January 8

"Propaganda warfare is not merely a battle of words. It is a battle for people's minds and through their minds their physical action."

--In-house Voice of America report, early in 1943; cited in Holly Cowan Shulman, "The Voice of America: Propaganda and Democracy, 1941-1945" (1990) p. 53; image from

REPORT OF INTEREST

Open World Leadership Center Annual Report 2008

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

U.S. Seeks a New Path to Peace in Middle East - Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal:

"The Obama administration is taking new steps to restart Arab-Israeli peace talks that broke down last year, and U.S. officials said they hope formal negotiations could resume by February or March. ... 'We are slowly but surely using public diplomacy to outline the terms of reference,' said a US official briefed on the efforts." Image from

Nigeria as a terror ground: US African commander "not aware" - Prince Ofori-Atta, Afrik.com: “Nigeria is among a few strategic African countries that have invited Africom to work closely with its forces. In fact, some of the characterizations on the ground in Nigeria were mentioned in General William Ward’s Africom address to the American Senate, last March [including that] ‘Military Information Support Teams, in conjunction with DOS public diplomacy, have demonstrated success in several countries including Nigeria.’”

Let me share some news with you: Gates likes the CNAS report but does not like that it is a CNAS report - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "According the the Voice of America, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates endorses the recent report – Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan – authored by Major General Michael Flynn, Captain Matt Pottinger, and Paul D. Batchelor. However, according to VOA, the SecDef took issue with the report being published by CNAS. ... The title of this post is 'let me share some news with you' is to legally permit you to read the VOA story if you are inside the United States. By the intentional distortion of law, VOA materials are not to be available to the American public. As Senator Zorinsky said in 1985 while 'losing the loophole' on dissemination, allowing such material to be accessed by Americans would put the broadcaster on par with a Soviet propaganda agency. For a time, the VOA story you read – if you clicked on the link – was actually exempted from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). However, the original and primary intent of the 79th and the 80th Congresses that wrote and passed the Smith-Mundt Act that made permanent VOA and other elements we now call public diplomacy, was to have the media (which I now often qualify as), Congress, and academia (which I again qualify as) disseminate material intended for non-US audiences abroad in order to protect the US government from the Communists and socialists in the State Department, as well as to protect American commercial broadcast interests. So, in short, I’m glad to be of service and relay the information to you. Enjoy."

Buying National Security – Budget Insight: "Gordon Adams and Cindy Williams have written a new book! Buying National Security provides a roadmap for readers on how national security budgets come together, de-mystifying the institutions, organizations, processes and politics that support planning and resource allocation.

The tools of American statecraft −defense, diplomacy and public diplomacy, foreign assistance, intelligence, and homeland security− are rarely considered together, and Buying National Security uniquely examines how America plans and pays for its global role and safety at home." Image from

More communication, cultural exchanges in 2010 - Haviv Rettig Gur, Jerusalem Post - "The government will take a more active role in expanding the contacts between Israeli society and Diaspora communities, and will strive to create shared educational and cultural activities, according to a working plan presented to the Knesset on Wednesday by the Ministry for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs."

China's Inroads into North Africa: An Assessment of Sino-Algerian Relations, Chris Zambelis, Jamestown Foundation:

“Public diplomacy in Sino-Algerian relations is ... imbued with references to the ‘brotherly’ ties both countries profess to share based on equality and mutual respect and their efforts to further South-South cooperation.” Image Algeria - In Chinese T-Shirt from

Public Diplomacy and Technologies - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "Next Friday is my first day teaching at USC and I’m excited. Hopefully the students are at moderately excited as well. My goal of PUBD510: Public Diplomacy and Technologies is to the students capable of engaging a senior policy maker on the importance and requirements of engaging in today’s Now Media global information environment while cognizant that different geographies – be they physical, social, or cultural – demand different tools, methods, and expectations."

RELATED ITEMS

Guantánamo Recidivism: Mainstream Media Parrot Pentagon Propaganda (Again) - Andy Worthington, Truthout

Obama discovers the war on terrorism – Editorial, Washington Times: Yesterday afternoon, President Obama announced that he made a significant discovery: "We are at war."

Glad he finally noticed. When Mr. Obama unilaterally ended the war on terrorism earlier this year, al Qaeda didn't get the memo. The enemy is on the offensive, seizing the initiative from what they see as a weak and timid leader. Now Mr. Obama wants to take the ball back. Image from

What's good for the Nazi works for a jihadi: We're tougher on geriatric has-beens than young terrorists - Marvin Hier, Washington Times: It is inconceivable that in fighting the existential threat of terrorism, that we can be operating with a list of only 1,700 people to bar from entering the United States.

Obama's Guantanamo obsession - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post:


Al Qaeda is a fanatical religious sect dedicated to establishing the most oppressive medieval theocracy and therefore committed to unending war with America not just because it is infidel but because it represents modernity with its individual liberty, social equality (especially for women) and profound tolerance (religious, sexual, philosophical). You going to change that by evacuating Guantanamo? Image from

The Meaning of al Qaeda's Double Agent: The jihadists are showing impressive counterintelligence ability that the CIA seems to have underestimated - Reuel Marc Gerecht, Wall Street Journal: Obama may at some level still believe that his let's-just-all-be-friends speech in Cairo last June made a big dent in the hatred that many faithful Muslims have for the U.S., but his practices on the ground are likely to be a lot less touchy-feely. This is all for the good. These three jihadist incidents ought to tell us that America's war with Islamic militancy is far—far—from being over.

America's can't-do list: The list of what works in other countries, but no longer does in the U.S., is growing - Orville Schell, latimes.com: We Americans too seem to have passed a tipping point. Like the glaciers of the high Himalaya, long-familiar aspects of our nation are beginning to seem as if they are, in a sense, melting away.

Avatar and Public Diplomacy: Follow-Up - John Brown, Notes and Essays: "'I have a trilogy-scaled arc of story right now, but I haven't really put any serious work into writing a script.'-- Avatar Director James Cameron, regarding sequels to his blockbuster film. Encouraged by numerous Huffington Post readers' comments to my piece 'Avatar and Public Diplomacy,' below are my plot suggestions -- of course, meant not to be taken too seriously -- for the planned Avatar sequels.”


Note: Zombies would play a major role in the sequels. Image from article