John Brown's Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review: December 23

“History will judge us kindly, because I shall write the history.”

--Churchill, speaking to Roosevelt and Stalin in 1943

"We never know what will happen yesterday."

--Soviet-era joke in Russia; image from

VIDEO

Fun 1950s capitalist propaganda - mattbruenig.com

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY HISTORY

On My Poet-Diplomat Father John L. Brown (updated) - John Brown, Notes and Essays

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Did Public Diplomacy Kill the British Council? - James Pamment, e-ir.info: "Last week I was chatting to some senior staff at the British Council. When I explained the kind of research I did, one of them described PD as that fad people were talking about five years ago but which now had vanished.

The irony is that rise and decline of the concept, from the perspective of this particular organisation, is a remarkably loaded issue. Indeed, in the book New Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century (Routledge New Diplomacy series, 2013), I essentially argue that public diplomacy was the term that pretty much killed the British Council. ... I argue that th[e] focus on the PD organisation and its objectives must be rejected. Instead, we need to integrate a culturally-informed understanding of foreign groups,organisations and dynamics into the core of decision-making. Instead of placing the PD organisation and proof of its ability to follow the government line as the main indicator of success, we need to put foreign publics first." Image from

Corporate Diplomacy in China - Dao-Chau Nguyen and Danni Li, PD News–CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "Perceived as a ‘threat’, China feels deeply wronged and has no alternatives but to justify itself via public diplomacy. In the words of Yang Jiechi, the Foreign Minister, 'by actively engaging in public diplomacy, we should strive to establish an objective and comprehensive view of China in the international community… and seek to establish and maintain a global image of China as a responsible country committed to peace, development and cooperation.' China’s impact on the global economy is increasing through a growing presence of Chinese companies in international markets. As part of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the School of International Relation’s joint Public Diplomacy program, Danni Li and Dao-Chau ('D.C.') Nguyen have set out to investigate China’s 'corporate diplomacy' – broadly, the process in which corporations commit to society, the environment, and its stakeholders."

MPD in China 2013: An Introduction - Sarah Myers, PD News–CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy: "In January 2013, a group of nine Masters’ of Public Diplomacy students will embark

on a trip to Beijing, China. A mixture of native Chinese and Americans, we hope to accomplish an ambitious set of goals: to gain an understanding of how public diplomacy is thought about and engaged in academic contexts as well as how it is innovatively used in practice—through film, at airports, over the Internet, in media, and by corporations. In January 2013, a group of nine Masters’of Public Diplomacy students will embark on a trip to Beijing, China. A mixture of native Chinese and Americans, we hope to accomplish an ambitious set of goals: to gain an understanding of how public diplomacy is thought about and engaged in academic contexts as well as how it is innovatively used in practice—through film, at airports, over the Internet, in media, and by corporations." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Prank Reveals the Depths of Anti-American Propaganda in the Russian Media - globalvoicesonline.org: Anonymity affords ordinarily timid individuals the courage and opportunity to behave dishonestly. That, anyway, is the story we typically hear, especially in the context of the Internet. As Oleg Kashin recently pointed out in his column [ru] at openspace.ru, however, it takes two to make a successful prank (the prankster and the sucker)—a point on vivid display in a minor RuNet scandal last week. On December 14, Komsomolskaia Pravda newspaper chief editor Vladimir Sungorkin received a fax [ru] supposedly from the American embassy in Moscow, informing him that his visa to the United States had been frozen in connection with the recently passed Magnitsky Act, which bars certain Russians from entering American soil.

Revealing something about the hierarchy of Russia's media landscape, Sungorkin took his case to Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of the (largely anti-American, pro-Kremlin) RT (formerly “Russia Today”) television network. Simonyan quickly tweeted [ru] at Michael McFaul, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, complaining that America had lost sight of the Magnitsky case and demonstrated its own weak commitment to free speech (implying that Sungorkin had been targeted for his criticisms of the White House). As it turned out, the fax was a fake, and Sungorkin and Simonyan had fallen for someone's gag, hook, line, and sinker, exposing a moment's gullibility, but also the consequences [ru] of anti-American propaganda on the people who manufacture the stuff: namely, that they so easily believe the American government would target them in such diplomatic maneuvers. Image from

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center Deplores Antisemitic Propaganda and Incitement to Violent Conflict in Toronto Arabic Newspaper - marketwire.com: Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) deplores the blatant antisemitism and unashamed cheering for the brutal regimes of Iran and Syria and the terror group Hezbollah by a Toronto Arabic newspaper. Dr. Nazih Khataba, the editor of 'Meshwar' and author of the column advocating the destruction of Israel and the promotion of Nazi-like antisemitic stereotypes, is also a board member of Palestine House.

A Traveler In The Foreign Service: Navigating The State Department's Byzantine Foreign Service Selection Process - Dave Seminara, gadling.com: If you want to join the State Department's Foreign Service, you need a solid resume, plenty of time on your hands and the patience of Job.

AMERICANA

1. One Nation Under God? - Molly Worthen, New York Times: Avoiding church does not excuse Americans from marking the birth of Jesus, however. Most of us have no choice but to stay home from work or school — and if you complain about this glaring exception to the separation between church and state, you must be a scrooge with no heart for tradition. Christmas has been a federal holiday for 142 years.

2. The U.S. ranks 3rd in Jewish population - rankingamerica.wordpress.com: