Am I posing the wrong public diplomacy question?

John Brown shared a link. (updated Facebook comment); see also (9/22/2018)

Yesterday at 8:29 PM · 

About this website

THEATLANTIC.COM

A Warning From Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come

Polarization. Conspiracy theories. Attacks on the free press. An obsession with loyalty. Recent events in the United States follow a pattern Europeans know all too well.

Comments

John Brown A must-read on "what's happening in Eastern Europe,'' in my modest opinion. (FYI, was a USA "public diplomacy" dip in the "heart of Europe" -- Krakow, Poland,1986-90). Question for former employees of USIA -- the USG agency that handled "public diplomacy" around the globe, including in EE, during the Cold War: Given current EE politics, where did we go wrong, if we indeed did (a question based on the pretension of being truly able of "influencing public opinion" by "outsiders" in the long-term?) Or, simply put, am I posing the wrong question?...nage