"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
--Oscar Wilde; Wilde image from
VIDEOS
(a) The propaganda behind Obama's drone war - therealnews.com
(b) Video of the Week: Secretary Clinton Dons Wild-Cat Eye Glasses for Mike Hammer’s Swearing In
EVENT
ASP EVENT: The Honorable Tara Sonenshine: The Future of American Public Diplomacy - American Security project: "American public diplomacy has turned a new page with the arrival of Under Secretary Tara Sonenshine. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has struggled to define its foreign messaging in an evolving international system. Why is this the case, and what should be done to strengthen the way America communicates its ideals and policies overseas? Join us as the new Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs discusses her plans, her ideas, and the challenges she foresees during her tenure. ... The briefing will take place on Thursday, June 28, 2012 at ASP’s office: 1100 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC Suite 710W – Conference Room E The briefing will begin promptly at 12:30. Please arrive by 12:00 for registration."
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Why do some Muslims hate America? Researchers offer an intriguing new answer - phys.org: "The effort poured into diplomacy and public relations to counter anti-American sentiment among some Muslims has so far ignored the main source of their anti-US feeling - competing political factions in their own countries.In groundbreaking study in the American Political Science Review (APSR) published by Cambridge University Press, Lisa Blaydes of Stanford and Drew A. Linzer of Emory University examine the views of thousands of Muslims across the Islamic world on American culture and American foreign policy for their paper, 'Elite Competition, Religiosity, and Anti-Americanism in the Islamic World'. In a finding that could potentially have far-reaching effects for how the US shapes and conducts its outreach to Islamic countries, Blaydes and Linzer conclude that the main explanation for high levels of anti-American opinion in a given country depends, not as previously thought on Muslim perceptions of what America is culturally or what it does politically, but on the degree of competition between the political elites within that country itself. Policy-makers and the public often assume that the most religious and fundamentalist Islamic societies are most anti-American, but the research suggests this is incorrect: really anti-American Muslim societies tend to have strong secular groups. Analysis of a huge amount of survey data collected from 13,000 Muslims in 21 countries showed that those countries where people expressed the most anti-American views were also those where two powerful political elites (one Islamist and one secular) were competing fiercely with each other for supporters.
In countries where this did not apply, the amount of anti-Americanism expressed was significantly lower. Blaydes and Linzer conclude that these battling political forces are prone to exploit grievances against the United States for political gain and, in the process, create a heightened sense of anti-American feeling among their citizens. Media outlets such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya also played a significant role, but Blaydes and Linzer's central tenet is that competing national politicians are the main force behind high levels of hatred of America. ... The implications for how US diplomacy goes about winning over public opinion in the most anti-American countries is clear, [says] Linzer. They must find ways to counter the messages being put out by the competing political forces within those countries: 'A core assumption made by those who advocate increasing investment in public diplomacy campaigns is that anti-Americanism stems from poor 'strategic communication' on the part of the US. The results of our study suggest, instead, that Muslim publics are highly responsive to messages from their own domestic elites and the media that report what they say about America. Any American-led effort to change the story in the most anti-American countries will have to find a way to counter the effects on Muslim minds of local politicians spouting anti-US rhetoric in order to bolster their own positions and win supporters.'" Image from
China and Public Diplomacy: Chinese Media Reciprocity Act of 2011 - Nick Zahn, heritage.org "Testimony before Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Enforcement United States House [,] June 20, 2012 [.] My name is Nick Zahn. I am the Asia Communications Fellow and Director of the Washington Roundtable for the Asia Pacific Press at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation. ... The Washington Roundtable for the Asia Pacific Press at The Heritage Foundation is unique among this town’s think tanks. My duty is to get to know the Asian media markets and press corps for purposes of promoting Heritage’s work and ideas. This responsibility has given me a first-hand understanding of how these reporters—including China’s—operate. In preparing my testimony, I have drawn from this daily interaction as well as some of Heritage’s broader work on public diplomacy. As I look at any comparison between the way the U.S. and China handle one another’s government/party sponsored press, two inequities jump out at me: funding and visas. Funding is the more difficult issue, as all China’s major media outlets, including those operating overseas, are state- or party-controlled. The U.S. cannot—and should not—emulate that model. Still, the comparison illustrates well what we are up against. Varying reports indicate that China’s overseas investment in state media is between six and seven billion dollars. Compare that with the U.S. government’s single largest investment in public diplomacy, the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors who have requested $720 million in fiscal year 2013. But the difference in budgets is not the most disproportionate ratio. That would have to go to the sheer number of Chinese journalists allowed visas to work in the United States compared with the number that U.S. state-sponsored press receive from China. Similar to structural disparities in funding, the U.S. has no corresponding interest to the Chinese in limiting access to reporters. This is a principled difference between open and closed societies. Yet, there is enormous space to demand a semblance of reciprocity, and if this requires limiting or revoking journalist visas to encourage progress on their end, this is something the U.S. should do. ... [T]here should be parity between the numbers of China’s state-sponsored media allowed U.S. visas and Chinese visas granted to their U.S. government–employed counterparts. The mandate of VOA and RFA is to broadcast local and domestic news to countries where a free press does not exist. The U.S. government should support the U.S. BBG’s efforts to fulfill that mandate. The United States and the PRC are in a contest of ideas. We believe in the idea that governments exist to protect the rights of the people. Opposing that idea is the notion of a government striving to protect itself from the people. If the disparity between the courses our two countries are taking is not addressed, if the United States does not adjust and use all means of diplomacy at its disposal to counter the current trend in the imbalance of state-funded press between the U.S. and China, over time the prestige of the United States will be made to suffer and our influence as a force for good will be diminished."
US Embassy builds capacity of…US Embassy (photo) - El Snarkistani, findingmytribe.wordpress.com: "This one’s for the Diplopundit. And this took over a year? Don’t they have Macbooks at the Embassy? So part of Crocker’s legacy at the Embassy, besides being really excited about how much money has been siphoned out of the country due to massive corruption, and making sure that the majority of Department of State staff in this country never left Kabul, is the eponymous TV studio that took over a year to complete. Now, instead of outsourcing ridiculous television ventures, the Embassy staff can now be inept all on their own. God bless the USA.
Image from article, with caption: The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio was dedicated on 24 June with a ribbon cutting at the Embassy by Ambassador Crocker and Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy, Eileen O’Connor. The production studio, which took over one year to complete, will give the Embassy the ability to do live television broadcasts and studio quality videos for the web.
U.S. Public Diplomacy Requires a Paradigm Shift - Global Public Diplomacy: "The amount of funding that is directed towards hard power forces such as the military greatly outweighs that intended for public diplomacy, and that speaks volumes about what the United States values and understands to be strength. As noted above, any public diplomacy solutions should be thought of in a long-term way. A more sustained interest and effort in building and maintaining relationships would make any initiatives more effective."
The Folly of Kindle Diplomacy: The U.S. partnership with Amazon won’t help dissidents spread ideas. It will only bolster conspiracy theorists - Evgeny Morozov, Slate: "[T]he U.S. State Department has finally announced an ambitious partnership with Amazon. (Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos and Hillary Clinton were supposed to appear at a joint press-conference Wednesday, but it has been postponed because of Clinton's schedule.) The program—which is slated to run over the next five years—would see the State Department spend up to $16.5 million to purchase a maximum of 35,000 Kindles as well as to pay for content (i.e., books) and delivery costs. A fully equipped Kindle costs about $200, so this leaves almost $10 million that can be spent on books—which, given Amazon's low prices, might easily mean 1 million units. Where would these Kindles go? The idea is to ship them to more than 800 designated libraries, public reading rooms, and cultural centers—frequented by more than 6 million young people per year—that the U.S. State Department supports around the globe. The rationale behind the initiative looks solid—at least, in theory. ... [But] regardless of how superb and efficient e-readers, social networks, or search engines might be for information delivery, it's wrong to think of them as mere tools with stable and coherent meanings (let alone with clear and easily predictable effects). Once embraced by the U.S. government, these tools no longer exist in the geopolitical vacuum of Silicon Valley. A lengthy and complex history of American foreign policy, Washington's ongoing experiments with cyberweapons, Silicon Valley's previous run-ins with authoritarian governments—these are just some of the many factors that set the stage for how these tools will be interpreted. In other words, their meanings, capabilities, and effects depend on who is looking and why. This is not to embrace defeatism or suggest that diplomats have no business experimenting with the latest technology. But diplomats have to do it in full awareness that their benign intentions might be misinterpreted and occasionally backfire. Often, their quest for innovation may not even be worth it—particularly if it risks making things worse in the long run. Alas, everything we know about the partnership between the State Department and Amazon suggests that American diplomats have no such awareness. A dream device for dissidents remains just that—a dream."
The states of eDiplomacy - petecranston, govinthelab.com: "‘After a long, competitive selection process we are then told we know nothing and can’t use the knowledge and skills we bring with us’, said an exasperated new foreign diplomat based in Rome from a diplomatic service which lags a long way behind the mainstream in its adoption of social media and the other tools of eDiplomacy. It was especially surprising to hear of such myopia in Italy where 73% of the online population are on Facebook (approx 37% of the population), making it Facebook’s 11th most active market. The majority of the approximately 80 participants at the eDiplomacy day held at the Instituto Diplomatico in Rome this week told more positive stories about how their own Ministries are engaging with the digital landscape. For example, Ambassador Bernardino Regazzoni, introducing the evening expert panel session, described how the Embassy of Switzerland in Italy employs the experience of younger diplomats in their drive to engage online.
In a time of constrained and reducing budgets, resource issues were understandably high on the agenda. Few countries could match the three staff working on communication at the US Embassy in Rome. Yet, like the Italian Instituto itself, most are creatively redeploying and retraining staff to be able to engage with what the majority recognised as essential tools for public diplomacy. Stefano Baldi, the Director of the Instituto illustrated how they are using all kinds of technology from video streaming to blogging, as can be seen in this impressively rapidly turned around video from the Italian Ministry (up a long time before I could complete this blog!). ... MFAs like the US, the Canadian and the UK FCO have been using social media tools for over three to four years and they have learned how to maximise returns from investing limited resources. Other later adopters are engaging with enormous enthusiasm but are likely to experience something of a backlash – a descent into the Trough of Disillusionment – as longer-term resource commitments become clearer, along with the typically slow build of a new online profile in a digital space which is becoming more and more crowded."
Don’t Forget the Public in Diplomacy - bb1790a: publicdiplomats.wordpress.com: "Public Diplomacy 2.0 is an effective tool to reach the masses. It fills gaps when public diplomacy personnel budgets dwindle, and pings millions when a nation is wired, but it can leave behind the traditional and still necessary forms of public diplomacy. No public diplomacy (PD) officer can be in all places at all times, but public diplomacy 2.0 comes close. Today, a PD representative in front of a computer in a small room can draft an essay or shoot a video and post it to the web, available to billions of people with just a few strokes of a keyboard. Yet, while the Internet has provided new and necessary tools to forge dialogues with foreign populations, one must take great care to not overlook the traditional form of Public Diplomacy: a cup of coffee.
When questioning PD officials about 'the old ways of doing things', one common example was the mission to identify key communicators (any person able to influence a large segment of the population, from a journalist to a minister) in a community and influence them to spread the message of the day. This often required multiple meetings to discuss a range of things from family to what are the hot selling items at the local market. They often took place in coffee shops or living rooms over a cup of coffee or tea. PD officials were able to build up trust by developing rapport and familiarity with the key communicator. Only then could a relationship grow to the point where the communicator would be comfortable enough to spread public diplomacy messages. Today, too many practitioners believe the only key communicator necessary is the web." Image from entry
A Storm of Swords, A Storm of Sand - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "John and I dropped our stuff at the hotel, grabbed some breakfast of cheeses, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes and hardboiled eggs, then we were met by Ari - a project manager for YES Academy Iraq and the director of the University of Duhok's music school. He took us over to the university, and the art complex which was pretty nice. The art complex had sculptures and murals done by students, and seemed like a nice environ. We spent the morning listening to auditions for strings, piano, rock, jazz and broadway classes. There was a talented breakdance crew from Duhok that could really move well. I think the highlight for the morning for me was a fellow who auditioned for the Broadway program by delivering a monologue from Hamlet in Kurdish. There were some talented kids, and some who will benefit from the lessons they will get from the YES Academy. This is grass-roots cultural diplomacy at its finest."
A 'failing' mark in public diplomacy - Yisrael Medad, jpost.com: "The State Comptroller's report on the Flotilla incident also included many dozens of pages critical of Israel's public diplomacy apparatus. I have just now viewed today's BBC interview with
UNESCO and the Politics of Official Culture in Israel/Palestine - Laith Ulaby: “Many countries have been aggressively pursuing official UNESCO recognition for their cultural productions. While World heritage Site and Intangible Cultural Heritage designations are officially intended to preserve cultures, they are often very effective at promoting tourism. Governments have also increasingly realized that official cultural recognition can bring legitimacy to official state narratives and contribute to soft power and public diplomacy efforts. In other cases, the designation can help protect minority groups by elevating their status and value to the state. While there are a host of criticisms regarding the notion of ‘preserving’ culture, things have become even more complicated as governments try to game the system for their own purposes. While there are a host of criticisms regarding the notion of 'preserving' culture in the first place, the system has gotten even more complicated as governments try to game the system for their own purposes.
Most recently the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has been attempting to win a World Heritage Site designation for the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Undoubtedly this is a shrewd political move, on several levels, but the damage to an already battered classification will be unfortunate. For all the imperfections of UNESCO, and the UN in general, these designations are an important part of international multilateral cultural policy. This is of course not the first time that controversy has come from a UNESCO decision in Israel/Palestine. In 1974 Israel was stripped of its membership in UNESCO for its archeological activities on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. While Israel was allowed to return to full UNESCO membership a few years later, archeology has unfortunately been another victim and weapon in the ongoing dispute. It will be interesting to see how UNESCO navigates the tricky request of the PNA so as to give it full consideration without further damaging the designation’s reputation.” Image from article, with caption: Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
The Kurdish State - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "The Kurds need more friends in the world, and that comes through better public diplomacy. If it were up to me, I would conduct robust Kurdistan nation-branding/cultural diplomacy campaigns . ... The Kurds (and the Taiwanese) need to take a page from Israeli public diplomacy and understand that support in America comes from the heartland."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents its 10 month report to the Ethiopian Parliament - ethiopiaembassy.eu: "The Minister’s presentation ... covered activities related to investment, noting the engagement with the Diaspora in development activities and the efforts aimed at mobilizing support for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) along with other public diplomacy works. ... The Ministry had also conducted numerous activities in public diplomacy and media relations. The Minister mentioned the encouraging results gained in putting the nation in a positive light as a result of the media relations conducted with 57 international institutions highlighting the changes visible in social, economic and political spheres.
He detailed the activities of Ethiopian missions abroad in increasing the participation of the Diaspora in the country’s development of the nation. There had been consultations and information provided to 26, 000 Ethiopian and Ethiopian born citizens during the reporting period which had greatly helped in forging a consensus on the importance of the involvement of the Diaspora in Ethiopia’s Renaissance. The Ministry had also held a consultative meeting with more than 500 Diaspora community members who came to Ethiopia for the Easter celebrations. This had covered topical national issues and had gone a long way in explaining the objectives of the Growth and Transformation Plan. After hearing the Ministry’s report, the Foreign, Defense and Security Standing Committee commended the Ministry on its 10 months performance. It particularly singled out its range of activities in civil service reform, and in economic, business and public diplomacy. It also urged the Ministry to continue to build on its successes and improve the areas in which it had achieved a less than impressive performance." Image from article, with caption: Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs HQ
The thief” stealing” cheap nfl jerseys Chinese just because of money? - cric-ket.com: "The original introduced through the friend, has the Chinese Embassy in Italy military contact, ask again, he has moved in his country. I went to my peers and Sina, Tencent and foreign media, such as phoenix net media friends for help. Sina reading Mr. Yang Zhuo suggested that I immediately send micro-blog relief, then send a help information, soon to micro friends of concern, and the Chinese Embassy in Italy for information and public diplomacy at the Yao Xianli micro friends help."
My response to "The Limits of Country Branding" - M. J. Pham, A Hard Look at Soft Power: Global Public Diplomacy: "Just as branding is indispensable to shaping and communicating brand value, so too is public diplomacy to 'helping audiences identify with' nation-states and “encouraging them to buy its products and services” (van Ham, 2002).
And just as Lee emphasizes how 'the soft power of a country operates in constant interaction with its hard power,' so too does public diplomacy operate in tandem with nation-branding." Image from entry
Middle Powers, the Distribution of Power and the Rise of Niche Expertise - hedmanmarc, Multiple Perspectives on Public Diplomacy: An American University SIS 628 Blog - "Public diplomacy is crucial for the soft power of moral authority or a brand that highlights a state as an expert in a given field. Of course, the expertise needs to be real and the narrative needs to reflect historical truths. However, specialization of state skills may be the power distribution of the future."
Goli Ameri, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs to speak at Conference - illinoissistercities.org: Meet keynote speaker Goli Ameri! 56th Annual Conference, Jacksonville, FL, July 12-14 'A New Era for Citizen Diplomacy' Goli Ameri, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs ... Ms. Ameri spearheaded America’s public diplomacy efforts.
She worked tirelessly to increase international educational exchanges and further cross-cultural understanding. Hear her thoughts on 'The New Era for Citizen Diplomacy' and about her new initiative, Strengthening America’s Global Engagement (SAGE). Meet her in person July 13th!" Ameri image from entry
Former trustee returns to Colonial Williamsburg - vagazette.com: "The newest trustee at Colonial Williamsburg is Judith McHale, who served 2006-09 as well. She stepped down at the time to join the State Department as under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. She is now managing partner at Cane Investments, an investment company specializing in early stage capital and strategic advice to start-ups.
RELATED ITEMS
A Cruel and Unusual Record - Jimmy Carter, New York Times: In addition to American citizens’ being targeted for assassination or indefinite detention, recent laws have canceled the restraints in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to allow unprecedented violations of our rights to privacy through warrantless wiretapping and government mining of our electronic communications. Popular state laws permit detaining individuals because of their appearance, where they worship or with whom they associate. Despite an arbitrary rule that any man killed by drones is declared an enemy terrorist, the death of nearby innocent women and children
is accepted as inevitable. After more than 30 airstrikes on civilian homes this year in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai has demanded that such attacks end, but the practice continues in areas of Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen that are not in any war zone. We don’t know how many hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed in these attacks, each one approved by the highest authorities in Washington. This would have been unthinkable in previous times. As concerned citizens, we must persuade Washington to reverse course and regain moral leadership according to international human rights norms that we had officially adopted as our own and cherished throughout the years. Carter image from
A Weapon We Can’t Control - Misha Glenny, New York Times: Until now, America has been reluctant to discuss regulation of the Internet with Russia and China. Washington believes any moves toward a treaty might undermine its presumed superiority in the field of cyberweaponry and robotics. And it fears that Moscow and Beijing would exploit a global regulation of military activity on the Web, in order to justify and further strengthen the powerful tools they already use to restrict their citizens’ freedom on the Net. The United States must now consider entering into discussions, anathema though they may be, with the world’s major powers about the rules governing the Internet as a military domain.
Congress keeps closer watch on CIA drone strikes - Ken Dilanian, latimes.com: Intelligence committee staffers review videos and report back, but critics still fear too many civilians may be dying in Pakistan and Yemen - Congressional criticism of drone strikes has been rare. But this month, 26 lawmakers, all but two of them Democrats, signed a letter to Obama questioning so-called signature strikes, in which the U.S. attacks armed men who fit a pattern of behavior that suggests they are involved in terrorist activities. Signature strikes have been curbed in Pakistan, where they once were common, but this year Obama gave the CIA permission to conduct them in Yemen, where an Al Qaeda affiliate that has targeted the United States has established a safe haven in the south. The lawmakers expressed concern that signature strikes could kill civilians. They added: "Our drone campaigns already have virtually no transparency, accountability or oversight."
The Mendacious Movement to Free a Convicted Spy: Pretending that Jonathan Pollard is a martyr makes a mockery of Israel - Martin Peretz, Wall Street Journal: here is no end in sight for the campaign to persuade President Obama to let convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard go free. Mr. Obama does exhibit a certain disdain for the Jewish state—an indifference to and ignorance of the incandescence of Jewish history. "When the chips are down," said the president to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee last March, "I have Israel's back."
The whole lesson of Zionism, a good and truthful lesson, is that no one but Jews can be relied on to have Israel's back. No American troops desired, no American troops required. No Americans should die for Israel. Too many have died for Afghanistan already, a country which we will in any case leave in the deadly lurch. But the Israeli peace camp not only wants the president to force Israel out of the territories and to shrink the Jewish stake in Jerusalem. It also wants Mr. Obama to cleanse Zion of the shame of spying on its patron and its single solitary true friend in the world. Well, he may just do that—not now, not yet, but after the elections if he wins them. Image from article, with caption: Protesters call for the release from prison of Jonathan Pollard, who pleaded guilty in 1986 to spying on the United States for Israel. He is serving a life sentence.
Not-So-Crazy in Tehran - Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times: Americans think of Iran as a police state, but that overstates its control: Iranians are irrepressible. Iran looks childish when it calls America the “Great Satan” or blusters “Death to America.” Let’s not bluster back or operate on caricatures. And let’s not choose bombs over sanctions and undercut the many Iranians who are chipping away at hard-line rule in tiny ways — even by flashing their hair.
Warnings From 'Hitlerland' About Iran The West has fewer journalists based in Tehran now than were in Berlin in the 1930s - L. Gordon Crovitz, Wall Street Journal: In an era of transparency, countries that close themselves off from the flow of information should lose the benefit of the doubt about their intentions. Even without diplomats or journalists on the ground, it's clear the likeliest reason for a country to seek such isolation is that it has plenty to hide. We know more than enough about Iran to make it imperative to do what it takes to make sure it doesn't get the bomb.
In North Korea, learning to hate U.S. starts with children - AP, usatoday.com - For North Koreans, the systematic indoctrination of anti-Americanism starts as early as kindergarten and is as much a part of the curriculum as learning to count.
Syria’s Propaganda Cloud: How the West Is Falling for Misinformation - Riad al Khouri, nowlebanon.com: What is clear is that the violent instability facing the country (whatever its origins or aims) is exacerbating a shaky economy that was weak even before the crisis blew up last year. Today, money is coming into the country from many sources, including Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, among other nations who are supporting one or more of the various players. Yet such political inflows of funds have a tendency to eventually do more harm than good. Some of those inflows, for instance, are funding propaganda, which serves to exaggerate Syria’s genuine problems—economic and otherwise—as part of a great spectacle to sway world opinion. This includes Saudi money coming into Syria via Lebanon to fund demonstrations, with people getting $30 a day to protest—in front of cameras and microphones, of course. That isn’t to say that there aren’t many genuine demonstrators with real grievances; at the same time, the government habitually stages its own propaganda shows, also inducing people to whoop it up for the media. Such stage-management, along with fake torture videos and a host of other propaganda stunts, provide false justification for or against outside meddling, with some Europeans and certain people in Washington pushing for various military options, and a broad group led by Russia and China, but also including many in the region, calling for diplomatic solutions to the crisis.
Editorial: Ministry of Culture as propaganda office - gazeta.ru: The failure of new Minister of Culture in his conflict with 'channel NTV' has shown the weakness of one of the most notorious initiatives of Vladimir Putin's new presidency. The attempt to turn the Culture ministry into the new state propaganda machine is meeting resistance in unexpected places. What quarrels could there be between the NTV, run by Vladimir Kulistikov, and the Ministry of Culture, headed by Vladimir Medinsky? Both managers are propaganda professionals, both are official agitators who row in the same boat. Why should they rock it? Yet there was a nasty scandal. The Culture Minister demanded the TV channel not air the new feature film "Serve the Soviet Union" on June 22, a day of mourning on the anniversary of Germany's treacherous attack on the Soviet Union in 1941.
He demanded this in his habitual manner, very publicly and loudly, and was refused, most likely exactly because of the manner. And it's not a matter of the movie itself, with its improbable plot, dubious esthetic qualities, and near unpatriotic-ness, if you the patriotism isn't reduced to worship of Soviet secret police. It's just that one propaganda dignitary decided not to bow to another and admit his superiority. This was not the only controversial declaration by Vladimir Medinsky during his first month in the office. Another declaration was the call to rename the Moscow streets in memory of the great prince Sergey Alexandrovich and other victims of revolutionary terror. Image from article, with caption: Vladimir Medinsky: "Fact is not important"
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