March 4

"Abu Ghraib and other situations like that are non-biodegradable. They don’t go away. The enemy continues to beat you with them like a stick.”

--General David Patreus

DOCUMENT

Testimony of Joseph S. Nye, Jr.: Restoring America’s Reputation in the World and Why It Matters - John Brown, Notes and Essays

Below images from Anti-American Propaganda From North Korea

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

Meet and Greet at US Embassy in Brasilia - Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Department of State: Clinton: "We appreciate and respect the role that Brazil is playing as a political, cultural, and economic hub in Latin America, but increasingly on the regional and global stage. This is a country that is really on the move, and therefore we see it assuming greater responsibility and leadership as time goes on.

So our two countries need to work together, and that’s where all of you come in, both American and locally engaged staff. We’re counting on you. So whether you’re part of our political section working with Steve Liston to strengthen our bilateral relationship, or helping Tara Erath expand our economic and energy ties, or pursuing public diplomacy efforts in Sao Paulo, you’re helping to build one of the hemisphere’s most important relationships."

Sen. Durbin blasts local non-participants in GNI; promises IT human rights promises IT human rights legislation - Examiner.com: "On the heels of the latest internet privacy and human rights issues including Google in China and internet censorship, Senator Richard (Dick) Durbin (D- IL) chaired the meeting to discuss the role of the Global Network Initiative in human rights. The Global Network Initiative , founded in 2008, seeks to collaborate with ICT companies, human rights organizations, academics and others to promote the freedoms of expression and privacy online. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! are currently the only major participants in the initiative- a subject which the hearing sought to address. ... Google urged the Obama Administration to take China's Internet censorship all the way to the WTO, with some suggesting a new Cold War era for the Internet while others are quick to point out the profound relevance of public diplomacy in the Internet Age. The need for common principles governing the Internet seems to be coming to a head, making some like Sen. Durbin question the lack of participation within the GNI."

American diplomats shun "hardship posts" in third world countries - Matthew Nasuti, Atlantic Free Press: "One of the latest GAO audits of the U.S. State Department is particularly damning. It is entitled: 'Department of State: Persistent Staffing and Foreign Language Gaps Compromise Diplomatic Readiness.' It was released in late 2009 and should have set off alarm bells with the Obama Administration.

Instead it was apparently ignored. The GAO found that the State Department continues to have problems staffing its hardship posts and U.S. diplomats do not strive to learn local languages. The shortfall in foreign language expertise was found by the GAO to be alarming. GAO auditors met with senior State Department officials and came away from their meetings pessimistic that the State Department would ever reform. Part of the reason for the GAO’s gloom is that it has been reporting this problem for years. In its May 3, 2006, report it found major deficiencies in the State Department filling its overseas posts with language-qualified diplomats. The State Department promised reform then, but the effort floundered because American diplomats do not want to be posted to many Third-World countries. Those that are posted are sent for one or two years at the most. These short rotations, lack of interest in learning the local languages and a lack of contact with the local public translate into superficial expertise and influence. This helps to explain the failure of American public diplomacy."

How Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp Can Save the World - Jeff Halverson, COMOPS Journal: "Communicating to a large public audience seems to require the aid of a celebrity spokesperson, ideally one with some credentials and intellectual clout who cannot simply be dismissed for adopting a 'pet project.' A lot of NGOs and charities understand this concept. So why doesn’t our government? ... I propose a large-scale U.S. cultural ambassador program to university campuses and cities throughout the Muslim world. In 2007, the State Department conducted a program in China that featured Cal Ripken Jr. and organized youth baseball clinics in four cities. This was too brief to be truly effective. And as much as I love baseball, it is not a popular U.S. export to the Muslim world. So an extension of this program to a country like Syria or Jordan would likely be ill-advised. In terms of athletes, we’d be better off sending stars from the NBA – maybe the kids in Amman would enjoy seeing a dunk contest. Basketball is much easier to set-up and play than baseball – especially in crowded, impoverished and arid cities. Movie stars also need to be enlisted. American movies are everywhere. When I lived in Cairo, there were American movies on broadcast television a couple of times a week. The biggest obstacle might be convincing American movie stars to participate between awards ceremonies. It is equally important to point out that this sort of cultural diplomacy needs to go both ways. [COMMENT by Greg Garland:] The American cultural ambassadors program of yesteryear had its bright spots, such as in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union where such celebrities as the New York Philharmonic impacted because of a shared culture. There were also plenty of dark spots that weren’t often reflected in the USIA reporting of the era. Take a look at Penny Von Eschen’s Satchmo Blows Up the World to read a complex and critical history of the Jazz Ambassadors, notably in Africa. It’s an easy answer to say Uncle Sam must always do something. Sometimes, though, it’s the better half of wisdom not to do anything, and perhaps let our democratic culture — non-state actors — do what they do democratically. Muhammed Ali, silent though his voice is literally now, might have something to say about this, and believe me, if he does, that dadgum draft-dodging you-know-what will get a bigger audience that will pay closer attention out there in the Middle East and Africa than anything Washington might gear up in the name of national security."

Today's diplomacy needs backpacker nous - Jessica Sutton, Manawatu Standard: "Diplomacy has evolved over the past few decades and it is now supple and reactive to reflect the modern age, says visiting expert and author Daryl Copeland. Mr Copeland, who is an analyst, writer and educator on international policy, diplomacy and global issues, is in New Zealand for three weeks promoting his book, Guerilla Diplomacy: Re-thinking international relations. ... Guerilla Diplomacy, a concept coined by Mr Copeland, is about a shift from traditional diplomacy, or what he calls 'by the book' diplomacy, to an extreme form of public diplomacy which reflects the modern world. ... He said the ideal guerilla diplomats were like backpackers.

'The exact skill set you learn to deal with as a backpacker are the tools you need to be a guerilla diplomat. How to communicate across cultures, how to solve problems on your own, and to be autonomous. This would be the ideal model for my guerilla diplomacy successful world traveller.'"

China labor organization communicates via Radio Free Asia - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

VOA health journalism training goes to Panama City - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

U.S. Students Studying Abroad: Public Diplomacy Efforts -A Historical Review-CIES Presentation b[y]David Comp

Embassy Community Action Program: Diplomacy at the person-to-person level – Jessica Ocheltree, Metropolis - News & Features: "Since 2007, [US Embassy Tokyo] Embassy Community Action Program (ECAP) has been reaching out to local organizations and individuals in an effort to build stronger bonds between Americans and Japanese. The program organizes monthly volunteer opportunities that embassy staff and their families can participate in.

Sarah Okawa, one of the embassy’s Japanese staff and co-coordinator of the ECAP, explains their philosophy: 'As [former] Ambassador [J. Thomas] Schieffer once put it, I would like Japanese people to see that ‘America has a big heart.’ Through ECAP events and by directly interacting with American people, I would also like Japanese people to see the diversity of American people at the person-to-person level.' After spending a year as a high school foreign-exchange student in the US, Okawa wanted to find a way to work for both America and Japan. She landed a position with the Tokyo American Center, which is part of the public diplomacy arm of the State Department, and teamed up with a consular officer named Jeff Weinshenker to pitch the idea of an embassy-wide community outreach program."

Observers set to ensure safe, fair Iraqi national elections - Samuel Soza, www.army.mil: "The Babil Provincial Reconstruction Team and members of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, have been assisting various stakeholders with their efforts to ensure that the national elections held March 7, are run fairly and safely.Teams of observers from the United Nations, embassy representatives, embedded media and security personnel have arrived in provinces throughout southern Iraq. Though the observer teams are U.S.-led due to security concerns, the teams will operate independently of U.S. security forces to complement Iraqi planners, said Bob Wong, Babil PRT public diplomacy officer.'We've taken great pains to ensure it's an Iraqi election,' said the Eustis, Fla. native."

US Congress Skeptical Over NK Peace Treaty - Sunny Lee, Korea Times: ‎"Why is a peace-loving America refusing to sign a peace-treaty with North Korea that would officially end the Korean War? The North has been demanding a peace treaty with the U.S. and even made it a major condition for its returning to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks. ... In a survey last year by Rasmussen, a U.S. polling organization, North Korea topped the list of countries that American voters see as the biggest national security threat.

A Gallup poll in February showed that the view hasn't changed. The North again topped the list of countries, together with Iran, in 'critical threats to the U.S. vital interests.' The results show the predominantly negative perceptions the American public have toward North Korea. And given that their view on the North, not the U.S. administration, may be the ultimate decider on whether a peace treaty should be signed, Pyongyang is at a critical disadvantage.In its peace treaty demand, North Korea may have neglected this factor. It's important for the secretive state to have 'winning negotiations' with U.S. nuclear envoys, but behind them are lawmakers, and behind them the general public, who ultimately influences U.S. negotiations. ... Perhaps, it's time for North Korea to engage in a charm offensive of public diplomacy to earn the hearts and minds of Americans first to see progress on its demand."

"Genocide" Resolution: Is It Worth Undoing the Recovery Attempts? - Journal of Turkish Weekly: "The Armenian Diaspora in the US persists in its attempts to kill the protocols. Again they are pushing for another 'genocide' resolution. Of course they do not want to loose the chance of having the support of nearly all the crucial leaders of the Democratic Party. The midterm elections and the hard position of the party also seem to create an appropriate climate. The previous attempts were blocked by the interventions of the previous presidents, whereas now there is not an apparent attempt of Obama administration on the bill. Is it an opportunistic approach to use the situation to blackmail Turkey to pass the protocols or to justify such acquiescence? It does not matter because it will not bring both. Turkey will not pass the protocols unless Armenia takes a substantial step about Nagorno-Karabakh and neither the Turkish elite nor the general public will be satisfied with such justification. Then, there would be no need to make in-depth analyses of the low percentages of favorable US views in Turkey. The negative image of the US in Turkey has just begun to heal. The US favorability rate increased to 24% in 2009 from 14% in 2008. This indicates a tendency of normalization in Turkish-US relations. Nevertheless, approval of such a bill in the Congress would cause irreparable damage on the already broken US image. Then, the Turkish people would remember Obama with the 'change' on the approval of the 'genocide' resolution that he brought to the White House. Then what were all the public diplomacy attempts for? Is it that crucial for the US' national interests to pass this resolution at the expense of undoing all that has been done for the sake of US-Turkey relations?"

Performance of friendship groups disappointing - Today's Zaman: "Despite Turkey’s recent emphasis on public diplomacy as a major component of its new foreign policy, parliamentary friendship groups have failed to live up to expectations.

While there is a plethora of parliamentary friendship groups in the Turkish Parliament with ties to corresponding groups in other countries, the number of reciprocal visits between these groups is disappointingly low."

'Channel 2 Purim satire reflects racist subtexts in Israel' - Felicity Kay, Jerusalem Post: "Eretz Nehederet (A Wonderful Country), Channel 2’s popular and influential satirical show, has highlighted a potential racist undercurrent within Israeli society with its latest depiction of the American president, according to the vice president of Democrats Abroad – Israel.Hillel Schenker did not see the episode as a cause for alarm. However, he stated that while his organization’s executive board would not be calling an emergency meeting to discuss the episode or form an official statement, there were some members of the executive who had been offended by the depiction. The episode in question – a Purim special, aired on Friday night – portrayed US President Barack Obama wearing a large gold medallion around his neck, sporting harem pants and dancing to rap music. While the face and hands of the actor playing the president, series regular Eli Finish, were also painted black, Finish’s face was clearly a more exaggerated and darker shade. ... However, Schenker felt that Eretz Nehederet wasn’t attempting to reflect local bias against Obama, but that in fact, the program was celebrated as an equal-opportunity offender. He cited other elements of strong satire within the episode – for instance, Netanyahu’s openly ridiculing Obama, and the script’s continued attacks against the government’s latest hasbara (public diplomacy) campaign."

Israeli lefty sets up copycat hasbara site - Kung Fu Jew, Jewschool (blog) -"The tweet rumors abound and now JPost has the story: 32-year-old Ofri Mann from Rishon Lezion, Israel set up a copycat site to the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora’s hasbirim web portal aiming to turn average Israelis traveling abroad into propagandists.

Mann’s parody purports to be the 'Ministry of Truth' and links send visitors to B’Tselem’s web site among other alternate Israeli viewpoints. Ynet reports that Mann is not anti-government, although 'I believe the Jews deserve a state, and I support the Law of Return. But at the same time, if we continue with these wars, nothing will come of it.' Beautiful. If there’s one thing I really appreciate about Israeli culture, it’s their ability to make fun of themselves. ... Scratch a little deeper and you see how right-wing MKs see the Diaspora and themselves. Jeff Barak, former Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post, details the more laughable 'facts' on the official hasbirim site. Like how Israeli women’s hair is on par with fashionistas in New York and Paris. Not only is this snort-worthy, but now the portrayal of foreign journalists by the official Ministry of Public Diplomacy is hurting press relations abroad."

Opposing the digital pogrom - The foreign media claim they are offended by their negative portrayal in the new campaign, but what do they expect? - Daniel Seaman, Jerusalem Post : "Last week, the Foreign Press Association in Israel circulated an e-mail to its members containing a Reuters article entitled 'Foreign reporting depicted as stupid and condescending.' The article related to the Ministry for Public Diplomacy’s campaign calling on Israelis to counter anti-Israel prejudice, and complained that the foreign press was personally offended by the videos on the Web site http://www.masbirim.gov.il/. Surely not, I hear you say. Those foreign journalists – who daily dish out an unhealthy helping of material critical of Israel, denouncing its democratically elected government’s policies, and some accusing its defense forces of war crimes – should certainly be able to take a bit of criticism directed at them."

Summary of editorials from the Hebrew press – Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Nana10 suggests that Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry information website 'is perhaps the Government's worst joke up until now,' and adds that 'We recently discovered that even hundreds of information websites cannot repair the damage caused by the removal and addition of two lines in a list of 150 heritage sites.'

The author avers that 'There is no doubt that statements on our rights to the country are very important,' but asks, 'Is there anyone who thinks that the resulting uproar would have occurred even if the sites had been put into the list from the beginning and not as an afterthought?'"

Smith's meeting with Indian PM 'a positive sign' - Matt Wade, ‎The Age: "An unexpected meeting between Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has given Australia's efforts to deal with the issue of attacks on Indian students a boost. ... Mr Smith said a public diplomacy blitz was under way to repair the damage to Australia's reputation caused by the attacks on Indian students in Australia. The government plans to send successful Australians of Indian origin to India to speak about their positive experiences in Australia and challenge the perception Indians are being targeted for assault in Australia." See also.

Training of officers is a must to meet modern challenges effectively: Kaira - Regional Times: "Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira Tuesday said that training of the officers is a must to meet modern challenges effectively and polishing their professional and development skills. He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a training course for the government officers being held under the aegis of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Media University here at Information Services Academy (ISA).

The three-day course (March 2-4) in 'Strategic Communications, Public and Cultural Diplomacy' is a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Information and government of UK with the objectives to impart training by UK trainers to Pakistani officers working in strategic ministries and departments. Qamar Zaman Kaira said that through such cross-governmental initiatives and collaborations, the democratic government wants to create dynamic and synergized public diplomacy machinery that articulates and projects a strong Pakistan with a people whose potential is boundless.He said that, 'Through creative messaging and innovative practices, we are trying to promote greater understanding between the government and our people on national issues, progressive attitudes, hope and courage.' The Minister said that the government is endeavoring to play a frontline role in Pakistan’s public diplomacy at home and abroad and added 'we cannot meet our goals unless we work in close collaboration and coordination with our colleagues in the communications and public affairs departments of other strategic ministries, departments and agencies.'”

Public Diplomacy in the News - Katherine Keith, A World Not Our Own: A Public Diplomacy Blog: "The USC Center on Public Diplomacy website has a great feature for those interested in PD. Public Diplomacy in the News (PDiN) aggregates all the relevant PD articles. The Center now has a new Monthly publication called PDiN Monthly. If you don't have time to read the PDiN roundup everyday, this is a great way to stay in the loop.. and yours truly made a short contribution, as well."

Off to the Embassy - Brian’s Peace Corps Adventure: Dispatches From Siberia: "In a few hours I’ll be heading off to Astana. Tomorrow I plan to visit the U.S. Embassy to learn about what materials may be available through the Embassy for the English language resource center we’re trying to open at my site. I’ll also try to learn about the different programs they have for study in America.

Some of these may be beneficial for my students, some for teachers I know. Then on Saturday morning I’ll head back to the Embassy. This time to take a test. Once again I’ve decided to try my luck at the Foreign Service Exam, though now it’s called the Foreign Service Officer Test. About five years ago I took the test, but I didn’t make a high enough percentile to go to the next stage. Hopefully, this time I’ll do better. I’ve been much more serious about it this time around, so I hope the results will reflect that. Why the Foreign Service? Well first I think it’s worth noting that I applied for the management track. Although all my education and work experience seems to qualify me more for the public diplomacy track, I feel more compelled to pursue the management track."

RELATED ITEMS

Builders of Baghdad Embassy strike again in Saudi Arabia - Warren P. Strobel, McClatchy Newspapers: Another State Department construction project has gone awry, and once again the builders of the troubled U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad are involved. This time, the problem is in Saudi Arabia. According to officials and documents obtained by McClatchy, work has ground to a halt on the new, $122 million U.S. consulate in Jeddah, the Red Sea port, amid allegations of unsafe practices, poor labor conditions and feuding between the two companies responsible for the project. Via PK

Tomgram: Engelhardt, Planning for the Next War – Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: Thanks to nine years in Afghanistan and seven in Iraq, it’s easier to grasp how the American way of war actually works. A striking (if little discussed) aspect of it is the base-building that accompanies it. In the years of fighting, the Pentagon built several hundred bases in each country, ranging from tiny outposts to massive American “towns.” It also constructed multiple prisons and holding centers (some secret), and for each war, a nearly billion-dollar regional command center, which we still inaccurately call an “embassy.” The one in Islamabad, Pakistan, is only now under construction. Much of this was done on the fly and in response to events. For the next war, it would be more logical to prepare in advance. ... The usual private contractors -- Fluor, DynCorp, and KBR -- should be rounded up to build the necessary 1,400 bases and accompanying prisons under a global multi-billion dollar LOGCAP contract to be divided among them. At the same time, the State Department would put those future mega-embassies out for bid to U.S. architectural firms so that the now-typical fortress-like designs (with their near-billion-dollar price tags) would be ready to go. With full-scale base-prison-embassy complexes ready in four strategically located regions, future invasions would have a reasonable shot at not dragging out for decades.

Psyop soldier makes sure "the right people get the right information." - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Israel x Obama: Yes, We Can (co-opt the brand) - Josh Asen, The Imagination Age: "Having just returned from a week and a half in Israel, I'm torn over how I want to portray what I observed there. And perhaps that is the only true portrayal that I can give, one of a land torn in at least three directions: by ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arab Muslims, and those who want nothing to do with either and just want to live a secular life. ... []ow can these three groups hope to live together in any kind of peace if they don't even attempt to interact with one another on a daily, non-political basis?

Call me naive, but I had hoped to see a little more integration, especially among young people, by 2010. After all, if the US can elect a black man to the White House...And, sure enough, that black man has already had a powerful impact in Israel, but not necessarily the one that I (or Obama himself) would have hoped. Instead of embracing the Obama message of community engagement and multiculturalism, it seems that Israel is more interested in the Obama brand . ... Apparently, the YES network will be offering new shows and more stars this season and viewers should be as excited about this as the smiling black couple and their enthusiastic supporters dancing across the White House lawn. Clearly, this has nothing to do with the original "Yes We Can" message but the cynicism that such a shameless commercial appropriation demonstrates caused me a moment of anger and resentment at the whole Israeli people for trading in a noble sentiment of collective strength for a convenient TV slogan."

Creel, Goebbels and us - Jawed Naqvi, DAWN.com: Joseph Goebbels stands accused as the forefather of thought-control and mass hysteria the Nazis whipped up against anyone who came in their way. Goebbels, however, had a role model in George Creel, a veteran journalist of the Denver Post who was enlisted by President Woodrow Wilson to turn a nation of pacifist Americans into warmongers and haters of Germans. Creel headed the Committee on Public Information set up by Wilson at the start of the First World War to coordinate “not propaganda as the Germans defined it, but propaganda in the true sense of the word, meaning the propagation of faith”. With the state’s enormous resources and with the help of a conniving (democratic?) media Creel found success within six months. A new US bill aimed at taming the foreign media perceived as hostile to American interests is expected to continue to lean on the tradition set by Woodrow Wilson and which has been dutifully followed by eager beavers elsewhere. There are of course different ways of dealing with a channel like Al Jazeera for example. One is to not allow it to broadcast in a country by legal or bureaucratic fiat, as happens to be the case in India. The other way is to bomb the supposedly recalcitrant broadcasters as happens in the Middle East. In Pakistan journalists can be killed or made to ‘disappear’. In India, in the tradition of Creel, they are co-opted.

The power of Creel and Goebbels over the people’s mind is like nuclear waste. It is not going away anytime soon, and its lethal effects could last for decades, even centuries. Abu Ghraib image from

Wartime spin writ large - Brad Oswald, Winnipeg Free Press - The producers of the earnest and approachably educational new six-part CBC series Love, Hate & Propaganda (which premieres tonight at 9 on CBC) have rightly decided that the time is right to revisit the history of this most massive global conflict and to introduce a new generation to its causes, consequences and the enduring social and political lessons left in its wake. "This is a series about the psychology of war," series host George Stroumboulopoulos explains, by way of introduction, "not the battles or military manoeuvres. It's about people -- how they were led, and misled." And that, perhaps, is the most valuable and engaging aspect of Love, Hate & Propaganda -- in an era where instant communication and constant repackaging of images and information are the rule, this series opts not to exploit the often-revisited catalogue of footage and photos from battlefields and prison camps and instead explores the spin, manipulation and public-perception building that made the war happen.

Propa-Gander - Richard Brody, New Yorker: “'Harlan—In the Shadow of Jew Süss' ... [is] a documentary by Felix Moeller about Veit Harlan, the German director who made the 1940 anti-Semitic propaganda film 'Jew Süss,' and how he’s seen by his descendants. What interested me most in Moeller’s film is what it shows of Harlan’s work, including clips of the notorious film itself. I had never seen 'Jew Süss,'—but now, once again, the Internet comes to the rescue.

Harlan’s film has been posted, in its entirety, with English subtitles, on the American anti-Semitic website Subverted Nation, and there I watched it last night. ... Harlan’s 1940 [film], commissioned by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (who intended it to be 'the anti-Semitic film' that he and Germany were waiting for), was successful. ... One of the reasons for the movie’s success as propaganda is that it’s not heavy-handed." Above Abu Ghraib image from; below from



IMAGE

From: Rockwell, Norman: Let's Give Him Enough and On Time 1942 U.S. Army poster Oil on canvas 42 x 50 in.U.S. Army Center of Military History