"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."
--Raymond Chandler; Chandler image from
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The Crucified Soldier - A World War One Propaganda Story - historicalmysterywriter.blogspot.com
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
U.S. Patching Together Gulf Defenses against Iran - Via Meadia, Walter Russell Mead's Blog: "If ever there were a unifying cause in the Middle East, it would be the scramble between America, Israel, and Sunni states in the Persian Gulf to contain an intransigent Iran. ... So it comes as no suprise that the U.S. has been working, off camera, to pepper the Persian Gulf with fresh defensive equipment and build up a missile defense shield with its regional allies in the face of confrontation with
US Congressmen urges State Dept to undertake strong, visible public diplomacy on Tibet - tibet.net: "Two US congressmen have strongly urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to undertake stronger, more coordinated, visible international diplomatic steps to reverse the crisis in Tibet. Congressmen James P McGovern and Frank R Wolf sent a letter to Secretary Clinton on 9 August, expressing grave concern over the spate of tragic self-immolation of Tibetans in response
to the Chinese government’s repression in Tibet. 'We are very aware that US officials regularly discuss Tibet and many other human rights issues with like-minded governments. However, more visible, public and coordinated diplomacy is necessary for the Chinese government to feel pressure to alter its conduct,' the letter noted. The congressmen suggested that the US could host an international conference on the issue of Tibet, hold periodic, public meetings with governments and establish Contact Group among its partner nations at the United Nations as an effective means of expressing support to the issue of Tibet. 'As the United States continues its “pivot” towards Asia, it is important that the US demonstrate that it is not deaf to the desperate appeals for help and support emanating from Tibetans,' the congressmen said." Image from article, with caption: Congressmen Frank R Wolf (L) and James P McGovern (R)
State/OIG Releases Ambassador Scott Gration’s Embassy Report Card – And Look, No Redactions! - Domani Spero, DiploPundit: "On June 29, US Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration announced his resignation effective July 28 (see US Embassy Kenya: Ambassador Scott Gration Quits Over 'Differences' Effective July 28). Ambassador Gration left Kenya on July 23. Two weeks after the ambassador’s official resignation took effect, State’s Office of the Inspector General posted online its inspection report of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. And its pretty brutal. ... Here are the key judgments cut and pasted from the published report: ... Embassy Nairobi’s public diplomacy efforts would be strengthened if there were better internal communication and coordination among agencies to publicize U.S. assistance efforts in Kenya. The Ambassador should be a more integral part of the mission’s public affairs strategy and activities."
Public Schedule for August 10, 2012 - U.S. Department of State: "UNDER SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS TARA SONENSHINE 2:15 p.m. Under Secretary Sonenshine meets with Department of Education Under Secretary Martha Kanter, at the Department of State. (CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)"
Liberal Democracy Is Not Too Big to Fail - Tim Kowal, ordinary-gentlemen.com: "[Comment by:] Jaybird August 11, 2012 at 4:55 pm Here’s a fun question: how many bureaus are there that 99% of The People have never heard of? Let’s go to 98% and see what happens to that number… does it double?
Triple? 96%? We have so many parts and pieces of our government that are opaque to the governed that many of them (24 out of 25) have no idea that there actually is a Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs… let alone know what it does ('um… it plans public diplomacy?')." Image from
Africa: Young African Leaders Innovation Summit Participants Speak With USAU PD Officer - allafrica.com: "On August 1, 2012 recent Young African Leaders (YAL) Innovation Summit participants Ms. Addisalem Tesfaye and Mr. Kenneth Oliko visited the U.S. Mission to the African Union (USAU) to brief USAU Public Diplomacy Officer Jasmine White on their experiences during their visit to the United States. The YAL Innovation Summit was held in June 2012 and brought young African entrepreneurs and emerging civil society leaders from across the continent together for a series of events designed to partner young African innovators with U.S. business and nonprofit professionals in order to build U.S.-Africa ties and cooperation on investment and social responsibility. Apart from the opening session with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C., Addisalem and Kenneth completed mentoring 'internships' in Denver, Colorado and Chicago, Illinois."
City to host visit from U.S. consul: Mayor Wayne Wright looks forward to "showing off" what the Royal City offers - Alfie Lau, royalcityrecord.com: Anne Callaghan, the United States' Consul General based in Vancouver since Aug. 2011, will be visiting the Royal City [New Westminster] on Aug. 13. Mayor Wayne Wright confirmed with The Record that Callaghan will be visiting his office for a meeting on Monday afternoon. ... Callaghan is a career senior foreign service officer with the U.S. State Department. Before her assignment as Consul General in Vancouver, she was posted in southeastern Iraq, overseeing the Maysan Provincial Reconstruction Team in its last year of operation.
Callaghan has also served as Minister Counselor for Public Affairs in Rome where she directed public diplomacy for the U.S. Embassy and three Consulates General between 2006 and 2009; and as Counselor for Public Affairs in Bogota, Colombia from 2004 to 2006. ... Callaghan joined the foreign service in 1984. After a rotational tour in Mexico City, she opened the first public affairs office in Tijuana, working there from 1986 to 1990, where she was responsible for public diplomacy for the six U.S.-Mexico border consulates. She then served two tours in East Asia as public affairs officer in Perth from 1990 to 1992 and as an assistant press attache and deputy cultural attache in Tokyo from 1992 to 1997. Following a year of graduate study at the National War College, Callaghan worked in Washington in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs as the public diplomacy desk officer for Canada, Mexico, and Cuba from 1998 to 2000. In 2000, Callaghan moved to Rome as cultural attache, working there from 2000 to 2004." Callaghan image from article, with caption: U.S. Consul Anne Callaghan is visiting New Westminster on Aug.13.
Jobs and the Economy the Focus of Lt. Governor’s Trade Mission to Trinidad and Tobago - capitalsoup.com: "Tallahassee, Fla. -This week Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll embarked on a trade mission to Trinidad, West Indies. She was accompanied by 27 Florida businesses representing 23 industries. Hoping to expand trade, Florida businesses were able to have one-on-one “matchmaker” meetings with local Trinidad businesses. The participants stated that
the trade mission exceeded all of their expectations and were very pleased to have the Lt. Governor as an advocate on this mission. ... Following the trade mission, at the request of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy, Lt. Governor Carroll gave a series of lectures on the U.S. electoral and political process, as well as met many science students from around the country. This is part of the U.S. State Department’s public diplomacy program. The week-long trade and diplomatic mission will lead to two-way trade and communication between Trinidad and Florida and help improve the economy and create jobs for both partners." Uncaptioned image from article
Fuggedaboutit Diplomacy: NYC as Capital of PD - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "I was lost in thought yesterday evening about whether New York needs do its own public diplomacy. Everyone across the world knows New York, its brand is global. So much of what constitutes American cultural diplomacy comes from this city. In terms of New York's soft power, the power of its influence is without compare. New York is a global trendsetter. Yet I fault New York for letting Washington run the public diplomacy show. What if the USIA had been based in New York, and had its own ties to the arts community? Public diplomacy gets dwarfed by diplomacy and the military in Washington.
And while I love LA, it is too remote and removed to be a public diplomacy epicenter. Public diplomacy, and more importantly cultural diplomacy, needs to be able to tap into culture. Sorry DC, but American cultural life is here in New York not in Washington. While I recognize PD might need some proximity to apparati of government, at the very least it makes sense that New York is a better beacon for cultural diplomacy than DC. There is more soft power emanating from New York than Washington. It seems everyone hates Washington, as it gets railed at as the symbol of government dysfunction. But those same voices pipe down and stand starry-eyed amid the lights and glitz of Times Square. Washington's rep constantly gets beat up; New York would give you a bloody nose for such talk. Fuggedaboutit. And, of course, I can think of the fun of doing a New York gastrodiplomacy campaign, with bagels, pizza and delis as the centerpiece of such endeavors. So perhaps I will make New York the base of my PD empire. I will open up shop of the Edward R. Murrow Institute for Public and Cultural Diplomacy in the heart of Gotham." Image from
American Security Project paper on public diplomacy includes Alhurra as a case study - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: [Elliott comment:] "A discussion of international broadcasting is really out of place in a paper about public diplomacy. Public diplomacy has advocacy and official policy roles. International broadcasting, if it is to attract an audience, is government-funded (usually) but independent journalism. Public diplomacy and international broadcasting therefore have separate, complementary, and even sometimes adversarial roles."
IBB director Dick Lobo has launched his ViewPoints blog - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "Broadcasting Board of Governors, ViewPoint blog, 19 July 2012, Dick Lobo: 'Welcome to ViewPoint, the latest blog from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. I’m Dick Lobo, director of the International Broadcasting Bureau, and I’ve spent my career in the world of broadcasting. This blog is dedicated to frank and informal discussion of international broadcasting, of the work of our organization, and of related topics.
I want to share observations and explore ideas of how to we are now and how we might in the future meet our mission to inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.' -- [Elliott comment:] My blog, on the other hand, explores ideas of how we might bring 'accurate, objective, and balanced news, information, and other programming' back to the BBG mission statement, or create a new organization dedicated, above all (and far above the latest widget), to that goal. As this headline puts it, 'the killer app is credibility.'" Image from entry
A proposal for a BBG CEO from the SES, overseeing USIB, which consists of RFA, RFE/RL, MBN, OCB, and VOA - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: [Elliott comment:] "The BBG should select the CEO. Involving anyone else in the government would be a breach of the BBG's firewall. It would undo one of the key premises of the International Broadcasting Act of 1994."
During Oklahoma appearances, Senator Coburn said something negative about VOA. Again - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting
Death of R. Peter Straus, VOA director who ushered independence for VOA correspondents - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.
The future of the Eurasian Union - english.ruvr.ru: "In early August, Nizhny Novgorod hosted an international conference on the future of the Eurasian Union, 'Public Diplomacy and Eurasian Rapprochement: Supporters and Skeptics'. Experts from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Moldova discussed the current problems of integration in the former Soviet Union. The organizer of the event was the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund. ... The most interesting part of the discussion at the conference included the PR aspects of the positioning of Eurasian integration.
Indeed, for the Eurasian project to be attractive, it is necessary to carefully explain its activities. If, for example, a lot is known about the success of the European Union, much less is known about the achievements reached in integrating former Soviet republics. It is obvious that work on communicating the idea of the Eurasian Union should be systematic and comprehensive. It should be carried out on a regular basis and include not only a broad audience but individual target groups. The most important of these are the political elite and business community of potential participants in the process of Eurasian integration. Work with the elites ("elite communications") is one of the keys to the success of the Eurasian project. At the same time, it is necessary to communicate not only with that part of the post-Soviet elite that is involved in public administration, but with the entire spectrum of the elite, including the so-called counter-elite (opposition)." Image from article
Foreign policy of food: India is a laggard in deploying cuisine in diplomacy - “On August 15, at President Pranab Mukherjee's first official 'At Home' in Rashtrapati Bhavan's
Facebook entry - Gary Rawnsley: "The research team analysing the Confucius Institutes in the UK and their connection to Chinese cultural diplomacy.
This statue of Confucius is on the campus of Swansea University, though few staff know it is there. We are showing our respect, hoping Confucius will help us win the necessary funding!"
London 2012: Influence on London Property Market - MyIntroducer.com: "The UK government has undoubtedly invested vast amounts of money in setting London up for the games, with the creation of the Olympic Village, investment in the surrounding East London region and mass marketing in attracting visitors to the UK. The games will offer a unique opportunity for visitors to take a fresh look at the changing face of London and the UK generally. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and their Public Diplomacy Partners have grasped the games as an opportunity to change the perceptions of Britain and to raise its mark as a global City. In addition to the upcoming Olympics, those overseas are also drawn to London for another reason - its property."
‘sup Diplomacy? World Edition: Tammy in Turkey - Tammy Mehdi, exchangediplomacy.com: ""[W]hen I heard SU Study Abroad was offering a summer program, The Road to Democracy in the Islamic World, at Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi in Istanbul, I could not pass up the opportunity to further study the Middle East and enjoy kebap and köfte at the same time. So far, the classes have covered everything from political rhetoric, to building terrorist organizations, to Islamism. There are ten of us in the program: five Americans (two of us are Public Diplomacy students), four Turks, and one Palestinian.
Class runs in the morning, leaving the afternoons open to wander around and explore the city on our own. ... I’m leaving this beautiful city with a lot on my mind, and much research to do. On top of the mindboggling material dumped on us in class, I have to think about (and I encourage everyone to do the same) Turkey’s place in the world, and what’s best for this country and its people. Although I’ve been around the world, this one trip has really opened my eyes about the importance of cultural understanding, and this has made me appreciate the importance of Public Diplomacy even more." Image from entry, with caption: The program’s reception dinner on the terrace at Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi, with the Asian side of Istanbul in the background.
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How, when and whether to end the war in Syria - Kenneth M. Pollack, Washington Post: If Syria were merely to self-immolate, it would be a tragedy for the Syrian people but extraneous to American interests. However, if Syria’s civil war spills over into the rest of the Middle East, U.S. interests would be threatened. Spillover may force Washington to contemplate real solutions to the Syrian conflict, rather than indulge in frivolous sideshows. If that day comes, our choice will almost certainly be between picking a winner and leading a multilateral intervention. Chances are we will start with the former, and if that fails to produce results, we will shift to the latter. Image from
Syrians wage frenzied propaganda war on social media - nowlebanon.com: The battle for Syria is raging on the ground but also on social media, where people on both sides of the conflict are hacking, posting and spamming in a frenzied propaganda war. The feeds of news organizations on online micro-blogging service Twitter have been hacked by pro-regime elements, videos purporting to show atrocities in Syria are regularly posted to YouTube and pro- or anti-government messages often flood the pages of Facebook social networking service. "People are using all these social media platforms to influence audiences outside their country to support them; they're getting quite aggressive with it," said David Bailey, an expert on social media and the military. "The so-called Arab Spring was very softly-softly. Nobody was being too harsh on the web against the regime... Now it's 'look at this, look at that, and I'll drag up as much nastiness as possible in the hope that you're going to support me.'"
Propaganda, truth and lies in Syria - Nathan Smith, nbr.co.nz: To justify toppling the al Assad regime, an enormous propaganda machine emphasises and embellishes any terrible story emerging from the conflict zone. And as the discerning international public consume this, an ever-worsening presentation of horror is displayed. President Al Assad is portrayed as a growing monster – a powerful despot with no regard for human rights. He might be, but the reporting from Syria doesn’t necessarily support this.
What Is the Syrian Electronic Army? - Alex Fitzpatrick, mashable.com: As forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad clash with the rebel Free Syrian Army in the streets of Syria, Internet-savvy government supporters are fighting a parallel information war in cyberspace.
Called the Syrian Electronic Army, the group has a single mission: unleash an onslaught of pro-government propaganda upon the Internet. To achieve that goal, the group uses social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube to counter the claims of the rebel Free Syrian Army. It coordinates massive spam attacks against anyone it perceives to be anti-government, posting thousands of pro-government messages in news article comment threads and on public officials’ Facebook pages as a sort of digital sit-in. The SEA, however, is more than a simple ideological spam factory. It has gained notoriety for downing, defacing or hijacking websites and social media profiles of major media outlets, then using them to post pro-government content. The goal? With few foreign journalists operating inside Syria, there may be a higher than normal opportunity for propaganda to Influence the outside world’s opinion of the volatile situation. Image from article
A second Somalia? - Editorial Board, Washington Post: Mali is on the verge of becoming a second Somalia, condemned to a future of violence, political entropy and economic depression without an end in sight. Unfortunately, the international community has greeted these developments with nothing but inertia and stall tactics. By and large, the response has been to focus on restoring civilian authority in the aftermath of the March 22 military coup. The United States and others have insisted that only after a newly elected democratic government is established can any successful regional intervention ultimately be launched against the Islamists in the north. In other words, the idea is to address the first of Mali’s crises as the key to tackling the whole. While that approach makes sense in theory, it doesn’t address the urgency of the situation nearly enough.
South Korean Soccer Player Denied Olympic Medal After Displaying Nationalist Propaganda Sign - japanprobe.com:
after South Korea’s 2-0 victory over Japan, claiming South Korean sovereignty over a set of barely inhabitable islands that are also claimed by Japan. Mr. Park, a midfielder, played all 90 minutes of the game on Friday in
Chinese Propaganda Restrains Reporting on Athlete Liu Xiang - Press Release: International Federation of Journalists, posted at scoop.co.nz: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned by a directive issued by China’s Central Propaganda Department to all national media on August 7 that no negative reporting should be made about Chinese athlete Liu Xiang. According to a report from a mainland journalist to the IFJ, the Central Propaganda Department directive states that media are not to report either “negative or sceptical analysis” about Liu Xiang’s performance at the Olympic Games. The journalist report further states that journalists had “expected to receive such an order.” “Media are only allowed to republish Xinhua’s articles. We will still write via microblogs, but don’t know how long they will last.” The Global Times and other media outlets reported this week that Chinese athlete Liu Xiang, a competitor in the 110m Hurdles in the 2012 Olympic Games, suffered a suspected ruptured Achilles tendon which caused him to stumble at the first hurdle during his heat.
When Great Cinema Becomes Propaganda - Gabriel Mizrahi, huffingtonpost.com: We are 12 weeks away from election day, just within striking distance of a series of delicious October Surprises. Anything could happen. Votes hang in the balance. But this year, the biggest October Surprise might not have been a surprise at all -- Zero Dark Thirty, an Oscar contender released by Sony Pictures. In August 2011 -- just three months after Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in Operation Geronimo -- Rep. Peter T. King (Republican Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security) expressed concern that the Obama administration had jeopardized national security when it cooperated with Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal (of The Hurt Locker fame) on a film about the mission that killed bin Laden. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney admitted that the White House had provided information to the Zero Dark Thirty team but insisted that the White House does not discuss classified information with filmmakers. "I would hope that as we face a continued threat from terrorism, the House Committee on Homeland Security would have more important topics to discuss than a movie," he said.
The stakes are high. The goal in declassifying material, King argued, is to provide the information to Congress and the American people, not to filmmakers "in favor of a cinematographic view of history" -- that is, propaganda. But the concern runs deeper: Some claim that leaks of classified information regarding Operation Geronimo resulted in the arrests of Pakistanis who were thought to have assisted the CIA in the raid. If Zero Dark Thirty reveals essential details about Geronimo, what is entertainment for the public might in fact compromise the lives of CIA sources and operatives. Phil Strub, Director of Entertainment Media, which oversees the Pentagon's cooperation with the film industry, pointed out that it was common to provide filmmakers with information, research and support to lend authenticity to military depictions. "It is most certainly not a problem for a studio to make this movie, even if it intended the film to be propaganda," says Patricia Eberwine, an attorney at Latham and Watkins, an international law firm. "The problem would arise if the government prevented films that were anti-Obama or presented a countervailing view." Image from
The Violent Image explores use of pictures as propaganda - Faisal Al Yafai, thenational.ae: Neville BoltThe Violent Image is a serious attempt to understand how terrorist propaganda functions in the digital age. For Bolt, the essence of these images is performance. His reading of the 19th-century concept of propaganda of the deed helps explain an important facet of how modern war is conducted. For those anarchists, the spreading of their principles was the most important part of the deed. The deed was a means of accomplishing the propaganda. In the 21st century, that proselytising element of violent imagery remains. Insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq needed images to send messages to their followers and enemies. But not all insurgent imagery is performance. Some of the most violent images have not come staged. They have come from a horrifying reality. The photographs of people throwing themselves from the burning World Trade Center in New York and the terrifying torture of Abu Ghraib reflect the horror of those days. Indeed, among the images of the Arab Spring so far, those that have provided rallying points have come to light by accident: think of Khaled Said’s broken body captured in a blurry photograph; the horrifying video of 13-year-old Syrian Hamza Al Khateeb, tortured and mutilated by government forces; or the image of a young female protester stripped to her blue bra in Cairo by police. These were moments of violence captured by chance – not carried out for propaganda. The propaganda of the violent image emphasises the propaganda. Yet violent imagery is at least as often born of violence. The Free Syrian Army today uses the propaganda of attacks to rally supporters – but it seeks to inflict losses on the Syrian army first and foremost.
Dr. Seuss’s World War II Political Propaganda Cartoons - Maria Popova Dr. Seuss (1904-1991) may be best-remembered for his irreverent rhymes and the timeless prescriptions for livingembedded in them, but he was also a prolific maker of subversive secret artand the auteur of a naughty book for adults. Though his children’s books have already been shown to brim with subtle political propaganda, during WWII, like Walt Disney, Geisel lent his creative talents to far more explicit, adult-focused wartime propaganda when he joined the
Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel (public library) collects 200 of Geisel’s black-and-white illustrations, but more than half of his editorial cartoons were never made publicly available — until now. Dr. Seuss Goes To War: A Catalog of Political Cartoons from UCSD Libraries has digitized the original drawings and newspaper clippings of Geisel’s wartime cartoons, produced between 1941 and 1943. Image from entry
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