May 4

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

--Mark Twain; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

'Blackwatering' Public Diplomacy: The US Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo - Bob Jacobson, Huffington Post: "The US Pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo is not the handsomest pavilion at the Expo nor will it be the most memorable. In fact, it is rather pedestrian, inside and out. For this it has rightly been criticized by architects, planners, designers, and its many, many Chinese visitors who, after waiting two hours to enter, are treated to little more than a few short films and corporate promotions. The questionable quality of the US Pavilion, however, is symptomatic of a larger problem that the critics mostly have ignored, which is the 'Blackwatering' of US public diplomacy:

the privatization and outsourcing of every device by which America and its people traditionally have connected with other nations and cultures. In defense circles, the term 'Blackwater' is synonymous with high-priced mercenary soldiers whose unconstrained behavior threatens to derail America's military goals. Applied to public diplomacy, as in Shanghai, 'Blackwatering' means missing an [sic] historic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for authentic communication with the rest of the world." Image from

Shanghai Expo: twin pillars of disappointment at US and China pavilions - Patti Waldmeir, Financial Times: "China and the US may be at loggerheads over currency issues but they are united on one thing: they have both produced embarrassingly bad national pavilions for the $55bn Shanghai World Expo ... . The US at least has an excuse: America has a law forbidding taxpayer dollars from being spent on grand (and, US lawmakers appear to think, ultimately futile) extravaganzas like Expo. Last year at this time, it was not even clear that the US would build an Expo pavilion at all - though failing to do so would have been a major snub to China. In the end, Hillary Clinton twisted corporate arms and the US pavilion raised the $61m it needed to take part. But ground was only broken a scant nine months ago, and it shows: the US pavilion is just a series of movie theatres that will show Americans doing schmaltzy things like speaking bad Chinese and living in a paradise of happy social diversity. Expo’s 70m-100m mostly Chinese visitors, vast numbers of whom still idolise the American lifestyle, deserved better - and if the US Congress had not got in the way, they would probably have got it. But if Washington can blame it all on haste, there is no excuse for China. Shanghai historians say the city has been planning for Expo since 1902, enough time for every conceivable government department to get in on the act, and mess things up, apparently. The official China Pavilion website says the shape of the building captures the concept of 'Oriental Crown, Splendid China, Ample Barn, and Rich People' - and that about sums it up: coherence is not its strong point. Visitors are subjected to a train ride through a blasted empty neon dystopia which, the website tells us, gives 'an appreciation of the great wisdom and achievements in China’s urban development from ancient to modern times'. Apparently the ultimate achievement was to do away with people altogether. And the crowning glory is a sort of migrant worker love story on three vast screens, which celebrates the infinite benevolence, the untold munificence and the unparallelled wisdom of…the Chinese government." Courtesy MC

A Sorry Sight: The US Pavilion at World Expo 2010 - GOOD: "The 2010 World Expo in Shanghai might be met with middling interest by most Americans, but it's a big deal in the rest of the world.

While China and other participating countries pulled out all the stops to promote their country's name, largely through public funding, the U.S. went corporate for their flashy presentation and uninventive pavilion design." Image from

Good news and bad - Anjum Niaz, The News International: "[A] war of memos had waged in Congress last month between Ambassador Holbrooke and Senators Kerry and Lugar. The former wanted money given to Pakistan directly while the latter wanted it funnelled through American contractors as had been the past practice by USAID in Islamabad. 'Holbrooke wants to be able to control every single dollar that goes through for Afghanistan and Pakistan.... You can't do it when you're talking about billions of dollars,' one development leader in Washington cribbed. 'When you think about the amount of money you're shoving at Pakistan... it's not throwing money at the problem, it's shovelling it out the door.' Well Holbrooke won. Good news there – the chunk of US aid money that would have gone back to the US via the contractors is now to stay in Pakistani banks and spent on Pakistanis! ... [T]he American embassy in Islamabad ... invariably gets bad press. ... I show a press clipping [to a senior official] where Hillary Clinton recently told Newsweek that the state department now has a "public-diplomacy effort that is worthy of the name." I beg to differ, I tell the official. The US embassy here stonewalls the Pakistani media, why?"

US International Broadcasting in Leaderless Limbo – Helle Dale, Heritage.org:

"Well into the second year of the Obama administration, U.S. international broadcasting services remain in a leaderless state of vacuum. Nor are these important public diplomacy assets of the government likely to emerge from limbo anytime soon, which is deeply unfortunate given the intensifying global competition for information dominance. At a time when China’s Xinhua news agency announced the launching of a global English-language channel, China Network Corp., or CNC, and the Russian government’s English language Russia Today channel is building up capacity with 40 staffers right here in Washington, the U.S. government appears incapable to getting its broadcasting act together. ... The nomination of the new BBG provides an excellent opportunity for Congress to exercise oversight of this troubled institution. The BBG has the important mission of presenting the message of the United States to the world, based on the values and principles on which this nation was founded. It desperately needs the right kind of leadership." On BBG, see. Image from

Challenging Tehran on Human Rights - Zand-Bon, Our Persian Site: "By J. Scott Carpenter Source: Journal of International Security Affairs, Spring 2010 [:] The rise of the Green Movement following the fraudulent June 12 presidential election, and all that has transpired since, has demonstrated clearly to the Iranian people that the foundational elements of the Islamic Revolution — the system of velayat-i-faqih (rule of the jurisprudent) and its main implementer, the Supreme Leader — have lost their residual power to persuade. The barrier of fear, the only tool left to the regime, has also been shattered, with its formidable security apparatus increasingly unable to arrest and torture a sufficient number of people to stem the tide of dissent. In this article, J. Scott Carpenter discusses ways in which the Obama administration can use public diplomacy to effect a nuanced, comprehensive offensive that challenges the Khamenei regime on human rights grounds."

Iran - Deputy FM: Presence of president at NPT confab good usage of public diplomacy - ISRIA: "Deputy FM in Consular, Parliamentary and Iranian Expatriates Affairs said here Monday there is nothing wrong

legally with president’s attendance at NPT confab; it is public usage of diplomacy in Iran’s favor. Hassan Qashqavi added at a press conference here Monday evening, 'Although in accordance with the statistics at hand the entire other countries have participated at ministry of foreign affairs level (deputy FMs), but the presence of our country’s president at this gathering was necessary.'” Image from

Romania opens round-table conference in Baku on NATO role in Europe - Financiarul: "On January 1, 2009 Romania took over the mandate of NATO contact point embassy to Azerbaijan for 2009-2010. NATO contact point embassies to the partner states have an important role in the relation between the Alliance and the state in question, which includes support in carrying out NATO activities, especially the public diplomacy ones locally as well as taking the necessary measures for ensuring a communication channel for the NATO policies in the partner state."

Soft power, hard labour - Frank Moorhouse, The Australian: "There are a number of ways that the writer inevitably engages with the state. When the state is unhappy with what the writer has written, censorship; when the state is happy with what the writer has written, reward (grants, prizes and honours); and the state also acts as protector, through copyright and other laws relating to creative work.

The writer can also become part of a nation's diplomatic strategy by being asked to represent their country abroad, what is known as public diplomacy or soft power. … Because I had been so vocal about freedom of expression in my own country, which involved no great risk, and had been publicly recognised for it, I felt it would be unseemly of me to go to China, to be feted and to remain silent while Chinese writers were being sent to jail." Moorhouse image from

Spanish EU Presidency - Forum on religious freedom asks governments to show respect and maintain their neutrality toward all beliefs - ISRIA: ‎"Around 200 experts, politicians and religious leaders gathered in Cordoba for two days for the Alliance of Civilisations and the EU on Tuesday called for the promotion of education initiatives to prevent manifestations of violence. ... Participants were in favour of European societies introducing educational initiatives to promote tolerance and respect for diversity, or developing training programmes for police, teachers and social workers. They also proposed drafting codes of practice for journalists and promoting public diplomacy operations intended to prevent religious extremism."

Organisationernes nye lobbyisme – og regeringernes - Klavs A. Holm, Ambassadør for Public Diplomacy, Udenrigsministeriet:

"Public Diplomacy breder sig. Det er en slags omvendt lobbyisme, hvor det politiske system retter sig mod NGO’er for at få indflydelse. Tanken er, at regeringen ikke blot får indflydelse ud af den blå luft ved 'crash-landing Public Diplomacy', men løbende bygger et gensidigt forhold op gennem 'take off Public Diplomacy'.” Holm image from article

Branding the Philippines - Junie del Mundo, planetphilippines.com: "A country brand is created by a combination of a country’s culture and public diplomacy. Culture cannot be copied because it is uniquely linked to the country. Public diplomacy also helps define a country brand. Experience has shown that our perception of a country changes for the better because of one good friend or an encounter with an outstanding individual from that country."

CPD Perspectives: Mapping the Great Beyond - CPD Announcements, USC Center on Public Diplomacy:

"In the most recent issue of CPD Perspectives, Mapping the Great Beyond: Identifying Meaningful Networks in Public Diplomacy, Dr. Ali Fisher highlights the importance of mapping social networks for the field of public diplomacy. In part one of Mapping the Great Beyond, Fisher discusses the value social media tools bring to PD practitioners and the new tools available to identify nodes of influence and alternative ways to engage publics. Providing clear examples of the utility of these new resources for PD, the second part of his paper illustrates the value of resource mapping and information coordination at strategic level. Fisher’s concluding section discusses the use of network mapping to evaluate public diplomacy and contends that mapping networks can create new information for public diplomacy practitioners and scholars to better implement and evaluate public diplomacy strategies." Image from

Happiness: A Private Matter? – Laura McGinnis, ManIC:

"Last night I turned in my final paper--three memoranda addressing U.S. public diplomacy for the twenty-first century. Among the many changes I proposed with all the audacity and brio of a first-year M.A. candidate was the establishment of an independent body, along the lines of the Goethe Institut or the British Council, to oversee cultural diplomacy. Several students made similar recommendations, and in our final class, we discussed our suggestions and debated their merits and disadvantages. ... Even though I supported the establishment of a non-governmental American Cultural Center, I'm a little leery of letting the private sector assume the mantle of U.S. cultural diplomacy, particularly after seeing how little they've accomplished at the Shanghai Expo. Is the free market really equipped to promote public and cultural diplomacy?" Image from

Identity.net Hires Chief Marketing Officer as Growth Accelerates - askfortax.com: "Today, Identity.net (www.identity.net) announced the addition of Susan Koehler as Chief Marketing Officer. 'Susan joins Identity.net at an exciting time, as the company transitions from being development-centric to market-centric. Susan has a tremendous record of achievement in working with both the public and private sector in the USA, and internationally,' said Rob Monster, Chairman and CEO of Identity.net. 'Her productive tenure at Microsoft demonstrated that she brings a potent mix of commercial leadership, public diplomacy, professional integrity and personal compassion.'"

On the Register! – kamilla, My New Life: "Well apparently the government has finally decided I have no outstanding security issues, and I received word this morning that I am #19/119 to get called in to become a Public Diplomacy Officer! Sweet.....which technically means that had I not decided to come to RAINY FREEZING London to go to a school that doesn't even teach its students I could be getting a call to move to DC any day. However, since I am already here I may as well get a degree and will thus not be available until September as after finals, I'm going to be in Tatarstan doing research for my dissertation."

How I Stumbled into the Foreign Service - Part I - Nodoublestandars, Muttering Behind The Hardline: Rants of a Foreign Service Officer on The Things That Matter To You -- And Matter To You Not At All:

"In an organization of overachievers, you'd be surprised how often you hear the sentiment, 'How on earth did I get into the Foreign Service, and how long will it be before they discover my hiring was a big mistake?!' I know I've said it more than once. For every Georgetown or Ivy League graduate who actually set a job in the Foreign Service as a career objective, there are those of us who got in quite by accident and initially feel very out of place in an A-100 classroom with attorneys and other formerly high-powered professionals. I was one of them, and I assure you that my arrival into this institution was beyond serendipitous." Image from

A, G, F - The New Diplomacy 2010 A: A Reflective Group Blog by Some of the Students on the New Diplomacy Module at London Metropolitan University

RELATED ITEMS

White House proposed taking development role away from State - Josh Rogin, The Cable: At issue is whether Foggy Bottom should have the ultimate authority over development policy or whether oversight should be done by the new interagency body, which reports up to the president.

Hugo Chavez joins Twitter – Liriel, iDiplomacy: Twitter may be U.S.-based company, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may, to put it mildly, dislike the United States, but that doesn’t mean he is shunning social media.

Chavez was going to join the social media world, and he has proven a prolific tweeter since joining the microblogging service last month. Image from