"We want to offer our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families."
--Larry Whiteley, manager of communications for Bass Pro Shops, which sold two weapons to James Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting at a screening of a new Batman movie. Image from
VIDEO
Baku embassy staffer appears in rap video - Josh Rogin, Foreign Affairs: "The video, entitled 'Mengechevir', was produced by the group Caspian Dreamers, a pair of former Peace Corps volunteers named Tim McNaught and Brad Kessler who have become a viral web sensation in Azerbaijan. The video sings the praises of the beach resort town and is set to the tune of Will Smith's 'Miami."'Chris Jones, a cultural affairs officer at the Baku embassy, shows up at time marker 2:36, looking quite relaxed." Via MP on Facebook
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Mini-YES Academy Kirkuk - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "As previously noted, we were holding a mini-YES Academy in Kirkuk for half the faculty, while the other half was working in Baghdad. The mini-YES Kirkuk was being held at the Kurdistan Save the Children's Fund. We had a productive four day academy, teaching children's theater, orchestra, woodwinds, clarinets, piano and guitar." On the Yes program, see.
Suli - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "After lunch of Kurdish salads (including my favorite tangy eggplant salad called Russian Salad) and pizza covered in onions, olives and tuna, I took a brief nap and then met my shabab to divvy up travel reimbursements that we owed from YES Academy. Ari, Bashdar and I sat in the restaurant of the hotel, holding court as we waved fat stacks of dinars. I fanned myself with hundreds of thousands of dinars and offered to light the cigarettes of the kids using 5,000 dinar notes."
US State Department considered leader in e-diplomacy - Jorge Benitez, Atlantic Council at 50: "From Nick Bryant, BBC: With its 140-character limit, Twitter hardly lends itself to diplomatic nuance. But its abbreviated form, in harness with its hashtag hieroglyphics, can also make it powerfully direct. The popular social media site is just one of the online tools that governments are increasingly using to extend their spheres of internet influence. The web can help deliver consular advice, explain policy, and reach and engage with new audiences.
It can also be used to issue admonishments and warnings and, on occasions, help solve problems. The acknowledged leader in this field is the US State Department, which now boasts more than 150 full-time social media employees working across 25 different offices. It uses familiar sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, as well as local equivalents, such as VKontakte in Russia. Ambassadors and other State Department employees are encouraged to establish an online presence.
Smarter networks and collaborative approaches underpin the response to 21st century challenges - Ali Fisher, PD News – CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: To meet the challenges of the 21st century, the approach to public diplomacy will increasingly focus on smart networks of influencers who can convene, connect and mobilize communities. Image from article
This collaborative approach will support and aggregate the impact of smart, committed individuals around the world. Secretary Clinton’s article in the New Statesman articulates the art of smart power, recognising the ‘novel range’ of tools required when facing complex problems. The contemporary approach to smart power seeks to develop 'new ways to reach beyond traditional government-to-government relations and engage directly with people around the world'. This Secretary Clinton writes, ‘means using technologies such as Twitter and SMS to open dialogues’. " Fisher image from entry
RFE/RL uses VOA interview with wife of Egypt's President Morsi, "rare interview granted to a Western news agency" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.
Terrorism and the Media: A Dangerous Symbiosis - Arda Bilgen, e-ir.info: "Even though some advocate the use of media tools for propaganda against terrorists, specifically in the narrative warfare in radical extremism, this is generally fruitless, given that the media has certain limits and legal and moral obligations, while terrorists do not.It is also counterproductive, as media propoganda amplifies the perceived power of a terrorist organization. Instead, media can be employed as a public affairs and public diplomacy tool instead of a propaganda tool to influence foreign publics and potential recruits. To this end, without propaganda, through the 'new' and 'traditional' media tools, the extremist narrative can be countered with an equally clear and appealing narrative to deny access to the public terrorists draw their support from."
Harbour Registers $15M UAE Pact - odwyerpr.com: "The Harbour Group has registered a three-year renewal contract at the Justice Dept. for the United Arab Emirates, showing a $5M cap on annual outlays including professional fees, expenses, legal, compliance costs as well as third-party payments as approved by the country’s embassy. The pact
went into effect Jan. 1 and runs through 2014. THG will guide the Embassy in the 'planning and ongoing implementation of a comprehensive public diplomacy and communications program to sustain and enhance public awareness and understanding of the UAE among U.S. policymakers and opinion leaders,' according to the contract. The Washington-based shop is to support the Embassy’s outreach to and program management of partnerships with think tanks, non-governmental organizations, business associations and other groups. Richard Mintz, managing director of THG, Matthew Triaca, senior VP, oversee the UAE business." Image from
UN Chief Ban Ki-moon tries public diplomacy on Weibo - My Baidu n Google Blog Just a Google and Baidu Search Weblog: "United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon interacted with Chinese microbloggers in a brief live chat session on Sina Weibo Tuesday, kicking off his visit to China where he plans to attend the China-Africa Cooperation Forum Ministerial Conference in Beijing on July 19-20."
Speaker lack of depth of understanding is still to [sic] - seast ar,rondure.us: "Zhao: To enhance communication. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the public should be more communication. Answer: The public understanding of the administration’s foreign policy is a process. A country’s overall diplomacy, Foreign Affairs by the Government plus public diplomacy between the government and the public, we must strengthen communication. On one hand, the Department of State to continue to increase the press conference and other activities to communicate with the public, to listen to the views of the public; the other hand, the public have a profound experience of our foreign policy connotations. from the point of view of public diplomacy, the diplomatic, usually through negotiations between the government authorized by the Government to reach a consensus, agreement, or their respective to express their views. But the Government on public diplomacy, it belongs to public diplomacy."
America China not to use soft power by force to b [sic] - thetasteofhappiness.net:
"China’s public diplomacy officers, academics, to promote the enthusiasm of the Chinese public diplomacy is clearly visible, but unfortunately they lack of overall planning. Responsible for the promotion of China’s public diplomacy staff also need a better understanding of the principle of mutual understanding and accommodation of superpower diplomacy. They should understand that if the multilateral relations is taking shape, reciprocity becomes very important. If China wants to export the Confucius Institute and the United States and other countries, it must be allowed to establish a cultural center in China. If China wants to extend to the world, it must allow other countries to broadcasters established in China to their own international broadcasting industry. However, China is determined to become the important If the United States and other countries insist on public diplomacy with China, China may be more open, which in turn also cause China to continue to rely on soft power, seeking to develop."
Onyx Pharma appoints John Osborn SVP global corporate affairs - pmlive.com: "Dendreon’s John Osborn has joined Onyx Pharmaceuticals as senior VP, global corporate affairs. n his new role at the US-based biopharma, he will lead the company’s public and government affairs activities, as well as key stakeholder relationships. Osborn’s most recent position was executive VP, general counsel and secretary at Dendreon, which markets cancer vaccine Provenge. Prior to his time at Dendreon, he held similar roles at US Oncology and Cephalon. He also spent time serving with the US Department of State and was a member of the bipartisan United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy in 2008."
Op-ed: Israel aims to expand ties with China and India, but must not forget America - Nimrod Asulin, YNET, posted at israpundit.com: "In 1992, Israel broadly expanded its international relations, taking advantage of the fall of the Soviet Union’s Iron Curtain. Notwithstanding, improving ties with the eastern powerhouses of China and India was not a primary focus up until few years ago. Recently, Israeli leaders have made successive high profile visits to China, while engaging in considerable public diplomacy efforts vis-à-vis the Chinese people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even greeted the Chinese people in their native Mandarin during their New Year’s Festival. The growing cooperation with China is based on bilateral agreements in the fields of technology, green energy, agriculture, and water conservation. Enhancing relations with China in these fields is exactly how Minister of Trade and Labor Shalom Simchon planned for Israel to become one of the world’s top-15 economies. Simchon underlined that a Free Trade Agreement with China is currently on the agenda and is expected to be agreed upon in the foreseeable future. However, these warming relations are constantly in jeopardy. Israel’s primary ally, the United States, fearing China’s increasing threat to its hegemonic position, acts to limit the Chinese influence in the Middle East. Previous Israeli attempts to bolster relations with China went up in smoke in 2000, when the Americans terminated a $250 million deal involving the sale of sophisticated military equipment, including the Phalcon early warning aircraft."
Ki Yachol Nuchal! - rutimizrachi.blogspot.com - "The hot summer, involvement in hasbara (Israeli public diplomacy), and simple contentment with life, have kept me from writing much lately. Fortunately, the hot summer seems to inspire Yeshiva Bochur, aka Exiled Warrior, to write about his experiences in the IDF. Here is an especially sweet post. If you enjoy this piece, you may want to peruse some of his other recent writing at his blog. We all looked up surprised when a bus full of young children pulled into our base on the Israel-Lebanon border. We were working on our equipment as they poured off the bus with huge smiles and eyes filled with wonderment. A smile soon crossed every tired soldier’s face as the kids ran around firing questions faster than some of the machine guns that were present. It soon became understood that the children were those who had lost family members in war and or terror attacks. The sergeant called for a break from work and gathered everyone into one big room. Usually this particular room is used for briefings before patrols on the border, but today it became filled with soldiers and children, or more appropriately, younger siblings and older brothers. The kids donned with pride the red berets of the soldiers, and listened intently as they explained about the different types of guns and equipment. All the kids had prepared letters which they handed out to the soldiers. Mine was written by two young girls named Talia and Mashi. This is what they wrote: Dear Soldier, Shalom, our names are Talia and Mashi. We are campers in the summer camp 'Mishpacha Echat.' A camp for people whose families have been effected from war or terror. Both of our families have all been effected from terror. I (Talia), my older brothers, Lidor and Oriah, were killed on a bus in Jerusalem on a way to a family event. My father was injured slightly from the attack and my mother was not injured. My uncle, his wife and two kids were also killed in the attack. It is hard for me to be without my older brothers. I (Mashi), my father was killed in a shooting in the North. He was already let off his work before because of an injury from another terror attack. After the first attack he became a driver.
He was taking people to work when he was killed. My father was killed when I was a year and two months. To be without a father is very hard. Thank you for guarding us, look out for yourselves. We love you. Talia and Mashi These are the heroes I had the pleasure to be around today. This amazing camp, 'Mishpacha Echat' brings these children here and they strengthen us and we strengthen them. The nation is strengthened. 'The Nation builds the army, the army builds the Nation.' That is the army's mantra. Mark Twain, after studying the 'Th Jew,' became perplexed and remarked: 'All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?' Our enemies have tried to destroy us time and again. They believe that they, like a mighty wave, will be able to extinguish the Jewish flame. But they, like all their predecessors, sink back into the sea, forgotten. The Jew however, is still standing. You have killed my older brothers, my father, my uncle, my nieces and nephews. But you have killed only their bodies." Image from article
Preparing for the U.S. Foreign Service Examination - foreignserviceexam.org: "Public Diplomacy – called 'PD' by FSOS. When I joined, there wasn’t a separate Public Diplomacy Cone; all PD functions were run by a separate agency, the United States Information Service (USIS). Around the turn of the century, State Department leaders (also known as the 'Seventh Floor,' the highest floor at Main State decided that USIS should be merged into the State Department from whence it came some decades before. There are still some bad feelings among long-time USIS officers, but although they had to give up their bigger houses and china, their budgets continue to remain outside the main embassy budget and each regional Bureau in the Department now has an extra Deputy Assistant Secretary from the PD Cone. ... " If the Political Cone attracts most applicants, I believe, Public Diplomacy comes in a close second. PD is attractive work, whether you’re the Information Officer (IO), an Embassy spokesperson. Or you the mission’s Cultural Affairs Officer (CAO), in which you organize public programs in music, art, books, etc. American artists still make global tours, and the CAO organizes their visits. In the early 1960s Louis Armstrong did a number of foreign programs, and you can still find recordings of his trips. For instance, I have a CD of Armstrong’s concert in Elizabethville in the Congo (now Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). CAO’s also coordinate Fulbright scholars, International Visitor Programs (IVP) and other foreign visitors to the United States. These are plum programs because they frequently last for several weeks and show foreigners a cross-section of American life. Their themes can range from democracy, law enforcement, justice and equality, minority rights, youth, women in government, etc. The USG has sponsored these programs for decades and they pay dividends as participants have risen to the top of their professions, becoming important contacts with generally positive views of the United States."
RELATED ITEMS
Photo of the Day: President Karzai Awards Afghanistan State Medal to US Ambassador Crocker - Domani Spero, DiploPundit: July 16, 2012 - President Hamid Karzai awarded, in line with Item 19, Article 64 of Afghanistan Constitution, the “Allama Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan prestigious state medal” to Ryan Crocker, outgoing US Ambassador in appreciation of the praiseworthy services he has delivered in further strengthening Afghan-US relations and for accurately introducing Afghanistan to the people of America and the international community.
The special ceremony held on Monday to this end was attended by Dr. Zalmai Rasul Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Spanta National Security Advisor to the President and Abdul Karim Khuram Presidential Chief of Staff. Ryan Crocker, whose diplomatic mission currently ended, has served as US Ambassador to Afghanistan from July, 2011 till now. Image from entry
US Embassy Guyana: Is this the consequence of midlevel staffing/experience gaps? - Domani Spero, DiploPundit:
Welfare State: Meet America's socialist military - Rosa Brooks, Foreign Policy: If we view military spending as synonymous with defense spending (which it's not, really, but pretend it is for now), boy, does it have more money. In 2011, the United States spent an estimated $768 billion on defense. Defense spending has gone down a tad since then -- by the time I ended a two-year stint as counselor to the under secretary of defense for policy in summer 2011, we were beginning to speak glumly of the coming age of austerity. But the Pentagon budget still dwarfs pretty much everything else.
The poor little State Department, for instance, shared a measly $55 billion with USAID and numerous other international programs. The generous benefits we give our military reflect the increasingly reflexive esteem in which we hold the armed forces. Despite (or because of) the dwindling number of Americans who serve or have a close relative who serves, support for the military has become America's civil religion. In part, this is because we recognize that with our all-volunteer military, the few truly do make sacrifices for the many. The punishing deployment tempo of the last decade -- not to mention the thousands of military personnel killed and wounded -- has wreaked havoc on military families and communities, even as most Americans live lives wholly untouched by terrorism and war. But this can't fully account for the disproportionate benefits we bestow on the military. Via PR.
American Torturers - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: If only the people who ordered torture as a policy of the once magnificent United States had the stones to actually get their own hands dirty, maybe– maybe– things would be different? Good God, what have we become? (The image above floated from the internet).
Anyone with Photoshop skills who wants to redo this with Obama and his torturous henchmen, because the use of torture by the Government of the United States continues, and because Obama has refused to investigate the horrific actions of his predecessor, is welcome to do so.
The U.S. must help Syria - Danielle Pletka, Washington Post: The Syrian people have watched their neighbors, the Russians and others prop up the Assads for decades. Washington has been better, if not perfect; working together with an emerging government, we have a chance to serve both principle and interest in promising a better future for all Syrians.
Olympic uniforms? U.S. should go for the gold — lame: Instead of Chinese-made uniforms, our Olympic team should wear a distinctly American look, from John Deere cap to L.L. Bean moccasins - Chris Erskine: "[S]tir in last week's revelation that the U.S. Olympic team's opening day duds were made in China. Could've blown over in a heartbeat, but it taps into a lot of our collective fears.
And if there's anything we're good at these days, it's collective fears. Sure, your car was molded in Germany, and your beer was boiled in Holland, but for some people, this Olympic clothing issue is the last straw. Many critics — themselves threaded in other nations' hard work — blame the U.S. Olympic Committee. Others, snug in their Italian loafers, blame corporations and politicians for sending manufacturing jobs overseas. Me, I blame everyone for everything." Image from article, with caption: Ruched gold lam swimsuit by Omo Norma Kamali.
Stark Raving Internet Crazy - The Total CIO | Andy Blumenthal: The Internet does not break people or attract broken souls except on the fringes; more typically it puts people together to achieve a higher individual and social aggregate capability then ever before.
Syria's sectarian divide: Ending the bloodshed may require finding a way to protect President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect - Editorial, latimes.com: Syria is in a state of civil war that is in part a struggle by a disenfranchised majority against a brutal and autocratic regime, and in part a sectarian conflict between Sunni Muslims and the minority Alawite population that runs the country. Assad, an Alawite, is of course the main focus of tensions, but this is a conflict that might not end peacefully even if he were to step down. The Alawites and their allies fear not only the loss of power that would result from a Sunni takeover, but a threat to their lives and livelihoods as a people they have long oppressed takes control. Such transition to majority rule is, and should be, the goal of the international community. Yet unless some way of protecting the minority population and ensuring it isn't shut out of future government participation can be devised, and be backed up by international force and guarantees, the killing could go on in Syria for some time to come. That means further destabilization of the Middle East, a prospect very much against American interests.
Putin's Got America Right Where He Wants It: And that's bad news for Obama - Michael Weiss. Foreign Policy: The "reset," Obama's attempt to mend relations with Putin's Russia, is dead. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed it.
The hard truth is that the reset was doomed from the beginning by Russia's increasingly autocratic political system. The men and women who have paid the price for Obama's gullibility on these points are the beaten-down Russian dissidents, whose fate used to matter to the United States. Image from article
Russia: Controversial NGO bill becomes law - BBC News: President Putin has signed into law a controversial bill forcing foreign-funded non-governmental groups (NGOs) involved in political activity to register as "foreign agents" in Russia.
The Kremlin has said the law is needed to protect Russia from outside attempts to influence internal politics. But critics think the authorities will use the law to try to crush dissent. Image from article, with caption: Some critics of the law fear its a step on the way to a fascist state.
Russian Rights Progress: Congressional votes line up behind the historic Magnitsky Act and normalized trade relations with Russia - Review and Outlook, Wall Street Journal: From the dogs and cats sleeping together files: House Republicans and Democrats now look to be moving ahead with a bill to advance trade with Russia while also promoting human rights as a bipartisan statement against Vladimir Putin's authoritarianism. The so-called Magnitsky Act—an historic statute that sanctions rights violators anywhere in the world—will be included in a single version to be put before the full House, as it is in the Senate bill. Named for a Russian corruption whistleblower who died in police custody, the provision requires the State Department to name and ban human-rights abusers from entering or banking in the U.S. This package is good for both the U.S. economy and foreign policy, and Congress deserves full credit.
Chronic Antagonists: America's grappling with Iran over its nuclear program is just the latest phase of a long-running conflict - [review of The Iranian Nuclear Crisis by Seyed Hossein Mousavian and The Twilight War by David Crist ] - Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal: The days are gone when America could confront its adversaries sequentially, moving from World War I to World War II, then to the Korean War and on to Vietnam. Khomeinism exploded out of Iran in 1979 and began challenging the American order in the Middle East while we were still combating Soviet communism.
Today the global battlefield is even more fragmented, and the menace from Tehran still looms. Image from article, with caption: At the former U.S. embassy in Tehran in 2005, an Iranian woman passes a mural commemorating the 1979 hostage-taking at the site.
Generation O [Review of The Obamians by James Mann] - Leslie H. Gelb, New York Times: In this account, Obama’s national security orchestra sorts into three sections. First is the innermost circle, “the relatively youthful, politically attuned side of Barack Obama’s foreign policy.” Mostly lacking executive branch experience, they are tied almost entirely to the president. The important figures here are Denis McDonough, the deputy national security adviser, and Ben Rhodes, the chief foreign policy speechwriter. Another is Mark Lippert, who, like McDonough, helped Obama in the last presidential campaign and was recently confirmed in a top Pentagon post. Unlike many foreign policy specialists, the most potent of Obama’s inner circle had not made their reputations with shelves of articles and books on strategy. Exceptions are Samantha Power, the human rights heroine, and Michael McFaul, now the American ambassador to Russia, who have written plenty. Mann calls the second group, made up largely of former Clintonians, the Trout Fishers, because of fishing outings they made while attending the prestigious annual meetings of the Aspen Strategy Group in Colorado. Prime among this more seasoned group are Thomas Donilon, the national security adviser; the assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell; the former deputy secretary of state James B. Steinberg; and Antony J. Blinken, a top adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. Their ranks also include officials like Michèle Flournoy and Derek Chollet, who fill vital second- and third-level positions in the bureaucracy. During the eight years of George W. Bush’s administration, they were, Mann writes, “foreign policy mandarins without an emperor.” Finally, Obama coaxed a team of rivals into the cabinet as protectors of his political flanks. The creator and commander of this diverse team is, of course, Obama himself. Obama was much more of a foreign policy tabula rasa than any of his subordinates.
The Launching Pad - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: What “freedom” was for our parents’ generation, “sustainability” has to be for ours. If we do not bring sustainable values to our banking systems and ecosystems, we are going to end up more “unfree” than if the communists had won the cold war — because without sustainable practices, repeated crises in the market and Mother Nature will impose more limitations on our way life than anything the Soviets ever could have.
Desert Pitch [Review of A Hologram for the King By Dave Eggers] - Pico Iyer, New York Times: Eggers speaks for a new America that has to think globally and can’t be sure where the country fits on the planetary screen.
AMERICANA
--Via FW on Facebook
Penn State president orders Paterno statue removal - Nate Mink, USA Today: The 7-foot, 900-pound bronze statue is one of the most symbolic pieces of disgraced football hero-coach Joe Paterno imagery on campus. The school's library, which also bears Paterno's name, will not be altered in any way because it represents the academic mission of the university Paterno helped foster.
The statue was erected outside Beaver Stadium in November 2001, nine months after Paterno learned of one of those sexual allegations from a then-graduate assistant in which assistant coach Sandusky was sexually molesting a young boy in the team's football facility. History will show the statue will come down six months to the day of Paterno's passing Jan. 22 because of complications from lung cancer treatments. Image from
One child, several parents? A bill in California's Legislature would give a judge leeway to determine the best family support system - Editorial, latimes.com: For better or worse, families have changed. Children now commonly live in single-parent families, blended families and other configurations that don't fit the traditional mold of one mom married to one dad and their joint biological offspring — a model that now accounts for only one-fifth of U.S. households.
Romney’s tax returns, Obama’s birth certificate and the end of trust - Marc Fisher, Washington Post: Americans increasingly segregate themselves in information silos
arranged by political ideology. Image from
Our Ridiculous Approach to Retirement - Teresa Ghilarducci, New York Times: Seventy-five percent of Americans nearing retirement age in 2010 had less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts. Most people aged 50 to 64 have nothing or next to nothing in retirement accounts and thus will rely solely on Social Security. In March, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, only 52 percent of Americans expressed confidence that they will be comfortable in retirement. Twenty years ago, that number was close to 75 percent.
Taxpayers pay for GSA workers to whack their booms for motivation - Jim McElhatton, The Washington Times: Hundreds of federal employees, some trading quizzical stares, sat in a hotel conference center just outside of
IMAGE
Via RB on Facebook
MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY
“Brought up chiefly among grown-ups, I was compensated for the lack of companionship of children of my own age by a procession of pets."
--Mary Soames, the youngest of Winston and Clementine Churchill’s five children and now the only surviving one; image from
"America should be for the 21st-century world what Cape Canaveral was for America in the 1960s."
--New York Times pundit Thomas Friedman; image from, with text: "[F]actual-futuristic stuff from the 1960s and 1970s ... amounts to boosters or spacecraft that could have been built with existing technology and lacked only the political will. A major purveyor of this sort of stuff, largely in defense of his own career, was Wernher von Braun, who transmitted no end of interesting factual-futuristic designs to the public through such outlets as Collier's magazine and the Walt Disney company."
"[I]n recent years, accounts of bright blue, orange, yellow, calico, white and even split lobsters — one color on one side, another on the other — have jumped."
--Clarke Canfield, Associated Press, The Washington Times,"A hue and cry over colorful crustaceans -- Lobstermen: Same on palate if not on palette"
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