"No person is important enough to make me angry."
--Thomas Carlyle; image from
REPORT
Inspection of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (Office of Inspections, January 2013). Via KAE. Image from
STREAM
Della Mae (sponsored by the U.S. State Department) - concertwindow.com: "Della Mae proves again and again the endless possibilities found in the tried-and-true marriage of fiddle, fretboard, and voice." Image from entry
VIDEO
Anne-Marie Slaughter: How Twitter Builds New Foreign Policy Communities
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Winning the Hearts and Minds of Young Vietnamese - An International Educator in Vietnam: Information, Insights and (Occasionally) Intrigue: "If you’re an employee of the US State Department, do not pass go, do not collect $200, close this tab immediately. This post contains a 'sensitive' Wikileaks cable that originated in the US Embassy-Hanoi and commentary on the same. If you read it, you are breaking the law, not to mention disobeying the Secretary. Please pardon the use of this nasty wartime slogan but it is so apropos. This post and the Wikileaks diplomatic cable on which it’s based are about the US Mission’s charm offensive and the use of educational outreach activities designed to 'win the hearts and minds' of young people here. Ultimate goal? To become the most popular kid on the block. The cable below with the above title is worth reprinting in its entirety. The date: Three years ago today. The scene: the
It’s a 'free information center providing specialized, accurate and authoritative information and programming on the
Public Schedule for January 22, 2013 - U.S. Department of State: "Under Secretary [for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs] Sonenshine hosts a luncheon for new Public Diplomacy Officers of the 170th A-100 Foreign Service Class, at the Department of State. Under Secretary Sonenshine attends a meeting at the White House."
The End of the Cold War: An Achievement of Mutual Vulnerability - danielpaltiel.blogspot.com: "Nothing about Reagan’s other weapons policies aligned with his goal of nuclear disarmament. Hendrik Hertzberg lists Reagan’s differences in policy from his predecessors in a scathing 1991 review of Lou Cannon’s
President Reagan: [']Bigger increases in military spending; intransigence in, if not outright hostility to, arms control negotiations; an emphasis on ideological attacks on Leninism in American public diplomacy…the anti-missile defense proposal; and the military interventions in Lebanon and Guatemala. ... ['] This seems to conform to Hertzberg’s larger point about Reagan: namely, that the former president was incapable of negotiating with contradiction or complexity, frequently moralizing situations in order to make them understandable." Image from
OIG cites vacancies and absenteeism on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Solution: more boards - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: [Elliott comment:] "The OIG report lost me when it stated that 'the inspection team takes no position' on whether the proposed CEO for US international broadcasting should be appointed by the Board or nominated by President and confirmed by the Senate. Basically, then, the team is taking no position on whether USIB is to be independent or government-controlled. Whether it is to have credibility or not. Whether it is to have an audience or not. ... Especially useful would be a [BBG] Governor who interrupts meetings to call for real reform of USIB: consolidation into one entity and an unambiguous commitment to independent journalism."
"Al Jazeera America should not become another Al Hurra" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: [Elliott comment:] "Commentators often dismiss Alhurra as a failure, but its audience numbers (which the BBG should be more willing to share) point to a different conclusion.
To be sure, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have the largest audience among Arabic-language news channels in the Arab region, but Alhurra along with BBC Arabic lead the tier of non-Arab Arabic-language channels, with respectably large audiences." Entry also contains numerous reactions to Al Jazeera America. Image from
Smith-Mundt reform: In with a whimper? It’s now legal to broadcast Voice of America stateside, but few seem to notice - Emily T. Metzgar, Columbia Journalism Review: "Last spring, there was a spate of commentary about Congressional efforts to relax the domestic dissemination ban on content produced for foreign audiences by US government-sponsored broadcasters. Imposed by a series of amendments to the US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act, they prevented the likes of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia from being distributed in the
[Update /Amended]: What? Newspaper says PR man Balsera nominated to PD Commission that no longer exists - John Brown, Notes and Essays: LATEST UPDATE, VIA LEN BALDYGA January 22): United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State [undated:] "The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy was reauthorized by the Congress and the President under H.R. 4310, Section 1280, signed into law on January 3, 2012. The Commission authorization is retroactive to October 1, 2010, and continues through to October 1, 2015. At this time, the Commission is in the process of restarting operations. Check back for updates. The Commission's website, email, Twitter, and Facebook accounts will be updated after the office is staffed and operations restart. Since 1948, the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD) had been charged with appraising U.S. Government activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics and to increase the understanding of and support for these same activities. The ACPD accomplished this through reports and symposiums that provided honest appraisals and informed discourse on these efforts."
With Labor, there is hope for peace - Hilik Bar, Jerusalem Post: "[T]he Netanyahu/Liberman coalition has been a kind of a terror attack on Israel’s foreign policy and public diplomacy."
India's LoC attacks belie Pak army's doctrine - Maimuna Ashraf, mesh.blogspot.com: "There are clear indications that the Indians were intentionally escalating tension on
the [Line of Control] by conducting ceasefire violations, killing of Pakistani soldiers, injuring civilians and damaging property. This reflects the particular Indian mindset of aggressive designs against Pakistan. All these are efforts to disrupt the ongoing peace process between Pakistan and India. These are to disturb the public diplomacy, to delay bilateral visits, to distress trade and to achieve vested interests. India presents itself as a peaceful state before the world by singing the mantra of 'Amn ki Asha' but in fact doing enough to stage 'Amn ka Tamasha'." Image from
IBEF ? Leading the Brand India Initiative at Davos 2013 - hostingworldnews.com: "India Brand Equity Foundation (http://www.ibef.org), whose immediate focus is the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos with its India Adda – akin to a cafe, is responsible for promoting the Made in India label both domestically and overseas. Working closely with the Ministry of Commerce, IBEF lends branding and marketing support for creating greater awareness of the number of success stories germinating and blooming in India. ... IBEF this year will also be hosting INDIAFRICA: A Shared Future programme at the India Adda in partnership with the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and M/s Ideaworks."
Indo-Bangladesh Relations - Institute of Social and Cultural Studies: "A three-day International seminar on 'Four Decades of Mukta Bangladesh and Indo-Bangladesh Relations'
in December 2011 in collaboration with the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. This programme was inaugurated by Gen. (Retd.) J.F.R. Jacob and was attended and addressed by a galaxy of personalities of different fields from both India and Bangladesh." Image from entry
(1993)University of Tokyo-based Miya's Interview] [in East Asia and 6 Tadashi professor of international relations in East Asia [Google translation]: blog.naver.com: "Nevertheless, compared to a policy toward the United States or the public policies that you can use Korea as a strategic choice for the Japan Policy looks big. Japanese public opinion in South Korea, Korean government always just hoped that, in the right direction can be mobilized in an accident or policy. word 'public diplomacy public diplomacy', as there is a need to think about how it affects the public opinion of Japan, it is a harder nut to Japan's policy that looks very effective."
"The relationship Kuwaiti - Iraqi witnessed positive developments resulted in ending the outstanding issues between the two countries" - goingglobaleastmeetswest.blogspot.com: "Prime parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee and head of the Iraqi delegation to the Conference of the Parliamentary Union of the GCC Islamic Sheikh Hamoudi with the Kuwaiti National Assembly Speaker Ali Fahad Al-Rashed prospect of bilateral relations and ways of developing them.
According to a statement of the Office of Sheikh Hamoudi, the latter said in a press conference with Al-Rashed on the sidelines of the conference in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday that 'the relationship Kuwaiti - Iraqi witnessed positive developments resulted in ending the outstanding issues between the two countries.' and expressed Sheikh Hamoudi for 'hope to see Relations between the two countries during the coming stage further progress, 'praising' including reached countries of agreements to settle my Iraqi Airways and marks the border', calling for 'continuing to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries and strengthen.' and stressed that 'the dictatorial regime has criminal acts toward people and toward Kuwait alike and that the parliamentarians of the two countries a big responsibility to restore relations between the two sides.' and added that 'governments agree and differ on certain issues, but parliamentary relations are public diplomacy that bring the distances between peoples.'"
Strategia Kazahstan In 2050 De Nursultan Nazarbayev-Presedintele Kazahstanului (selectiuni) - centruldiplomatic.wordpress.com: "The Center for Diagnosis and Treatment LARA LIFE-MED The Center for Diagnosis and Treatment LARA LIFE-MED is the official partner for public diplomacy for 2011 at
Metzgar to chair, organize AEJMC panel on diplomacy research - School of Journalism, Indiana University: "Assistant professor Emily Metzgar is chair and organizer of a research panel, 'Public Diplomacy Research in Journalism and Mass Communication: What We Can Contribute,' that has been accepted for presentation at AEJMC 2013.
The panel is a co-sponsored session of the International Communication Division and the Public Relations Division. Journalism associate professor Sung-Un Yang will serve as a panelist, along with journalism alumnus Jacob Groshek, PhD’08, now of University of Melbourne. Other participants include Kathy Fitzpatrick of Quinnipiac University; Guy Golan of Syracuse University; Raluca Cozma of Iowa State University; and Jian 'Jay' Wang from the University of Southern California." Metzgar image from entry
PSYOP IO Plans and Operations and Staff Officer - Kabul, Afghanistan - civilianmilitarycontractorjobs.blogspot.com: "Description of Duties: The Future Plans (FUPLANS) Information Operations PSYOP Communications Plans & Operations Staff Officer synchronizes information operations, public affairs and psychological operations in support of FUPLANS planning efforts. In addition, the individual is responsible for articulating coherent and coordinated communications messages to all stakeholders in the ISAF Combined Joint Operations Area. FUPLANS Info Ops planning is responsible for mid to long-term planning and coordination of information and communication activities in line with the COMIJC’s desired Communication effects. The specific functions include, but are not limited to: coordinate development concepts and planning projects in support of FUPLANS efforts, maintain continuous coordination with regional command (RC) and ISAF HQ counterparts, and communication functional areas, development of concepts, plans and procedures for the Military Information Campaign, participation in the drafting of theater level operational plans and estimates for info ops, drafting info ops plans in support of the Military Information Campaign, participation in the long term plans development by
FUPLANS, participation in the mid-term plans developed by FUPLANS and production of Info Ops portions of FRAGOS, participation in the Information Operations Coordination Board, participation in the targeting planning process, as required, participation in external Info Ops working groups, as required, and serve as a core member of Communication Directorate Working and Steering Groups. REQUIRED EXPERIENCE AND MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: The PSYOP Communications Plans and Operations Staff Officer shall be a recognized professional from a military background with extensive joint/multi-national operations experience in Information Operations, PSYOP, Public Diplomacy, Commercial Marketing or Influence Modeling, that can facilitate USFOR-A staff integration and synchronization, information flow, and dissemination as it relates to cultural, economic, political, religious, social, newsworthy, and tribal issues in each supported entities AOR. The individual shall have knowledge of, and experience with, strategic communication planning process. The Communications Plans & Operations Staff Officer must have experience that includes successful work with military PSYOP or IO, DoS public diplomacy, commercial marketing or influence modeling. Additionally, the individual must be familiar with ISAF, USFOR-A, their mission areas, and their relationships with GIRoA. The individual shall have an extremely strong understanding of the culture, history and geography of Afghanistan." Image from
Resumes Of The Public Service Shuffled (2) - Ken Gray, bulldogcanadian.com: "This is a release from the Prime Minister’s Office: ... 'Michael Martin ... 2002 – 2003 Counsellor (Public Diplomacy), Canadian Embassy, Beijing'"
RELATED ITEMS
Obama looks inward, America’s allies worry - Gideon Rachman, Financial Times: In their second terms, many American presidents decide to strut the global stage. Richard Nixon had his overture to
In Obama's inaugural speech, a sweeping liberal vision: The president calls for action on climate change and equal rights for gays, but offers few specifics. Those may be outlined in next month's State of the Union address - Paul West and Christi Parsons, latimes.com: When Obama first assumed office, he reached out to America's enemies and spoke of a "new way forward" to the Muslim world. His second inaugural address was much more inward looking, and offered little more than a fleeting reference to "engagement" with overseas foes and alliances with friends.
Diplomacy Is Dead - Roger Cohen, New York Times: The very word “diplomacy” has become unfashionable on Capitol Hill, where its wimpy associations — trade-offs, compromise, pliancy, concessions and the like — are shunned by representatives who these days prefer beating the post-9/11 drums of confrontation, toughness and inflexibility: All of which may sound good but often get you nowhere (or into long, intractable wars) at great cost.Obama has not had a big breakthrough. America’s diplomatic doldrums are approaching their 20th year. Obama tried a bunch of special envoys in the first term. It did not work. He needs to empower his secretary of state to do the necessary heavy lifting on Iran and Israel-Palestine. Via MA
Obama's You're-On-Your-Own World: George McGovern wanted America to "Come Home." In Obama's second term, he may just get his wish - Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal: For Mr. Obama, "engagement" has become a code word for avoidance. Thus we "engage" Iran diplomatically to avoid harder choices about its nuclear ambitions, just as we engage the U.N. to avoid doing anything about Syria. Meanwhile, the message to U.S. allies that gets louder by the year is that it's a you're-on-your-own world as far as this administration is concerned.
Inauguration Day for Mr. Lincoln, Dr. King and Barack - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: Obama could have grounded the drones, torn up the Patriot Act, held truth commissions to bring into the light our tortures, re-emancipated America in ways not unlike Lincoln did in the 1860s. Slam shut the gates of Guantanamo, close the secret prisons that even today still ooze pus in Afghanistan, stop the militarization of Africa, bring the troops home, all of it, just have done it. What a change, what a path forward, what a rebirth for an America who had lost her way so perilously. Today, this day, four years later we are left with only ironic references to where
we were and what we had been. Image from
Obama’s concrete goals at home, wishful thinking abroad - Editorial Board, Washington Post: Obama suggested a barrelful: “A decade of war is now ending,” Mr. Obama pronounced. That would come as news to the Afghan soldiers still dying at Taliban hands; to the families of more than 60,000 people killed in Syria in the past two years; to French soldiers who have taken on, in Mali, al-Qaeda affiliates who are as much enemies of the United States as of France; to the families of American hostages just slain in a terrorist attack in Algeria. America’s adversaries are not in retreat; they will be watching Mr. Obama in his second term to see if the same can be said of the United States.
A flat, partisan and pedestrian speech - David Ignatius, Washington Post: The area where the speech was spongiest was foreign policy. Obama reiterated his campaign theme that “a decade of war is now ending” and that maintaining peace does not require “perpetual war.” That certainly fits the mood of the war-weary nation that re-elected him. And there was a ritual assertion of internationalism, in the insistence that “America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe.” This is good rhetoric, but empty policy guidance. A listener wouldn’t have had a clue that a war is going on in Syria that has claimed over 60,000 lives, and that there is no discernible American policy to deal with it. A listener wouldn’t have known that a group called Al Qaeda still exists, let alone that it has left savage calling cards this past week in Algeria, just as it did in September in Libya.
Really, that’s it, Mr. President? - Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post: Revealing was the make-believe world in which the president resides. He declared, “A decade of war is now ending. And economic recovery has begun.” A decade of war is not ending; we have chosen to leave. As for foreign policy, there was no evidence we have any actual enemies. The threats from terrorism and from a nuclear-armed Iran do not figure in his vision.
The Collective Turn - David Brooks, New York Times: When Europeans nationalized their religions, we decentralized and produced a great flowering of entrepreneurial denominations. When Europe organized state universities, our diverse communities organized private universities. When Europeans invested in national welfare states, American localities invested in human capital.
America’s greatest innovations and commercial blessings were unforeseen by those at the national headquarters. They emerged, bottom up, from tinkerers and business outsiders who could never have attracted the attention of a president or some public-private investment commission. Image from
Zero' based on leaked propaganda - Robert Scheer, rapidcity.org: Why aren't film director Kathryn Bigelow's claimed government sources, including employees of the CIA, in jail like Pfc. Bradley Manning? Or, at the very least, being investigated for their role in one of the most damaging leaks of national security information in U.S. history? How did the Japanese-owned Sony Corp. that released Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" gain access to information on the 10-year hunt for Osama bin Laden, so highly classified that it was denied to the official 9/11 Commission that investigated the terrorist attacks? The opening frame of the movie states the crime, clearly claiming that "Zero" is "based on firsthand accounts of actual events." Those "actual events," constituting the tenacious search for the country's most-wanted terrorist, are matters of such carefully guarded secrecy that even the 10 members of the 9/11 Commission, all possessing the highest level of access, were forbidden to interview anyone with "firsthand" knowledge. Bigelow has no expertise in investigative journalism and clearly will go with whatever account seems most riveting cinematically. "What we are attempting," she has said in defense of her work, "is almost a journalistic approach to film." "Almost journalism" is a polite way of justifying propaganda.
“Zero Dark Thirty”: The deeper, darker truths - presstv.ir: It is the latest in Obama propaganda.
Image from article, with caption: A man reads the front page of the New York Times featuring a picture of Osama bin Laden, in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 2, 2011.
Letter to the Editor – John Green, Guardian: Simon Jenkins is right to raise the question of the responsibility film-makers have to the truth (How many 'true story' films should be classified L for lie?, 18 January). Of course Hollywood is primarily a "fantasy factory", but when you make films about real-life events, that also purport to be the truth, then the onus of responsibility lies heavily upon you. Hollywood has always been, in essence, a propaganda machine for the political and ruling elite, even though there are the well-known exceptions. It places the US centre stage and promotes the American way of life. The US won the second world war virtually single handedly, it liberated the Jews from the Nazis and is defeating Islamic terrorism in the same manner. Kathryn Bigelow, Tom Hanks et al are only able to make films involving the US military with full co-operation from the Pentagon if they present a white-washed image. They are Hollywood 's "embedded" directors. Such "generosity with the truth" would not be so insidious if Hollywood films did not play such a dominant role in the world and other narratives were available, but that is not the case. Many Americans learn their history and their behaviour from the films they see and that is why directors have to take their work more seriously than they appear to do.
Photos: Anti-marijuana propaganda -- a vintage guide to reefer madness - blogs.westword.com: Our newish Colorado Cannabis Time Capsule feature spotlights hysterical pot reporting from days gone by -- from 1937's "School Children Buy Drug" to 1968's "Anti-symbol Hippie Ponders Future in Jail." Today, in that tradition, we've assembled a gallery of anti-marijuana propaganda from the 1930s to the 1970s. Among them:
FOREIGN SERVICE POEM
Foreign Service Poem
Foreign Service
by Abhay K.
Foreign service is a journey
And all the diplomats merely travellers
They have their wits and talents;
And one diplomat assumes multiple roles
His career spread over many grades. At first the probationer
Learning and unlearning at the institute
And then the shy third secretary, with his briefcase
With curious look, rushing like a bee
Earnestly to the boss's cabinet. And then the first secretary,
Ever engrossed in work, with his laptop
Still unsure of his place. Then the counsellor
Full of strange note-sheets and growing graveness in looks
Risk averse, long hours at work,
Conscious of reputation, quick temper
Seeking new authority
Among the seniors and subordinates. And then the minister
With a paunch, receding hairline
With squint look and harsher commands
Full of jargon and clichés
So he gains perfection in officialese. Then plenipotentiary and extraordinary ambassador
Into the linen and lace-less shoes
With reading glasses and daily jogs
Trying to fit into his old suit,
Then superannuation. Last journey
queuing up to enter the Foreign Office
That ends this glorious journey
Then second probation-hood, flowing with wisdom
Free of protocol, briefs, talking points, telegrams, free of everything.
Abhay K., an Indian poet-diplomat, nominated for the Pushcart prize, is the author of seven books including five collections of poetry.
SOVIETICA
"Песня о Сталине", 1949 - [Song about Stalin] Via LZ on Facebook
MEDIA
Via VP on Facebook
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