July 8

"I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need."

--Auguste Rodin; Danaid - Auguste Rodin image from

VIDEO

1960's Educational Propaganda film about Lunchroom Manners

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Moscow Celebrates U.S. Independence Day - The Moscow Times - "Taken at Krasnaya Presnya Park, Moscow: U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul posing with revellers at the U.S. Independence Day celebration Saturday ... [Comment by:] Rubin Valery:  американский посол и народная дипломатия (the American ambassador and public [people's?] diplomacy)." [Your PDPBR compiler's note: The photographing young lady appears to be drinking (Russian?) beer.]

Flying the Flag: Branding UK Aid and Public Diplomacy - Public Diplomacy and International Communications: Thoughts and comments about public diplomacy, soft power and international communications by Gary Rawnsley - "On 25 June 2012 the UK's Department for International Development (DfID) unveiled plans to re-brand British overseas aid. 'From today,' declared the department's website (http://www.dfid.gov.uk/News/Latest-news/2012/New-logo-uk-aid/), 'the new UK aid logo will be applied to items like emergency grain packets, schools and water pumps.' ...A thoughtful commentary by Rob Crilly, the Daily Telegraph's Pakistan correspondent, questioned the value of branding British aid and considered that it might actually do more harm than good; that it may in fact undermine the credibility of the programme and that the "unbranded brand" has been sufficiently powerful and successful. He advocates, and I initially agreed, that we should let the aid speak for itself (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/robcrilly/100168222/why-union-flag-branding-is-a-step-backwards-for-british-aid/). However, having thought through the possible consequences of this decision for British public diplomacy, I had a change of heart and concluded that perhaps this rebranding exercise may just have a positive payoff after all. When the media correctly focuses on the problems caused by the invasions of, and continued wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention having to deal with the legacy of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib - public diplomacy disasters in their own right - the British and American governments have let slip through their fingers countless public diplomacy opportunities to remind audiences about their assistance to Muslim communities across the world (for example, NATO's intervention in Bosnia; the response to the 2004 tsunami in the Indian ocean).

This is needed to help counter the prevailing narratives that the UK and the US have co-operated in a war against Muslims and Islam. So it is possible that the the new logo will go help to demonstrate to the international community that international assistance does not come from a faceless bureaucratic machinery or from governments, but from the people who have too many times been the victims of terrorist atrocities. It may have come too late - I am writing this blog on the seventh anniversary of Al-Qadea's terrorist attack in London - but it is a small step in rebalancing public diplomacy efforts towards a people-to-people strategy. Perhaps better late than never. Yet flaws remain, and the most serious problem is that the British government has not explained the rebranding as a way of boosting the UK's public diplomacy. Rather, it seems designed to make the British people feel better about themselves." Image from entry

Same survey shows news from foreign sources is "tiny fraction" of Iranian news diet, but VOA reaches 22.5% of Iranians - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.


Image from entry

Debate on the domestic dissemination ban results in more domestic dissemination of confusion - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Blogs from YES Academy Faculty - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "My roommate Dr. Patrick David Clark is writing for the Mizzou New Music Initiative on teaching composition in Iraq. He is teaching them theories of Western composition as a means to get them writing new compositions of Western, Kurdish and Arabic music. Meanwhile, Dr. Bradley Bolen of Baylor University is blogging on teaching piano and his other Middle Eastern adventures. He is a YES Academy veteran."

Fiji Mission receives disaster relief donation - thejetnewspaper.com: "Fiji's High Commission Mission to New Zealand has been actively building people-to-people contacts in pursuit of Fiji's public diplomacy program as it seeks to raise awareness of Fiji's national interests amongst future leaders of that country. Additionally the program aims to tap the Fijian Diaspora towards programs of cooperation with Fiji.

Accordingly the Acting Head of Mission and the staff of Fiji's High Commission in NZ recently hosted a group of Diplomacy and International Relations Honours Programme students at the University of Canterbury accompanied by the Dr Jeremy Moses, Senior Lecture from the said university. The Acting Head of Mission briefed the students on the Fiji/ New Zealand diplomatic relations and also acquainted the students with relevant information about Fiji. In another development, the President of the Fiji Indian Association and his executives made a presentation of a cheque to the sum of NZ $4000.00 to the Acting First Secretary, Mr Niraj Mudaliar during their recent annual dinner night." Image from

This is political maturity in wrong time - egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com: "Revolution Youth coalition held their final press conference yesterday in Sakia El Sawy in Cairo to announce officially the disbanding of the coalition that already did not exist for months in the real world. ... The RYC ... spoke about their relation with the government of Essam Sharaf and their role with the public diplomacy delegations to Ethiopia."

RELATED ITEMS

The Coffin-Maker Benchmark - Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times: A World Public Opinion poll in 2010 found that Americans believed that foreign aid consumed one-quarter of federal spending. They said it should be slashed to only 10 percent. In fact, all foreign aid accounts for about 1 percent of federal spending. When you hear candidates in this campaign season in the United States declare that money for foreign aid should be slashed, remember that modest sums have saved lives on an unprecedented scale.

Mr. Putin tightens the screws - Editorial Board, Washington Post: On Friday, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, dominated by Mr. Putin’s allies, gave tentative approval to legislation that would force nongovernmental groups that take overseas contributions and influence public policy to label themselves as “foreign agents” and submit to multiple inspections and audits, or face stiff fines. The Duma bill looks like another agitated Moscow response to legislation moving through the U.S. Congress that would sanction Russian officials involved in human rights violations.

The bill is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who uncovered an embezzlement scheme by Russian officials, after which he was imprisoned and mistreated, and died in jail. It is strange to respond to the Magnitsky bill by punishing groups that would protect human rights. Image from

Afghans know their friends, foes: Karzai - thefrontierpost.com: President Hamid Karzai has said Afghanistan had identified its friends and foes, including Pakistan, the United States and Iran, and it would be Afghans' fault if they were deceived again. Addressing a youth national jirga in Kabul, Karzai said Afghanistan's dignity and development belonged to Afghans themselves. He added foreign troops would withdraw after 2014, leaving to Afghans the responsibility for protecting their country. Without naming anyone, the president said: "From now on, foreigners are not to blame; they were blamed when we were ignorant. But now we have identified them, we know Pakistan, Iran and United States. We understand everything. It would be our own fault if we are deceived again.''Karzai accused media outlets of neighbouring countries and the west for negative propaganda against Afghanistan, saying the propaganda was aimed at fueling internal war after the withdrawal of foreign soldiers.He advised youths to be loyal to the country,

My Grandfather's Collection of Photos and Propaganda from the Korean War - thesensitivebore.blogspot.com: Among them the below:

AMERICANA

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