July 27

"In heaven all the interesting people are missing."

--Friedrich Nietzsche; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Philip J. Crowley Assistant Secretary Daily Press Briefing Washington, DC July 26, 2010 - ‎US Department of State: "QUESTION: ... The State Department has responsibility for public diplomacy and getting public opinion behind U.S. Government policy, particularly abroad. How do you think this [the disclosure of classified information by WikiLeaks pertaining to the war in Afghanistan] has affected that? Have you had any indications? Are there any new diplomatic public diplomacy offensives you’re going to undertake to deal with the damage of this? MR. CROWLEY: Well, I mean, we -- public support is fundamental to this campaign. We’ve worked hard to sustain public support because the mission in Afghanistan and next door in Pakistan is significant not only to our security, but to the region and others, including in Europe.

Obviously, the revelations are now, what, 16, 18 hours. So it’s hard at this point to say what impact it’s going to have. This is something that we’ll be watching carefully and working with NATO and other troop-contributing countries. We’ll try to do our best to explain what these documents mean. But again, I think that while they individually might create a snapshot of what might have been the case in 2005 and 2006 and 2007, we think that we have put in place over the past several months a strong foundation working with Pakistan, working with Afghanistan, and the situation that we confront today is different than the one we confronted two, three, four years ago." Image from

The Value And Consequences Of Leaks‎ - NPR: "COX [TONY COX, host]: Well, you know, Julie McCarthy, let me come to you because you're in Pakistan, and we know that you have already heard about the leak, although the specifics of it may not have reached you yet. Is there any way to determine whether or not the folks there where you are are in anticipation of what may be leaked that they haven't yet heard about? McCARTHY: Well, what they say to you is, look, The New York Times and Der Spiegel and The Guardian newspaper were given weeks to pore over these documents, thank you very much. We will do the same, and we'll get back to you on that. But there is, you know, when we talk about how the leak itself has become the nature of leaking has become the story over the substance of these, I think what you have to see in this relationship is that there's already a huge deficit of trust. And this furthers that deficit. It gives fodder to the critics of Pakistan that they haven't done enough, that they are consorting with the enemy, that they are not interested in being on the same page with the Americans. And it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the Americans who have been trying to change this public diplomacy, to make it one where we can be liked in a place where we are loathed. That cannot be underestimated here in Pakistan. The anti-American sentiment is enormous here."

US under secretary of state visits Colombia - Cameron Sumpter, Colombia Reports: "The U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale, began a four-day official visit to Colombia on Sunday, in what is the secretary's first visit to the Andean nation. McHale was in Cali Monday where she delivered a keynote address to the Association of Binational Centers of Latin America (ABLA) Conference. The under secretary will also speak to a regional conference of the Department of State's Cultural Affairs Officers, before meeting with recipients of the Martin Luther King (MLK) English Language Fellows Program. The MLK program was set up 'to expanding [sic] access for Afro-Colombian and indigenous minority youth to academic and economic opportunities ... and promote their economic and social empowerment,' according to the U.S. embassy. McHale will discuss the experiences of the MLK fellows before heading on to Bogota 'for meetings and activities related to public diplomacy programs that contribute to the U.S.-Colombia bilateral relationship.'"

US-Japan Relations for the 21st Century‎ - Kurt M. Campbell Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Statement before the House Armed Services Committee Washington, DC July 27, 2010, US Department of State – Campbell: "The U.S.-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of our engagement in the Asia-Pacific. ... As our security and economic relationship has evolved, so has our cultural relationship matured and grown. We have a longstanding tradition of exchange and cooperation between our two countries, and between the people of our two nations. We have cooperation in the fields of education and science, and through traditional programs such as the Fulbright Exchange and the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program).

The global challenges we face today require a complex, multi-dimensional approach to public diplomacy. As President Obama said recently, '... cooperation must go beyond our governments. It must be rooted in our people - in the studies we share, the business that we do, the knowledge that we gain, and even in the sports that we play.' The Secretary echoed the President’s views when she said, 'What we call people-to-people diplomacy has taken on greater significance, as our world has grown more interdependent, and our challenges, more complex. Government alone cannot solve the problems that we face. We have to tap into the challenge of our people, their creativity and innovation, and their ability to forge lasting relationships that build trust and understanding.'” Image from

Dawn L. McCall appointed as Coordinator of IIP - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "Today, the State Department announced Dawn L. McCall

as the Coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) within the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. This long-awaited appointment will provide critical leadership in one of the most essential communication and engagement elements in the US Government, even if it is under-appreciated, under-staffed, under-resourced, and overly-limited in its ability to execute." McCall image from article

Thing 13:CO.NX Webchats - Mariam al Maskary, IRC Muscat: "CO.NX (pronounced 'connects') is a public diplomacy outreach project that uses Web conferencing and social networking to engage international audiences in online discussions. CO.NX uses Adobe Connect software to support both text-only and video chats. The software can integrate slideshows, podcasts, music and more. CO.NX is also an Internet-based community used to connect people from all over the world using a Facebook fan page. The network was developed by the State Department's Bureau of International Programs (IIP)."

Jamming for Uncle Sam: Getting the Best From Cultural Diplomacy – Nicholas Cull, Huffington Post: "Recent years have seen a welcome resurgence in U.S. Cultural Diplomacy, which after honorable service in the Cold War, sailed into the doldrums in the mid-1990s. Today, the State Department is reaching out to foreign publics in partnership with major private sector partners including Jazz at the Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as maintaining its own program of visits, exhibitions and tours.

… In a much circulated blog post last fall, Michael Kaiser - president of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC - proposed a cultural diplomacy strategy focused on master classes in project planning and eliciting sponsorship from philanthropists. Recent inbound international musicians have found themselves treated to special lectures at management school. There is a lot wrong with Michael Kaiser's approach, beyond the self-serving nature of the president of the Kennedy Center calling for U.S. cultural diplomacy to focus on work which his institution is uniquely well qualified to deliver. … Does the United States really consider 'top tips for getting corporate cash' to bankroll culture the best that the U.S. has to offer?" Image from

“Jamming for Uncle Sam: Getting the Best From Cultural Diplomacy” – Linda Constant, Balance of Culture: “[C]ultural diplomacy takes art to a level beyond most of our comfort zones. Too much of art simply 'preaches to the converted,' and the real waste of resources - corporate or private - thrives in this fact. Bluntly speaking, too many of our 'community' art endeavors are projects that contribute more to the organizer's social capital rather than to the community they claim to be addressing.”

Yemeni official meets US envoy‎ - Yemen News Agency: "Speaker of the Shoura Council Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Ghani met on Tuesday the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Yemen Stephen Stephen Seche.

At the meeting, the Yemeni official expressed appreciation for the role played by the ambassador to boost the Yemeni-American relations, noting the steadily growing of the cooperation relations between the two friendly countries to achieve common interests of their peoples. ... The Ambassador is a career foreign-service officer who has spent most of his nearly 30 years with the Department of State engaged in the practice of public diplomacy." Seche image from article

Let's act like an energy superpower‎ - Globe and Mail: "Americans are waging two costly, unpopular wars in part because of Middle East oil. Few appreciate that Canada is America’s main source of oil and gas, hydro and, with the resurrection of nuclear power, uranium. Canadian energy could eventually reduce American dependence on what is truly foreign oil by half. This geopolitical fact needs repeating. The Pentagon knows solar-powered tanks are still a dream, and wind no longer sails battleships. This is not just an Alberta fight. It has to be an all-Canadian effort. It’s yet another reminder of why we need to wage a public diplomacy campaign in all 50 states, as well as in Washington, around Canadian interests."

The gospel on celebrity and pop culture - Christie D'Zurilla, Los Angeles Times: "Sitting down with the Sunday Times of London in an interview to promote his new documentary 'South of the Border,' Hollywood's master of conspiracy theories lobbed another one out there about the depiction of the Holocaust -- though in a statement Monday he backtracked on what he'd said and apologized. After remarking in the interview that 'Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million],' Stone went into conspiracy mode with the assertion that "Jewish domination of the media"

in the U.S. was to blame for Holocaust deaths getting a bigger spotlight than the millions of deaths that occurred in Russia in World War II. The rest of the quote suggested that, in addition, U.S. foreign policy in general had been messed up by Jews both foreign and domestic ... Yuli Edelstein, Israel's minister of diaspora affairs and public diplomacy, told the [Jerusalem] Post that Stone's statements were racist and made him sick." Stone image from

Latvia - Member State ministers at general Affairs Council agree on establishment of European External Action Service‎ - ISRIA: "On 26 July at the General Affairs Council (GAC), the Foreign Ministers of the EU Member States formally agreed on the proposal from the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton (High Representative) for a Council Decision establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service (EEAS). ... The central administration of the EEAS shall be organised in directorates general comprising geographic desks covering all countries and regions of the world as well as multilateral and thematic desks in charge of human rights issues and the EU relations with international organisations. The central administration will also include departments in charge, for instance, of the EEAS staff and budgetary matters, legal matters, the EEAS relations with other EU institutions, and public diplomacy."

Is there an Australian culture in a Facebook world?‎ - Julianne Schultz, Sydney Morning Herald:

"In this new world, information is more readily available than ever before, and there is an expectation of openness, communication and access. Governments have responded by massively increasing their expenditure on international broadcasting, supplementing this with innovative online communication in a new age of public diplomacy, to communicate their values directly. Australia Network, combined with ABC online, is a beacon of Australian culture abroad - a showcase of the best of the country's creativity and values." Image from

ICJ, Kosovo and Taiwan's future - eTaiwan News: "The affirmation by the International Court of Justice on July 22 of the February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence by the Republic of Kosovo is a welcome affirmation of the democratic principle of people's self-determination, but by itself does not offer a clear path for international recognition of Taiwan's own status as a democratic independent state. ... The ICJ opinion on Kosovo also hints that a declaration or, more precisely, a formal affirmation by Taiwan of its independence would probably not 'violate international law' especially since Taiwan has actually never been part of the PRC State. ... Therefore, the ICJ advisory opinion indicates a formal affirmation of Taiwan's independence through an exercise of democratic self-determination may be a necessary, but by on means sufficient, condition for international acceptance of Taiwan's independence. Fulfilment of this later fundamental political condition will depend mostly on both the direction of the will of Taiwan's 23 million people and the effectiveness of 'public diplomacy' to build international understanding and support for the value of Taiwan's democratic independence to the world community."

Let the Games Begin – Two Years to Go to London 2012 Olympics‎ - Al-Bawaba: "The 27th July marks just two years to go to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games which will see excited fans from around the world descend on the UK capital to participate in what will be the nation’s most prestigious sporting event to date. ... In Dubai, dedicated campaigns are already up-and-running to encourage closer ties between the UAE and Britain in the run-up to what will be one of the UK’s most inspirational and spectacular sporting occasions ever. 'VisitBritain

is working very closely with our public diplomacy partners the British Council and FCO in promoting the Olympics and we have been collaborating on milestone events. VisitBritain is also liaising with the National Olympic Committee in the UAE to discuss opportunities on how we can work together to promote the Olympics,' said Carol Maddison, VisitBritain’s Middle East Marketing Manager." Image from

SCENARIOS-Will Colombia-Venezuela crisis worsen?‎ - Daniel Wallis, Reuters: "Despite dire warnings by Chavez that a Colombian attack is imminent, most analysts think this is very unlikely. Neither Bogota nor Caracas has anything to gain from open warfare, and there would be heavy pressure regionally to stop the dispute reaching that stage. Venezuela's fears are largely based on the precedent of a Colombian bombing raid on a FARC rebel camp in Ecuador in 2008, but Chavez has made it clear that a similar attack on Venezuelan soil would result in war. Colombia has chosen to pursue public diplomacy, accusing Venezuela publicly of harboring rebels, rather than strike the camps directly, which is a sign it has no appetite for war."

A 14-point Italian document on establishment of peace in the South Caucasus - Lena Badeyan, Public Radio of Armenia: "Following the five-day Russian-Georgian war the leadership of the Italian Rondine University decided to come forth with an initiative to try to cooperate with the peoples of the North and South Caucasus.


Italians have prepared a 14-point document with proposals on establishment of peace in the South Caucasus. As regards the Karabakh conflict, Italians do not want the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group to broaden. The experts do not wish to come forth with proposals on the political field, instead they try to promote public diplomacy. ... 'People’s diplomacy will help overcome the atmosphere of mistrust and hostility between South Caucasus nations,' Stepan Grigoryan, the head of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation told reporters today." Image from

Pursuing Human Rights through Public Diplomacy - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "The lastest edition of Public Diplomacy Magazine is out. Leah Rousseau and I were co-senior editors, along with EIC Tala Mohebi, and we worked long and hard on this bad boy. This 4th issue looks at nonstate actors and how they practice public diplomacy in their efforts to further human rights.

PD as HR force multiplier, hence the cover design. The new magazine has some wonderful contributions from the International Justice Mission and Invisible Children. I helped arrange a piece about the UNICEF Guatemala pd campaign I saw in Guate City. One of my favorite pieces is by Jim Ife of the Centre for Human Rights Education on making HR practical and not so highbrow. We have a great Endnote by Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines." Image from article

Pissing On Hitler - Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar: "What makes our historically recent episodes interesting is the role, beginning with the World War of 1939 - 1945, of state-managed mass communication. Our grasp of mass communication, and strategic influence -- I think they might call that 'public diplomacy' these days -- has greatly enhanced our ability to crank up and vilify enemies on a scale that would make ancient emperors drool with envy."

RELATED ITEMS

Pak rubbishes report against premiere spy agency - Kaswar Klasra, The Nation: The never-ending propaganda against Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency continues unabated as following footsteps of London School of Economics, another online publication ‘WikiLeaks’ claimed on Sunday that Pakistan was supporting Taliban.


Following publication of controversial secret documents, which claimed that Pakistan was supporting Taliban and that its spy agencies were organising terrorist network against the US soldiers. Pakistan, however, termed such reports baseless. Image from

Terrorism just propaganda to defame Muslims: Cuban envoy - Uzma Zafar, The Daily Mail: "Pakistan has been suffering from the war on terror. Muslims are not terrorists at all and associating beards and headscarves with terrorism is just a propaganda to defame the Muslims, especially Pakistan." These views were stated by Cuban Charges D'Affaires Juan Hidalgo Gato Pérez to Pakistan, while speaking to The Daily Mail, in an exclusive interview, here this Monday.

Al-Qaeda linked website 'Blogetery.com' shut down for posting terror propaganda – Sify

Leaflets launched at N.Korea - straitstimes.com: South Korean activists launched propaganda leaflets towards North Korea on Tuesday on the anniversary of the Korean War armistice, after ripping up its flag and calling for the death of leader Kim Jong Il.

Image from article: Around 150 people gathered at a park at Imjingak near the border to release ten giant balloons carrying some 100,000 leaflets, 300DVDs and 1,000 one-US-dollar notes