July 19

“Remarkable. As near Oxford as monkeys can make.”

--Bertrand Russell, after being shown proudly around the campus of a prestigious American university built in gothic style; Russell image from

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Top Secret America

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Pak-US strategic dialogue to enhance bilateral ties: Gilani - Sify: "Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has expressed satisfaction over the successful track meetings of the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue, saying that they would strengthen bilateral ties. After a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gilani said that Pakistan had prepared a set of documents envisaging future plans for taking the relationship beyond the war against terrorism.

He expressed hope that the fifth round of the strategic dialogue scheduled today will be productive. The Prime Minister further highlighted the importance of public diplomacy, and said that it would be vital in building more trust between the two countries." See also. Image (October 28, 2009) from

Hillary acknowledges Gilani's efforts to normalise ties - The Hindu: "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has acknowledged Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s 'personal role in efforts to normalise relations with India' and hoped these moves would bear fruit in the near future. ... The premier reiterated his invitation to U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Pakistan in the near future, saying such a visit will boost democratic forces in the country, strengthen bilateral relations and create a positive image of the US among the Pakistani people. Public diplomacy is vital for removing misperceptions on both sides and building higher trust between the two sides, he said."

Kerry–Lugar Bill a Gift for People of Pakistan – M.Akram Khan Niazi, AbroadPoint.com Blog:

"With the approval of Kerry-Lugar bill a new era will be started in the mutual relations of USA and Pakistan, as this bill is mainly focused on the prosperity of common people with reference to education, health, peace and development, therefore Military and Civilian bureaucracy is making each and every effort to prevent and block USA in helping and providing help to common people of Pakistan, so that this so called Military and Civilian bureaucracy could continue victimization of common people of Pakistan for their luxuries on one side and maligning USA for problems of Pakistan on other side. Some points which clearly indicate the sincerity of USA government are as follows [and include] . ... To strengthen public diplomacy to combat militant extremism and promote a better understanding of the United States, including- Encouraging civil society, respected scholars, and other leaders to speak out against against militancy and violence." Kerry-Lugar image from

US Embassy Pakistan: quibbling about Public Diplomacy staffing numbers ... - Domani Spero, DiploPundit: "Based on a recent OIG report, we have written previously about US Embassy Pakistan's understaffed, inexperienced staff handling its $30 million public diplomacy programs. Last week, we received a comment in that post from [the State Department's] Dan Sreebny ... . Comment reprinted in full below: Dear Diplopundit: I am pleased to inform you and your readers that Public Diplomacy in Pakistan is a priority for this Administration and we are staffing our embassy there accordingly. The information noted in your blog posting was based on inspection interviews from earlier this year. The number of Public Affairs positions in Pakistan has increased with the growth in the Public Diplomacy budget. There are currently 21 Public Affairs positions in Pakistan and many of the officers coming into these positions have served more than fifteen years in Public Affairs overseas and domestically. In addition, the Department of State has also identified and deployed several experienced officers for temporary duty (TDY) assignments to 'bridge the experience gap' in Pakistan. These deployments are evidence of a clear recognition that the Public Diplomacy effort in Pakistan requires experienced personnel. For precisely this reason one of the most senior Public Diplomacy officers in the Department of State was moved to Islamabad to manage the significant growth of Public Diplomacy initiatives in Pakistan. We recognize the central importance of public diplomacy in Pakistan and have marshaled every necessary resource to meet that challenge. Sincerely yours, Dan Sreebny sreebnyd@state.gov ... [Among DiploPundit’s responses:] Bottom line -- Mr. Sreebny helpfully pointed out to us and our readers that State has experienced officers coming to Pakistan -- wait -- they're not there yet. ... Until those many experienced officers actually show up in country, all 22 of them, we think the OIG's characterization of the PD operation in Pakistan in its report and our blog post, need no Corrections for the Record at this time.”

State Dept's Digital Diplomacy - Clip & Show the Next Time You Get Slapped by Control Freaks – Domani Spero, Diplopundit: "Jesse Lichtenstein has written for The New Yorker, Slate, The Economist and n + 1; his first article for the NYT magazine is about Foggy Bottom's Twitterati, 'Jared Cohen [TSB's fave], the youngest member of the State Department’s policy planning staff, and Alec Ross, the first senior adviser for innovation to the secretary of state.' ... Oh, holy mother of goat! I misread the new regs on using social media -- that part that requires vetting according to 27 related policies. Dudes, clip this one and show this to your boss the next time you get your tweets slapped down by control freaks. Go read it here -- a most entertaining read for some, a horrifying read for others, I'm sure.

John Brown over at Huffington Post writes: "But what's happening is not necessarily what's important. Much of what twitterers say is as significant as that Viagra ad aired on the corporate evening news. 'Now' is not 'wisdom.' That's the great limitation of the new social media as an intellectual or even political tool.'" Image from

India - Distinguished Lecture Series organised by Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs – ISRIA: "The 7th lecture under the Distinguished Lecture Series organized by the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs was delivered by Ambassador (retd.) Shri R.M. Abhyankar, at the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, Mumbai on Friday, July 16, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at the F.C. Kohli Auditorium. The topic of the lecture was ‘India and West Asia’."

Public diplomacy plan fails to utilize non-Hebrew speakers - Sam Cross, Jerusalem Post: "Despite promises made in February by Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, the government’s latest hasbara campaign focused on involving average Israelis in the effort to defend the Jewish state abroad has remained an exclusively Hebrew affair. At the time, Edelstein established the Israeli Public Diplomacy Forces to arm locals with the tools to present the world with a positive message regarding the country they love. Central to their initiative was the ministry’s Web site (masbirim.gov.il),

which provides key facts about the state. ... On February 24, Edelstein said that an English-language Web site would be ready in April, to accompany the Hebrew-language masbirim.gov.il established about two weeks earlier. That has yet to happen. According to a ministry official, the problems have been bureaucratic. ... Since its inception about five months ago, the Israel Public Diplomacy Forces has helped tens of thousands of citizens improve Israel’s international persona. In May, around 150,000 surfers went to the site and stayed there for more than three minutes, according to a ministry official." Image from http://masbirim.gov.il/

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

Arts Centre moves to Atlanta - Sola Balogun, Daily Sun: "Apparently intrigued by a passion to strengthen cultural diplomacy between Nigeria and the United States US, the Federal Government may soon establish an international arts centre in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the fallout of a recent meeting hosted in Abuja by Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, and graced by officials such as Prof Tunde Babawale of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Embassy in the United States as well as Mr Thomas Okpaku, who forwarded the proposal to the Federal Government four years ago. ... Courtesy of CBAAC and the ministry, Nigeria had already established culture houses in Brazil and China. Another culture village was put in place in South Africa by the Otunba Segun Runsewe-led Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) to boost Nigeria’s image during the just concluded FIFA World Cup.

But the proposed centre in Atlanta is expected to assist Nigeria in showcasing its rich cultural heritage to the globe aside providing opportunities for research and exchange programmes. ... Also, the centre would bring about a psychological upliftment and rebirth in the psyche of people of African descent on the need to discover their history, culture and identity in America. And for those who may not be able to visit Africa, the center would bring the African and black world to them in Atlanta. And above all, the center plans to hold the next FESTAC (World festival of arts and culture) which would involve participation of all African countries, aside having a department that would be dedicated to women in development to deal with issues of public health, education, war and peace, conflict resolution and post conflict resolution, good governance, rule of law and democracy." Image from

First Sufi festival in New York from July 20 - KoolMuzone (blog): "The Pakistani Peace Builders Sufi Festival is an independent cultural diplomacy campaign to give voice to the true Pakistan and reaffirm shared values of tolerance and peace that celebrates Pakistan’s rich cultural heritage through the universal language of music. PPB stands in solidarity with New Yorkers and the world against violence perpetuated in the name of Muslims and Islam. Responding to the negative stereotyping of Pakistani-Americans and Pakistanis after the recent failed bombing of Times Square, we invite all Pakistani-Americans, Muslim-Americans and concerned global citizens to come together with this peace-building message. It is an effort to present the softer side of Pakistan and to repair country’s tarnished image. Folk artistes from the four provinces of Pakistan will be part of an ensemble at the First New York Sufi Festival and will have their first public performance at New York’s Union Square Park."

US slips, China glides in Thai crisis - Asia Times Online: "China ... is now locked in a subtle, but intensifying, competition with the US for Thai influence.

One Chinese official, who spoke ... on condition of anonymity, suggested that the US had 'blundered' by intervening so overtly in recent Thai events and credited his embassy with taking a more nuanced approach to the crisis. ... The Chinese envoy believes that Beijing's ramped up commercial and cultural diplomacy - including the promotion of ties with Thailand's politically and economically powerful Sino-Thai minority - is now more relevant and attuned to Thailand's future interests than the US's still strong emphasis on security issues. ... US ambassador Eric John has come under fire from Thai officials and influential US expatriates for being out of touch with Thailand's complex politics and cultural mores. ... [M]any believe that China's commercial and cultural pushes into Thailand are the front edge of a longer-view strategy to neutralize the US's strategic presence on its southern littoral." Image from

Getting Jesuitical in Shanghai: The city government turns a 19th century orphanage into a museum - Lisa Movius, Wall Street Journal: "The recently opened Tushanwan Museum features a contrast that is pure Shanghai: a 1930s advertising poster of a sultry, qipao-clad siren next to an austere painting of Jesus. Both are legacies of the city's Jesuit Tushanwan Orphanage and its attached arts and crafts academy, which helped to introduce Western art into China. The museum is unusual for its efforts to promote Shanghai's heritage. ... 'It is all part and parcel of the soft cultural diplomacy initiative of the Chinese government, to seem benign to the rest of the world,' observes William Hanbury-Tenison, an art dealer who has studied Chinese Catholic art. 'It's an odd little museum,' part of an 'initiative to build a cultural Xuhui District—it's not just about malls and bars.'"

See also John Brown, "America as a Shopping Mall: Cultural Diplomacy in the Age of Obama," Huffington Post. Image from article

Radical thinking is needed if you want to avoid the chop - David Lister, Independent: "The most important meeting for the arts this year took place a few days ago at 11 Downing Street. Some of culture's leading figures had a private session with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about the coming cuts. I'm told that the various worthies left feeling pretty queasy. I'm also told that the Chancellor felt a little queasy too after his first showdown with the arts world. Each of the guests, I am told, fought his or her own corner, but to little avail. Neil MacGregor, head of the British Museum, pleaded the case for the value of cultural diplomacy."

'Soft Power' takes India to global glory - Venkat Raman, Indian NewsLink:

"India’s emergence as a great power in Asia and as the second largest economy in the world by 2020 would be based on its ‘cultural diplomacy’ and values rather than on military might, says an analyst. According to Dr John Lee a Foreign Policy Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, India has defied expectations of the western world. ... According to Mr Lee, the emphasis on ‘soft power’ has added to the credibility of India and its increasing influence around the world. India’s attractiveness and ‘soft power’ potential lie not in its Nehruvian traditions of socialism or non-alignment but in the fact that its rise (unlike China’s) complements rather than challenges the preferred strategic, cultural and normative regional order. But the country can realise its ‘soft power’ only if it can demonstrate to the world of the ability to continuously pursue the reforms needed to build on its ‘hard power’ potential." Image from

ADACH and Assilah Forum Foundation sign MOU - Emirates News Agency, WAM: Assilah, Morocco, July 12, ... "The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and the Assilah Forum Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a number of joint programmes. The MoU was signed by Dr. Sami Al Masri, ADACH's Deputy Director General and Director of Strategic Planning and Development and the Mayor of Assilah, Mohammed Benaissa at Prince Bander Bin Sultan Library in Assilah. ... Dr Sami el Masri said of the signing: 'This MOU is one of the most important dimensions of ADACH's work. We want to establish partnerships with important cultural institutions in the region that have status and history. ... This is about strengthening our cultural ties through the implementation of a wide range of cultural programmes. We have already seen this instigated through the artists workshops that took place during this iteration of the festival. We will see more of this with the organisation of a series of panel discussions on cultural diplomacy - this is a very significant part of ADACH's work.'" See also.

AMERICANA

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.
* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.


* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.
* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

--Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, “A hidden world, growing beyond control,” Washington Post; image from article