May 24

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Below Images: Sugary drinks and their equivalent in junk food

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

China, US dialogue seeks solutions to major issues - China.org.cn: "US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrived in Beijing Sunday leading 'one of the largest groups of cabinet and sub-cabinet officials' comprising

about 200 officials, including 'virtually all elements of the US government', said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell. ... Clinton squeezed time out of her busy schedule on public diplomacy on Saturday, passing out teddy bears to Chinese children as she toured the Shanghai World Expo."

Meet and Greet with Consulate Shanghai Employees Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Pudong Shangri La Shanghai, China May 22, 2010 – U.S. Department of State: Clinton: "[T]here is going to be a lot of Americans who are going to want to come here and experience this Expo. And that will give us an opportunity to have more outreach to our Chinese visitors, to showcase our values, and also to have more interaction between Americans and the Chinese. I want to thank Tom Cooney, and his public affairs team, and everyone else involved in making the most of this unique public diplomacy opportunity. And I know that the demands on your day jobs have not decreased, just because you have the added responsibilities." See also.

Is the US Muting of Criticism Helping or Hurting Human Rights in Uzbekistan? - Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, EurasiaNet - "As the U.S. moves to restore relations with Tashkent, the urgent need for Uzbekistan to cooperate with the U.S.-created Northern Distribution Network (NDN) to ship military freight to troops in Afghanistan seems to be trumping any expression of concern about worsening crackdowns on civil society -- and the concessions haven't been in sight.

Yet the American softening of the rhetoric on rights can be seen in the larger context of President Barack Obama's overall human rights policy, in which he has sought to portray the United States as listening and learning, rather than lecturing from a position of superiority on democracy. ... Clearly, the foreign service corps was given instruction to change the way in which public diplomacy operated. ... The challenge remains for the U.S. to convincingly coordinate the work of the Bureau or Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the Department of Labor and other relevant offices with the public diplomacy abroad on countries implicated by its own reports as serious human rights violators."

Visas, scanning and the know-it-all bimbos - Saeed Minhas, Daily Times: "This time a dossier has come from our 'embedded' friend in deed and sometimes in need - the United States - entailing the information squeezed out of Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect of the botched Times Square New York bombing. We found that four youngsters, including those from well-off families of Islamabad - such as the co-owner of Hanif Rajput ... have been rounded up. The diplomatic community in Islamabad was certainly shocked because Hanif Rajput's catering company had become the first choice for many of them, and after the warning issued by the US embassy in Isloo, many were seen scurrying through the list of their staff, even security guards. ... The gossiping machines were thinking that this would further isolate the diplomatic corps from local vendors, as investigations of domestic and official staff and security guards have already been ordered by many excellencies. One can only wonder that such a scenario would even further handicap these diplomats regarding their much-purported public diplomacy."

Country, Islam et diplomatie publique - managementculturel, Musique et 'soft power': "Il y a un mois, le 23 avril, le bureau du porte-parole du département d’État américain annonçait la première tournée d’un artiste de country musulman au Moyen Orient. Kareem Salama,

le nouvel ambassadeur culturel américain au Moyen Orient, vient en effet d’achever une tournée en Egypte, Maroc, Koweit, Bahrein, Syrie, 'Jérusalem' et Jordanie. … La machine de diplomatie publique a tourné à plein régime puisque cette tournée a bénéficié de la couverture des principaux network, dont CNN et ABC."

Colby's class of 2010 graduates - Erin Rhoda, Morning Sentinel: "Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale drew on her business and international experience to deliver the commencement address and urged the graduating class to always work to unite people, rather than compete as rivals. 'What unites us all as humans is far more important than what divides us,' said McHale, who is the former president of Discovery Communications. McHale, who was appointed by President Barack Obama a year ago, said Obama’s vision is to build stable, long-term relationships with other countries and 'renew and expand America’s engagement in the world.' 'So, now, it’s your turn,' she said. With your education and available technology, she told the class, you have 'unlimited opportunity' to 'build something of value.'”

What we all can learn from LOST – Baker Institute Blog: "The Baker Institute, since its inception, has championed the relevant ideas of cultural and community understanding, public diplomacy and the value of the exchange of ideas. ... In 2003, founding director Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian chaired a congressionally mandated bipartisan advisory group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim World.
It is through this report that the group sought to advise American leadership that only through cultural understanding and communication can we cure the ills and misconceptions that have existed for so long between our respective regions. Currently, through our involvement with Rice University students, 10 undergraduates are preparing for a week-long colloquium in June with counterparts at the American University in Cairo to discuss how younger generations can learn, decipher and alleviate ethnic, religious and political differences between our countries."

Who is mister «Публичная дипломатия» (ПД)? - pd_academy Академия Общественной Дипломатии: A detailed examination of US/Western PD from a Russian perspective.

Online Activism Meets Real World Activism: A Day Against Censorship - dekhnstan.wordpress.com: "While the world is busy debating the future of the Middle East and North Africa in light of pressing geopolitical conflicts, tunisians took matters in their hand using an impressive array of social media tools and techniques,

they managed to translate online activism to real world actions in a peaceful and respectful way. Not withstanding some grandiose pronouncements, world powers commitment to securing these freedoms for Arabs has so far been just hot air despite all the prattle about public diplomacy to 'win minds and hearts' in the Arab World."

Woman power to the fore at foreign office (Capital Buzz) - Thaindian.com: "Women have not only broken the proverbial glass ceiling at the foreign office, but have shattered it. So much so that Secretary (West) Vivek Katju finds himself the odd man out at the top level of the Ministry of External Affairs hierarchy. There’s of course Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, the second woman foreign secretary after Chokila Iyer who cracked the top bureaucratic job, that was till then a male preserve, in the mid-1990s. And now two out of the three secretaries at next level in the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters are women - Vijaya Latha Reddy, secretary (East) and Parvathi Sen Vyas (secretary-Economic Relations). And then, Mitra Vashisht, special secretary, Public Diplomacy, keeps the flag flying high for the fairer sex."

Don Pablo Quijote and the Quest for the Stinkiest of the Stinky Tofu – Paul Rockower, Levantine: "Countdown t-minus 1 week.

That is when our fair hero Don Pablo Quijote of the Master Order of Public Diplomacy and Knight-Errantry begins his quest to find the stinkiest of the stinky tofu. Formosa is a foodie paradise and their number one fav food is stinky tofu. This gastronomist is on a hunt to find the stinky-inky."

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

Questioning Cultural Diplomacy - Branson Woolf, The Arts Politic (Issue 2, Spring 2010: "[H]ow might the Obama administration conceive of a cultural diplomacy that values cultural exchange and reckons with its challenges?"

'Bikini diplomacy': What a Muslim Miss USA means to the world – Tunku Varadarajan, Daily Beast: "Ms. [Rima] Fakih ... was crowned Miss USA earlier this week, making her the first Shiite on whom Donald Trump has bestowed his tiara. The Miss USA judges may have done more to further American cultural diplomacy than all of the efforts of USAID, the State Department, and Karen Hughes combined—this, after all, is the highest honor American popular culture can bestow." See also.

Welcoming address by Cllr Vumile Lwana, Executive Mayor of Makana Municipality, on the occassion of the opening of Shared Legacies exhibition at Albany Museum on 21 May 2010 - Albany Museum: "Public Diplomacy Officer, Mr Mark Canning from the US Consulate, ... On behalf of the community of Makana Municipality, I am delighted to welcome you at Albany M[us]eum on the occas[...]ion of the op[en]ing of the Shared Legacies exhibition. This is indeed a very important achievement on the part of the museum.

I have been made aware that this exhibition has been made possible as a result of a partnership between the Albany Museum, Mcgregor Museum, the United States Consulate and the National Arts Festival office. ... The exhibition we are going to be opening today is entitled ... Shared Legacies. It consists of photographs by Edward S. Curtis, a renowned North American photographer and a well known South African photographer, Alfred Duggan Cronin. These photographs demonstrate than we as South Africans have very much in common with our North American friends."

Nigeria: Nico - Marriage of Culture And Journalism - Mcphilips Nwachukwu - Laide Akinbode, AllAfrica.com: "Speaking to his paper titled; Arts Journalism and Cultural Diplomacy, Tomoloju [‘Renowned Culture pathologist and former Deputy Editor of Guardian, Ben Tomoloju’] emphasized on the need for culture media practitioners to harnessing the tools of cultural diplomacy and relations in the task of rehabilitating the battered cultural image of the nation. For the culture journalists to effectively combine these tools, Tomoloju maintained that the culture reporter needed to have deep understanding of the issues on ground so that his reports at the end of the day will achieve the desired national and diplomatic goals. 'Intellectually, the arts journalist must be grounded in matters pertaining to the national interest of societies within his scope of operation. In the cold war era, for instance, the Novosty Press dished out information based on Communist ideas and the propagation of Communism across the world, while the United States, through the United States Information Agency bombarded newsrooms with copies of Dialogue Cross Road and other Pro- Capitalist publications, all in the bid to out do each other in global affairs.[,]' [h]e averred."

Cultural Reorientation in Africa: Nigeria's "Project Runway"‎ - Linda Constant, Huffington Post: "Over the past few weeks I've spoken with Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma, the Executive Secretary of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) in Abuja, regarding Nigeria's cultural diplomacy efforts. Established in 1993 as a joint initiative between the Nigerian government and UNESCO during the World Decade for Cultural Development, NICO is responsible for researching integral assets of Nigerian culture in order to utilize those values to complement the nation's various developmental programs.

Dr. Ayakoroma revealed to me a fascinating yet subtle approach that NICO is undertaking in order to first build a firm foundation for cultural diplomacy: cultural reorientation. Nigeria, like much of the planet, has had a dramatic decade in terms of globalization. Politics and economics aside, indigenous Nigerian culture has been influenced--and in some cases altered--by Western style preferences and signifiers. Though cultural amalgamation is often beneficial and auspicious for human progress in general, the issue remains if our collective innovations should ever replace important elements of cultural history and tradition. This leads me to NICO's recent national workshop titled, 'Promoting Nigerian Dress Culture.' The objective of the workshop was simple: to provide a public reorientation with the traditional dress of Nigeria, particularly because so many adults and children are opting to entirely replace their former wardrobes with typical Western gear such as t-shirts, denim, tank tops, shorts, etc."

"The Thinker" at Oxford - First Romanian archaeology exhibition in the United Kingdom - ACTmedia: "According to the Embassy of Romania-London, on the 18th of May 2010, at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology of the University of Oxford, in the presence of the Ambassador of Romania in the United Kingdom, Dr Ion Jinga, took place the launch of the international exhibition 'The Lost World of Old Europe'. ... Always seeking to meet its mission, the Romanian National History Museum, through this international exhibition, proves its commitment to the Romanian national cultural heritage and its valuable archaeological items, solid grounds for promoting Romania's image abroad, in the pursuit of a framework for prestigious international cultural diplomacy activities."

Seychelles on the diplomatic circuit, press release,
Forimmediaterelease.net: "The Seychelles former President James R. Mancham is among a group of distinguished personalities who accepted the invitation of the German Institute for Cultural Diplomacy to attend the International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy 2010 – 'Culture, Globalization, and International Relations over the next Two Decades,' which was held in Berlin. ...

Mr. Mancham, who was accompanied by his wife, Ms. Catherine Olsen Mancham, on his world tour, recently also delivered a keynote address at Columbia University in New York on 'US Soft Power and Foreign Policy Seen from the Perspective of a Global Citizen.' He said that Seychelles is ideally located to become a center for the study of human security, international integration, and reconciliation."

RELATED ITEMS

Online English class a draw for Haiti survivors: Teaching by video from the U.S., Americans instruct Haitians in post-earthquake tent camps in the English the survivors say they need. The textbook is about a family that lost its home in the quake - Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

Tainted Justice – Editorial, New York Times:

If the Obama administration wants to demonstrate that it is practical and just to try some terrorism suspects in military tribunals instead of federal courts, it is off to a very poor start.

Many disillusioned Pakistanis look beyond U.S. for work, travel and education - Tara Bahrampour and Pamela Constable, Washington Post

In the absence of debate, Iraq and Afghanistan go unnoticed
- Fred Hiatt, Washington Post:

You would hardly know, from following this year's election campaign or the extensive coverage of last week's primaries, that America is at war.

Israeli Grapples with Free Gaza Flotilla - Arieh O'Sullivan, Media Line: Counter flotilla attempts to defuse propaganda effect with own sail as Israel’s Navy prepares to quietly intercept internationals deep at sea. The Israeli Navy is preparing to quietly intercept an international flotilla attempting a highly visible run on the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israelis have staged their own counter-flotilla in response to the nine ships headed toward Gaza, bearing over 10,000 tons of supplies and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists, including hundreds of Turks and European legislators.

ATTENTION! SOUTH KOREA WILL RESUME LOUDSPEAKER BROADCASTS AGAINST NORTH - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

NK threatens to fire at loudspeakers - Lee Tae-hoon, Korea Times: North Korea threatened to fire at South Korean loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and destroy them, Monday, if Seoul resumes propaganda broadcasting suspended since 2004.

North Korea: No good answers: In sinking a South Korean naval vessel -- an action to which Seoul cannot respond militarily -- North Korea has again proved how dangerous it is – Editorial, latimes.com

FOUND ON THE WEB

Cultural Diplomacy as a Form of International Communication
by Marta Ryniejska – Kiełdanowicz, Ph.D.
University of Wrocław
Institute for International Studies
The Section of International Communication
Finalist Paper
Institute for Public Relations BledCom Special Prize
for best new research on the cultural variable in public relations practice