Thursday, January 12, 2012

January 12



"[U]nfortunately, Kermit is not able to be supported at the moment."

--Victoria Nuland, Spokesperson, U.S. State Department, in answer to a question,"The Palestinian television had to cancel Sesame Street because of the funds and the $200 million worth were cut and the – part of that money, 2 million, were going to the – was going to the Sesame Street fund. My question to you is that the State Department subsidized the Israeli version of Sesame Street to the tune of $750,000. Would the State Department do the same thing to restore Sesame Street and Elmo and the other characters?"; see also Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting, "Congress zeroes funding for Palestinian Sesame Street in retaliation for UN bid"; image from

VIDEO

US Slams 'Marines Urinating On Taliban' Clip

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

American public diplomacy at its worst: Marines shown urinating on corpses - Dr. Nancy Snow on Twitter. More on this issue in below "Related Items." Snow Image from


US aid to Sunni Ittehad Council backfired: Money receiv­ed for anti-Taliba­n rally but group later led pro-Mumtaz Qadri demo - Huma Imtiaz, tribune.com.pk: "The United States gave money to the Sunni Ittehad Council to organise anti-Taliban rallies in 2009; however, the council later led demonstrations in support of Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, in an apparent boomerang of US policy to support religious moderation in Pakistan. US government website Usaspending.gov shows that the Sunni Ittehad Council received $36,607 from Washington in 2009 under the State Department’s Public Diplomacy Programmes for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The purpose of the grant was to help the Sunni Ittehad Council organise a National

Flag March on August 14, 2009. The rally, held on August 14, is believed to have been a rally by the religious organisation to protest against the Taliban. But it seems as though the religious organisation switched course after the killing of Salmaan Taseer as it held mass rallies in 2011 to protest against the arrest of Mumtaz Qadri. Last week, religious organisations even announced an Rs100 million reward for Mumtaz Qadri’s gun. However, following the reports, the US State Department has said that the US government no longer provides support to the group in any capacity." Image from article, with caption: Money received for anti-Taliban rally but group later led pro-Mumtaz Qadri demo

State Department briefing is now taking questions via Twitter. Just a few. On Fridays. During January - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

BBC, VOA, and "cheap Chinese-made radios" still keep Burmese informed - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

CUSIB Executive Director to attend Broadcasting Board of Governors meeting - cusib.org: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Walter Isaacson has responded to a request from the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) to allow CUSIB Executive Director Ann Noonan to attend an open meeting of the BBG on Friday, January 13 in Washington, DC. We were informed that Ms. Noonan will be able to attend the meeting as a guest of the Board.

The Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting is an independent nongovernmental organization formed in 2011 to support free flow of uncensored news from the United States to countries without free media. CUSIB seeks to work with the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is in charge of U.S. international broadcasting, to advance media freedom." Image from article

Information Operations Europe Conference Announced to Address the Impact of Extremism - prnewswire.com: "Presenters come from government, defense, and academia around the globe, skilled in the field of information operations. The first day will concentrate on public diplomacy and strategic communications, beginning with a keynote speech on the role of public diplomacy in countering the rise of extremism by Mr. Matt Armstrong, former Executive Director at U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.

Following that leaders from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM), and the Central Command of NATO Military will provide unique perspectives. Mr. Austin Branch, Director of Information Operations of Department of Defense, will begin Day 2 by discussing partnership outreach efforts from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to NATO in countering the rise of extremism at a national level. His speech will be followed by presentations by key decision-makers from NATO countries as well as the United Nations." Image from

India Blog Series: Kicking Away the Ladder: Indian Civil Society in Action - Hend Alhinnawi, CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "India can provide leadership and guidance to other developing countries by effectively addressing and managing its own development issues and creating a model for sharing information and its best practices. Ultimately, that has the potential to positively strengthen India’s image and influence abroad, thereby, enhancing its nation brand and public diplomacy efforts."

A Future for Public Diplomacy? - Daryl Copeland, The Mark: "[T]he years of Canadian public-diplomatic activism now seem long ago. ... Unless and until DFAIT [Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade] regains the full confidence, trust, and respect of its political masters, and is once again called upon to perform, any return to the halcyon days of Canadian PD activism seems unlikely."

Copeland image from

Iran, Armenians, and Armenia - Ziya Meralon, thecommentator.com: "The news that the Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar will be visiting Armenia mid-January might come as a surprise to some. Yet, Iran has always seen its Armenian population as well as its links with Armenia as an important asset. ... Ahmedinejad has allowed more hours of Armenian language teaching and granted significant state funds to enable Iranian Armenians to partake

in international cultural exchanges and especially with Armenia. But receiving Ahmedinejad's blessings have a price tag, of course. Helping Armenians is seen as a public diplomacy tool which enables a good word about his regime in Latin America, France and US. Ahmedinejad regularly uses the state of their welfare to bolster his image as a benevolent and tolerant leader." Image from article, with caption: Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan with Iran's Ahmadinejad

From Twitter: "IBCoM_EUR IBCoM Office EUR The Ambassador of France gave a lecture on Public Diplomacy at ESHCC http://ow.ly/8qL2n #IBCoM #EUR"

Public Diplomacy Under the Obama Administration: A New Approach - posted by Peter Reid, GriffinNeighbors: A News and Opinion Blog for the Griffin/Schneider Prairie/Steamboat Island Peninsula, Thurston County, Washington: "Presented by the Olympia World Affairs Council January 19, Lecture Olympia Center, 222 Columbia, Olympia at 7:30pm President Obama and Secretary Clinton recognize that America needs to do a better job of informing, influencing, listening to and connecting with billions of people around the world.

Are we succeeding? And what will success look like? Sandra Kaiser explains how this Administration defines public diplomacy and describes the struggle to be heard in a challenging global information climate. Sandra Kaiser and her family live on the Steamboat Peninsula. She recently completed a 25-year career with the State Department as a public diplomat, directing press, education and cultural programs from U.S. embassies in Europe and Latin America." Kaiser image from article

Interview: China extremely sophisticated player in Internet technology: ICANN chief - Gu Zhenqiu, worlddailynews.org: "The head of the organization in charge of Internet domain names, known as ICANN, said here on Monday that China plays a very important role in Internet technology, and that his organization enjoys very close working ties with the emerging Asian power. 'Obviously, China is an extremely sophisticated player in Internet technology and the ICANN community. We had a very close working relationship with CNNIC, or the Chinese Internet information center, for many years,' said Rod Beckstrom, head of ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers),

when speaking to a small group of the UN-based journalists. ... In July 2009, Beckstrom, a best-selling author and public diplomacy leader, was appointed president and CEO of ICANN, a non- profit entity with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable." Beckstrom image from

PRSA-NCC Session on Crisis Communication Lessons from International Finance - flickr.com: "PRSA-NCC Professional Development session on crisis communication lessons from international finance featured ... Silvia Kofler, head of press and public diplomacy, European Union Delegation to the United States[.]"

RELATED ITEMS

Iraqi restaurant window smashed. Veterans hold "eat-in" to show support for Iraqi refugees [video] - Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing: Faith in humanity status: restored. They're from Veterans for Peace. There's an article about the incident in the local paper, here.  Babylon Restaurant, the business targeted in the possible hate crime, was featured in this Boston Globe article just one month ago. If you're in Massachusetts, maybe go have a meal there sometime soon.

Coalition, Karzai condemn video of urination on corpses - AO, USA Today: Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned as "completely inhumane" a video on Thursday that purports to depict four U.S. Marines urinating

on the corpses of Taliban fighters. Pentagon officials said commanders believe they have identified the men's unit and that it is back in the United States.The Marine Corps said Wednesday it was investigating the YouTube video but had not yet verified its origin or authenticity. Image from

Hip Hop COIN Diplomacy: Awww, P*ss on It - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: A viral video (social media!) “purportedly” shows “alleged” US “Marines” Corps urinating on “what are believed to be” Afghan corpses. All of those words are in “quote marks” because the US is still “investigating” whether or not the video is “authentic.” “While we have not yet verified the origin or authenticity of this video, the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps,” ABC News quotes an official statement. A couple of points: –We can assume that this video is now on every cell phone in Afghanistan and is rocketing across the Middle East. The “bad guys” do not need to produce their own propaganda when we do it for them. –The expected statement from the US side, that these are “rogue” Marines, not representative of the many fine men and women in the Corps, will mean absolutely nothing to anyone outside the US. It is possible for something to be both true, and irrelevant, at the same time. –Most online boneheads will say things like “Well, the Taliban does worse things!” Yeah, but the Taliban is not trying to win a COIN war in a foreign country they invaded 10 years ago. Also, see above, it is possible for something to be both true, and irrelevant, at the same time. –About 90% of the US effort will be spent countering the domestic US reaction to the video, 9.9% that of our allies and 0.1% that of the Afghans themselves. –The US media will respond as trained, with only 0.1% still carrying the story in a few days. About 90% of Muslim world media will keep talking about this. –Absolutely nothing about this on US Embassy Kabul web site, Twitter or Facebook. So much for the use of social media. Can you say “we are irrelevant”? –All the happy talk hip hop diplomacy and smiley face 21st century Statecraft in the world can be rendered as useless as dust in the wind by acts like this. That’s what makes counterinsurgency such a dead end proposition. Our side has to only get it wrong once in awhile to lose. –As one online commenter, who identified himself as a veteran, said: “Thanks fellas, you just pissed away everything me and my boys fought for.”

Pakistan’s Besieged Government - Editorial, New York Times: Although relations with Pakistan are at an all-time low, the United States should keep engaging the country’s civilian leaders and encouraging its civil society whenever possible.

On Iran, how far is too far? The car-bomb death of a nuclear scientist raises important questions about targeted assassinations - Editorial, latimes.com: The bombing merited something more — a strong statement that the United States decries political assassinations.

Image from article, with caption: This undated photo released by Iranian Students News Agency claims to show Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a supervisor at the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. He was killed in a bomb blast in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 11. The slaying suggests a widening covert effort to set back Iran's atomic program.

Scientist Killing Stokes U.S.-Iran Tensions - Farnaz Fassihi And Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal [subscription]

Detained by fear at Gitmo: For 10 years, American principles have been held hostage at Guantanamo - Joseph Margulies, latimes.com: Recently, the director of national intelligence told Congress that "81 [former detainees] are confirmed and 69 are suspected of reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities after transfer." He said a person can be "confirmed" based on a preponderance of the evidence but "suspected" based on nothing more than "plausible but unverified" information.

But this does not add much because we still do not know what it takes to make the list, or what these people have supposedly done. The government says it demands more than anti-American propaganda, and it describes what it could be, like recruiting someone to participate in a terrorist operation, but it is careful to note it could also be other stuff that's not on the list. And because officials do not name names, no one can check what they say. Image from article, with caption: In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, a detainee rests inside his cell in Camp Delta at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba on June 30, 2004.

How the next 10 years of Guantanamo should look - Benjamin Wittes, Washington Post: Make no mistake: There will be another 10 years of Guantanamo. America needs principles for Guantanamo’s next decade — principles that might form the basis for a national policy that commands support from a wide swath of our political system.

Keep the pressure on Syria's Assad: Syrian President Bashar Assad is not as vulnerable as Moammar Kadafi was in Libya, but dislodging him is not impossible - Editorial, latimes.com: It's not impossible that Assad will be dislodged, as the United States hopes.


The more immediate — and more achievable — goal is to pacify the country and exert pressure on the president to abide by his commitments to the Arab League and his own people. Image from

Obama's Mission Accomplished Moment? And a Military-First Policy on a Destabilizing Planet - Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: The sort of military-first policy the president has made his own couldn’t be more useless.

Brits rank hotels in Europe, USA as having the best service - Barbara De Lollis, USA Today

The Jewish Al Jazeera that would compete with the other Jewish Al Jazeera is still "in development" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

1984 In Venezuela - Adam Pervez, happinessplunge.com: It’s easy to look at the propaganda critically here in Venezuela since it doesn’t seem to be as hidden or subliminal. It’s also easier to see spot propaganda from an outsider’s perspective. We are all victims of propaganda in some way, whether from marketing, governments, history books, etc.

At what point does this propaganda stick and just become part of common knowledge, or when does it becomes ridiculous and embarrassing. Here, a lot of things are labeled “revolution” or “revolutionary”. This extends even to the sign below showing the “Revolutionary Bolivarian Government of Merida”, a state in southwestern Venezuela. Doesn’t the revolution become the powers that be at some point? Image from article, with caption: Sign On A Building In Caracas

Putin pledges to protect morals in media, Internet - interfax-religion.com: Prime Minister, presidential candidate Vladimir Putin pledges to combat propaganda of violence, nationalism and smoking in the media, including the Internet. "We will actively defend morals in the media and the Internet," says a draft program 2012-2018 posted on the website www.putin2012.ru. "Modern technologies must help our citizens be informed, communicate with each other, study and work. We will combat attempts to use the information space for propaganda of violence, nationalism, pornography, drug abuse, smoking and drinking," the draft said.

"We will not allow low-standard mass culture products to damage moral and psychical health of our children and we will promote and support domestic programs of high quality," the draft said. Image from

N. Korea Denounces S.Korean Unification Minister - english.chosun.com: The North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri on Wednesday denounced Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik as a "frontman for confrontation." Seoul is sticking to a policy of ignoring such taunts. The propaganda website was upset about Yu's response on Monday to a series of North Korean denunciations of South Korea. Yu had said, "I think it's North Korea's way of expressing its confusion over the loss of its leader" Kim Jong-il, who died late last year.

Propaganda, Terror, and Mass Communication Part 3 - Ray Peach, rightsidenews.com: Since 9/11 Americans have been told that we are incapable of

defeating an enemy who attacked us with box cutters without surrendering our liberty and our national identity. There isn’t a newscast in the country that doesn’t display in horrific detail violence in the Middle East, characterizing it as democracy in action. Image from article

Museum trying to locate Nazi footage of athletes - Drogheda-Independent.ie: HISTORIC FOOTAGE captured by a Nazi film maker of athletes training for the 1936 Olympic games is being sought by the Louth County Museum. The training sessions were reportedly filmed by Hitler's propaganda expert Dr. Helena Grefenstahl who was sent to Ireland to examine the training sessions of the exceptional medal winning hammer throwing athletes. Now, the curator of the Museum in Dundalk, Brian Walsh is appealing for anyone who may have information on the historic footage to make contact.

AfterShot Pro: Cheap, simple, powerful photo editing - Dan Seitz, guyism.com: Photo editing used to be a specialty used by propaganda departments and professional newspapers.


Now it’s something 15-year-olds do to make PG versions of porn photos to make their friends laugh. Yes, everybody can make their photos not suck, but it’s a question of having the proper tools. Image from article

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