May 10

"What went wrong formerly was that people had read in books that man is a rational animal, and framed their arguments on this hypothesis. We now know that limelight and a brass band do more to persuade than can be done by the most elegant train of syllogisms."

--Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society (1950); image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Reader Comments on "The Future of Public Diplomacy" [Office of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, "Public Diplomacy: Strengthening U.S. Engagement with the World - A strategic approach for the 21st century" and Judith McHale's "Future of U.S. Public Diplomacy"] - American Diplomacy. Note: The comment of the PDPBR compiler included in this entry was made regarding the so-called roadmap, ("Diplomacy: Strengthening U.S. Engagement with the World - A strategic approach for the 21st century"), rather than McHale's "Future of Public Diplomacy." They are similar documents, but the latter is actually written in the English language.

Shrek, Iran and Public Diplomacy: Seeing is Believing - James Ketterer: "When carried out properly, cultural diplomacy must be part of a larger public diplomacy effort that includes communications, culture and educational exchanges.

And in all of that there must be people who see this process as a two-way street, who listen as much as they speak. The key to this is having Foreign Service Officers in key posts ... . Much of diplomacy requires learning, listening and wading deep into the culture of other countries. That is impossible when the U.S. does not have an embassy in Tehran (a debate for later) or very few officers who speak the language. This soaking and poking form of public diplomacy is also very difficult in countries where U.S. embassies are fortresses that lock FSOs inside and keep out far too many people, especially those with provocative perspectives. What is worth noting is that this all worked better during the Cold War when USIA still existed." Image from

Anatomy of a failed terror attack - Syed Talat Hussain, The Express Tribune: "No administration in Washington will take a rational course of action if Americans are killed in their homeland by terrorists with links to other countries. For the Obama administration room for cautious conduct is further limited by its declared commitment to defeating national security threats emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is where management of public perception of Pakistan inside the US and media pressure becomes important. Together they can push the administration over the edge of reason in case of a more destructive terrorism attack. Islamabad needs to tighten its public diplomacy inside the US, which clearly, isn’t at the moment in the ablest of diplomatic hands."

Confusion at par in both East and West - Saeed Minhas, Daily Times:

"A seasoned Pakistani politician who is sitting on the sidelines of politics these days, clearing his throat ... [said:] 'Isn't it a fact that Faisal Shahzad was a US citizen and has received higher education in that country as well?' A US diplomat was prompt to cut him short to say that 'yes but he was also a Pakistani by birth'. The grey-haired politician[...] then riding on his lengthy argument galloped at a lightening speed to conclude that 'Americans are themselves confused; they want a way out of the mess they have landed themselves and many others in, but unfortunately don't know how to go about this.' His argument that if Pakistani religious seminaries grab world headlines for producing hardliners, then one need to examine the environment of all western institutions because many of the latest, especially since 9/11, brand of extremists have emerged from there, so should we send a team of Mullahs to probe all the western institutions or call for a UN inquest on this aspect. His tirade included comments on the three-Ds US policy of public diplomacy, development and defence, which according to him is airing more confusion around this whole war on terror than clearing the mist." Image from

Blogger Survey: The Media Battle Over Jerusalem, Part 2 - Stephanie Gutmann, BackSpin: "Unfortunately, the Obama administration has successfully managed to move the center in the debate over Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem. After months of journalists pushing anti-Israel talking points in the guise of objective reporting - and with the help of anti-Israel foreign policy experts who 'evaluated' US/Israeli tensions - the conventional wisdom is now that Jerusalem is just another settlement over which Israel is expected to negotiate. ... The Israeli government's inability to influence the framing of the White's House's manufactured crises - to emphasize not just the substantive incoherence of a strategy premised on hardening Palestinian positions, but also its essential dishonesty - represents another failure in Israeli public diplomacy. In the context of Jerusalem, it's a failure that threatens the security of Israeli citizens and the identity of the Jewish State."

The Kimchi Warrior; 2 Scoops of Public Diplomacy – Paul Rockower, Levantine:

"On Wednesday, I met my classmates Renee and Candace at the massive Korean Cultural Center for the grand premiere of the Kimchi Warrior. ... The series was a cute and unorthodox version of cultural diplomacy. ... [A] little on Ice Cream Diplomacy. In my paper about Qatar's niche diplomacy through conflict resolution I mentioned that the tiny gulf nation's efforts in Lebanon to bring the political crisis to a close brought them two scoops of public diplomacy in that an ice cream shop in downtown Beirut started serving the Doha Agreement Cone." Image from article

Security Experts Cite Need for Major Policy Changes to Protect Global Security in Report to NATO and the European Union - press release, PR Newswire: "The new SDA report to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European Union (EU) outlines 10 recommendations from the February Security Jam, which brought together nearly 4,000 military, diplomatic and civilian experts from 124 countries during a five-day period to discuss topics ranging from crisis preparedness and human rights to environmental security and rising world powers. Central themes resulting from the Security Jam were the need for closer collaboration between NATO and the EU, and more civilian involvement and collaboration with the military in protecting global security. [Among] [t]he top recommendations were: ... Expand the EU's public diplomacy and use of new media to enable greater collaboration, interaction, and dialogue with a global security community, including security experts, business leaders and academics, on important issues and policy initiatives." See also.

State power firm sets eyes on renewable energy - Rana Akbari, Fitriawan, Jakarta Post: "Directorate General of Information and Public Diplomacy's secretary Elias Ginting said Indonesia was currently helping countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by sharing knowledge on the development of micro hydro technology. 'This is part of public diplomacy, helping

countries around us,' said Ginting at a recent two-day international training workshop on micro hydro energy. Thirteen participants from nine countries - Afghanistan, Bhutan, Fiji, Mongolia, Panama, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Vanuatu and Vietnam - took part in the workshop." Image from

Israel: Netanyahu's government reaches out in Arabic - Los Angeles Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau is upgrading its public diplomacy efforts with the appointment of an Arabic-language spokesman. Ofir Gendelman, formerly the Arabic media spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign affairs, will from now on be entrusted with getting Israel's message out in Arabic too.

In recent years, Israel increasingly has recognized the importance of public diplomacy and that the occasional interviews by officials and academics on Al Jazeera are good -- but not enough. In a recent report, Israel state comptroller judge Micha Lindenstrauss prodded the government to take action to stop the 'intolerable foot-dragging' and address the need for better Arabic-language 'hasbara' (a term used in Israel to denote public diplomacy), a vital component in achieving the country's strategic, diplomatic-security objectives. Israel's failure in this department, he wrote, was especially evident during the Second Lebanon War. Israel made efforts to improve its Arabic outreach in recent years. The statement delivered in Arabic by Capt. Avichai Edri on behalf of the Israeli army during the Gaza operation and his appearance on Al Jazeera have nearly a million views on YouTube, suggesting that Arabic-speaking messengers are an effective tool, even if people don't like the message. And the foreign ministry launched an Arabic website a few years ago.” Gendelman image from article

Short Term Programme The Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship 26 July – 22 October 2010 - infobeasiswaschoolarship.blogspot.com: "For the Indonesian applicants, the application form could be sent to: THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Directorate of Public Diplomacy Tower Building, 12th Floor Jl. Taman Pejambon no. 6 Jakarta 10110."

MountainRunner Institute at InfoWarCon 2010 - Chris Dufour, MountainRunner.us: "This week kicks off the second year of AOC's

InfoWarCon in Washington, DC. Subtitled 'Future Warfare Today: The Battle for Information & Ideas', the three-day gathering sports luminaries from different information disciplines beyond information operations, or IO. Joel Harding, the director of AOC's IO Institute, has put together an agenda with panelists from across the spectrum of informational engagement: strategic communication, public diplomacy, public affairs, technology, and emerging media. The stated purpose of InfoWarCon is to advance the discourse about the evolving role of information in warfare of today and tomorrow, especially the kind where explosions, in the case they actually occur, are shaping events in support of information activities." Image from

Brazil since Copenhagen - sustainabilitank.info: "[Former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique] Cardoso is a founding member of the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy’s Advisory Board."

The Embassy of the United States of America, Public Diplomacy Assistant (Readvertise), Deadline May 13, 2010 - Serbisu Iha Timor-Leste / Jobs In Timor-Leste

RELATED ITEMS

Islam's Nowhere Men: Millions like Faisal Shahzad are unsettled by a modern world they can neither master nor reject - Fouad Ajami, Wall Street Journal: This is a long twilight war,

the struggle against radical Islamism. We can't wish it away. No strategy of winning "hearts and minds," no great outreach, will bring this struggle to an end. America can't conciliate these furies. These men of nowhere—Faisal Shahzad, Nidal Malik Hasan, the American-born renegade cleric Anwar Awlaki now holed up in Yemen and their likes—are a deadly breed of combatants in this new kind of war. Modernity both attracts and unsettles them. America is at once the object of their dreams and the scapegoat onto which they project their deepest malignancies. Image from

Afghanistan COIN Propaganda: Now in Magazine Form! - firedoglake.com: "For some time, I’ve been documenting the effort to present General Stanley McChrystal’s COIN strategy as a warm, fuzzy program of which we should be proud, instead of the reality of night raids that kill and imprison innocent civilians,

fueling the anger of insurgents. My most recent find in that propaganda campaign is truly a sight to behold. Pictured above is a screenshot of the cover of the April, 2010 issue of COIN Common Sense, published by NATO and ISAF, who describe the newsletter in this way: COIN Common Sense is a newsletter designed to spark discussions and enhance mindfulness of COIN principles and practices." Image from article

U.S. military runs into Afghan tribal politics after deal with Pashtuns - Joshua Partlow and Greg Jaffe, Washington Post: The plan involving the 400,000-strong Shinwari tribe developed earlier this year when elders told Col. Randy George, a senior commander in eastern Afghanistan, that they wanted to unite to oppose the Taliban and stamp out opium cultivation. As a reward, George offered the Shinwari elders the power to decide how to spend $1 million in U.S.-funded development projects. It ended after the local power broker, Gov. Gul Agha Shirzai, a towering and controversial figure in Afghan politics, complained to President Hamid Karzai, who lambasted U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry in a February meeting for meddling in tribal politics.

Seoul mulls resumption of propaganda broadcasts into NK - Kim Young-jin, Korea Times: South Korea could resume its broadcasting of propaganda across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and into North Korea, if the reclusive state is found culpable for the deadly sinking of a Navy vessel, a military official said Monday. Image from



Guest-Teaching Chinese, and Learning America - Sam Dillon, New York Times: China wants to teach the world its language and culture, with about 325 guest teachers who have volunteered to work for up to three years in American schools, with their salaries subsidized by the Chinese government. A parallel effort has sent about 2,000 American school administrators to visit China at Beijing’s expense.

Clinton wants retired diplomats back - Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a rare public appeal to retired American diplomats on Friday to return to work for short-term assignments to help stabilize and rebuild conflict-torn countries. Speaking to State Department employees as they marked Foreign Affairs Day, Mrs. Clinton said the Obama administration has "a full agenda," adding, "and frankly, we could use your help." Courtesy LB

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY


"A single currency could no more subsume national identities than drinking Coke could make people American."

Robert J. Samuelson, “The welfare state's death spiral,” Washington Post; image from