"It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense."
--Mark Twain; image from
BOOK REVIEW
Bloodlands [Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder, New York: Basic Books, 2010] - Reviewed by John H. Brown, American Diplomacy.
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
‘The truth is not evolving,’ says US State Dept official - "In a speech to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton focussed on “the work we have left to do to protect one group of people whose human rights are still denied in too many parts of the world today.” She was referring to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT). ... Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Michael Posner
expanded on the topic in a press interview with a group of foreign journalists in the first week of June. The US effort on this front will have three aspects to it, he said. --Diplomatic engagement. The US will engage with governments, report on violations and reach out to LGBT communities in other countries. --Public diplomacy. The US will raise the profile of the issue, use media and the public space to help educate a broader public. -- Provide training, protection and support to those working on LGBT issues. A fund has been set up for this." Image from article
Great Moments in Public Diplomacy, No. 813 – Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: “Alec Ross will introduce himself to you as an 'innovator.' A close confidant of Hillary Clinton and a veteran of the 2008 Hope and Change Obama charade, instead of finding a job he got himself appointed as the State Department’s 'guru' (their word, not mine) of social media. Alec just loves social media; he so 'gets it' so darn much that he can’t stop himself from advising the State Department about having more social media. It is what he does. For today’s lesson in public diplomacy at the State Department, we feature one of Alec’s own Tweets, crafted by the hand of the master himself:
If Alec would ever answer my emails, Tweets or Facebook messages (I guess he is just so busy, right?), here’s what I’d like to ask: What is the freaking point of this Tweet? Are you working on the Ben Franklin campaign now? Where can I get a 'Fact o’ the Day' desk calendar like you have so I can make Tweets like this? Why did thirty people ‘retweet’ this, sending a pointless message to others. Are they all on your staff? Why do you have such a big staff? Or do you have 30 dummy accounts you control? When Time Magazine named @AlecRoss one of the best Twitter feeds of 2012, did they have their head up their ass or is there some other Alec Ross Twitter feed they looked at? Does it cost a lot of money to buy your way on to those kind of lists and can you use Paypal? Would it be possible to convince you to say stand on the roof in a thunder storm this weekend with wet feet and try and repeat Franklin’s historic experiment? You know, for science and all.” Image from entry
Lessons from the Central Asia Tech Forum – TFCA 201 - Kalsoom Lakhani, invest2innovate.com: "A few months ago, I received a direct message on Twitter from Tristram Perry, a Public Diplomacy officer at the U.S. Consulate in Almaty, saying, 'How would you like to come to Almaty and be a trainer for a Tech Forum?' Two thoughts ran through my head: 1. I can turn on a computer. Can I train people in that? 2. Kazakhstan. What. A few seconds later, I wrote back, 'Sure! Sign me up!' The Tech Forum Central Asia (TFCA) occurred between June 14-16 and was a mix of the Civil Alliance Kazakhstan’s SocialCamp and TechCamp – a project initiated by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to increase the digital literacy of civil society organizations around the world.
TechCamps have so far happened all over the world, with this past forum in Almaty being the 11th of this kind. TFCA brought together participants from across Central Asia, Afghanistan & Pakistan for training sessions in topics ranging from low-tech solutions (i.e. mobile technology) to blogging for social good to digital storytelling." Image from entry, with caption: From our solution session on crowdfunding!
From Politician to Media Star to Agent of Public Diplomacy - Lenni Bastert,
thinktransatlantic1.com: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seen as the most influential woman in the world and is revered internationally as a beacon of trust and stability. Those are all very positive attributes yet no one would call her a star. Subsequently, she does not hold a role in public diplomacy such as Barack Obama. The influence she can exert on a PD level comes from her government and her policies and not from what she does or how she acts publicly."
VOA's jazz man. No, not Willis Conover. Sim Copans, who preceded Conover - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.
Copans image from entry
MetroStar Systems - informedentrepreneur.com: "MetroStar has moved on to serving their largest client, the United States Marine Corps, with mobile applications that assist in public diplomacy and citizen engagement that are localized for different regions of the World. MetroStar has experienced fantastic growth in just over a decade with some years as high as 200 percent."
African envoys meet to assess progress of India-Africa initiative - twocircles.net: "New Delhi: Envoys of 25 African countries and charge d'affaires of 11 others assembled at the Hyderabad House here Wednesday to take stock of the ongoing partnerships between India and Africa under the umbrella 'INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future' people-to-people initiative of the public diplomacy division of the ministry of external affairs. The ministry is collaborating with IdeaWorks, a Delhi-based design and strategy agency that specialises in the branding of nations. Speaking on this occasion, Pinak Chakravarty, special secretary, (Public Diplomacy) said: 'With the initiative, India has entered a new phase in ties with Africa.' 'This public diplomacy initiative is certainly one of its kind across the globe. We do not have a model to replicate or guidelines to follow. It is about touching the hearts of people. Considering that both Africa and India are demographically very young, a major part of our focus is on the youth outreach. Our aim is to collaborate through competition, innovation and entrepreneurship,' Chakravarty said. Navdeep Suri, joint secretary, (Public Diplomacy) said: 'The driving vision of the programme is to unleash the enormous energy of young people, to encourage their powerful creative ideas and to enable them to be facilitators of this process.'"
Singh to bring Indian heritage to RI youth through public diplomacy - The Jakarta Post: "Newly appointed Indian Ambassador to Indonesia, Timor Leste and ASEAN Gurjit Singh plans to establish a new paradigm of partnership with Indonesia by stressing people-to-people relations and with youth as his priority. The ambassador, who is fond of chicken satay and gado-gado (vegetable salad with peanut sauce), explains his public diplomacy approach during an interview with The Jakarta Post’s Ida Indawati Khouw. ... How do you plan to put your mission into action? For example, this is the centennial of Indian movies, and we hope to work with film organizations here to see what we can do to celebrate Indian cinema. Through this we hope we can build a bridge with modern youth. In terms of art and culture, perhaps India can participate in jazz festivals. In sport, we both (are good in) badminton. We will see what we can do.
In the field of education and human resources, I am trying to understand what youth programs can be put in this. How do we engage with Indonesia’s strong set of universities further for long term and short term, how to create twin universities? (This year, the Indian government has offered 125 scholarships to Indonesian students to study in India). Furthermore, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations this year, (from September 2012 to April 2013) there will be an expedition by an Indian ship that will retrace the sea routes developed during the 10th and 12th centuries, linking India with Southeast Asia and East Asia. We also plan a car rally that will start in Yogyakarta on Nov. 26 and end in India by the end of December. All the activities will be accompanied by seminars, festivals and receptions. ... How do you characterize your diplomacy? I like to call it public diplomacy, as it includes culture, media, education, economic engagement, including almost every important gamut that we have. I hope we can at the end say that India is Indonesia’s partner of choice." Image from
Sino-African Cultural Diplomacy Forum Begins - english.cri.cn: "Culture ministers from Africa are gathered in Beijing to take part in a conference designed to try to bridge a cultural gap that some fear could be holding back cooperation between China and Africa. ... Cultural ties between China and Africa first date back to the Tang Dynasty, but have progressed very slowly, compared to the economic and political relationship over the past 60-years. ... It has been organized by China's Ministry of Culture to try to promote and create an awareness of African culture in China by bringing together culture ministers from 50 African countries and their Chinese counterparts."
The Expansion of Chinese Influence in Oceania - David Sturgess, byupoliticalreview.com: "Of the 14 countries in the South Pacific, eight recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and six recognize the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC). Both sides have sought to increase their legitimacy as the true government of China by luring countries the world over to recognize their respective governments. Yet, why does diplomatic recognition matter? It matters because, as the author Bertil Lintner notes, the approximately 7.5 million people of the independent states of the Pacific have more voting power in the UN General Assembly than the 3.5 billion people of China, India, Japan and the United States combined. This means is that the ROC and PRC get more 'bang for their buck' in winning over an island state.
Instead of investing hundreds of millions of dollars to win over larger and more demographically complex countries, the smaller and more homogeneous Pacific Island countries with their equal voting in the UN are like sitting ducks in a large pond. With the PRC’s unprecedented economic growth, more capital has become available to gain an edge over the ROC in this long fought diplomatic battle. Thus, since the beginning of the past decade, the PRC has sought to capitalize upon its economic successes by gaining an edge in this duel called 'checkbook diplomacy.' Island countries like Samoa have seen new Chinese funded building projects including a world class swimming facility and a revamping of the National Rugby Stadium. China has showered Papua New Guinea with millions of dollars in 'no strings attached' grants intended for numerous highly public projects. Similarly in Tonga, in just the year 2008 China gave about $20.5 million of grants for a variety of public projects. These public diplomacy efforts are part of a larger Chinese foreign policy goal of maintaining and winning over South Pacific Island countries. The overall impact of these efforts on these Pacific Islands states has yet to be fully seen. Many of the sports facilities in Samoa are hardly sustainable because of Samoa’s still developing infrastructure. Additionally, reports of corruption and bribery in the South Pacific media show that China’s public diplomacy may backfire. The 2006 riots in the Tongan capital nearly turned the town to ashes and recent violent riots against Chinese government owned mining companies in Papua New Guinea are evidence of this potential blowback. Reports are that these uprisings were largely a result of the local population’s anger about Chinese involvement in their internal affairs. Nevertheless, China has moved into paradise and won’t be leaving anytime soon." Uncaptioned image from article
Edelstein: Countries can learn from Israel-Diaspora model - Steve Linde, jpost.com: "Israel can provide a model to other countries when it comes to building a successful relationship with their diaspora communities, Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Wednesday. 'I do think that we have a lot to share, and it’s high time that apart from hi-tech, drip irrigation, medical and all kinds of other wonderful inventions, we share our really precious knowledge in this field with other countries around the world,' he told The Jerusalem Post. Some 200 representatives from almost 40 countries, including cabinet ministers and heads of organizations, participated in the first-ever Global Village 2012 conference in Jerusalem last week. ... The Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry sponsored the conference,in cooperation
with the Foreign Ministry and the Joint Distribution Committee’s Center for International Migration and Integration." Image from article
Media Comment: Does the media care about its public? - Yisrael Medad, Eli Pollak, jpost.com: "This past Monday, the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, better known as the YESHA Council, conducted a full day’s Media and Public Diplomacy Conference."
Three years since Netanyahu's Bar-Ilan speech: Was it for real?: Prime Minister's aides say yes, but why did it never come before cabinet? - Barak Ravid, haaretz.com: "Few noticed that last Thursday, June 14, was the third anniversary of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan University during which he declared, for the first time, his willingness to accept 'a demilitarized Palestinian state side by side with the Jewish state.' Since most of the international community and large parts of the Israeli public had already decided the two-state solution was inevitable, they didn't view Netanyahu's remarks as exceptional. But for Netanyahu, who for years had opposed a Palestinian state, it was a significant statement. ... During the three years since, there have been arguments in Washington, Ramallah, in European capitals and even in Jerusalem over whether Netanyahu really meant what he said; whether this was a strategic decision and a new Israeli government policy or merely a good public diplomacy speech written under American pressure."
Middle Powers and the Limitations of Public Diplomacy - Gabby LaVerghetta, A Hard Look at Soft Power: "Global Public Diplomacy: Because they lack the resources of great powers, public diplomacy is a major asset for middle power diplomacy. These middle powers are often ignored or pigeonholed by the rest of the world. Public diplomacy offers an efficient way to gain attention and influence. Despite many success stories, the cases of Mexico and Australia show us the limitations of public diplomacy. ... In effect, the limits of public diplomacy operate across the board. Good PD is not a substitute for good policy. The same messages and values that attract some might alienate others. And long-term initiatives are not always an appealing strategy for reputations that need immediate bolstering. Even the great powers have had to understand this."
NPCU at BISA-ISA 2012 - New Political Communication Unit: "The BISA/ISA annual convention takes place in Edinburgh this week . ... FC19 Friday 2.00PM – 3.30PM Panel: Strategic Narratives and International Relations ... Robin Brown Public Diplomacy and the Construction of Strategic Narratives
RELATED ITEMS
An embassy asks, Drones or diplomacy? - David Ignatius, Washington Post: As America’s relationship with Pakistan has unraveled over the past 18 months, an important debate has been going on within the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad over the proper scope of CIA covert actions and their effect on diplomatic interests. The principals in this policy debate have been Cameron Munter, the U.S. ambassador since October 2010, and several CIA station chiefs who served with him. The technical issue was whether the ambassador, as chief of mission, had the authority to veto CIA operations he thought would harm long-term relations. Munter appears to have lost this fight. But interestingly, Director David Petraeus is said to have sided often with Munter, sharing his view that the long-term costs of drone attacks in Pakistan sometimes outweighed the short-term gains. Petraeus’s skepticism is said to have strained his relations with the chief of the CIA’s counterterrorism center. Image from
How America Can Help Its Friends Make Nice - Michael Herzog and Soner Cagaptay, New York Times: It has been more than two years since the confrontation over a Gaza-bound flotilla plunged Israeli-Turkish relations into a deep crisis. President Obama has a unique opportunity to help rebuild a strategically vital relationship between these two American allies. While their relationship is unlikely to return to past levels of strategic cooperation, normalizing it could advance important American interests in Syria, Iran and the eastern Mediterranean.
Egypt's military takeover: The nation's military council lives up to fears that it would not go quietly in a transition to democracy - Editorial, latimes.com: From the moment it was announced that Egypt's authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak, was stepping down, experts in that country and abroad warned that the Egyptian military wouldn't be content with a limited and transitional role. That prophecy has come to pass, posing a challenge not only for democrats in Egypt and for its newly elected president but for its ally and benefactor, the United States. The Obama administration, which earlier this year waived congressional restrictions in order to keep sending military aid to Egypt, should reconsider that decision if the armed forces continue to thwart democracy.
Asylum for Julian Assange? - Editorial Board, Washington Post: Last month Mr. Correa’s campaign got a boost from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who opened a sycophantic interview for a Russian state propaganda outlet by announcing that “with Chavez out of the public eye, a new generation of Latin American leaders has arisen.” He went on to wallow in anti-American slanders and paranoia with Mr. Correa, prompting the Ecuadoran to proclaim: “Welcome to the club of the persecuted!” Now the Australian hacker has called Mr. Correa’s bluff.
By seeking asylum in the Ecuadoran embassy in London on Tuesday, Mr. Assange dared Mr. Correa’s government to conclude that Sweden, which is seeking Mr. Assange’s extradition on sex-crime charges, and Britain, which allowed him to exhaustively contest the extradition in its courts, are violating his human rights or subjecting him to political persecution. Image from
DoD suspends PR firm co-owner - UPI: The Pentagon banned a co-owner of its top propaganda firm in Afghanistan from further contracts after learning of his efforts to smear reporters, officials say. Camille Chidiac, who owns 49 percent of Leonie Industries, allegedly had started an online effort against two USA Today journalists who reported on the company's finances. Leonie Industries, which has its headquarters in Pacific Palisades, Calif., also allegedly misrepresented its finances while bidding for federal contracts and had owed back taxes, officials said. USA Today reported U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to expand investigations of Leonie, saying the firm's actions "suggest a pattern of malice, dishonesty and incompetence that renders Leonie Industries unsuitable for continued service as a federal contractor."
Homework for the Next Secretary of State: Revamping the Foreign Service - Domani Spero, DiploPundit
Chinese Media Push Into US - BBC, posted at updatednews.ca: China is aggressively trying to stake out a place in America’s highly competitive media landscape in an effort to get the country presented in a more positive light. Through state-owned television, newspapers, magazines and online sites, China is trying to reach millions of Americans with its own brand of news. One of the more visible signs of the growing Chinese media presence in the US can be found right in the heart of New York, where Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, has paid for a huge electronic billboard to display its logo from one of the tallest buildings in Times Square. Sarah Cook, Asia research analyst at the pro-democracy organisation Freedom House, which monitors press freedom, has no doubt that it is propaganda that is being peddled. Whether its China Daily, Xinhua News, or CCTV, she says: “Most of what’s reported is going to have to fit within a certain scope of censorship directives that are regularly issued by the Chinese government. “In some cases, it could be that you’re just not allowed to write about anything. In other cases, it could be that you have to say something very specific about the facts of a particular incident, and other elements that might be complete fabrications of information,” she adds.
The FP Twitterati 100: A who’s who of the foreign-policy Twitterverse in 2012 - foreignpolicy.com. Via GC on Facebook
The Florentine Mix - Peter Plagens, Wall Street Journal: "Americans in Florence," a superbly produced and installed exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, documents with works of art
by 30 greater and lesser Americans, as well as their Italian counterparts, the half-century of mutual influence that was brought to a close by World War I. Image from article
Hollywood's New Propaganda Movie Hostage Thriller Glamorizes The CIA In Iran - Danny Schechter, marketoracle.co.uk: Earlier this year, there was a conference in Tehran on Hollywood’s power and impact. It was called “Hollywoodism,” featuring many scholars and critics of the values and political ideologies featured in many major movies with a focus on the way Israel (a.k.a., “the Zionists”) are continually portrayed as if they do no wrong. What we didn’t know then while we were debating these issues was that some of Hollywood’s biggest stars were at that very moment making a movie that will certainly be perceived as hostile to Iran, if not part of the undeclared war that Israel and the United States are waging with crippling economic sanctions and malicious cyber viruses. The movie is Argo, and the hype for it has already begun. In a business driven by formula, a “hostage thriller” must have been irresistible to an industry always more consumed by itself and its own frames of reference than anything happening in the real world. An NBC entertainment site explains: “At the height of the Iran Hostage Crisis, the CIA smuggled six Americans out of Tehran in a plot that was a movie maker's dream. So naturally, Hollywood's gonna make a movie out of it. Superstar Ben Affleck directed "Argo," a film being produced by George Clooney, about former CIA Master of Disguise Tony Mendez and his most daring operation… Mendez smuggled six American's out of Tehran in 1979 by concocting a fake movie production, called "Argo."
Debunked Soviet myth returns to haunt Ukraine - sbs.com.au: Ukraine is finding itself dogged by a World War II propaganda myth about an ill-starred football match against a German team even as it tries to cement its status as a modern European nation by co-hosting the Euro 2012 football championship. A movie based on the "Death Match" legend, which premiered last month when most former Soviet republics celebrated the 1945 Allied victory over Nazi Germany, has caused an uproar in Ukraine as it prepares for football celebrations. The movie, "Match", tells the story of Start, a football club set up in the summer of 1942 in Nazi-occupied Kiev. Its players, according to the Soviet official line, were arrested and killed after refusing to 'throw' a game to a German team. The story had already inspired several film adaptations, including the 1962 Soviet movie "Tretiy taym" (The Third Half) and the 1981 U.S. film "Escape to Victory" starring Sylvester Stallone and featuring football great Pele. The latest adaptation, by Russian filmmakers and panned by critics both in Russia and Ukraine as too heavy on propaganda, shows an embellished version of the team's story set against the background of Nazi atrocities such as the Babiy Yar massacre of Kiev's Jews.
ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
"Alexis de Tocqueville began his seminal L'Ancien Régime et la Revolution en France (1856) by saying that the French Revolution was a political revolution that resembled a religious one. 'It had every peculiar and characteristic feature of a religious movement; it not only spread to foreign countries, but it was carried there by preaching and by propaganda.'
He said it was impossible to conceive of a stranger spectacle 'than that of political revolution which inspires proselytism, which its adherents preach to foreigners with as much ardour and passion as they have shown in enacting it at home ... As it affected to tend more towards the regeneration of mankind than even towards the reform of France, it roused passions such as the most violent political revolutions had never before excited.' With its proselytism and propaganda (he uses that word, hitherto just an office of the Catholic Church) it terrified its contemporaries, he said, and 'as Islam had done ... poured its soldiers, its apostles and its martyrs over the face of the earth.'"
--Cited in Bernard Crick, Democracy: A Very Short Introduction (2002), p. 54, image from
If Alec would ever answer my emails, Tweets or Facebook messages (I guess he is just so busy, right?), here’s what I’d like to ask: What is the freaking point of this Tweet? Are you working on the Ben Franklin campaign now? Where can I get a 'Fact o’ the Day' desk calendar like you have so I can make Tweets like this? Why did thirty people ‘retweet’ this, sending a pointless message to others. Are they all on your staff? Why do you have such a big staff? Or do you have 30 dummy accounts you control? When Time Magazine named @AlecRoss one of the best Twitter feeds of 2012, did they have their head up their ass or is there some other Alec Ross Twitter feed they looked at? Does it cost a lot of money to buy your way on to those kind of lists and can you use Paypal? Would it be possible to convince you to say stand on the roof in a thunder storm this weekend with wet feet and try and repeat Franklin’s historic experiment? You know, for science and all.” Image from entry
Lessons from the Central Asia Tech Forum – TFCA 201 - Kalsoom Lakhani, invest2innovate.com: "A few months ago, I received a direct message on Twitter from Tristram Perry, a Public Diplomacy officer at the U.S. Consulate in Almaty, saying, 'How would you like to come to Almaty and be a trainer for a Tech Forum?' Two thoughts ran through my head: 1. I can turn on a computer. Can I train people in that? 2. Kazakhstan. What. A few seconds later, I wrote back, 'Sure! Sign me up!' The Tech Forum Central Asia (TFCA) occurred between June 14-16 and was a mix of the Civil Alliance Kazakhstan’s SocialCamp and TechCamp – a project initiated by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to increase the digital literacy of civil society organizations around the world.
TechCamps have so far happened all over the world, with this past forum in Almaty being the 11th of this kind. TFCA brought together participants from across Central Asia, Afghanistan & Pakistan for training sessions in topics ranging from low-tech solutions (i.e. mobile technology) to blogging for social good to digital storytelling." Image from entry, with caption: From our solution session on crowdfunding!
From Politician to Media Star to Agent of Public Diplomacy - Lenni Bastert,
thinktransatlantic1.com: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seen as the most influential woman in the world and is revered internationally as a beacon of trust and stability. Those are all very positive attributes yet no one would call her a star. Subsequently, she does not hold a role in public diplomacy such as Barack Obama. The influence she can exert on a PD level comes from her government and her policies and not from what she does or how she acts publicly."
VOA's jazz man. No, not Willis Conover. Sim Copans, who preceded Conover - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.
MetroStar Systems - informedentrepreneur.com: "MetroStar has moved on to serving their largest client, the United States Marine Corps, with mobile applications that assist in public diplomacy and citizen engagement that are localized for different regions of the World. MetroStar has experienced fantastic growth in just over a decade with some years as high as 200 percent."
African envoys meet to assess progress of India-Africa initiative - twocircles.net: "New Delhi: Envoys of 25 African countries and charge d'affaires of 11 others assembled at the Hyderabad House here Wednesday to take stock of the ongoing partnerships between India and Africa under the umbrella 'INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future' people-to-people initiative of the public diplomacy division of the ministry of external affairs. The ministry is collaborating with IdeaWorks, a Delhi-based design and strategy agency that specialises in the branding of nations. Speaking on this occasion, Pinak Chakravarty, special secretary, (Public Diplomacy) said: 'With the initiative, India has entered a new phase in ties with Africa.' 'This public diplomacy initiative is certainly one of its kind across the globe. We do not have a model to replicate or guidelines to follow. It is about touching the hearts of people. Considering that both Africa and India are demographically very young, a major part of our focus is on the youth outreach. Our aim is to collaborate through competition, innovation and entrepreneurship,' Chakravarty said. Navdeep Suri, joint secretary, (Public Diplomacy) said: 'The driving vision of the programme is to unleash the enormous energy of young people, to encourage their powerful creative ideas and to enable them to be facilitators of this process.'"
Singh to bring Indian heritage to RI youth through public diplomacy - The Jakarta Post: "Newly appointed Indian Ambassador to Indonesia, Timor Leste and ASEAN Gurjit Singh plans to establish a new paradigm of partnership with Indonesia by stressing people-to-people relations and with youth as his priority. The ambassador, who is fond of chicken satay and gado-gado (vegetable salad with peanut sauce), explains his public diplomacy approach during an interview with The Jakarta Post’s Ida Indawati Khouw. ... How do you plan to put your mission into action? For example, this is the centennial of Indian movies, and we hope to work with film organizations here to see what we can do to celebrate Indian cinema. Through this we hope we can build a bridge with modern youth. In terms of art and culture, perhaps India can participate in jazz festivals. In sport, we both (are good in) badminton. We will see what we can do.
In the field of education and human resources, I am trying to understand what youth programs can be put in this. How do we engage with Indonesia’s strong set of universities further for long term and short term, how to create twin universities? (This year, the Indian government has offered 125 scholarships to Indonesian students to study in India). Furthermore, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations this year, (from September 2012 to April 2013) there will be an expedition by an Indian ship that will retrace the sea routes developed during the 10th and 12th centuries, linking India with Southeast Asia and East Asia. We also plan a car rally that will start in Yogyakarta on Nov. 26 and end in India by the end of December. All the activities will be accompanied by seminars, festivals and receptions. ... How do you characterize your diplomacy? I like to call it public diplomacy, as it includes culture, media, education, economic engagement, including almost every important gamut that we have. I hope we can at the end say that India is Indonesia’s partner of choice." Image from
Sino-African Cultural Diplomacy Forum Begins - english.cri.cn: "Culture ministers from Africa are gathered in Beijing to take part in a conference designed to try to bridge a cultural gap that some fear could be holding back cooperation between China and Africa. ... Cultural ties between China and Africa first date back to the Tang Dynasty, but have progressed very slowly, compared to the economic and political relationship over the past 60-years. ... It has been organized by China's Ministry of Culture to try to promote and create an awareness of African culture in China by bringing together culture ministers from 50 African countries and their Chinese counterparts."
The Expansion of Chinese Influence in Oceania - David Sturgess, byupoliticalreview.com: "Of the 14 countries in the South Pacific, eight recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and six recognize the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC). Both sides have sought to increase their legitimacy as the true government of China by luring countries the world over to recognize their respective governments. Yet, why does diplomatic recognition matter? It matters because, as the author Bertil Lintner notes, the approximately 7.5 million people of the independent states of the Pacific have more voting power in the UN General Assembly than the 3.5 billion people of China, India, Japan and the United States combined. This means is that the ROC and PRC get more 'bang for their buck' in winning over an island state.
Instead of investing hundreds of millions of dollars to win over larger and more demographically complex countries, the smaller and more homogeneous Pacific Island countries with their equal voting in the UN are like sitting ducks in a large pond. With the PRC’s unprecedented economic growth, more capital has become available to gain an edge over the ROC in this long fought diplomatic battle. Thus, since the beginning of the past decade, the PRC has sought to capitalize upon its economic successes by gaining an edge in this duel called 'checkbook diplomacy.' Island countries like Samoa have seen new Chinese funded building projects including a world class swimming facility and a revamping of the National Rugby Stadium. China has showered Papua New Guinea with millions of dollars in 'no strings attached' grants intended for numerous highly public projects. Similarly in Tonga, in just the year 2008 China gave about $20.5 million of grants for a variety of public projects. These public diplomacy efforts are part of a larger Chinese foreign policy goal of maintaining and winning over South Pacific Island countries. The overall impact of these efforts on these Pacific Islands states has yet to be fully seen. Many of the sports facilities in Samoa are hardly sustainable because of Samoa’s still developing infrastructure. Additionally, reports of corruption and bribery in the South Pacific media show that China’s public diplomacy may backfire. The 2006 riots in the Tongan capital nearly turned the town to ashes and recent violent riots against Chinese government owned mining companies in Papua New Guinea are evidence of this potential blowback. Reports are that these uprisings were largely a result of the local population’s anger about Chinese involvement in their internal affairs. Nevertheless, China has moved into paradise and won’t be leaving anytime soon." Uncaptioned image from article
Edelstein: Countries can learn from Israel-Diaspora model - Steve Linde, jpost.com: "
with the Foreign Ministry and the Joint Distribution Committee’s Center for International Migration and Integration." Image from article
Media Comment: Does the media care about its public? - Yisrael Medad, Eli Pollak, jpost.com: "This past Monday, the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, better known as the YESHA Council, conducted a full day’s Media and Public Diplomacy Conference."
Three years since Netanyahu's Bar-Ilan speech: Was it for real?: Prime Minister's aides say yes, but why did it never come before cabinet? - Barak Ravid, haaretz.com: "Few noticed that last Thursday, June 14, was the third anniversary of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan University during which he declared, for the first time, his willingness to accept 'a demilitarized Palestinian state side by side with the Jewish state.' Since most of the international community and large parts of the Israeli public had already decided the two-state solution was inevitable, they didn't view Netanyahu's remarks as exceptional. But for Netanyahu, who for years had opposed a Palestinian state, it was a significant statement. ... During the three years since, there have been arguments in Washington, Ramallah, in European capitals and even in Jerusalem over whether Netanyahu really meant what he said; whether this was a strategic decision and a new Israeli government policy or merely a good public diplomacy speech written under American pressure."
Middle Powers and the Limitations of Public Diplomacy - Gabby LaVerghetta, A Hard Look at Soft Power: "Global Public Diplomacy: Because they lack the resources of great powers, public diplomacy is a major asset for middle power diplomacy. These middle powers are often ignored or pigeonholed by the rest of the world. Public diplomacy offers an efficient way to gain attention and influence. Despite many success stories, the cases of Mexico and Australia show us the limitations of public diplomacy. ... In effect, the limits of public diplomacy operate across the board. Good PD is not a substitute for good policy. The same messages and values that attract some might alienate others. And long-term initiatives are not always an appealing strategy for reputations that need immediate bolstering. Even the great powers have had to understand this."
NPCU at BISA-ISA 2012 - New Political Communication Unit: "The BISA/ISA annual convention takes place in Edinburgh this week . ... FC19 Friday 2.00PM – 3.30PM Panel: Strategic Narratives and International Relations ... Robin Brown Public Diplomacy and the Construction of Strategic Narratives
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How America Can Help Its Friends Make Nice - Michael Herzog and Soner Cagaptay, New York Times: It has been more than two years since the confrontation over a Gaza-bound flotilla plunged Israeli-Turkish relations into a deep crisis. President Obama has a unique opportunity to help rebuild a strategically vital relationship between these two American allies. While their relationship is unlikely to return to past levels of strategic cooperation, normalizing it could advance important American interests in Syria, Iran and the eastern Mediterranean.
Egypt's military takeover: The nation's military council lives up to fears that it would not go quietly in a transition to democracy - Editorial, latimes.com: From the moment it was announced that Egypt's authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak, was stepping down, experts in that country and abroad warned that the Egyptian military wouldn't be content with a limited and transitional role. That prophecy has come to pass, posing a challenge not only for democrats in Egypt and for its newly elected president but for its ally and benefactor, the United States. The Obama administration, which earlier this year waived congressional restrictions in order to keep sending military aid to Egypt, should reconsider that decision if the armed forces continue to thwart democracy.
Asylum for Julian Assange? - Editorial Board, Washington Post: Last month Mr. Correa’s campaign got a boost from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who opened a sycophantic interview for a Russian state propaganda outlet by announcing that “with Chavez out of the public eye, a new generation of Latin American leaders has arisen.” He went on to wallow in anti-American slanders and paranoia with Mr. Correa, prompting the Ecuadoran to proclaim: “Welcome to the club of the persecuted!” Now the Australian hacker has called Mr. Correa’s bluff.
By seeking asylum in the Ecuadoran embassy in London on Tuesday, Mr. Assange dared Mr. Correa’s government to conclude that Sweden, which is seeking Mr. Assange’s extradition on sex-crime charges, and Britain, which allowed him to exhaustively contest the extradition in its courts, are violating his human rights or subjecting him to political persecution. Image from
DoD suspends PR firm co-owner - UPI: The Pentagon banned a co-owner of its top propaganda firm in Afghanistan from further contracts after learning of his efforts to smear reporters, officials say. Camille Chidiac, who owns 49 percent of Leonie Industries, allegedly had started an online effort against two USA Today journalists who reported on the company's finances. Leonie Industries, which has its headquarters in Pacific Palisades, Calif., also allegedly misrepresented its finances while bidding for federal contracts and had owed back taxes, officials said. USA Today reported U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to expand investigations of Leonie, saying the firm's actions "suggest a pattern of malice, dishonesty and incompetence that renders Leonie Industries unsuitable for continued service as a federal contractor."
Homework for the Next Secretary of State: Revamping the Foreign Service - Domani Spero, DiploPundit
Chinese Media Push Into US - BBC, posted at updatednews.ca: China is aggressively trying to stake out a place in America’s highly competitive media landscape in an effort to get the country presented in a more positive light. Through state-owned television, newspapers, magazines and online sites, China is trying to reach millions of Americans with its own brand of news. One of the more visible signs of the growing Chinese media presence in the US can be found right in the heart of New York, where Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, has paid for a huge electronic billboard to display its logo from one of the tallest buildings in Times Square. Sarah Cook, Asia research analyst at the pro-democracy organisation Freedom House, which monitors press freedom, has no doubt that it is propaganda that is being peddled. Whether its China Daily, Xinhua News, or CCTV, she says: “Most of what’s reported is going to have to fit within a certain scope of censorship directives that are regularly issued by the Chinese government. “In some cases, it could be that you’re just not allowed to write about anything. In other cases, it could be that you have to say something very specific about the facts of a particular incident, and other elements that might be complete fabrications of information,” she adds.
The FP Twitterati 100: A who’s who of the foreign-policy Twitterverse in 2012 - foreignpolicy.com. Via GC on Facebook
The Florentine Mix - Peter Plagens, Wall Street Journal: "Americans in Florence," a superbly produced and installed exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, documents with works of art
by 30 greater and lesser Americans, as well as their Italian counterparts, the half-century of mutual influence that was brought to a close by World War I. Image from article
Hollywood's New Propaganda Movie Hostage Thriller Glamorizes The CIA In Iran - Danny Schechter, marketoracle.co.uk: Earlier this year, there was a conference in Tehran on Hollywood’s power and impact. It was called “Hollywoodism,” featuring many scholars and critics of the values and political ideologies featured in many major movies with a focus on the way Israel (a.k.a., “the Zionists”) are continually portrayed as if they do no wrong. What we didn’t know then while we were debating these issues was that some of Hollywood’s biggest stars were at that very moment making a movie that will certainly be perceived as hostile to Iran, if not part of the undeclared war that Israel and the United States are waging with crippling economic sanctions and malicious cyber viruses. The movie is Argo, and the hype for it has already begun. In a business driven by formula, a “hostage thriller” must have been irresistible to an industry always more consumed by itself and its own frames of reference than anything happening in the real world. An NBC entertainment site explains: “At the height of the Iran Hostage Crisis, the CIA smuggled six Americans out of Tehran in a plot that was a movie maker's dream. So naturally, Hollywood's gonna make a movie out of it. Superstar Ben Affleck directed "Argo," a film being produced by George Clooney, about former CIA Master of Disguise Tony Mendez and his most daring operation… Mendez smuggled six American's out of Tehran in 1979 by concocting a fake movie production, called "Argo."
Debunked Soviet myth returns to haunt Ukraine - sbs.com.au: Ukraine is finding itself dogged by a World War II propaganda myth about an ill-starred football match against a German team even as it tries to cement its status as a modern European nation by co-hosting the Euro 2012 football championship. A movie based on the "Death Match" legend, which premiered last month when most former Soviet republics celebrated the 1945 Allied victory over Nazi Germany, has caused an uproar in Ukraine as it prepares for football celebrations. The movie, "Match", tells the story of Start, a football club set up in the summer of 1942 in Nazi-occupied Kiev. Its players, according to the Soviet official line, were arrested and killed after refusing to 'throw' a game to a German team. The story had already inspired several film adaptations, including the 1962 Soviet movie "Tretiy taym" (The Third Half) and the 1981 U.S. film "Escape to Victory" starring Sylvester Stallone and featuring football great Pele. The latest adaptation, by Russian filmmakers and panned by critics both in Russia and Ukraine as too heavy on propaganda, shows an embellished version of the team's story set against the background of Nazi atrocities such as the Babiy Yar massacre of Kiev's Jews.
ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
"Alexis de Tocqueville began his seminal L'Ancien Régime et la Revolution en France (1856) by saying that the French Revolution was a political revolution that resembled a religious one. 'It had every peculiar and characteristic feature of a religious movement; it not only spread to foreign countries, but it was carried there by preaching and by propaganda.'
He said it was impossible to conceive of a stranger spectacle 'than that of political revolution which inspires proselytism, which its adherents preach to foreigners with as much ardour and passion as they have shown in enacting it at home ... As it affected to tend more towards the regeneration of mankind than even towards the reform of France, it roused passions such as the most violent political revolutions had never before excited.' With its proselytism and propaganda (he uses that word, hitherto just an office of the Catholic Church) it terrified its contemporaries, he said, and 'as Islam had done ... poured its soldiers, its apostles and its martyrs over the face of the earth.'"
--Cited in Bernard Crick, Democracy: A Very Short Introduction (2002), p. 54, image from
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