April 12

‎

"In America a pedestrian is someone who has just parked [his] car." 

--Joke cited in Tom Vanderbilt, "The Crisis in American Walking: How we got off the pedestrian path," Slate. Via YO on Facebook; image from article, Carlin Robinson, 12, walks from her grandmother's car to the school bus in Manchester, Ky. Her house can be seen in the background. A study published in 2010, investigating high obesity rates in the town found that residents used cars to minimize walking distance, to the detriment of their health.

VIDEO

Anti-Iranian propaganda and disinformation courtesy of AEI - peppermintmary.blogspot.com

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Demonizing Iran and the Electronic Curtain - Gabby LaVerghetta, Sutradhar's Market: "President Barack Obama in his Nowruz address to the Iranian people coined the term 'electronic curtain' to describe the lack of access to online information in Iran.  (Please see 'Iran’s Electronic Curtain' for more.)  Now, the United States government has launched a campaign based upon the phrase. Last week, the State Department posted an animated video to illustrate its perspective on the situation.  The video, titled 'Behind the Electronic Curtain,' depicts an Iranian internet user who is constantly blocked from the websites he attempts to access. The video can be seen on the U.S. Virtual Embassy to Tehran. All of the text in the video appears in English and Farsi in an effort to reach Iranian audiences.

However, the virtual embassy is still inaccessible from Iran’s national intranet. This might actually be a good thing. The video won’t do much to help relations between America and Iran.  On the surface, the animation might seem a crude attempt to simplify the situation. In reality, animation is a common way of illustrating the issues surrounding the internet. See for example Free Press’ video about net neutrality. But it’s hard to overlook the fact that the video demonizes Tehran. The Iranian government appears large, dark and menacing. Put that image together with the foreboding music and the message is clear: the Iranian government is bad. The U.S. government is promoting the video in English, Chinese, Farsi, and Arabic with the Twitter hashtag #ConnectIran. The video has yet to make a splash, eliciting only brief commentary in several public diplomacy blogs such as John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review.  Most of the promotional tweets thus far have come from State Department employees. It will be interesting to see whether the video attracts more attention in the coming days. Despite not being the most sophisticated product, the video does hold true to the State Department’s ideals of internet freedom." Image from entry, with caption:A tourist in a hotel in Tehran uses an internet station in 2007.

Iranian Activist, 72, Given Three-Year Suspended Sentence - RFE/RL's Radio Farda: "Iranian pro-democracy activist Kourosh Zaim has been handed a three-year suspended sentence after judges found him guilty of acting against national security and spreading propaganda against the Islamic republic. The 72-year-old member of the opposition National Front has been a

vocal critic of the regime in Tehran. Zaim was arrested in February 2011, hours after an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda was broadcast. In the interview, he said authoritarian regimes in the region would inevitably face 'social explosions,' especially due to the fact that the majority of the populations there are young people who have access to information through social media. It's not clear, however, whether Zaim's arrest was connected to the interview." Kourosh Zaim image from article

Iconic American Ballet Dancer Comes to Russia Again - Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya, Moscow Times: "'The fallacy was that black people could not do classical ballet,' American ballet dancer Arthur Mitchell explained recently to an audience at the American Center Library. 'So I said — 'I'll change it.'

Arthur Mitchell became the first African-American to dance with George Balanchine's New York City Ballet in November 1955, an unprecedented accomplishment in the race-divided America of that time. In 1962, Mitchell traveled with the company to Moscow, becoming, he says, the first ballet dancer of color to perform for Russian audiences. In 1969, Mitchell co-founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem, which became one of the most prominent performing ensembles in the country. In 1988, the dance ensemble was invited to perform in Russia. Mitchell is currently visiting as a featured speaker for American Seasons, a cultural exchange set up by the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission." Via NI on Facebook. Image from article

Director Bruce Sherman on Broadcasting Board of Governors’ killing of Voice of America brand-name - BBG Watcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "Why is the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) trying to silence Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Tibet when Tibetan Buddhist monks are self-immolating to shock the conscience of the world and the Chinese government is increasing its repression of the Tibetan people and their culture? Why are the Voice of America Cantonese Service and many other VOA brand-names, including VOA English and VOA Spanish, being put on the chopping block by the BBG when China and even Iran are expanding their radio and television broadcasts around the world, including Latin America? The answer to these questions was provided recently by the BBG’s chief strategist in an important article posted on one of the BBG’s websites.  Because of its significance, we are providing a link to

Mr. Bruce Sherman’s article and reposting it at the end of our commentary. He holds the position of  the Director of  the BBG Office of Strategy and Development. In a display of unlimited confidence, Mr.  Sherman explained that his federal agency can change brand-names at will. No name or institution is safe.  Even those that have been around for more than 70 years, have Congressional mandates and are closely associated around the world with America and its support for freedom can be erased and silenced overnight. ‘Where our brands resonate with audiences, we want to preserve them. Where they don’t, we have the flexibility to invent new ones. Radio Sawa (‘together’ in Arabic) helped us rebrand our efforts in the Middle East and reach millions of new listeners.’ — Bruce Sherman —  The BBG: One Organization, Many Brands. This is how the Director of the Broadcasting Board of Governors Office of Strategy and Development described the elimination a few years back of Voice of America (VOA) Arabic broadcasts and the banning of the VOA brand-name from the Middle East by the BBG. Mr. Sherman did not elaborate further that the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ decision to kill these broadcasts and their brand-name was based on audience research showing that words like ‘America’ and ‘American’ were disliked in the region. ... What is then the real reason for killing the best-known American international radio brand-name in China? The real reason — we suspect — is a bureaucratic desire to take control over U.S. international broadcasting away from the American people, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. foreign policy establishment. It’s not about saving money when budgets are tight. The BBG and its bureaucratic arm — the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) — are wasting U.S. taxpayers’ money right and left. It’s not about moving to new Internet platforms, which as everyone knows are inexpensive and often free, and which VOA and other U.S. international broadcasters have already been using and expanding their use for many years. It is about preserving and creating new bureaucratic jobs by eliminating critical international news programs. It is about firing close to 300 journalists and program support staffers so that the BBG can give a 50 million dollar audience research contract to the Gallup Organization.” Sherman image from article

Annette Lantos pleads with Broadcasting Board of Governors to save Voice of America broadcasts - BBG Watcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "Annette Lantos, the wife of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, has joined efforts to oppose the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ (BBG) proposals to cut Voice of America (VOA) services, the independent, nongovernmental Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting reported today on its website www.cusib.org. Mrs. Lantos’s April 4, 2012 letter to the BBG

begins: 'I write in support of Voice of America radio and television broadcasting, particularly to China, Tibet and Russia. In addition, I write in support of the efforts of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting.

The CUSIB works to ensure that U.S. government-funded broadcasts promote respect for human rights and freedom of the press, especially in nations where these basic freedoms are under attack.' Annette Lantos is the Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Her late husband Tom Lantos (February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until his death and a powerful champion of human rights around the world. In speaking before the House of Representatives after his death, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that Lantos 'devoted his public life to shining a bright light on the dark corners of oppression. . . He used his powerful voice to stir the consciousness of world leaders and the public alike.'” Images from entry

Over 300,000 hits for BBG Watch website - BBGWatcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "The BBG Watch website, www.usgbroadcasts.com or simply bbgwatch.com, has received over 300,000 hits since September 2011."

With the help of end-of-year funds, Radio Free Asia is increasingly becoming Television Free Asia - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "[Elliott comment:] The resourcefulness of the RFA engineers is admirable. Nevertheless, funding would be less of a roadblock if the United States had one entity broadcasting to East Asia rather than two. So now RFA has cameras, teleprompters, and lighting to compete with VOA's cameras, teleprompters, and lighting, for broadcasts to the same countries, in the same languages, covering much of the same news. This story says more about US international broadcasting, and its 'many brands,' than the Radio World reporter realized."

Radio Free Asia will "deploy private clouds in remote locations" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "[Elliott comment:]This sounds like something that VOA could also use for its heavily blocked internet traffic to East Asia.

Nevertheless, this is strictly an RFA-only deployment, part of its Freedom 2 Connect initiative. In accordance with the BBG's 'many brands' strategy, there is no room on the cloud for both RFA and VOA." Image from

A visit at the EU delegation in Washington D.C. - Riccardo Ruffolo, PD News–CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy:  “On the last day of the Masters of Public Diplomacy delegation’s visit to Washington D.C., some of us had the opportunity to visit the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. ... From our visit, we learned that the PPD’s [Press and Public Diplomacy] program is wide-reaching. The initiatives which target audiences of different age groups from all over the U.S., range from cultural programming to information outreach, and from academia to media relations. The main areas which the EU Delegation’s public diplomacy targets are: programs targeting American youth, collaboration with EU member states’ embassies and consulates, and social media outreach. One of the main objectives of the public diplomacy strategy of the Delegation is to foster a long-term relationship with young professionals and future leaders. This is conducted through programs such as the EU Visitors Program (EUVP), which invites young professionals from countries outside the EU to visit Europe and learn about its goals and policies, and through annual press visits to Brussels. Even younger age groups are targeted. The Euro Challenge (modeled after the Fed Challenge) engages high school students in simulations about the European economy. Moreover, the delegation organizes a yearly Kids Euro Fest, one of the largest children’s festivals in the U.S., held in Washington D.C. in collaboration with EU member states embassies. The coordination between the EU member states embassies and consulates was another major theme in our discussion. The EU Delegation hosts meetings with embassy representation regarding policies and joint events, and with member states’ ambassadors on a monthly basis. The best example of this collaboration in public diplomacy is the preparation for the Europe Day on May 9.

On this occasion, ambassadors and consuls travel to different cities around the U.S. to visit schools to raise awareness about the EU, its structures and policies. Additionally, all of the embassies in Washington D.C. organize an open house event with a specific theme for Europe Day. The theme of this year will be ‘Europe and our country,’ in line with the European motto ‘unity in diversity.’ ...The EU Delegation to the U.S. is on the forefront of using web technologies to conduct outreach. Even though the website is undergoing construction, the delegation’s Facebook page and Twitter feed are extremely active and looked at as a model for other delegations around the world. Moreover, affirming this shift and attention towards social media, the head of the delegation, Ambassador João Vale de Almeida, has recently joined Twitter.” Image from

Analysis of Foreign Language Usage in Twitter: Tunisia - mediabadger.com: "Twitter has become a key communication tool for people around the world. For those that don’t understand Twitter and only see the 'silly' tweets, ... our ... research shows that Twitter plays a key role in the voice of civil society today and we suspect it will only increase.

For building any analytics with natural language processing, it will be a daunting task and always be limited by the rapid changes in hashtags, short life-spans for some hashtags and their evolving nature in Twitter communications. ... [T]he dominant use of English and French is that nationals and civil society groups are intending to reach an international audience, including news media. This issue also adds a layer of complexity for foreign governments with digital diplomacy and public diplomacy programs that use social media. They will need to develop an understanding of the meanings and context of hashtags as they evolve and to understand how words may be played with and what the use of former colonial languages may be signalling, if anything." Image from article

The Power of Lexicon - Nurit Greenger, Doc's Talk: "The problem with many of those who support Israel and tirelessly speak for her is that the lexicon they use in their Public Diplomacy is flawed. They all mean well, but they do just the opposite, they subvert Israel. Some talented pundits often have their word published in newspapers or they deliver speeches, heard by thousands of people all over the world, and in both media they keep on using the title holder word 'Palestinian.' Even ZOA, the Zionist Organization of America, gives the Arabs their new acclaimed, sexy name 'Palestinians.' The worse violators of the right lexicon are many members in the government of Israel. They desperately cling to the Oslo Accords models and fabricate stuff, to go along and get along and keep their warm seats in the white castle of the halls of government. These Israeli officials PR conductors predicate their linguistic expressions on the fact that the whole governing system has been conditioned to be in 'partnership' with the nonexistent 'pestilentinians' [sic]. ... Those Arabs living in Israel should be called Israeli-Arabs, apposing to Jews, who should be called Israelis. Those Arabs, whom, in 1994, Jordan stripped off their Jordanian citizenship and are now stuck, stateless, in Judea and Samaria, are simply Arabs. The name 'Palestinian' must be eradicated from the lexicon and archived into the pages of history. The time has come for all of us to conduct our public discourse along the correct terminology and move forward."

Arts and culture scholarship program of Indonesia: Ten students from ten countries, including Indonesia, are welcomed to Surabaya, where they will be based over the next three months, studying and exploring the diverse cultures of East Java as part of public diplomacy - demotix.com: "Together with Studio Studio Tydif designated as a companion to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 students will learn Indonesian language, dance, music, gamelan, ethics, diverse cuisine, and been to several schools and colleges in EastJava."

Image from article

SRU Students visit German and Canadian Embassies - Stenden Rangsit University Thailand: "The students of our International Protocol and Diplomatic Studies (IPaD) minor go from one highlight to another. ... Wednesday 11 April, our students were welcomed by a team of diplomats at the Canadian Embassy in the very heart of Bangkok. ... Topics of

discussion included the Canadian government’s foreign policy priorities, engagement with ASEAN countries ahead of the important 2015 economic integration deadline and the work involved in arranging official state visits, such as last month’s visit by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Bangkok. In addition, the embassy’s public diplomacy activities and current events such as recent developments in Myanmar were discussed." Image from article, with caption: SRU students and lecturer with Ms Caroline Mireault, Mr Denwood Holmes and Ms Amy Galigan

Beijing Olympics: the success of Chinas Public diplomacy!ptional) [sic - JB] - milayna12, Public and Cultural Diplomacy 5: A group blog by students at London Metropolitan University

Press, Policy and Public Affairs Internship- The British Consulate-General in Los Angeles - U.S.-based Internships Information Portal: "The British Consulate-General in Los Angeles is the United Kingdom’s diplomatic mission responsible for the Pacific Southwest, including Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii. It is offering unpaid internships for Summer 2012 to work within the Consulate's Press & Public Affairs (PPA) section, which handles all the media response, outreach and social media on a host of public diplomacy issues, including climate change, commercial diplomacy, UK-US trade, and UK-US scientific cooperation. PPA also arranges visits to the region by senior UK officials. This internship will focus largely on the digital diplomacy strategy for the consulate."

RELATED ITEMS

My Latest Interview with Security at State Department - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: "Then it [the interview] got personal. I’ve worked for State for 24 years, been married to the same lovely woman for 25 years. Yet today the fact that that woman was born abroad (in Japan, still a US buddy that we have not bombed in some 70 years) became 'Did I ever have a relationship with a foreign national?' Yes, yes I did, for 25 delightful years and counting, including all my overseas assignments where my dear wife joined me on State Department orders. Luckily they did not know that my dog is also a foreigner. She was a rescue we saved in Hong Kong. Bitch is 100% Chicom canine. ... When an organization such as the State Department wants to deep six an employee for no allowable reason (i.e., rude blogging), they turn the case over to Security. Knowing that their own human resources regulations won’t work, never mind the sticky Constitution, the State Department

in the specific and the Government in general are hiding behind security, where even accusations can become fatal, where facts can be hidden from Freedom of Information Act requests and even court-ordered discovery, and thus manipulated to a desired end. What is called an investigation morphs into an indictment, where the goal is to keep fishing until something, anything, comes up. Van Buren image from his blog. More on Van Buren's case at

Guggenheim Project Challenges ‘Western-Centric View’ - Carol Vogel, New York Times: In an effort to reach beyond the Western art world the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is embarking on a five-year program to work with artists, curators and educators from South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to bringing curators from those parts of the world to the Guggenheim Museum in New York and organizing exhibitions that highlight art from their regions, the program will acquire art for the Guggenheim’s permanent collection. The project, to be financed by UBS

and called the Guggenheim UBS Map Global Art Initiative, will begin with South and Southeast Asia. The museum will invite a curator from each region to New York for overlapping two-year residencies; they will work with a team of Guggenheim curators to identify new and recent artworks that best reflect the range of talents in their areas. The artworks they choose will be acquired for the Guggenheim and will also be the focus of exhibitions that open at the New York museum and then travel to two other cultural institutions. Via NI on Facebook. Image from

US tries to play down North Korean missile launch - firstpost.com: The US has geared up for a strong response to the expected long-range missile launch by North Korea but at the same time tried to play down the propaganda value for the North Korean leadership. “We take it seriously, but you should also understand that within the context of North Korean behaviour, it is not unusual,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, told reporters.

North Korea Propaganda War and the Weaponization of Space - Christof Lehmann, nsnbc.wordpress.com: Western media make use of “experts” in an attempt to scare Western populations into believing that the DPRK “could” use the same rocket to launch nuclear warheads.

This and similar propaganda strategies are, not surprisingly, most prevalent in Western countries who have themselves stockpiled sufficient amounts of nuclear war heads and delivery systems, to incinerate the entire globe multiple times. South Korea scares its population into fear of war by proclaiming, that it would shoot down the rocket if it strayed over South Korean territory, which the DPRK rightfully would perceive as an act of war. Image from

New Website Shows Korea's Dark Side: Korea is more than kimchi, K-pop and plastic surgery, says the founder of new website koreaBANG - Darren Wee, Huffington Post: koreaBANG knows what Korea is talking about and apparently it is drunken women on the subway, tweeting politicians and how much they hate Japan. koreaBANG is a new website that translates the most discussed news stories in Korea and their highest rated comments into English. As the Korean wave sweeps over Asia and the rest of the world, there is a growing audience for all things Korean. There are already dozens of K-pop sites, allkpop has 75 million views a month, but koreaBANG has a harder news edge. The site was founded by two British students of Korean. Cambridge University student James Pearson said koreaBANG's sister site, chinaSMACK, was his first port of call while a student in Beijing, but he was hard-pressed to find a Korean equivalent. He approached chinaSMACK with the idea of a Korean version and launched koreaBANG in January with his co-editor and Korea University student, Raphael Rashid.

The shape of a deal with Iran - Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post: The Obama administration’s Iran strategy has worked so far. Unprecedented pressure has forced Tehran to the negotiating table. It will take extraordinary diplomatic skills to reach a settlement in the talks this weekend among Iran and the “P5+1” — the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany. But there is too much pessimism in the air. A robust deal is possible if, as with any successful negotiation, both sides can come away with something. If Iran does make concessions, the United States would have to accept them and relax some sanctions. Below image from

A last chance for a deal with Iran on nuclear weapons? - Editorial Board, Washington Post: Hardly anyone thinks it likely that the United States and its five partners in the group negotiating with Iran will be able to strike a deal that ends the Iranian nuclear threat or satisfies United Nations resolutions. For those who, like us, believe that military action against Iran is neither necessary nor wise in the coming months, a deal in which Iran met the administration’s terms would be a relief — but an unsatisfying one. It probably would prevent war. But the risk is that it would be counterproductive in the medium term, because it would ease what is now mounting economic pressure on Iran and allow the regime breathing space.

A Stable Afghanistan Is Still Possible: The insurgency persists, but if the U.S. doesn't withdraw prematurely, Afghan security forces will be able to contain it by 2014 - Michael O'Hanlon and Bruce Riedel, Wall Street Journal: Afghanistan still has huge problems, and no clear victory is within reach by 2014. We lost that opportunity years ago, and the insurgency is likely to persist. But the goal can and should be that Afghan forces will increasingly contain and combat it on their own. At that point, perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 foreign forces can suffice—to mentor Afghan units in the field, and for air power and intelligence support, training and special operations. Moving to such a small force prematurely, however, would leave the country's east too infiltrated by insurgents. It would also prevent the partnering and apprenticeship work with Afghan units in the field—which requires NATO combat formations, not just advisers. Below image from

In Afghanistan, who follows Hamid Karzai? - David Ignatius, Washington Post: Some top U.S. officials agree it’s time to focus more on politics and a bit less on the military handover that gets the headlines. Already, Ryan Crocker, the veteran U.S. ambassador in Kabul, is expanding his outreach to Afghan politicians in the hope of encouraging a new generation of leaders, post-Karzai. I don’t know where this sort of political outreach fits in the toolbox of U.S. power. Some would argue that it should be a CIA function, since it may involve covert contacts and money. But why not do this political work openly, through the embassy? It seems crazy to have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to stabilize Afghanistan, and then pretend Washington isn’t interested in shaping the political landscape and encouraging a strong and popular successor to Karzai.

Internet vulnerability endangers U.S. security and economy - Sen. Susan Collins pressherald.com: The Internet is a tool for productivity, commerce and social engagement. Around the world it has also served as a platform of extremist propaganda on one hand and peaceful revolution on the other. The Internet – decentralized, open and infinitely expandable – is transforming America and the world. Those same qualities that bring transformation create vulnerability. That is why strengthening our nation's defenses against cyber attacks is among my highest priorities.

Israel's poetry critics - Editorial, Los Angeles Times, posted at: The people in Israel and Germany who are most outraged by Nobel Prize-winning author Gunter Grass' latest work have one thing in common: They think it's ridiculous, and possibly anti-Semitic, for Grass to assert a moral equivalency between Israel and Iran. Yet by overreacting to Grass' criticism, Israeli officials are acting like, well, Iranians. While Grass' work raises old questions in his native land about whether it's acceptable to criticize Israel given Germany's Nazi past, it's having an even more divisive impact in Israel, where some see it as part of a growing international movement to delegitimize the nation. Hence the resulting personal attacks on Grass by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who suggested that Grass was motivated by anti-Semitism that could be traced back to his time as a World War II soldier in the Waffen SS. And the terrible decision by Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai to bar Grass from entering the country. Israel and Iran aren't morally equivalent because Israel is an open democracy that cherishes free speech and the rule of law. Yet barring a prominent European intellectual from the country for expressing his political views is precisely the kind of reaction we'd expect from Iran's mullahs.

Gunter Grass and the mute left: Grass’ profound moral failure and the Zionist left’s profound failure to respond are a bad sign. They show that leading intellectuals in the West and Israel are no longer capable of defending Israel - Ari Shavit, haaretz.com: Gunter Grass has put us all to the test. The strange text he published a week ago in the Suddeutsche Zeitung is a bizarre but profound document. It doesn't contain old-style anti-Semitism. It doesn't contain Goebbels-like propaganda. But behind its embarrassing lines lie three important statements. In his own way, Grass is saying more or less the following: I'm no longer willing to overcome my disgust with Israel because of my Hitlerian past; I think Israel's nuclear capability is endangering world peace; the fact that my people murdered the Jews in 1942 does not justify the Jews having nuclear weapons in 2012. With the sensitive instincts of a great writer, Grass makes a radical statement that reflects a deep-seated idea now spreading in the dark cellars of the new Germany, the new Europe and the new left. According to this deep-seated idea, Israel, not Iran, is the present-day aggressor in the Middle East. Not the extremist Shi'ites but the extremist Israelis are the new Nazis. The crime against humanity that must be at the center of our consciousness is not what Hitler did to the Jews but what the Jews are about to do to the Iranians. Therefore, in the name of the Holocaust, the Jews should be denied the nuclear power that could enable them to cause a second Holocaust. Grass' profound moral failure and the Zionist left's profound failure to respond are a bad sign. Grass image from article

Unseen Rodchenko and Lissitsky on show in Moscow - rt.com: Hundreds of sportsmen on Red Square, happy smiling Soviet children playing in sandpits, simple working men typical of the 1930s USSR – these scenes have been captured with style by the great Soviet propaganda artists.

­Photographs by the fathers of the Russian avant garde, Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, who shaped the graphic design in the USSR in creating iconic Soviet propaganda posters, are being shown in Moscow for the very first time. “This display offers a chance to see originals that have never been on show before,” Ria Novosti news agency quotes the curator of the project Valery Stigneev. Photographs by Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky will go on display at the Artplay Design Center starting April 14. Apart from Rodchenko and Lissitsky the exhibition will feature 25 other artists, who worked between 1920s and 1960s. Image from article, with caption: El Lissitsky, 1940

AMERICANA

"Although a few years ago Washington, D.C., [drug] dealers earned an average of $30 an hour, today they earn less than the federal minimum wage ($7.25)."

--George F. Will, "Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs?" Washington Post

RUSSICA

Former Russian spy in America Anna Chapman. Via RA on Facebook