Wednesday, January 11, 2012

January 11



"The Bureau of Administration implemented a bike-share program to facilitate local trips to interagency meetings and will also build more showers for bicycle commuters."

--As pointed out in DiploPundit, among the results of the Sounding Board program at the State Department, which "promotes communication between employees, alerts management to problems and concerns and gives management the opportunity to provide feedback or dispel myths." Image from

VIDEO

Johanna Blakley: Social media and the end of gender

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Public Diplomacy and the Arab Islamists - Philip Seib, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "The Islamists who were once viewed as adversaries by American policymakers are now in the mainstream of Arab politics. In Egypt and other Arab states, their efforts are helping to stabilize emerging democracies. U.S. public diplomacy needs to catch up with this new reality."

Message to US State Dept: evil is evil is evil - Robert R. Reilly, mercatornet.com: "How do you fashion a public diplomacy strategy if you do not believe that America stands for true human dignity? The United States has failed to present its true self and the problem has only gotten worse with the spread of American pop culture through globalization. Instead of using public diplomacy and its powerful broadcasting tools, like the Voice of America, to counter the impression of America that pop culture creates, the United States ... has chosen to reinforce this impression by officially embracing it. The first thing the United States needs to do is address the moral critique of America as a godless, secular, sex-obsessed society immersed in materialism. Just when the moral basis of American life may be eroding, it is precisely this basis that it most needs to present to the Muslim world if it is to defuse the contempt and anger American popular culture provokes. In other words, an essential part of the war of ideas is our own self recovery. Absent that, the United States will be seen, as it is now largely seen, as a purveyor of its will through brute force. ... How do you fashion a public diplomacy strategy based upon the belief that the United States does not represent any permanent truths? ... [R]egarding the Cold War, a form of absolutism fighting a form of relativism always has the upper hand. Who wants to die to prove that nothing is absolutely true? How exactly is one supposed to promote this idea?

By playing pop music, and hoping that the walls come tumbling down? In the current war of ideas, we have lost the means and we have lost the message. We won the Cold War because we developed the means, and we recovered the message. If we still have something to tell the world, if we still stand upon the embrace of a universal truth as the foundation of the ‘justness of our cause,’ then we will be impelled to find the means to reach others with this truth. If not, we will have lost ourselves for reasons having nothing to do with the challenge of Islam. Public diplomacy should aim for ... a point at which the moral illegitimacy of the radical Islamist vision is self-confessed, a point at which its adherents admit that its central tenets are ‘evil.’ We cannot expect them to use this vocabulary if we do not." Via BF. Image from

Art in Embassies Exhibition in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - April Eaters Blog: "Waters’ painting, 'Wizard Island Sky', has been selected

for inclusion in the Art in Embassies Exhibition 'Contemporary Artists of the Pacific Northwest' at the US Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Established in 1963, the U.S. Department of State’s office of ART in Embassies (AIE) plays a vital role in our nation’s public diplomacy through a culturally expansive mission, creating temporary exhibitions and permanent collections, artist and cultural exchange programming, and publications. AIE’s exhibitions allow foreign citizens, many of whom might never travel to the United States, to personally experience the depth and breadth of our artistic heritage and values, making what has been called a: 'footprint that can be left where people have no opportunity to see American art.'” Image from article

R we there yet? A look at the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy (and Public Affairs) - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: "What is the role of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs? That has been an enduring question of the State Department, the Defense Department, National Security Staff, the Congress and the many others interested in America’s efforts to understand, inform, and influence global audiences.

Established thirteen years ago to manage many of the activities formerly run by the abolished United States Information Agency (USIA), its role within State and with other agencies across Government has been subject to reinterpretation nearly every time there was a new Under Secretary. ... Certainly Tara Sonenshine, the very capable nominee for the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy (and Public Affairs), will have her hands full when she is confirmed after the Senate again takes up her nomination later this month. This might be a good time for the Congress, the State Department, and the White House to have a board of experts look into how the Government organizes and conducts activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics." Image from article

Sixty-four-year-old diplomatic advisory body dies quiet death
- Charles S. Clark, govexec.com: "With little fanfare, the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which since 1948 has evaluated agency effectiveness in communicating with foreign publics, closed shop last month, having failed to win reauthorization in Congress' omnibus spending bill. 'Our reauthorization for two years was blocked in the Senate,' Matt Armstrong, who served

as executive director since March but left his office housed at a State Department annex on Dec. 23, told Government Executive. ... Mark Helmke, minority press secretary for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., had sought to get the commission reauthorized, but Republican senators led by Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked the effort. ... Asked for comment, State's Office of the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, said only, 'the Congress did not reauthorize the commission.'" Image from article

Fulbright on USIA - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: "Last week I found myself in the special collections section of the University of Arkansas Library, helping out with some research (rather, with some of the legwork involved in archival research) on William J. Fulbright. (invaluable experience, I should say!) To me, the Senator's most distinguished contribution has always been his role in the growth of the educational and cultural exchanges as well as his strong stance on foreign aid. Yet, it was quite an eye-opening experience to come across many other domestic and international issues, of which I was obviously not as well aware of (if at all). ... Yet, what I wanted to share here was a specific document, a copy of in-house communication.

Although I'm sure there are many more similar ones (some of which I saw but sadly had to pass..), this was the only USIA or public diplomacy-related document that I managed to get on the camera as I was hectically clicking away through the folders. It is basically a note to the Chief of Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from April 1958 where Fulbright is expressing discontent (to put it mildly) about the weakness of certain informational campaigns undertaken by the US Information Agency. [Comment by John Brown:] Lena, Thank you for this. ... The below may amuse you: “‘[Senator] Fulbright had outspokenly opposed international propaganda in our government. When he coldly queried [USIA Director Leonard] Marks on the meaning of propaganda, Marks replied respectfully, 'If I say you are chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that's a fact; whereas if I say you are the finest chairman in the history of the Senate, that's propaganda.' Fulbright shot back: 'No, you're wrong -- that's a fact!’" --Cited in Fitzhugh Green, American Propaganda Abroad (1988 ), p. 54" Image from article, with caption: From: MS/F956/144, BCN 121. F24 Fulbright Papers

Architects of BBG’s failed China plan rewarded with new positions - BBGWatcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG watch: "Two Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) officials described by BBG Watch sources as chief architects of the failed BBG plan to end Voice of America (VOA) radio and TV broadcasts to China have been rewarded with new positions. The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director Richard Lobo named Bruce Sherman as director of a newly-formed Office of Strategy and Development. Lobo also named Jeff Trimble as IBB deputy director. ... According to BBG Watch sources, Trimble and Sherman are protected by the BBG Chairman Walter Isaacson who wants to de-federalize VOA and Radio and TV Marti and to limit the independence of the BBG-managed surrogate broadcasters: the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Lobo had been appointed to his position by President Obama. ... From an official IBB announcement From: IBB Notices Administration [notices@bbg.gov] Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 5:58 PM To: IBB Staff Subject: Message from the IBB Director Colleagues: The merger of the IBB and BBG staffs will become effective on January 15, 2012. This action reflects the Board’s commitment to streamline and increase the efficiency of agency operations, as called for in the newly adopted 2012-2016 Strategic Plan. The merger will facilitate the development of BBG-wide strategies and objectives, strengthen oversight of program and organizational performance, and enhance collaboration among our Federal and non-Federal entities.

An organizational chart showing the restructured, merged IBB/BBG operation is attached. ... I have designated Jeff Trimble as IBB Deputy Director. Jeff will assist me in overseeing IBB operations, and will carry out special projects at my direction, including the ongoing work to create a BBG global news network, a core element of the new Strategic Plan. While this merger is a significant step, it is only a part of an ongoing, longer-term restructuring process. In coming months we will continue to study and evaluate this new organization, with an eye toward making further changes to achieve greater efficiencies and otherwise improve our performance. I look forward to your continued cooperation and assistance as we move forward. Regards, Dick Lobo, IBB Director[.]" Image from article

VOA history in the news - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Cold War Broadcasting book is an American Library Association pick for 2011 [edited by A. Ross Johnson and R. Eugene Parta, both veterans of Radio Free Europe] - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.

Image from article

China strikes at West through pop culture wars - Calum MacLeod, USA Today: "When Chinese leader Hu Jintao recently warned his nation's ruling Communist Party of an imminent risk from the West, he wasn't talking about the United States boosting its military capabilities in East Asia. He was alluding to things such as video games. 'International hostile forces' use thought and culture 'to Westernize and split' China, Hu stated in a speech publicized in January in the party magazine Seeking Truth.

Through massive investment, and countless censors, the Communist Party aims to boost China's 'soft power,' or cultural influence, abroad and shore up "cultural security" at home by reinforcing state control of the sector and guiding audiences back to 'socialist core values. Neither goal will come easily." Image from;  see also.

China's war against Harry Potter - Public Diplomacy and International Communications: Thoughts and comments about public diplomacy, soft power and international communications by Gary Rawnsley: "The Chinese Communist Party needs to be careful. By removing popular entertainment programmes, the regime may actually be driving the people to seek out the kind of foreign programmes that [General Secretary of the Communist Party of China] Hu Jintao's new rant against 'cultural imperialism' opposes."

India foreign ministry scam: Beware of wonks bearing gifts - Jason Overdorf, globalpost.com: "An Indian foreign ministry scam has allegedly hit the country's efforts to woo foreign nations, giving a new twist to an old adage: Beware of wonks bearing gifts. According to the Hindustan Times, officials at the Ministry of External Affairs may have been involved in a scheme to send fake gifts to the Malaysian prime minister and other dignitaries last May — and billing the gifts to the government at highly inflated prices. Here's a thought: Why not avoid sending gifts altogether? The amount of junk accrued by government officials around the world must dwarf even the pile of confiscated pen knives and water bottles collected at airports. And I doubt seriously that a brass bowl or a hand-woven sari ever resulted in a change of policy. Moreover, as an official in the ministry's own public diplomacy division put it to me last week: It's not at all clear that the government should be leading the 'soft power' initiative to begin with — considering that private outfits like Bollywood production houses do such a superior job."

Careers and life in the Indian Foreign Services - getahead.rediff.com: "Lakhs of Indians each year appear for the UPSC examinations in the hope of getting into one of the civil services. At the top of the pile of all the services is the Indian Foreign Service. A career in foreign services may be a dream come true but what is it that goes in the making of a diplomat? Join career diplomat

Navdeep Suri, Joint Secretary and Head of the Public Diplomacy Division on Wednesday, January 11, between 2.15 pm and 3.15 pm to find out more about careers and life in the Indian Foreign Services. ... (Due to circumstances beyond our control, date and time of chat may change)" Suri image from article

Political Warfare and Public Diplomacy: Part 1
- Robin, Public Diplomacy, Networks and Influence: "As public diplomacy develops in the academy we are tending to place greater weight on public diplomacy as aspect of diplomacy but I think that this creates a danger of missing the way that the requirements of communications around conflict affect the way that national external communications are conceptualized and practiced. ... In a following post I will argue that political warfare as a mode of operation where ‘normal channels of diplomacy are blocked’ is stil[l] around and in thinking through what public diplomacy means in contemporary international relations this conflictual application of communications needs to be kept in mind."

New rules on international detainees needed, says Vanderbilt law professor - Jim Patterson: "As the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp passes this month, a Vanderbilt law professor and former U.S. adviser on detainee cases says it’s time to update international law applicable to those detained there.

Vijay Padmanabhan, assistant professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School, advised U.S. Department of State officials on individual detainee cases and helped negotiate deals with foreign nations to safely transfer detainees from the detention center. As an attorney-adviser for political and military affairs from 2006 to 2008, he served as the state department’s chief counsel on Guantanamo and Iraq detainee litigation and advised the department on law of war, human rights and public diplomacy questions during this time." Padmanabhan image from article

Books - silverfishnewbooks.blogspot.com: Americana Series Title: Middlesex, Author: Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002 Publisher: Picador (PB, 529 pages) Price: (Please check Amazon.com for prices of different editions)

(This review was sent in by Ms Rain Che Bian, another book fiend -- the first time we met we talked for 2 hours non-stop about books, and would have gone on for another two if we hadn't been diverted by Gerard -- who is the Public Diplomacy Officer in the Embassy of the United States of America.) Image from article

Johanna Blakley: Social media and the end of gender - sociologyclassroom.blogspot.com: "Blakley has worked across a huge variety of media platforms -- producing for the web on a large scale, conducting gaming research, coordinating events for film festivals and executing consumer research on entertainment and politics. Drawing on this vast body of experience, she also lectures at USC and helped develop their masters program in Public Diplomacy."

RELATED ITEMS

Hey Alec Ross! - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: The State Department’s “preclearance” requirements are totally out of date. Originally designed for a 19th-century publishing model, its leisurely 30-day examination period is incompatible with the requirements of online work, blogs, Facebook, and Tweets.

But the Department has refused to update its rules for the 21st century, preferring instead to use the 30 days to kill anything of a timely nature. What blog post is of value a month after it is written, never mind a Tweet? Worse yet, the rules are used selectively against blogs that offend, and allowed to silently pass on blogs that do not. Image from article

The U.S. needs to intensify sanctions on Iran - Editorial Board, Washington Post

War Drums: this time with Iran - Ben Stear: eastpeoriatimescourier.com: War Drums: They are getting the American people used to the idea of another war, this time with Iran. The main stream media is pushing the war propaganda very hard. It is a systematic way to sub-consciously prepare the American people for war. Every day there seems to be some new development that the news feels important enough to talk about for hours on end. They are desperately trying to make Iran appear as a “hostile” nation that is dangerously developing nuclear weapons. It’s almost comical that they think the American people are stupid enough to believe the same lie twice.

It wasn’t but 10 years ago, they were saying the same thing about Iraq and Saddam’s “weapons of mass destruction”. “Saddam is dangerous and he has developed weapons of mass destruction”, “Terrorism exists in Iraq”, “Saddam is dangerously plotting against the USA”. TOTAL BULL. There were no weapons of mass destruction! We went to war with a nation that didn’t even have an Air force or a Navy. What did the Iraq war turn into? Nation building, that’s it. A get rich quick scheme for Halliburton and all the other big companies that are helping rebuild Iraq. Stear image from article

MP Stresses US Declining Influence in Latin America - english.farsnews.com: Washington's fear about its declining influence in Latin America is the root cause of the US negative propaganda campaign against countries such as Iran and Venezuela, an Iranian lawmaker opined.

The US wishes to still be regarded as a superpower in the world and that is the reason behind which it resorts to negative propaganda against countries like Iran that enjoy good position in the globe, Abdulmohammad Babaabadi said. Uncaptioned image from article

The challenge of getting the Taliban to the table - David Ignatius, Washington Post: The next step is for the Taliban to open an official office in Qatar and begin discussions with the Afghan government. The Taliban have also agreed that the Qatar office won’t be used for recruiting or propaganda. If the Qatar office is indeed opened, U.S. officials hope the Karzai government and the Taliban will exchange confidence-building measures of their own — say, a Taliban rejection of suicide bombings in return for government safe passage. It’s a long shot, but it’s also true that all wars end eventually — starting with a process something like this one.

Libya's nasty new friend: Sudan President Omar Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He's not someone Libya's new leaders should be hosting - Editorial, latimes.com: What's arguably worse than Libya's embrace of its monstrous neighbor is the silence about it from the rest of the world.

This has to stop. President Obama and other global leaders should speak out loudly and forcefully, before Bashir gets another stamp on his passport. Image from article, with caption: Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for slaughtering his own people. Above, Bashir is seen at the military hospital in Khartoum, Sudan on April 22, 2010.

Glenn Greenwald: US pro-democratic propaganda in the Middle East has been lies all along - Middle East Reality: The United States is a far more profoundly colonialist - and also profoundly racist - country than anyone with limited experience with the country might guess.

Russian Official Suggests Weapon Caused Exploration Spacecraft’s Failure - Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times: An Izvestia interview Vladimir Popovkin, the director of the Russian space agency, insinuating the failure of Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars probe was due to foreign interference came at a time of rising anti-Americanism in Russian politics, and may have been intended mostly for a domestic audience. Russian officials often drop hints of foreign meddling, for example in stirring the recent street protests in Moscow; such comments are usually taken to mean the United States. Mr. Popovkin’s remarks stood out in stark contrast to the cooperative spirit of recent Russian civilian space endeavors carried out in partnership with NASA, the European Space Agency and other foreign partners. Though Russia maintains a military wing of its space program, confrontation and even competition with the United States in space largely vanished with the end of the cold war.

Give Guantánamo Back to Cuba - Jonathan M. Hansen, New York Times: In the 10 years since the Guantánamo detention camp opened, the anguished debate over whether to shutter the facility — or make it permanent — has obscured a deeper failure that dates back more than a century and implicates all Americans: namely, our continued occupation of Guantánamo itself. It is past time to return this imperialist enclave to Cuba.

Roj TV Fined in Denmark - turkishweekly.net: Ankara has asked Denmark’s supreme broadcasting board to ban a Kurdish television station affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after a Danish court decided yesterday not to ban ROJ TV. A Copenhagen court sentenced ROJ TV to pay a 400,000-euro fine for making propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization yesterday but did not order the closure of the pro-Kurdish broadcaster.

ABCNews.com gives way to Azerbaijani propaganda’s provocation - ABCNews.com, giving way to Azerbaijani propaganda's provocation, removed a segment of a feature that recommended traveling to Nagorno-Karabakh as one of the "Great Offbeat Places to Go in 2012." In a travel segment posted on Sunday on abcnews.com entitled "7 Great Offbeat Places to Go in 2012" ranked Nagorno-Karabakh as one of the places to visit during the year. On Tuesday afternoon, however, the piece was re-titled "6 Great Offbeat Places to Go in 2012" and the section on Nagorno-Karabakh was extracted from the original. Reader comments were not extracted

from the web site, Armenpress reports citing Asbarez.com. "Stay at the recently-built Armenia Hotel in the capital, Stepanakert, and use the city as your base to explore the region. Go hiking through snow-topped mountains and fields of yellow and red flowers. Feast on shish kebob and grilled vegetables. If you're staying with a local, don't be surprised if you're offered homemade mulberry vodka with breakfast," recommended the post. "Don't miss the Gandzasar Monastery, meaning 'hilltop treasure,' built in the 10th century. Visit it at night to see it lit up in the darkness," added the feature. Azerbaijani news agencies responded to the feature, as if trying to get explanations, in response, ABCNews stated that it would discuss the issue only with the Azerbaijani embassy in the USA. Uncaptioned image from article

Kim Jong-un Propaganda Machine Running in North Korea [PHOTOS] - IBTimes: North Korean leadership is trying to rally the country around its new, inexperienced leader Kim Jong-un. In true North Korean fashion, that means turning the propaganda machine to full steam.

A Parallel World Above the 38th: A novel depicts the bizarre nightmare of North Korean life with an eerie authenticity [Review of The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson] - Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal: New stories are now being codified in Pyongyang about the Dear Leader's son and successor, Kim Jong Eun—that he learned

to drive at age 3, that he is a military genius and, most important, that he will protect the pure North Korean people from barbarian outsiders. Through brainwashing and torture these stories will become truth throughout the land. We don't know what's really going on in that strange place, but a disquieting glimpse suggesting what it must be like can be found in this brilliant and timely novel. Image from article

Kim Jong-un turns into Vladimir Putin in latest North Korean propaganda video - Zoran Bozicevic, news.nationalpost.com: On Sunday, North Korea released a video of Kim Jong-un to celebrate their new leader’s birthday.

If you look closely, though — and we’ve looked closely — you’ll notice some remarkable similarities between still photos of Kim Jong-un taken from the video, and photos of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The two men already had a few things in common: both lead a couple of the most secretive nations in the world and have a fondness for decorative headgear. Now, the young North Korean leader appears to be taking aim at Mr. Putin’s status as the undisputed macho man of global politics.

Images from article

Mind The Gap’s WWII Propaganda Project in Prep - iftn.ie: A new 50 minute single documentary from Mind The Gap Productions for TG4 with the working title ‘Glaoch ón Triú Reich’ has begun pre-production.

The documentary, explores the lives of two German men Dr. Hans Hartmann and Prof. Ludwig Mühlhausen who broadcast Nazi propaganda in Irish during World War Two, from December 1939 to May 1945. Uncaptioned image from article

Nazi Propaganda and American Propaganda… [videos] - bullyingrealsolutionsdotcom.wordpress.com: Okay, we have an example of a lynch mob. We have Heinz Leymann’s definition of mobbing in the workplace. But, the term mobbing is sometimes applied to targeting a race, religion or any social group. I first heard it used this way in a course on the Holocaust. Speaking out against terrorists, or any violent group, is fine. But, generalizing those statements and targeting a religion, or any other group, is always dangerous and immoral. Indecently, democrats do it also.

IMAGE

Russian Political Propaganda Poster * This is what will be! * b.22

AMERICANA

"Americans' stress is down for the first time in five years and at its lowest point since 2007, finds an audit of self-reported stress to be released today."

--Sharon Jayson, "Americans are stressed, but we're getting used to it," USA TODAY

"My goodness! He's really going for it! I've looked at a lot of comic strips from the the 1890s to the present day, and I must say that's pretty surprising. I can honestly say that I've never seen a mainstream newspaper comic strip character getting her boob felt up while making out with her boyfriend other than this one."

--From: "Art Collection: "Fritzi Ritz' Comic Strip Drawings by Ernie Bushmiller, 1927," Princess Sparkle Pony's Photoblog

No comments: