"a sensible precept in public diplomacy, namely, superlatives should never be used."
--Commenter Ken Ward, reacting to an article on Australian-Japanese relations; image from
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
US-Myanmar Rapprochement To ‘Hedge’ China -- Analysis - Emre Tunç Sakaoğlu, albanytribune.com: "Today, Myanmar and the U.S. are embarking on public diplomacy and people-to-people ties in addition to commercial and energy relations. USAID, together with many political activists from the United States, is currently assisting the government in Naypyidaw and the general public to prepare for full-scale democratic elections in 2015. Initiatives by the Fullbright [sic] and Humphrey scholarships and Peace Corps programs are also on the USAID agenda for collaborative efforts. Nevertheless, International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs are still prohibited from working with the Burmese military due to various political concerns. Still, the Burmese military was invited to observe the 'Golden Cobra' military exercises between the U.S. and its sole mainland ally, Thailand, in February 2013.
Also in the realm of cultural and political penetration, the United States plans to rejuvenate the American Center within the U.S. Embassy’s complex in Myanmar’s capital. As mentioned earlier, the cultural and scholarly outreach programs in Myanmar are currently increasing in number and effectiveness, limited though they are by the authorities’ wariness of foreign cultural influences. Though non-governmental aid is officially banned in Myanmar, Washington also aims to influence the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2015 through financial aid, NGOs, and official assistance to the opposition party through MP intermediaries. In addition, non-Burman minorities such as the Kachin and Karen are recieving U.S. relief through well-established NGOs. Furthermore, in order to educate voters and motivate ethnic minorities, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia are being utilized to propogate [sic] to the 'essence' and 'benefits' of democracy to the public through their broadcasts and publications. ... ... [I]t is important to realize that at this juncture U.S. diplomacy toward formerly outcast regimes such as the one in Myanmar, especially over China’s 'sphere of influence, is the midst of a systemic change." Image from
Diplomat Back in Iran After Exile in the U.S. - Thomas Erdbrink, New York Times: "One of Iran’s most prominent former diplomats, an ally of President Hassan Rouhani, has returned to the country, ending his unofficial exile in the United States, state news media reported on Tuesday. ... Analysts expect
Mr. Mousavian, who held several important posts, including that of ambassador to Germany, to remain an Iranian voice in its public diplomacy." Mousavian image from entry
US Embassy in Jordan offering additional funding for study in USA - for9a.com: "The Public Diplomacy section in the US Embassy in Amman, Jordan is offering additional funds for students who are going to study or are currently studying in the United States
to cover fees such as: -- Testing fees and/or test preparation fees (for the SAT, TOEFL, GRE, etc) -- Visa application and SEVIS fees -- Transportation costs (in-country and international airfare) -- Books -- Settling in allowances -- Excess baggage fees[.] Please note that this does not cover your tuition fees or accommodation fees. This is complementary funds to help you settling in." Image from entry
Obama, the Media, and the Truth about Ghouta - christiandemocracymagazine.com: "The push for war in Syria followed the same basic program as the build-up to the 2003 Iraq War, during which the Bush Administration relied on highly selective and manipulated intelligence to conjure up a prima facie unanswerable case for the invasion. One White House aide was famously quite candid about the creation of 'facts' out of thin air. After journalist Ron Suskind had written an unflattering 2002 piece for Esquire about a senior Bush administration official, Suskind met with the aide who told him that guys like [him] were [']‘…in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernable reality.’ I nodded [writes Suskind] and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. ‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.’['][2] In this connection, recall also that in 2001 Colin Powell selected as Under Secretary of for [sic] Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs not a foreign service veteran but Madison Avenue advertising executive Charlotte Beers.[3] ... [2] Ron Suskind, 'Faith, Certainty, and the Presidency of George W. Bush,' New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?_r=0. [3] 'Secretary Colin Powell’s State Department: An Independent Assessment,' http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2003_04-06/fac/fac.html."
Russia promotes young editor to head new state agency - nst.com.my: "Russia’s new state media agency aimed at promoting Moscow’s views in the West on Tuesday appointed as its chief editor a staunchly pro-Kremlin young female journalist who currently heads the state-run RT English-language channel. President Vladimir Putin unleashed a wave of controversy in early December by dissolving Russia’s venerable RIA Novosti news agency and replacing it with a new company called Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today). Putin added fuel to the fire by also appointing Dmitry Kiselyov — a controversial figure known for openly anti-gay and anti-US views — as the new outlet’s general director.
The station said on Tuesday that its news content will be overseen as editor-in-chief by Margarita Simonyan — the 33-year-old head of the state’s RT foreign-language network that is primarily aimed at audiences in Europe and the United States." Above image from, which also notes: "She [Simonyan] admits that Vladimir Putin once sent her flowers. ... Though when asked about the flowers incident Simonyan explained [:] "At a press conference, where President Putin was talking with the President of Tajikistan. It was my twenty-fifth birthday, which is a special anniversary. The other journalists were talking about it, the President heard them, and that was how I received the flowers.
It was very spontaneous. I don’t think that you can call it a presidential high regard." Below image from
India's ethno-religious violence reaches U.S. power centers - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: "A congressional resolution, endorsed by nearly fifty U.S. congressmen from both the Democratic and Republican parties, to India's utter embarrassment, ... urges the U.S. government to include religious freedom and human rights as part of the strategic dialogue between the two countries. ... What is interesting to note is how Diaspora Indian organizations immediately moved forward to condemn the House Resolution interpreting as interfering in the internal affairs of that country and disrupting the ongoing US-India Strategic Dialogue. The Indian organizations throughout the United States are coordinating to thwart the resolution. Asian Tribune recalls that when several resolutions criticizing and condemning Sri Lanka were tabled in the US Senate and the House there were not a single Sri Lankan association moved forward or coordinated with associations in other states to lobby the lawmakers and policymakers to present facts about Sri Lanka issues and what Sri Lanka went through during the separatist Tamil Tiger terror for almost thirty years. The interview Asian Tribune had with the Sri Lanka Consul General-designate for eight western states in the United States Malraj de Silva last week the highlight was Sri Lanka Diaspora organizations failure to create a voice to reach the American lawmakers. In his Asian Tribune interview Mr. de Silva realized the obstacles Sri Lanka is facing to get her message across to American foreign policy framers and lawmakers. And then he advocates a concerted effort to invigorate a public affairs, public diplomacy and strategic communication campaign to erase the myths, half-truths, diabolical lies and misinterpretations that the pro-separatist elements in the Tamil Diaspora very professionally dispatch."
Mirrors [video] - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "a well done
PD PSA in India to deal with staring issues." Image from
Jin: China the opportunity to become the world Opportunity - learnatchina.com: Original title: [first Southern Defense Forum] to the world the opportunity to become China's opportunity, opportunity for China to become the world's opportunities. Core Tip: December 5, 2013, by the Southern Newspaper Media Group initiated the formal establishment of the South defense think tank, the first forum held in conjunction with the South defense. The former military commander of the Lanzhou Military Region who Qianyuan Admiral Lee, former deputy political commissar of the Guangzhou Military Region will be added Liu, former director of the Political Department of the South China Sea Fleet, Hou Jian, Major General Political Department of the Guangzhou Military Region Air Force Major General Liu Bangcheng former deputy director, National Defense University professor Qiao floor, etc. as well as the construction of a number of defense, international relations, public diplomacy and other fields, experts and scholars attended the unveiling ceremony and participated in the meeting. New state leaders how to start diplomatic, vice president of international relations at Renmin University of China Professor Jin Canrong believes that diplomacy is now the new team is to play the periphery, the inside, to talk about friendship, and after talking about the issue."
ABC put on notice over foreign TV - theaustralian.com.au: "Foreign Minister Julie Bishop
has expressed concerns that the ABC is not meeting the terms of its $223 million Australia Network contract, after receiving negative feedback from its target audience. Ms Bishop's comments come as one of her most senior bureaucrats has admitted the department was 'closely monitoring' the ABC's management of the overseas network. Justin Brown, the first assistant secretary in charge of public diplomacy at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has told Sydney broadcaster Michael Smith in a letter obtained by The Australian that there is 'ongoing contact' between DFAT and the ABC to 'identify what is needed to ensure the integrated Australia Network-Radio Australia service becomes a more effective vehicle for advancing Australia's broad and enduring interests in the Asian region'. A tender process for the 10-year soft-diplomacy broadcaster was scrapped in controversial circumstances in 2011 and responsibility for the service handed to the ABC. The Gillard government had received two recommendations that the contract go to rival bidder Sky News Australia, part-owned by News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian. The Gillard government decision was later lashed in a scathing report by the Auditor-General. Submissions have been made to the government's National Commission of Audit calling for the tender to be reopened." Image from entry, with caption: Julie Bishop said the way the previous Labor government "corrupted the tender process ... and prevented a competitive process from occurring has result in ongoing concerns about the contract that was awarded to the ABC".
Tony Abbott could take a political and economic lesson from Paul Keating - smh.com.au: "The Abbott government's first budget is looming as the central political event for 2014, and there is considerable apprehension already about what it may bring. The government needs to find savings and new revenue of about $20 billion to $30 billion a year to set the budget on track for structural balance. ... So far, the Abbott government has been adept at highlighting the fiscal problems, and sheeting blame home to Labor. But its vision of what kind of economy - and society - it wants to build remains threadbare. This buy-in from the community is essential for good policy. It is also good politics. Labor gained an increased majority in the 1987 election, despite a tough budget less than a year before. The bizarre Joh-for-Canberra [see] tilt helped its cause but a balanced approach to a difficult budget and its public diplomacy laid the groundwork for victory."
What was Abe thinking, going to Yasukuni? - Tessa Morris-Suzuki,eastasiaforum.org: [Comment by:] Ken Ward 30th December, 2013, 1:39 pm [:] Mr Abbott’s description of Japan as 'our best friend in Asia' was a violation of a sensible precept in public diplomacy, namely, superlatives should never be used."
Methodically, if not quietly, Miri Regev is changing the Israeli consensus: Wherever there is an absence of initiative, vision or policy, the Likud MK creates her own - and others are compelled to follow - Zvi Bar'el, haaretz.com: "Israel’s most important political leader today is Likud MK Miri Regev. She is the only Israeli politician who has managed to learn the secret of how the country is run. Wherever there is an absence of initiative, vision or policy, she creates her own, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act like a eunuch.
Regev is like a female terrorist walking around with a hand grenade held in her clenched fist and the safety ring between her teeth. If the need arises, she will initiate a law for the annexation of the Jordan Valley or force the government to get rid of the African asylum-seekers who have come to Israel’s shores - or at least imprison them in an 'open' concentration camp. It's also her duty to declare the moral borders of the Jewish state and define the identity of its citizens. At least once a day, as befits this self-appointed national public diplomacy spokesperson, her nerve-grating screams can be heard on one of the country’s radio or television stations. Her chauvinistic-racist populism is as lethal as the point of an arrow and no one, not even the prime minister, would dare criticize it." Image from entry, with caption: MK Miri Regev says she is against waving Palestinian flags at soccer games.
Ethiopia-Egypt Maneuvering Takes on “Black and White” Operational Guises - Oromo boy, ethiopianewsforum.com: "Observers in Cairo noted that the outbursts by Egyptian Pres. Mohammed Morsi and jihadist Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimin) adherents against possible Ethiopian interference with the flow of the Blue Nile were an attempt to build up a distraction, and an external threat to Egypt, in the run-up to the planned June 30, 2013, major demonstrations against the Government. Significantly, after the public outbursts began against Ethiopia — and most of the attacks were widely- condemned by many Egyptian military and civil observers — Cairo changed some of its public diplomacy to promote the prospect of negotiation and cooperation. Some more radical officials, however, continued to make inflammatory statements against Ethiopia’s dam- building, while Egyptian defense officials indicated that any attempts to resolve the issue through military means would not be viable. Discreetly, Pres. Morsi and the Egyptian Intelligence Community began ramping up efforts to undermine security and stability in Ethiopia. ... By. Gregory R. Copley"
Baja Meets Boston and Bird Street - bajatimes.com: “On December 5, 2013, three internationally known Mexican artists, David Silvah, Nuria Bac, and Antonio Proa, teamed up with Emerson College faculty, students and alumni, for a weekend of art and fundraising events that benefited the Emerson College Bird Street Civic Engagement Project, a program that teaches at risk youth from Dorchester, MA, to communicate without violence. ... 'Baja meets Boston' is part of the 6-year ongoing 'Rediscover Rosarito Initiative,' a public diplomacy campaign led by the Communication Management program at Emerson College. Last month, a group of Emerson graduate students traveled to Mexico to participate in the fifth edition of the 'Rosarito Film Festival', a parallel event in the 'Rediscover Rosarito' project which seeks to raise awareness of this Mexican town through art and film."
Sochi 2014: Anti-Gay Laws, Terrorism And Financial Issues Plague Putin's Big Project - Bobby Ilich, ibtimes.com: "It's still several weeks before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the Games have already had a host of troubles. They've been shrouded in controversy and trivialized for possible doomsday sporting scenarios ranging from widespread condemnation over anti-gay legislation and scares of possible terrorist attacks, to more-mundane fears such as insufficient amounts of snow
in the subtropical Black Sea resort town. ... 'If things go poorly and the two recent terrorist events near Volgograd become part of a continued trend of violence, Putin will lose the sense that security is good in Russia and that he can be trusted to create safety and security,' said Tara Sonenshine, a former under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs." Image from entry, with caption: Vladimir Putin's reputation may be on the line when the Winter Olympics begin on Feb. 6.
New space race tells an old tale of nations' quest for soft power: Gary Rawnsley says China and India now seek what America had - scmp.com: "Without Apollo 8's success in 1968 it is unlikely that Apollo 11 would have taken man to the moon and back; and without the political motivation of the cold war, it is unlikely that space exploration would have occurred at such a gallop. Today, the world's new rivals, China and India, are locked in their own space race, with the former's unmanned mission to the moon launched just weeks after India's Mars orbiter began its year-long journey to the red planet. ... In the context of soft power, it is worthwhile remembering that actions always speak louder than words. While the financial cost of the space race is contentious, the soft power value is undeniable. ... Gary D. Rawnsley is director of international academic strategy and professor of public diplomacy in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, Wales."
Johnsons and Johnsons Printable Coupons - Marina Scholas, restaurantpromo.blogspot.com: "Johnson and Johnson could be a U.S transnational medical devices, pharmaceutical and shopper grocery manufacturer based in 1886. Its stock could be a element of the stock index Industrial Average and therefore the company is listed among the Fortune. Johnson and Johnson hierarchical at the highest of Harris Interactive's National company name Survey for seven consecutive years up to 2005, was hierarchical because the world's most revered company by Barron's Magazine in 2008, and was the primary corporation awarded the man of science Award for Public Diplomacy by the U.S. State Department in 2005 for its funding of international teaching programs."
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AN AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA IN ACTION
--From
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Book Review: 'The Trip to Echo Spring' by Olivia Laing: Some writers use alcohol like a steam catapult hurling a fighter plane off an aircraft carrier. Others to remember who they are at the end of a workday spent juggling realities - Henry Allen, Wall Street Journal:
Four or five of the eight native-born Americans who have won the Nobel Prize for literature were alcoholics. Image from entry
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