May 21-May 23

"And in welcoming Mexico's President Felipe Calderon to the White House today, President Obama told him, 'We are not defined by our borders.' The president of Mexico said, 'What borders?'"

--Talk show host Jay Leno, cited in Bulletin News, LLC (May 20); image from

ANNOUNCEMENT

2010 PDAA Awards Recognize Public Diplomacy Excellence: Public Diplomacy Alumni Association highlights achievements by professionals in Chad, Iraq, East Jerusalem, and Shanghai

Below images from Страшно красиво: Зомби-парад 2010 (Moscow’s third Zombie parade)

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Clinton's pavilion - Kim Ghattas, BBC News - "The US pavilion has received a lot of negative coverage in the US press, particularly because of the corporate financing, which is unusual for national pavilions. But it appears to be a success in China and is one of the most visited at the fair, with 700,000 visitors since the opening just under a month ago. Just over 400,000 people have visited the Russian pavilion. It is expected the fair will receive 70 million people in total over six months. Mrs Clinton created a stir when she visited the Chinese pavilion Mrs Clinton said little about the impression the US pavilion had made on her. Later in the day, she met Chinese-speaking American students who are acting as 'ambassadors' at the fair, and told them only that she 'liked it'.

But she added that she 'was relieved because it was not clear at all, when I became secretary, that we would have a pavilion. And I thought that would not be a good representation of our country at this important time history at this event'. Mrs Clinton said it was not possible to be present at all the World Expos, but some were more important than others. The simple fact of being at the expo seemed to be enough of an achievement. 'To have six or seven million young Chinese to file through our pavilion is an opportunity that we would otherwise never be able to achieve in public diplomacy, at least not traditional public diplomacy,' the US ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, told the BBC. 'And if that results in better relations, if it results in better attitudes to the United States and certain buying preferences, then you get a bit of public diplomacy and you get a bit of commercial diplomacy.'"

Clinton Tours Expo in Shanghai, Celebrates Ties With China - Nicole Gaouette, BusinessWeek - "Clinton toured part of the 5.28 square kilometers of World Expo grounds by bus and walked through the U.S. Pavilion, built because of Clinton’s efforts to find corporate sponsors. Those 61 donors, including Johnson & Johnson and General Electric Co., contributed $61 million for the pavilion, which is now drawing an average of 1 million visitors a month, said U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman. 'Is it an opportunity for the United States to hit a homerun on the public diplomacy side and on the commercial diplomacy side where the creation of jobs is so critically important for us right now,' Huntsman said May 14.

'Absolutely.' The 6,000-square-meter pavilion is meant to convey 'the story of the American spirit,' Ambassador-at-Large Elizabeth Bagley said. The exhibits, two films and a room of corporate displays, avoid mention of values like free speech or freedom of religion. Instead, the focus is on prosperity, sustainability and children’s visions for the future. Frank Lavin, chairman of the steering committee for the U.S. Pavilion, said the exhibits spotlight multiculturalism, volunteerism and individuality. 'What makes America work is the opposite of teamwork,' he said in an interview. 'Everyone works on individual desires, but collaborates.' The underlying message to China’s people is that 'you can have a society that’s open architecture,' Lavin said."

‎Hillary Hits Her Hut; or, How I Was Shanghai'ed by the US Pavilion, as told by the American Secretary of State (her eyes now wide-open!) – Bob Jacobson, Huffington Post: "As now honestly noted in the mainstream press, the ... US Pavilion is not only fraught with potential illegalities (dare I say, potential fraud?) but also quite unappealing, especially to Americans who know better than to believe the cotton-candy films that depict nothing concrete or genuine about America or its people, only 'Hollywood flash' fantasies (as one trade journal put it). ... Oil companies, big-box retailers, and sugar water vendors are hardly the ones to be speaking for America in this venue. However, they're the only ones represented in the US Pavilion.

According to hearsay making the expat rounds, the whole mess has caused ruptures among the various parties involved: the organizers, Commissioner General Villarreal (nominally responsible for the US Pavilion, but brought in too late to do much about it), the consular staff (a shifty crew who muscled this deal), the local American Chamber of Commerce (a favorite target for expats' darts), the sponsors, (err, marketing partners), State Department staff at home (not one of whom has a clue about Expos or pavilions), the Expo hosts (who have millennial-long memories), and not least of all, Hillary Clinton herself. After all, the failure of the US Pavilion would threaten her main public-diplomacy privatizing scheme, the Global Partnership Initiative run by friend Elizabeth Bagley and modeled on the (Bill) Clinton Global Initiative. Amid rumors that she is a one-term Secretary of State, Clinton will not want to jeopardize the vehicle that together with Bill's network, elevates the pair to a position of supreme importance in the world of power, the first King and Queen of the World."

YES, building the bridges of understanding - Jaine Treadwell, Troy Messenger: "YES is an innovative high school exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

This public diplomacy initiative builds bridges of international understanding, especially between Americans and people in countries with significant Muslim populations."

Five recent articles mention Voice of America. Four are about Voice of America - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

VOL. VI NO. 10, May 7-May 20, 2010 - The Layalina Review on Public Diplomacy and Arab Media:
"Pakistan Un-friends Facebook
The Lahore High Court Telecommunication Authority (PTA) banned Facebook and other social media following public outrage over a Facebook contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad. The campaign originally aimed at expressing solidarity with the creators of “South Park” against censorship.
Miss USA: Made in Lebanon
Lebanese-born Rima Fakih won the beauty pageant Miss America 2010, giving a new face to Arab Muslims in America. Yet, her victory provoked an outcry among the American far right who claim she is a mole for the terrorist group Hezbollah.
1001 Opinions over Arabian Nights
A literary battle unfolds between conservatives and liberals in Egypt as a group of Islamist lawyers took Egypt’s ministry of culture to court for issuing a new edition of The Arabian Nights, deemed too bawdy to their liking.

Meanwhile, the liberals have protested that the work is a beacon of Arabic literature and should not be banned under the pretext of religious fanaticism.
Homegrown Terrorism: Keep It Local
The recently-foiled bombing of Times Square in New York City has raised the specter of homegrown terrorism in America, bringing officials to reconsider their approach and outreach to Muslims at home.
The Sound of Music and Public Diplomacy
Seeking nuanced public diplomacy initiatives, the State Department is funding music tours in the Middle East, indicating a shift toward cultural diplomacy in its outreach to the Arab world. Reminiscent of jazz diplomacy, State aims to facilitate understanding between both cultures by highlighting America’s diversity of faith and musical heritage.
Arabic Domain Names: A New Gateway to the Internet
The rise in new Arabic domain names is hailed as a positive step in the Arab world, where the internet is often used as a platform to evade government censorship. Although many believe that it will increase internet participation in the region, others believe that it may in fact alienate all non-Arabic speakers, creating a greater divide.
Arab Media Forum Tackles Censorship
Participants and media experts at the ninth Arab Media Forum in Dubai earlier in May discussed the prominent role of advertising companies in generating media content, while urging Arab governments to reconsider their censorship policies.
State Heads on a Cultural Tour
Cultural Tourism DC's Around-the-World tour brought different cultures to the US. Despite the success of diplomatic programs,

experts expressed disappointment with the training of public diplomacy officers and international efforts.
Media Exchange Programs Open New Doors
The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship was one part of President Obama's efforts to improve US-Muslim relations. However, the Muslim community, especially in the Middle East, remains focused on opportunities to improve business prospects across the region."

America's Extended Hand ‎- Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: "Yesterday afternoon CNAS released another of the papers which has been keeping me away from the blog: America's Extended Hand: An Assessment of the Obama Administration's Global Engagement Strategy, written with my former Elliott School colleague and current CNAS Vice President Kristin Lord. … We argue that the administration has succeeded in its initial goal of 're-starting' America's relations with global publics, taking advantage of the fresh start offered by the Presidential transition, and has effectively used President Obama's particular gifts to focus attention and global debate on issues which he has identified as key American priorities.

The administration has been less successful, however, at executing engagement campaigns in support of specific tactical objectives, at adapting to changing circumstances and at meeting the high expectations generated by those speeches. With a palpable sense of the Obama bubble deflating, and a pernicious consensus emerging of a 'say-do' gap in which the U.S. fails to deliver on its highly public promises, we urge the administration to do more to prepare the ground and to follow through on its engagement." See also: Recommended Reading: New Report on Obama’s Strategic Public Engagement - James Ketterer, Global Engagement; and After the honeymoon: Electing Barack Obama president won't be enough to improve America's standing in the world - John Brown, The Guardian (June 26, 2008)

How a super-duper Public Diplomacy Department would "function"? - John Brown, Notes and Essays: "An article which, I believe, should be read by all those who advocate the creation of a super-duper, government-wide, 'inter-agency' Public Diplomacy Department: Greg Miller and Walter Pincus, "Blair's resignation may reflect inherent conflicts in job of intelligence chief," Washington Post (Saturday, May 22, 2010; A01)."

NATO official vows to broaden ties with Pakistan‎ - People's Daily Online: "Speaking at a public talk at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) on 'NATO's Transition and its Relation with Pakistan,' Simmons [Deputy Assistant Secretary General of NATO, Robert Simmons] emphasized

that NATO does not want to limit to high level dialogue with Pakistan but also to have practical cooperation by making use of the instrument of Individual Cooperation Program to cover civilian and military affairs. He said that there is need to cooperate in public diplomacy so that Pakistan can be informed by NATO's changes. 'NATO is also trying to reach out its arms to be informed about the situations in Pakistan like distinguishing tribal leaders from Taliban.'"

NATO’s Center of Gravity: Political Will - Jorge Benitez, Atlantic Council: "Under the leadership of Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO has made it a priority to build the political will within its members through public diplomacy. … Public diplomacy is not an option in an alliance of democracies, it is essential. … [T]he proximity of the threat during the Cold War did a lot of the job of public diplomacy. The people of the Western democracies could clearly see walls built by the enemy to imprison their own people and the threat of tank divisions stationed along their borders. Now the political leaders of Europe are experiencing part of the challenges faced by U.S. and Canadian leaders who each election had to justify the investment of troops and treasure overseas to protect the security of their voters at home."

Analysis: Why Obama lightened his tone - Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post: "The administration’s message is that Obama’s true feelings toward Israel, his true commitment, is being hidden by poor public diplomacy.

Sure he is tough on Israel, … but he is also tough on the Palestinians, although that is not picked up in the news. … The truth, however, is that beyond the 'message problem' there are indeed fundamental conceptual differences between how the Israel and the US view regional reality."

It is time for Israel to understand the new normal - David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy: "Israel, anxious for years to get the U.S. to focus on Iran, may regret getting what they wished for. Because once there is a nuclear Iran, the issue becomes containment. And if that's the issue, moderate Arab states are a key part of the strategy. They'll want to go along... but they will want the U.S. to pressure Israel more on reaching a solution with the Palestinians in exchange. Of course, Israel bears a great deal of responsibility for this. They have utterly disregarded these developments as they took place and have recklessly failed on the public diplomacy front. Today, they are perceived as the aggressor and the bias against them is so acute in the media that when Palestinians launch thousands of missiles against Israel and Israel responds, the world thinks of Israel as the aggressor or

when a couple of years ago a missile threat from Lebanon provoked an effective Israeli response, world public opinion concluded both that Israel started the conflict and lost it despite the fact that neither assertion is actually true. The Israelis are in denial and the clock is ticking. Rather than addressing the question of how to return to strategic centrality for the U.S. or how to reclaim the moral high ground in the conflict and thus win back international support, they play the settlements game, a needless and for all the above reasons, dangerous distraction from the real business at hand."

An army of amateur ambassadors - Ron Friedman, Jerusalem Post: "In 2001, IDC Herzliya students Gur Braslavi and Ariel Halevi won the Oxford Union Debating Competition for teams from foreign countries. Nine years later, their joint company, Debate Ltd., was chosen to carry out the Israeli government’s new public diplomacy initiative. The company recently took on a contract to conduct 200 workshops in which its instructors teach regular Israelis the arts of rhetoric and persuasion. If the pilot proves successful, it will likely be extended and multiplied. By creating an army of amateur ambassadors, Israel hopes to counter negative media portrayals and improve its image abroad." See also.

My Word: Demonstrating love - Liat Collins, Jerusalem Post: "What remains of the Israeli Left gathered on May 15 for a rally in Jerusalem to voice support for the Jewish state and reclaim Zionism as being more than the domain of right-wing, religious settlers, as the stereotype has it. ...

I didn’t hear anyone questioning the wisdom of calling for a peace rally on 'Nakba Day' – the very day when the Palestinians mark the 'catastrophe' of Israel’s creation – but it proves, yet again, that public diplomacy is not the country’s forte."

Reviving the Non-Aligned Movement in the 21st century‎ - Hürriyet: "Mr. Davutoğlu’s [Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu], undeclared mission, apparently, is to make Turkey a powerful player in this unofficial Non-Aligned Movement, with the specific task of playing the Muslim leader role when its good services are needed. One day the specific task could be engaging Hamas or Hezbollah, another day mediating any regional conflict or spearheading public diplomacy in favor of the Palestinians."

Meet Derrick Ashong - Interview Part I‎ - Oakland Local: "This is an excerpt from conversation between Derrick Ashong (aka DNA), Melia's Papa, and Navina Khanna in February 2010. ... 'Navina: Well, you’re definitely all over the web. I first saw you in the trailer for the movie called The Shift. What is it and what’s your involvement in it? DNA: The concept of The Shift is that there’s a movement happening worldwide — the greatest movement ever known in humankind. It is comprised of all the people around the world who are working and striving to make our world a better place.

It's about the people who have realized, 'It's not about me.' This has got to be a world that functions for 'we.' … The shift is an acknowledgment that this is not a bunch of little people running around the planet trying to do good. This is representative of a different way of thinking, a different way of seeing the world, and a different way of being in the world. … Marchelle Marmastine, the film maker, came up with the concept. She understood that this is happening, this is unified, people doing human rights work, environmental work, people working on issues of poverty and people working on social entrepenuership and advancement of technology and public diplomacy."

Phillies Notebook: This is year when it all pays off for Phillies’ Werth - David Murphy, Philadelphia Inquirer: "[Jayson] Werth's public diplomacy with regards to his contract has been commendable thus far. He has made it clear that he likes playing for the Phillies without sacrificing any potential leverage or raising any false hopes by answering questions like, 'Would you take less to play here in Philadelphia?' Yet he has been honest, choosing his words carefully to avoid headlines and distractions, but also expressing the following sentiment on several occasions: 'I've played my entire career for this year.'

Manchester City may offer £30m to prise James Milner from Aston Villa - Guardian:

"Manchester City are to continue their pursuit of James Milner and have also contacted Aston Villa about the potential availability of his team-mate Ashley Young. … City's information is that Milner, despite his public diplomacy, wants to follow the same route as Gareth Barry, having decided he stands a better chance of winning trophies at Eastlands."

How I Stumbled Into the Foreign Service - Part III - Muttering Behind The Hardline: "Signing up for the Foreign Service really did completely derail my life."

RELATED ITEMS

13-year-old US pianist plays with Iraq orchestra - Barbara Surk, Associated Press, Washington Post: A 13-year-old piano prodigy from Los Angeles brought an Iraqi audience to their feet Saturday when he made a rare guest appearance with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad, a city struggling to revive its once-vibrant cultural scene.

Llewellyn Kingman Sanchez Werner, who studies piano and composition at New York's renowned Juilliard School, got a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd of about 250 after performing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," and warmly embraced the conductor.

Russian political scientist: Russian is not only holder of keys to negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement - Trend News Agency: Russia is not the sole holder of the keys to the negotiations on settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict today, the head of the Black Sea-Caspian Information-Analytical Center of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), Doctor of Philosophy Eduard Popov, said. ... The negotiation process is underway among the major players - the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, and the two countries' presidents were involved as additional forces, Popov said. But all the projects and harmonization are accepted by the OSCE Minsk Group, Popov added. According to Popov, tools of public diplomacy are poorly utilized.

Araks Pashayan: Armenia should spread propaganda in Islamic countries - PanARMENIAN.Net - The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is a platform where Azerbaijan can best use the ideology of Islamic solidarity to enlist support on Karabakh, an Armenian expert said.

“Arab countries which maintain friendly relations with Armenia unanimously vote against our country during OIC sessions, demonstrating Islamic solidarity,” orientalist Araks Pashayan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter when commenting on adoption of resolutions on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict during the 37th OIC meeting. “Armenia should spread propaganda in Islamic countries to neutralize Azeri accusations. We can prove that cultural and historical monuments are not destructed but, on the contrary, protected in Nagorno Karabakh,” she said.

Azerbaijan fails propaganda event in Moscow - panorama.am: “Azerbaijan initiated a press conference on “Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the context of Armenian-Turkish normalization” at ‘RIA Novosti’ Russian news agency in Moscow 2 days ago. …8-10 reporters were present, including 7 Azerbaijanis, with the others representing the Armenian side. What comes surprising is that no Russian reporters were present at the conference. Azerbaijani side said Azerbaijan is an economically powerful country and can give more to Karabakhi people than Armenia. Armenian reporters had hot discussions with the Azerbaijani side, which was followed by the ungrounded explanations of the latter over Azerbaijan’s current aggressive policy. Eventually, as the press conference turned into hot discussions and Azeris appeared in a difficult condition, the organizers announced the end of the event.”

AMERICANA

Here's Your Condibook Cover - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: I no longer keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo:


Yes, Condi! There have been faint stirrings in the Condisphere lately. Nothing very exciting, but hey, what else is new? First up, here is the cover, finally, of her upcoming book:


Condi image from