September 15

"The history of New China's public diplomacy dates back to 1935, 14 years before the CPC took power. Mao Zedong, the top leader of the Party, invited two foreigners, including one American journalist, to Shaanxi in order to introduce the CPC and its army to the world."

--Ji Beibei, Global Times; image from

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PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama slipping, but not sliding, in Europe's eyes‎ - Michael Moran, GlobalPost:

Back in 2008, arguably a recent nadir in the world’s estimation of the United States, President George W. Bush’s public diplomacy czar, James Glassman, conceded that the election of an African-American with ties to Kenya, Indonesia and Islam would be a transformative event in terms of America’s image, and particularly, with regard to Europe. In the time since Obama’s election, surveys largely bore this out. Indeed, the 2009 edition of Transatlantic Trends, the German Marshall Fund’s authoritative annual look at ties between the United States and Europe, suggested Obama’s election had precisely that effect on Europe: 'The ‘Obama bounce’ is biggest jump in eight-year history of GMF survey.' This year’s edition of the survey provides no reason for panic in the White House. European approval remains high at 78 percent, but that’s down from 83 percent last year — a reflection, the report suggests, of discontent with Washington’s resolve to continue the fight in Afghanistan as well as a significant proportion (50 percent) expressing uneasiness with the administration’s policies in the greater Middle East, particularly toward Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program." Image from

Obama faces electoral and foreign policy challenges‎ - George Friedman, EnerPub: "Obama has a problem. He ran his campaign, in the Democratic tradition, with a vague anti-war theme and a heavy commitment to the American-alliance structure. He was also a strong believer in what has been called soft power, the power of image as opposed to that of direct force. This has not been particularly successful. The atmospherics of the alliance may be somewhat better under Obama than Bush, but the Europeans remain as fragmented and as suspicious of American requests under Obama as they were under Bush. Obama got the Nobel Prize but precious little else from the Europeans. His public diplomacy initiative to the Islamic world also did not significantly redefine the game. Relations with China have improved but primarily because the United States has given up on revaluation of the yuan. It cannot be argued that Obama’s strategy outside the Islamic world has achieved much. It could be claimed that any such strategy takes time, Obama’s problem is that he is running out of political maneuvering room."

Interview: A Mangled Message to the Muslim World - Council on Foreign Relations: Interviewee: Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Interviewer: Greg Bruno, Staff Writer: Nye: "The strategy of counterinsurgency rests on a combination of hard and soft power.


You use your hard military power not to see how many people you can destroy, but to provide enough security that you can then use your soft power to win the hearts and minds of the civilian populace. When you have an event like Abu Ghraib, which becomes widely disseminated throughout the Muslim world, or you have something like a threatened burning of the Quran, it makes it much harder to win those hearts and minds." Nye image from

Is the State Department Inviting Possible Terrorist into our Schools? - tanizarelli.com: "Could our U. S. State Department be inviting possible terrorists to join our Colleges and Universities? To find the answer we must do some serious research. Recently, I was sent a link to the US Consulate Jerusalem, website. This link specifically directed me to a program that is funded by the US State Department, through the US Consulate Jerusalem’s office in cooperation with a non profit organization called AmidEast. The program is called the Abraham Lincoln Incentive Grant. In 2009 Judith McHale, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, announced the Abraham Lincoln Incentive Grants. The new grants, which will assist Palestinians in applying for study at American colleges and universities, are the first tranche of $300,000 of special funding announced by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her March visit to Ramallah. The funding will pay for grants to approximately 100 Palestinian students to apply to U.S. universities over the next 5 years. ... These students are being recruited out of areas that are ruled by the Palestinian National Authority (Fatah) and Hamas (a recognized terrorist organization)."

America Honors Indonesian Filmmaker - Sylviana Hamdani, Jakarta Globe: "Last week, Hillary Rodham Clinton, US secretary of state, met with the winners of the 2010 Democracy Video Challenge ... in Washington. ... Adhyatmika, also known as Mika, was among those being honored. The 21-year-old independent filmmaker from Indonesia was one among six winners of the competition, which were announced early this month. His film, 'Democracy Is Yet to Learn,' edged out more than 700 submissions from 86 countries and earned him an all-expenses trip to the United States, where he is promoting his film."

Image: From left: Juan Pablo Patinoo Arevalo of Colombia, Yared Shumete of Ethiopia, Adhyatmika of Indonesia, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Farbod Khoshtinat of Iran, Anup Poudel of Nepal, Joel Marsden of Spain (Photo courtesy of the US Embassy Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs)

The BBG's Honeymoon: All Work and No Play - Matt Armstrong, Layalina Productions: "As the Board considers the requirements, challenges, and opportunities it faces, along with the broadcasting organizations it supervises, including: – including the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Middle East Broadcasting Network (MBN), Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), and Radio Free Asia (RFA), three fundamental questions must be addressed: how is the BBG relevant in today’s global information environment? Can the BBG balance advocacy with news delivery as a part of the federal government? And, can the BBG adapt to the free-for-all participation of social media?" See also

Social Media: Two Views - Laura McGinnis, manIC: "Author Vadim Lavrusik claims that social media is already becoming integrated into online journalism, via such trends as collaborative reporting and social media beat-mining. Seeing as how PD involves elements of both marketing and journalism, what does this mean for the noble field of public diplomacy? Less message content control (bad) but more active engagement with potential audience (good).

The problem is that most PD bodies seem to be a little slow to capitalize on social media technology. There's a desperate need to better align objectives with technological capabilities--not the government's strongest suit. It's not that I think the State Department shouldn't be on Twitter--but there's a reason they have fewer followers than your average sirloin-clad pop starlet." Image from

Connection Technologies in U.S. Foreign Policy- Sam duPont, New Policy Institute: “'21st Century Statecraft' is a new mode of thinking at the State Department that understands the world as a networked place, and sees an opportunity to embrace the technologies that are tying together the world’s people. Over the past 18 months, the State Department has taken advantage of the global network to conduct public diplomacy, strengthen civil societies, improve security and promote economic development around the world. More broadly, the objective of this new strategy is to give newfound voice to individual people in global affairs."

New US public affairs officer warns Jamaicans to be careful‎ - Jamaica Observer: "The newly appointed public affairs officer at the United States Embassy in Kingston, Yolonda Kerney has cautioned Jamaicans against giving money to unscrupulous persons who continue to defraud unsuspecting visa seekers. At the same time, Kerney promised that her department will continue to provide the necessary information to Jamaicans seeking visas to enter the United States. ... Apart from her role as the embassy's official spokesperson and engaging the media, the US public affairs officer deals with cultural and educational programmes.

Kerney pledged last week to make herself more available to the media and to use social media even more aggressively. 'I look forward to cementing those existing relationships and being accessible to the press,' she said." Image: Public Affairs Officer at the United States Embassy Yolonda Kerney (left) greets Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn while charge d’affaires Isiah Parnell looks on during a welcome reception at the embassy in Kingston last week. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Why Visa Waivers & A Bill For Young Africa?‎ - Torli Krua, Liberian Daily Observer: "I am talking about Liberia but the big picture for West Africa is similar. Visa Waivers benefits the United States Public Diplomacy efforts in many ways but most importantly it paints a picture of a fair adjudicator and a promoter of justice not just a friend of the rich and powerful. Balanced cultural, religious, educational exchanges are of mutual interests between Liberia and the US. What would happen if Americans were denied visa at the same rate as Liberians? Interestingly, not a single African country is on the list of the US Visa Waivers countries. WHY Not?"

Power to the (Blogging) People - Thomas Friedman, New York Times: With an estimated 70 million bloggers, China’s leaders are under constant pressure now to be more assertive by a populist- and nationalist-leaning blogosphere, which, in the absence of democratic elections, is becoming the de facto voice of the people. ... The Chinese blogosphere [is] where a whole generation of Chinese schooled by the government on the notion that the U.S. and the West want to keep China down, now have their own megaphones to denounce any Chinese official who compromises too much as 'pro-American' or 'a traitor.'

Interestingly, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has begun to reach out to that same blogosphere — even inviting bloggers to travel in the car with the U.S. ambassador, Jon Huntsman, and interview him when he visits their Chinese province — to get America’s message out without filtering by China’s state-run media." Image from

At Beijing forum, Chinese officials and other speakers discuss China's public diplomacy - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Public diplomacy gains ground‎ - Ji Beibei, Global Times: "Despite having several decades of history, New China's public diplomacy still lags behind many other countries, affecting its international image and soft power, senior diplomats said at a forum at the weekend. 'We have made much progress in negotiating with foreign governments, congressmen, and military officers, but lack experience in dealing with the public and media agencies,' Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying said at a forum on public diplomacy held Saturday by Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). The international view of China often swings between overestimation and underestimation, either warning of the 'China threat'

in the face of Chinese achievements, or 'China collapse' when any problems arise. In addition to limited numbers of cultural exports and disagreements over ideology, the backwardness of China's public diplomacy is another major reason for this situation, Fu noted. The history of New China's public diplomacy dates back to 1935, 14 years before the CPC took power. Mao Zedong, the top leader of the Party, invited two foreigners, including one American journalist, to Shaanxi in order to introduce the CPC and its army to the world. However, the act didn't lead to a tradition of public diplomacy. The current leadership has come to realize the importance of this kind of work." Image from

The Gastrodiplomacy Cookbook - Paul Rockower, Huffington Post: "One of the more delicious forms of public diplomacy has recently emerged in the global consciousness: gastrodiplomacy. Public diplomacy is a field predicated on the communication of culture and values to foreign publics; gastrodiplomacy, most plainly put, is the act of winning hearts and minds through stomachs. It is a public and cultural diplomacy endeavor that the governments of Korea and Taiwan have recently embarked on. There is an old American public diplomacy maxim, 'to know us is to love us;' Taiwanese and Korean gastrodiplomacy posits it a little differently and declares 'to taste us is to love us.'"

Public diplomacy Web site finally appears in English‎ - Gil Hoffman, Jerusalem Post: "A Web site that aims to help Israelis defend the country’s image abroad – which Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein said would be online in April – finally premiered on Sunday.

The site (http://masbirim.gov.il/eng/) provides hasbara material related to current events, tips for the 'novice ambassador,' myths and facts about Israel and the Arab world, and lists of Israel’s most prominent achievements in science, medicine and agriculture. A Hebrew version of the site has been online since February." Image from site

The Colombo Plan and 'soft' regionalism in the Asia-Pacific - David Lowe, AustralianPolicyOnline: "The Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia, launched in 1951 and continuing today in much-diminished form, is regularly invoked in Australia and New Zealand as a pioneering and progressive project through which closer understanding and engagement with Asia was achieved. It is widely acknowledged that the economic value of the Colombo Plan for developing countries may not have been outstanding, but the author argues that Colombo Plan information activities bred a new form of public relations in the foreign relations of its member countries. Especially in donor countries such as Australia and New Zealand, it gave rise to public diplomacy that responded partly to competitive impulses relating to overseas images, and partly to the demands of a centralized information bureau and to regional meetings of a consultative committee. In short, Colombo Plan activities fostered a cultural relations or an early 'soft' form of regionalism in the 1950s and 1960s that has been insufficiently understood."

Australian report on international broadcasting and its contribution to public diplomacy - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "Despite the dozens of reports on U.S. public diplomacy, it is actually quite rare to see an in-depth study on public diplomacy, particularly in the areas of government broadcasting. The 'too many' reports have often focused on specific cogs without regard to their place in the greater bureaucratic machine that spans the whole of whatever government the agency happens to be in. Even more rare is an in-depth public analysis of the public diplomacy of another country by another country.

This week, an Australian think tank, the Lowy Institute, published such a report. This report, International broadcasting and its contribution to public diplomacy by Annmaree O'Keeffe and Alex Oliver, is focused on the argument Australia’s government broadcasting needs to be taken seriously and properly funded." Image from

Interview with bout de papier on Canadian International Council and diplomacy - Colin Robertson blog: "Foreign service is ultimately about foreign policy. Ideas matter. Process and accountabilities are means, not ends. Bulking up on bean-counters and coaching staff doesn’t win games. And you have to keep bringing up new talent every year. Adjustment at the ministerial and political level of ‘Canada’s New Government’ accounted for some of the challenges but senior management also has much to answer. Throwing cultural funding and public diplomacy onto sacrifical alter without a squeak was unforgivable."

Brand Ghana holds summit to explore nation branding identity - Nation Branding: "A nation branding summit was celebrated earlier this month in Accra, Ghana, in order to discuss a unified nation brand image for the country. The meeting was held by the Brand Ghana Office, which was created in September 2009 to manage a nation branding programme for Ghana, and brought together about 300 participants from government bodies, representatives from both business and citizen sectors and most of the promotional agencies of the country. The summit’s main theme was 'Ghana in search of a competitive identity' and it was organized in a formal opening session and follow-up workshops with about 23 syndicate groups to explore branding-related areas in governance, business, investment and human development.

The workshops’ challenge was to find a concept and build a consensus on what kind of a brand Ghana should take. ... Mr. Mathias Akotia, Chief Executive Officer of Brand Ghana, said nation branding had become a strategic tool and process used to ensure competitiveness, because ‘having a reputation or none at all seriously impacts on a country’s ability to compete at all levels’. ... He said India, Malaysia, Egypt, Costa Rica, New Zealand and many more countries also have had active nation branding programmes in spite of the existence of state-owned, investment, tourism, exports and public diplomacy institutions dedicated to promote the country’s products, services and interests. ... Source: Ghanaian Times." Image from

HWB announces new joint venture: Effective public diplomacy - hwbblog.blogspot.com: "HWB Communications and ReadDillon have announced the formation of a new joint venture company, Diplocom Communications International. Diplocom is a specialist communications, media relations and government relations company that serves the international community in South and Southern Africa."

Cultural Crossroads: The Art of Diplomacy at the United Nations - Virginia Shore, Dipnote: "The United Nations General Assembly convenes tomorrow, September 14, and marks the tenth year of 'The International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for Children of the World.'

In recognition of the occasion, we note the art of Nick Cave, whose work appears in the ART in EMBASSIES exhibition currently installed at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) in New York." Image from article

The world of Wikileaks Part 2: A means of evaluating Public Diplomacy‎ - Ali Fisher, MountainRunner.us: "Strategic communications are conducted in a world of networks.

For those concerned with evaluation or funding of Public Diplomacy one key consideration is how aware the respective PD / SC organisations are of the networks; •in which they work, •with which they work •that they are seeking to build •that they are seeking to challenge." Image from

Meeting of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy - Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State: "The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy will hold a public meeting on September 28, 2010 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the conference room of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) located at 1850 K Street, NW, Fifth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006. The Commissioners will discuss public diplomacy issues, including the findings of a joint research project of the Commission and the University of Texas at Austin on measurement of public diplomacy efforts. The Commission is a bipartisan panel created by Congress in 1948 to assess public diplomacy policies and programs of the U.S. government and of publicly funded nongovernmental organizations. The Commission reports its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, the Secretary of State, and the American people."

Event: Digital Statecraft: Media, Broadcasting, and the Internet as Instruments of Public Diplomacy in the Middle East - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "Today [September 15, the Aspen Institute hosts a discussion on 'digital statecraft' at its Washington, DC, office at DuPont Circle. Digital Statecraft: Media, Broadcasting, and the Internet as Instruments of Public Diplomacy in the Middle East will feature Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute

and Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors; Eli Khoury, CEO of Quantum Communications, a leading advertising and communications firm in the Middle East; and Duncan MacInnes, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) in the Office of the Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs." Image from

Jonathan Prince, Veteran Obama and Clinton Official, Joins Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates as Partner‎ - press release, PR Newswire: "Jonathan Prince, a senior political strategist and communicator in the Obama and Clinton Administrations, has joined Washington, D.C.-based strategic communications firm Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates as a partner. Prince most recently served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State with responsibility for strategic communications and public diplomacy for Middle East Peace, and a member of Special Envoy George J. Mitchell's regular delegation. As a senior advisor in the Clinton White House, Prince managed communications and message strategy at NATO during the war in Kosovo, during the impeachment and trial of the President, and for other major Clinton Administration initiatives."

NATO source: Hunting the person where “It is not the person that matters…but demonstrating that government is able to democratically control the security services” - Voice of Croatia: "But then, who was in fact the closest to the security services in Croatia, if not gen Cosic (former Defense Deputy Minister) and Mr Luka Bebic (proud former communist party guru who managed to impos his 'secret services' to all governments in Croatia),

who opened this seminar… Finally, if they were concerned with “psychological transformation of military leadership” (Gen Cosic), isn’t it a (strange) security service issue, or what they call “public diplomacy” today; and doesn’t it show who was in charge of it? Hence, the paradox reveals that it is not about 'democratic control'!" Image from

Spam: Politică partizană si “duşmanul obştii” - theophylepoliteia.wordpress.com: Reference to public diplomacy in one of the comments.

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In Seoul, Schwarzenegger attracts a crowd, hopes that trade follows: Most know nothing about Sacramento. But they show up to see the 'Terminator governor' promoting his state - John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times.


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Is Obama the Antichrist? Why we believe propaganda - Shankar Vedantam, Slate: When we confront crazy beliefs that are widely held, we usually blame propaganda. The Germans believed the lies Hitler told them (we tell ourselves). Those who do not believe that Obama's birth certificate is valid must have been misled by ideological commentators. This theory reflects a profound naiveté about how our minds work, and it externalizes blame that is better turned inward. In recent years, dozens of psychological studies have shown that we shape incoming information as much as it shapes us. We sift and sort, choosing what we like and discarding what we don't. Much of this happens unconsciously in what I call the hidden brain. We see the effects of these mental gymnastics all the time: Few people change their minds on hot-button issues, even when new information is provided to them.

Psywar: The Real Battlefield is the Mind by Metanoia Films - Pacific Free Press: Includes original interviews with a number of dissident scholars including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Peter Phillips (“Project Censored”), John Stauber (“PR Watch”), Christopher Simpson (“The Science of Coercion”) and others This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the “elitist theory of democracy” and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.

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From Boing Boing