive achievement. That was winning the war in Iraq, and in particular, his refusal to accept defeat when so many counseled him to do so in late 2006.

Bush and history – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: The president defined himself by 9/11. But the terror attacks can't excuse his miscalculations.

FULL TEXT

Friday, 12 December 2008

A Reality Check on Public Diplomacy

By Hans N. Tuch, Guest Contributor, Whirled View

Hans Tuch retired from the U.S. Foreign Service as a Career Minister in 1985. He also taught at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Georgetown University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the disciplines of Public Diplomacy and Inter-Cultural Communications.

l. Public diplomacy (by definition of the word "diplomacy") is a Government process to communicate with foreign audiences in an effort to gain understanding and support for our nation's ideas and ideals, our institutions and culture as well as our national goals and policies.

2. The focus of U.S. public diplomacy is in the field--carried out by professional Foreign Service public diplomacy officers at our embassies and consulates (see Mike Canning's "The Overseas Post: The Forgotten Element of our Public Diplomacy"). Our field officers are guided and backstopped by public diplomacy headquarters in Washington which sets policy, advises the White House and coordinates with other government agencies and private organizations. (Radio and TV broadcasting and Internet operations, while located in Washington, are in effect also field operations geared toward the pertinent populations in foreign countries.)

3. Public diplomacy, in an attempt to affect the attitudes and opinions of foreign publics, involves the entire communications spectrum: contemporary communication technology, as well as such methods of intercultural communication as cultural and educational exchanges, libraries, publications, English teaching and, above all, people, among them professionally qualified foreign service officers specializing in public diplomacy.

4. Information and Cultural programs are inter-related: Long-term cultural and educational programs are designed to create a climate of knowledge and understanding of the United States that is necessary as a basis for foreign peoples to comprehend and accept policies and ideas promulgated through short-term information programs.

5. For U.S. public diplomacy to be effective it must include the very important "learning experience." If we strive to be successful in our efforts to create understanding and support for our society and for our policies, we must first understand the culture, language, history, psychology and motives of the people with whom we wish to communicate.

January 18

Image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama inherits a world of troubles - Matthew B. Stannard, San Francisco Chronicle: “Many … foreign policy experts do expect changes - even dramatic ones - under Obama, who they say will use less stick and more carrot in dealing with allies and rivals alike. ‘Obama has to say that the United States is the most important player in the world system, but we are going to cooperate with every other player,’ said Geoffrey Wiseman,

director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. ‘The U.S. has more hard power than anybody else, and in some ways it has more soft power than anybody else. ... I think he is trying to strike a reasonable balance in the middle. … Obama's personal story suggests he will have a longer global honeymoon than past presidents. ‘This is a massive public diplomacy gift that the United States has been given - or the United States has given itself,’ Wiseman said.”

Reliable Sources - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: “Earlier this week I attended a conference on public diplomacy in Washington, D.C. A Rear Admiral on one of the panels admitted that the US military did not have and will not have in the near future anywhere near the number of language qualified troops needed to engage people overseas in their own languages. As a result, Uncle Sam relies on contractors to carry out the function. He later added that what was most important was that the Iraqis and the Afghans see what we do, not just rely on being told what to think. What I’d like to know, however, is why the US military still doesn’t train anywhere near enough troops in basic foreign language communication skills?”

Upcoming Events - 01/18/09 - WNC Peace Coalition: “From American Friends Service Committee: … We shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket. Yes, we need official government initiatives, but we also need to revive public diplomacy and increase people-to-people exchanges and citizen diplomacy in order to build the international partnerships the United States needs.”

Chapter 9 Conclusion - Elliot Jager, America Talks To The PLO - Marking 20 Years: “Research Hypothesis Number 3 Suasion and Agenda Setting [.] This study has shown how suasion and agenda setting were used to impede support within the American Jewish community for Likud policies and that various Administrations, together with elements of the Jewish leadership, engaged in this tactic. Strategically, ‘disassociation’ was especially important to suasion and agenda setting. Consequently, 'pro-Israelism’ was redefined and divorced from backing Israel’s claims to Judea, Samaria and Gaza. … 3.5 Jewish critics of the Likud-led Government consulted with and counseled the PLO on its image and other aspects of public diplomacy.”

Latest hasbara weapon: 'Army of bloggers' - Jonathan Beck, Jerusalem Post: “Israel's newest weapon on the public relations front is 'an army of bloggers,' according to a statement issued by the Absorption Ministry Sunday afternoon. In cooperation with the Foreign Ministry's Public Relations Department, the Absorption Ministry has initiated a statewide effort to locate volunteers who speak other languages, to take part in the country's PR efforts over the Internet. … The main weakness in Israel's hasbara (public diplomacy) efforts is the current lack of people willing to sit in front of their computers and comment in languages other than Hebrew. The comments would concentrate on positive aspects of Israeli life and accounts of the hardship Israelis suffer while living under a constant threat of terror.”

Milibend visited the "other India": he spent the night in the hut with walls where his cows – Juliano Denesco, The New Capitalist Pyramid: “British Foreign Secretary David Milibend spent the night in the troubled India. … The head of the British Foreign Ministry willingly tried to put his theory of public diplomacy in practice.”

The strength of Japan's 'soft power' [review of Beyond Pacifism: Why Japan Must Become a "Normal" Nation, by William Middlebrooks; Soft Power Superpowers: Cultural and National Assets of Japan and the U.S., edited by Yasushi Watanabe and David L. McConnell - Jeff Kingston, Japan Times: "While Middlebrooks is more comfortable with orders of battle, the 15 essays in 'Soft Power Superpowers' turn our gaze to the 'hearts and minds' side of the equation. There is nothing here to suggest that Japan deserves the superpower sobriquet even if there is a global fascination with cool Japan.

Overall, the contributors focus more on the limitations rather than the possibilities of soft power. … Naoyuki Agawa, who served in the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., from 2002-2005, shows how Japan effectively engages in public diplomacy in the U.S. to improve Japan's image there and shape government policies. But achieving these objectives has little to do with inspiring the U.S. government, relying instead on doggedly working the media, hiring lobbyists and doling out grants.”

Obama to name 'soft power' Nye for Japan role: report - Guam Okinawa plus Washington Tokyo: "US president-elect Barack Obama plans to name the influential academic [Joseph] Nye, best known for coining the phrase 'soft power,' as ambassador to Japan, a newspaper has said."

How to sweeten a powerful reality - Fred Khumalo, The Times, South Africa: "There is huge resentment on the continent about South Africa, and Nigeria before it, playing the Big Brother role on the continent. There’s a better way, I propose, to sweeten the reality that we are powerful: let’s communicate through our movies, through our music, through our books, the benefits and beauty — such as it is — of a powerful and stable South Africa. I read an instructive article by the US Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy the other day, which summed up some of my thoughts: ‘Cultural diplomacy is the linchpin of public diplomacy; for it is in cultural activities that a nation’s idea of itself is best represented. And cultural diplomacy can enhance our national security in subtle, wide-ranging and sustainable ways.’”

Nuclear news heightens fears over tough-talking N Korea: Its military parades may be predictable and synchronised, but North Korea's brand of public diplomacy is anything but – ABC News, Australia

专访奥巴马白宫内阁秘书长卢沛宁- 无忌的青丘圣殿 - My life and My love: Mention of public diplomacy.

Ernest John Mansmann, Jr. - Obituaries, Washington Post: “Ernest John Mansmann, Jr. Known to all as E.J., died Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at age 92. … In 1952 he entered the Department of State as a Cultural Affairs Officer and from 1956 to 1958 served as Assistant Cultural Attache; at the American Embassy in Paris. From 1958 to 1980 he was in charge of European and Middle American cultural exchange programs and the Voluntary Visitors Leader Program. He was instrumental in the creation of the National Council for International Visitors." Courtesy Len Baldyga

RELATED ITEMS

BBC allegedly shedding its alleged anti-Americanism - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy


Gaza media and cyber update for 18 January 2009 - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Another War, Another Defeat: The Gaza offensive has succeeded in punishing the Palestinians but not in making Israel more secure - John J. Mearsheimer, American Conservative: Israel does not want the world to see what its soldiers and bombs are doing inside Gaza. At the same time, Israel has launched a massive propaganda campaign to put a positive spin on the horror stories that do emerge. The best evidence, however, that Israel is deliberately seeking to punish the broader population in Gaza is the death and destruction the IDF has wrought on that small piece of real estate. The bottom line is that no matter what happens on the battlefield, Israel cannot win its war in Gaza.

Gaza: War, from a distance - Jon Snow, Independent: This is the fog of war; full access to the consequences of Hamas attacks, but no direct access to the carnage resulting from the Israeli assault on Gaza. It's a war in which the propaganda machines have been in full cry. The Israeli Defence Forces have uploaded more than 30,000 "action clips" on to YouTube and elsewhere. The Arab media has streamed horrific close-ups of wounds and dead bodies that cannot be seen on British television.

Beyond Gaza: The trust that Barack Obama wants to rebuild will require sending some early messages – Editorial, Washington Post: Mr. Obama should send a clear message before Israel's upcoming election that he will expect the new government to negotiate seriously with the Palestinian Authority. He should insist that the next prime minister follow Israel's own laws and commitments in curbing Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank. And he should make clear that Israel will continue to have U.S. support when it defends itself against the terrorism of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Rest Easy, Kansas City: Israel to the Rescue - John Brown, Common Dreams: US-based pro-Israel mainstream-media apologists have recently engaged in a specially-made-for-the-USA, full-court-press PR campaign. It is based on the talking point that Israel, by striking at Hamas on its turf, has done the United States a favor, the suggestion being that Israel is sacrificing itself for your average American.

The Stories of Torture [at Guantanamo] Sounded Made Up. They Weren't - Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post

Closing GITMO would be a mistake - Jeffrey Addicott, San Antonio Express-News: If soon-to-be President Obama closes down GITMO, as he may do via executive order as early as his first week in office, he will be providing a significant propaganda victory to our enemies.

Leadership And Legitimacy -- Obama must right the wrongs: Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and the waterboarding of suspected terrorists came to define U.S. power in the last eight years - Los Angeles Times: Some of the Bush administration's decisions will be easier to roll back than others, and Obama may not want to return to the way things were in every case, but a key to reestablishing the country's international standing will be to engage with our allies on these and other issues.

Afghanistan: We Can Do Better - Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Washington Post: An honest assessment of Afghanistan must conclude that we are not where we might have hoped to be by now. The writer is secretary general of NATO.

Vietnamese Authorities Rein In the Country's Vigorous Blogosphere - Tim Johnston, Washington Post

What Bush leaves behind: The outgoing president's place in history will depend on the outcome of wars he started but will not be around to finish - Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times: After all the drama of the last eight years, the new president inherits a foreign policy that has largely been repaired. Obama ran to change the tone of American diplomacy, repudiating the unilateralist Bush of 2001 -- but he'll find himself building on a foundation laid by the toned-down Bush of 2008.

Unvarnished Conclusions After Covering, and Uncovering, the White House [Review of The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power by David E. Sanger] - Gary J. Bass, New York Times: Unlike other accounts of Mr. Bush’s foreign policy, “The Inheritance” is not about Iraq but about the crushing opportunity costs paid elsewhere for that quagmire.

War-Room Debate [Review of The Search For Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future by Bruce Riedel and The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power by Tariq Ali] - Ray Bonner, New York Times: Ali and Riedel agree that the United States wants and needs a stable and democratic Pakistan and Afghanistan. It’s called nation building. This is a laudable goal, of course, but is it achievable? Not, they say, unless the United States is prepared for a lengthy commitment. It cannot abandon the project halfway through as it did with Afghanistan and Pakistan after the Soviets were routed.

Mission to Tehran [Review of Restoring The Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President by Richard N. Haass, Martin Indyk and others] - Ethan Bronner, New York Times: What do the contributors to this book think the new administration should do? Vastly increase the role of diplomacy and thereby bring Russia aboard its Mideast initiatives. Cut the number of American troops in Iraq by as much as half within two years. Open direct dialogue with Tehran quickly. Don’t give up on counterterrorism, but remove it from its current central place. Foster reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas by, among other things, reducing demands on Hamas, and press Israel to end all construction in occupied lands even in existing settlements and in Jerusalem.

January 17

“Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere.”

--Soon to be ex-President George W. Bush


PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waves and bids farewell to a lobby filled with employees after her last scheduled work day at the State Department in Washington, January 16, 2009. COMMENT: “This is it! Condi’s last day!"

--Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza’s hairdo so you don’t have to

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

To Make Smart Power Work, Get the State Department in the Fight - Rep. Mac Thornberry, Roll Call: “As a member of the Smart Power Commission, sponsored by the Center for Strategic International Studies, I worked with Republicans and Democrats with wide experience in and out of government to develop a vision, and some specific recommendations, on how smart power might help us meet the national security challenges of the 21st century.

Smart power refers to the effective integration of hard power, such as military and economic actions, with soft power, which involves methods of persuasion and includes things like culture and diplomacy, in order to achieve national objectives. By our definition, smart power recognizes that the United States needs both — and the good sense to know when and how to use them together. … We agreed that five key areas need attention: alliances and institutions, international development, public diplomacy, economic integration and innovation.”

Ellison gets Foreign Affairs seat: Congress' first Muslim member said the appointment was a good fit for his immigrant-rich district - Mitch Anderson, Star Tribune: “As the first Muslim member of Congress, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., has long used his high-profile status to enhance America's image in the Middle East. On Friday, he was appointed to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Ellison, who has made a half-dozen government-sponsored trips to the Middle East, recently became the first member of Congress to participate in the hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca. He has also been a key component of the Bush administration's public diplomacy efforts, despite his opposition to the war in Iraq."

Brand America: It’s Not About Advertising - David Vinjamuri, ThirdWay Advertising Blog: “Instead of limiting U.S. brand efforts to the State Department and the Office for Public Diplomacy, President Obama should put a real, live brand manager in the West Wing.

The incoming administration understands that the largest part of perception of the U.S. will be shaped by the President and by foreign policy. These issues are obviously out of the reach of any brand manager. Therefore, the U.S. brand manager should focus on becoming the ‘God of Small Things.’ These small things can have an enormous impact on the way that the United States is viewed internationally and they are routinely ignored. What do I mean by this? The new U.S. brand manager should focus on small improvements in the way that the U.S. government interacts with its own citizens and foreign nationals. … By comprehensively studying the individual interactions between U.S. government employees and foreign nationals, a new U.S. brand manager could improve the tone and quality of these interactions. This would make a real contribution to U.S. Public Diplomacy.”

Sign a letter to President-elect Obama - Bethlehem Peace Watch – “Yes, we need official government initiatives, but we also need to revive public diplomacy and increase people-to-people exchanges and citizen diplomacy in order to build the international partnerships the United States needs.”

Blog Feature: Music Diplomacy - Judah Grunstein, World Politics Review: “Public diplomacy has become something of a buzzword in foreign policy circles.

But to lighten things up at the end of the week, I'm launching a new blog feature called Music Diplomacy. Each week I'll post a song that has something to do with foreign affairs or foreign policy.”

Catto talks about Obama - David Frey, Aspen Daily News: ”Former U.S. ambassador Henry Catto, an Old Snowmass resident, offered up some advice for Barack Obama when he takes office on Tuesday. Among Catto’s recommendations: talk to Iran, help bring order to Afghanistan, work with Russia and try to find an Arab-Israeli peace deal. ‘I would certainly try hard to change the thrust of American public diplomacy abroad,’ Catto said Friday night in a sold-out appearance in the first event by the new nonprofit Roaring Fork Cultural Council.”

Obama White House Going Back To Stone Age Public Diplomacy: "Spread The Truth About American Values" (Plus: Obama's "Ominous Evasiveness" About Cast Lead) - Omri Ceren, Mere Rhetoric: “[I]f they [Islamist fanatics] knew that we let our women vote, our Jews practice, and our homosexuals live - then they'd like us more.

Now you might say ‘but anti-American propaganda already includes that stuff as reasons to hate the West, which implies that there are fundamental ideological differences between us and Islamist fanatics that the State Department can't do much about.' But since State has already spent part of the huge influx of cash that they're getting under Obama - and to the extent that they're giddy about asinine new public diplomacy initiatives - it's better to ignore those details.”

Passing the Baton -- notes part two - burning bridge: “This is part two of my notes from a presentation at the USIP [United States Institute of Peace] event 'Passing the Baton.' … Recommendations: what do citizen media need to flourish?... Theories of mass media based on scarcity of information and communications don’t take the networked public sphere into account. Different technology calls for different approaches. Re-examine continuing relevance of mass media solutions such as international broadcasting, attempting to restrict information and speech, and public diplomacy based on messaging and strategic communications.”

MIT grad student recommends C-Spanization of US international broadcasting - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy. SEE ALSO: John Brown, “Fixing Alhurra: Some Small Steps” (American Diplomacy, June 2, 2005)

Hudson Institute dichotomy: 1) VOA is about "us." 2) RFE/RL and RFA have an audience - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: “If U.S. international broadcasting is to be successful, it must consist of straight, objective, balanced news. It must contain no whiff of public diplomacy or strategic communications.”

"We can't rely on VOA alone" - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Both U.S. public diplomacy and U.S. international broadcasting have already moved into the internet, social networking, and delivery to mobile devices. These media are 'growing rapidly,' and that's part of the problem. A couple of decades ago, VOA could compete because, for many audiences, news would be available only from 1) the domestic state-controlled broadcasting system, 2) BBC, or 3) VOA. Now improved domestic media, access to the internet, and mobile devices provide hundreds, even thousands of channels of content. In some markets, U.S. international broadcasting might have to latch on to the most successful of these rather than try to compete on its own."

Chinese students learn English with VOA's help - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

VOA is a factor in plight of Zimbabwe activist - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Happy Birthday Ayatollah? Is BBC Persian TV a mere gift to mark the Islamic Republic's 30th?

- Peyvand Khorsandi, iranian.com, News Analysis, New America Media: “Funded by the UK Foreign Office – to the tune of £15m ($22m) a year – PTV [Persian TV], which launched this week, has assembled a veritable army of newly trained journalists (some 100 of its 150-strong staff are in editorial) that looks set to knock head-on rival VOA off its perch. … Professor Annabelle Sreberny, who teaches international communication at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies and is co-author of Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture, and the Iranian Revolution[:] ’The BBC aims to offer a UK perspective on global issues,’ she says. In her view, the launch represents an act of ‘British public diplomacy’ that is ‘much more subtle’ than BBC Persian radio was as the height of its notoriety. ‘Its impact will be a slow one,’ she says, ‘because in Iran there is a welter of channels competing and the BBC is one voice among many -- and PTV faces huge problems, not least in obtaining original footage of people and events within Iran.’”

International Broadcasting: Influence and Power in the Age of Information – Shawn Poers: "This is the blog for my course, International Broadcasting: Influence and Power in the Age of Information (PUBD 516). The course is being taught in the Master's in Public Diplomacy (MPD) program at the University of Southern California. The purpose of this blog is to monitor how different international broadcasters are covering and framing global events."

Galileo, Iron Bladder Diplomacy and Cricket - Paul Rockower, Levantine: “Class might have ended yesterday, but the week is still going strong. This semester feels busy already. I spent last night editing submissions for the Public Diplomacy Magazine. I led the charge to nix one article, which simply was not good. I also finished my book review. … Today I had the opportunity to interview

Ambassador Edward Djerejian with my classmate Rima. It was fantastic, it's not every day that you get to interview such a distinguished fellow. He was the consummate diplomat. I won't get into the crux of the interview here, I will post it with the magazine.”

India-US. Of trade embraces, lobbying, and spin - Subaltern Media: “On 25 September, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had famously said to Bush: ‘People of India deeply love you’ (The Hindu, Link). His comments, rather than illuminating some kind of public diplomacy victory, paper over what goes on behind the scenes for opinions to be shaped. For example, a look at behind the scenes shows hectic media relations exercises and lobbying by American firms to the Congress to sell arms to India.”

RELATED ITEMS


Retired Officers' Media Role Deemed Appropriate - Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post: The Pentagon did not violate internal policies or regulations in a program that gave briefings to retired military officers who served as news commentators on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor did those analysts use their access to benefit their business interests, according to a report released yesterday by the Pentagon's inspector general.

Network VP Dismisses Military Pundits Scandal: ‘Everyone Understands’ Pentagon Spreads Propaganda - Ali Frick, Think Progress: The point is not whether the Pentagon is expected to distribute negative news; it’s that everybody did no [italics] t “understand” that the Pentagon was the source for the analysts’ knowledge.

A Propaganda War? - Harry Haller, Whistle & Fish Werewolf Tales: "On Tuesday, when the Pentagon announced that several former Guantánamo detainees had returned to terrorism since their release, I detected the odor of bovine excrement in the air. So did Mark Denbeaux and a group of researchers from the Seton Hall Law Center for Policy and Research. In a recent report they suggest the Department of Defense is a little war of 'propaganda by the numbers' on the public. Now, more than before, I want the Pentagon to get specific."


The Hamas Death Factory - Ari Bussel, Doc’s Talk: Hamas has turned Gaza into a Factory of Death. The war that rages on has its front lines in Argentina and UK, India and USA, China and Venezuela, Russia and Egypt. It is a war in the area of public opinion, and we are all soldiers in the Public Diplomacy Front. We are all part -- and are likely victims -- in a greater struggle between Sunni and Shiite Islam to achieve world domination.

Hamas' dead baby strategy: Cynical ploy must be exposed and rejected - Alan M. Dershowitz, Washington Times: The Hamas "dead baby" strategy -- to cause as many civilian casualties as possible by firing its deadly rockets from schools and densely populated areas -- is producing understandable outrage around the world. What is not understandable is why the outrage is directed against Israel, which is a victim of this strategy, rather than against Hamas, which is its perpetrator.

Department of Extremist Propaganda, Hamas Division – Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic: "Some of my readers apparently believe that I'm hyping the more pungently anti-Semitic aspects of Hezbollah and Hamas philosophy. So as a public service, I thought I would periodically post excerpts from their writings, in order to let people judge for themselves. Here is a paragraph from Article 28 of the Hamas charter: 'The Zionist invasion is a cruel invasion, which has no scruples whatsoever; it uses every vicious and vile method to achieve its goals. In its infiltration and espionage operations, it greatly relies on secret organizations which grew out of it, such as the Freemasons, the Rotary Clubs, the Lions and other such espionage groups. All these organizations, covert or overt, work for the interests of Zionism and under its direction, and their aim is to break societies, undermine values, destroy people's honor, create moral degeneration and annihilate Islam. [Zionism] is behind all types of trafficking in drugs and alcohol, so as to make it easier for it to take control and expand.'" SEE ALSO

Israel’s Propaganda War - Jamesisaacneutron’s Weblog: The basic strategy of the ‘hasbara apparatus’ is to coordinate all of the Israeli agencies that deal with communication relations and public diplomacy, so that they form and present a unified message to the media. However, with the recent escalation and deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, it is becoming more and more difficult for Israel to "explain itself" to the world and justify their actions as any kind of reasonable response to the comparably insignificant Qassam rocket attacks by Hamas.

Gaza & The One-World Media’s Propaganda - Frank Salvato, New Media Journal: Despicably, in the end -- and even though the information surrounding the events in Gaza and the greater Middle East concern everyone in the free world -- the truth of the situation in Gaza and Israel, the truth about Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah and radical Islamist aggression, doesn’t fit into the one-world media’s Progressive-Left agenda.

Amid broad Israeli support for Gaza war, a rare dissenting voice: Sari Bashi of the group Gisha argued before the Israeli Supreme Court Thursday that Israel is still responsible for Gazan civilians because it controls the enclave's borders, airspace, and sea space - Joshua Mitnick, Christian Science Monitor

End Israeli-Palestinian conflict: An appeal to President-elect Barack Obama - Sam H. Zakhem, Washington Times: The United States is the only country that can bring about the conditions where Palestinians and Israelis respect each others' right to live in peace, free from threats, intimidation and harassment.

Propaganda war rages behind Russia gas dispute – Press Release, Eurobusiness: From Europe's frozen borderlands to Gazprom's fortress headquarters in Moscow to the corridors of power in Brussels, an epic PR war is raging behind the scenes of the Russia-Ukraine energy dispute. Gone are the unanswered calls and the press statements in poor English of post-Soviet renown. The propaganda war in this latest confrontation between Russia and the West is all about hi-tech and smooth talking. Even Volodymyr Litvyn, speaker of Ukraine's parliament, admitted during the crisis that Ukraine had "completely lost" the PR war and was only "responding weakly" to Russian accusations of being an unreliable partner.

Leadership and Legitimacy -- Obama on foreign affairs: Obama must rebuild old alliances and forge new ones, bringing the U.S. in step with a multipolar world - Editorial, Los Angeles Times

Leadership and Legitimacy -- Obama as a war president: What lessons have we learned since 9/11, and when should he send American troops into harm's way? – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: The first lesson for Obama is that a war against a concept, such as evil, or a tactic, such as terrorism, is going to be endless.

Who Should Obama Look to for Advice?: Jimmy Carter – Ivan Eland, Antiwar.com: Obama might learn that domestic benefits might accrue from eliminating U.S. overextension abroad -- for example, improvement in the nation's finances and economy.

Beware the JFK Analogy - Jonathan Steele, Guardian, UK/Common Dreams: The world has become multi-polar or even non-polar. On many global problems we don't need US leadership but a US that is willing to be a partner, and sometimes lets itself be led.

‘They Want Us to Be Stupid Things’ - Editorial, New York Times: We agree with President-elect Barack Obama that Afghanistan is the real front in the war against Al Qaeda.

Admit It: The Surge Worked - Peter Beinart, Washington Post: If Iraq overall represents a massive stain on Bush's record, his decision to increase America's troop presence in late 2006 now looks like his finest hour.

Mr. Bush at His Best and Worst – Editorial, Washington Post: Bush was and is essentially correct to define Islamist terrorism as an unappeasable menace. Alas, that same certitude led Mr. Bush down many blind alleys and, in the worst moments, caused him to debase his country's moral currency.

A bin Laden Subtext – Editorial, Boston Globe: The deep-seated hostility between the Al Qaeda current of Islamism and the more nationalist tendency represented by Hamas suggests that Israel, the United States, and others might do well to shape policy with these distinctions in mind.

IMAGE

January 16

“The words of the diseased … carry more weight than those of the healthy …. Then, too, the diseased truly bite, whereas the healthy pretend to bite but really only snap at the air.”

--Roberto Bolaño, in his novel 2666; cited in The Times Literary Supplement (January 9, 2009), p. 19. PHOTO: Roberto Bolaño

“hacktivism”

--the nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of political ends (Wikipedia)

Debating U.S. public diplomacy – Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: Summarizes Under Secretary of State James Glassman’s “valedictory” address at GWU's Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication. “I appreciated Glassman's candid and thoughtful [remarks] … . But still I heard no answer to the basic point. He has defined the core mission of American 'global strategic engagement' as ‘creating a global environment hostile to extremism’. The latest bin Laden message attempting to capitalize on Arab and Muslim outrage is hardly needed to see the radicalizing impact of Israel's ongoing war on Gaza on public opinion across the region. If public diplomacy can't be actively shaping attitudes and the perception of U.S. policy -- or U.S. policy itself -- during such a crisis, when can it be active? … Could the relatively weak U.S. public diplomacy on the Gaza crisis be an unintended consequence of the growing dominance of the military in the realm of strategic communications?” SEE ALSO. PHOTO: Marc Lynch.

Three Quick Steps to Jump-Start America's Public Diplomacy - Jamie Metzl, Huffington Post: "As the new administration enters office, the following three major steps can be taken right away to set a new tone for America's public diplomacy under the Obama administration. First, America's diplomats should embark on a one month 'listening tour' of the world. … Second, we must transform the American government's primary means of public communication from a one-way broadcast model to a two-way dialogue model. … Third, America needs to speak to the world in the languages the world understands. For some, those languages will be twitter-speak, but for even more, they will be actual foreign languages.”

Obama's next campaign - Jack Leslie, PR Week UK: “As President, Mr. Obama, should launch -- sooner rather than later -- a public diplomacy campaign that redefines America’s engagement with the world community and its citizens. He should take the campaign around the world, and especially to the hotbeds of anti-Americanism.

And he already has a roadmap: the same unprecedented approach he used to win the election. Five imperatives highlight why it can, and must, succeed. First, today’s interdependent, interconnected world is ready for Obama’s more adaptive style of U.S. presidential leadership, one that values collaboration and consensus-building to arrive at a collective sense of the public good. … Second, a key audience is the one he was so successful with at home: the young. … The third imperative is that public diplomacy must embrace the tools of modern communications … . Fourth: no medium, no matter how innovative, can substitute for a strong message communicated in an inspirational and disciplined way. … Finally, as his presidential campaign proved, money counts. America needs to invest far more in so-called soft power."

The real Bush tragedy - Christian Bros, Foreign Policy: “In the aftermath of 9-11, the administration cast the so-called 'war on terror' as a 'war of ideas,' but for a majority of the time thereafter, conceived of it as public diplomacy. The problem with this is that public diplomacy is about explaining America, its values, and its policies to the world -- in short, trying to get people to like us. A worthy and necessary idea that, but when it comes to fighting Al-Qaeda, a misplaced one. Getting people to like us isn't the point. The point is stopping people from wanting to kill us.

That's counter-radicalization, and it's not done through jazz concerts in embassies, well-written op-eds, and pressing the flesh and kissing babies on foreign trips. It's done by giving the angry young men who Al-Qaeda preys upon real alternatives to extremism. I'm still not sure there's a strategy to really do that broadly even now.”

Religious Liberty in America: An Idea Worth Sharing Through Public Diplomacy - Jennifer A. Marshall, Backgrounder #2230, Heritage Foundation: “Since the end of the Cold War, public diplomacy has been in a bit of turmoil. There was a sense that ideological struggle had largely ceased or had at least faded into the background, but the whiplash of 9/11 yanked attention back to ideological warfare--and it should stay there. The United States should expect to be endlessly engaged in cold wars of ideas. …

U.S. public diplomacy aims to impart to foreign audiences an understanding and appreciation of American ideals, principles, institutions, and policy. This means that U.S. public diplomacy must be firmly grounded in those principles and ideals, including those concerning religion.”

The Freedom Stagnation - Arch Puddington, Huffington Post: “President Obama should reject the premise that engaging with authoritarian adversaries means ignoring acts of repression. Democracies have numerous and nuanced instruments --including the tools of traditional diplomacy, public diplomacy, and assistance programs -- that can be deployed to register disapproval, censure acts of persecution, or shine the light of publicity on a regime's dark corners.”

From the editor: America expects a new era of consensus - Danny Rogers, PR Week UK: “In New York this week Jack Leslie, Weber Shandwick’s global chairman and a former adviser to Senator Edward Kennedy, even calls for a ‘public diplomacy campaign that redefines America’s engagement with the world community and its citizens’. Leslie argues that the US needs to invest

millions of dollars in its ‘soft’ power, rather than in military solutions. Leslie is right. … The US government can employ the core skills of professional comms: by listening to public opinion; and by winning arguments through a democratic battle of ideas, not military steel.”

How Americans Can Provide Real Public Service - Brian Brown, WebMemo #2222, Heritage Foundation: “Some of the President-elect's proposals to increase public service are novel: Expanding programs for public service into such emerging areas as public diplomacy and 'green jobs'; using the Internet to make the federal government a central figure in connecting people with service opportunities; and increasing government involvement in the nonprofit sector. But most of his proposed plan is based on expanding what already exists.”

Broadcasting Board of Governors Rated Worst Than Ever By Its Employees and As One of The Worst Federal Agencies - FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog: “FreeMediaOnline.org, a San Francisco-based nonprofit supporting media freedom worldwide, is deeply concerned that the BBG’s actions are undermining access of international audiences to unbiased news and information from the United States. Especially hard hit are the very poorest groups as well as refugees and other victims of war and repression. In many countries around the world — including Russia, India, and Ukraine –the BBG and the International Broadcasting Bureau staff have abandoned Voice of America radio, which used to serve these audiences, in favor of relying exclusively on television and the Internet. This insensitive and elitist strategy has been condemned by labor leaders, human rights activists, as well as BBG’s own employees.”

The Future Of American Cultural Diplomacy - Nicholas J. Cull, Public Diplomacy Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: “Quincy Jones's welcome appeal for the creation of an American cultural tsar has fascinating implications for the world of public diplomacy. … Boosting the arts and culture within the United States could not but help the international image of the United States. It would be a fine example of practicing what is preached and proving that America is about more than just superficial Disney-esque instant gratification.

It would also be a sound use of resources in a time of economic crisis. … America's cultural diplomacy does not sit well within the Department of State. … The first step to relaunch U.S. cultural diplomacy should be to establish an American equivalent to the Goethe Institute -- call it a Benjamin Franklin institute -- by moving the activities of the present State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to an arms-length agency.”

Smith-Mundt Symposium in Pictures – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Briefly, over 260 people signed up for the Symposium. About 180 attended. Some people left because they had other appointments and few of those returned. A year ago, it was hard to imagine 50 people would be interested in a discussion about the Smith-Mundt Act.”

Teaching Transformational Diplomacy and Making "Democracy" a Good Word Again – Steve Clemons, Washington Note: “I just learned that John Shattuck, President and CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, will be shifting from his current duties to assume the helm as president and rector of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. … [T]his university, established in large part through the support of George Soros, has been a powerhouse in training many people to become the clerks, and policy analysts, and political organizers and agitators, and bureaucrats of open societies in much of Eastern Europe. … Soros has always understood 'transformational diplomacy' and how to engineer a political ecosystem in which democratic process might take root more than most democracy promoters in the US government.” PHOTO: John Shattuck

Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds - Alvis Brigis, Future Blogger: “On January 29 at 6pm, Carnegie Council Senior Fellows Joshua S. Fouts and Rita J. King will present findings from their Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds project. After a year of exploring digital Islamic communities, Fouts and King conclude that engaging with people in virtual worlds who self-identify as Muslim can be part of a broader public diplomacy strategy to foster inclusive perspectives on religion, society, and coexistence. …
I agree that more dynamic non-physical interaction can reveal much about human reactions to conflict and information. I'd further contend that they also permit different interaction with ideas and behaviors that can be externalized through and around avatars in new ways.”

Bush's parting lesson - Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post: “[The] remarkable incompetence on the part of Israel's UN mission and in particular … bespeaks a personal incompetence on the part of Ambassador Gabriela Shalev. … Shalev is not a professional diplomat. She had no notable experience in international affairs or public diplomacy to speak of before Livni - who insisted that she would only appoint a woman to the post - sent her to Turtle Bay.”


That Israeli Information Machine in Action: Overlooking the “Bloody Conflict” – Scott Lucas, Enduring America: “There has been an exceptional amount of media fluff about the wondrous Israel information/propaganda/hasbara effort in the Gaza conflict. Yet, for all the acknowledged prowess of Tel Aviv on televisions-talkboards-YouTube-Twitter, here’s a rule-of-thumb: the dead, cold reality of civilian deaths, sooner or later, will overtake your use flashy, hot new media.”

War and Public Relations: Israel Defense Forces Conduct News Conference Via Twitter – Blogworks: “In what some consider an outrageous communications platform for an exceedingly complicated conflict, the Israel Defense Forces held a Q & A, over Twitter, complete with abbreviations commonly used in text messaging.”

Gaza propaganda war takes place online - Matthew Hopson, neowin.net: “Branded by some as 'hacktivism', the conflict between Israel and Palestine has spilled onto the web, with activists from both sides defacing websites, taking over computers and shutting down Facebook groups.”

Israel Loses The Propaganda War By Forcing Journalists To Watch Al Jazeera – msadmin, 1800blogger: “Israel’s attempts to shape and influence the reporting of its massacres in Gaza, is a complete and utter failure. By not being able to get their own footage from Gaza, many western media companies are bowing to demands from their audiences and are airing the only footage they can get their hands on - imagery from Gaza that may or may not be controlled and edited by Hamas.”

Debunking Israeli Propaganda: UN Bombed by Israel with White Phosphorus! – Mac, Mosquito Blog: “Israeli propagandists, when they hit mosques, schools, UN compounds, whatever civilian infrastructure or cultural buildings, always claim that there were weapons or ‘terrorists’ hidden inside, without a shred of proof of course. That is just a way of masking Israeli war crimes. Or they will just say ‘whoops, sorry.’"

Propaganda Wars and the Gaza Offensive – The Vigilante Journalist - “Israel is really shooting itself in the foot by not allowing international media in. … In the meantime, those who support the offensive and defend the tactics of Israel have continued uttering a series of mantras in the hopes that it will eventually sink in and drown out the wave of images we are being bombarded with daily. … Just as the US played on public fears of terrorist attacks, so is the Israeli state playing on the very real fears of its people.”

Salvation and Palestinian Propaganda - Mark D. Tooley, FrontPageMagazine.com: “The eagerness of American bishops to mindlessly repeat … predictable anti-Israel themes is indefensible. But perhaps Religious Left groupthink is as intimidating as Palestinian terror.”

The government is not a suicide pact (updated) – manish vij, Ultrabrown: “India is forced back on the defensive: focus not on ‘avenging’ 26/11 or in ‘exacting a price’ but on preventing the next one - strengthening the state internal security apparatus while also engaging the civil society in Pakistan in a positive way: a combination of ‘Homeland Security’ and ‘Public Diplomacy’ that the US adopted after 9/11, minus the retributive wars. In the long-term, the Public Diplomacy would have to moderate the reflexive anti-Indianism many Pakistanis (and Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, even Nepalese) have, and which is the true font of much terrorism, not just Islamism.”

New Vice-Minister and Undersecretary of Lithuanian Foreign Ministry start their tenure - The Baltic Course: “Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [Evaldas] Ignatavicius will be responsible for strengthening Eastern Neighbourhood policy, development of bilateral and multilateral relations with Russia and other countries in the Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. He will curate the issues of Lithuania‘s Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion, and those of public diplomacy.”

English Section of the Foreign Service Officer Test - The Hegemonist: “The third section of the written portion of the Foreign Service Officer Test is the English Expression portion.
…Whenever anyone asks me what to do to study for the Foreign Service Exam I always tell them the same thing. Learn the minute and obscure rules of the English language. English will help you pass the English Expression and the Essay section of the exam, so 2/3 of the exam is based on that one skill.“

Where Is The Government Going To Direct Its Propaganda Machine Now? - Bill Sardi, LewRockwell.com: "Laws may not stop propaganda, but the dissolution of major news media outlets and their replacement by less controllable, more independent, more varied information sources may pose problems for the reigning propaganda state."

January 15

“Gaza has to be erased from the map by nuclear bombs, like what Americans used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

--Israeli MP and leader Avigdor Lieberman, as quoted in Kawther Salam, "Warning: Israel Plans to Strike Gaza Hospitals," Palestine Think Tank and in other Internet sources. PHOTO: Lieberman.

“In a poll published by Yedioth Ahronoth on 21 September 2006, Lieberman had more support than any politician except for Netanyahu to be the next Prime Minister of Israel (Olmert came in fifth, with 7%).”

--Wikipedia

“the Oxford dictionary defines the word ‘holocaust’ as follows: ‘noun. 1 destruction or slaughter on a mass scale. 2 (the Holocaust) the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime in World War II.’ The difference, in the Oxford dictionary's view is a subtle one; in the first definition word is in lowercase; while the second is capitalized.” IMAGE from

--From "Where is the Truth?" in Middle East Times

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Public Diplomacy 2.0 or Propaganda Museum Exhibits - Ted Lipien, FreeMediaOnline.org & Free Media Online Blog: “[A] number of recent U.S. State Department political appointees responsible for public diplomacy and officials in charge of U.S. international broadcasting have enthusiastically embraced propaganda advertising as the primary solution to the problems of how the Bush Administration and the United States are perceived abroad. … Instead of responsible and balanced journalism by Voice of America, foreign audiences are now being offered short propaganda videos and entertainment-rich programs produced by private contractors. A similar effort to replace journalism with questionable marketing and advertising concepts has been underway for a number of years at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which is responsible for U.S. international broadcasts. … Contrary to what BBG members believe, including its most recent chairman, traditional independent radio and television journalism can be successfully merged with Web 2.0 concepts and can achieve high audience ratings without resorting to questionable management techniques, marketing practices and crude propaganda.” PHOTO: Ted Lipien

Getting It: Do ordinary Iranians understand the Israel/Hamas conflict better than the experts? - Clifford D. May, National Review: “Jeffrey Gedmin is president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, whose Iranian service, Radio Farda, has been receiving messages from its Iranian listeners regarding the war in Gaza. Many have been along the lines Iran’s rulers prefer and you might expect: ‘Death to Israel, to the imperialists and Zionists!’ But the ‘majority,’ Gedmin told me, has been of a different nature. Here’s a sampling (translated from the Farsi): [among them] ‘The clerical regime is lying. It was not Israel who started this war.’" PHOTO: Jeffrey Gedmin

Smart Power and PSYOP - Lawrence Dietz, PSYOP Regimental Blog: “It is likely that the Obama administration, led by Secretary of State Clinton, would increase the resourcing for Public Diplomacy.

The will likely lead to more strategic level work since that can be accomplished from the safety of Washington, DC. An increase of strategic public diplomacy and the communications that go with it will require enhanced interaction between DOD and DOS.”

Terrorism's Twelve Step Program - Bruce Hoffman, National Interest: “1. The fundamental organizing principle of America’s struggle against terrorism as a global war has outlived its utility. … Accordingly, it may be more useful to reconceptualize this struggle in terms of a global counterinsurgency (GCOIN). Such an approach would a priori knit together the equally critical political, economic, diplomatic, information and developmental sides inherent to the successful prosecution of counterinsurgency to the existing dominant military side of the equation. … more focused and strengthened interagency process would also facilitate the coordination of key themes and messages and the development and execution of long-term "hearts and minds" programs. … 2. … The United States … requires a strategy that harnesses the overwhelming kinetic force of the American military as part of a comprehensive vision to transform other, non-kinetic instruments of national power in order to deal more effectively with irregular and unconventional threats. 5. Information operations that delegitimize the top leaders of terrorist groups and undermine the image of these groups’ omnipotence is an essential adjunct to kinetic approaches. … Therefore focused and sufficiently resourced public diplomacy and information-operations campaigns to discredit these leaders and undermine images of their and their groups’ omnipotence are critical elements in effectively countering terrorism.” … 8. Equal emphasis has to be given to the importance of information operations, psychological operations and public diplomacy alongside kinetic approaches. …The problem is that no agency or office has the lead for overseeing, coordinating and integrating information operations. Multiple agencies share this mission and within those agencies multiple offices claim responsibility: the result is duplication and redundancy and many voices speaking at once rather than one voice with one clear, authoritative message directing this process. Inadequate resources are an additional problem as information operations and public diplomacy remain distinct secondary priorities in the struggle against terrorism.”

Public diplomacy and information operations to combat terrorism - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Elliott discussing above article: “Content that discredits terrorist leaders might not be so effective if it comes from a U.S. source, or at least a source identified with the United States. As for the 'multiple agencies,' I assume the problem is coordinating Defense and (if there are any) intelligence agency efforts, because public diplomacy and especially (overt) international broadcasting shouldn't really be doing 'information operations.' Wouldn't the National Security Council, somewhere in its staff structure, be the entity to coordinate information operations?” See also John Brown, “Public Diplomacy and Propaganda: Their Differences” (American Diplomacy)

Where is the Truth? - Middle East Times, Egypt: “It is said that truth is the first casualty of war. Indeed it is. The war in Gaza is a prime example of how the truth suffers in time of conflict. And both sides are guilty of making a casualty out of the truth. It just so happens that one side is more sophisticated at it than the other. Naturally, they don't call it lying, nor do they call it bending the truth. Instead, it is given the sterile name of ‘public relations,’ or ‘public diplomacy.’”

Turkish Dilemma: Can the frayed relationship between the United States and Turkey be repaired? - Jeffrey Azarva, Weekly Standard: “Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party--an Islamist-rooted party known by its Turkish acronym, the AKP--and its media organs [stoke] rampant anti-Americanism. … I observed the cumulative effect of such slander when I met with college students in the city of Adana. The meeting, part of a State Department-funded exchange program to bridge the gap in U.S-Turkish relations, revealed distorted views of the United States in the Turkish press.”

Key Questions for Janet Napolitano, Nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security - Jena Baker McNeill, Webmemo #2204, Heritage Foundation: "Question #3: The Visa Waiver Program: Please describe your views regarding the Visa Waiver Program's role in America's overall public diplomacy strategy, including ongoing efforts to strengthen the VWP. Describe any challenges you see to its continuance in the next Administration. Answer: The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a vital public diplomacy tool. Membership in the program communicates to countries that the United States trusts them. And the VWP allows America to sustain relationships with our historical allies while forging new relationships with countries whose interests align with our security priorities. … It is vital that DHS and the Congress work together to find a solution that will not halt the expansion of VWP.” PHOTO: Janet Napolitano.

Symposium Audio: Glassman and Doran Keynotes – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: “Complete audio for the 2009 Smith-Mundt Symposium will be available soon.

The transcript will be available in about two weeks. [In below link], however, are mp3's for the two keynotes.”

“Fixing Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications,” by S. Enders Wimbush - Transition Papers List – Hudson Institute Bookstore: “American public diplomacy and strategic communications have been failing since the end of the Cold War. We are neither promoting American values effectively nor winning the war of ideas. Public diplomacy and strategic communications are perversely under-funded. They will continue to fail until the new administration establishes and delivers funding at a level commensurate with these activities’ strategic importance.”

BYU Kennedy Center Upcoming Events - David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies: “International Relations Lecture: ‘Kipling's Ghost: Decolonization, Public Diplomacy, and the Invention of the Third World,' Jason C. Parker, assistant professor of history, Texas A&M University, [Wed, 25 Mar.]”

Libyan Head of State Incites Controversy at Georgetown - Kevin Suyo, thehoya.com: “The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies came under fire last week by a former World Bank executive for planning to host controversial Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi at an upcoming video lecture. In an open letter to CCAS director and School of Foreign Service Professor Michael Hudson, Hafed Al-Ghwell, the former manager of the Public Diplomacy and Information Center at the World Bank Group in D.C. and current director at the Dubai School of Government, argues that the lecture will legitimize the past actions of al-Qaddafi — including public hangings, forced exiles, home demolitions and abuse, according to Al-Ghwell.”

Private Diplomacy - Enemy Central, American Spectator: “Here we have a major dinner at George Will's, starring the nation's acting president who next Tuesday makes it official and ten leading conservative pundits, some of whom didn't even vote the man. … Thus we had George

coming on to Hillary (‘First of all, I want to thank you for the time we spent on the telephone and also for your receiving a very lengthy letter from me’ -- luckily Bill's not the jealous type!) and then distancing himself from her (Republican) predecessor (‘And we all know that our public diplomacy is at a low ebb. I think Secretary Rice has tried to do a good job…. But, you know, once the water goes over the dam, it's hard to bring it back up’ -- Republicans, in other words, can't afford to waste good water) and finally putting in his application for a plum ambassadorship in Western Europe (‘And I think that the Obama policy, 'smart power' -- I was in Europe this last month, and they're all excited about our new president’).” PHOTO: Columnist George Will.

AJC Concludes Solidarity Mission to Israel - PRNews wire-USNewswire: “A 20-person AJC solidarity mission concluded its visit to Israel today [Jan. 13]. … In Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the delegation met with Foreign Minister Livni, senior defense officials, and major Knesset candidates, and discussed key advocacy challenges with the Foreign Ministry and IDF officials in charge of public diplomacy.”

Analysis: Where to talk tough - David Horovitz, Jerusalem Post: “Israel's public diplomacy strategists … are emphasizing anything but threats of more violence. What needs to be stressed, they say, is Hamas's indifference to Palestinian loss of life, as exemplified by its operating from mosques, schools and homes, and Israel's efforts to defang Hamas while minimizing that loss of civilian life. Israel's public diplomacy, incidentally, is not being helped by the IDF's vagueness about the Palestinian death toll. The IDF Spokesman's Office reports that more than 300 Hamas gunmen have been killed since the limited ground offensive was launched on January 3, but it offers no firm figures for the proportion of Hamas members in the overall death toll of 900-plus. … Meanwhile, if the public diplomacy strategists are counseling sensitivity, Olmert and his leadership colleagues emphatically do have a diplomatic forum in which to stress their firmness and resolution, with Egypt as their prime focus.”

Israel’s Propaganda War - RamallahOnline: “Following its 2006 war with Lebanon, Israel decided that it needed to set up a Public Relations program to deal with hasbara- Hebrew for ‘explanation’, since the media coverage and death toll in that war—over 1,000 Lebanese civilians, made Israel look ‘bad’. In other words, the ‘National Information Directorate’, created in 2008, deals with information, spin,


and propaganda. This program has been put to use for the first time on a world-wide scale with the Israeli invasion of Gaza. … The 'anti-Hamas-pro-Israeli' message sent out via international media is the Directorate’s primary focus. The basic strategy of the ‘hasbara apparatus’ is to coordinate all of the Israeli agencies that deal with communication relations and public diplomacy, so that they form and present a unified message to the media.”

Tweeting For Israel – Jewish Week: “[David] Saranga, Israel's consul for media and public affairs in the Israel Consulate, has led the consulate to the frontlines of a cyber battle that aims to spread Israel’s message to as many people as possible and create an instant dialogue with public opinion, he said. … As war strategies change, so too must public diplomacy, Saranga argues, a lesson that he feels Israel learned in part during 2006. ‘Unfortunately during the war in Lebanon our new media efforts weren’t as powerful, but let’s not forget that two and a half years have passed and the new media and technology world has developed,’ he said. … Saranga said that he decided to use Twitter after witnessing t