Saturday, January 14, 2012

January 14



"Kill them, yes, but don't pee on them."

--Record-Bee reader Nelson Strasser, noting that "we are abhorred by our soldiers urinating on the dead bodies of Afghans, but shooting them aroused no ire whatsoever"; image from

AUDIO

Dana Loesch, CNN Contributor, Says She'd Urinate On Taliban Soldiers Too(AUDIO); via

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Dawn L. McCall Travels to Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia - Media Note, Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of State: "Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Dawn L. McCall will travel to Jakarta, Indonesia to participate in the one-year anniversary celebrations of Embassy Jakarta’s innovative American Center: @america. @america is the State Department’s newest and most innovative American Center and is located in a popular shopping mall in downtown Jakarta.

American Centers are public places where the U.S. Government engages with foreign publics through a variety of outreach activities, including English language lessons, and cultural programs. Opened in December 2010, @america is a new model for 21st century diplomacy. The Center features iPads, touchscreen technology, interactive games, and a variety of live programs designed to inform Indonesian youth about the United States, facilitate people-to-people exchange, and create communities virtually and in real life. During atamerica’s first year of operations, more than 100,000 Indonesians have visited the Center. From Jakarta, Coordinator McCall travels to Singapore and Malaysia. In Singapore, Coordinator McCall will visit American Corners and discuss public diplomacy support for the Embassy. In Malaysia, she will meet with representatives from NGOs, local bloggers, academics, and local opinion leaders." Image from

21st Century Statecraft Month: Digital Engagement January 16-20, 2012 - Media Note, Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of State: "The U.S. Department of State has designated January 2012 as 21st Century Statecraft month. Twenty-first Century Statecraft complements traditional foreign policy by harnessing and adapting the digital networks and technologies of today’s interconnected world. The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Missions abroad have developed a range of initiatives to showcase U.S. diplomatic leadership in leveraging digital networks and technologies in service of its foreign policy goals. ... Next week’s engagements include the following events: Mr. Thomas Hodges, Director of Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, will participate in a Live at State video chat with Chinese-language bloggers and journalists to discuss U.S.-China educational exchanges at 7:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, January 17. ... The Secretary of State’s Senior Advisor for Innovation

Alec Ross will hold a worldwide Twitter Q&A to discuss 21st Century Statecraft at 9:30 a.m. EST on Thursday, January 19. Submit your questions to @AlecJRoss." Image from

Balls, Hearts and Minds - bytesdaily.blogspot.com: "In June 2004 the US Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, had hearings to look into 'corrective actions that might be undertaken to regain the confidence and cooperation of the Iraqi people, improve public diplomacy messages, and help chart the course for future efforts in Iraq.' According to Christopher Shays, Chairman of the Subcommittee: 'The United States and its Coalition partners are attempting to win the hearts and minds of the people in Iraq while providing military security and support to economic and political reform programs. But some assumptions made about Iraq proved faulty, and some policy decisions were controversial and created more doubt than confidence in U.S. capabilities and intentions.'”

Call for abstracts: Security Dialogue special double issue --Securing the New Middle East: A Critical Appraisal Eds. J. Peter Burgess &Costas M. Constantinou - Security Dialogue: "Blogging and social networking have bypassed official and centrally organized forms of mass communication and representation and shown the limitations of state propaganda and public diplomacy. Protest movements and the visualization of dissent and violence have necessitated action beyond traditional crisis management processes and brought about unexpected transformations on the ground. Locally ‘elected’ or ‘accepted’ regimes, internationally recognized and often presented as models of stability and progress, are no longer credible and have been locally and internationally criminalized. All these major changes in a sensitive geopolitical region require

sustained reflection and critical examination. ... Security Dialogue invites theoretically advanced and empirically grounded articles that address these and neighbouring issues from any number of perspectives." Image from

Op-Ed: Why Jews should care about the rights of Israeli Arabs - Rabbi Sid Schwarz, jta.org: "Jews who care about Israel should pay as much heed to the Jewish state's democratic character as they do about its security. This position was eloquently framed at last year's program by Noam Katz, the Israeli Embassy's minister for public diplomacy."

RELATED ITEMS

Iran: We have proof US behind assassination: Iranian officials claim Tehran obtained credible documents providing conclusive evidence of CIA involvement in murder of nuclear scientist - ynetnews.com: White House spokesman

Tommy Vietor said the United States "had absolutely nothing to do" with Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's death. Vietor added that the US condemns "all acts of violence." Vietor (with Obama) image from

How the West should answer Iran’s nuclear aggression - Ray Takeyh, Washington Post: It is impossible to determine who killed the Iranian scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, but such actions are self-defeating in the sense that they do little to slow Iran’s nuclear program and playing into the regime’s hands as it seeks to fracture the international community. The best means of holding the coalition together is to stress that it is Iran’s behavior that remains outside the parameters of legality so long as Tehran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of U.N. resolutions and threatens to imperil peaceful maritime traffic. Any action that distracts attention from Iran’s illegal behavior only retards the efforts to disarm the Islamic Republic.

Counterinsurgency is not peeing on people… - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: The world is awash in urine-soaked statements by various idiots defending the Marines who peed on the bodies of dead Taliban. The defense is either a) the Taliban deserved it because they are our enemies or b) well, the Taliban have done worse things to us. Here is why those statements are so wrong (beyond the obvious): The Taliban aren’t fighting a counterinsurgency war.

We are. We are the invading foreigners trying to win the support of the people. Pissing on them is not a good way to do that. This is part of the whole losing proposition of such war– we have to get it right (almost) all the time to have a shot at winning. They can pee on us all that they want, because their task is to make us give up and go home. Image from article

Self-Inflicted Wound - Editorial, New York Times: Even after seven years, the photos of Army soldiers abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison are an ugly black mark on the American presence in Iraq. Now there is a new scar on the country’s reputation. Four Marines were filmed urinating on what appear to be the corpses of three dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. The scandal is inflaming anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan, where many people already think Americans disrespect Islam, and couldn’t have come at a worse time. Administration officials and military commanders must take a close look at what the troops are being taught about the laws of war.

We’re all guilty of dehumanizing the enemy - Sebastian Junger, Washington Post: When the war on terror started, the Marines in that video were probably 9 or 10 years old. As children they heard adults — and political leaders — talk about our enemies in the

most inhuman terms. The Internet and the news media are filled with self-important men and women referring to our enemies as animals that deserve little legal or moral consideration. We have sent enemy fighters to countries like Syria and Libya to be tortured by the very regimes that we have recently condemned for engaging in war crimes and torture. They have been tortured into confessing their crimes and then locked up indefinitely without trial because their confessions — achieved through torture — will not stand up in court. Image from

How the Marines video made the Afghan war even tougher - Timothy Kudo, Washington Post: Marines and all other service members understand intuitively the effect that this video will have on the war. Whatever comes of an investigation, this is a significant blow. Already, some are saying that this will affect peace talks. But the consequences for the Marines on the ground will be felt in the increase in bombs under their feet and bullets flying by their heads.

Letter, January 13: We're a far cry from Aristotle - pnj.com: "In classical Greek debate it was generally considered that there was no clear loser. Honesty, integrity and decorum were prized. The one would have the satisfaction of confirming his beliefs, and the other would have the satisfaction of gaining new perspective.

We have come a long way from this civil debate to a political world with too much control from radical, under-educated conservative factions profiting to spread their drivel and propaganda throughout our land. Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group. The issue is that the important element in this GOP media machine is the lack of what ancient Greek thinkers cherished the most — logic and reason. It is replaced with demonizing, whipping up mass emotion, shutting down critical thought and projecting the fiction that the experts at this do best, i.e. Karl Rove-type standard operating procedure, or slash and burn politics. This propaganda has been so effective that debate in our houses, both domestic and congressional, has been replaced with condescension, self-righteousness and arrogance about political and religious views. Everyone loses. — Gary Iversen, Pensacola." Image from

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY


"Cuius testiculos habes, Habes cardia et cerebellum"; If you have their balls, you have their hearts and minds."

--From

AMERICANA

Md. teen gets 85 years in beating death of Cheltenham Youth Facility teacher - Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post: Wonsom was 13 and in the Cheltenham Youth Facility on burglary charges when he became a suspect in Wheeling’s killing. While taking a test with Wheeling on Feb. 17, Wonsom apparently beat and strangled the youth facility teacher, then sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said Friday. Another staff member found her body the next day, prosecutors said.

Vegas priest who stole church money to gamble sentenced to prison - Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times: McAuliffe’s attorney, Margaret Stanish, asked the

court to consider his lifelong devotion to the Catholic Church, which started with helping nuns when he was a schoolboy. McAuliffe image from article

Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French - BBC: Via TM on facebook.

IMAGE

--WWII bomber jacket art, Boing Boing

FINAL QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"[T]he Department of Motor Vehicles is one of the only places in American society where people from all classes and income levels still interact."

--Mark F. Bernstein, Princeton Alumni Weekly (January 18, 2012), p. 51

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