November 24-25

“'Public Diplomacy' is a term that should be abolished."

--Blogger Matt Armstrong; image from

"To connote this activity, we at the Fletcher School tried to find a name. I would have liked to call it 'propaganda.' It seemed like the nearest thing in the pure interpretation of the word to what we were doing. But 'propaganda' has always a pejorative connotation in this country. To describe the whole range of communications, information, and propaganda, we hit upon 'public diplomacy.'”

--Dean Edmund Gullion (1967)

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

International Religious Freedom Report 2010 – Ethiopia US State Department - posted at eastafricaforum.net: "The U.S. government discusses religious freedom with the government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. In reaching out to faith communities, the embassy employed a full range of public diplomacy tools, including speaker exchange programs, small grants, publications, and representation events.


For instance, the embassy invited Muslim representatives to participate in a February 2010 Internet chat on religious freedom and defamation of religion. The U.S. government’s Media Information Support Team promoted religious pluralism through a poster contest, theatrical performances, and soccer and basketball programs, a 'Peace through Unity' music concert, billboards, banners, and posters depicting religious tolerance, and comic books." Image from

2010 IRF Report - Imara, Democracy & Society: "Last week the State Department released its 2010 Report on International Religious Freedom (IRF Report), our government’s annual assessment of the state of religious freedom around the world. The release of a new IRF report has never been a particularly grand media event, typically receiving limited coverage and going largely ignored domestically outside the limited sphere of human rights organizations. Perhaps in part these reports go ignored due to an issue we’ve tangled with in the past, the difficulty of impacting change through public diplomacy without the support of policy change (or words without actions). In many ways this appears to be a typical difficulty faced by the State Department, particularly in the area of human rights there’s little intention to take action beyond the status quo of economic sanctions."

North Korea Pressures US Through Provocations - Bruce Klingner, Heritage.org: "North Korea’s ability to expand its nuclear weapons programs despite international pressure will resurrect debate over the efficacy of sanctions. This debate is usually depicted in binary fashion—i.e., whether the U.S. should use pressure or engagement.


The reality, of course, is that sanctions and engagement—along with economic assistance, military deterrence, alliances, and public diplomacy—are all diplomatic tools to influence the negotiating behavior of the other side." Image from

Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Voice of America history in the news - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

RFE/RL launches A Tree Without Roots blog, "devoted to development issues in the broadest sense" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Prambanan; No Country for Old Men - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "On my transYogya bus back, I met a fellow named Daniel. Daniel is a Christian Indonesian who had studied English in the UK. He had been trying to get a visa to study in the US, but in the infinite wisdom of the US Embassy, they kept denying him a visa. Dumb.


Just cause people are from Indonesia doesn't make them threats. And the annoying thing is that when you apply for a visa, you have to pay, irregardless of whether you get the visa. It is a terrible measure of public diplomacy to shake down visa seekers for money and not offer anything. It is a sad racket that the US is running." Image from

Eric Ehrmann: Brazil’s Dilma in Crossfire of US-China Currency War - posted at Barack Obama and USA: "With president-elect Dilma Rousseff announcing market-friendly budget cuts and the White House still searching for new economic leadership, Brazil has joined China, France and Germany in the call for a coordinated global effort to replace the foundering dollar as the major world reserve currency. This new 'Gang of Four' has more clout than the US and British economies combined. It emanated from the need to countervail US public diplomacy that caused Dilma to suggest Washington has been engaging in a 'disguised devaluation' of the dollar following Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s charge that Beijing is keeping its yuan to dollar exchange rate artificially low, which does help the earnings of American companies who manufacture in and buy goods from China."

'Israel can't rely on Turkey or NATO for its defense,' expert says - Barçin Yinanç, ‎Hurriyet Daily News: "Ariel Cohen, from Washington think tank The Heritage Foundation, criticized what he called the Turkish leadership’s adamant position on not letting any data collected by a planned NATO missile defense system radar be shared with Israel. ... Cohen also criticized the U.S. for remaining passive in public diplomacy, saying it should have objected to movies like


'Valley of the Wolves' that depict a negative image of Americans." Image from

A tale of one summit: NATO's new Strategic Concept‎ - Gülnur Aybet, Today's Zaman: "As far as summits go, much attention was focused on NATO’s Lisbon summit last weekend, but what came out of it was hardly surprising or significant. Strategic concepts are documents that lay down the military and political guidelines for the alliance. During the Cold War, NATO strategic concepts had predominantly been military documents which were classified and out of the public sphere. Since 1991, all strategic concepts have been made public, and are predominantly a tool of public diplomacy. While the strategic concepts of 1991 and 1999 were largely 'reactive' documents, affirming the changes rapidly taking place in the international security environment, the urgency to revise this became inevitable after Sept. 11. NATO’s public diplomacy division has been presenting this transformation in the alliance as the three versions of NATO, much like a computer operating system. Version 1.0 refers to the NATO of the Cold War, when the core function was collective defense against a tangible enemy, the Soviet Union. Version 2.0 refers to the 1990s, when NATO acted more as a collective security organization, intervening to put 'humanitarian crises' right, and expanding and building partnerships to absorb the post-communist space into its transatlantic norms of democratic governance, free market economies and human rights. But dealing with the break-up of Yugoslavia, however, proved to be a steep learning curve. The big challenge for NATO in moving from v.2.0 to v.3.0 has been its response to a post-Sept. 11 world."

The NATO summit and Europe (I) - Beril Dedeoğlu, Today's Zaman: "NATO’s new strategic concept aims to fight against threats generated by unstable regimes, radical organizations and terrorists, not on-site, but when they reach NATO’s borders. Nonetheless, NATO pledges to support unstable regions socioeconomically and to widen public diplomacy’s scope.


It’s not known for now if Western countries will be able to succeed in that because even though the US is appreciated at least by some segments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the level of trust toward European countries in those regions is open to debate." Dedeoğlu image from article

Kazakhstan championing a nuclear-free world - Sikander Shah, voiceofkarachi.blogspot.com: "[I]t is Kazakhstan which regularly brings the issue of a new non-proliferation treaty on the international agenda.


This, in particular, on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which was adopted in 1996, but will enter into force only after being ratified by nine countries, including China, Iran, Israel and the U.S. ... Kazakhstan is trying to mobilise all resources, including media, NGOs and public diplomacy to persuade governments that have not yet acceded or ratified the Treaty to do so in the nearest future." Image from article

China unswervingly pursues peaceful development - Xinhua: "While China's influence would continue to grow in the future, western nations would become more 'worried and vigilant' about China's growth, and voices calling on China to 'shoulder more responsibilities' and 'play more important roles' would arise, said Zhou Qingan, a research fellow at the Center for International Communication Studies at Beijing-based Tsinghua University. Zhou added that 'it's time for China to ponder its own rhythm,' saying that in the past the country always followed others' models to develop itself. 'During the 12th Five-Year Program period, China should follow its own pace and deal with key issues such as urbanization, increasing personal incomes and narrowing disparities between rural and urban areas,' he said. 'Public diplomacy' was also stressed in the proposal for the next five-year blueprint, Zhou said, adding that the government was not the only protagonist in adhering to the peaceful development road, and the masses should participate as well."

Post-crisis Era Foreign Affairs Need Common Interest - Jessie Stone, scooparticle.com: "In most crisis-hit countries, only China's economy maintained good growth conditions, some forces trying to contain China's rise


by making trouble. The fact is, through two years of great power diplomacy, the summit diplomacy, multilateral diplomacy, economic diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, public diplomacy and other multi-multi-channel efforts, China's foreign relations has created a new, larger situation, great power relations are a stable or even increase, China has an important influence in the international system and a voice to further expand the good-neighborly neighbor of the regional policy benefits and create a common space of mutual trust and mutual benefit, the scientific concept of development and harmony of the world has been more widely accepted and disseminated." Image from

Sky could yet win Australia TV bid ‎- Hamish McDonald and Clancy Yeates, The Age: "Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd


has kept open hopes of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire of grabbing Australia's overseas television broadcasting service from the ABC. The federal government will be putting out to tender a 10-year contract to run the Australia Network, currently accessible to 32 million households in 44 countries through satellite and cable. The network is largely financed by an annual $20 million allocation from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade budget for public diplomacy, plus a small amount from advertising. Rudd image from

Australia's international broadcasting commitments under question - Radio Australia: "Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd this week announced an open tender for the provision of Australia Network, the country's international television broadcasting service. Mr Rudd said the federal government would put a 10-year contract up for tender. AusNet is currently provided by the ABC under a five-year contract with Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Canberra's decision has raised eyebrows in sections of the Australian public. A recent Lowy Institute working paper highlighted serious inadequacies in Australia's current approach to international broadcasting. It says Australia's international broadcasting suffers from, among other things, erratic and inadequate funding and obstacles to longterm planning. ... Alex Oliver, Lowy Institute research fellow: I'm not sure, there is a precedent for this in Australia's history in that the Australia Television as it then was, was operated briefly by the Seven network, which had some commercial expectations of the service which were dashed. And it wound up in very short period, of a four year term, and it wound up very suddenly, and then the government ended up stepping in and saving the service. So there is a precedent for it and I'm not sure, the international broadcasters that we spoke to in the ten countries that we surveyed ... couldn't really figure out how it would work for a commercial broadcaster, because strategic cooperation between the ministry and foreign affairs and the person who operates the service is really important in developing the service and developing the audiences, and making sure that it does the right job of public diplomacy for the nation."

110 and going strong: A saga of time-tested friendship - Russia & India Report: "It was a truly auspicious day when in November 1900 Bombay (now Mumbai)


saw the opening of the first Russian diplomatic mission in India, which was then temporarily located in the gorgeous historical building of the iconic Taj Mahal hotel. This event crowned more than three decades of efforts by Russia in opening of its official gateway to the largest country of South Asia. It is an apposite time to remember today the pioneer of Russian diplomacy in India, Otto (William Oskarovich) von Klemm, his selflessness and dedication which made this arduous task a success. At that time India was not yet an independent nation, but it was in those years that the foundation of Russian-Indian relationship was laid. ...Von Klemm also launched a unique initiative of public diplomacy, an important component of bilateral ties. An exposition entitled 'Bombay – Fishery in India in live forms and figures' was presented at the International Fishing Fair in St. Petersburg in 1902 and was a huge success. ... The forthcoming visit of the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, to India next December will surely open new vistas of mutually beneficial interaction in the field of innovations and help promote effective solution to the tasks of accelerated economic and social development of the two countries." Image from article

Azerbaijani ambassador to Spain: Next year crucial in Azerbaijani-Spanish relations - Trend: "The Azerbaijani ambassador to Spain described the political ties between the two countries as smooth, stable, and reflecting mutual cooperation in regional and global issues during a recent interview with Trend.


That creates favorable conditions for giving new dynamics to bilateral relations and filling them with new content, Ambassador Altai Efendiev said. ... The ambassador considers it important to use the entire arsenal of public diplomacy, including mutual visits, cultural programs, contacts between young people, and programs involving Azerbaijanis living in Spain. He said this is one of the most important activities for the embassy." Efendiev image from article

Israel's Coping with the al-Aqsa Intifada: A Critical Review‎ - Ephraim Lavie, Canada Free Press: "This article explores the underlying complexity in defining the essence of the intifada, both in factual and legal terms, and Israel’s response to the violence by means of applying the doctrine of a 'limited conflict.' The article deals with the results of the policy, including the effects of the IDF’s operations on the positions of the Palestinian population towards Israel and towards the greater Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ... The IDF emphasized to the political echelon and to the Israeli population that conducting a limited conflict obliged a combined, coordinated campaign, entailing maximum coordination among the many elements involved – political, military, economic, humanitarian, diplomatic, and public diplomacy – and in addition, obliged social resilience, which would facilitate unity, resistance, and endurance."

Ghanaian NGO won Top Program Award in the U.S. - ghanaweb.com: "World Partners for Development (WPD) is a dedicated U.S. 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and a registered non-governmental organization in Ghana that is making positive impact in peoples lives by working in partnership to develop and implement sustainable innovative solutions to some of the world's most urgent challenges affecting human lives.


Interactive video and audio communications are incorporated in our programs to enhance program understanding and the linking of viewers to new people around the world, places and experiences. WPD join forces with other partners to improve lives in the areas of health, environment, education and cross-cultural engagement. World Partners for Development program proposal was selected as a Top Program by the Global Health Task Force and the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD) and as such was highlighted as a key component of the U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy that was held November 16-19, 2010 in Washington, DC, USA. 39 U.S. states and 41 countries around the globe attended the summit." See also. Image from

A new public diplomacy as banks close foreign embassy accounts? Not exactly - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "The term 'public diplomacy' is problematic, born out of bureaucratic wrestling in the mid-1960’s as the 'struggle for minds and wills' gave way to counting tanks, bombers, and missiles. It’s [sic] very use today continues to signify something that is different, but it is not a separate line of activity that is discretely separated other 'private' or any other diplomacy. It is not faery dust to be sprinkled on when the time is right. And don’t get me started on niche terms like 'baseball diplomacy' or 'music diplomacy' or 'left-handed comb diplomacy' or whatever. 'Public Diplomacy' is a term that should be abolished and replaced with a more generic label as it prevents proper integration of various information, engagement and influence activities across the government, notable but not exclusively, in the State Department. To some, public diplomacy does not fit here because private entities are engaged with foreign governments, the exact opposite of how many define 'public diplomacy. The latest debacle in DC is an example that will surely invite some commentator to 'coin' a new term, 'banking diplomacy.' What I’m referring to is a post by Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin about US banks closing accounts of foreign embassies."

Three signs your newsroom is not ready to cross the digital divide - Mat Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "The Knight Digital Media Center posted ‘three signs’ that indicate a newsroom remains focused on print, with online activities an ‘add-on’ operation.


In today’s 'now media' of converging platforms and audiences, the newsroom needs to think about where and when both the audience and the information are to be found. Alter the recommendations somewhat and the lessons apply to public diplomacy and public affairs offices as well." Image from

DPRD Doubt Montara’s Claim of not Polluting Timor Sea - tempointeractive.com: "The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) House of Representatives (DPRD) doubts the Australian research team’s findings that Indonesian waters have not polluted by the Montara oil spill, which happened on August 21, 2009. ... The government, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, continues to demand compensation for the Timor Sea oil spill. 'The government is still investigating and demanding compensation,' said the Director of Public Diplomacy at the Foreign Ministry, Kusuma Habir, through a short message yesterday."

74. Sehreen Noor Ali (Co-Founder, DC Muslim Feds) - muslimheroes.wordpress.com: "Sehreen Noor Ali works for the U.S. Department of State, where she coordinates global Muslim engagement for public diplomacy as outlined in President Obama’s speech in Cairo in June 2009.


Previously, she led digital outreach efforts to Iran and to other countries in the Middle East. She entered the State Department through the Presidential Management Fellowship, which afforded her the opportunity to work at the U.S. Mission to UNESCO in Paris, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, and the U.S. Consulate-General in Dubai. In 2009, she co-founded DC Muslim Feds, a professional network that connects Muslims working full-time for the federal government." Sehreen Noor Ali image from article

Meet Creepy "Leadership Group on US-Muslim Engagement," plus Arabist Bloomberg takes shellacking on Oprah pal for school czar - wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com: "Ahmed Younis Senior Analyst, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies; former National Director, Muslim Public Affairs Committee Washington, DC A graduate of Washington & Lee School of Law, Ahmed Younis is an expert on American Muslims and other topics such as terrorist financing, public diplomacy, identity/integration and issues affecting the relationship between the global Muslim Community and the West. He served as National Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee in Washington, DC from 2004 to 2007."

Working in Strategic Communications - thecareersgroupgid.wordpress.com: "Tom Wein graduated with a BA in War Studies from King’s College London.


He came back to talk to King’s students about his work with the Strategic Communication Laboratory (www.scl.cc/) What was your background and what do you do I grew up in the UK and did a BA in the War Studies department. I had applied for Masters courses but I applied to Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) as well. SCL conduct social science research in difficult to access places such as war zones, the middle east, Russia and Afghanistan on sensitive topics such as terrorism. This research then forms the basis for potential strategic communication campaigns – a form of public affairs campaigns, or public diplomacy." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Robert Pape: Blaming Suicide Bombings on the 'Occupation' - Jared Sorhaindo, FrontPage Magazine: Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, gave a lecture titled "Cutting the Fuse: Moving Beyond the War on Terror" on October 28, 2010, at Georgetown University. The room in which it was held was packed to full capacity, which gives an idea of his celebrity. Pape has garnered much attention and influence in recent years for his thesis that the vast majority of suicide bombings -- "well over 95 percent of them," as he put it -- are motivated by foreign military occupation. Pape lacks an understanding of the genius of al-Qaeda—and other terrorist groups—as a propaganda organization. Although driven by radical Islamic theology, they know that Westerners care deeply about racism, colonialism, the environment, and other such causes, so they appeal to these left-wing talking points to gain the sympathy, or at least empathy, of their Western audiences. They find a willing dupe in Middle East studies academia, with Robert Pape himself serving as a pungent example.

A Grand Reunion For Kibbutz Volunteers, Monocolumn: A recent study by The Kibbutz Movement – an umbrella organisation representing Israel’s 273 remaining kibbutzim – revealed that 90 per cent of volunteers viewed their kibbutz experience positively. This legacy of goodwill forms the centrepiece of a new project to identify and reunite this far-flung volunteer diaspora as part of the kibbutz’s centenary celebration.


Along the way, these efforts could very well help resuscitate Israel’s battered public image in the countries where it’s currently needed most. “Even decades after their time in Israel, we still see the volunteers as potential ambassadors for communicating the contrast between what actually happens in Israel and what folks see on TV,” says Professor Eytan Gilboa, director of the Center for International Communication at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv. “Even if just a small fraction speak out favourably, it will be a major achievement.” Image: Children of the Sun treats a national social project, the Israeli kibbutz (cooperative farm) movement, which flourished between 1930 and 1970 Children of the Sun treats another national social project, the Israeli kibbutz (cooperative farm) movement, which flourished between 1930 and 1970 from

One weird reality show: If it is rewarded with light-water reactors, the North will try to use them as proof of Kim Jong-un’s legitimacy - Jeung Young-tai, joongangdaily.joins.com: The propaganda to highlight Kim Jong-un’s achievements has already been in high gear in the North. The term “CNC,” referring to computer numerical control technology, has been promoted as if it were the achievement of Kim Jong-un.

North Korea broadcasts propaganda response to Yeonpyeong Island shelling: North Korea's state run KRT television station has launched a propaganda campaign against the South following shelling on the border island of Yeonpyeong - telegraph.co.uk.


Image from article: North Korean newsreader announces attack on Yeonpyeong Island Credit: APTN

North Korean artillery shells are followed by North Korean propaganda - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Two Pedestrians Being Twice Run Over in Belarus - telegraf.by: The town of Baranavichy in Belarus became the scene of a horrible traffic accident when two men, trying to cross the road at a forbidden location, were run over twice. As a result, both pedestrians died at once, the head of agitation and propaganda office of Brest Interior Affairs Department Natalia Sakharchuk reported. The victims were crossing the road at Praletarskaya street.


First they were hooked on by "Volkswagen" car; as a result the pedestrians were thrown into the oncoming lane, where they were run over by a minivan again. A criminal case was brought upon the fact, investigation is underway, BelTA informs. Brest voblast has fixed 201 injured and 55 killed, involving pedestrians, in the result of traffic accidents over eleven months of 2010. 125 out of 246 road accidents happened through the pedestrians' fault. Image from article

Tron: Evolution combats pre-owned sales - computerandvideogames.com: Disney is attempting to discourage pre-owned sales of upcoming release Tron: Evolution by offering free day-one DLC to consumers who by the game new. New copies of the title will boast a one-time-use code to unlock two multiplayer maps and a Sam Flynn multiplayer skin, Destructoid reports.


On Saturday, Disney launched a Tron: Evolution developer diary in which Propaganda Games boss Darren Hedges detailed the PS3 version's inclusion of Move and 3D support. Image from article

AMERICANA

"This year, America's poultry-industrial complex will produce 242 million turkeys, which will yield about 6 billion pounds of salable bird with an estimated retail value of $4.18 billion."

--Tim Rutten, "A most American holiday: The Thanksgiving table's abundance exerts an attraction on all Americans because it represents the paradoxical tension in which we hold the two halves of our national life," latimes.com


--Image from