June 18

"I don't jog, I run."

--The response of Barack Obama, working at Business International Corp. right after graduating from Columbia University, when one co-worker, knowing that Mr. Obama was a runner, suggested that they jog together after work. Obama image from, with caption: Barack Obama in 1980, when 'Barry,' who turned 19 that year, was a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

EVENT

The Heritage Foundation: Challenging America: How Russia, China, and Other Countries Use Public Diplomacy to Compete with the U.S. Washington, D.C. (10:00 AM, Fri 22 Jun) Description: Competing aggressively with the United States for the “hearts and minds” of people around the world, many state and non-state actors are funneling significant resources into their public diplomacy strategies. The Chinese government announced in 2009 that it would spend almost $7 billion on a “global media drive” to improve its image. The Russian government allocated $1.4 billion for international propaganda in 2010. Meanwhile, in the U.S., a confluence of issues, tightening budgets, and changing foreign policy directions compound the challenges that Americans face. RSVP online.Participants: Ariel Cohen, Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Helle Dale, Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy, Dean Cheng, Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center Location: Lehrman Auditorium, The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002. Via

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

US culture to spread worldwide by means of Kindle, not iPad: Walk softly and carry an e-reader with central connection - Bill Ray, theregister.co.uk: "The US State Department has defended its decision to deploy thousands of Amazon Kindle devices over the next five years, saying that putting the bid out to tender would be pointless as Amazon's rivals just won't do the job. The $16.5m figure comes from a Justification and Approval document published earlier this week, which explains that only the Amazon Kindle meets the Department's requirements for e-readers over the next five years. The Kindles are to be used in foreign territories as part of the US outreach programme, but the government says it's still waiting to see how many Kindles that will buy. Nothing is signed yet, but the State Department needs 2,500 immediately, and told Paid Content it would be spending $2.29m on them over the next year.

Separately the department told The Atlantic it was getting a 10 per cent discount on the hardware, so Paid Content calculated that once one adds a power supply and case (as required by the J&A) that totals $475,250 – which leaves almost $2m to pay for the content and management of the devices. Those devices will end up in American Reading Rooms* around the world, helping people learn English and understand a little more about American culture - they'll be preloaded with 50 books to that end, though the selected titles haven't been revealed so we don't yet know how much of the $2m will be spent on content. Amazon will be required to monitor the devices, reporting back on everything that has been read as well as providing the facility to download additional content without having to pay for the data used. ... The United States, along with the UK, has a long-established policy of pushing English abroad in the interest of international understanding (and a little cultural imperialism). Creating an association between speaking English and being well educated helps American business abroad, so is an investment that can yield financial, if unquantifiable, returns. ® Bootnote * Your correspondent has something of a soft spot for American Reading Rooms, having spent much of his youth hanging around the American Air Division Memorial Library in Norwich, before it burnt down." Image from

Radio station on US base in northeastern Afghanistan features "mix of music and unvetted politics" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

The effects of new media on digital diplomacy - Ece Inan, bedspsa.org.uk: "[P]ublic diplomacy is defined as 'Official government efforts to shape the communications environment overseas in which American foreign policy is played out, in order to reduce the degree to which misperceptions and misunderstandings complicate relations between the U.S. and other nations.' This paper is aimed at exploring how the rise of these digital platforms for and of communication has natural links with diplomacy.

By providing through the case studies, the paper will also focus on worldwide examples as well as mainly digital diplomacy efforts." Image from

Colleen Graffy ‏@Colleen_Graffy - Twitter: "@cola_lola I may be teaching Public Diplomacy at Pepperdine's School of Public Policy spring term in Malibu. Will let you know!"

RELATED ITEMS

Iranian nukes? No worries - Kenneth Waltz, USA Today: Israel's regional nuclear monopoly, which has proved remarkably durable for more than four decades, has long fueled instability in the Middle East. In no other region of the world does a lone, unchecked nuclear state exist. It is Israel's nuclear arsenal, not Iran's desire for one, that has contributed most to the crisis.

Power, after all, begs to be balanced. The U.S. and its allies need not take such pains to prevent the Iranians from developing a nuclear weapon. Diplomacy should continue because open lines of communication will make the Western countries feel better able to live with a nuclear Iran. But the sanctions on Iran can be dropped: They primarily harm ordinary Iranians, with little purpose. Most important, policymakers and citizens worldwide should take comfort from the fact that where nuclear capabilities have emerged, so, too, has stability. When it comes to nuclear weapons, now as ever, more could be better. Image from

Saudi Succession and the Illusion of Stability: Much like the Soviet Union in its final years, the Saudis are likely to pass the crown from one old man to another - Karen Elliott House, Wall Street Journal: For better or worse, the U.S. is wedded to the Al Saud family, not to a particular prince. But we should not confuse stagnation with stability. The fact that the royals continue to rule when autocratic regimes have been swept aside in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and perhaps soon in Syria, doesn't mean this U.S. ally is stable. Recall, the Soviet Union was widely assumed to be stable. In the end, it proved brittle. Saudi succession looks very much like a movie we've seen before.

Do North Koreans Really Believe In North Korea? - Ian James, asiapundits.com:  "In watching this incredible documentary about the North Korean Mass Games, the question on everyone’s minds cannot be anything but: do these people really believe what they say?

When this young dancer comes in front of the camera and repeatedly extolls Kim Jong-il, spouting ream after ream of the stultifying propaganda she’s been filled with since her first seconds on Earth, I think everyone outside of North Korea is wondering the same thing: is she terrified that her family will be sent to a concentration camp if she mis-speaks, or does she truly believe in the goodness of the dictator who has enslaved her and everyone she knows?  ... So, does this dancer believe in what she says? The answer, I suspect, is yes and no at the same exact time. Yes, when her family’s life is on the line; no, when the country falls, and she is allowed to speak her mind before a different set of captors, who will probably jail her if she says even the slightest positive thing about Kim Jong-il." Image from entry

AMERICANA

Chicago Homicide Rate Worse Than Kabul, Up To 200 Police Assigned To High-Profile Wedding - huffingtonpost.com

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