September 13

"Stop and listen to me! …. They're not human! … Can't you see? Everyone! They're here already. You're next!"

--The panicked doctor, played by just deceased 96-year-old Kevin McCarthy, who tried to warn the world about the alien "pod people" who were taking over in the 1956 science-fiction suspense classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"; image from article

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Top Ten US Embassy Facebook Pages - Domani Spero, DiploPundit

China needs to boost its image abroad - Ji BeibeI, Global Times:

"China should invest more in public diplomacy in order to help the rest of the world know more about how the country works, senior officials and scholars said during a forum Saturday in Beijing. Public diplomacy, which has a different definition in each country, achieves a few basic things: it complements government diplomacy and it enhances a country's international image by improving its influence on how it's perceived abroad. China lags behind many countries when it comes to public diplomacy and there's a need to change the way foreigners overseas see China, a Chinese vice foreign minister said during a keynote speech. 'Having public diplomacy is like playing a football match. Playing a game is good even when you don't care about winning or losing. One gets the chance to present his side and allow others to feel his existence. But one will definitely lose if he doesn't play at all," said Fu Ying, the vice foreign minister.'" See also; image: Babes of Boost Mobile Pro of Surf


China Opens "Center on Public Diplomacy" to Enhance International Image - CMP Newswire: "(2010-09-13) ― People's Daily Online reports that the Center on Public Diplomacy, the country's first 'academic research center on public diplomacy,' was formally opened at the Beijing Foreign Studies University over the weekend. At a speech in honor of the event, Fu Ying (傅莹), China's vice foreign minister, said: 'While China has made progress in communicating with foreign political sectors, it lacks experience in handling relations with the media and the public in foreign countries.'"

China Yin/Yang - Johan Galtung, Transcend Media Service: "Talk at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Sep 2010. ... I express my gratitude to the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament and the American Friends Service Committee for having brought me to this tenth visit to China since 1973, and to Beijing Foreign Studies University for inviting me to this Forum on Public Diplomacy and China’s International Image. I define public diplomacy as diplomacy for the people and by the people. The purpose is neither public relations nor propaganda, but to bring the peoples of the world together by making them understandable to each other. Like languages have their own logic, so do all countries, all nations. China’s international image has moved from bad to ambiguous. ... There is a need for a deeper image of China, beyond knowledge of Chinese cooking, traditional medicine and martial arts. The big task is to explain the logic of China. And China has failed in doing so because China takes its own deep culture, the essence of China, for granted, and because China tries to explain China with Western logic."

Amb. Ronen Sen's Address at Jadavpur University - Indiandiplomacy: "Address By Ambassador Ronen Sen on 'Making American Interest Groups Appreciate India’s Concerns and Priorities: A Public Diplomacy Exercise Abroad' at Jadavpur University on 13 September 2010 ... In one sense, the term 'public diplomacy' is an oxymoron, a fundamental contradiction in both conceptual and practical terms. Each country seeks to pursue its own national interests, while preserving its independence of action and autonomy in decision-making. Ultimately, however, the most effective diplomacy is aimed at an optimal balance of maximizing its national security or socio-economic development objectives, while minimizing the corresponding dilution of national sovereignty. No amount of rhetorical posturing can alter this basic reality of international negotiations. ... I feel that public diplomacy can also play a vitally important supportive role in promoting better understanding of our concerns and priorities, both abroad and in our own country.

The inextricable links between our domestic and foreign policy priorities is not fully understood in our country. ... Public debate can also play a critical role in bridging the gap between rhetoric and reality. ... Public diplomacy can also, with the caveats I had mentioned earlier, balance our need to know approach with the need to share approach. This applies not just to our foreign policy, but also our defence, space, atomic energy, counter-terrorism, foreign economic and other policies. There should be much more informed debate on these issues. ... Despite our Right to Information Act, the 'public' is denied access to decades old documents 'in public interest'. Public diplomacy will be facilitated by even conditional access to most documents to academic institutions and think-tanks, which could provide valuable inputs in the decision making processes of the government. ... Let me now, at long last, come to the specific subject I was asked to speak about, namely, my experience in trying to persuade American interest groups to appreciate India’s concerns and priorities. ... Let me now give you an overall idea of how my colleagues and I undertook the most challenging public diplomacy initiative in the United States, namely, the historic Indo-US nuclear deal." Sen image (left) from

Media Program Assistant; FP-7; FSN-7 U. S. Mission, Uganda Vacancy Announcement - Naombakazi.com: "The U.S. Embassy is seeking for one individual for the position of Media Program Assistant in the Public Diplomacy Section."

RELATED ITEMS

In From the Cold - Editorial, New York Times: To weaken the Afghan Taliban, American military commanders are hoping to lure fighters away from the insurgency with the promise of jobs, security and a better life. The idea is a good one.

Like so much else in Afghanistan, this important initiative has badly faltered. So far, there is no real sign that Taliban leaders even want to negotiate. That is yet one more reason to try to persuade lower-level insurgents to abandon the fight. Image from

CNN Correspondent Touts Mangos as Tool to Fight Militants - Rusty Weiss, newsbusters.org: Hillary Clinton recently lauded the benefits of Pakistani mangos in a discussion of better trade cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The mango program, CNN's Reza Sayah surmises, will help to curb anti-Americanism and bridge a "huge trust deficit".

Post-9/11, we're safer than we think - Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post: The real threat of al-Qaeda was that it would inspire some percentage of the world's 1.57 billion Muslims, sending out unstoppable waves of jihadis. In fact, across the Muslim world, militant Islam's appeal has plunged.Bin Laden knew he could never weaken America directly, even if he blew up a dozen buildings or ships. But he could provoke an overreaction by which America weakened itself.

Lady Gaga Can't Match Kim in Twitter Account - William Pesek, Bloomberg: Who can resist Dear Leader Kim’s

propaganda arm churning out crazed statements in 140 characters? Its postings haven’t disappointed, branding South Korea a “prostitute” and a “dirty whore.” Reactions to North Korea’s “uriminzok” Twitter account focus on how Kim will have his sinister way in cyberspace. Yet what if the opposite is true? Opening this window might backfire on Kim to the benefit of the entire world. Image from

Bomber-building team is reunited - UKPA: Members of a record-breaking group of factory workers whose exploits were made into a Second World War propaganda film have been reunited. The group, who made RAF Wellington bombers at a factory in Broughton, North Wales, were filmed as they built a plane from scratch in just under 24 hours - beating the record set by the Americans by more than a day.

The 12-minute film, complete with an American voice-over, was shown in the US to prove to North American audiences that Britain was not beaten by the blitz. Image from

FOUND ON THE WEB

“I Don't Like” (Continued): “Patriotism” documented: “the terms change, but the content remains the same” - Posted by IA@VoC, Voice of Croatia:

To understand even better our “patriots”, VoC translates a portion of Mr M. Tudjman diary, as published at Croatian Cultural Council:

“Thursday, 22 Mar 2007

Public diplomacy. Sometimes the terms change, but the content remains the same. Thus the term ‘propaganda’ became ostracized on the West because of its use on the East. The Americans commenced to use the terms ‘system values’, ‘information policy’, and most recently ‘the public diplomacy’. The choice of terms is important because ‘half of the political power resides on creation of the image’. This means that there is no longer the equation sign between national security and strong military or strong economy [hard to believe, if we observe a simultaneous destruction of all these milestones in Croatia, yet, some buy such stuff…, op. VoC] The power of national security hides behind ‘soft power’: force the others to act in the way that it fits us (and who wouldn’t otherwise act in that way). Professor Ben Mor refers to Joseph Nye as to the author of the term ‘soft power’. As the head of Croatian Intelligence Service, I met Joseph Nye in the 1990s in Croatia.

We visited together the strategic war zones in Croatia and Herzegovina. He was then the president of NIC (National Information/Intelligence Council), the body that submits intelligence estimates with recommendations to the USA president. Public diplomacy becomes a 'soft power' because it realized the interests of its state in another state through the information and culture activities, international personnel exchange, non-government organizations financing, foreign public opinion research etc. Instead of old expressions and methods of ‘political propaganda’ and ‘psychological [warfare] operations, there is the term ‘public diplomacy’ which is used, because the world changed as well. At the beginning of 1950s, there were only 31% of states with parliamentary democracy. By democratization, particularly after the fall of communist system, 60% of world population lives in democratic countries. The consequence of such changes is that the public became the power to be counted upon both in foreign policy and in international relations. The best way to act upon the public is the ‘soft power’.

Friday, 23 Mar 2007

The image is more important than the truth. (…)” Tudjman image from

AMERICANA (I)

Number of older adults treated for substance abuse doubles - Betty Klinck, USA TODAY: The number of older adults admitted to substance-abuse treatment facilities has more than doubled since 1992, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The organization's latest Treatment Episode Data Set report, released Thursday, shows that the number of patients ages 50 and older has increased from about 102,700 in 1992 to 231,170 in 2008.

AMERICANA (II)


Marlboros for Mummy? - Quit Smoking Painlessly Now!: "In 1950, Marlboros were promoted as a cigarette for mothers. Can you imagine mums puffing away and the innocent babies, toddlers and children growing up as passive smokers inhaling all the poison? I shuddered at the thought of it. I have found these ads, supposedly from 1950, that advised mummies to take a puff to release stress. Thankfully, this notion never caught on. However, famous advertising guru Leo Burnett helped the company to reposition Marlboro as a rugged man’s cigarette by inventing Marlboro Man. You know, rugged men galloping on fast horses on rugged countryside. Until then, filter cigarettes were not for real men. Well, Marlboro got Leo Burnett to thank and the world got more smokers than necessary."