"The government is not interested in your conversations with your aunt, unless, of course, she is a key terrorist leader."
--Andrew Liepman, a senior analyst at Rand Corp., who was a career CIA officer and is a former deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center; image from
VIDEO
How Should the United States Wield Power in a Changing World? - ideasinactiontv.com: "In his new book, Nye writes, 'It is currently fashionable to predict a decline in the United States' power. But the United States is not in absolute decline, and in relative terms, there is reasonable probability that it will remain more powerful than any other state in the coming decades.' Forty years ago Nye formulated the term 'soft power' to describe diplomacy, communications and cultural influence as a force equal to and at times more desirable than the hard power of military dominance. Given the economic changes and the threat of terrorism in the world today, two eminent scholars debate the best way for the United States to wield its power now." [Includes transcript]/
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Royal Oak Resident Named Coordinator for High School Exchange Program - Judy Davids, royaloak.patch.com: "Pat Cahill of Royal Oak has been appointed Local Coordinator for Academic Year in America (AYA), one of the largest non-profit high school/homestay exchange programs in the U.S. ... Local Coordinators like Pat are open-minded women and men who enjoy working with young people and believe deeply in the value of cross-cultural exchange.
AYA Local Coordinators enjoy the rewarding experience of being part of a great public diplomacy effort and bringing the world together through intercultural exchange. AYA students are ages 15 to 18 and arrive with full medical insurance, spending money, and the hopes of experiencing life in America through the eyes of a caring host family. The students stay with their host for five or 10 months and attend the local high school." Cahill image from entry
De-Federalization of Voice of America would remove public oversight, give full control to bureaucrats - BBG Watcher, BBG Watch Commentary: " De-Federalization would ... destroy the unique Voice of America brand and make it completely irrelevant." [Entry contains statement by American Federation of Government Employees, AFGE Local 1812].
Leo Records Festival of Jazz - The Moscow Times: "[Leo Records founder Leo] Feigin spoke to The Moscow Times via e-mail about his past, how he has observed the development of the genre and the difficulties in promoting new music. Q: As we understand it, jazz in the Soviet Union was fairly inaccessible. How did you develop an interest in it? A: When I was a young man in the USSR, jazz was everything to me and my friends. It was the personification of freedom — the only art form that could not be censored. The important part of jazz is improvisation. One cannot censor improvisation.
There was the velvety voice of Willis Conover broadcasting the jazz hour on Voice of America. There was a black market where you could buy LPs. There were tape machines or 'magnetophones' to copy LPs and there were occasional live gigs. Jazz was a screen to hide behind so as not to see the ugly Soviet reality." Feigin image fron entry
The Cyrus Cylinder Tour of the U.S.: Culture Transcending Politics - uscpublicdiplomacy.org: Nasser Manesh, The spring of 2013 has been a particularly exciting time for Iranian-Americans and Iranians living in the
We expect the coverage to continue to grow as the exhibition is seen by more and more people, and in more cities. In the
Partnerships on the Agenda In Kyiv - eurodialogue.org: "Partnerships writ large was the focus of the third annual Euro-Atlantic Partnership Day, hosted by the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv on 11 July 2013. The event served to highlight the importance of dialogue and cooperation between countries as well as international organisations in today’s security environment. ... Partnerships have always been a ‘two-way street’ with benefits for NATO – and for partners,' said
Ambassador Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, speaking via video-conference from NATO Headquarters. 'They have been strong engines in spreading shared values and democratic principles, encouraged domestic reforms in partner countries, supported cooperation in the area of science and helped make the military forces in partner countries more modern and accountable and able to make contributions to international security.'” Grabar-Kitarović image from
Peace Talks Between FARC, Colombia Moving Slowly In Havana - Colin Hale, neontommy.com: “Despite the seemingly rapid decline in FARC's strength and political power, the negotiations between it and the Colombian government remain a major policy and public diplomacy issue. Public opinion in
are also losing patience and are not optimistic that peace between the two groups can be achieved. Reuters reported that in a recent survey ‘43% of of those polled in July said they were optimistic peace could be achieved, down from 45% in April.'" Image from article, with caption: Colombian military forces
UN World Tourism Summit in a contested political environment - thezimbabwean.co: "On 26 August 2013, more than 500 diplomats from over 150 countries are visiting Victoria Falls, a UN World Heritage Site, in Zimbabwe for a UN backed conference. According to a Report by Jerome Starkey in Victoria Falls, and Jan Raath in Harare, the British government will not be sending any representatives to this conference [.] The conference comes in the midst of a very difficult and highly contested political environment. However given the importance of this conference to Zimbabwe’s tourism industry, the question that arises is whether Britain has adopted the correct course of action in the circumstances? The broader question is whether the summit makes sense in the current environment? By not attending, is Britain underestimating the importance of tourism within the public diplomacy field? Tourism diplomacy can work either way.
Firstly, tourism shapes perceptions of others and in this regard it is very clear that Zimbabwe’s Tourism Minister, Walter Mzembi will use this summit for perception management and to impact public diplomacy and nation branding in efforts to attract foreign visitors." Mzembi image from article
Giverny - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "It is not such a stretch to say that Impressionism is one of the factors that has made France a cultural capital, and that cultural capital is borne from Japan. This led me to wonder about the French-Japanese connection today, especially through cultural diplomacy. I remain utterly curious about France's cultural diplomacy ties to Japan. I see Japan and France in similar geopolitical terms: still players but not quite at the top tier anymore. Yet still important and relevant, if only for their cultural soft power. Both grapple with how to define themselves in this changing geo-political situation and how to remain relevant in current landscape. And both could do more to exert their soft power through cultural diplomacy. Both Japan and France have cultural diplomacy resources without compare, even if their hard power and geo-political clout is just fair. Perhaps a French-Japanese tie is the lynchpin behind a French pivot to East Asia, which is full of potential. I see so many nouveau riche [sic] from China and Korea in Paris. Already, France is doing cultural diplomacy outreach to the nouveau riche of China, who are buying up cases and vineyards at an amazing clip. France is trying to do gastrodiplomacy to teach the Chinese what entails real good wine. The French have been working to educate the new Chinese luxury consumer what haute couture entails. I could easily see more profound French connection to Korea, Taiwan and India borne out of French luxury culture and gastrodiplomacy to the nouveau riche [sic]. France is the high watermark of luxury culture. The cultural tastemakers of Asia, as found in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, all have a taste for French luxury, and that could be greatly expanded through French cultural and gastrodiplomacy outreach. The brunt of France's cultural diplomacy outreach is to Francophone Africa; and while I think this is important, more can be done for France in East Asia to make its cultural soft power more tangible to East Asia." On the grammatical of the plural in "nouveau riche," see.
Proposed Memorial Service Honoring David Nalle - Leonard J. Baldyga, via e-mail: "Several of David Nalle's former colleagues have asked about a memorial service honoring him. There was no service indicated in the death notice published in the Washington Post [at]' Dick Arndt (DickArndt@gmail.com) said that he is eager to contact others who agree that remembering David Nalle 'is an obligation for those of us who knew and admired him.' He recalls that a few months ago at the memorial service for Dick Curtis, 'David Nalle climbed out of his sick bed to speak and share a drink with us.' Perhaps one of the institutions where David worked after his retirement would be willing to host an appropriate event in his honor."
RELATED ITEMS
Propaganda or Information Operations: words matter - Tom Vanden, USA Today: USA TODAY uses the term propaganda in referring to the Pentagon's MISO programs. The paper has been examining the programs for the past two years. Many MISO practitioners find the term pejorative, object to it and say its use shows the paper has a vendetta against the program. Propaganda is an evocative term. Bad guys use it, often without regard to facts or truth. So far, USA TODAY has never found U.S. propaganda filled with lies. Most of what is publicly available — a small sample to be sure as much is classified — is benign. Support the Afghan government, for example.
Join the police. Propaganda also is an accurate term. Readers know what it means. It conjures images of leaflets, billboards and broadcasts — exactly what MISO does. Propaganda is more precise term than information operations or MISO. That's the other reason why we use it. Those who know military programs best say the proof of how well they work comes in their MOEs — measures of effectiveness. In other words, do they have metrics that show the effects of their programs. Was that enemy position taken, that target destroyed. Measures of performance for propaganda — number of leaflets dropped or hours broadcast, for example — gauge effort. They show how much effort and money was spent not whether it accomplished anything. So far, aside from claims by some of the practitioners that the programs do work, few objective analyses have backed that up. Any claim that it does seems, so far at least, well, like propaganda. Image from article, with caption: A Marine drops propaganda leaflets in Afghanistan in 2011.
How to Read Afghanistan - Vanessa M. Gezari, New York Times: The Human Terrain System, an ambitious, troubled Army program that sends social scientists into conflict zones to help soldiers understand local culture, politics and economics. The Human Terrain System sought to bring a degree of anthropological and interpretive acumen to a military that badly needed it.
But it came too late, alienated too many anthropologists and was thrown together too quickly and sloppily to achieve many of its goals in Afghanistan. Taxpayers have spent more than $600 million on the deeply flawed program; it has occasionally benefited soldiers, but its slipshod construction and murky aims have also put Afghans and Americans at risk. Today, 14 Human Terrain field teams remain in Afghanistan, down from a high of 30; as more American troops leave, the teams will go with them. Policy makers should seize this moment to overhaul the military’s cultural-knowledge efforts. Image from article
Start talks with Iran - Editorial, Washington Post: At his first news conference since taking office, Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, declared his willingness to negotiate with the United States. The West should resume negotiations soon to explore the depth of Mr. Rouhani’s seriousness and whether his election has come with room to maneuver. Certainly international sanctions must remain in place absent genuine evidence that Iran has abandoned its nuclear weapons ambitions. No amount of sweet talk can change that.
In the Arab world, U.S. is low on leverage: Two factors have diminished the sway that the United States once gained by doling out foreign aid: less money and more competition - Doyle McManus, latimes.com: The "Arab Spring" may not have succeeded in bringing democracy to the Middle East. But it has provided powerful evidence of a different phenomenon: the illusion of U.S. influence over governments we once considered our clients.
We have less sway than we often imagine — and the source of our influence may not be the size of the checks we write. Image from article, with caption: With Egypt's military in control, Gen. Abdel Fattah Sisi shows little patience for U.S. advice despite $1.6 billion in aid.
Obama's Putin snub: If it's a refusal to engage with Russia, that would be bad. But more likely, it's political Kabuki theater - Editorial, latimes.com: In announcing that Obama wouldn't engage in talks with Putin, the White House cited a lack of progress in negotiations on a variety of issues. But Obama may have offered a truer explanation of his decision to snub Putin in an interview with Jay Leno on Tuesday. "There are times when they slip back into Cold War thinking and Cold War mentality," Obama said. "What I continually say to them and to President Putin [is] 'That's the past.'"
The repressed Rohingya of Myanmar: Myanmar deserves U.S. rewards for moves toward democracy, but repression of Rohingya Muslims is troubling and demands action - Editorial, latimes.com: It's appropriate for the U.S. to recognize and reward the advances that Myanmar has made. But it should not turn a blind eye to the country's continuing problems, including religious and ethnic tension.
It should exercise what clout it has to help the U.N. set up the human rights office, and should push strenuously for authorities to dismantle repressive policies against the Rohingya, such as limiting families to two children. Image from article, with caption: An internally displaced Rohingya woman holds her newborn baby surrounded by children in the foreground of makeshift tents at a camp for Rohingya people in Sittwe, Myanmar. Authorities in Myanmar's western Rakhine state have imposed a two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists in the area and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence.
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