November 3-4

"Arizona war worker writes her Navy boyfriend a thank-you note for the Jap skull he sent her."

--Caption on a 1944 Life photograph; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Does the election matter for the Middle East? - Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: "[T]here are real reasons to worry about the effects of a GOP-controlled Congress for Middle East policy . ... I'm not looking forward to clownshow hearings with lunatics denouncing creeping sharia and whipping up anti-Islamic hysteria, which could undermine Obama's public diplomacy and counterterrorism strategies and do some real long term damage."

The Election Heard 'Round the World‎ - Joseph Sternberg, Wall Street Journal: "Americans caught up in election night fever at home might not realize that this vote is being watching closely around the world, too.

But as Wednesday morning dawns in Asia, folks from Korea to Canberra will be tuning in for the results. For a region still heavily dependent on exports to America, big GOP gains will probably be viewed as a net positive. It might be hard to read any clear verdict in today’s Asian market moves as investors also look to this week’s Fed meeting, but Asians will be sure to notice that Americans are voting in spades for limited-government candidates. That’s potentially good for growth in the U.S. And it’s a rebuke to those–China, that means you–who argued that not even America still believed in free markets and less state intervention. Talk about 'public diplomacy': This is a clear message straight from the American public to the rest of the world." Image from

Foreign policy to the rescue: Why Obama may look overseas for political salvation? - Aref Assaf, blog.nj.com: "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. ... [T]he elections had rendered him weaker and running out of time. It would therefore follow that Obama will have to turn over his cards on the only area where he can have traction — Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. The question is what he might do."

Peace roads beyond Cairo — Omair Anas, dailytimes.com.pk: "What change has come from Bush to Obama?


Peaceful and warm welcomes by Muslim heads of state for Obama is secured by public diplomacy strategies carved out by his expert team in the Muslim world. ... After 2009, Obama’s popularity among Muslim populations has started sliding. The Pew Research Centre poll results collected from 25,000 Muslim and Arab respondents in 22 countries have shown discouraging and disappointing trends. Things are changing fast against the US and Barak Obama. None of the issues he promised to resolve have shown any substantial progress. ... American public diplomacy in India has worked hard to ensure that no anti-US and anti-Obama protests take place and has approached a majority of the community leaders including separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. ... Disillusionment and scepticism emerged after the Cairo speech, and that is set to change to anger and disappointment should the Obama administration fail to materialise on the Cairo promises." Image from

Obama has time to win back US electorate's confidence‎ - Herald Scotland: "Mr Obama’s presidential election campaign was masterful; it spoke clearly and stridently to America’s disillusionment and employed social networking in a way that will surely be a template for all future campaigns. However, since he won office his public diplomacy has been poor and there has been no coherent strategy for telling Americans how hard the president is working to address America’s economic woes."

Clinton Signs Accord Ending 25-Year U.S. Nuclear Dispute With New Zealand - Chris Bourke and Nicole Gaouette, Bloomberg: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an accord with New Zealand in Wellington today marking the rebuilding of relations derailed 25 years ago by a nuclear feud. Clinton signed the 'Wellington Declaration' after attending a formal Maori welcome and meeting with senior members of New Zealand’s government including Prime Minister John Key.


Her visit is part of a two-week trip meant to bolster alliances in the Asia-Pacific region. ... A key Obama administration objective in New Zealand is to expand mutual understanding and public diplomacy, David Huebner, the U.S. ambassador posted in Wellington, said in an appearance at Washington’s Asia Society in October. 'The New Zealand population is increasingly seeing itself as Asia-oriented instead of Europe-oriented,' Huebner said. 'And, at times, the United States is mistakenly lumped into the European category instead of the Asian category.'” Image from

Travel Diary: Secretary Clinton Visits Papua New Guinea - Brian Asmus, Ethiopian Review: "It was the day — or, rather, night — that we’d long been waiting for. After her January visit was rescheduled due to the earthquake in Haiti, Secretary Clinton was finally coming to Papua New Guinea (PNG). And Papua New Guineans were just as excited. ... With every minute of her four-hour trip tightly scheduled, we had the group racing back to the U.S. Embassy for a meet & greet with the staff. After a quick group photo, locally-engaged staff (LES) representative Carolyn Ive (my fantastic Public Diplomacy and Protocol Assistant) was given the honor of introducing the Secretary, and delivered an ace performance. The whole experience had her beaming with pride, a truly unforgettable and inspirational moment. ... Following a joint press conference, the Secretary and her team set off for the airport, while the Public Diplomacy team raced back to the Embassy to file this brief and upload the photos (many thanks due here to tech wizard Shane Hussein from Embassy Suva) of the memorable event."

Brian Asmus serves as a Public Diplomacy Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Image from article

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at International Islamic University meets students and civil society members - pr.bonology.com: "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the International Islamic University (IIU) in Kuala Lumpur as the Obama administration seeks to cultivate ties with Muslim-majority Malaysia. At the International Institute for Islamic Thought and Civilisation, a think-tank based in IIU, she fielded questions about US foreign policy in a programme broadcast on television this morning. The audience included mainly university students but also members of civil society. Clinton also met with Malaysian women leaders ahead of the event, which is part of a so-called public diplomacy where Clinton strives to make Americas case before a larger audience than the usual politicians and diplomats she meets."

Hillary Clinton: Election Won't Change Foreign Policy - Huffington Post: [Comment by Bob Jacobson:] "[Will] Hillary ... continue with her determined effort to privatize public diplomacy by outsourcing every possible function to private firms, the better to horse trade favors?"

Our quest for US favour - Zafar Hilaly, PkColumnist.com: "Nothing, it seems, neither American generosity nor plaudits has made a difference to the public perception that America is no friend of Pakistan. Their anti-American posture has remained remarkably consistent and the message they send is clear enough. This has understandably worried the Americans. The emphasis on public diplomacy has been ramped up. 200 Pakistani journalists are to go to America to learn about the subject. Unfortunately it will make not the slightest dent in America’s unpopularity in the polls.


The public sentiment about America, like the establishment’s sentiment about India, is doomed to remain unchanged. ... [T]he case for a fundamental review of our policy towards the US does not arise from a revolt against western values, the public dislike for America or western plans for future Asian security, indeed if all of them were absent it would still be necessary. And the reason is the shift that is underway in global power. America’s dominance of the global financial system, the lynch pin of its global power, is ending." Image from

'Insider' account‎: Woodward's insights into U.S.-Pakistan relations and disclosures on the U.S. thinking on India-Pakistan relations make this a valuable book [Obama's Wars: The Inside Story] - A.G. Noorani, Frontline: "It is insights ... and disclosures on American thinking about Pakistan and India-Pakistan relations that make this book indispensable to every serious student of the subject. ... In October 2009, Obama gathered his team for a three-hour discussion on Pakistan. ... Secretary Clinton addressed the consequences of not engaging with the Pakistani public for the past several years, contributing to America's unpopularity there. ‘There hadn't been much public diplomacy in recent years,' she said. The history of the United States abandoning the region after the Cold War still hung over everything."

Bolden in China: A Lost Opportunity‎ - Gregory Kulacki, All Things Nuclear: "NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently spent a week in China taking quiet tours of Chinese space facilities and holding low-key meetings with the bureaucrats who manage China’s space programs.


Both were useful and important, but he should also have used the opportunity to conduct a bit of public diplomacy and reach out to China’s young, ambitious, and increasingly nationalistic space community." Bolden image from

IraQVC : Oversell Edition - Laura McGinnis, manIC: "Iraq may not be the 'graveyard of empires,' but with a relentless stream of scandals--from Abu Ghraib and Blackwater to mismanaged funds and the UN's oil-for-food scandal--Iraq has presented itself as a formidable public diplomacy challenge, a situation that has not been aided by the ambiguity of what, exactly, the U.S. was trying to communicate there. Was it an anti-WMD message? A pro-democracy message? A demonstration of force against terrorism? A show of solidarity with Arabs? Traditional and public diplomats alike are going to struggle to communicate in the years ahead."

The Challenges to US International Broadcasting in the 21st Century - Alex Belida, VOA Media Watch: Excerpt 2, 3, 4. Exceprt 1 appeared in the November 2 PDPBR.

Ch-Ch-Changes? - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "What does leadership change in the House mean for Congressional action on public diplomacy and strategic communication? ... Overall, America’s foreign affairs remains handicapped by a State Department that remains largely left to its own devices, mired in the nineteenth century or at best the mid-1940’s when it underwent its last reorganization. Without much scrutiny or accountability by the Congress, certainly far less than what the Congress imposes on the Defense Department, should we expect any real substantive change when the music stops and we know the new chairs?"

Belarusian Delegation Observes Business Education at COD - home.cod.edu: "A delegation of business educators from Belarus visited College of DuPage as part of a three-week trip to learn more about business-related education and delivery methods in the U.S. The goal is to expand business and economic education in Belarus using techniques and strategies that are successful in the U.S., said George Palamattam, executive director of the Council of International Programs. ... This training and exchange is part of the Community Connections Program,


sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and administered by World Learning, designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values among participants, U.S. families and local community host organizations." Image from

US Ambassador to Marshall Islands Announces Cultural Grant Competition - Yokwe: Ambassador Martha Campbell, Embassy of the United States of America, to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, announces "THE AMBASSADORS FUND FOR CULTURAL PRESERVATION-PROJECT GRANT." The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) is an annual competition which supports projects in the following categories: 1. Objects and collections of objects from museum, site, archive, or similar institution; 2. Cultural Sites 3. Forms of traditional cultural expression[.] Complete project proposals are due to the U.S. Embassy by Friday, December 3, 2010. Summaries of proposed projects may be submitted to the Public Diplomacy Office at the US Embassy by, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010 to facilitate further guidance and/or acceptance criteria to proposing agencies."

Baghdad takes a stand on illiteracy - Spc. Amie McMillan, dvidshub.net: "A ceremony at AL-Nahrain University, recently, marked the beginning of a new opportunity, the Arabic Literacy Program, as 400 centers opened their doors to help educate the people of the Baghdad province. The sites for the centers were chosen by the Baghdad Provincial Council and the Deputy Minister of Education.The program is the first of its kind in Iraq and was developed in hopes of reaching almost two-million illiterate people in Baghdad. It took several agencies to bring this together, including Iraqi non-governmental organizations,


Government of Iraq officials, United States Forces. ... More than 1,770 people were certified to teach literacy classes after professors at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., trained a group of Iraqi instructors using video teleconference technology during a three-week course in the spring at Baghdad University. 'At a critical juncture, the PRT came up with funding to allow the cadre of Iraqi literacy instructors to train with experts from James Madison University on skills to reach adult learners. Those trainers then went on to instruct all of the other teachers who will be leading the classes across the Baghdad province,' said Eric Turner, public diplomacy officer, Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team." Image: VIPs from the Provincial Council, the CoR and the DG of the Ministry of Education who have worked to support the program from

Chinese, Japanese forces offers endlessly - NewsSpiral: [Google translation:] "The American Embassy in China, the famous Chinese bloggers each month, has led to a meeting or a famous Intanettoopinionrida. これがそのときの1回目の記念写真ですが、手前の２人が中国大使のご夫婦です。 It is the first souvenir picture at that time This is the couple's two people in front of the Chinese ambassador. Second from the back (second row from top center) is me. この写真の僕の左側にいる彼が饒謹（ラオ・ジン）という有名なインターネットユーザーです。 Shangrao 謹 he left me in this picture are (Lao Jin) is a famous Internet users. 彼は、アンチCNNドットコムというサイトを運営していて、つまり、CNNの報道などをけなすことをやっています。 He is anti-CNN website that they run a dot-com that is, CNN is doing and put down the report. その人もアメリカ大使との交歓会に参加しています。 Gam is to attend the American ambassador and the people. のすぐ後ろにいるのは孔慶東（コウ・ケイトウ）さんで、北朝鮮政府の支援者です。


The Ambassador East is just behind the hole Kei (High cockscomb)'s is a supporter of the North Korean government. そういう方たちもアメリカ大使とのミーティングのゲストとして呼ばれています。 Known as the guest were also meeting with American ambassador that kind. こういうのを見ると、アメリカというのはパブリック・ディプロマシー（公共外交）で非常に賢い手法をとっているなと思います。 Seeing that this kind of public diplomacy that the United States (public diplomacy) would have taken a very clever approach. ※「公共外交（public diplomacy）」とは、外交官を中心とする政府と政府の間で行われる「エリート外交」ではなく、外国の一般人を対象とする対市民外交のこと。 ※ 'public diplomacy (public diplomacy)' and is performed between the central government and diplomats and diplomacy 'elite' rather than that for public diplomacy to target foreign civilians." Image from article

How to empower your agency's heroes - ‎Ted Schadler, FCW.com - "In Forrester’s [Forrester Research] recent book, 'Empowered,' we [Schadler and co-author Josh Bernoff] cited the example of Mark Betka, a program officer at the State Department who wanted to get positive messages about America to people all around the world. He came up with the idea of creating international teleconferences between prominent Americans and ordinary citizens in other countries. Unwilling to be stopped by a lack of funding, Betka found an unused license for Adobe Connect — an Internet-based service for meetings and videoconferences — and, working pretty much on his own, created a public diplomacy outreach project called CO.NX. Among many other events, CO.NX hosted sessions that included a marketing expert in Hartford, Conn., training Iraqi widows on how to market their crafts internationally on the Web and thousands of people commenting live on President Barack Obama’s speech in Ghana. Betka used Facebook to promote the program. The CO.NX Facebook page now has 100,000 fans and lists several programs a week, some of which have audiences in the tens of thousands."

John Steinbeck's 1954 message to Eastern Europe, via Radio Free Europe - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting. Below Steinbeck image from


Words of support for BBC World Service as it prepares for job losses and language service closures - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

NATO policy in Caucasus to be discussed in Brussels‎ - Trend News Agency: "NATO Public Diplomacy Division has invited a group of six experts from Azerbaijan to visit NATO on Nov. 25-26, the Romanian Embassy in Azerbaijan, which coordinates the activities of the organization in the country, has reported. The participants from Azerbaijan will represent different research centers, NGOs and universities."

Michael Ignatieff’s speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations - nationalpost.com: "... When the current government took office in 2006, one of the first things they did was cut words like 'human security' and 'public diplomacy' from the vocabulary of the Department of Foreign Affairs. ... In every aspect of our foreign policy, Canada’s image has suffered – in part because our hard-working diplomats have suffered under the current government.


10 embassies and consulates have been closed. Budgets have been cut. And our diplomats have been robbed of the tools of public diplomacy. Canada’s representatives need resources, so they can promote trade and investment that will create jobs at home, so they can support partnerships in research and post-secondary education, and so they can share Canadian culture with the world. We need our diplomats to do all of this — and there’s only so many times we can ask them to do more with less. One of the current government’s worst mistakes has been to cut federal programs that share Canadian culture with the world. Culture is the soul of a people." Image from article: Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff delivers a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, Nov. 2.

Britain must take responsibility - Nachman Shai, Jerusalem Post: "Parts of this article are excerpted from a speech MK Nachman Shai (Kadima) gave to the Ambassadors’ Round Table in London last week, which focused on how the British media covers events in the region and the delegitimization of Israel. ... We in Israel are well aware of the new battle over Israel’s legitimacy, and follow it closely. It is a battle which has inherited the violent physical encounters from the battlefield or even the Israeli Home Front, that has frequently been struck by terrorism. Undoubtedly, the fact that Israel has succeeded in suppressing terrorism to a large extent while continuing to maintain a relatively stable civilian life is a great achievement that will be studied in other western liberal democracies – such as Britain – which have also fallen victim to terrorist attacks. Characteristically, Terrorism and threats do not disappear; they just take on new faces. The military front has thus been replaced by public diplomacy, economics and the legal field."

Australian Embassy Direct Aid Program Funding for Micronesian NGO's‎ - Yokwe: "Australian Embassy in Pohnpei has announced a new round of Direct Aid Program grant funding. New funding totaling AUD95,000 has been allocated to the Australian Embassy in Pohnpei for the 2010-11 financial year as part of the Direct Aid Program (DAP). ... Applications for DAP can be found on the Australian Embassy’s website at http://www.fsm.embassy.gov.au/phpi/cooperation.html,


or applications can be picked up at the Australian Embassy in Kolonia, Pohnpei at the H&E building across from the PAMI building. Applications can also be mailed out to requesting organizations by contacting our Public Diplomacy Officer at 691-320-5448. - Office of Public Diplomacy, Australian Embassy, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, November 3, 2010." Image from

Beijing - Nanjing, China: "Last weekend a group of students from my university, including myself, took an overnight train up to Beijing. The train was very nice and elegant.


I rode in a lot of sleeper cars in Europe this summer and none of them were half as nice as this Chinese bullet train. I was pleasantly surprised. I even had my own TV! ... Later, we went to the US Embassy. It was totally boring. Apparently, it's the largest embassy in China and the largest embassy the US has anywhere in the world. I didn't think it was all that great. We were given a presentation on working in foreign affairs by a woman who clearly hated her job. I thought I might want to work in public diplomacy, but I was wrong." Image of blogger from article

The Butterfly Effect: Field Trip Recap - Jessica Patton, The Butterfly Effect: "One of the classes I'm taking for the master's program is a seminar with two components. For half of the weeks, we will listen to lectures from various ambassadors to and from Israel talking about current diplomatic issues. The other weeks, we go on field trips to see different borders and security installations around Israel. I've been on two of these trips thus far and will recap each of them below.On Monday, 25 October, my class spent the day in Jerusalem. We started off at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and listened to three different diplomats talk about public diplomacy, the role of intelligence in diplomacy and the future of diplomacy. It was interesting to hear about each person's background and how they came to their current position. We had lunch in the ministry's cafeteria and then headed to the older portion of Jerusalem."

Bridging passion and technique - Advocacy & Argument's [sic] Blog: "Although it was freezing in the cabaret, I still really enjoyed our speaker this morning. He had a lot of great tricks and tips and pointed out things you wouldn’t normally notice on your own–like articulation, stress, and pauses; things you use all the time but don’t necessarily know how to use in the best possible way. I particularly appreciated this quote about balancing enthusiasm with knowledge and organization: 'Passion


without technique is embarrassing. Technique without passion is boring.' This reminded me a little of our public diplomacy group. Yes, we have a lot of dedication and motivation, we just don’t know where to channel it first. And although having raw passion for something helps you push the issue and make your case, without refined technique that’s passion is: raw. Undeveloped, unrefined, and without direction, passion is useless. And, according to our speaker today, embarrassing." Image from

The inevitable growth of global Sinophobia - Bernard Yegiora, asopa.typepad.com: "Bernard Yegiora is a Papua New Guinean student studying for a Masters degree in International Relations at the Institute of International Studies in China's Jilin University in Changchun. Bernard graduated with an Honours degree in Political Science from the University of PNG in 2009. His research interest is in Chinese culture and soft power: how China can use culture as an element of soft power to improve its tarnished international image through increased public diplomacy."

Oh life is so hard! - Pastures anew in New England: "As of last week, my levels of sophistication have increased tenfold. 'For why?', you may ask. Well I went clubbing. YACHT clubbing. It began with a chance email I sent a couple of weeks ago to the master of Caius, Sir Christopher Hum.


I'm writing this research paper on China, you see, (all about national image building and public diplomacy as part of Chinese foreign policy, 1989-2010 for those who care...) and thought it might be quite 'cool' (I use the word liberally, of course) to be able to drop in some comments from a former British Ambassador to China. In return, I was rather lucky to receive a last-minute invite to the annual Caius NYC gathering to be held at none other than the New York Yacht Club..." Hum image from

RELATED ITEMS

Obama's star fades in Muslim world - Christopher Torchia, Washington Post: Euphoria swept the world after the election of President Obama, a symbol of hope and yearning for compromise after years of war and resentment toward his predecessor's style and policies.


Today, after an electoral rebuke at home, Obama is still popular among America's traditional allies, but his star power among Muslims - a focus of his international outreach - is fading. Yet in many countries, his call for multilateralism, which runs parallel to a decline in American diplomatic and economic clout, remains a welcome departure from the era of President Bush, whose two-term presidency was largely defined by the war in Iraq and the divisive debates on which it hinged. Obama's brand has done much to repair America's tarnished image, some citizens believe, even if concrete results have been lacking. Image from

Too many designations in the kitchen: At first blush, the UNESCO project for culinary heritage seems a good thing. On closer examination, it's plagued with problems, not the least of which is the very possibility of preserving cuisines - Rachel Laudan, latimes.com: UNESCO's program is just the latest in a series of efforts to give form and shape to a pervasive culinary nostalgia, the disquieting feeling that somewhere, sometime, food was better, tastier, more natural and more healthful, that there was a Mediterranean diet or a Mexican cuisine untarnished by migrants, industrialism and change.

Wikileaks, Assange and the UN, an example of propaganda - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us

YouTube removes video sermons by radical cleric - Associated Press, Washington Post: YouTube has removed from its site videos featuring calls to holy war by an al-Qaida-linked Muslim cleric after pressure from British and U.S. officials. The New York Times reported on its website Wednesday that YouTube spokeswoman Victoria Grand said the videos by Anwar al-Awlaki violated the site's guidelines prohibiting "incitement to commit violent acts."

News out of, South Korean pop songs into, North Korea - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

5 myths about George W. Bush - Julian Zelizer, Washington Post: In many ways, Bush's commitment to nation building was primarily a rhetorical tool to build domestic support for military operations. In the minds of key foreign-policy players on Bush's team, regime change, not rebuilding civil societies, was the real goal. Memories of the fall of the Soviet Union had made officials such as Vice President Cheney optimistic that such transformations were possible on the cheap. This lack of commitment became


clear when U.S. resources were hastily diverted from Afghanistan toward Iraq, and when then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made it clear in the spring of 2002 that the Afghan people would have to handle most of the reconstruction themselves. Ironically, President Obama now finds himself deeply involved in nation-building projects in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite the ambivalence of the president who launched those wars. Image from