March 25

"Portugal has abolished its Ministry of Culture."

--Larry Rohter, "In Europe, Where Art Is Life, Ax Falls on Public Financing," New York Times; image from

VIDEO

Obama Caught Using The Exact Same Line When Talking To Multiple Foreign Leaders - Mediaite; via  MP on Facebook

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The American Security Project Urges a New Bipartisan National Security Vision - arwalter: "The American Security Project (ASP) this week released a groundbreaking new report that calls for a 'revolution in national security policy' and lays the framework for bipartisan agreement on some of the nation’s most pressing national security issues, including terrorism, energy dependence, climate change and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. ... A New American Arsenal also lays out broad

recommendations for addressing each of the four major security issues. These include: Terrorism: Building new alliances and international frameworks to fight extremists by coordinating military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies and creating a sustainable international legal framework to combat terrorist movements; Countering and undermining jihadist ideology in a more effective battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world by expanding development assistance, trade and investment opportunities and health and education programs to raise economic prospects and increasing public diplomacy; and Investing in alternative energy to begin to diversify energy sources for the U.S. and its allies." Image from article

Alhurra program acquisitions include "Quest," "Super Factories," and (updated) "The Truth About Shoplifting" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Radio Farda engages its audience with a poll, resulting in son of Shah being named most important person of the year - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Public diplomacy now a skeleton of better days - Shannon Smith, canberratimes.com.au: "Australia has a reasonably positive reputation overseas, derived largely from a range of people-to-people interactions and the international successes of our scientists, musicians and sportspeople. Australian diplomats are generally highly regarded, and form relationships with official counterparts, foreign media and broader elite audiences easily. But that's traditional diplomacy. Traditional diplomacy is about reaching decision makers and those that influence opinions, and often is around a single issue, for example a trade negotiation or a jailed Australian citizen. True public diplomacy differs because it has a broader reach, it goes beyond the influential few to the masses, it seeks out a new audience and encourages the communities overseas to adopt a positive and open outlook. This is vitally important for a small country like Australia. However, Australia's voice in the world has been reduced to a whisper in recent years. Take the case of education in Indonesia. For many years, the Commonwealth education department (DEEWR) was focused on developing Australia's position in attracting international students through its marketing, promotion and public diplomacy. This was done through the Australian Education Centres in Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan.

The AEC model worked: while the number of Indonesian students going to competitor countries was falling, Indonesian student numbers to Australia grew by 10 per cent annually between 2008 and 2010. ... In 2010, following a cabinet decision, responsibility for the marketing and promotion of Australian international education transferred from DEEWR to Austrade, the national trade department. Austrade decided to close the AEC network, and on the date the transfer occurred, DEEWR's 15 local staff were released from employ, and superseded by one local Austrade staff member. In one swift blow the Australian embassy [in Indonesia] lost practically half of its public diplomacy profile and capabilities. ... Soon after the AECs were closed, the US Embassy established the @America education and cultural centre. @America does everything that the AECs did, such as hold film screenings, conversation clubs and career discussions, and advise about education choices. Opened in December 2010, the @America shopfront received 13,000 visitors in its first 75 days of operation. But unlike the AEC model, @America is static, and is accessible only to the middle class in Jakarta. Which is why the US embassy wants Deteksi, an annual youth event run by Jawa Pos, the largest newspaper group in the country (daily circulation of 400,000). Each year 100,000 junior and high school students compete to win the Australia quiz and the grand prizes of trips to see Australia first-hand. The American embassy is lobbying hard to move Australia out of the picture. And they may well succeed. As with the AECs, Austrade declined to take on Deteksi. ... What Australia does right now as public diplomacy is piecemeal, fragmented, sometimes reactionary and often opportunist, and there is much less of it than before. What happened in Indonesia is not an isolated case - witness the recent Australia Network debacle. What Australia needs is an actual public diplomacy strategy, not a semi-coordinated collection of activities at our diplomatic missions." Image: Red kangaroo skeleton from

China and Taiwan Public Diplomacy Charm Offensive: A Recipe for Bad Governance and Insecurity in Less Economically Developed Countries – secks, publicandculturaldiplomacy6.wordpress.com: "As she seeks for (greater) recognition outside her frontiers, the republic of Taiwan (to her allies) or the republic of China (to China and her allies) has, embark on a public and cultural diplomacy campaign aimed at gaining recognition from members of the international community. Her bid for a formal recognition from nation states and her quest for her reinstatement to the boards and organizations of councils of states (i.e. her bid to regain her UN seat which it lost to China in 1971) has led to a public diplomacy offensive against the Peoples Republic of China (who regard Taiwan a territory of China). In their bids to garner support and cement bilateral relations with developing countries, both nations have in recent times concentrated on, and intensified their activities in developing countries. Nowhere are the remnants or ramifications of China and Taiwan’s public diplomacy tussle more evident than in the pacific countries of Samoa and Tonga. These small and poor (but useful countries to both China and Taiwan) have in recent times endure the repercussions of the public diplomacy machinery of China and Taiwan. With very few formal diplomatic ties as a result of China’s insistence that it is part of her territory, Taiwan has literally, resorted to buying or winning her way to organizations of councils of states at all cost. Indeed, in her attempt to regain her UN seat, it has donated (or surrendered) significant amounts of money and resources to political apparatuses and political personnels in exchange for their support of her political goal. ... As a result of this financial incentive, the leadership of countries like Samoa and Tonga are only motivated by the financial incentives

(pay checks made by Taiwan which usually find themselves in the personal bank accounts of prominent political and powerful figures) rather than the interests of their respective nations in general. As an Asian Tiger, Taiwan has managed to buy the hearts and minds of the rulers of these countries at the detriment of their citizens. Furthermore, China’s economic offers are ... extremely effective because almost all of Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners are poor and small Pacific island, African, and Latin American countries. Indeed, China’s current economic prowess and political power has dr[i]ve[n] Taiwan (who tries to contain China and maintain her diplomatic relations) to resort to diplomatic tactics that undermines or threatens the social fabric of the societies of the developing world. In sum, Taiwan and China’s diplomatic charm offensive has to a great extent, helped in fuelling corruption and public sector malpractice in the developing world." Image from

Chinese delegation visits Government House - thebahamasweekly.com: "A Chinese delegation led by Feng Guoqin, President of Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association and Chairman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Shanghai Committee, pays courtesy call on Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes and Lady Foulkes March 23rd, 2012 in the Drawing Room at Government House.

Pictured from left to right: Mr. Dao Shuming, chairman of Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration, His Excellency Hu Shan, People's Republic of China Ambassador to The Bahamas; Mr. Feng; Sir Arthur; Lady Foulkes; Ms. Wu Jinlan, Standing member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Shanghai Committee, Vice President and Secretary General of Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association and Mr. Melvin Seymour, secretary to the Governor-General." Image from article

Israel, Shrinkage Is No More An Option - Nurit Greenger, docstalk.blogspot.com: "With Israel's full assistance of the Oslo Accords' misguided politics, by Israel being pigheaded to reverse the Oslo, by annexing Judea and Samaria, and with Israel's

putrid public diplomacy, the Arabs have turned their loss in the Six Day War into a successful enterprise of media, economic, political, intellect, diplomatic, military and stealth jihad against Israel." Image from

Masbirim Israel: Israel’s PR Campaign as Glocalized and Grobalized Political Prosumption [subscription] - abs.sagepub.com: American Behavioral Scientist April 2012 56: 511-530, first published on December 8, 2011

Guest Post: Spain’s Immigration Dilemma: Policies, Realities and Implications for Public Diplomacy - Hilary Tone, Ren's Micro Diplomacy~ a public diplomacy and soft power blog: "**A note from Ren: since Tone wrote this essay in Dec 2008, there have been obvious changes in Spain’s political and economic landscapes. Given the economic crisis, however, immigration is still a hot button issue in Spain.**"

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

'For Once In My Life' Featured In 2012 American Film Showcase - PRNewswire-USNewswire: "For Once in My Life, a film about The Spirit of Goodwill® Band, a musical group made up of program participants from Goodwill Industries of South Florida (Miami), is one of 29 films selected for the 2012 American Film Showcase. A partnership between the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the University of Southern California's (USC's) School of Cinematic Arts, the American Film Showcase is an international cultural diplomacy initiative that will bring award-winning American films, including documentaries, feature films and animated shorts, to foreign audiences through events worldwide.For Once in My Life is a film that shatters preconceived notions of what it means to have a disability and shows the greatness that lies within each of us. The film chronicles the 28 members of the

Spirit of Goodwill Band, all of whom have varying developmental and physical disabilities, such as autism, Down syndrome and blindness, and a wide range of behavioral disorders. The band, which first began in 1981, transcends age, gender, race, socio-economic status, and physical and mental abilities, with music as the members' shared joy. ... About The American Film Showcase [:] The American Film Showcase builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's vision of 'smart power diplomacy,' which embraces the use of a full range of diplomatic tools to bring people together and foster greater understanding. The 29 films included in this year's program were selected because each illustrates diverse viewpoints and reflects contemporary American society and culture. In addition to presenting the films to overseas audiences, filmmakers and film experts will also conduct lectures, workshops and master classes on a variety of topics, including filmmaking, storytelling, cinematography, marketing, distribution and funding, animation, digital technology, and emergent media." Image from

100-year-old Japanese cherry trees blossom in Washington, DC - telegraph.co.uk: "A century before cultural diplomacy became a buzzword for governments around the world, Japan scored a spectacular success - Washington's cherry blossoms, which have become one of the US capital's top tourist attractions.

First planted in 1912 on central Washington's then barren Tidal Basin, the gifts from Japan each year now draw more than one million visitors who revel in the famously short-lived beauty of the blooming pink and white cherry petals." Image from article

Indonesian minister: Jakarta keen to broaden ties with Tehran - irna.ir: "Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture Mohammad Nuh

said on Friday that deeply rooted cultural affinity and commonality between Iran and Indonesia prepares grounds for upholding relations and cooperation between the two countries. He made the remarks in a special ceremony marking Iran’s cultural week in Jakarta in presence of Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini. Holding Iran’s cultural week indicates cultural commonalties between the two countries, he said. In cultural diplomacy, all parties should look forward to commonalties and try to change differences to opportunities, he said. The Indonesian minister welcomed the motto of the cultural event 'Iran and Indonesia bridging the gap between east and west parts of the Muslim World' and called for expansion of all out relations between the two countries." Uncaptioned image from article

Ensuring culture and arts in foreign diplomacy - Walter Ang, Philippine Daily Inquirer: "Metrobank Foundation has partnered with the Department of Foreign Affairs’ 'DiplomART: Cultural Diplomacy through Philippine Visual Arts,' a program aimed at including culture and arts in foreign relations. DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said: 'DFA recognizes the impact of culture in modern diplomacy and sees it as an effective tool in protecting our national interest, in advancing our advocacies, and in achieving the development agenda of the country in the international arena.' He recently signed Department Order

No. 15-11, which formalizes the creation of the Cultural Diplomacy Unit of the Department, ensuring that cultural promotions form part of the initiatives of the DFA personnel here and abroad." Image from article, with caption: DFA UNDERSECRETARY Laura del Rosario, DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario, Metrobank Foundation chair George Ty and Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepeña

Sierra Leone: Nation Is a Paradise for Potential Tourists - Umaru S. Jah, allafrica.com: "Sierra Leone has continued to receive serious attention from international partners regarding its socio-economic potentials, good governance and infrastructural development. Concerted efforts are being made not only by political leaders to rebrand the country's image after a horrible past, but also by well-meaning Sierra Leoneans including government functionaries working in respective missions abroad. Among them is Sierra Leone's Head of Chancery to the Federal Republic of Germany, Al-Hassan K. Kondeh. He has engaged academics and business experts in Germany to discuss investment potentials and good governance in post-conflict Sierra Leone. The discussion, which was organized by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD), was aimed at exploring new strategies for the strengthening of inter-cultural relations and rebranding of nations to attract investment across Africa. In his exposé, the Head of Chancery presented Sierra Leone as an ideal place for investment, pointing out that the country offers abundant raw materials, (including high quality minerals, agricultural products); great natural beauty, and a very warm people. According to him '...Sierra Leone is a country that is full of investment opportunities to genuine investors and also a paradise on earth for potential tourist to Africa'."

People on the move: Who got a promotion in South Florida? Who changed jobs and who got hired? - Cindy Kent, sun-sentinel.com: "The Broward Cultural Council announced new officers and committee leaders. Deborah Kerr was named council chairperson. Diane Weinbrum was named first vice chairperson. Tracy Nichols Roloff was named second vice chairperson.

Karen Beard is cultural executive committee chairperson; and at-large members are Linda Houston-Jones and Amy Ostrau. Estelle Loewenstein will lead the Advocacy committee. Amy Ostrau will head Arts Education. William Stanton will oversee Cultural Tourism; Diane Weinbrum, Planning. Bonnie Barnett will lead Public Art and Design. Darran Blake will lead Public Relations. Benjamin Williams will head the Creative Economy committee; and Dr. Margaret Armand will head Cultural Diplomacy." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

U.S. pays ‘blood money’ to victims of Afghan massacre - Ernesto Londono and Javed Hamdard, Washington Post: Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, said he could not confirm the payments. He said military officials sometimes provide restitution to relatives of civilians killed in combat in a manner “consistent with the cultural norms of Afghanistan.” This includes financial payments, he added.

Additional review for drone killings - Editorial Board, Washington Post: The president’s constitutional authority to act unilaterally to protect the country must not be eroded. His military decisions within recognized battlefields should not be subject to second-guessing by the judicial branch.

But in those instances where an American who is located far from a conventional military zone is targeted for death by his own government, an extra level of review of some sort is warranted. Image from

10 Reasons the Rest of the World Thinks the U.S. Is Nuts - Soraya Chemaly, Huffington Post: The rest of the civilized world thinks this country has lost its mind due to its frenzied misogyny.

In Europe, Where Art Is Life, Ax Falls on Public Financing - Larry Rohter, New York Times: European governments are cutting their support for culture, and American arts lovers are starting to feel the results. For Americans used to seeing the best and most adventuresome European culture on tour in this country, the belt-tightening is beginning to affect both the quantity and quality of arts exchanges. At least three European troupes that were expected to perform in January at the Under the Radar theater festival in New York, for example, had to withdraw as they could not afford the travel costs, and the organizers could not either. For artists and administrators in Europe, such changes are deeply disquieting, even revolutionary.

In contrast to the United States, Europe has embraced a model that views culture not as a commodity, in which market forces determine which products survive, but as a common legacy to be nurtured and protected, including art forms that may lack mass appeal. In New York, European arts institutions are also looking for smaller, less expensive places to present their offerings. “Why spend so much money on Carnegie Hall when there are cheaper places available?” one organizer of cultural exchanges said, insisting on anonymity so as not to jeopardize business ties. Image from

A Festival of Lies - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: What the Middle East needs most from America today are modern schools and hard truths, and we haven’t found a way to offer either. What ails the Middle East today truly is a toxic mix of tribalism, Shiite-Sunni sectarianism, fundamentalism and oil — oil that constantly tempts us to intervene or to prop up dictators. We don’t tell Pakistan the truth because it has nukes. We don’t tell the Saudis the truth because we’re addicted to their oil. We don’t tell Bahrain the truth because we need its naval base. We don’t tell Egypt the truth because we’re afraid it will walk from Camp David. We don’t tell Israel the truth because it has votes. And we don’t tell Karzai the truth because Obama is afraid John McCain will call him a wimp.

The False Debate About Attacking Iran - Nicholas Kristof, New York Times: So as we hear talk about military action against Iran, let’s be clear about one thing. Outside Netanyahu’s aides and a fringe of raptors, just about every expert thinks that a military strike at this time would be a catastrophically bad idea. That’s not a debate, but a consensus.

Iran Propaganda Special: US Officials Spin Away from War - fluechtlingshilfeiranev2010.wordpress.com: Key members in the Obama Adminisration, including the President, began to worry that an Israeli attack might become a reality rather than a perpetual warning. And some officials are also seeking a deal with Tehran over the nuclear issue, or at least accepting the resumption of talks.

So the media spin has shifted. Iran is no longer an imminent threat. Although it should still be watched, Tehran is not approaching the Obama “red line” — the pursuit of the Bomb — which would bring Washington’s endorsement of a strike on Iranian facilities. Image from article

Israel exploits Toulouse murders to justify no-charge jailing of hunger striker Hana al-Shalabi - electronicintifada.ne: What does the spokesman of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do when his propaganda efforts fail to conceal Israel’s abuses of Palestinians? He uses the blood of Jewish children murdered in the French city of Toulouse last week to try to blot them out.

This is low, even for Israeli official propaganda. Since 16 February – when Israeli occupation forces violently seized her from her home in the West Bank village of Burqin – Hana al-Shalabi has been on hunger strike because she has no other way to resist the injustice Israel is inflicting on her and her family. Now into her 38th day without food, and after severe deterioration in her health, doctors warn that she is at risk of “immediate death.” Image from article, with caption: Badia al-Shalabi, mother of hunger striking prisoner Hana al-Shalabi

Sina Weibo, a Chinese propaganda tool - Katie Miao Yuan Yuan: defyingnature.wordpress.com: Technological modernization such as the emergence of Sina Weibo is being manipulated to serve for China’s propaganda system instead of challenging it because of its self-censorship and cooperation with the government. Sina Weibo is not a platform for citizen journalism or investigative journalism but is more of a PR-related social network. Though Sina Weibo users broke out many pieces of exclusive news, the timing was so peculiar that make people suspicious of the angle behind the source. Not to mention many news events happened a long time ago, other than a large portion of entertainment news and celebrity gossips. Sina Weibo’s control of information flow does more good to propaganda system than to the public. The website provides a special platform for Beijing government departments in the trending topics on its site.

Book-club picks for Election 2012 - David Ignatius, Washington Post: Selections are “The World America Made” by Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution; “Liberal Leviathan” by John Ikenberry of Princeton; and “No One’s World” by Charles Kupchan of Georgetown. These are serious, scholarly books, but they go to questions that every voter can understand: Is America’s position in the world eroding? Can the United States bounce back, and what’s the right recovery strategy? Or is the liberal international order we’ve known since 1945 giving way to something different and disorderly, no matter what we do? In this trilateral debate, each of the analysts starts with a recognition that the easy days of unchallenged American power are over. But what comes next? Kagan argues that there’s no good alternative to U.S. leadership and that we shouldn’t commit “preemptive superpower suicide” by acceding to demands from rising nations such as China. He opens with an interesting thought experiment in which he asks the reader to imagine, much like the character George Bailey in the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” what the world would look like if American power weren’t around. Kagan’s answer is that things would be much worse without us; the liberal order can’t survive without U.S. power, hard and soft. “If American power declines, this world order will decline with it,” Kagan writes. “It will be replaced by some other kind of order, reflecting the desires and the qualities of other world powers. Or perhaps it will simply collapse.” Kagan’s message is similar to arguments made by Republican front-runner Mitt Romney. But his book is also much discussed at the Obama White House, though I think that the administration’s policies have focused more on adapting American power to a changing world than rebuilding the old primacy. Ikenberry argues that the global order is more durable and stable than Kagan fears. It’s a genuinely multilateral structure, he contends, and its strength derives from the network of institutions the United States helped create after 1945, such as the United Nations, the World Bank and NATO. America is strong when it operates through this deep structure of power, which has spread our basic values of capitalism and democracy to nearly every corner of the world. The United States may stumble, says Ikenberry, but the rising powers will also be members of the same global order. A group photo is the World Economic Forum at Davos, where newly wealthy Chinese and Indians walk alongside their American and European counterparts. America will stay strong, Ikenberry contends, if it maintains a network of alliances and partnerships and doesn’t try to go it alone. Obama appears to share Ikenberry’s basic analysis of the multipolar world, though he has also been willing to use American power unilaterally, a la Kagan.

GOP candidates such as Romney instinctively mistrust anything with the prefix “multi.” For a more pessimistic account, turn to Kupchan’s aptly titled “No One’s World.” He argues that the world is beginning what he calls “a global turn” and that it’s “wishful thinking” to expect it will be congenial to the United States and its Western allies. The problem is that Chinese, Iranian, Turkish and Russian models of the future don’t look like ours. “The world is barreling toward not just multipolarity, but also multiple versions of modernity,” he says. Even if democracy spreads, as seems to be happening in the Arab Spring, “the new regimes that emerge will not necessarily play by the West’s rules just because they are democratic.” Kupchan argues that America’s best strategy for coping is to recover its own domestic political and economic strength — and “not insist that the rising rest acquiesce to Western values and institutions.” Image from

20 reasons to visit Hanoi - theage.com.au: 2) Propaganda art: Guns, women on tractors, Ho Chi Minh, the white lotus - whether you find it quaint or menacing, Vietnamese propaganda has a small but striking palette of iconography. Since the end of the "American War" (as the Vietnamese call it), a curious industry has emerged aimed at marketing defiant posters to the very people they rally against. Thus shops like Pham Manh Gallery on Dinh Liet are filled with English translations under expensive reproductions: "The empire and international reactionaries shouldn't be unwise to touch this country."

Some things are lost in translation. 3) Museum of the Revolution:  More propaganda can be found in the fascinating Museum of the Revolution on Tong Dan Street. Charting liberation movements from 1858 to 1945, there's next to no explanations accompanying anything. But the assorted objects offer a curious window onto an alternative reading of significant 20th-century events, including a small padlock supposedly used by Australian workers to lock the parliament building in support of the Vietnamese revolutionary movement. Image from article, with caption: Repressive force ... the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

North Korean communism for sale -cnn.com"  Ever desperate for hard currency, the official website of North Korea offers propaganda art for sale, including some of Song Byeok's designs. Artwork promoting the North Korean regime

is available on beer steins, clocks and even iPad and iPhone covers. The items are made in places as diverse and as far from North Korea as El Salvador and Pakistan. They are for sale in U.S. dollars and ship from California. A calendar sells for $5.99 and says "We must be determined to fight and win against imperialism." You can also order this motif on an insulated bottle or can holder. Image from article

The Great Ealing Film Challenge 54: The Overlanders (1946) - Keith M. Johnston, huffingtonpost.co.uk: Even though it was released post-war, this is another Ealing film infused with propaganda intentions (Harry Watt was sent to Australia to enhance Australian propaganda, largely in documentary projects, but also keeping an eye out for stories Ealing would invest in): the coming together of a disparate group to take a massive herd of cattle "over land" rather than kill them in the Northern territories (which in 1942 feared an imminent Japanese invasion), and the trials they face. Early on, the emphasis is on this propaganda mission - the repetition that 'bullocks are more important than bullets' - but that shifts to the characters as they head further and further into the wilderness, although propaganda naturally returns in the film's closing minutes (as we see more images of Australia pulling together to accomplish the mass migration of cattle).

These Are The Military's Jaw-Dropping Propaganda Posters Against WW2 Soldiers' Real Enemy: STDs - rollyyates.typepad.com: According to military medical records, "In World War I, the Army lost nearly 7 million person-days and discharged more than 10,000 men because of STDs. Only the great influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 accounted for more loss of duty during that war."

So when syphilis and gonorrhea outbreaks spread in the beginning of World War II, the government launched a scare-tactic campaign against STDs. Battalions would be shown subtly nicknamed "Susie Rotten-crotch" films, all of which depicted a similar story: Soldier meets a local temptress, they have sex, and the soldier contracts a venereal disease. One famous movie was titled "USS VD: Ship of Shame." In addition to the films the government also produced a series of posters to encourage pure soldiers to fend off diseased and scheming ladies of the night. Captions spouted "facts" such as "98% of all procurable women have venereal disease." Image from article

US Comic Book Propaganda, WWII - retronaut.co:

One of several images from entry

The Seeds of Victory: World War 1 Propaganda Posters - nancysteinbockposters.com: Many great American artists volunteered their talents to create World War 1 Propaganda Posters, which supported the war efforts of the United States government.  The artists and their posters were instrumental in delivering important government messages, and in gaining public trust and support. Most of the posters during the war encourage men to enlist in the army, buy liberty bonds, join the Red Cross, and save food. The Seeds of Victory World War 1 Propaganda Poster was one of the most remarkable posters during the war, because it conveyed positive messages of hope, peace and victory. It was very effective in encouraging people to grow fruits and vegetables, in order to sustain the country’s food supply. Today, World War 1 Propaganda Posters are considered high priced collectibles. The Artists behind “Victory” World War 1 Propaganda Posters: J. Scott Williams was one of the seven major artists who volunteered to create World War 1 Propaganda Posters for the United States government. He had seventeen poster designs, including the “Victory” poster used in Fourth Liberty Loan propaganda. Two others artists that created victory posters were Gerrit A. Beneker, who portrayed the working man, and Clyde Forsythe, who featured the soldiers in the battlefield as heroes. The victory posters depicted the American’s dynamic energy and patriotism. A wide selection of World War 1 Propaganda posters is available in our online gallery. If you have questions about a particular poster, please call us at 800-438-1577.

What is propaganda? - documentinghistory.com: Propaganda is a form of communication which attempts to influence the attitude of a person or a community toward a specific cause or position. Propaganda usually presents facts in a selective way in order to encourage a particular way of thinking.

Loaded messages are used to produce an emotional response. The desired result of propaganda is an attitude change toward the topic of the propaganda’s message. The best results from propaganda come from a general dispersion of the propaganda material over a wide variety of media. Image from article, with caption: French Military Humor Propaganda

RUSSICA

--"New Komsomol"; via NP on Facebook

ONE MORE IMAGE

Roman Olsanik. Jack Hand Terrier. Via LV on Facebook

FOR RUSSOPHILES

- Вы натурал или гей?
- Чего?
- Ну, вы сексуальное большинство или сексуальное меньшинство?
- Я - сексуальное одиночество.

Luba Voropaeva on Facebook (LV image from entry; translation available on link)