January 7

"[T]he easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people's minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize they are being propagandized."

--Elmer Davis, head of the Office of War Information during WWII; cited in Holly Cowan Shulman, "The Voice of America: Propaganda and Democracy, 1941-1945" (1990) p. 35; Davis image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Twitter vs. Terror: How the U.S. State Department should enable and encourage social-networking sites in the global fight for freedom - U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Foreign Policy: "Technology offers new ways to perform the traditional task of spreading the American message. During President Barack Obama's major Africa speech in Ghana last year, for instance, the government offered SMS texts of his remarks in English and French to cell-phone users across Africa and enabled them to post questions and comments. But social networking technologies are more often used to enable individuals across a country, or across the globe, to interact, engage, and become empowered. Although this means that our government will not be able to control the message as well as it might with conventional public diplomacy tools, I believe it is a risk worth taking. Terrorists and other anti-American propagandists have for some time been using the Internet and other techniques to communicate and recruit. America needs to beat them at their own game, especially since we invented most of the technology." Via LB.

Back to the Future - Noah Pollak, Contentions, Commentary:

"A year into the Obama administration, a pattern has been established for public diplomacy with Israel versus the Palestinians. For Israel, the administration airs an ongoing series of petty complaints, most of which relate to housing construction in Obama-disapproved neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Such construction is hurting the peace process, intones Robert Gibbs; it prevents the recommencement of negotiations and is inconsistent with the Road Map, he laments. ... By contrast, the administration has been indifferent to Palestinian terrorism and its official celebration by the PA." Image from

Iran bans contact with 60 organizations, including (or maybe not) BBC, VOA, Radio Farda - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting

China fights the tide of history - The Japan Times:

"Buoyed by its economic dynamism and the international status that its impressive economic growth has created, China's leaders are less tolerant of criticism and more inclined to ignore those who demand that it hew to international human rights norms. At the same time, China's leaders are also aware of the growing social strains in their country and are working to ensure that any cracks do not spread. ... While we do not believe that much is to be gained by international insults and vocal public diplomacy that forces countries into corners, that does not mean that governments and human rights activists should ignore these offenses." Image from

Nepal: Pragmatic Approach to Foreign Policy - Madhavji Shrestha, Telegraphnepal.com: "To accommodate the people’s say manifestly, the increased importance of public interest in the handling of foreign policy calls for the conduct of public diplomacy to resolve any major problem or issue with any country, which would have bearing on the people’s life. Public diplomacy is an appropriately developed tool that searches the feels and pulse of the people on any foreign policy question at home. This would ensure the public support in managing diplomatic concerns. Similarly, efforts should be made to win 'hearts' of foreign people for favorable opinion by reaching out to them through contacts and communications by use of the media. ... Public diplomacy thus addresses people both at home and abroad with the appropriate program chalked out and capability shown by the executers of foreign policy and diplomacy."

Remembering Romero – Paul Rockower, Levantine: "Radio Venceremos ... [was] the radio station that was vital for the FMLN’s public diplomacy outreach.

Radio Venceremos proved a crucial source of information both for the FMLN to communicate alternative information than the government's line to its followers and to nongovernmental supporters like Witness for Peace." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Many Ex-Detainees Said to Be Engaged in Terror - Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times: Administration officials said Wednesday that a classified Pentagon report concludes that of some 560 detainees transferred abroad from the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, about one in five has engaged in, or is suspected of engaging in, terrorism or militant activity. Civil liberties and human rights groups sharply criticized earlier Pentagon reports during the Bush administration concluding that substantial numbers of former Guantánamo detainees had engaged in terrorism or militant activity. The groups said that the information was too vague to be credible and amounted to propaganda in favor of keeping the prison open.

Obama's Wake-Up Call? Flight 253 underscores the peril of a soft-on-terror approach--and provides an opportunity to change course - James Taranto, Wall Street Journal

War, Obama-style - Donald Lambro, Washington Times:

America came within milliseconds of another deadly terrorist attack, but the failed attempt has renewed bothersome questions about the Obama administration's mishandling of homeland security safeguards and the larger war on terrorism. Image from

In Afghanistan, not-so-smart intelligence: As a recent deadly bombing and a critical Army report indicate, the U.S. is falling down on the intelligence-gathering front in the war there – Editorial, latimes.com: According to the damning report by Army Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, director of military intelligence in Afghanistan, U.S. spy agencies there (with a few notable exceptions) are "ignorant" of local politics and economics, "hazy" about who the power brokers are and "disengaged" at the grass-roots level from those who might provide answers and help win the war. In short, they are providing intelligence "marginally relevant" to the counterinsurgency campaign that Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is running now and for which President Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops last month.

The end of the warrior witch hunt: Blackwater charges dropped but vindication still missing - Jim Hanson, Washington Times: The manslaughter charges against five Blackwater guards in Baghdad were dropped with a stinging rebuke from the judge to the investigators and prosecutors who brought them.

But that was for procedural and legal mistakes, not for a recognition that what these men did was not murder. That recognition is long overdue. Image from

P.C. undermines our military: An opportunity for Defense to reverse trends – James A. Lyons, washington Times: There have been too many instances where our forces have been put in jeopardy because we did not employ available capabilities for fear of collateral damage.

Revolt brews in Iran - David Waddington, Washington Times: Let us learn from the lessons of history and side with the Iranian people's democratic opposition movement in their struggle for that freedom and democracy and those rights, which each and every man and woman in this world deserves.

An Alliance Larger Than One Issue - Joseph S. Nye Jr., New York Times: This year is the 50th anniversary of the United States-Japan security treaty. The two countries will miss a major opportunity if they let the base controversy lead to bitter feelings or the further reduction of American forces in Japan.

The best guarantee of security in a region where China remains a long-term challenge and a nuclear North Korea poses a clear threat remains the presence of American troops, which Japan helps to maintain with generous host nation support. Image from

The Realist Case for Tibetan Autonomy: Any change in U.S. policy toward the Dalai Lama will encourage bad behavior in Beijing - Paula J. Dobriansky, Wall Street Journal: A balanced policy toward China that features continued U.S. support for the cause of Tibetan autonomy is both doable and necessary. It has been tackled successfully during the last two administrations, and President Obama should continue to build upon this record.

Uganda's bill to imprison gays for life is an outrage that should be rejected – Editorial, Washington Post: If Uganda approves the anti-homosexuality bill, it risks making itself a pariah among nations.

US paranoia seen in new Red Dawn - Benjamin A Shobert, Asia Times:

The Chinese propaganda posters, carefully set inside the windows of the Chinese/American Friendship Center in Detroit, say it all: the first, a picture of the Capitol in Washington DC having its rotunda blown off, with the words "Defeating Your Enemy" running along the top. The second, a Chinese hand reaching down to help up an American, with the phrase "Helping You Back On Your Feet", and the last, a burly laborer hammering away at an anvil, a figure of the US dollar beneath his descending hammer, with the slogan "Repairing Your Economy" in large white letters on the poster. Another poster makes its point even more directly: beneath a picture of the chastened US dollar, "Deceitful Leaders. Greedy Corporations. This is Not a Democracy. We Are Here to Help." Thankfully, this is not the Detroit of today, rather the Detroit of tomorrow, at least as envisioned by director Dan Bradley, who is in the midst of remaking the 1984 cult hit Red Dawn, but this time with the Soviets taking the back seat and the Chinese standing in as the aggressor. Red Dawn image from; see also.

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"I am always embarrassed when people ask me what I do. And people, for the lack of anything better to say, seem to be asking it all the time.

I reply, sotto voce, that I am the Cultural Attaché, hoping that they won't hear and that we can go on to something else. 'But what does a Cultural Attaché DO?' they come back brightly, sensing they've got me on the defensive. I try to pass it off with a melancholy quip like 'as little mischief as possible,' hoping that my unwillingness to supply information will discourage them. Such a happy solution is rare. They persist (more inquisitorial now): 'But I mean, what DO you DO?'

I'd really like to explain that my purpose in life, if you want to get down to that, is being, not doing, but even I have come to realize that there's no point trying to go into all that at a cocktail party. So I resign myself and try to fabricate a version of 'what I do' that will confer on my activities some semblance of respectability.

I cast about for the proper retort. Education. That's it. It's a respectable word. (Culture is still a 'dirty' one.) So I reply, in that serious, deliberate tone proper to the civil servant, that I am involved in setting up exchanges of students and professors.

'Oh, how interesting,' warbles the little old lady, her birdlike eye taking on a glitter, 'how glad I am to meet you. My granddaughter wants to get a Fulbright and go to Europe to study singing. Could you tell me . . . .'"

--John L. Brown, diplomat father of the PDPBR compiler