June 13

"Well, at least she didn’t use that time-honored excuse of resigning to spend more time with her family."

--American diplomat Peter Van Buren regarding the job situation of current spouse/former Baghdad mistress, once employed by The Wall Street Journal, of State Department nominee for Ambassador to Iraq Brett McGurk; image from; see also (1) (2).

VIDEOS

(a) “The Warrior Class”: The Blackwater Videos - harpers.org. Via PVB

(b) This Is Kung Fu – rare Chinese Wushu propaganda film - martialartsbelmont.com

EVENT (JUNE 14-16)

Convening on Global Performance, Civic Imagination, and Cultural Diplomacy. Image from entry

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Public Schedule for June 13, 2012 - U.S. Department of State: "Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine [:] 8:30 a.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine delivers remarks during the public diplomacy module for the 167th Foreign Service Office class, at the Department of State. ... 12:00 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine participates in the working lunch of the U.S.-India Bilateral Strategic Dialogue, at the Department of State. Please click here for more information.  ... 2:30 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine meets with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone, at the Department of State. ... 5:00 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine hosts a welcome reception for new Public Diplomacy Officers of the 167thForeign Service class, at the Department of State.”

Public Schedule for June 12, 2012 - U.S. Department of State: "Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine [:] Under Secretary Sonenshine participates in the U.S.-India Higher Education Dialogue, at the Department of State. Please click here for more information. ... 8:30 a.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine meets with U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Donald Gips, at the Department of State. ... 1:30 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine delivers remarks to Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program exchange students, at the Department of State. Please click here for more information on the YES Program."

Defense Bill Legalizes US Propaganda: A new feature in the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act would legalize U.S. government propaganda directed at the American people, with the belief that successful wars require domestic acceptance, writes Lawrence Davidson - "The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is misnamed, since it has less to do with defense than offense. The offensive it wages is not just against a growing list of alleged enemies of the United States but also, from a constitutional perspective, against the rights of American citizens and residents.

Major parts of the legislation are based on the assumption that key legal protections for individuals are incompatible with the requirements of national security. The result is that Americans are now caught between 'the terrorists' and the authoritarian propensities of their own government .The NDAA – specifically Section 1021(b)(2) – has already institutionalized the U.S. military’s ability to indefinitely detain, without charge or trial, citizens and non-citizens alike. This is a serious abuse of power. The monarchical authority our Founders sought to escape practiced such a 'disappearance' of people. So have the contemporary dictatorships that Washington has so consistently supported. ... However, the negative potential of the NDAA does not stop with the issue of indefinite detention. It has now come to light that the 2013 version of the Act (passed by the House but yet to be taken up by the Senate) allows the State Department and Defense Department to direct the same kind of massive propaganda campaigns here in the U.S. that are presently waged as part of American war efforts in foreign lands. ... It is an interesting and certainly significant fact that although the propaganda campaigns of the State and Defense Departments are presently prohibited by law in the homeland, a comparable process of government misinformation takes place nonetheless. [For a historical perspective on this kind of domestic propaganda, see Robert Parry’s Lost History.] ... Neither the State nor the Defense Departments could have done better than the administration of George W. Bush in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Washington’s consistent lying, abetted by compliant media allies, paved the way for a popularly supported bloody debacle. In Iraq, the same propaganda, contextualized as it was by widespread violence, brought forth skepticism and disgust." Image from article: Big Brother poster illustrating George Orwell's novel about modern propaganda, 1984.

Correction: State Department Not Paying Amazon $6,600 for a Kindle - Adam Martin, theatlanticwire.com:  "Update: After some discussions with Amazon and the State Department, we've learned the price tag on the Kindle contract is not as cut and dry as we first reported. The contract authorizes the State Department to pay Amazon up to $16.5 million over five years for an English-language teaching program and the 2,500 Kindles cited in the procurement documents has been described to us as merely the initial order. We do not know the maximum amount of Kindles the State Department can purchase in their deal with Amazon.

Still, it's clear that our $6,600-per-Kindle calculation is not accurate. Previously: we reached out to the State Department's Philippe Reines, who emailed to say that the department was getting the actual Kindle devices for 10 percent off retail price. The rest of the cost goes to cover the service and content-providing agreements in the department's four-year contract with Amazon." Image from article; see also.

Amazon e-Readers, Content Management, and Logistics [regarding Kindle]- "DESCRIPTION OF WORK [:] The Contractor shall provide supplies and services, at the prices stated in the schedule, meeting the following requirements. ... 10. The device shall have an organizing feature to sort the content into collections identified by the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. ... Content Management [:]1. USG published materials, as well as third-party content, shall be disseminated by the Contractor to all or some of the purchased or supported devices as requested by the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs so that our overseas Missions will be provided with efficient, effective, instant access to all our content along with the latest updates. ... Logistics [:] 1. The Contractor is responsible for labeling, configuring, and shipping the devices to the locations identified in Attachment A, with the requested content, in coordination with the Office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs."

Necktie Diplomacy And Turkey-Philippines Trade Relations - sylviatorresvillalobos.blogspot.com: "In diplomatic community with the determination to promote cultural unity and trade relations they use 'necktie diplomacy' to express their aspirations.

Last month a 'Vladivostok Public Affairs Officer discovered a new way to use his diplomatic necktie during his presentation to over 50 English language students entitled 'English through Songs' on May 3 at Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU). The necktie at the presentation served as shoulder strap for his guitar and played a crucial role in enhancing the face of public diplomacy.'”  Image from article

What the National Symphony Orchestra gets out of its tour of South America - Anne Midgette, Washington Post:  "It costs about a million dollars a week to take a major symphony orchestra on tour. So says Rita Shapiro, the executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra; and she should know, because her orchestra has just announced a second international tour within a span of eight months. The National Symphony Orchestra, which leaves for a 15-day trip through South America this week, is also going to Europe in January. ... The NSO went on its first tour in 1959, also to South America. ... Ironically, although touring itself was more grueling, it also had more cachet. The NSO’s 1959 tour was sponsored by the State Department, at a time when the State Department was active in the cultural outreach game and sponsoring visiting artists all over the world. And such visits were still rare enough to make an impact. ‘We cannot emphasize too much the political value of our orchestra’s visit to the Latin-American countries,’ Paul Hume, The Washington Post’s music critic, wrote in a tour report in The Washington Post in June, 1959, ‘where clearly the musicians are observed and met as citizens of the United States quite as much as musicians.’ Cultural diplomacy is not entirely off the table today: think of the New York Philharmonic’s concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2008, or the Florida Orchestra’s ongoing exchange with Cuba (Cuba’s National Symphony Orchestra will come to the United States this fall). But in today’s global culture, large touring orchestras are not as a rule presented as official emissaries of the U.S. government, or of American culture. While the NSO has a single new American work in its South American repertory, it’s dispensed with the formality altogether on its European tour. Now, its major corporate sponsors — in the case of the NSO’s South America tour,  Dow Chemical and Whirlpool — who help pick up the tab, in part because such tours are seen as value-added public-relations devices for the company’s own employees. Cultural amenities, companies have learned, are a factor in people’s estimation of whether a given city is an attractive place to live. ... For orchestras today, another aspect of cultural diplomacy lies in an emphasis on outreach activities — a new focus of orchestra’s lives at home that, increasingly, they’re taking on the road. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s latest China residency, which ended Wednesday, epitomizes this trend; not only is the focus on outreach something new, but the trip is conceived as the first in a series of repeat visits.

Outreach is an explicit part of the NSO’s South America tour, which was instigated in part by the Mozarteum Brasileiro, a major presenter that also focuses on music education, and which will include a wide range of teaching and outreach activities, including NSO Music Director Christoph Eschenbach taking a turn at the head of the youth orchestra of Trinidad and Tobago. ... Different tours also mean different things. The NSO may still approach South America with some of the missionary zeal the orchestra may have felt in 1959; these are audiences who haven’t seen a North American orchestra live for some time, and it’s new turf for many of the players. The European tour, by contrast, is a different animal: Eschenbach is showing his new orchestra off in the stomping-ground of classical music. There’s no lip service to cultural diplomacy paid there; even the token piece by an American composer, notably present on the South America trip (Sean Shepherd’s ‘Blue Blazes’) is absent from the European programs, which are of all European music. ‘It’s very clear with the European tour,’ Shapiro says, ‘that it represents another step up in our game.’” Image from

Israeli Diplomats: “Remarks about Foreigners Are Hurting Us” - breuerpress.com: “Consuls in US sent request to Foreign Ministry according to which they are finding it difficult to deal with Israeli public diplomacy in light of Minister Yishai’s and MK Regev’s comments. ‘This is seen as display of racism and xenophobia by the government.’”

Current Hasbara or Public Diplomacy in Israel – To Inform is to Influence: “According to a news report from the Jerusalem Post here, Israel is the safest it has been for many years. Hasbara, or Public Diplomacy, appears to be a large part of this effort.  Five years ago Israel created the National Information Directorate within the Prime Minister’s office after the 2006 conflict with Lebanon, known as the Second Lebanon War or 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War. While many believe the war resulted in an Israeli tactical victory, the outcome of the war was a strategic loss, Israel lost the war of ideas.  During the winter of 2008/2009, Israel attacked Hamas in the Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead (מבצע עופרת יצוקה‎) in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in Gaza. The outcome was another tactical military success for Israel and the information war was much improved, although not perfect. Israel embedded journalists, videographers, social media writers and bloggers within fighting units and sought to file information reports before all others. The National Information Directorate also activated and coordinated public affairs professionals in most military units, who documented and advertised actions as they happened, including illegal or immoral actions by Hamas. Two of the key points of improvement in recent years by the National Information Directorate is with social media and releasing information in Arabic. In accordance with the recommendations, formulation of a comprehensive plan to improve and correct the information apparatus will be considered. Israel appears to be in a consistent state of conflict with its neighboring countries and the information war is no different. There is discontent within Israel, however, with calls for the

Foreign Ministry‘s office to control all Public Relations messages, here. There are three bodies within Israel who promulgate media events: a military spokesperson, the National Information Directorate and the Ministry for Hasbara and Diaspora Affairs. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman claims his office has more expertise and can release messages faster than other bodies within the Israeli government. Israel appears to have many of the same problems in the information environment as other countries. So-what? Israel is having internal struggles in the battle for Public Diplomacy. These problems appear to be internal but this fight might affect coordination of a message. If an incident occurs and this struggle is not resolved, Israel may have an information ‘incident’, perhaps worse.” Image from entry, with caption: January 12, 2008 IDF forces discover weapons in a mosque during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.

Decision-making process in run-up to ‘Mavi Marmara’ incident was disorganized, unsystematic, ★Comptroller slams Netanyahu, Barak in ‘flotilla report’ - turkishcentralnews.com: "In a long-awaited special report published Wednesday, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss criticized the way both the prime minister and defense minister made decisions in the run-up to the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident. ... The report includes a special chapter on failures in public diplomacy and public relations both before, during and immediately after the flotilla incident, which caused considerable damage to Israel’s international image."

On flotilla, Netanyahu and Barak preferred commandos over office grunts - Amir Mizroch, amirmizroch.com: "Netanyahu and Barak ... who served together in the elite Sayeret Matkal Special Forces unit, were locked into the conception that the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was a purely military affair, and that the Naval Commandos would have everything under control. Instead of going for the dry and thorough staff work of intelligence, diplomacy and preparedness, they opted instead for the flare, chutzpah, and daring of a Special Operations interception mission at sea.

That’s great for pinpoint surgical military strikes, great for daring missions behind enemy lines, but it’s a disastrous policy for complex, multi-dimensional crises which have simultaneous and far-reaching ramifications on the military, political, diplomatic, economic, and public diplomacy situation of the state of Israel. For these kinds of issues, you need a National Security Council to get all the players playing their best game, playing together, playing nice, so that the leaders have all the information they need to make critical decisions with time to spare." Image from entry

Far More Norwegian Anti-Semites than Recent Study Shows - Manfred Gerstenfeld, tundratabloids.com: "Norway is far more anti-Semitic than the conclusions of the study 'Antisemitism in Norway? – The Norwegian Population’s attitude towards Jews and other minorities' suggest. This can be deduced from this document’s own data. This report – published last month by the Oslo Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities – provides interesting information. Yet it does not address several major issues. One is that Norway’s prime minister and several other members of the government are part-time anti-Semites. ... What is needed now is not better Israeli public diplomacy. Whatever Israel says will be selectively filtered out by almost all Norwegian media. Only the Israeli government can finance a study which completes the present Norwegian one. This should investigate the bias of the Norwegian press, the many times they mention Israeli settlements as compared with the few times – if any – they mention the genocidal charter of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority’s glorification of terrorists who murdered civilians including women and children. It should also document the negligible media attention given to extreme anti-Semitism in the Arab and Islamic world."

Knesset Discusses Genocide Recognition - asbarez.com: "Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On, who initiated the Knesset discussion, accused the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of using the Armenian tragedy to attack Turkey. Gal-On stated the government should 'finally recognize' the episode as a genocide and restore relations with Turkey by agreeing to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists at the hands of IDF commandos during the May 2010 raid of the Mavi Marmara vessel, which was part of a flotilla attempting to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip. 'The Armenian genocide is not an opportunity for public diplomacy,' Gal-On told the Knesset plenum, adding that 'Israel is strong enough to apologize for the killing of Turkish citizens without it harming Israel’s honor or its security. We don’t need to choose between recognizing genocide and relations with Turkey. We can have both.' The Meretz leader stated that 'the Jewish people who have experienced the worst Holocaust have an obligation to show sensitivity to the disasters of others.'”

The role played by Public and Cultural Diplomacy in maintaining the UK’s position in the world - Ziz Harvey, The Sub-Versive Diplomatic Bag: "The UK’s public and cultural diplomacy is an ambitious work in progress which needs some improvements. The UK has interests to pursue and to protect and a position to maintain but may need to learn from others. Public and cultural diplomacy are useful tools in the armoury in order to develop strategies and put them in place so that they can work to achieve these aims. Since the sun set on the Empire the narrative has been about managing diminishing resources as well as possible. Managing resources at home and seeking them abroad and doing these tasks well. ... In this essay I aim to explore the ways that public and cultural diplomacy contribute to the maintenance costs of keeping Britannia afloat on the high seas. I will also look at the relative importance of the UK and how this is managed. Public diplomacy has taken the mantle of responsibility for what was propaganda."

Domestic public diplomacy - discussion paper: international experience - Melissa Conley Tyler, and others, apo.org.au: "This paper discusses the current implementation models for domestic public diplomacy by ministries of foreign affairs around the world. It is hoped that the information presented in this paper will be used as a resource to observe and analyse the ways in which other ministries are communicating with their domestic publics about foreign affairs and policy. Diplomacy is no longer solely the business of nation-state governments. It now incorporates civil society, corporate leaders, academics, celebrities and other influential entities. Along with this change, public diplomacy has become a major focus of countries to project a more desirable image overseas. However, most efforts are still concentrated on reaching out to foreign audiences through broadcasting networks, cultural exhibitions and exchange programs. By contrast, public diplomacy within domestic audiences has been largely neglected in many countries. In a 2007 report, the Senate Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade found that there is a limited awareness of

Australia’s public diplomacy among citizens. The Committee recommended that a public communication strategy and other programs be designed and implemented – not only to inform the public about Australia’s public diplomacy, but also to facilitate the participation of non-state actors in Australia’s public diplomacy objectives. Considering the importance of the subject, AIIA designated research on examples of domestic public diplomacy as one of the projects included in the work plan for its 2011-2012 grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s International Relations Grants Program. This paper is a compilation of the publicly available information of the efforts of various ministries of foreign affairs to establish relationships with their domestic publics. These efforts are based on three models: one-way communication, dialogue and partnership. This paper also looks at ministries’ efforts in education with younger members of the domestic public. The four models provide potential examples for consideration by DFAT in its own domestic public diplomacy practice." Image from

Expert: China’s real strength will continue to lag people expect - 9abc.net: "China’s high-level diplomacy and public diplomacy is increasingly active, to safeguard China’s rights and interests of overseas operations increased significantly. However, the overall image of China in the outside world but still not satisfactory. The reason mainly lies in the constraints of the domestic variety of negative phenomena and instability."

New Indian envoy introduces himself to Indonesia on YouTube! - .firstpost.com: "India’s new ambassador Gurjit Singh used YouTube in his first outreach to the people of Indonesia to say that the two countries would contribute to development of a new international order and had 'set a bilateral trade target of $25 billion by 2015'. ... The ambassador said: 'We would like to expand our cultural linkages and public diplomacy events to emphasise the depth and diversity of our cultures. This is the centenary year of the birth of Indian cinema, which has great resonance in Indonesia. The epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are immortalised in Indonesia and thus I can see in many areas where we can engage in the public domain.' ... On his employing YouTube to reach out, Gurjit Singh [said] : “Indonesia has a large youth population and they are heavily into social media. Our Facebook page is becoming more popular than our website and in my interaction with students I saw the potential. Did it as an experiment… seems to have worked.'”

Tourism and Public Diplomacy - William Lafi Youmans, takefiveblog.org: "Tourism, in terms of interpersonal communication, is at the ethnographic level, making it much more difficult to research. Its messiness calls on deeper research to really understand.

Interviews with officials in countries capitals simply won’t provide the insight needed. For PD scholars, it is tempting to toss tourism into the category of 'noise' that makes delivering the signal of government communications so difficult. A case could be made that tourism is the real public diplomacy and government programs are marginal." Image from entry

Communication and Public Diplomacy Specialist Coffey - jerry.web.id: "Based in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara [;]Fixed term contract until the duration of the activity [.] Coffey international Development in cooperation with the Nossal Institute for Global Health and GTZ International Services is managing the AusAID funded Australia Indonesia Partnership for Maternal and Neonatal Health Program which is an initiative to assist the Indonesian government to implement the National Making Pregnancy Safer Strategies in selected provinces and districts and improving public administration in the health sector. We are currently seeking a Communication and Public Diplomacy Specialist for the Partnership based in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. The successful applicant will be responsible for providing technical advice and support to the Partnership Communication Theme, and develop and implement the Public Diplomacy Plan (covering both communication/visibility) for the AIPMNH."

RELATED ITEMS

Poll: Obama policies weaken support for America - Jill Dougherty, security.blogs.cnn.com: The Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Project questioned more than 26,000 people in 21 countries. Among America's traditional allies, like Europe and Japan, President Obama has largely repaired America's image tarnished in the Bush years, the survey found. But the Pew Research Center's data shows that Obama's policies are hurting him. Take the use of drones. In 17 of the 21 countries surveyed, more than half disapprove of U.S. drone attacks targeting extremists in countries like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. That contrasts sharply with the opinion of 62% of Americans, who approve of the drone campaign.

Media, drones and rank propaganda: As usual, the leading spokespeople for government policies are disguised as the nation's Adversarial Watchdog Press - Glenn Greenwald, Salon: "Several items today relate to the issue of gross U.S. media propaganda and Obama’s national security policies: (1) I have an Op-Ed in The Guardian today on how the American media has been repeatedly and willingly coopted in the Obama administration’s propagandistic abuse of its secrecy powers, with a focus on the recent high-profile, Obama-flattering national security scoops from The New York Times. (2) In yesterday’s Guardian, the ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer and Nathan Wessler have a superb Op-Ed on how the Obama administration — by simultaneously shielding its

conduct from scrutiny through broad secrecy claims and then selectively leaking — is deliberately distorting the public understanding of its drone attacks (‘First the ‘targeted killing’ campaign, then the targeted propaganda campaign’). (3) This morning, I witnessed one of the most flagrant and repellent examples of rank government propaganda masquerading as objective journalism that I have ever seen, when I saw on Andrew Sullivan’s blog this four-minute, sleek video produced by Newsweek and The Daily Beast, starring Newsweek reporter (and its former Managing Editor) Daniel Klaidman. It’s literally painful to watch, but please do your best to endure the full four minutes, as I have a few points and questions about it [later in the article].” Image from entry

Pentagon probes Leonie's taxes, treatment of Afghan workers - Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY: Pentagon criminal investigators have launched a full probe into the military's top propaganda contractor in Afghanistan regarding taxes paid by its owners and treatment of its Afghan employees, according to a letter obtained by USA TODAY. The paper revealed in February that the owners of Leonie Industries had owed more than $4 million in back taxes to the federal government. That debt was settled in March, federal records show. The company has received at least $120 million in Pentagon contracts since 2009. Spending on "military information support operations" peaked at $580 million in 2009, mostly for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon records show. Spending fell to $202 million last year, as U.S. participation in the Iraq War ended.

Propaganda Parade: State Newspaper Heaps Praise on Aung San Suu Kyi - John Hydson:In today's tour of state-sponsored propaganda: Burma's state media becomes less awful, North Korea loves aggregation, and the U.S. Defense Department gets Orwellian.

Huzzah: Blackwater is Back at the State Department! - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: Your mercenary update: There’s a new merc company out there, ACADEMI, but it actually is the same company formerly known as Xe which is the same company formerly known as Blackwater. Last month, apparently without attracting any public attention (until now), they quietly bought another security firm, International Development Solutions, and took over its piece of the State Department’s $10 billion World Protective Services contract, which then-Blackwater got kicked out of years ago. A good way to keep up with all things Blackwater, er, Xe, Academi, whatever is the web site AcademiWatch. Also, some awesome video of the Blackwater bullies in action in Iraq, winning hearts and minds for ‘Merica. Blackwater is back, baby!

Obama outfoxed by Putin – Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post: The Associated Press reports: “The Obama administration said Tuesday that Russia is sending attack helicopters to Syrian President Bashar [al-]Assad’s regime and is warning about a dramatic escalation in the Arab country’s 15-month conflict. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the delivery represents the ‘latest information.’ She said the U.S. is concerned as the helicopters ‘will escalate the conflict quite dramatically.’” Understand that just days ago the administration was banking on getting Russia’s help to oust Assad. That is how totally out to lunch the Obama foreign policy team is when it comes to Syria and to its “reset” relations with Russia.

Russia, Soviet Style - Editorial, New York Times: Russia has a veto in the Security Council. And the Obama administration needs its cooperation to help rein in Iran’s nuclear program, isolate Mr. Assad of Syria and deal with a host of other issues. Mr. Putin has crossed a line with this helicopter sale to Syria. Mrs. Clinton was right to speak out. She and President Obama also need to speak out in support Russians’ right to demonstrate freely. Mr. Putin doesn’t care, but he needs to know that others do and are watching.

India's cold shoulder: Courting India as hoped-for 'strategic partner,' the U.S. has sold the nation $8 billion in arms over the last 10 years. In return, U.S. goals have been mostly frustrated while nuclear nonproliferation efforts have been undermined - Jonathan E. Hillman, latimes.com: In our zeal to improve relations with India, we've undermined our own nuclear nonproliferation efforts. The United States and India have made progress on a number of strategic fronts, expanding joint military exercises and exchanges, for example. But overall, relations consistently fall short of the warm-and-fuzzy rhetoric that U.S. leaders of all political stripes have grown accustom to voicing.

Rather than continue their charm offensive, U.S. officials should push India to articulate its view of the U.S.-India partnership and India's larger role in the international community. The South Asian power has expressed its intent to become a leading global power, but it has shied from assuming responsibilities that come with the territory. Image from article, with caption: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta inspects Indian troops during a welcoming ceremony at the Ministry of Defense in New Delhi, India.

Two Worlds Cracking Up - Thomas P. Friedman, New York Times: In Europe, hyperconnectedness both exposed just how uncompetitive some of their economies were, but also how interdependent they had become. It was a deadly combination. When countries with such different cultures become this interconnected and interdependent — when they share the same currency but not the same work ethics, retirement ages or budget discipline — you end up with German savers seething at Greek workers, and vice versa. And us? America’s flexible federal system makes it, theoretically, well-suited to thrive in a hyperconnected world, but only if we get our macroeconomic house in order and our education up to par (or better).

Why Berlin Is Balking on a Bailout - Hans-Werner Sinn, New York Times: Greece has received a staggering 115 Marshall plans, 29 from Germany alone, and yet the situation has not improved. Why, Mr. Obama, is that not enough?

Swedes’ Twitter Voice: Anyone, Saying (Blush) Almost Anything - Sarah Lyall, New York Times: The @Sweden program, known as Curators of Sweden, came about when the Swedish Institute and Visit Sweden, the government tourist agency, sought to develop a plan to present the country to the world on Twitter. They hired an advertising company, Volontaire. “Sweden stands for certain values — being progressive, democratic, creative,” Patrick Kampmann, Volontaire’s creative director, said in an interview.

“We believed the best way to prove it was to handle the account in a progressive way and give control of it to ordinary Swedes.” The @Swedens are nominated by others — people are not supposed to put their own name forward — and then selected by a committee of three. Mr. Kampmann says he counsels the @Swedens to engage in “their normal Twitter behavior.” “I tell them, ‘Please, do this with some dignity — remember that this is an official channel and there are a lot of people reading this, so don’t make a fool of yourself,’ ” he said. “It’s only a soft suggestion.” The program has inspired similar projects in other places, including Ireland, New Zealand and the city of Leeds in England, though most have been organized privately and without government imprimatur. Via JW on Facebook. Image from

New BBG/Gallup Research: Iran Media Use 2012 - bbg.go: The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and Gallup have released the findings of the inaugural BBG Research Series briefing, Iran Media Use 2012. The findings show how Iranians use television, radio, and digital media. For example, 39% of adults in Iran report using the Internet in the previous week. Via CP III on Facebook

Human-rights lawyer jailed for anti-government propaganda - Vancouver Sun: A prominent Iranian human-rights lawyer has been sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Tehran revolutionary court. Abdolfattah Soltani co-founded a human rights group with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. He was charged with spreading anti-government propaganda and endangering national security. Amnesty International maintains Soltani is a "being jailed only for his legitimate activities" as a human-rights lawyer.

Undiplomatic Statements by U.S. Diplomats  - Michael S. Rozeff,  LRC Blog: U.S. diplomacy is filled with bald-faced lies, misjudgments, phoney baloney, propaganda, and bias. Just look at the reactions we have heard coming from Hillary Clinton and others concerning Houla in Syria and the entire war in Syria. U.S. spokesmen have zero credibility. They obviously jump to pre-determined conclusions that support U.S. aims. ropaganda efforts of this sort constitute high crimes and misdemeanors. Lying propaganda that lays the groundwork for attacks, interventions with special and other forces, killing and bombing is itself part of a criminal pattern of behavior. The same is happening with regard to Iran.

Propaganda War: Houla Massacre Committed by US-NATO Sponsored “Free Syrian Army”. But They Accuse Syrian Government - Thierry Meyssan, globalresearch.ca

As War Propaganda Implodes, Calls for Syria Intervention Grow - Alex Newman, thenewamerican.com: In an effort to manufacture the perception of public support for “regime change” and an international war on Syria, Western officials and Arab dictatorships responsible for fomenting much of the bloodshed are spewing lies about the al-Assad dictatorship almost as quickly as the propaganda can be discredited. And like in Libya, in the crossfire suffering and dying are innocent civilians: children, Christians, minorities, and women. The latest piece of the pro-war deception to crumble surrounds a massacre of women and children in the town of Houla. Citing dubious “sources” such as anonymous opposition fighters and bogus eyewitnesses, the international media promptly blamed the savage killing spree on supporters of the Syrian regime. Western governments — with zero credible evidence — seized on the questionable claims to expel Syria’s diplomats and renew calls for another Libya-style “humanitarian” war.

Assad’s Houla Propaganda - Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi and Phillip Smyth, nationalreview.com: Accurate reporting in Syria is difficult, and has been made more so by the widespread violence. And despite the existence of legitimate data furnished by Syrian citizens, there is a cottage industry of nonsensical reports presented specifically to alter the perceptions of observers. Autocratic regimes retain their own propagandists and have a cordon of “useful idiots” disseminating the former’s data for their own reasons; Syria is no different. Damascus has its “Baghdad Bobs”; they’ve just been taken more seriously. As the West sits on its hands to see what may become of Syria, analysts must be circumspect in assessing the situation.

Spokesman Dismisses EU Oil Embargo on Iran as "Propaganda Campaign" - english.farsnews.com: Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman

dismissed the US and EU oil embargo against Iran as part of the West's propaganda campaign designed to gain an upper-hand in the talks between Iran and the world powers. Image from article

Turkey court convicts MP in rebel propaganda case - Reuters, chicagotribune.com: A lawmaker accused of spreading propaganda for a Kurdish guerrilla group fighting an insurgency against the Turkish state was sentenced to more than 14 years in jail on Tuesday. Kurdish MP Aysel Tugluk was convicted over speeches she made between 2007 and 2011 advocating talks with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a 28-year separatist campaign in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.

Design Propaganda - definedelirium.blogspot.com: Communist propaganda posters have a certain look--strong, bold colors (obviously, red is a favorite), specific posing, blatant militarism. The posters were not made with aesthetics as a top concern, but one cannot deny that propaganda posters have a certain appeal to them.

In a way, graphic design and advertising are forms of propaganda. While these posters influenced people to submit to the hammer and sickle, advertising influences people to buy things they do not need. Both send out messages to bend people to do their bidding, the difference is that the former is in your face while the latter is much more subtle. Image from entry

The Power of Propaganda - naskin.typepad.com: Propaganda is a style of communication with political intent, utilizing emotion and suggestion to sway opinion and action. While it can be misleading, it’s not always negative. So how do you harness the power of propaganda in your design? Start with the elements of propaganda. Target areas of sensitivity: during the height of WWII propaganda we saw lots of images playing up patriotism, manliness and family. Now a days we like our media to be a little more subtle, playing our heart strings without us really knowing it.

Raise questions and insecurity: hone in on what people are afraid of, then imply whatever you’re trying to do will stop the impending doom. Play to egos: “join the army because you’re awesome and the army is awesome,” that sort of reasoning. This imagery usually features some good looking man or women who the viewer can relate to or wants to be. Have a clear call to action: the point of propaganda is to convince people to do what you’d like them to do. So action point should be clear, “buy war bonds,” vote for or against something, water your lawn less in the summer. Image from entry

Travel: Krakow, Poland - Mike Yardley, stratfordpress.co.nz: Revel in the atmospheric bar, cafe and nightlife scene. My top two are Propaganda and Demmers Teahouse. Propaganda is a nostalgic cafe, replete with communist propaganda, banners and mementos. Great fun.

AMERICANA

Burger King rolls out summer BBQ sandwiches, bacon sundae -  AP, USA Today: The company is offering a bacon sundae — vanilla soft serve with fudge, caramel, bacon crumbles and a piece of bacon — that started in Nashville, Tenn. earlier this year.

The salty-sweet dessert clocks in at 510 calories, 18 grams of fat and 61 grams of sugar, and joins a kitchen-sink of other weird ice-cream combos. Image from

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“almost supernatural effectiveness.”

--Newsweek reporter (and its former Managing Editor) Daniel Klaidman, regarding the Drone weapon; image from

UNFAILING PROSE

"The Syrians failed to build Syria, the Egyptians failed to build Egypt, the Libyans failed to build Libya, the Yemenis failed to build Yemen."

--Pundit Thomas L. Friedman