Saturday, May 11, 2019

Richard Holbrooke and Public Diplomacy


Below a note (re public diplomacy [PD]) and Richard Holbrooke) pertaining to a book review by Walter Isaacson, The New York Times, entitled:

OUR MAN
Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century
By George Packer

(see also for full text of Isaacson's review),

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JB NOTE

[I served as the Public Affairs Officer at American Embassy Belgrade, 1995-1998, and spent much time in the presence of Holbrooke, especially when he was communicating with the media. My job was to handle public diplomacy at the U.S. mission. Some observations pertaining to a rather exotic personality, Holbrooke, and PD]:

(1) "Richard Holbrooke: Able and Insufferable," HuffPost (06/12/2009; updated May 25, 2011) [article has one reference to PD]

(2) "Richard Holbrooke’s Public Diplomacy: The Case of the US Cultural Center in Belgrade," HuffPost (12/22/2010; updated May 25, 2011) [entry has two references to PD, and a note by PD's legendary Walter Roberts]

(3) "Strategic Communications and the Graveyard of  Empires," HuffPost (09/29/2009; updated May 25, 2011) [article has two references to PD, including an important quote by Holbrooke re PD and propaganda]

(4) "Strategic Communications: The Debate Continues," HuffPost (11/28/2009; updated May 25, 2011) [article has one reference to PD]

BTW, a favorite joke in Belgrade when I was there:
"What's the most dangerous place in the Balkans? Between Dick Holbrooke and a TV camera"

***


Image from Isaacson's article: Richard C. Holbrooke at the gate of the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris, 1977. Credit Bettmann/Getty Images

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