"A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer."
--American statesman Dean Acheson; image from
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Why Israel Won’t Bomb Iran: At least until the U.S. presidential election, Netanyahu won’t risk angering Obama - Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, posted at Doc's Talk: "[T]he Obama Administration has pulled out of Iraq and will soon pull out of Afghanistan. ... Just as politics informed the
Bush White House’s insistence on the delay-not-destroy mantra, politics of a different sort are informing this White House: This administration is conducting a public diplomacy campaign with the purpose of undermining the capability of a U.S. attack because the administration has no intention of striking." Image from entry
International Student Recruitment - paddling my journey through higher ed: "Meghann Curtis, Deputy Assistant secretary for academic programs at the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ... [:] 'To meet the State Department's public-diplomacy mission, EducationUSA provides comprehensive information to international students about the entire range of accredited U.S. colleges, universities, and programs in our effort to help students find the best possible match with their abilities, needs, and interests. Working with commission-based recruiters is inconsistent with this public-diplomacy mission.' ... [T]here are two sides to this issue. On one side there are those who support the use of commissioned-based recruiting agents.
Their main argument is that other countries regulate and use agents and report no issues with the practice. They assert that without agents, America loses its competitive edge. They ask that the State Department allow AIRC to work with EducationUSA advising centers and paid agents to ensure that recruiters adhere to ethical industry-based standards. Supporters believe that with standards set and followed, the ethical standards would be met and international students would get the best experience they could. American institutions would remain competitive in the global marketplace. They maintain that Agents who live in the countries can better serve the students and their families, as they know the culture. If institutions don’t pay, the families will bear the brunt of the cost of hiring an (non sanctioned) Agent. In other words, without regulation, black-market practices would emerge. The opposing side argues that because agents are for-profit they act in their own best interest rather than the student’s. They assert that agents restrict student options to those institutions that offer commissions and encourage students to go to institutions to meet a quota ... . This seemingly unethical practice could harm the reputation of American education abroad. There is much work to be done in order to lessen the chasm of these polar opinions."
Rockower Administration, day two - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "In the second day as Acting Director of YES Academy Iraq, I kicked in another bathroom door to save a young student (Iraqi locks on Iraqi doors; I was greeted as a liberator), burned through the entirety of my operating budget as well as my own funds, and either caused an international incident or stopped a case of child kidnapping (possibly both at the same time)."
President Obama Assumes Control of All Domestic Communications - Joe Wolverton, II, thenewamerican.com: "While
'This outdated law ties the hands of America’s diplomatic officials, military, and others by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible and transparent way. Congress has a responsibility to fix the situation,' he added. 'While the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 was developed to counter communism during the Cold War, it is outdated for the conflicts of today,' said Congressman Adam Smith. 'Effective strategic communication and public diplomacy should be front-and-center as we work to roll back al-Qaeda’s and other violent extremists’ influence among disaffected populations. An essential part of our efforts must be a coordinated, comprehensive, adequately resourced plan to counter their radical messages and undermine their recruitment abilities. To do this, Smith-Mundt must be updated to bolster our strategic communications and public diplomacy capacity on all fronts and mediums — especially online.' Again, our government pretends to be forced into taking such a drastic and despotic step only as a reluctant response to the myriad threats to our national security." Image from
AirSea Battle As Operational Scapegoat - posted in: "Maritime Security: The AirSea Battle (ASB) discourse is looking an awful lot like the counterinsurgency (COIN) debate was circa 2009. Is AirSea Battle a strategy? An operational concept? Is it an operational concept passing for a strategy? Does anyone really know or agree on what AirSeaBattle is? ... The problem–and this has little to do with the Pentagon and everything to do with American strategy as a whole–is the way that the doctrine is becoming seen as a stand-in for specific American policies and strategies in the Pacific and elsewhere. Such confusion is understandable. First, prior doctrines were based within specific scenarios and strategies. Second, the military’s effort to prepare for crisis situations has outpaced domestic politics. AirLand Battle (ALB), ASB’s namesake, was couched within a specific threat scenario Americans had accepted for generations: Europe must be defended from the Soviet hordes. Every instrument of American national power–from official diplomacy and public diplomacy efforts to conventional and nuclear forces–had to hold the line in Europe. ... The most likely near-term use of ASB, in fact, will probably be in the Middle East if prevailing trends in the military balance continue. It would be simply another addition to a long trend of 'big war' capabilities migrating to middle-range and small wars. ASB is an operational chameleon, in short, because it must be."
Public Diplomacy and the Past: The Search for an American Style of Propaganda (1952-1977) by Lois W. Roth - fletcherforum.org: "From the outset, the U.S. government’s decision to practice the art of propaganda has been clouded by dissension over the scope and method of its mission. Definitions of propaganda, information and cultural affairs – the fundamental elements of public diplomacy – have consistently been obfuscated by canny bureaucrats and congressmen. Each administration has sought to devise formulae to create a program to best meet the perceived needs of the day.
The present administration is no different from its predecessors in attempting to put its own imprimatur on its public diplomacy program. Under the direction of Charles Z. Wick, the United States Information Agency’s visibility has heightened. Congress has rewarded the USIA’s ambitious 'offensive' programming plans with increased funding, especially those targeted at television, Voice of America and exchange programs. In this article, Ms. Roth emphasizes the 45-year debate concerning which elements should or should not be included in a public diplomacy program. Such an historical approach emphasizes the still-undefined character of USIA’s role. It is of particular value in lending perspective and vision to those contemplating the future nature of programs in a representative democracy." Roth image from
CUSIB’s Ted Lipien asks BBG to respect rights of independent journalist Matthew Russell Lee - cusib.org: "As co-founder and director of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting (CUSIB) and Free Media Online, independent journalist and former Voice of America (VOA) acting associate director, I am deeply troubled by news reports — which VOA has not denied — that a Broadcasting Broad of Governors (BBG) official, Voice of America Executive Editor Steve Redisch, has written to the United Nations requesting that the U.N. press accreditation of independent journalist Matthew Russell Lee
of Inner City Press be reviewed. I take no position on any professional or private disputes between Mr. Matthew Russell Lee and a Voice of America correspondent and other reporters at the U.N. I am concerned, however, by Mr. Matthew Russell Lee’s complaint that a U.S. government official did not attempt to redress a grievance from this U.S. citizen-journalist but instead tried to influence the United Nations to withdraw his press access." Lee image from
YES Academy Teaching Performing Arts in Iraqi Kurdistan - PRI: "Performing arts students from across
Foreign news outlets cynically bash America's new emergency communications executive order - David Gewirtz, zdnet.com: "[T]he bottom line is that the U.S. has implemented many forms of disaster management over the years, planning for everything from natural disasters to man-made disasters, to terrorist attacks, to the effects of war. President Obama continued that management process last week with the issuance of the Executive Order Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions. It's an extension of previous emergency communications policies of the government, but this time it assigns specific responsibilities to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. It also sets up a new committee called National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) consisting of key players from most of the major agencies. This is a good thing. Emergency preparedness and escalation procedures are important. Assigning specific responsibilities ahead of time prevents turf battles, and helps restore critical services faster. On the other hand, depending on where you read the news, you might get a completely different perspective. For example, take RT.com. RT stands for Russia Today -- so you know their perspective. If you read RT's article, you'd read 'Obama gives himself control of all communication systems in America.' I've represented America's strategic perspective as a guest on Russia Today's TV show (YouTube video), and I can tell you that it's an enormous, well-funded propaganda machine. As you might imagine, Russia's interests aren't always in line with what's good for America."
My two cents on Turkish Public Diplomacy - Efe Sevin, Reaching the Public -- Personal Reflections on Public Diplomacy and Place/Nation Branding: "Around two years ago, (and I cannot believe it has been two years already!), I tried to outline the obstacles and challenges for Turkish public diplomacy. During the last two years, several think-tanks, non-government organizations, as well a governmental institutions started working on understanding, discussing, and implementing the concept of public diplomacy in the Turkish political scene.
Based on what I learned during my own public diplomacy practice, and my studies, I have a couple of recommendations to ensure Turkish public diplomacy is built on strong grounds.1 – Public diplomacy is not a ‘domestic issue’ . ... 2 – Public diplomacy is not a ‘government agenda item’ . ... 3 – Public diplomacy is not about ‘information sharing’ . ... 4 – People won’t love us just because we are this awesome nation." Image from article, with caption: Short term visitors from Egypt
Top Five Reasons Israel is Losing the Public Relations Battle - Juan Cole, Informed Comment: "1. Giving the finger to any ‘peace process'. ... 2. Hypocrisy ... . 3. Disregard for the rule of law . ... 4. Punitive Policies toward non-combatants . ... 5. Violations of international law"
RELATED ITEMS
Photo of the Day: Stay Angry and Stay Young, Fight Human Trafficking - Domani Spero, DiploPundit: U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN, David L. Carden, challenges
youth to “stay angry and stay young” by fighting human trafficking at the USAID co-sponsored MTV EXIT concert in Hanoi, Vietnam. Image from entry
US Government Study Says Muslim Terrorists Are Widely Misunderstood[:] They Aren’t “Aggressive Offensive Foe Seeking Domination” - atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com: The United States of America is under siege and the coup near complete. A new government study (paid for with your taxpayer dollars) reads like an al qaeda reader. The study says "Muslim terrorists are widely misunderstood and don’t wish to impose Islam around world as is commonly believed in the west, they simply murder innocent people to defend against foreign attacks by enemies of Islam."
Obama’s Fantastic Boring Idea - Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times: Instead of shipping food after the fact, the United States aid agency, U.S.A.I.D., has been working with local farmers in rural Malawi, in southern Africa, to promote new crops and methods so that farmers don’t have to worry about starving in the first place.
Can diplomacy succeed with Iran and Syria? - David Ignatius, Washington Post: The Obama administration has opted to work with international coalitions to confront Syria and Iran. This still seems like the most sensible policy. But if these multilateral efforts are failing, it will fall to the United States to devise an alternative strategy. If the United States wants to get to “yes” in these negotiations, it will have to bargain more independently and aggressively.
Iranian Air Defense forces start wargames - en.trend.az: Iranian forces exercised confronting enemies' psychological war and media propaganda campaign in the first stage of the Army's air defense wargames which
started in Iran's Northwestern regions Sunday morning, Fars News reported. Spokesman of the drills Shahroukh Shahram said that today's tactical wargames were aimed at responding to the enemies' psychological war in a move to thwart the negative impacts of the recent propaganda campaign launched by the regional media. Image from article
To Topple Assad, Unleash the CIA: Turkey and even Iraq's Kurds would help Syria's rebels if the U.S. showed it is serious - Reuel Marc Gerecht, Wall Street Journal: A muscular CIA operation launched from Turkey, Jordan and even Iraqi Kurdistan could crack the Assad regime. The trick for Washington is to go in big, deploying enough case officers and delivering paralyzing weaponry to the rebels as rapidly as possible.
Will Egypt's generals yield? President Mohamed Morsi's call to reconvene parliament is likely the first of many clashes with Egypt's military, which is at risk of overplaying its hand - Editorial, latimes.com: If the generals will lose popular support and antagonize Egypt's allies, including the United States, which provides the military with $1.3 billion a year in assistance.
Both Congress and the Obama administration have put the generals on notice that those funds are in jeopardy if the transition to democracy is thwarted. An attempt to shut down a reconvened parliament would be interpreted inside and outside Egypt as just such an obstruction. Image from article, with caption: Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has called for a parliament disbanded by the generals to return to work, pending the election of a new representative body under a yet-to-be-written constitution. Above: Morsi is seen, center, with the head of the military council Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, left, and Egyptian armed forces Chief of Staff Sami Anan.
Obama and the Chavez threat - Michael Moynihan, Washington Post: President Obama’s comment to a Spanish-language television station in Miami that Venezuela doesn’t pose a “serious” threat to national security has provoked a storm of criticism from Republicans.
Romney is likely to spring surprise with pick for State - Guy Taylor, The Washington Times: While speculation in the political world over Mitt Romney’s vice presidential choice courses through the summer barbecue circuit, an equally juicy topic is beginning to bubble up among foreign policy analysts: Who might be secretary of state in a Romney administration? The Romney campaign is tight-lipped, but names are beginning to fly, and the few campaign insiders willing to speak on the condition of anonymity say there is no guarantee that the former Massachusetts governor will draw from the pool of foreign policy advisers in his inner circle for his top diplomat.
Putting a Megawatt Smile on a Simmering Problem - Tim Arango, New York Times: With average temperatures hovering around 110 degrees this week, Iraqi officials have decided to try to head off the kind of huge public protests that have arisen in years past over their failure to provide adequate electric service. At more than two dozen locations around this city, officials have posted giant billboards of Ms. Couric, billed as “America’s Sweetheart” during her time as a host of the “Today” show on NBC. From high above the steamy streets, or from the side of blast walls, Ms. Couric beams out at passers-by in an advertisement for a daily news bulletin about electricity that is produced by the government and is shown on 11 satellite television channels. The face of an American woman was sought for the campaign because showcasing an Iraqi woman would violate cultural taboos. Ms. Couric, who has reported from Iraq, said the billboards were “bizarre and slightly amusing” but reminded her of her experiences here.
The U.S. Olympic Uniforms Are Socialist Propaganda, According To Pro-American Internet Commenters - Barry Petchesky, deadspin.com: Yesterday, Ralph Lauren unveiled the design for the U.S. Olympic Team's uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies. They include berets. Fox Nation re-posted a New York Post story and gave it the headline "What Happened to Cowboy Hats? US Olympic Athletes Told to Wear Berets!" Hey Olympians!
Are you off to your yachting? They look more European than American! But hey Obama loves those European Socialists! US is supposed to be iconically different from Europe, but these look as if our athletes are ready to goose step. Berets make American's look like French cheese eating surrender monkeys. This government is taking us closer to Europe every single day. Obama HATES Texas and anything associated with the REAL West. Image from entry
Russian TV provider drops CNN, BBC - Will Englund, Washington Post: A major Internet TV provider here has dropped CNN and the BBC, for reasons that a company official said were “beyond its control.” No description of those reasons was forthcoming, which in the prevailing atmosphere here prompted immediate Twitter speculation that the company, called Akado, was reacting to government pressure. In Moscow and other large Russian cities, television is delivered more and more over the Internet. Dozens of providers, including Akado, offer the service. Akado claims to have about 1 million customers, and a 54 percent share of pay TV customers in Moscow. In a speech to Russian diplomats Monday, President Vladimir Putin complained about foreign news coverage of Russia. If a decision has been made to move against CNN and the BBC here, however, it would appear to be related to Russia’s image at home, rather than abroad.
Soviet Propaganda, Infographic Style - baddatabad.blogspot.com: "In 'How to Lie With Statistics', the author frequently comments about Soviet Propaganda and how bad it is. Being a member of a cynical generation, Huff's [the author's] annoyance at an oppressive regime using data skewing to seem better than it was seemed almost quaint....I mean of course they were. Even given my cynicism and lack of Russian skills, I have to admit these infographics from the Duke U library are pretty interesting. This one's my favorite, because none of the bar heights make any sense:
Moral of the story? Every time you share a bad infographic, the Communists win."
Mein Kampf sales in the Arab world and Israeli propaganda - Kevin Squires, Newbridge, Co Kildare, Letter to the Editor, irishexaminer.com: Nurit Modai, Deputy Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, claims that the "Middle East is the only region in the world where Mein Kampf is a best-seller" (Letters, Jul 6). One has to wonder how Ms Modai discovered this ‘fact’ when there are no official best-seller lists in any Arab country. No doubt what she is referring to is an AFP report from 2001 in which a Ramallah bookseller claimed he had sold less than 10 copies of said book per week during Aug 1999, immediately after a ban on the publication of the book had been lifted by the Palestinian Authority. Compare this with Amazon.com, which has over 400 English language translations of Hitler’s vile works. Yet this non-story became distorted by Israeli propagandists into the all purpose "Mein Kampf is a best-seller in [insert Arab country here]" — the implication being that if such a thing were true, it would somehow legitimise Israel’s brutal treatment of the Palestinian people. Strange thinking indeed.
Wartime propaganda film on Nazi massacre is screened - BBC New Wales: On the 70th anniversary of a Nazi massacre, a British wartime propaganda film, shot in a Swansea valley village, recreating the atrocity has been shown. The film showed the destruction of the Czech village of Lidice in June 1942 undertaken by the Germans as a reprisal to the killing of a top Nazi. Silent Village was filmed in Cwmgiedd, where residents played the parts of the victims of the massacre. Hitler ordered the liquidation of Lidice's population after the assassination of one of his most trusted senior commanders, Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich.
The British Ministry of Information's film unit produced the 35 minute film, under the direction of documentary maker Humphrey Jennings, as part of its propaganda to boost the war effort. Image from article, with caption: Real Welsh miners appeared as themselves in the wartime propaganda film Silent Village, re-enacting the Nazi massacre of Lidice in Czechoslovakia
Comic-Con 2012: Frankenstein's Army Propaganda Poster! - Ryan Turek, shocktillyoudrop.com: Filmmaker Richard Raaphorst is in post-production on his highly anticipated Frankenstein's Army and he'll be speaking to us and other member of the press about his production at the San Diego Comic-Con this week. To spread the word about the film, a series of propaganda posters and Raaphorst used his Twitter account to reveal the first poster. The image features the film's "zombots" and Viktor Frankenstein, as played by Karl Roden. Dark Sky Films will release the project in 2013.
Frankenstein's Army takes place toward the end of World War II, as Russian soldiers push into eastern Germany and stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Viktor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary Frankenstein's work to assemble an army of super-soldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades - a desperate Hitler's last ghastly ploy to escape defeat. Image from entry
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