"Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion."
--Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, writing (1751) about the "swarthy" Germans who settled in his colony; image from; fuller text at; "German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 50 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group" (Wikipedia)
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Face-to-face diplomacy - Tan Yingzi and Cheng Guangjin, China Daily: "Even in difficult times, Chinese and US leaders remain strongly committed to open communication, Tan Yingzi and Cheng Guangjin report from Washington and Beijing. The coming visit of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping is expected to provide an opportunity to further promote public diplomacy between the two countries. Xi is visiting the United States at the invitation of Vice-President Joe Biden, starting from Feb 13 to 17. ... On a chilly winter morning in January last year, students at Chicago's Walter Payton Prep burst into cheers when the smiling Chinese President Hu Jintao walked into their classroom and invited them to his homeland in the following summer. This school trip during Hu's state visit to the US signaled that Beijing was making a great effort to give public diplomacy a more important role in the world's most complicated and important bilateral relationship. In addition to the close trade ties and a wide range of common interests in global affairs, people-to-people communication is becoming a third pillar to support the sound development of the China-US relations. ... There have also been more people-to-people exchanges since then. ... One of the highlights in public diplomacy was the launch of the China-US Governors Forum, an innovative
State Department Budget Request Only Slightly Higher Than 2012 Levels - Sara Sorcher, National Journal: "President Obama on Monday requested $43.4 billion for the core budget of the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development for fiscal year 2013, with an additional $8.2 billion
Obama proposes $ 2.2 bn aid to Pakistan in 2013 - ibnlive.in.com: "Obama's budgetary proposals also include $4.6 billion for Afghanistan. This includes $2.5 billion in assistance for counterterrorism-related programs, economic growth, reconciliation and reintegration, and capacity building, as well as to support progress in governance, rule of law, counternarcotic, agriculture, health and education. $ 2.1 billion is proposed for supporting the expansion of the diplomatic and interagency presence, the extraordinary costs of security in a conflict zone, and public diplomacy programs to build long-lasting bridges with civil society."
Intellectual Diplomacy: Deflating a Buzzword - John Brown, Huffington Post: "Director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, Professor ... Philip Seib ... has come up with a new (by no means viral, but mentioned) term: 'intellectual diplomacy.' ... [F]ar wiser persons than I recognize the importance of the intellect in formulating/implementing US foreign policy. Indeed, a mindless approach to America's role in the world leads to disaster. But the intellect
Personal papers depict Jacqueline Kennedy's first lady tenure - Lauren Keiper, chicagotribune.com: "An initial set of personal papers from Jacqueline Kennedy's time as first lady were released on Monday, offering a glimpse into the inner workings of her office and major projects she undertook during the presidency of
Reforming U.S. International Broadcasting: A New Mission Statement - Alex Belida, MountainRunner: "I would .. appeal to the [Broadcasting] Board [of Governors] to adopt a new mission statement more attuned to the priorities of Congress and professional journalists: 'U.S. International Broadcasters will serve as consistently reliable and authoritative sources of accurate, objective and comprehensive news in support of freedom of the press and the free flow of information worldwide.' I believe that by adopting such a statement, the Board will find it much easier to reorganize USIB in a rational and cost-saving manner. It will also help deflect the various interest groups whose past demands have led to the mishmash structure that exists today and the lukewarm revamping ideas the BBG is currently pursuing."
Sanctioning in silence is costing the west goodwill on Iran’s streets - Azadeh Moaveni, news.plidd.com: "BBC Persian is emerging as an especially influential voice among Iranians, and the platform offers an easy means for American and European officials to complement sanctions with public diplomacy.
Israeli soldiers to talk about their experiences - WMU News: "Two Israeli soldiers will talk about their experiences in the military at a free, public event at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, in Room 105 of the Bernhard Center at Western Michigan University. Soldiers Itzik and Jossie will share personal insights on serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Itzik and Jossie are part of Israeli Soldiers Speak Out, a program featuring reserve duty Israeli college students who talk about the Israeli-Arab conflict, giving a human face to the IDF.
In China, Canada needs re-tweets, not merchant fleets - Joanna Wong, Globe and Mail: "In Beijing, the Canadian embassy recently made the leap into the Chinese digital age when it opened an account on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter. Weibo boasts 140 million users, including Tom Cruise. Since launching its Weibo account last summer, our embassy has collected an impressive 132,000 fans and even advertises the website on a prominent billboard outside the building, on a busy central road. The embassy’s creative use of Weibo is a promising new development for public diplomacy in China. Canada’s ambassador, David Mulroney, told The Globe and Mail that this online interaction with ordinary Chinese citizens is 'the single most important tool we have in understanding what this emerging generation in China is all about.'”
21st Century Diplomacy - Ernst Sucharipa, dinmerican.wordpress.com: "The main business is no longer discreet
Koroma declares wining and dining diplomacy over - Betty Milton, awoko.org: "The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Joseph B. Dauda, said that the historic moment is aimed at designing a framework of action to respond to the challenge thrown at the [Sierra Leone] Foreign Ministry. He noted that the President’s call for a redesign of the country’s diplomatic approach in 2010 has not gone unheeded. ... JB Dauda announced that 'the Ministry has already accomplished the preparation of drafts of the various documents and frameworks, some of which are now awaiting comments and endorsement of crucial stakeholders. He said the ongoing transformation also includes planned automation of key operations within the Ministry to advance public diplomacy and sustained interface with the global community. The first phase of this automation plan he further noted, is the redesigning of an effective, public website.[']"
LAD #31 Wilson's Fourteen Points - trevorsapamericanblog.blogspot.com: "Wilson’s Fourteen Points calls for peace and an international policy of openness. 'The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the world.'
Communications Internship (2 positions), British Embassy, Washington, DC - pratgeorgiastate.blogspot.com: "The British Embassy in Washington, the United Kingdom’s largest diplomatic mission, is offering two internships for the summer of 2012 to work within the Communications Team. The Communications Team is responsible for handling public diplomacy on a range of issues (e.g., media relations, foreign policy, and promotion of UK priorities)." Below image from
RELATED ITEMS
450 Bases and It’s Not Over Yet: The Pentagon’s Afghan Basing Plans for Prisons, Drones, and Black Ops - Nick Turse, TomDispatch: No one should be surprised that the U.S. military is building up and tearing down bases at the same time, nor that much of the new construction is going on at mega-bases, while small outposts in the countryside are being abandoned. This is exactly what you would expect of an occupation force looking to scale back its “footprint”
Lt. Col. Davis’s ‘Manufacturing Consent’ - John Glaser, antiwar.com: Over the weekend, Rolling Stone magazine published a full copy of the unclassified report that Lt. Col. Daniel Davis submitted to Congress. Davis is of course the army whistleblower who has written and spoken out against the “rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground” in Afghanistan, which he claims bear “no resemblance” to the truth. Unlike other recent leaks – like the January National Intelligence Estimate that concluded the war is still a “stalemate,” or the highly classified report that revealed most Afghans expect the Taliban to retake control of Afghanistan once the U.S. leaves – Davis’s report is not necessarily an expose of the failures on the ground. At its core, the report is a window into the propaganda that the U.S. military continuously disseminates to the American people, which is then eaten up by cowardly politicians and a gullible, uninformed public. And it is not couched in delicate language. He is straightforward.
Warning Iran Against Hitting 'Soft' American Targets: The Obama administration should deem an attack on a synagogue or embassy as tantamount to a military attack on the U.S. - Alan M. Dershowitz, Wall Street Journal: The administration must speak with an unambiguous and credible voice that leaves no doubt in the minds of Iranian leaders that America won't tolerate attacks on our citizens or a nuclear-armed Iran.
Iran’s measure of desperation - Jackson Diehl, Washington Post: If Iran or its proxies were responsible for the attack on an Israeli diplomat in the Indian capital of New Delhi Monday, it will be another indication that the Iranian leadership is willing to take desperate risks in striking back against its enemies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly accused Iran of responsibility for the attack, along with another failed bombing in Tblisi, the capital of Georgia. Netanyahu said Israel had prevented attacks recently in Azerbaijan and Thailand, adding “in all those cases, the elements behind these attacks were Iran and its protege, Hezbollah.” Iranian leaders have repeatedly vowed to respond to what they see as a covert war being waged by Israel and the United States against their nuclear program, one that has included assassinations, cyberwarfare and mysterious explosions at military bases and industrial plants.
Iran denies Israeli embassy attacks - nowlebanon.com: Iran on Tuesday denied Israeli accusations that it was behind attacks on Israeli embassy staff in Georgia and India, Al-Alam television said, quoting the Foreign Ministry spokesperson. "We categorically reject the accusations made by the Zionist regime. They are part of a propaganda war," Ramin Mehmanparast
Egypt’s Unwise Course - Editorial, New York Times: In Egypt, it’s unlikely that any group receives more money from foreign sources than the military — roughly $1.3 billion in United States government aid per year, more than $39 billion over the last three decades. Yet, the generals who have controlled the country since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted a year ago have started a preposterous crusade against civil society groups that on average get far less per year from foreign sources, most of it from the United States. Alienating powerful countries like the United States, creating an environment in which groups that help build durable democratic institutions cannot operate and intimidating Egyptian civil society are a recipe for disaster.
Critical solidarity’ – Israel bashing by another name - Gerrald Steingerb, cjews.com: There are many excuses for crude anti-Israel propaganda, but the "critical solidarity” is new. This is the phrase that Germany’s Heinrich Böll Foundation used in the effort to justify channelling money to a particularly poisonous web magazine that goes under the name “+972” – the international dialing code for Israel. Many of the posts on the site exploit the odious “apartheid” analogy that is central to the 2001 Durban strategy, designed to promote the “complete international isolation of Israel” – in other words, annihilation by political warfare. Published in English, few Israelis read +972
Our Friends the Russians: The State Department and John Kerry still believe in the 'reset' - Review and Outlook, Wall Street Journal [subscription] : It's an open secret that Mr. Kerry wants Hillary Clinton's job in a second Obama Administration. So his committee calendar fills up with items like the Haiti Reforestation Act. Mr. Kerry is still carrying water for President Obama's Russian "reset" policy. Don't they follow the news? In recent months, Russian leaders have stoked anti-Americanism, threatened NATO with nuclear-missile strikes, armed and protected Syria's Bashar Assad, stolen parliamentary elections and repressed domestic opponents ahead of next month's restoration of Vladimir Putin to the presidency. It's never easy to admit a policy mistake, but this is embarrassing.
Putin: Democracy in making - Jon Hellevig, english.pravda.ru: It is only under Putin that a free media has emerged in Russia. But according to the American propaganda organization Reporters Without Borders, the state of press freedom is dismal in Russia. They ranked Russia 142nd out of 172 countries just before Gambia, and preceded by such beacons of liberty as, for example, Zimbabwe (117), United Arab Emirates (112), Northern Cyprus (102). If Russia were in reality almost last in the list, then it would only mean that there are no problems with freedom of press in the world in general, for such is the level of freedom in Russia.
China and America: A Profitable Partnership: U.S. exports have risen at an astonishing pace, growing at a compound annual rate of 35%, a trend that is set to continue - Tung Chee Hwa, Wall Street Journal [subscription]
The U.S. and China need to show a little mutual restraint - Kenneth Lieberthal and J. Stapleton Roy, Washington Post: So far, each side is developing doctrines that are little understood by the other: China has adopted a strategy of being able to defend its interests in “nearby seas,” while the Pentagon has articulated a goal of maintaining the capability to overcome any “anti-access/area denial.” Threat perceptions on both sides are assuming a life of their own. The specifics and operational assumptions behind each doctrine are opaque, but each is increasingly couched in terms that can justify escalating military expenditures as both militaries attempt to achieve levels of certainty that are, so far, unattainable. This trend cries out for top political leaders to step in and, along with their militaries, discuss principles and accommodations that give each side reasonable certainty about its core security interests.
If Not Orwell, Then Huxley: The Battle for Control of the Internet -- Our online freedoms are on the verge of being eroded in ways more subtle and insidious than Orwell -- or Apple's marketing department -- ever imagined - Rebecca MacKinnon, Atlantic: In the Internet age, the greatest long-term threat to a genuinely citizen-centric society -- a world in which technology and government serve citizens instead of the other way around -- looks less like Orwell's 1984, and more like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World: a world in which our desire for security, entertainment, and material comfort is manipulated to the point that we all voluntarily and eagerly submit to subjugation. If we are to avoid this dystopian fate, political innovation will have to catch up with technological innovation. Via
"Severe Internet disruptions and increased censorship" reported in Iran. "Usual antifiltering software" not working - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting
Sky News Arabia begins rehearsals and is set for spring launch - - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting
When will the Greeks develop their own propaganda plan? - prverdict.com:
While financial markets gave the changes a “thumbs-up” Greeks have given them a resounding “thumbs-down”. Protestors in the capital have been rioting, with violent clashes reported throughout the country.
Vintage Hubert Hilscher Circus Posters - retrotogo.com: Soviet propaganda posters are pretty familiar these days, but less well-known are Polish art posters such as these vintage Circus Posters by Hubert Hilscher. In 1963, the Polish State Entertainment Agency commissioned posters from a group of leading poster artists to promote the circus (CYRK).
The Big Lie - mountainhomenews.com: If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." Joseph Goebbels did say it. Don't sell him short. He was Hitler's Master of Propaganda. Goebbels's deeply rooted contempt for humanity, his urge to sow confusion, hatred and intoxication, his lust for power and his mastery of the techniques of mass persuasion were given full vent in the election campaigns of 1932, when he played a crucial role in bringing Hitler to the centre of the political stage. He was rewarded on 13 March 1933 with the position of Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which gave him total control of the communications media - i.e. radio, press, publishing, cinema and the other arts. He retained this position for his lifetime. He was Hitler's right hand man until their deaths. He chose to suicide himself and poison his wife and 6 kids so as to die with Hitler. With characteristic pathos and egomania he declared not long before his death: 'We shall go down in history as the greatest statesmen of all time, or as the greatest criminals.' He also said: "The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over" Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street." "If the day should ever come when we [the Nazis] must go, if some day we are compelled to leave the scene of history, we will slam the door so hard that the universe will shake and mankind will stand back in stupefaction.."
AMERICANA
"I start with the assumption that the 21st century must reinvent the American Dream."
--Harvard Professor Russell Mead, Beyond Blue Part Two: Recasting The Dream [This is Part Two of the "Beyond Blue" series. Part One is available here],the-american-interest.com
"Abraham Lincoln is reinvented as a vampire-killing president in this Timur Bekmambetov-directed action picture starring Benjamin Walker, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, and Dominic Cooper. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith adapts his own book for 20th Century Fox."
--Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, mtv.com; image from
ADVICE FROM AN AMERICAN POLONIUS
"America is good at change. We absorb immigrants better than most. We like new things and like to try them out. We have an optimistic streak in our nature; we believe that change is basically good and that being open to new things will make us happier and better off. Our religious sensibility is future-oriented and believes that God is working through the chaos and uncertainties of life. Our national religious tradition is profoundly influenced by the dynamic vision of a God who calls humanity into an unknown future. While the religious cultures of some parts of the world look back to a real or imagined utopia in the far distant past, or instruct the faithful to resist change and cling to the ancient ways, American religion tends to see the hand of God behind the winds of change. We pursue God into the future, rather than hunting for him in the far-distant past."
--Walter Russell Mead, Beyond Blue Part Three: The Power of Infostructure, the-american-interest.com
"The critical advances of the next generation involve the development and construction of a radically new infostructure that will change the way government, the law, education, medicine and many other institutions and industries work. The new infostructures will so dramatically enhance the efficiency of the societies able to build and install them that they will enjoy huge advantages over those who cannot."
--Ibid
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