July 7

"Americans are a historyless people. We are constantly being told by wishfully thinking leaders that history does not apply to us, that we are its 'exception.'"

--Pulitzer Prize-winning author Neil Sheehan; image (at walmart.com) from

BLOG OF INTEREST

helledale: An exploration of American public diplomacy and image-making

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Hillary's Internet Diplomacy - venitism.blogspot.com: "For Hillary Clinton, modernizing U.S. diplomacy is a strategic imperative. The widespread diffusion of technologies such as broadband Internet, social media and mobile phones requires updating policies and practices.

Connection technologies now increase our impact across the range of diplomatic activities, from public diplomacy to commercial outreach, from disaster response to democracy promotion." Image from entry

How the Media Distorts the Piracy off Somalia’s Coast - dissidentnation.com: "The dramatic rise of piracy off the coast of Somalia in the past few years has led to a corresponding explosion of media interest. Governments and multinational institutions have, in many cases, found it relatively easy to get their message across to a receptive media, desperate for information on the subject because stories on piracy have proved a big hit with the audience – in short, piracy ‘sells’. However, both sides feed off the other. It is likely that public diplomacy has contributed to the media myths about piracy due to the selective release of information to journalists by those involved in counter-piracy operations. In turn, the romanticization and distortion of the subject by the media have, in all probability, led to misguided counter-piracy strategies. ... For the purposes of this discussion, ‘public diplomacy’ can be taken to mean the efforts by governments and multilateral institutions to explain and promote their policies and interests to people around the world, and to influence global opinion. This is primarily done through the international media and through dealings with non-governmental organizations. ... [G]overnments and other bodies try to spread the ‘counter-piracy’ message, primarily through the media. ... [T]he resulting media narrative ... in many ways distorts the reality of piracy, and may well have contributed to misguided policies. ... An example of how public diplomacy can lead to a distorted reality of piracy can be seen in the widely-reported comments of the US State Department’s Counter Piracy Unit Donna Hopkins: 'Somali piracy has grown from being essentially a garden-variety, local, off-the-coast protest against illegal fishing…into a seriously networked and capable, transnational, organized and criminal enterprise.' Although piracy has doubtless become more sophisticated, by all accounts it remains a fairly localized phenomenon; treating it as something different will lead to failed strategies. As the piracy expert, Stig Jarle Hansen, argues: 'The myths of piracy in the greater Gulf of Aden are many, but the average pirate group is a clan-based, low-tech group, consisting of former fishermen. Pirates are thus decentralised, and far from the advanced structures suggested by many observers.'

One body that has developed a relatively effective public diplomacy machine is the European Union Naval Force for Somalia or EUNAVFOR, which was established in 2008. It offers well-organized press briefings and media embeds, and has intelligent, well-informed spokesmen who have successfully got EUNAVFOR’s message across. ... [P]opular stereotypes and widespread media attention to the phenomenon of piracy off the coast of Somalia has in part contributed to unhelpful media myths and stereotypes on the subject, which in turn have led to bad counter-piracy policies. Efforts made by governments to increase public messaging on the topic have not been extensive, and have not succeeded in countering popular misperceptions of the problem. However, public diplomacy has had some success in persuading shipping companies to adopt best practise measures, such as protecting their ships with barbed wire, establishing citadels or safe havens for crew on board vessels, and, in some cases, hiring private security guards. It has also, to some extent, dissuaded people from taking to the sea in risky areas unless absolutely necessary. But piracy off the coast of Somalia will continue as long as it remains a low-risk, high reward business model, and as long as the situation on land remains lawless, with no effective central government." Image from entry

UM Exchange Program Evaluated by Visiting State Dept. Official - Leslie Coleman, notezoo.com: "The University of Montana had its exchange program evaluated by a visiting State Department official this week. Meghann Curtis, the deputy assistant secretary for academic programs at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs was on the UM campus to visit with UM administrators on the goals of the exchange program that is funded by a State Department grant.

While the university has only 300 students in the exchange program that studied abroad last year, UM President Royce Engstrom said he wants to see 75% of students at the UM study abroad by the year 2020. Curtis lauded Engstrom’s goal and stated that universities need to make a greater effort to improve their foreign exchange programs and give students the opportunity to study abroad. Currently only 1% of college students in the United States study abroad. Curtis, who has had her job as deputy assistant secretary since last October, wants to get familiar with the different foreign exchange programs and this is her first trip to evaluate a university. She said the State Department considers the foreign exchange programs a great way to promote public diplomacy. The University of Montana has been chosen to receive grants because it has a more relaxed atmosphere and foreign students can have access to rural areas nearby and not just be in metropolitan areas." Curtis image from article

Fulbright Comes to an End - James, Fulbright in China: "At the end of June or so, the Fulbright faded away. With no official end to the program, no closing ceremony, simply the winding down of the semester, which itself in China just sort of stumbles to a close without quite the definitive commencement day or final exam week. They have those too, but they don’t seem to be strictly observed. And unlike my colleague Jill at Beijing Foreign Studies, they did not host nor roast me for a fare thee well goodbye. Alas. Of course, I am not going anywhere, as I decided to stay on as a visiting professor here at China Foreign Affairs University for one more semester. ... [T]he Fulbright has been the best professional experience of my life. It is a fantastic opportunity for American and Chinese scholars and students to exchange views and ideas and conduct significant research.

It also decidedly fulfills the foreign policy purpose of enhancing American public diplomacy, promoting mutual understanding between China and the United States, and facilitating the type of people-to-people exchange that builds trust and confidence between the peoples of both countries. As such, the emphasis on personal and cultural exchange is woven into the fabric of public consciousness helping to alleviate the animosity and fears that sometimes arise in U.S.-China relations. As a taxpayer in both countries, I feel confident that the money collectively put in by both governments is well worth it." James's image from his blog

Day Three: Tuesday, July 3 – Duhok University, Iraq - Patrick Clark YES Academy Iraq Report, Mizzou New Music Initiative News: "Today in composition class, my ten students and I listened to Claude Debussy’s Voiles from the first book of Préludes. 'What is the scale that Debussy is using in the first part of this piece?' I asked. ... [E]very analysis we make in class reveals magic to these Iraqi students. They are up front in confessing that they’ve never looked at music in this investigative manner and never realized that such structures exist beneath the sounds."

The last 140 characters - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "Here is my problem with social media as public diplomacy: you can't tweet your way to the last three feet."

Image from;  see also John Brown, "Twittering; or, Where are the Emily Dickinsons at the State Department?," Huffington Post

Curtain up for the Hong Kong Film Festival 2012 in Berlin - 7thspace.com: "About 200 guests attended the reception and the screening ... among them, senior government officials from the German federal and the Berlin state governments including ... Mr Christoph von Knobelsdorff; Ambassador Director for Public Diplomacy and Dialogue among Civilizations of the German Federal Foreign Office."

RELATED ITEMS

Peter Bergen's drone propaganda; State Department admission on human rights; unpopularity of NATO's Libya war - Glenn Greenwald, Salon: Peter Bergen of the New America Foundation think tank and CNN has become one of the most vocal cheerleaders for President Obama’s Terrorism policies, and has also been the recipient of highly lucrative, exclusive access to classified information granted by Obama’s administration. On July 4, Bergen, along with NAF’s Jennifer Rowland, published a CNN column lauding Obama’s escalated drone attacks, claiming they have “become more precise and discriminating” (even while acknowledging that the “strikes may also be fueling terrorism“). The top of the column features a colorful chart, assembled by the NAF, depicting civilians as a tiny portion of the deaths caused by those strikes; it actually claims that for 2012, 153 “militants”

(whatever that means) have been killed by drones in Pakistan versus zero civilians. In The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf does an excellent job of documenting how unreliable and propagandistic are Bergen’s claims. Bergen, the think tank “Terrorism expert,” knows nothing about the identity of the victims other than what media reports, based on anonymous U.S. and Pakistani “officials,” claim. As Friedersdorf notes, these claims are unproven and inherently unreliable for numerous reasons, including the warped Obama definition re-definition of “militant” to include “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants . . . . unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.” There is abundant evidence that the number of civilian deaths are vastly higher than official claims, but Bergen’s pretty chart acknowledges none of that. That’s because most D.C. think tanks — and especially “experts” enriched by their access provided by government sources — exist to sanctify and propagate official claims. That’s their function. Image from

The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Blog - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: "This blog just loves Ryan Crocker, America’s ambassador to everything. The Crock is always firing off wacky statements from wherever he is ambassadoring from, be it Iraq or Afghanistan. It is what he does. The other thing Crock likes to do is have things named after him, like droppings at each post he leads. The State Department even offers an in-house award called the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy.

Crock’s latest North Korean-like leadership example is what appears to be a makeshift hut in Kabul that is now known as the The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Production Studio, for making the teevee things that will win our war. Both Diplopundit and El Snarkistani have much more to say about all this. For me, however, this time I want to be on the team. Thus, I am officially renaming this blog 'The Ryan C. Crocker Expeditionary Blog.' Actually, nothing will change. This is partially because changing the graphics for this blog is a hassle, and partially because in a few weeks no one will care what was named after Crocker as it was just some short-term suck up move on the part of his staff anyway."

Book review: ‘Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan’ by Rajiv Chandrasekaran - Neil Sheehan, Washington Post: The reader gets a keen sense of the chaos that reigns among the Americans and their allies. There is no central guidance from the top on how to wage the conflict.

The Army fights one war, the Marines another, and the British a small and ineffective third. Civilian projects initiated by the U.S. Agency for International Development to win Afghan “hearts and minds" wither for lack of follow-through. Image from article

Why Russia Is Backing Syria - Ruslan Pukhov, New York Times: Russians are angry about the West’s propensity for unilateral interventionism -- not to mention the blatantly broad interpretation of the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council and the direct violations of those resolutions in Libya. According to this view, the West, led by America, demonstrated its cynicism, perfidy and a typical policy of double standards. That’s why all the Western moralizing and calls for intervention in Syria are perceived by the Russian public as yet another manifestation of cynical hypocrisy of the worst kind.

Getting a Russian visa takes a lot of application - Ayako Doi, Washington Post: You could tell the first-time visitors in the [visa] waiting room, because they all bore a worried expression that said, “Please, someone tell me what’s going on here!” Those with experience looked either indignant, exasperated, resigned or amused. One dignified-looking gentleman in a business suit exploded in anger when the clerk told him that his application couldn’t be accepted. “Everything is like this in Russia,” said one man who told me that he spends a lot of time in Moscow. “Nothing is easy.”

Israeli pageant crowns 'Miss Holocaust Survivor' - Blake Sobczak, Associated Press, USA Today:  Grinning and waving, 14 women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel's first "Miss Holocaust Survivor." Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy.

In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, even offensive. Image from

Iran, Group 5+1 dialogue to eliminate anti-Iran propaganda: Official - irna.ir: A former Pakistani minister on Friday said that dialogue process between Iran and Group 5+1 would help eliminate propaganda against Iran.

Talking to IRNA, member of the National Assembly Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat of Pakistan Muslim League-Q said that Iran is a sovereign state and is free to take independent decisions. Image, evidently of Hayat, from article

Movie Man: It pays to watch ‘Crime Does Not Pay’ DVDs - norwichbulletin.com: “Crime Does Not Pay: The Complete Shorts Collection,” a six-disc set collects 50 short films released between 1935 and 1947, plus “Eyes of the Navy,” a similar 1940 film that wasn’t officially part of the series. Produced by MGM, arguably the most conservative studio in Hollywood history, the films are a fascinating look at what life was supposed to be like during the Great Depression and World War II. Needless to say, it bears little resemblance to what life was actually like back then. In other words, it’s not a history of that era; it’s a history of Hollywood’s somewhat warped vision of that era. Each “Crime Does Not Pay” film addresses a single criminal enterprise by telling a story about how innocent people are taken in by the bad guys and — most importantly — how the authorities step in and set things right.

That makes the series both terrifying and comforting. On the one hand, criminals are lurking everywhere, waiting for the chance to sell you a dangerous car, steal your baby, give vital defense secrets to Nazi Germany or drown your immigrant relatives in the ocean. But, on the other hand, the brave men (and they’re always men) of the police force and United States government are standing by to stop them -- but only if you, the concerned citizen, remember to do your part. It’s not so much entertainment as it is propaganda, but as propaganda, it’s very entertaining. For one thing, these movies are short, topping out at about 20 minutes each, meaning they never get the chance to wear out their welcome. Image from

Crime Does Not Pay Archives Volume 1 HC - comicsbulletin.com: Uncut and uncensored, the infamous precode Crime Does Not Pay comics are finally collected into a series of archival hardcovers! With brutal, realistic tales focusing on vile criminals, Crime Does Not Pay was one of the most popular comics of the 1940s.

The series was a favorite target of Dr. Fredric Wertham and other censors and is partially responsible for the creation of the stifling Comics Code Authority. Now revered and mythic, this collection of the first four hard-to-find Crime Does Not Paycomics features a fine roster of Golden Age creators and a new introduction by Matt Fraction (Iron Man, Casanova)! Image from entry

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"'[C]ultural diplomacy' is a straightforward oxymoron. The best culture in Britain isn't always diplomatic. It's sometimes confrontational and uncomfortable. And sometimes, a clash of cultures isn't something regrettable to be smoothed away. It just marks the place at which your own values have come up against something they can neither adopt or adapt. Indeed, I'm tempted to say that if a British Council office doesn't get burned down from time to time, it is not doing its job, however awkward it might be diplomatically."

--Thomas Sutcliffe, The Independent (London), March 6, 2007

"F/A-18 strike fighters are among the world’s most advanced military aircraft, with a price of roughly $100 million each and operating costs estimated at $18,000 to $20,000 per flight hour." 

--New York Times

AMERICAN LITERACY

--C. J. Chivers, New York Times

--From: Apostrophe Catastrophes

AMERICANA

--From a Facebook entry

IMAGE

Via DR on Facebook

BLAST FROM THE PAST (Via Lexis/Nexis))

(A) Christian Science Monitor

November 23, 2007, Friday

The art of (hip-hop) diplomacy

The 15 teenage hip-hop dancers break into a sweat as the demands of Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" take their toll. Despite the air conditioning in the sparkling new cultural center, the 125-degree heat finds its way inside. Dance teacher Michael Parks Masterson takes the students to task over a fumbled step. "You guys are awesome, but you must concentrate," he shouts.

There are only seven more days to prepare for the Unity Performing Arts Academy gala show. Hip-hop, one of America's newer cultural exports, is about to make a debut in northern Iraq.

In a leap of the imagination supported by the State Department and the US Embassy in Baghdad, this summer my small not-for-profit organization, American Voices, created a 10-day conservatory of artistic expression and learning for Iraqi performing artists. During that time, participants proved that Iraqi unity is not necessarily a myth - and that cultural diplomacy can work wonders, even in conflict zones.

In a country that has seen little, if any, cultural exchange with the US for decades, the hunger for knowledge was palpable. With a faculty of 10 Americans teaching ballet, hip-hop, musical theater, jazz, chamber music, and orchestra, the students were treated to a smorgasbord of learning previously unavailable to them.

There was extraordinary energy in the air as Iraqis put in 12-hour days studying "cool new things," as one of them put it, from Vivaldi's Baroque style to a choreography of George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm." With participating groups ranging from the youth theater of Irbil, Iraq, to the Iraq National Folk Dancers' more experienced artists, there was a unique blend of ages, ethnic groups, languages, and art forms.

While the program began with some mutual wariness among the groups from various regions of Iraq, by the end, there was strong camaraderie. Perhaps most remarkable was the Unity Orchestra, composed of 130 players from all four of Iraq's principal orchestras. It left an indelible impression of what united Iraqis could achieve in the realm of art.

Once back home, however, each orchestra faces unique challenges. Baghdad's Iraq National Symphony Orchestra braves rehearsals and performances amid terrible violence. Irbil's orchestra is still on informal strike after years of salaries not rising above $30 per month. Sulaymaniyah's two orchestras are younger, active, and relatively well trained; this summer a group of its members won second prize at a youth orchestra competition in Vienna.

At the gala concert, all of the orchestras came together to give a buoyant performance of music by Duke Ellington and Iraqi composers. At the final reception we danced till dawn - despite the awareness that for most, tomorrow would bring a return to the uncertainties of Baghdad or the isolation of the Kurdish regions.

Two months later, the faculty still gets almost daily messages from participants. Some are requests for help with a double bass bridge or advice on how to teach from a method book we donated. Many simply say thanks for offering a glimpse of a way forward and breathing new life into Iraqi conservatories and arts organizations. Many Iraqi performing artists tell me they have toiled for so long and in such isolation that they assumed the world either did not care or had forgotten them.

Repairing America's image and standing in the world will require a group effort. The US government cannot and should not do this alone. As someone deeply involved in the field of cultural diplomacy for close to 20 years, I would like to see cultural exchange written into the mission statements of America's arts organizations and places of learning: more effective exchanges, more scholarships, more hip-hop. In the case of Iraq, such programs not only help heal Iraq's deep-seated divisions but also give Iraqis much needed insight into the US and its culture, beyond foreign policy.

Fears that the US may be forcing cultural diplomacy programs upon an unwilling or indifferent public are, in my experience, unfounded. From Iraq to Vietnam to Venezuela, audiences are clamoring for more. Many Americans assume that our culture is as unwelcome abroad as our foreign policies often are, but we should not underestimate the sway our unique art forms hold over audiences deprived of cultural contact with the US.

In the post-9/11 world, nations must develop ways to not only understand but also embrace one another. Art, music, and dance can help facilitate such positive exchange. It is time for new visions of what is possible - even essential - in America's cultural relationship with countries emerging from conflict or isolation.

(B) The New York Times

November 24, 2008 Monday
Late Edition - Final

Thinking Globally: America's Rise to Dominance, With Slips Along the Way

BYLINE: By HOWARD W. FRENCH.

Howard W. French is an associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and author of ''A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa.''

Review FROM COLONY TO SUPERPOWER: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776
By George C. Herring

Any book aiming to explore American diplomatic history from the Revolution until now necessarily involves some serious skimming. George C. Herring's weighty yet fast-paced ''From Colony to Superpower'' is no exception. At 1,000-plus pages, its first achievement is its feat of inclusiveness, managed by making quick work of many interesting subplots of the United States' rich and complex relations with the world.

What distinguishes the effort is not so much the sturdy precis that the author serves up on the traditional obligatory highlights in the American story but his narrative abilities. The narrative power lies partly in identifying themes that gradually give a strong organizational cohesion to his story.

Mr. Herring is a professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky who is best known for a history of the Vietnam War. In this latest book his themes are all the more refreshing because many of the ideas he returns to again and again are still largely ignored by our school curriculums and the popular history mills of the book industry.

''From Colony to Superpower'' anchors its ideas through accretion. Where it works, it is revisionism of the best kind, quiet but insistent, reinforced by archival evidence and deftly drawn parallels.

The cascade of ideas begins with the rejection of the widely accepted notion that the United States has often been an isolationist power.

Right from the start, Mr. Herring says, the generation of founding fathers was outward looking and consumed by diplomacy. What is more, expansionism, first beyond the original 13 colonies, then into the Caribbean and Pacific and eventually culminating in a political and economic domain spanning the world, has almost always animated American leaders.

Already at the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, in 1787, no less than James Madison spoke of ''laying the foundation of a great empire.'' By 1821 John Quincy Adams was mocking the fast swelling British Empire: ''I do not know what you claim nor what you do not claim.'' When his British interlocutor replied sarcastically, ''Perhaps, a piece of the moon,'' Adams issued a blunt warning about North America: ''Keep what is yours and leave the rest of the continent to us.''

Less than a decade later President Andrew Jackson had embraced gunboat diplomacy to East Asia and exploration of the South Pole, and spoke of showing the flag ''to every portion of the globe, to give to civilized and savage man a just impression of the power we possess.''

Attitudes like this were steadily fed by a fast-growing population, an economy that became the envy of the world and by a creed of American exceptionalism, whose roots could already be discerned in the words of Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson drew a sharp distinction between the ''high moral purpose'' of the United States and the ''low motives of power and expediency that drove others.'' At the time, Mr. Herring notes, one-fifth of the American population were slaves.

Less conventionally, in terms of the mainstream way history has been taught for generations, Mr. Herring paints a potent picture of the role of race as an important and frequently central motive behind American actions.

This story line begins with the annihilation of American Indians, who conducted lively foreign relations of their own, with the government in Washington, with the European powers and even with the Confederacy until its subjugation.

His story continues with the politics of black bondage, as the young nation pushed west, extending the frontier of slavery and precipitating the Civil War.

The narrative of frank racism, a word Mr. Herring employs frequently, gains momentum in a discussion of Manifest Destiny, which he says had more to do with an ideology of racial superiority than with altruism. The examples, in 19th-century dealings with continental neighbors like Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua, are as painful as they are numerous.

A persistent target was Mexico, which lost huge chunks of its territory to American expansionism. ''Americans scorned Mexicans as a mixed breed, even below free blacks and Indians, 'an imbecile and pusillanimous race,' '' Mr. Herring writes. He adds a few pages later, ''The very racism that drove the United States into Mexico limited its conquests.''

Quoting Andrew Jackson Donelson, the former president's nephew, Mr. Herring recounts, ''We can no more amalgamate with her people than with negroes.'' Much later, we learn, the same thinking prevented Puerto Rico from becoming a state.

When he gets to the 20th century, Mr. Herring labors to portray Woodrow Wilson as the figure who ''towers above the landscape of modern American foreign policy.'' But in Mr. Herring's telling it is Franklin D. Roosevelt who leaves the biggest impression, despite his frequent criticisms of Roosevelt's maddening management style.

Wilson and Roosevelt began their presidencies by minimizing foreign policy. Wilson spent six months in Paris pursuing a peaceful new world order. Through cunning and vision, Roosevelt dragged the United States into the next great war and not only emerged victorious but remade the world.

Trends of the past carry steadily forward throughout the book, with idealism, self-regard and seemingly ever-increasing power combining with condescension and arrogance, particularly toward non-Western peoples, causing the United States to underestimate others and overplay its hand, perhaps most notably in Korea and Vietnam.

In historical retrospect the stalemated United States war in Korea clearly heralds the emergence of China as the next big thing, while not long afterward Vietnam, which one of Andrew Jackson's agents once called home to ''the most filthy people in the world,'' would become the place where America finally discovered its limits.

Mr. Herring concludes by advising Americans to prepare for their relative decline: ''They must cast away centuries-old notions of themselves as God's chosen people. In today's world, such pretensions cannot fail to alienate others.''