January 2

"Every SOCIALIST Should Know LAW! Become A LAWYER!"

--Early twentieth-century ad by La Salle Extension University

"An American and a Soviet are debating free speech. The American boasts that he can go to the White House and yell 'Reagan is an idiot' with no consequences. The Soviet proudly says that he is equally free to go to Red Square and yell 'Reagan is an idiot.'”

--Often repeated Soviet era joke

RUSSIAN SITE PERTAINING TO PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Омское региональное общественное движение Omsk regional public motion "Народная дипломатия - Общество дружбы с зарубежьем" "Public diplomacy - a Society of the friendship"

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

The battle for public opinion - Ed Feulner, Lansdale Reporter:

“Recent reports from Afghanistan indicate that the Taliban, having ratcheted up its own public diplomacy efforts, continues to beat the U.S. and its allies in the war of ideas. ... [T]he Obama administration should establish a public-private communications partnership. It would probably look similar to the RAND Corporation, set up after World War II as a federally funded research and development center that would bring together experts from the War Department, the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and private industry. RAND was assigned ‘to further and promote scientific, educational, and charitable purposes, all for the public welfare and security of the United States.’ Today a new public-private communications partnership could be tasked with gathering information the government needs to advance the U.S.' position in the war of ideas.” Image from

First, the new BBG must sort out who does what - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting: "’Though the [Broadcasting Board of Governors] has had some successes, it has in recent years become highly controversial. Established as a nonpartisan entity, it has at times been highly partisan. Not satisfied with mere oversight, it intruded like a collective CEO, shifting budgets and dictating which language services should run and not run. ... [The BBG] must tackle the problem of overlapping broadcasting with other government entities. The State Department is pursuing its own radio programming to counter Taliban inroads in Afghanistan. The much better-financed Department of Defense has a huge 'strategic communication' plan — public diplomacy.’ Former VOA director John Hughes, Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 30 December 2009.

Elliott comment: An important defect of the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 is that it did not provide for a CEO with authority over all the US international broadcasting entities. And, so, the BBG must be a collective CEO. ‘Shifting budgets and dictating which language services should run and not run’ are among the BBG's most important tasks. Otherwise, duplication within US international broadcasting would be even worse than it is now. Mr. Hughes' reference to the State Department doing broadcasting and the Defense Department doing public diplomacy points out the American befuddlement about which agency should do which type of international communication. Here's a schema: The State Department should provide public diplomacy globally (minus the United States). The Defense Department should conduct information operations in its areas of combat, defined restrictively. The BBG should transmit accurate and reliable news to places where the news available domestically is biased or otherwise deficient.” Hughes image from

Former journalist calls Radio Farda "opposition" and, via Farda, Obama "most inexperienced president" - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting: “As a provider of news, Radio Farda should take umbrage at being called ‘opposition, pro-democracy,’ as noble as those attributes may be.”

"VOA doesn't even have a Baluchi language service!" - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting

The Jihad Decade Cometh - Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs: “In February of '09 I asked Douglas Feith in a blogger interview, ‘To what extent did the Islamic doctrines of jihad and the requirement to subjugate infidels under the rule of Islamic law enter into your calculations for Iraq, and do you think the persecution of Christians had anything to do with those doctrines?’

Douglas Feith replied, ... [E]very time anyone suggested creating an office to really deal with jihadist ideology in a systematic or strategic way at the Pentagon, people would say, oh, no, we are not going to have another Office of Strategic Influence problem. And that meant the Pentagon couldn't do it, and the Pentagon was the place that kept recognizing the importance of the ideological struggle. The State Department, which was the logical place to do it, for its own institutional and cultural reasons wasn't inclined to fight the battle that way, and they tended to think that all we needed was a public diplomacy campaign.” Image from

Paris, Milan, Tokyo. Tokyo? - Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times: “Japan’s trailblazers of street fashion are the envy of Western designers, spawning Web sites filled with snapshots of Tokyo youngsters in the latest distressed jeans or psychedelic stockings. ... ‘Japanese fashion has so much global potential,’ says Kenjiro Monji, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Public Diplomacy Department, who oversees Japan’s cultural push overseas.”

Deputizing Public Diplomats – Paul Rockower, Levantine: “My first good idea for the new year. The Israeli Army needs to give public diplomacy courses to the soldiers who are about to be discharged on how to be good public diplomats when they go on their post-army trips. There are scores of Israeli ‘ambassadors’ traveling the world, throughout the Americas, Southeast Asia and India. While many act as ‘menschs’

and many do good work as public diplomats, others are rude who cause hostels in Thailand and other places to post signs that say ‘we don´t accept Israelis.’ Israel has a veritable trove of public diplomats on the move, and the key would be to socialize them to understand how they need to represent. A far better use of pd money than many of the other projects I know to be in play.” Image from

What Happened in Auschwitz? - Krakow Post - Comment by a reader: “The alliance with Georgia and Polish involvement and enthusiasm for Afghanistan is about energy diversification and pursuing geostrategies designed to bring that about and justified by anti-Russian ‘public diplomacy’ by politicians.”

Dissidents and Doublethink-The Fate of Lyudmila Alexeyev - Karl Naylor, Eastern Europe Watch: “[N]umerous networks of ‘soft power' the new PR term for ‘public diplomacy’ i.e. propaganda support moneyed interest and have no connection with the real life struggles or ordinary people in ex-Soviet space. The political contortions are almost surreal.”

Soft Power Marketing – New Age Marketing: “So let’s talk about Soft Power Marketing. According to its creator Joseph S. Nye Jr., a Harvard Academic, Soft

Power can be defined as a means of generating a foreign public opinion in line with the same outcome you desire through understanding and fine tuning your messages based on how the audience hears your messages and interprets it. As per my reading and understanding, Soft Power Marketing is a medium of attracting others through effective public diplomacy that involves not just age-old broadcasting, but by using an exchange basket of intangibles assets like culture, political values and beliefs, well supplemented through physical trade of complimentary tangible assets.” Image from

RELATED ITEMS

US Army Iraq psyop specialists as ad buyers – Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting

Toward a less deadly Iraq: Civilians deaths have dropped sharply since the brutal days of 2006-2007 - Editorial, latimes.com: The United States can continue to provide the Iraqi government with intelligence and other support to battle extremists, as well as advice for strengthening governance. But it is up to the Iraqis now to finish the business of political reconciliation.

Remembering Iraq's refugees: Progress has been made, but thousands of Iraqis still must be resettled – Editorial, latimes.com

A decade of decline - Jeffrey T. Kuhner, Washington Times:

Mr. Obama's decision to surge 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan is a dangerous - and reckless - escalation of the war. It will only deepen our military quagmire, draining America of further blood and treasure. Repeating the tragic mistakes of Vietnam, Mr. Obama is sending U.S. troops to die without a clear strategy for victory. Yet, as Americans are being bled white in the caves and mountains of Afghanistan, terrorists are penetrating our homeland defenses. Image from

Defiant in Tehran: Antagonism toward clerical regime broadens - Ilan Berman, Washington Times: Iran's opposition leaders once again have reason to hope that President Obama will understand at long last that, when it comes to supporting those seeking freedom, the leader of the Free World should never remain silent.

Europe's looming demise: Changes on the Continent cloud our future - Pamela Geller, Washington Times:

A Muslim population from Africa moving freely into Europe threatens America. Image from

Al-Reuters Runs Anti-Israel Propaganda (Again) – David Horowitz’s Newsreal

Propaganda - Drbexl, Keep Calm and Carry On and other Second World War Posters: For many years people have discussed what propaganda is. See propaganda models that were defined for the PhD project, and some propaganda links.

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“Bushism on steroids.”


--Commentator Jeffrey T. Kuhner, characterizing President Barack Obama; image from