February 26

An Even More Abbreviated PDPBR edition, given your PDPBR compiler's following Ukraine's situation (see)

"No more ties!"

--Former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation Stanford Professor Michael McFaul, referring on Facebook to his post-diplomatic sartorial situation rather than (one surmises) Russian-American relations; McFaul image, at the Ambassador's residence, Spaso House, from a Facebook entry

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

What is different? What is the same? - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "'The more I thought about that question the more the question changed for me. I could write a long list of the differences between SF and Boston or the US and India, or India and Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and so on for any of the places I have visited on our large but increasingly smaller planet. ... Every human I have met ... , from our Foreign Service Officers, to our local staff to the military at the Metro, to the hotel staff, to the musicians in all our collaborations, has been open, smiling and wanting to make a personal connection with those around them. ... ' - Laura Cortese of Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards on their American Music Abroad tour to India, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. I love this. This is the connection that cultural diplomacy brings."

Interview: Martha Bayles on Popular Culture and Public Diplomacy - "Through A Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America's Image Abroad by Public Diplomacy Council member Martha Bayles is hot off the presses from the Yale University Press." Donald M. Bishop, publicdiplomacycouncil.org.

Capturing the Lessons of Counterinsurgency: A Word from Barry Zorthian - Donald M. Bishop, publicdiplomacycouncil.org.

"Tell Me More" - Donald M. Bishop, publicdiplomacycouncil.org: "Rest assured from

that Foreign Service officers can be wonderfully blunt and direct -- intentionally -- when delivering demarches as representatives of the U.S. government. In ordinary transactions, however, heeding the advice of a California senator, practicing the style of Poor Richard, and saying 'Tell me more' is good advice."  Image from

Cui Qiming: Belarus-China Society is a bridge of public diplomacy - news.belta.by: "The Belarus-China Friendship Society is a reliable bridge of public diplomacy between the two countries, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Belarus Cui Qiming said during an event dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the society held in the House of Friendship on 24 February, BelTA has learnt. The Ambassador emphasized the importance of the Belarus-China Society for the development of bilateral ties. The countries are implementing the agreements reached at the highest level and strengthening the bilateral cooperation, the prospects of which have been defined for several years ahead. 'At the moment the Belarus-China relations are entering a new stage of even closer cooperation in all the fields,' Cui Qiming said. In turn, Deputy Chairman of the Belarus-China Friendship Society Alina Grishkevich told about the status of implementation of culture and information projects. The projects are being carried out in close cooperation with the Belarusian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. One of these projects was the book 'China through the Eyes of the Belarusians' published under the editorship of Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Belarus-China Society, former Ambassador of Belarus to China Anatoly Tozik. The project is successfully developing: the book has already been published in Beijing in Chinese. The two countries are eager to continue establishing such information and culture projects. Nina Ivanova, Head of the Presidium of the Belarusian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, noted that the Belarus-China Friendship Society has a long history and many outstanding Belarusians were among its members. Andrei Grinkevich, Head of the Division for Asia, Australia and Oceania at the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, said that public diplomacy makes a considerable contribution to the development of Belarus-China political and economic cooperation. The event at the House of Friendship featured Chinese music. The anthem of Belarus-China friendship the Celestial Song by poet Sergei Poniznik and composer Eduard Zaritsky was performed during the celebrations. Both authors were among the guests."

AMERICANA

According to Nina Olsen, the National Taxpayer Advocate at the IRS, Americans overall spend over six billion hours and $168 billion every year to file their returns.

--Dave Camp, "How to Fix Our Appalling Tax Code: Every year Americans spend more than six billion hours and $168 billion to file their returns," Wall Street Journal

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that U.S. nuclear forces will cost $355 billion over the next 10 years.

--From