John Brown's Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0

January 28-29

2012-01-29T15:55:00.008-05:00

"Background in diplomacy (public or otherwise) ... would not be helpful."

--United States [Civilian] International Broadcasting (USIB) guru Kim Andrew Elliott, on the qualifications needed for a new Director of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which "encompasses all U.S. civilian international broadcasting"; image from

CONFERENCE

ICD [Institute for Cultural Diplomacy] Updates and Call for Applications: International Conferences, February – March 2012

ANNOUNCEMENT

Opportunity for musicians from Egypt, Pakistan, Philippines, Tunisia, and USA Cultures in Harmony is happy to promote an exciting opportunity for musicians from 40 countries. The countries from that list where CiH has done projects are Egypt, Pakistan, Philippines, Tunisia, and USA.

OneBeat is an international music exchange that celebrates musical collaboration and social engagement through innovative people-to-people diplomacy. Image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Public Diplomacy of Drones - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: "Public diplomacy and strategic communication must be on the take-offs of drones, not just the landings, crash landings

or otherwise." Image from

Are Europe's Muslims America's problem? "Soft power" programmes in the US that reach out to European Muslims have drawn ire from EU governments - Hishaam Aidi, aljazeera.com: "For several years now, the State Department has been quietly trying to introduce its ideas around race, multiculturalism and affirmative action into European policy and activist circles, aiming to alter the discourse on Islam in Europe - and in some cases, actively trying to help 'integrate' European Muslims. The WikiLeaks cables that probably stirred the most anger in European capitals were those where US diplomats castigated allies - France, Britain, Holland - for mistreating their Muslim minorities, and not doing enough to battle domestic extremism. ... US diplomats expected resistance to these public diplomacy initiatives from the French establishment. 'While direct development assistance from USG is not likely to be available for France,' notes one [leaked] cable, requesting the availability of funds 'to address the consequences of discrimination and minority exclusion in France' - stressing that, given France's official discourse and self-image, 'such an effort will continue to require considerable discretion, sensitivity and tact on our part'. ... Perhaps the greatest irony of the State Department's efforts to showcase the model integration of US Muslims, and to deploy the images and ideas of the civil rights movement in Europe, is that these efforts have been occurring against a backdrop of unfavourable media images of Quran burnings, anti-mosque rallies and accusatory Congressional hearings." Via JR on twitter.

Samsonite Man: A Look At Hip Hop's Diplomatic Affairs - Alex Dweezy Dwyer, hiphopdx.com: "By leveraging America’s abundance of soft-power (i.e. culture and the arts) the Government attempts to explore ways to find common ground with other countries through its citizenry. These Cultural Ambassadors spend ten days to six weeks abroad representing the U.S. as filmmakers, dancers, choreographers and musicians. Prior to 2000, Hip-Hop’s quarter century of history and bursting-at-the-seams popularity hadn’t legitimized itself enough for Uncle Sam’s use. ... Tactically, the focus of both ambassador programs mirrors an obvious effort to open a dialogue, even if it’s just a cultural one, with countries where ideologies collide. The bulk of the U.S. Government’s diplomacy energy is unleashed where it’s needed. That means in countries and areas that are unfriendly towards the United States. Cultural, or public, diplomacy’s main purpose is long term, despite everyone wanting results yesterday. Jazz remains a music in the State Department lineup. Today, diplomacy efforts are often tasked with preemptively culturing potential terrorist threats to death. There’s a general haze of discouragement from many in the media about the effectiveness any Cultural Ambassador efforts have on relations with nations participating directly or indirectly to our foes in the 'War on Terror.' ... Secretary of State, Hil[l]ary Clinton famously exclaimed that Hip-Hop could 'absolutely' be a diplomatic 'chess piece.' ... Hip Hop is still America’s mirror. Maybe that has something to do with why the country’s not particularly flattered by what it sees. Things are fouled up, realness will be kept. The U.S. Government, using a small sampling of a certain segment of Hip Hop artists in an effort to do good in the world, should be embraced by the Hip Hop community. ... Above all else, it [hip hop] should receive the same respect and treatment as other cultural diplomacy initiatives, especially if we are going to measure their success against each other. It’s earned that much."

Toni Blackman image from article, with comment in text: [A] Hip Hop Diplomat for more than a decade, most of the time, backed by the U.S. Government dollars. ... Most of us don’t know who Blackman is. The general Hip Hop consumer wouldn’t. She’s an unsung hero of the culture. She doesn’t require widespread recognition as an artist in order to be effective on the ground. She has a bigger picture in mind. She’s trying to build something. This in-progress report is exactly what America needs in a world that frequently doubts it’s sincerity.

In Defense of Hip-Hop Diplomacy - ivmedia, aproudpeople.com: "At a discussion after a Washington, D.C., screening of a new documentary on global hip-hop, The Furious Force of Rhymes, the audience was elated that the film showed Brooklyn, N.Y.-based emcee Toni Blackman performing in Kenya. But someone lamented that the U.S. State Department had sponsored her trip. An article at the webzine AlterNet similarly blasted the State Department for including hip-hop in its cultural-diplomacy efforts: 'Clearly, rank

hypocrisy is embedded in the program: the true rap voices of American youth have long been maligned by the government — and if the government expended more effort helping the blighted and impoverished black communities most of it comes from, it wouldn’t be so reviled … ' The writer added that it was 'absurd' that the State Department would support a genre that had been targeted by New York City police. [H]earing these kinds of arguments, in 2012, really makes my head itch. I love it when these folks speak out on behalf of the poor Negro masses that 'revile' the government. I, too, wake up screaming with nightmares of Hillary Clinton and a New York City beat cop alone in a room, plotting world domination via two turntables and a mike. ... A better question to ask today is, what has really changed since Harlem Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. urged the State Department to set up the jazz tours as part of its cultural-diplomacy efforts during the Cold War? In her wonderful book Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War, historian Penny Von Eschen presented the paradox of sending black musicians abroad to show the world how to counter totalitarianism when Jim Crow was still raging back home." Image from

Simone Jacobson: How to Lower Your Standards - theangleshow.com: "American gypsy who recently earned her Master of Arts in Arts Management at American University, she [Jacobson] is also the managing editor for Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture and the curator-in-residence at Busboys and Poets. Her Master’s thesis, 'America’s Cultural Illiteracy: Is Hip-Hop the Best Tutor?' addressed U.S. and global hip-hop

history and culture, cultural diplomacy and the overlap of the two: hip-hop diplomacy. In 2010, she led a group of eight international hip-hop dancers on a four-city U.S. tour (sponsored by the U.S. Department of State) and choreographed and directed their final performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts." Image from

Hiplomacy cont. - Paul Rockower, Levantine: A while back, a young conservative wrote in the National Review questioning whether hip hop should be used for cultural diplomacy.

I found his criticism to be shortsighted and culturally relativistic. Later, Alternet had another piece calling the use of hip hop as cultural diplomacy to be hypocrisy. Fast forward a few months, and there are a few articles pushing back and pointing out the positive side of hiplomacy, the use of hip hop as cultural diplomacy. -The Root offers an eloquent defense of hip hop diplomacy with some context of cultural diplomacy, with a look at the Jazz Ambassadors and concludes that Hip Hop is a logical progression for cultural diplomacy.-HipHopDX has the first of a four-part series on Hip Hop Diplomacy." Image from; MORE ON CULTURAL DIPLOMACY BELOW

Friendship, Diplomacy Celebrated For Centennial Cherry Blossom Festival - "The Ambassador of Japan hosted a kick-off celebration for the upcoming Centennial Cherry Blossom Festival. The 2012 year marks the 100th year when Cherry Blossom trees were given as a gift from Japan to President Taft and his wife, First Lady Helen Taft. ... Ambassador Fujisaki and his wife greeted a mix of Washingtonians, diplomats and Japanese dignitaries including Ambassador Hiroyasu Ando, President of the Japan Foundation. The Centennial celebration has been in the planning for two years, according to

Diana Mayhew, the President of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The cherry blossom trees have become a symbol of friendship and diplomacy between the U.S. and Japan. The friendship has solidified further after the Great East Japan Earthquake last year, according to Ann Stock, the Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy at the U.S. State Department." Image from article, with caption: Ambassador of Japan to the U.S. and Ann Stock of the U.S. State Department

Muralismo - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "On a winter-turned-spring day, I ducked out of my house-turned-office and over to the Mexican Embassy-turned-Mexican Cultural Institute. ... I was welcomed into the ornate edifice with a stunning mural that wound up the floors. I wandered in and out of the floors, through mahogany libraries that smelled of old world dust and a giant azulejo concert hall whose blue and white burned radiant in the afternoon light. The rooms oozed old Mexican colonial charm, and I was charmed. ... [T]he one panel that really caught my eye featured North and South America embracing, with leaders like Washington, Bolivar, San Martin, Marti, Lincoln and Juarez all looking on.

The mural was painted in mid-1930s and is a reminder of FDR's Good Neighbor Policy and public diplomacy efforts to communicate to Latin America that the US wouldn't meddle in their affairs. [Comment by John Brown:] "I had the pleasure of taking students in one of my Georgetown University classes to the Mexican Cultural Institute. They were charmed/impressed, as was I: (a) No third-degree security 'inspection' as we entered the building (b) the splendor of the building itself (c) a great briefing by the Institute's director and the Mexican Cultural Affairs Officer (d) a willingness on the part of these officials (who spoke splendid English) to take students' questions seriously. As we left the building I could not help but remember the old phrase, 'Como Mexico No Hay Dos.'" Image from article

Looking for Part-Time Work? The Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors just opened up - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: "The Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Walter Isaacson, is resigning his position at the BBG. Walter’s decision has surprised many. He was a well-respected leader of the BBG, a prolific author (most recently of the Steve Jobs biography, but also biographies of Einstein and Benjamin Franklin) and tremendously busy person (he continues to be president and CEO of the Aspen Institute). The Chairmanship of the BBG is, like the other board members, a part-time job.

Five of the eight Governors are serving beyond the expiration of their term (they serve until replaced). Walter’s term expires later this year. In his letter announcing his resignation, Walter wrote that he is taking on another big writing project and 'won’t be able to give the BBG the time it needs and deserves.' ... Clearly the BBG is neglected, both by the White House, regardless of who is in it, and the Congress, who has failed to demand or push forward nominees. ... [M]ore is required: either refresh the BBG as intended or change some or all to full-time positions. America’s international broadcasting is too important to U.S. interests and to the lives of people abroad to be neglected as it has been." Includes several comments, including by anchorJohn: "Come on, Matt…you are far too kind to the BBG, and to Walter Isaacson, who was largely an absentee. Most employees never met him (same is true for other board members when it comes to 'connecting' with rank and file). While he was off putting finishing touches to his Steve Jobs biography, morale at 330 Independence Avenue (admittedly never good) and elsewhere in the BBG structure, plummeted. That’s the dirty little secret that news organizations who covered his book launch never covered." Image from

Breaking news: Walter Isaacson stepping down as Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman - BBGWatcher, usgbroadcasts.com: "BBG Watch, the independent BBG employee website, is reporting that the Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman Walter Isaacson is stepping down from his BBG position. According to Isaacson’s email to his senior staff, he informed the White House about his decision and said that he is involved in a new writing project. Isaacson is the author of a highly popular biography of Steve Jobs. While under Isaacson’s leadership, the Broadcasting Board of Governors has been criticized for proposing to end Voice of America radio and television broadcasts to China. The BBG executive staff was said to be responsible for this proposal which was subsequently blocked by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. ... BBG Watch has heard unconfirmed rumors that the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director Richard Lobo

is being considered as Isaacson’s replacement. Lobo was appointed to his current position by President Obama. IBB is part of the BBG structure. If Lobo is nominated and confirmed as a new BBG chairman, he would have to give up his position as IBB director, but none of this information has been confirmed, BBG Watch sources caution." Lobo image from

Former Voice of America editor argues against privatization of U.S. international broadcasts - Vello Ederma, usgbroadcasts.com: "US international broadcasting should not be totally government or totally private.

To turn it into an international CNN is a total waste of taxpayer’s money and give private companies a chance to force their commercial/political views on international broadcasting. Especially, it should not be private while using taxpayer’s money. ... As for BBG, it should be abolished. ... US int. broadcasting should be 'in the national interest,' not in the interest of CNN, Fox, ABC or whatever. And yes, to say positive things occasionally about America is not propaganda, considering that news is made by the negative." Image from

Will the new BBG chairman be a hack or a flack? - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting: "I would not call the USIB [US International Broadcasting] upper management 'thin.' There's is an abundance of upper management, given that each entity has an upper management.

If the planned consolidation preserves the multiple brands of USIB, there will continue to be multiple front offices. The new chairman of the BBG must be committed to true consolidation. Only when USIB ceases to be a dysfunctional confederacy of feudal entities can it begin to rise to its goal of becoming 'the world's leading international news agency.' The new chairman should also be distinguished by journalistic hackery rather than political flackery. If not a distiguished journalist, he or she should be a distiguished broadcasting professional. Background in diplomacy (public or otherwise), public relations, or political consultancy, would not be helpful. USIB will succeed if it provides the objective information that allows people in the audience to make up their own minds. It will fail if it manipulates content in an attempt to manipulate global public opinion, even if such manipulation is 'in support of freedom and democracy.'" Image from

Death of VOA reporter in Pakistan shows "fatal attraction ... of American-sponsored journalism," he [Momin Iftikhar of The Nation (Lahore)] writes - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting. See also.

International broadcasters call for end to Iranian satellite jamming. But Iran claims its TV is jammed by UK - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting

In Florida primary, Newt Gingrich touts his support for Radio Martí. And Sean Hannity wants to be his VOA director - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting

Musician Chucho Valdés, who still lives in Cuba, credits past shortwave listening to VOA Jazz Hours - Kim Andrew Elliott Reporting on International Broadcasting.

Valdés image from entry

Vol. VIII No. 2, January 13-January 26, 2012 - The Layalina Review on Public Diplomacy and Arab Media

Social Media Cell to be strengthened: Firdous - thefrontierpost.com: "[Pakistan'] Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Friday said that all available resources would be utilized for capacity building of press officers posted abroad for effectively projecting true image of the country. She said the Social Media Cell functioning at the Press Information Department

would be further strengthened, making it a vibrant mode of communication with the press attaches and officers performing their duties in different countries. The minister was addressing the concluding session of a three-day Consultative Conference on Press Officers organized by External Publicity Wing of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting here. ... The conference underscored the importance of training and capacity building of personnel of the ministry for which it will arrange foreign language and capacity building courses on public diplomacy and public relations.It was recommended that the External Publicity Wing and the Press Sections abroad be restructured according to modern day needs. ... The press officers expressed their gratitude to the Prime Minister for his advice and guidance for effectively projecting and promoting Pakistan’s policies abroad.To a question, she said, all appointments of press officers have been made on merit. 'We have selected best officers for foreign posting from the available lot.'” Image from

A ‘wander-ful’ service for travellers - Tan Sri Mohd and Radzi Abd Rahman, Malaysia Star: "Although many Malaysians abroad do not see the need to contact the embassy unless they are in trouble, the Foreign Ministry’s consular service is always ready to help. ... As a significant contributor to public diplomacy, the consular office assumes an important role in current-day diplomacy but when Malaysians work in tandem with them, the end-product benefits not only themselves but also their country – and not all those who wander are lost (J.R.R. Tolkien)."

Justice Katju, Salman Rushdie and the Jaipur Lit Fest - Madhurjya Kotoky, publicdiplomacyblog.com: "'Jaipur Lit Fest' (JLF) as it is popularly

called has become a platform for India' public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy initiatives in the recent times. However, Justice Katju observed that during the festival, 'there was not enough serious discussion about indigenous literature at the festival, naming Kabir, Premchand, Sharat Chandra, Ghalib and Faiz as writers whose works could have been discussed.'" Image from

Cfa materials – the development of international education content-type - zuoshar.com: "University of Foreign Economic and commercial area located in the sunny capital of Beijing, adjacent to the Bird's Nest, Water Cube, the campus planning exquisite, elegant case, is the teaching part of the state key university directly under the world, land of the '211 Project' key construction of the first universities, the country teaching part of the country and build a business part of the university, is the cause of China's socialist economic construction and scientific research, personnel training, an important base. ... Hong care consists of a six colleges, and a graduate department, sports department, the ideological and political theory teaching and research department . ... [including] the international political (public diplomacy direction)."

Image (from the film, Lost in Translation) from

9 percent year-on-ye jo - friendcrew.com: "Media spotlight was likewise actors aboard a potential free commerce approval among the two Asian economic powerhouses because Lee plus Hu agreed apt work towards launching negotiations about to The up-to-the-minute newspaper plus messages these embassies post show is the little blog has chanced the media of option for emigrant diplomatic agencies apt conduct public diplomacy the embassies of Thailand and France attempt language courses."

The Role of the USIA in Implementing America’s Policy towards the Soviet Union: A Case Study of the Cuban Missile Crisis - "Wilson Center ECNU Scholar Zhao Jike will present a work-in-progress presentation entitled The Role of the USIA in Implementing America’s Policy towards the Soviet Union: A Case Study of the Cuban Missile Crisis which examines the role of the USIA in implementing U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In an unprecedented communications effort, the USIA reached out to an overseas audience in the hundreds of millions with news, background, features and commentaries, documenting the American position on the secret Soviet buildup in Cuba. Because of its effective performance, the USIA won praises from both the White House and the Congress and its funding increased markedly in the next few years. Zhao Jike is a Ph.D. candidate at Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China. Though his Ph.D. will be in history, his undergraduate background in journalism has informed his thinking about the Cold War as a cultural phenomenon. Prior to beginning his Ph.D. program, Zhao earned his M.A. degree with a thesis on US intelligence estimates and decision-making surrounding Israel’s nuclear program. Joing Zhao on the panel is Yafeng Xia, Wilson Center fellow and associate professor at Long Island University." Via LBJ

Public Relations of the Cold War - "Veranstalter: Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Cambridge University Datum, Ort: 1.12.2011-03.12.2011, Cambridge [.] ... As an overarching theme of the period between 1945 and 1989, the Cold War still attracts scholars who study the ideological conflict from various angles. One aspect that has increasingly received attention in recent years is the way the Cold War functioned as a background for international activities in the field of culture and communication. Looking at cultural diplomacy, public diplomacy and international propaganda campaigns thus provides new insights into developments that emerged in the context of the Cold War but often still influence today's world. What has received less attention, however, was how Cold War policies were 'sold' to national constituencies. The conference 'Public Relations of the Cold War', held at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH)

at Cambridge University and convened by Hannah Higgin, Mark Miller, Martin Albers and Chen Zhong Zhong, had the aim to look at this process of how Cold War policies were communicated to the home front." Image from

UN Dispatch at NATO - Una Moore: "I’m in Brussels with eight other security bloggers for two days of briefings at NATO Headquarters followed

by defense ministers meeting on February 2 and 3. ... Here’s my agenda for Monday and Tuesday: ... 09:45 Briefing on NATO’s New Strategic Concept by Ms. Allison Hart, NATO Countries Section, Public Diplomacy Division ... 12:30 Working lunch hosted by Dr. Stefanie Babst, Deputy Assistant Secretary General, Public Diplomacy Division[.]" Blogger's image from her blog.

Le bonheur de vivre - Mr. Brown Goes Around: "I am living with a roommate here in Honolulu for the semester, until I return to Asia in late May. ... At six, my friend Bob, the former United States' cultural attaché to India, picked me up and we walked around Diamond Head, the landmark volcano crater that thrusts itself into the Pacific, pausing to watch the sunrise over the vast expanse of the limitless ocean. When our walk recommenced, so did our conversation, dancing over the influence of various classical schools of Islamic law on what was happening in the world today to the travesty of justice and monument to incompetence the Khmer Rouge trials have devolved into. Normally our friend Demeris accompanies us on these morning walks. She was in charge of public diplomacy for the United States Embassy in Phnom Pehn previously (she did not join us today as she is helping coordinate the Fulbright program in Indonesia on a short-term assignment)--I am sure she could have added much to that last conversation."

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

Panda Diplomacy - Mary Pan [My home: Guangxi University commune], yearofchina.globalconversation.org: "You can't have a conversation about China without talking about pandas! I

asked a senior Chinese military official two years ago whether or not China funds any cultural diplomacy efforts besides lending out panda bears to zoos. His answer was unfortunately no. I had asked a senior American diplomat (and Brown grad) whether or not America funds any cultural diplomacy efforts. His answer was that American culture proliferates itself. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. But I think the two countries have much in common on that aspect of foreign policy." Image from article

Meridian International Center and The Embassy of the People's Republic of China Celebrate the Year of the Dragon at the 2nd Annual Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration - gov.ulitzer.com: On Thursday, January 19th, Meridian International Center and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China co-hosted the 2nd annual Chinese Lunar New Year reception, celebrating the beginning of the Year of the Dragon at Meridian House. Chinese lanterns and other traditional New Year decorations transformed the historic French-style home. Over 400 guests attended, including high-ranking diplomats from the Chinese Embassy, officials from the U.S. Department of State, D.C. cultural leaders, local and international media, scholars, and corporate representatives. In honor of this occasion, Meridian's Art for Cultural Diplomacy program organized a special art exhibition: A Zhuxianzhen Tradition: New Year Woodblock Prints from Kaifeng. The exhibit included 20 traditional nianhua prints from Henan Province, illustrating auspicious symbols from Chinese folklore – the seventh in a series of exhibits created over the last decade by Meridian with Chinese partners."

Nickelodeon celebrates culture with rare films - Tyler Simpson, The Gamecock: "Though the Nickelodeon Theatre is far from China, Columbia's non-profit cinema will ring in the Chinese New Year by showcasing classic and contemporary Chinese films during its annual Chinese Film Festival for two weeks. The Nickelodeon has partnered with the University of South Carolina's Confucius Institute (CI) and the Moving Image Research Collections (MIRC) for its third annual Chinese Film Festival, which will make four classic Chinese movies available to Columbia audiences. ... USC

is the first university in South Carolina to establish a Confucius Institute. CI began in November 2008 in collaboration with the Beijing Language and Culture University and the Office of Chinese Language Council International, which is a division of the Chinese Ministry of Education. The Chinese Film Collection is a major commission of USC's Confucius Institute. Its films are particularly valuable because they document cultural diplomacy, representing what officials of the People's Republic of China wanted the U.S. to see and know about China after formal diplomatic relations were established in 1979." Image from, with caption: Ladies and gentlemen, your University of South Carolina Gamecocks

Experience Dutch Culture with Three Month Distinctively Dutch Festival - dreamweavermarketingassociates.blogspot.com: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts and economic development organization at the center of Downtown Pittsburgh’s revival, will host an array of U.S. and world premieres as part of an interdisciplinary arts festival: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Distinctively Dutch Festival.

Celebrating the culture and contemporary performing and visual arts from the Netherlands, the three-month festival will feature dance, theater, music, visual art, film, literature and architecture. Events will be held February 18-May 20, 2012, throughout Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, as well as at select venues . ... Dutch Ambassador to the U.S. Renée Jones-Bos said, '... The festival is an example of how cultural diplomacy can create lasting economic, political, academic and artistic ties between the Netherlands and Pittsburgh.'" Image from article

Korea: The Pivot in Latin America - Sarah K. Yun, blog.keia.org: "Until the 1990s, Korea had little economic, political, or cultural ties with Latin America. Since then, relations between Korea and Latin America have improved significantly. On the other hand, the relations have not been developed in a comprehensive multi-dimensional manner. ... In an environment where Korea

is just beginning to establish partnerships in the region, ODA [Korea’s official development aid] and other cooperative programs can be used as an avenue to increase awareness and presence of Korea in Latin America. In other words, Korea’s engagement via soft power and cultural diplomacy can create a multi-faceted and dynamic bilateral relationship. Consequently, Korea can create opportunities to capture the attention of Latin American governments and businesses. ... In order to build a stronger foundation and synergy, the next step should be for both regions to engage in developmental projects and cultural diplomacy, as well as improve the existing architecture of trade and transactions. A balanced and multi-faceted economic, political and cultural strategy could lead to a successful and comprehensive relationship between Korea and Latin America." Image from article

‘Authenticity comes from the roots’ - Anupama Ramakrishnan, deccanherald.com: "Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, Pavan K Varmae extends his playing field into fiction, after a string of acclaimed non-fictional works. ... He minces no words when he talks about cultural diplomacy.

'Culturally, we are a superpower. Therefore, we need to leverage this soft power as a significant tool of diplomacy. I have always tried to and have done it.' His next work, he says, would be a major work of non-fiction though he doesn’t rule out another fiction." Varmae image from article

KOCIS to set up Korean cultural centers in developing countries - Lee Kyung-min, koreaittimes.com: "Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) plans to establish Korean cultural centers in developing countries this year, including those in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, a top official of the KOCIS said. 'To create new foreign demands for the Korean culture, we will set up Korean cultural centers in developing countries, which have great demands for 'hallyu (Korean wave),' said Seo Kang-soo, director of KOCIS. ... Noting that many countries in the world are striving to strengthen their soft power through culture, Director Seo

said, 'KOCIS will also exert all-out efforts to enhance the national image through a variety of Korean culture.' Commenting that Korea's national image index is still undervalued, he said, "We will go all-out to upgrade the national brand by strengthening an image as a cultural country." Image from article, with caption: Seo Kang-soo, the director and assistant minister of KOCIS. Via CB on twitter

South Korea to assist Nigeria in the area of manpower development, through the award of scholarships to Nigerian students who may wish to study in Korea - Xinhua, posted at coastweek.com: "Suh Jeong Sun, director of the South Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria, said on Wednesday in Abuja that the country planned to commence a cultural exchange program with Nigeria. The director, who spoke in an interview with reporters during the celebration of Lunar New Year, said the program would begin this year. ... South Korea has cultural centers in 16 countries in the world, while Nigeria is the first African country to benefit from the exchange program. Via CB on twitter

Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam [exhibition] British Museum, London -– review - Tim Adams, guardian.co.uk: The hajj – the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca – is very much a growth industry. In 1932, 20,000 pilgrims made the symbolic journey, the fifth pillar of Islamic obligation. This year the faithful will number more than three million (officials from the London Olympics have consulted with the Saudi authorities to see how they manage the annual miracle of traffic flow). One of the striking aspects of this eye-opening exhibition at the British Museum – the first British show devoted to what remains a mysterious journey among non-believers – is the way that the yearly mass migration invokes profound abstract geometries. ... Though an intimate part of the lives of many modern Britons, the pilgrimage remains in many senses a guarded world, which makes the treasures and curiosities collected here – many borrowed from Riyadh and beyond – a unique kind of insight.

Neil MacGregor and his team at the British Museum, including Venetia Porter, curator of this exhibition, have, for a decade now, been on an impassioned quest themselves to shed light on some of the more misunderstood history and rituals of the contemporary world and to find the shared humanity in them. Once again, it is worth commending these boundless efforts at cultural diplomacy, and sheer determined curiosity, that allow us all to enjoy the detail and scope of a story that is to many a closed book." Image from article, with caption: Road to Makkah, 2011 (detail) by Abdulnasser Gharem at the British Museum: ‘The exhibition reminds you at every turn that no other religion has quite the geographical pull of Islam.’

The Pleasures and Power of Art – EPOS 2012 - Ayelet Dekel, midnighteast.com: "There’s much to for the cultural epicure to savor at the EPOS International Art Film Festival, the tempting feast includes features and documentaries on art, theatre, dance, literature, music and film. ... The strength of Dave Brubeck – In His Own Sweet Way is aptly expressed by the film’s title: the film reveals and revels in the music and the man, a pleasure and inspiration. The film is a tribute of one artist to another; Clint Eastwood initiated this project after hearing Brubeck’s Cannery Row Suite in 2006. Directed by Bruce Ricker, this film makes the excellent choice of

allowing Brubeck to tell his own tale, in words and music, with music happily dominating. One not only understands, but experience’s Brubeck’s contribution to jazz. It is a heady, delightful experience. The film also revives a somewhat forgotten chapter of cultural diplomacy: Brubeck, along with Louis Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and others, were cultural ambassadors, travelling to different countries to share American music and culture during the Cold War. Listening to the influence of these travels in Brubeck’s music, reveals the ways in which these encounters develop in new and unexpected directions. On a mission to spread American cultures and values, these musicians were also opening up to the world, musically, culturally and politically: a mutual learning experience sowing the seeds for world music and cultural dialogue. As Brubeck says in an interview with Walter Cronkite after his tour: 'Maybe the thing that binds humanity together is the heartbeat. Rhythm is an international language, not harmony or melody.' " Image from; see also.

BOLDtalks™/ 2012 Brings to Dubai a Line-up of Global Speakers Not to Missed, posted by Samer Marzouq - jazarah.net: "BOLDtalks™/, the flagship UAE event from the creators of intellectual entertainment, today unveiled the line-up of speakers for its 2012 edition. Taking place at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Center on 25th February 2012, this year’s BOLDtalks promises to inspire, inform, even challenge the way we think about some of today’s most debated issues. ... BOLDtalks™/ 2012 will also welcome Professor Cynthia P. Schneider, distinguished teacher, publisher and organiser of initiatives in the field of cultural diplomacy, with a focus on Muslim relations. Among her many projects is the Muslims on Screen and Television Initiative (MOST), which Schneider co-directs, providing valuable resources and accurate information on Islam for the U.S. entertainment community."

For Prof. Robertson Work, global impact slated for 2012 - wagner.nyu.edu: "The coming year will see Robertson Work, adjunct associate professor of public administration at NYU Wagner, provide a variety of services in diverse settings around the world. In February, Work will make a keynote presentation on

the role of culture in global governance at the International Conference on Cultural Diplomacy and the United Nations, held at UN headquarters. In March, he joins the Fulbright Public Policy Fellowships National Committee to help select fellowship recipients." Work image from article

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Obama Buttresses Case for U.S. Resilience With Book From Unlikely Source - mark Landler, New York Times: When Senator Barack Obama was photographed clutching a copy of “The Post-American World” as he left his campaign plane during the Democratic primaries in May 2008, some critics viewed it as a telling sign that he embraced a view of the United States as a waning world power. Now, as he runs for re-election, President Obama has latched on to a new foreign policy book, which offers a more appealing narrative for a leader facing fresh charges — this time from Mitt Romney and the other Republican candidates — that he is leading the United States into its twilight of global influence.

The book, “The World America Made,” makes the case that the nation’s decline is a myth, a reaction to the financial crisis of 2008 rather than to any genuine geopolitical shifts. In a delicious coincidence for the White House, the author is Robert Kagan, a neoconservative historian and commentator who advises Mr. Romney. The president has brandished Mr. Kagan’s analysis in arguing that the nation’s power has waxed rather than waned. Via WC. Image from

State Dept Ducks Oversight on Iraq Reconstruction Projects - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: The Washington Post has an important article online and in print criticizing the World’s Most Expensive Embassy (c) for choosing to not provide a complete list of all the projects undertaken as part of the reconstruction of Iraq. “After eight years, we still don’t have a full account of what it was we provided the Iraqis,” Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the US special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said in the article. “There was no unity of command, no unity of effort.”

The inventory listed 5,289 projects valued at about $15 billion as of June 30, 2011, according to auditors. Bowen said there were actually tens of thousands of projects valued at approximately $40 billion. In response, the World’s Most Expensive Embassy (c) in Baghdad said they had negotiated an agreement with Iraq so its government could “focus its limited resources” on large capital projects. Embassy officials also cited bookkeeping of previous agencies and said the auditors’ criticisms failed to recognize that Iraq already has assumed more control over projects. Of course this is all, respectfully of course, bullshit. Image from article

Unfinished Business in Iraq - Editorial, nytimes.com: When the last American troops came home from Iraq in December, thousands of Iraqis who had worked with the Americans were left behind. Many have already been targeted by militants, and some had taken refuge on American military bases. But once the bases were closed — or handed over to the Iraqi government — those Iraqis were forced into hiding. Unless Washington lives up to its moral obligation, many more will suffer or be killed. The Special Immigrant Visa program was enacted by Congress in 2007 for Iraqis who helped the military, other parts of the American government and military contractors. It authorized 5,000 special visas annually — but only 3,317 were granted through 2011. Iraqis who aided American non-governmental organizations and media outlets can apply under the refugee program and are also having a hard time. But the special visa program has the worst delays. Today, Iraq is more stable than it was at the height of the violence, but with American troops gone, sectarianism and bloodshed are on the rise. The State Department is concerned enough about safety trends that this month it again formally warned Americans against all but essential travel to Iraq. There should be as much concern for the Iraqis who risked their lives to work with Americans — and are still living there and still at risk.

Book review: 'Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power: A Memoir' by Wael Ghonim : The Egyptian author takes readers inside the uprising that he helped start and that swept Hosni Mubarak from power. He credits social media for their ability to connect activists - Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times: Wael Ghonim is an unlikely rebel. Born in Egypt in 1980, he began working his first Web job while studying at Cairo University, then moved to the U.S. (where he married an American) and eventually became Google's top marketing representative for the Middle East, based in Dubai. His opposition to Hosni Mubarak's regime was far down on his personal list of interests.

But it was there. Ghonim's emergence as an accidental insurrectionist forms the heart of his memoir, "Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater Than the People in Power," which could just as easily have been subtitled "What I Saw When I Helped Start a Rebellion." It's an engaging read, and it offers a sharply detailed look from the inside of an uprising that owed almost as much to social media connections as it did to anti-Mubarak passions. Then he raises the point that, "Thanks to modern technology, participatory democracy is becoming a reality.… Slowly, but surely, the weapons of mass oppression are becoming extinct." Image from article, with caption: Google executive Wael Ghonim, who emerged as a leading voice in Egypt's uprising, reacts as he leaves the stage area after he was barred by security guards from standing on it at Cairo's Tahrir Square on Feb. 18, 2011.

Court Keeps Hitler’s Work From German Newsstands - Melissa Eddy, New York Times: battle to prevent circulation of Hitler’s seminal work in Germany when a Bavarian court ruled that a British publisher could not release annotated excerpts of“Mein Kampf.” The publisher, Peter McGee, had planned to provide German newsstands with 100,000 annotated copies of important passages from the book on Thursday as part of a wider project to print historical publications from the Nazi era. But the state court, in Munich, ruled that publication even of citations from the book violated the copyright, held by the State of Bavaria until 2015.

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"more mercenary than the meanest whore.”

--Henry Miller on America; vulgar image from

IMAGE

--Германия тридцатых годов прошлого века. Это фото наглядно демонстрирует, как можно сохранять человеческое достоинство, даже находясь в толпе. (Germany in the 1930s. This photo graphically shows how, even in a crowd, one can maintain human dignity). From JG on facebook.

January 27

2012-01-27T10:34:00.006-05:00

"We are so used to such [US] propaganda that we do not consider it propaganda any more: this is the lifestyle we (almost) all dream of, oh yeah!"

--No author cited, "USSR propaganda vs USA propaganda"; image from

VIDEO

Vladimir “New Word Order” Putin, Pours on the Propaganda for Another Sham Election

INTERNET

One policy, one Google experience: "We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read.

Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google. This stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service now. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012." Image from entry

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

21st Century Statecraft: Forging U.S. Digital Diplomacy - Victoria Esser, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs for Digital Strategy, U.S. Department of State, Huffington Post: "Innovate or die. It's an oft-repeated phrase about the adoption of technology and innovation that evokes Darwinian images of people running scared, trying to stay ahead of the curve just enough not to get trampled by the pack. From the perspective of the State Department, we see a different image -- that of a blank canvas that is being painted a bit every day. We see how harnessing technology and digital networks is making our public diplomacy more strategic and how it is strengthening and amplifying the bonds between individuals and institutions like the State Department. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made 21st Century Statecraft, or using digital networks to advance America's interests around the world, a key part of our foreign policy approach.

So we're continually asking ourselves as we look at our foreign policy priorities - how can innovation help us do this better, faster, and more economically? This week, asking those questions resulted in the Department's announcement of the launch of our Turkish-language Twitter account @ABDTurk, joining the Department's 10 official feeds in Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu. ... You an read more about our digital engagements this week, and how you can participate, here." Image from

"Alhurra in the Iraqi-Turkish war of words. And more Alhurra in the news" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Into The Fray: A study in impotence - Martin Sherman, Jerusalem Post: "'Water reveals a new apartheid in the Middle East.

The 450,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank use as much or more water than some 2.3 million Palestinians... even if only a few dare to use the word, all indications are that the Middle East is the scene of a new apartheid.... And in this situation, water is a particular element of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.' – Excerpt from the French parliamentary report on 'The Geopolitics of Water[.]" My most recent columns have been devoted to analyzing Israel’s public diplomacy, the reasons for its manifest ineptitude, and the mechanisms that produce this abysmal performance. Last week, by coincidence, an illustrative example, underscoring precisely what I have been trying to convey, broke into the headlines. It came in the form of a French parliamentary report on Israel’s water policy, authored by Jean Glavany, a Socialist member of the National Assembly, and accusing Israel of using water as an instrument of apartheid and oppression against the Palestinians. ... One diplomatic source characterized the report as “a serious mishap that... has seriously damaged Israel’s image in France.” The embassy in Paris was accused of falling asleep on the job for not alerting the Israeli authorities of the impending publication and the malevolent nature of its contents. Israel robustly repudiated the report. The Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned it – correctly – as 'unacceptable,' 'loaded with the language of vicious propaganda, far removed from any professional criticism' and tainted with 'blatant tendentiousness.' ... Rather than adopt an offense strategic initiative to remove Israel’s water policy for the list of topics that can be used to denigrate the country, those charged with the conduct of its public diplomacy have opted for defensive tactical responses to hostile initiatives. Rather than launch an ongoing enterprise to set, a priori, the context in which later events are interpreted/perceived, they have opted to fend off individual accusations and condemnations, made in the inimical context prevailing today. This is particularly exasperating in the case of water, which is one of the topics most amenable to mounting such an preemptive enterprise. ... [F]acts and many others should be assertively and proactively inserted into the public discourse, not only as a response to attacks, but as part of an ongoing endeavor to mold public awareness and perception of the realities that pertain to the Arab-Israeli conflict. One of the principal reasons that this is not occurring are the PC (Palestinian-compliant) perspectives of the Israeli civil society elites, discussed in my previous columns, who exert a dominant influence on the conduct of our public diplomacy." Image from

The Knesset: 120 potential diplomats: Delegations of parliamentarians work to strengthen Israel’s diplomatic position abroad – even if they disagree on how to do it - Lahav Harkov, Jerusalem Post: "On the surface, Israel’s ties with other countries are managed by the Foreign Ministry, and sometimes the Prime Minister’s Office, or the recently established Public Diplomacy Ministry. However, for decades, there has been another channel, by which public figures have represented Israel abroad to very little fanfare: parliamentary diplomacy.

Throughout the year, delegations of MKs travel to international organizations and present their views on various issues – though, usually, they’re asked to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Often, they meet representatives of countries that do not have formal relations with Israel, including Arab countries, and attempt to block decisions – such as recognition of a Palestinian state – that would cause problems for the government. According to Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, the main advantage of MK participation in interparliamentary groups is that it builds personal relations with decision-makers in other countries." Image from article

Can Cultural Diplomacy Lift Jamaica’s Brand Quality? - Hume N. Johnson, humejohnson.wordpress.com: "Given Jamaica’s brand positioning in the international arena, effective cultural diplomacy is required to give legs to the myriad cultural products that Jamaica has to offer. It would be good to see the development of a cultural diplomacy strategy with the objective to purposefully and tactically re-image, re-position and promote Jamaica’s culture and identity abroad. It is time that we begin to leverage the following: Jamaican architecture (Old Capital Spanish Town; Rose Hall Great house; other Castles and Forts); Jamaican Cuisine (our Food festivals, Jerk, Ackee and salt fish, Festival; Dumplings); the successes of Jamaican Fashion/models; Jamaican Music (Reggae; Dancehall; Jamaican Jazz; Street dances – Passa Passa, Weddy Weddy etc); the Arts in Jamaica (Paintings, Sculpture, Craft); Jamaican Religion (Rasta, Obeah, Revivalism, Kumina); Sport (Athletics, Football, Netball). It is also important to leverage Jamaican scholarship through the formation of Think Tanks overseas as well as student exchanges; as well as Indigenous Films and Alternative Medicine. ... The government of Jamaica

can no longer take for granted that Jamaica’s image is powerful and that its brand quality is secure. While our athletes will continue to fly the Jamaican flag, it is important to take a more strategic and proactive approach to nation branding. A cultural diplomacy strategy is required. It could undertake a study of cultural diplomacy of other countries (e.g. European Union) to discover how they use this tool and how can Jamaica leverage its cultural products to bolster its image overseas and attract investment. It is also important to conduct a comprehensive audit of Jamaica’s arts and cultural offerings locally and overseas (festivals, Trade Shows, Expos, Cultural Campaigns) to assess their impact and discover the possible structural impediments to increased arts and cultural programming. The strategy would also explore ways to collaborate with the Jamaican private sector in promoting Jamaican culture abroad. Public Diplomacy (the umbrella term under which cultural diplomacy falls) is also crucial for Jamaica, as it is also about communication and engagement at a strategic level. In many respects, public diplomacy smoothens issues that may serve as a barrier to cooperation. It will encourage investors to give Jamaica the benefit of the doubt on controversial issues such as the control of crime and violence, since they would understand better our socio-economic, political and historical context, as well as our cultural underpinnings. Public and cultural diplomacy will illustrate our true ideals, our interest in fostering positive values, and attitudes, combatting the popular notion that Jamaicans are homophobic and violent. Public diplomacy helps to create relationships with foreign publics which can endure beyond changes in government. Through think tanks and other outreach and exchange programmes, this tool can reach influential members of foreign societies, who cannot be reached through traditional embassy functions. It will not only create a platform for the expansion of Jamaican culture overseas but will also build positive civil society by including Jamaican Diasporic communities more heavily in nation building." Image from article

Whither the Arab Spring? Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson’s Centennial Meeting - demdigest.net: "By kind invitation of U.S. Senator Patty Murray, and to mark the occasion of Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson’s Centennial, The Henry Jackson Society and The Henry M. Jackson Foundation are pleased to be able to invite you to ‘Whither the Arab Spring [.]' ... [Speakers include] Dr Lina Khatib

is the co-founder and Program Manager of the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at the Institute of International Studies at Stanford University. She is also a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and, from 2010-2012, a Research Fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School." Khatib image from

RELATED ITEMS

The Afghan divide - Sarah Chayes, latimes.com: If the U.S. government chooses not to address the two fundamental political and diplomatic challenges its intelligence estimate is said to highlight — corrupt government and Pakistan's support for extremist violence — then why waste more blood and treasure? But President Obama must make that decision in full cognizance of the dangers, so he can plan for them and try to mitigate some of them. He needs more divergent views, not fewer. The aggressive efforts by some to spin perceptions of Afghanistan have grown unseemly as well as dangerous. Image from article, with caption: Former Taliban militants attend a surrender ceremony in the Afghanistan city of Herat under a U.S.-backed Afghan government anmesty program.

Freedom of the Press Fail in Iraq – Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: Reporters Without Borders track the way different countries implement this freedom, or not, and produce yearly rankings. Sadly, the US comes in at number 47. Iraq, however, trolls the pathetic mid-ranks at 152, having fallen 22 places as the US war of terror packed up and left the country. That places freedom of the press in Iraq below that of such inviting democratic hot spots as Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Venezuela. Quite an accomplishment given the resources the US poured into establishing new media as part of the reconstruction of Iraq.

UN hands Iran 'propaganda fodder' over Camp Ashraf - Tarsem King: publicserviceeurope.com: Remarks attributed to the UN's top diplomat in Iraq, Special Representative of the Secretary General to Iraq, Ambassador Martin Kobler, have handed Tehran a propaganda coup by suggesting Camp Ashraf dissidents want to return to Iran, writes a member of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom.

The 3,400 Iranian dissidents in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, are members of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, the principal Iranian opposition movement. These Iranians fled the ruthless rule of the clerical regime and took refuge in Camp Ashraf, across the border. Following the American led occupation of Iraq, Ashraf residents disarmed to the United States voluntarily. In return, every resident signed an agreement with the Americans guaranteeing his or her protection until final disposition. Image from article

President Ahmadinejad: Israel Would Not Be Away from Danger if Syria Came under Aggression - sana.sy: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on Thursday underlined that Israel would not be away from danger if Syria came under any foreign aggression. "The US seeks to strike Syria as it is an obstructer to the Zionist, US project in the region, but the peoples

of the region are aware, and Israel would not be apart from danger if Syria was subjected to any aggression," President Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Kerman Province. He added that the US administration is spreading false and fabricated propaganda in order to archive its goals in the region. Image from article

US Embassy expects 14 pc annual rise in visa applications in India - ibnlive.in.com: The US is expecting nearly 14 per cent annual increase in visa applications

from the country following implementation of streamlining of the application process as part of President Barack Obama's strategy to boost tourism from emerging countries like India and China. Image from article

Five myths about China’s power - Minxin Pei, Washington Post; 1. China’s rise is marginalizing American influence in Asia. 2. China’s massive foreign exchange reserves give it huge clout. 3. The Communist Party has the Internet under control. 4. China’s regime has bought off the middle class. 5. China’s rapid economic growth shows no signs of slowing.

How Nations Can Be United With Social Media - Alex Fitzpatrick, mashable.com: The United Nations is a huge organization: 193 member states and six major organs. As you can imagine, running the UN’s social media networks is no walk in the park. But the international organization is incredibly active on social media, using it as a tool to spread knowledge and information about its mission, goals and accomplishments.

Twitter can now censor tweets nationally, rather than globally - Nathan Olivarez-Giles, latimesblogs.latimes.com: The wings of some Twitter users may be clipped a bit less going forward. The San Francisco-based company said Thursday that it will now be able to censor tweets in specific countries that ask it to do so for legal reasons, rather than having to block tweets globally as before.

"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," the company said in a blog post. "Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content." Image from article

Ex-Colonel of Special Forces: Lukashenko Enjoys Smashing his Victims - telegraf.by: Former Special Forces colonel Vladimir Borodach believes that the current President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, "received a carte blanche for political bargaining and propaganda"

when his former opponent in the elections Andrei Sannikov, convicted in the "Case of December 19," filed a petition for clemency. "Lukashenko enjoys smashing his victims. He’s now in the seventh heaven," said Vladimir Borodach. Lukashenko image from article

Nicolae Ceausescu auction - in pictures - guardian.co.uk: Gifts received by Nicolae Ceausescu to be auctioned off on what would have been the late Romanian leader's 94th birthday.

The auction is called Golden Age in reference to the last years of the Ceausescu's rule, when propaganda pictured a striving

Romania, whereas in reality people were struggling to get by. Among the images: A bronze yak given by Mao Zedong to Ceausescu; Communist era posters advertising a railway worker school, fresh fruit and a hydro-electric plant

USSR propaganda vs USA propaganda -loranablog.wordpress.com: USA propaganda is well-known in Western countries. Every war movie, comedy drama, family sitcom, serial and even cartoon is ambassador to USA way of life. We cried for American soldiers giving their life for world freedom, like Ryan’s friends. Who didn’t share the same feelings of the many losers who fought and won, like Rocky? What about USA baby-sitters, cops, farmers, drivers, journalists, porn-stars who showed us the wonderful American dream? Not to mention the army of doctors, nurses, cosmonauts, dancers, oil drillers, bartenders, librarians and comic superheroes fighting for the good against the evil … and always succeeding in it! We are so used to such propaganda that we do not consider it propaganda any more: this is the lifestyle we (almost) all dream of, oh yeah! Probably USSR lost the Cold War because Russian Hollywood productions were not as popular. What would have happened to Western Europeans if they could give a look to USSR propaganda, of course pro Soviet lifestyle? What about this “White sun of the desert”

(English subs), where a single Red Army soldier fights for the freedom of Muslim women “in name of the working class“? Or what about “An office romance” (English subs), grounder of many office sitcoms still popular nowadays? Or “Winnie Pooh,“ the Russian version? And all the war movies USSR produced to glorify the 20 millions Russians, women included, who died in the second world war against Nazis? Image from

Selling War - Stephen Lendman, Op-Ed News, posted at warisacrime.org: Throughout its history, America glorified wars in the name of peace. From inception, they're perpetuated against one or more domestic or foreign adversaries. They include mass killing, assaults and abuse. Pacifism's called sissy or unpatriotic. Propaganda insists America's peace-loving. In fact, more than ever today, it's addicted to permanent war and violence. Nonetheless, initiating them requires public support. Famed US journalist Walter Lippmann coined the phrase "manufacture of consent." It's a euphemism for mind control. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson was reelected on a pledge of: "He Kept Us Out of War." Straightaway, he began planning US involvement. In April 1917, he established the Committee on Public Information (CPI or Creel Committee). It operated through August 1919. Its mission was enlisting public support for war and undermining opposition sentiment. Corporate America was so impressed, it recruited Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud. He became a PR/propaganda pioneer. His 1928 book titled "Propaganda" said it's possible to "regiment the public mind every bit as much as an army regiments their bodies."

Bernays's pioneering PR techniques got Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter to describe him and Ivy Lee as "professional poisoners of the public mind, exploiters of foolishness, fanaticism and self-interest." In his 1947 book titled, "The Engineering of Consent," he called it "the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest." In fact, it's used manipulatively more for ill, than good, especially in selling war. During the WW II buildup, anti-war proponents were called subversives and Nazi sympathizers. Once begun, anti-German/Italian/Japanese propaganda censored media and other communications to enlist support. Other techniques included posters, advertising, comic books and cartoons, leaflets, and films extolling America and portraying the axis as bad guys. Steven Casey's ground-breaking book titled, "Selling the Korean War : Propaganda, Politics, and Public Opinion in the United States" analyzed Truman and Eisenhower administration efforts to shape public discourse, influence media coverage, and gain popular support for limited conflict and anti-Soviet Cold War policies. Noam Chomsky calls the Vietnam War "a classic example of America's propaganda system." Major media scoundrels let doves and hawks debate, but "(b)oth sides agreed on one thing. We had a right to carry out aggression," but refused to admit it took place. In their book, "Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq," Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber showed how manipulative propaganda sold the public on war against Iraq. Combining PR and media deception, Operation: Iraqi Freedom was created. Deconstructing the process, they showed how top Bush officials planned war prior to his election, but waited until September 2002 for "product launch" to inform the public. Warmongering's constant. On-air voices cheerlead it. Slanted news shuts out truth. "Political solutions" are alien to America's vocabulary. War profiteers demand jingoism. A century ago people were manipulated to accept war with Cuba. William Randolph Hearst hyped the big lie about Spain sinking the battleship Maine when, in fact, a coal bunker explosion did it. Hearst, however, told his Havana illustrator: "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." To this day, lies launch them. They're all based on lies to get people to go along with what wouldn't be possible otherwise. Top Image from, with note: Perfect example of how the concept of limited-hangout was used in advertising encouraging more individualism and in this case specifically, individualism and 'more choice' for

women, who never even thought of smoking before Bernays told them why they should. On Bernays's "get-women-to-smoke" campaign, see. Below image from

IMAGE

--from

January 26

2012-01-26T12:40:00.002-05:00

"[T]he prospect of heavily armed aircraft screaming through the skies without direct human control is unnerving to many."

--W.J. Hennigan, "New drone has no pilot anywhere, so who's accountable? The Navy is testing an autonomous plane that will land on an aircraft carrier," Los Angeles Times; image from article, with caption: The X-47B drone, above, marks a paradigm shift in warfare, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences. With the drone’s ability to be flown autonomously by onboard computers, it could usher in an era when death and destruction can be dealt by machines operating semi-independently.

NEW BLOG

From The Director - "Welcome to our new feature, a place the VOA Director will use to share his comments on current issues and affairs. The inaugural posting discusses international satellite jamming."

Be sure to check back for new comments on topical issues. Image of VOA's 28th Director, David Ensor, from his new blog. Via JT.

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Public Diplomacy of Drones - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: "Public diplomacy and strategic communication must be on the take-offs of drones, not just the landings, crash landings or otherwise."

Hall induction a reflection of Kwan's stature - Bonnie D. Ford, espn.go.com: "Kwan's grace of expression, coupled with fierce will, kept her at the top of her sport from girlhood well into her 20s. She twirled into collective memory as an understudy warming up in the wings of the grandiose Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan drama. She came of age the season she played the sultry Salome and went on to win five world championships, yet left competition with her greatest wish, an Olympic gold medal, unfulfilled. Along the way, Kwan managed to be both ethereal and endearingly flesh-and-blood.

Her body of work made her upcoming induction into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame a foregone conclusion. ... Kwan was named the country's first Public Diplomacy Envoy, and has made half a dozen overseas trips with government delegations. She rubs shoulders with ambassadors and policy-makers and interacts with young people in her unpaid role. Kwan also serves on the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and the Special Olympics' board of directors. She earned a master's degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University last spring and moved to Washington. She rarely skates any more, preferring to practice yoga several days a week." Kwan image from article, with caption: Along with being a public diplomacy envoy, Michelle Kwan also serves on the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and the Special Olympics' board of directors.

BBG gets a Director of Communications and External Affairs - Matt Armsrong, Mountain.Runner: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors announced today that Lynne Weil has been named Director of Communications and External Affairs. She starts February 6. The BBG, as many know, is in dire need to improve its engagement with the Hill and the public. Lynne, in leaving her job as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy (and Public Affairs), brings extensive knowledge of and relations with Congress and the media to the BBG.

Lynne will be the second Director of Communications and External Affairs as the position was (relatively) recently established. Diane Zeleny held the position briefly last year. She will not be wanting for work to keep her busy, especially in the coming year." Weil image from. See also.

Broadcasting to Burma: VOA sees RFA's TV bid, and raises - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

RT's "Assange Diplomacy" - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: "[O]n January 23, Assange announced that he will be starting a new TV show; today, Russia Today announced that it will be hosting the show. There you go. ... As for RT itself, we should take it as another chance to poke the U.S. (even more). But what use of it for public diplomacy? Many Americans already take RT for a joke, that is, if they know about or watch it (which many don't). Is it how Russia is trying to get its message out to the English-speaking world? And yes, although there are also many with whom Wikileaks and Assange's message might have resonated, I doubt they will be happy to see him on RT (out of all places). His credibility is now in shatters, while RT is jubilant to be getting some more bad press. Seems like their 'measurement' of success is limited to quantity (i.e. the amount of attention they get), while completely forgetting about the quality of it: the type of coverage and its effects on foreign attitudes towards Russia. After all, bad press canNOT be good press in public diplomacy: therein lies its core difference from PR."

Future of the BBC: Lord Patten ruffles the Beeb's feathers - A McE, The Economist: "The BBC’s chairman Lord Patten has had an eventful week. On Monday, he confirmed The Economist’s report of two weeks ago ('Auntie’s Big Year') that he was already looking for a new Director General to succeed Mark Thompson, the present incumbent. Today at a conference, he delivered a wide-ranging speech on the corporation’s future, laying out several demands about its scope and substance. ... It is ... quite right to call for 'boldness and experimentation'. That demand will be heard by the array of candidates to succeed Mr Thompson. Less clear is which of the leading candidates it favours. George Entwistle, the present director of BBC Vision, is relatively new to the job, intellectually sharp and more likely to shake up some existing orthodoxies than other candidates.

But charter renewal – due in 2017 – is always a difficult political fight. That will benefit Caroline Thompson, a senior management figure, with a surer grasp of the public diplomacy involved and long service on the BBC executive. Helen Boaden, a highly competent director of News, is favoured by many insiders, but may rank as a candidate who favours the status quo too firmly." Image from

PM asks press officers to highlight govt policies - pakobserver.net: "Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani while emphasizing upon the significance of public diplomacy called upon the press officers posted in Pakistan’s Missions abroad to remain focused in highlighting the national policies so as to reflect the real image of Pakistan. He was talking to the group of press officers participating in the annual Consultative Conference being organized by the External Publicity Wing of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, here at the Prime Minister’s House Wednesday. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Dr. Firdaus Ashiq Awan was also present during the occasion. The Prime minister said that the challenges being faced by the country today require a proactive approach by the professional officers working in the field of public relations as it would help develop a meaningful linkage with the international community utilizing all possible sources of communication including the media. In the same context he stressed upon the participants of the conference to utilize social media as an effective tool to convey the desired messages."

Ban to Visit Burma; Nambiar Named as Envoy - Lalit K. Jha, irrawaddy.org: "United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that he is planning to make a trip to Burma in the near future and announced that his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, will soon transition to become his full-time special envoy to the country. ... Responding to questions from reporters, Ban

said he has already visited Burma twice and that there have been numerous other visits made by top UN officials, including his special envoy. 'Those roles I believe were laying foundations for other international partners to engage. I have been chairing this Group of Friends on Myanmar many times during the last five years on the basis that I could strengthen the international community’s engagement and support for the democratization process in Myanmar,' he said. 'Of course, this is the result of consolidated engagement of all the partners. But I am proud to tell you that whether it has been quiet diplomacy or public diplomacy, I think we have been employing those two approaches all the time, continuously with patience,' Ban said." Ban image from

Haredi rabbi battles religious coercion, violence: Haim Amsalem brings iconoclast’s message in Whippany talk - Gil Hoffman, njjewishnews.com: "At times, Haim Amsalem can sound like a secularist member of Knesset. In fact, he is himself a fervently Orthodox rabbi who lives in Jerusalem’s haredi Har Nof neighborhood. He was elected to Knesset in 2009 as a member of the Sephardi Orthodox Shas Party but broke away following disputes over the party’s attitude to army service, secular studies, and conversion.Now, with the country boiling over with charges of haredi coercion, violence, and intolerance, Amsalem stands to play a key role in bridging the divides between Israel’s secular majority and Orthodox minority. ... Central New Jersey federation executive vice president Stanley Stone said that both his community and MetroWest want to make a positive impact on the quality of life in Israel. Max Kleinman, executive vice president of UJC MetroWest, said he invited Amsalem to the community because he believes it is important for his message to be heard.

The federations 'have been warriors for Israeli hasbara [public diplomacy] and now The New York Times is making it look like Israel is controlled by Jewish ayatollas,' Kleinman said. 'We have to do what we can to support a positive civil society and back liberal standards for conversion to make Israel livable for all Jews and prevent tension with the Diaspora.'” Image from article, with caption: MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem, right, lights the menora with Rabbi Dov Lipman, far left, and the Modern Orthodox Margolese family of Beit Shemesh; eight-year-old Na’ama Margolese’s story of being spat on by Orthodox extremists sparked a flare-up about Israel’s identity last month.

Eight Thoughts About Crowd Sourcing - Niv Caalderon - Crowd Sourcing, Public Diplomacy, New Media: "About: I'm Niv Calderon [.]I write about crowd sourcing, public diplomacy, user experience and new media."

RELATED ITEMS

The coming debate over American ‘strength’ abroad - David Ignatius, Washington Post: What does American “strength” mean in the 21st century? Is it a recovery of the kind of power and prerogative the United States had, say, in the Ronald Reagan years? Or is it something more aligned with changes in the global balance? Zbigniew Brzezinski would favor the latter (The gist of Brzezinski’s strategy is that America must become strong enough to act as “a responsible partner to the rising and increasingly assertive East.” He sees a future U.S. role as a “balancer” and “conciliator” among Asian nations that, left to themselves, will get into messy fights). As for Obama’s strategic vision, he talks a better game than he plays. A similar criticism applies to Obama’s foreign policy. He raised hopes at home and abroad because he proposed to resolve festering problems, such as the Palestinian issue. In reality, he flopped. His Afghanistan policy is a muddle, and that’s being charitable. In this campaign, Obama needs to explain how he will lead America past the old slogans and status-quo policies into an era of genuine national revival.

Support for Whacking Iran: Who Needs Propaganda? - Trevor Thrall, nationalinterest.org: The most recent polling reveals an American public willing, albeit by a slim majority, to approve military action in order to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. A decade removed from 9/11, public support for a potential military strike on Iran is almost exactly the same it was for the attack on Iraq.

Though he has certainly put pressure on Iran through multilateral diplomacy and economic sanctions, Obama has spent no time building public support for military action against Iran and relatively little time talking about Iran at all. It is safe to say that if presidential propaganda wasn’t able to do much in the case of Iraq when the president was going all out, it certainly can’t have done much to shape opinion regarding Iran when Obama has (purposely) done so little. Chart from article

Why Doesn't America Ban Iranian Press TV? - Kenneth R. Timmerman, familysecuritymatters.org: Authorities in Britain revoked the license of the Iranian regime’s English-language global television channel known as Press TV because of evidence that it is a propaganda outlet

controlled by the Iranian regime. But the Obama Administration permits the channel to operate on American soil without a license and in violation of U.S. sanctions regulations, which ban commercial transactions with Iran. It appears to be another example of Obama coddling the terrorist regime. Press TV is not the only Iranian government media organization operating in the United States. The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) operates Aftab TV, which broadcasts in Persian and operates a prominent website. Image from article

Will this new Bravo series about "fabulous" young Iranian-Americans find its way into Iran? - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

In Battle For Hearts And Minds, Taliban Turn To CDs - Ahmad Shafi, gpb.org: When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, their hard-line policies included a ban on music tapes and videos. Yet now, the Taliban are producing their own CDs in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of Afghans. Since 2005, the Taliban have been mass producing CDs and DVDs featuring footage of alleged NATO atrocities and clips of insurgents battling NATO forces. The CDs and DVDs are readily available in Kabul and other major cities. In some rural areas, the Taliban operate pirate radio transmitters, with the militants broadcasting warnings to local residents and Afghan government officials. NATO has been using social media sites such as Twitter to try to counter the Taliban's propaganda. However, only a small percentage of

Afghans have access to the Internet. NATO has also been supporting some local radio and TV stations, but the Taliban has also shifted tactics, assassinating radio personalities who oppose them. This month, they killed a prominent tribal leader in Kandahar who used his radio station to preach against the Taliban. In the battle for psychological advantage, many analysts believe ISAF, the acronym for the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, has largely failed to deliver its message. Candace Rondeaux from the International Crisis Group says the Taliban, on the other hand, has improved its propaganda machine over the years. "In the meantime, you know ISAF kind of sat silently. Or they frequently put out these sort of propaganda videos or commercials or radio statements that don't really connect with Afghan realities at all," she said. Image from, with caption: When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, CDs and DVDs were forbidden.

How Do You Escape a Color Revolution? Replace Emotional Reaction With Intellectual Sobriety: Understanding the 21st Century Global Information War: Protect Your Zeitgeist By Eric Pottenger and Jeff Friesen - Color Revolutions andd Geopolitics: More than at any point in history, war is primarily a media war. The reason the United States, in particular, has been so effective in this style of warfare is because the whole structure of U.S. society has been built around promotion and consumption as a pathway to wealth and power. In the United States, the corporate marketing and advertisement industry has merged seamlessly into the operational templates of foreign policy. There is little difference between selling Coca Cola and selling a particular foreign policy initiative. Corporations sell commodities through marketing campaigns and advertisements; governments sell policies through a myriad of techniques of information control and propaganda. Like corporate advertising, propaganda is primarily

effective as a form of emotional communication, not one of critical analysis. The purpose is to promote a prescribed behavior, whether that behavior result in the purchasing of a new pair of blue jeans, the supporting of a social initiative, or advocating one's inclusion amongst a battalion of protesters, each of them dragged willingly into the streets to weaken the stature of a particular government. The propagandist will rarely explain in substantive terms either the problems of society or the concrete solutions. Instead he will brand the issues in broad emotional terms. The opposition movement will likely be branded as “fun,” “rebellious,” or “revolutionary,” etc., whereas the problems of the entire society are made unspecific, reduced to the actions of a “corrupt,” “greedy,” “power-hungry” “dictator.” The goal is to broadcast this message simply and incessantly; and especially to make people believe that it's true. Media should be used to deconstruct the brand the West is selling; it should successfully offer an alternative brand. In a world where the information war reigns supreme, the essence of protecting national sovereignty is change: not change of values, necessarily, but change of attitudes and perspectives. A smart policy would be to embrace this change. Why not lead the struggle off the traditional battlefield and into the media realm: to television and radio broadcasts; to books and blogs and publications? Image from article

Syria's stubborn strongman: Syrian President Bashar Assad rejects an Arab League proposal that could have ended the bloodshed. He needs more incentive to leave - Editorial, latimes.com: On Monday, the European Union ratcheted up its economic and travel sanctions, extending them to 22 more Syrian officials and eight companies. Two senators are introducing legislation to toughen U.S. sanctions, though the United States has few economic dealings with Syria. U.N. sanctions, if they could be negotiated, would add pressure. But sanctions take time, and Assad made it clear this week he has no intention of going anywhere.

The CBC’s Propaganda War - Bruce Bawer, FrontPage Magazine: In Canada, the CBC receives more than $1.5 billion a year from the Canadian government, which amounts to upwards of $100 per household. And what, exactly, are Canadian taxpayers paying for? That’s the question asked – and very illuminatingly answered – by a new documentary, This Hour Could Have 10,000 Minutes: The Biases of the CBC, produced by James Cohen and Fred Litwin.

(The title is a reference to “This Hour Has 22 Minutes,” a long-running CBC series specializing in political satire.) Focusing on two main topics – anti-Israel bias and anti-conservative bias – the documentary consists almost entirely of CBC clips (most but not all of them from news programs) in which we can see these biases in action. To judge by this compilation, the CBC is perhaps even more slanted than the infamously partial BBC – and, perhaps, even more brazen about it. Image from article

Social media: from innovation to revolution - Adeel Amjad, pakistantoday.com: Social media has become a substitute for traditional media, much of which in Pakistan is state-controlled. It's too soon to know how the “political tsunami” will turn out, including whether virtual networks of people can prevail over more traditionally organised groups.

But still, it's already clear that social media via the Web is unprecedented and unpredictable. For authoritarian leaders used to controlling media and events, time and technology are not on their side. It can lead to the improbable rise of leaders who otherwise might never have had a shot. It has helped in gathering of large groups in a short period of time. Amjad image from article

Europe meets superdemocracy - euractiv.com, euractiv.com: In China more than half a billion citizens now have access to the internet. They use it in such a way that today information are well known long before the government body in charge of disseminating information (more accurately propaganda) has done its work. Like Twitter and Facebook in the “Arab Spring”, microblogs like Weibo offer new channels of communication within China and beyond. This is civic empowerment, officially welcomed by the government but in reality deeply questioned, as the Chinese Propaganda Department is now working on legislation to make individual registration of each microblogger in his or her real name mandatory – so that the communist government and others in the future will be able to trace critical opinions. In Finland, which is praised as a safe haven for democrats, things look somewhat different: here the parliament has been encouraged by the forthcoming introduction of the European Citizens’ Initiative to introduce a national equivalent which on the surface appears to be even more accessible than the ECI, because Finns are basically free to propose whatever they would like to see at the national level. The Finnish system also introduces e-collection of signatures at the national level: a first in Europe. However, the downside is that the Finnish parliament has introduced a clause which says that the names of all the signatories of successful initiatives (50,000 signatures have to be gathered within six months) will be fully disclosed after the signatures have been submitted to the parliament - another killer-provision which makes signature-gathering much more difficult, since everyone will know that their names may be published at a later stage and perhaps be used by party-political or other statisticians to track people’s preferences.

Exceptional American Propaganda Inspired NAZI Goebbels - blogdredd.blogspot.com: Edward L. Bernays [named the father of PR] studied the results of his uncle Freud's research into the nature of the subconscious mind. Based upon that study of Freud's work, Bernays went on to prove that Freud was on to something. If Freud was so utterly wrong, Bernays could not have developed such a finely tuned propaganda engine based substantially upon Freud's work. An understanding of propaganda unparalleled in world history and admired not only in America, but also admired by the most infamous propagandists of all time: Bernays work inspired Joseph Goebbels; more than any other individual ... (PR! A Social History of Spin). Joseph Goebbels was the propaganda minister of NAZI Germany under Adolf Hitler.

World War II Timeline in movies - 4 The Propaganda War - tainted-archive.blogspot.com: When war broke out in 1939 Britain's cinemas were closed, however the value of films

in keeping up morale was soon realized and the cinemas were reopened. They had been closed for only ten days before an Parliament decided to reopen them and they became the main source of entertainment and recreation during the troubled times. The movies were effective in saying that the old class system should be put aside and that this was was the people's war, and the Ealing war films represented these new ideas. And it wasn't only the men who were fighting the war and 1943's The Gentle Sex

showed how a group of women were turned into defenders of the nation in the territorial army. Britain was at war and the cinema had no time to question what was going on, or stand back and consider the morality of war, there were battles to be won and on screen as in life we were going to get on with it. Images from article

AMERICANA

Oklahoma lawmaker wants to ban fetuses in food - Ricardo Lopez and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, latimesblogs.latimes.com: The legislation, known as SB 1418, is only a couple of paragraphs long. Introduced by Sen. Ralph Shortey (R), it states: "No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients."

Perhaps Newt's Obsession With The Moon Explains Callista's Hairdo? - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photoblog: "I've already written about how easy it is to mix up Callista

and

Callisto, Jupiter's fourth Galilean moon, but perhaps the resemblance between her hairdo and a spherical orb is intentional? Because Newt is really, really into the moon. It could explain the spherical nature of his own coiffure, come to think about it. He's just so INTO it! Maybe even the similarity of Callista's name to that of a moon's attracted him to her in the first place! Oh, I could go on and on." Images from entry

January 25

2012-01-25T12:20:00.003-05:00

"Given societal definitions of masculinity that overlap with narcissism--for example, the belief that men should be arrogant and dominant--men who endorse stereotypically male sex roles and who are also high in narcissism may feel especially stressed."

--Sara Konrath, of the University of Michigan

"it's time to call a halt to the endless search for a male math gene."

--Rosalind C. Barnett, senior scientist at the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center, and Boston University journalism professor Caryl Rivers; image from facebook, with caption: Загруженное с компьютера By: Галина Дементьева

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Green Technology: The Key to More Jobs, Higher Exports, Cleaner Environment, Better Reputation? - Stuart W. Holliday, Huffington Post: "Just off of Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C, the Finnish Embassy stands out in a city that defaults to traditional. With its clean lines, innovative building materials, and extensive integration of living greenery into the climate control ecosystem, it is unlike any other diplomatic building in the capital. The building is the first embassy in the United States to receive the EPA's Energy Star for superior energy efficiency, as well as the first to be awarded the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification. Listening to Ambassador Ritva Koukku-Ronde speak about it, one quickly notices the pride and passion that went into setting this example.

Most people probably don't know the US has been taking similar steps in their Embassies in recent years. For decades, the US Department of State has employed public diplomacy programs as a tool of relationship building -- through American Centers abroad, English language and other educational opportunities, cultural showcases, and opportunities like Fulbright and International Visitor Leadership Programs. Increasingly, the Department has recognized the value of public diplomacy as a showcase for American innovation and technology as well -- using it as a tool for trade and economic growth." Image from

Classroom-Powered Diplomacy - dpotteriearn, connectallschools.wordpress.com: "The recent demise of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy was—and not without a little irony—barely noticed. Even though the commission reports and Matt Armstrong’s efforts to explain public diplomacy may seem like inside baseball to most US citizens, the loss of the commission is a lost opportunity to help more people better understand how public diplomacy impacts their lives. We need new approaches to engage the general public about the need for a robust public diplomacy that helps us collaborate effectively with peers worldwide to address pressing global challenges. ... One definition of public diplomacy is that it 'seeks to promote the national interest of the United States through understanding, informing and influencing foreign audiences.' Public diplomacy, which is part of 'soft power,' 'smart power,' and 'civilian power,' comes in many flavors, such as 'cultural diplomacy' (arts, educational and sports exchanges), and overlaps with and supports 'citizen diplomacy.' Successes include Fulbright and International Visitor Leadership exchange programs, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and the Peace Corps. New efforts to engage the next generation of young people include multilingual Tweets, tech camps, the @america center in Jakarta, and mobile learning programs.

Despite its effectiveness from the Cold War through the Arab Spring, public diplomacy remains a less respected partner of a US foreign affairs approach dominated by development, defense and intelligence. How do we help raise the profile of public diplomacy? What if we tap the enormous goodwill and peer-to-peer power of 7 million US teachers and their 80 million students? What if we engaged our 130,000 schools to help build a more valued public diplomacy, one that more Americans would more clearly understand, participate in, and respect? Here is one example of the impact of global classroom connections. Last April, we were honored to host U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale at the Peapod Academy in Redwood City, California with a virtual exchange between Adobe Youth Voices students in California and Pakistan. Diego Petterson, an Adobe Youth Voices educator who leads the journalism program at the Peapod Academy, observed that the virtual exchange had a profound effect on the students in California, who were immediately able to look past accents and appearances to find common ground with their peers in Pakistan." Uncaptioned Image from article shows former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale.

“Should diplomats learn the languages of the countries they’re assigned to?” - Candace Ren, Ren's Micro Diplomacy ~ a public diplomacy and soft power blog: "The Department of State is often the target of cheap shots because at many posts there is a deficit of diplomats who speak the local language.

One of my favorite podcasts, PRI’s The World: The World in Words, asks, 'Should diplomats learn the languages of the countries they’re assigned to? Diplomat Sherard Cowper-Coles and translator David Bellos say yes…but try to avoid foreign faux pas.'” Image from

Serving until Replaced: the recurring story of the Broadcasting Board of Governors - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors is presently working toward updating its organization and strategy to meet America’s 21st Century needs. Whether you agree with the suggestions or not, most of the proposed changes remain just that: proposed as they await approval for many of the key changes. The BBG provided a 'narrative' but you will have to wait until next month, I’m told, for the detailed plan. ... For background, the BBG is the only federal agency run by a committee. The eight governors are appointed by the President, not more than four of whom may be from the same party, and the Secretary of State, who usually delegates his or her Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy as the representative. These eight are part-time leaders appointed to staggered terms. The purpose was to provide fresh and state-of-the-art advice by top professionals and leaders to the Government. The staggered and overlapping terms were a bid for continuity and to avoid radical shifts in policy. The wholesale replacement of the Board in June 2010 with eight new members was a refresh that was not supposed to happen, and it was the first time since 2004 that the Board had a full complement. However, we are now looking at the likely prospect of a wholesale replacement of the board due to term expirations. Is twice in a row a coincidence or an emerging pattern of White House

neglect? Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), few in Congress and less of the general public pay attention to the BBG and truly understand the BBG’s role in international affairs. ... There were no additions to the BBG during 2004-2010, despite, as noted above, appointments expiring. The BBG is again in a situation of a majority of the Governors are serving on expired terms." Image from

Terms of most BBG members have expired - BBGWatcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "Matt Armstrong who publishes www.MountainRunner.us, a blog on public diplomacy and strategic communication

read by senior policy makers in the the U.S. and abroad, points out in a recent post that the terms of most Broadcasting Board of Governors members have expired and there are no signs that the Obama Administration plans to replace them. The current BBG members continue to serve even with expired terms until they are replaced." Uncaptioned image from article

Changing Turkey in a Changing World - Securing the New Middle East: A Critical Appraisal-Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London - J. Peter Burgess and Costas M. Constantinou, turkishcentralnews.com: "The political landscape of the Middle East is changing and with it many of the certainties about how things are done or ought to be done in and with the region. Local regimes of power can no longer justify to their national constituencies and international audiences the necessity of states of emergency and autocratic rule. The West confronts the hypocrisies and moral discounts of its own foreign policy objectives and choices, including how its definition of regional security supported the kind of regimes, policies and human rights violations that western states traditionally define themselves against. Blogging and social networking have bypassed official and centrally organized forms of mass communication and representation and shown the limitations of state propaganda and public diplomacy. Protest movements and the visualization of dissent and violence have necessitated action beyond traditional crisis management processes and brought about unexpected transformations on the ground. Locally ‘elected’ or ‘accepted’ regimes, internationally recognized and often presented as models of stability and progress, are no longer credible and have been locally and internationally criminalized. All these major changes in a sensitive geopolitical region require sustained reflection and critical examination."

Former Taliban officials find new role - urdutahzeeb.net: "Thousands of former Taliban members have put down their weapons in recent years. Most are low-level fighters whose peace deals with the government were unceremonious and of little political consequence. But a few, like Zaeef, were offered early release from prison if they agreed to work with the government rather than against it. ... Zaeef [and others are ]struck by their newfound relevance, as the only public faces of a movement that for years has shunned public diplomacy. For Zaeef, it’s an opportunity to market his autobiography, now translated into 10 languages:

'My Life with the Taliban.'" image from

China readier to share its diverse culture with the world - Wu Xia, xinhuanet.com: "As the Chinese lunar calendar ushered in the Year of the Dragon on Monday, Chinese artists and cultural delegations are staging various performances around the world. An ancient civilization known for its tea, ceramics and silk, China has in recent decades attracted global attention on its newest trend in movies, fashion, art performances and language study. According to official figures, more than 500,000 foreigners have taken Chinese language courses offered by the 358 Confucius Institutes established in 105 countries and regions around the world. Meanwhile, traditional Chinese musical instrument shows and art performances are often sold out in Europe and North America, Chinese embassies said. As China becomes the second largest economy in the world, more economic resources become available to back up the cultural industry blossoming home and abroad in the past few years. ... For foreigners to get a closer glimpse of Chinese culture, China must step up efforts to facilitate the 'going-out; strategy proposed by the central government. It must study cross-cultural communication skills and understand the strength and uniqueness of Chinese culture among its neighbors far and near, as it takes up a more confident stance under the international spotlight. Like rainwater seeps through the earth in early spring, culture brings nourishment to life in its quiet and almost unnoticeable manner. The presence of Chinese culture in a globalized world gives people of any culture more choices, possibilities, and broader understanding of the world."

Inventory of foreign media coverage of China Keywords: aircraft carrier and the South China Sea (Figure) - Military of China, force comment: "British 'Guardian,' said China’s high-profile launch of China’s official promo

is a major public relations campaign, but also to foreign citizens of Chinese public diplomacy for the object of specific actions, intended to showcase China’s 'soft the strength.'” Image from

Arkansas:Abroad Podcast - Public Diplomacy and the Press: "Mike Chinoy has seen a lot in his life. From China's opening to the west to Pakistani political instability to the seemingly regular nuclear crises on the Korean peninsula, he has covered it all as CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent. Mr. Chinoy is currently working on a documentary series with USC's US-China institute. After showing a part of this documentary at the University of Denver, Mr. Chinoy took some time to take some questions on press, foreign affairs and even share a few anecdotes."

PublicDiplomacy [:] An anglophone term for reaching out / engaging. Any suggestions for DK or FR terms are welcome - A public list Curated by Karen Melchior, Twitter entry: [Contains listing of persons interested in PD].

Melchior image from entry

Briefing on U.S. Efforts in Humanitarian Crisis in Horn of Africa - Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of State: "ON-THE-RECORD BRIEFING Via Teleconference [includes] Bruce Wharton, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy for the Bureau of African Affairs."

Preparing for the intelligent Web with Imagining Web 3.0 - "As Lee-Roy Chetty says in the opening chapter of his book, Imagining Web 3.0, 'The internet at its current growth rate and development stands to be the greatest machine ever built in the history of humanity.' But what of the future? What developments are in store, and what changes can we expect as the web develops? ... The research for Imagining Web 3.0 formed part of Chetty's Masters degree in media studies from the University of Cape Town and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

A two-time recipient of the National Research Fund Scholarship, he is currently completing his PhD through UCT and a degree in Economics with Unisa. He is currently employed by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in the South African government, in public diplomacy." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Welcoming Tourists in a Post-9/11 World: Our tourism industry has been in a 10-year funk. Here's how to make the visa process safe and simple - Edward Alden and Liam Schwartz, Wall Street Journal: Since 9/11, foreign tourists, business travelers, students and others presenting low security risks have faced the same cumbersome procedural hurdles as high-risk applicants. The administration should follow the lead of countries like Australia in deploying technology to better sort those risks.

Paying for Prokofiev: Upholding a 1994 law will force the payment of royalties by those who want to publish or perform works long in the public domain in the U.S. - Editorial, latimes.com: Misreading the 1st Amendment and copyright law, the Supreme Court last week made it more difficult for Americans to enjoy foreign works of art, including decades-old musical and literary masterpieces.

It upheld a 1994 law implementing a treaty requiring signatory countries to extend copyright protection to works receiving protection in their countries of origin. Never mind that many of those works long had been in the public domain in the United States. The effect of the 6-2 decision, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg acknowledged in her opinion, will be to force those who want to publish or perform works covered by the law to pay royalties to copyright holders, even if the price is prohibitive. Citing a popular musical piece performed by countless community and school orchestras, she wrote: "Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf' could once be performed free of charge; [now] the right to perform it must be obtained in the marketplace." That's true of all copyrighted material, of course. The difference is that belatedly protecting the works in question upsets settled expectations that they could be used without permission or payment. Prokofief image from

Stolen French artwork to be repatriated - Roland Flamini, The Washington Times: A stolen work by French impressionist Camille Pissarro is going home after 31 years, thanks to sharp-eyed French investigators and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The work, a monotype (an oil painting transferred to paper) of a bustling market scene called “Le Marche,” was taken from the Faure Museum in Aix-les-Bains, France, in 1981, then smuggled into the United States and sold to an art gallery in San Antonio, Texas.

The work is already safely under lock and key at the French Embassy awaiting shipment to France. It was handed over to a French customs official by U.S. Customs officials last week. On Wednesday, a “repatriation” ceremony at the Kreeger Museum will re-enact the handover for the media and invited guests in the presence of the French ambassador, Francois Delattre. Pissarro image from

The Cost of Free Culture: Amid controversy over attempts to thwart online piracy, a Google lawyer proposes reforms to a system that satisfies no one - Robert Levine, Wall Street Journal: Rhetoric aside, much of the debate over copyright online has less to do with what's legal than with who has liability for what isn't.

State Department Defends Leno After Joke Offends Sikhs - Dave Itzkoff, New York Times: Though most comedians hope that their material stands on its own, some additional support from their country now and then doesn’t hurt either: The State Department stood up for Jay Leno after the “Tonight Show” host offended some Indian Sikhs with a joke

that implied that a holy shrine in India was a home owned by Mitt Romney. Via ACP III on facebook. Image from

NYPD Training Included a Scary Anti-Muslim Propaganda Film - nymag.com: One year ago, the Village Voice reported that NYPD training included "a spectacularly offensive smear of American Muslims" in the form of "a full-length color feature, with more explosions than a Transformers sequel and more blood-splattered victims than an HBO World War II series." The department's spokesman Paul Browne brushed it off at the time as some "wacky movie" that was shown only "a couple of times when officers were filling out paperwork before the actual coursework began." That isn't really true! As the New York Times reports today, the film, titled The Third Jihad, was seen by at least 1,489 officers. The video goes something like this: Ominous music plays as images appear on the screen: Muslim terrorists shoot Christians in the head, car bombs explode, executed children lie covered by sheets and a doctored photograph shows an Islamic flag flying over the White House. “This is the true agenda of much of Islam in America,” a narrator intones. “A strategy to infiltrate and dominate America. ... This is the war you don’t know about.”

Putting Pakistan first - pakistantoday.com.pk: The formation of the Pakistan First Group (PFG) comes as welcome news. The group has been created to counter negative propaganda currently being run against the army and ISI, according to Maj Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi. The group has also warned against the repercussions of damaging the honour of security and military institutions as it would only weaken Pakistan.

Americanization of the World: Undeniable Reality? - 4thmedia.org: [Editor's note: This article was originally written and attached as an Appendix to the 2009 paper titled, "Critical Analysis on 'Soft Power and Global Politics'" (http://www.4thmedia.org/2012/01/20/critical-analysis-on-%e2%80%9csoft-power-and-global-politics%e2%80%9d/) Prof. Chung presented at the International Conference on “Soft Power and Nation Branding" in October, 2009 at Tsinghua University. The 4th Media, however, believes this article still very much relevant to the global issues of

Americanization/Westernization in today's world.] It seems definite now America’s sophistication of tactical language, popular culture and attractive ideas must have lured not only hearts and minds of the West but also now that of the East, even Chinese. Too apparently, China sits completely at the other end of Western hemisphere, cross over the Pacific Ocean and vast Eurasian Continents. Their histories, cultures, religions, languages and traditions are far from each other. Most distinctively, their ideological and political systems yet have vast differences. However, American language the English and its popular culture seem to have successfully acculturated a large part of the world including America’s former stern enemy states like China and Russia. Image from

China losing media war over self-immolation - Vishal Arora, Asia Times: series of 15 self-immolations by Tibetan monks since last March has thrown a harsh spotlight on China's Tibet policy. While Beijing insists the acts are "separatist propaganda" incited by exiles, international opinion is not swaying in its favor.

S. Korean charged with pro-North postings - AFP: A South Korean has been charged with disseminating pro-North Korean propaganda in cyberspace, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The prosecutors' office in the western city of Incheon said the 49-year-old had violated the South's tough security law by praising the North's communist system or its leaders. Image from

UK regulator Ofcom revokes license of Iran's Press TV, until recently based in London - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

A Message in the Landscapes - Lee Lawrence, Wall Street Journal: Despite its sweeping title, "Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution" showcases a single 20th-century artist, Fu Baoshi—painter, seal carver, teacher and art historian. Nanjing Museum director Gong Liang says that he believes Fu's writings and paintings express continued faith in Mao and hope for China's future. Fu's choices reflect, in his view, a sincere desire to help build a better tomorrow.

Anita Chung, the Cleveland Museum's curator of Chinese art and author of the show's catalog, has yet another take. "Because of the political circumstances," she says, "we cannot judge whether the artist is openly expressing himself or hiding some meaning. It is truly up to the interpretation of the audience." So perhaps Fu hoped that, by expressing ancient ideals of beauty and poetry, he could help the revolution stay true to China. Just as old masters often depicted sages and poets as tiny figures amid mountains and forests, he saw current events and players as just one more element in his vast land. As for whether he chose his subjects out of conviction or to curry favor, his motives were probably mixed; which is what makes this show particularly intriguing. Image from article, with caption: 'Heaven and Earth Glowing Red' (1964)

FAITS DIVERS

Man didn't notice 3 inch nail go into his brain - David Pescovitz, Boing Boing: Dante Antullo, 32, thought a nail gun accident last week had just left him with a surface abrasion. But the next day, he felt nauseous and his girlfriend convinced him to see a doctor.

Physicians found a 3 1/4-inch nail in his brain. Surgeons removed it and Antullo is recovering well. Image from article

January 24

2012-01-24T08:45:00.010-05:00

"a kind of Middle East Disney World under martial law"

--The US vision for Iraq, according to American diplomat Peter Van Buren; image from

ON THE INTERNET

Hearts and Minds, Originally aired 11.30.2001: "Of all the wars to win, perhaps the propaganda war is the hardest.

In this show, we bring you stories of propaganda wars past and present, by those who fought them and those who survived them." Via PR, with comment “oldie but goodie”

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Engaging a World in Transition [interview] With Tara Sonenshine - United States Institute of Peace: "USIP’s Executive Vice President Tara Sonenshine has been nominated to become the State Department’s Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy. As she awaits word from the U.S. Senate on possible confirmation, she shared her views on the state of the world, America’s role in it, and what USIP is doing on the ground to help build peace and stability. Sonenshine, a former contributing editor at Newsweek and editorial producer of ABC News’ Nightline, also served in various White House capacities, including transition director at the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. In that position, she was responsible for coordinating an interagency process to review foreign policy goals and priorities for that administration’s second term.

Prior to that, she served as special assistant to Clinton as deputy director of communications for the NSC. She has also served as a communications adviser to a number of international organizations, including the International Crisis Group, Internews and CARE International. ... [Sonenshine:] Public diplomacy is really about the intersection of information technology and international affairs at a time when the global public square has increasing influence on real time events as we’ve seen in the Arab Spring. Public diplomacy is really about extending America’s reach and security by influencing how individuals around the world come to know and understand us. It is about the advancement of our foreign policy goals through people-to-people connections in a complex, global, networked society. ... I don’t accept the view of those who see America in decline. I think we are a strong nation based on strong principles and purpose and that our strength lies in our individual resourcefulness and resilience. Hundreds of thousands of citizens from every country want to come to America and many study here every year. Our ideas contribute to improvements in health, science, technology and every facet of life. ... This is a time of incredible transition in the world and we can leverage the power of technology and increase the understanding of American values around the world in ways that benefit the U.S. and the global community." Sonenshine image from article

Public Diplomacy 2.1: TEDGlobal Fellow Evgeny Morozov argues that the US should upgrade its social media outreach - Evgeny Morozov, designmind.frogdesign.com: "American diplomats should stop trying to explain the country’s often inexplicable foreign policy in 140 characters or less. Instead, they should use the Internet

to sell the very idea of America, and there is no better way to do this than to open up the country’s vast cultural riches to the rest of the world — in cyberspace. Allowing the global public to view what America’s best universities, libraries, and museums have to offer from the comfort of their browsers must be at the heart of any 'public diplomacy 2.0' efforts." Image from article

Xi To Visit White House In February - chinadigitaltimes.net: "The White House confirmed on Monday that Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will make a Valentine’s Day

visit as he cements his status as President Hu Jintao’s successor. ... A spokesman with the U.S. embassy in Beijing told The China Daily that Xi’s trip will extend the promotion of public diplomacy that the two sides have sought in previous high-level meetings." Image from

At Broadcasting Board of Governors and Radio Free Europe/Liberty – Public Diplomacy is Public Scandal at Public Expense - Letter by Lev Roitman, Trojska 181-B, 171 00 Prague 7, Czech Republic: "At Broadcasting Board of Governors and Radio Free Europe/Liberty – Public Diplomacy is Public Scandal at Public Expense: Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is the largest and highly visible institution of American public diplomacy abroad. In its noble official mission the Radio proclaims: 'To empower people in their struggle against violations of human rights,' 'to promote democratic values and institutions,' 'strengthen civil societies by projecting democratic values,' 'provide a model for local media.' RFE/RL’s yearly budget provided by Congress via the supervising Federal agency, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), exceeds 90 million dollars. As a tool of American public diplomacy, RFE/RL has a simple overreaching goal: to enhance positive image of our country internationally. It is the same goal which Chinese public diplomacy, expensive and successful, has for China, or the Russian one, expanding and hapless, has for Russia. RFE/RL broadcasts in 28 languages to 21 countries. The impact of RFE/RL’s public diplomacy on international public opinion is reflected by multilingual foreign media for which RFE/RL should 'provide a model'. In this case, it turns monolingual: 'hypocrisy', 'betrayal of ideals', 'violation of human rights', 'lawlessness', 'double standards', 'moral disaster', 'fraud', 'cynicism', 'Guantanamo in Prague', 'public idiocy instead of public diplomacy', and so on. Short list of the ongoing international publications is enclosed. In reality, that list, due to the exponential effect of Internet, is endless. By the time you read this letter, it will be even longer. Over thirty years, prior to my retirement in 2005 as the Radio’s senior commentator, I worked for RFE/RL in New York, Munich, and Prague. During the cold war, RFE/RL was instrumental in combating communist lies and disdain for human rights. What is wrong with RFE/RL at present? Why U.S. public dollars are wasted so detrimentally to American image overseas? The answer is bewildering, even hard to believe. In Czech courts, the American Radio fights for the right to apply communist law of 1963 written to allow Soviet enterprises to use Soviet laws in subjugated Czechoslovakia. One of the overlooked relics of communist past, that law still remains on books in the post-communist Czech Republic. However, out of moral and political considerations, not a single American company, not a single foreign enterprise has ever made use of that law.

In that, RFE/RL is unique. ... When BBG spits on your common sense and your intelligence, just as it spits on RFE/RL’s friendly host country, the Czech Republic, the attitude similar to that taken by the Czech government, would not serve American interests. Shameful for America lawsuits in foreign courts should be stopped immediately by peaceful resolutions. Key to curtailing the ongoing court cases and the resulting international media coverage — anti-American but, unfortunately, fair — is in Washington. In White House, State Department, the Congress." Image from

Kind Response on Facebook from US Ambassador to Russia McFaul re US Public Diplomacy in Russia - John Brown, Notes and Essays: Pertains

to article, "U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul's YouTube Presentation From a Public Diplomacy Perspective." Image from

GSA course aims to train government social media leaders - Joseph Marks, nextgov.com: "Every federal agency could benefit from engaging more on social media, but different agencies ought to engage in different ways, said Gadi Ben-Yehuda, who will be teaching a 12-week government-sponsored course beginning in February. ... Two confirmed speakers are Lovisa Williams, a senior policy adviser at State who focuses on social media and public diplomacy, and Steve Ressler, founder of the government-focused social networking site GovLoop."

America Public Diplomacy Center - McIntire Abroad: Commerce students tell their stories of studying abroad: "At this special student networking and discussion event, we had the opportunity to actually meet up with the local Indonesian college students and have conversation with them. The event started off with three representatives from Indonesian student body giving us a brief presentation about their school and its culture, followed by Doug and Kelsey giving a short presentation about

University of Virginia in return. After that, we had the chance to informally mingle with the Indonesian students and interact with them. In general, they were younger than all of us, mostly 1st years who just started attending college. Most of the students I’ve talked to were majoring in management, especially hotel management and were dreaming about working in a 5 star hotel after they graduate. When I told one of the students that we used to stay in Hyatt Regency Hotel in Yogyakarta, she responded that was one of her dream hotels to work for. From time to time we struggled in communicating due to language barrier and cultural differences but we all figured out our own way of dealing with them. I saw few students pulling out dance moves and taking pictures together to break the ice. My trick was to ask them what kind of Korean Drama they liked to watch and what Korean celebrities they liked the most. I knew this was a good strategy because I’ve come to learn, from my past travelling experiences in Southeast Asia, that this was the best strategy, especially for girls."

But a small problem was that I wasn’t a big fan of Korean Drama, or TV in general, that whenever girls asked me if I had watched a certain program I had to act like I had and make up random stories about it. But nevertheless, it was certainly a once in a lifetime experience that I really enjoyed being part of." Images from article

MOFA celebrates the #Jan25 Revolution - Zeinobia, egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com: "The ministry of foreign affairs in Cairo is celebrating the #Jan25. It is worth to mention that before SCAF issued a decree to make #Jan25 a national day, the Egyptian embassies already received orders to celebrated it as a national revolution day. Whether you like it or not, we

achieved something when it comes to our foreign policies thanks to the #Jan25 revolution: [including that]... We managed to restore back some of the relations with the Nile basin countries, of course they are waiting for presidency elections to know the fate of our water crisis but at least we broke the ice. The public diplomacy was a great thing." Zeinobia image from her blog

RELATED ITEMS

In Battle For Hearts And Minds, Taliban Turn To CDs - Ahmad Shafi, NPR: When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, their hard-line policies included a ban on music tapes and videos. Yet now, the Taliban are producing their own CDs in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of Afghans. Since 2005, the Taliban have been mass producing CDs and DVDs featuring footage of alleged NATO atrocities and clips of insurgents battling NATO forces. The CDs and DVDs are readily available in Kabul and other major cities. In some rural areas, the Taliban operate pirate radio transmitters, with the militants broadcasting warnings to local residents and Afghan government officials. NATO has also been supporting some local radio and TV stations, but the Taliban has also shifted tactics, assassinating radio personalities who oppose them.

This month, they killed a prominent tribal leader in Kandahar who used his radio station to preach against the Taliban. In the battle for psychological advantage, many analysts believe ISAF, the acronym for the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, has largely failed to deliver its message. Candace Rondeaux from the International Crisis Group says the Taliban, on the other hand, has improved its propaganda machine over the years. "In the meantime, you know ISAF kind of sat silently. Or they frequently put out these sort of propaganda videos or commercials or radio statements that don't really connect with Afghan realities at all," she said. Image from article, with caption: Here an Afghan man arranges DVDs for sale in the southern city of Kandahar in 2008.
Via DK on facebook

Afghanistan: The Best Way to Peace - Anatol Lieven, New York Review of Books: The pursuit of a peace settlement should be combined with the discussion of a post-Karzai political order in Kabul, and with an Afghan national debate on reform of the constitution, which is now widely recognized to be deeply flawed and far too centralized, and which was never truly approved by the Afghan people. The first step to peace with the Taliban therefore should be to acknowledge their right to participate in a genuine national debate on a new Afghan constitution. We do have a chance to try to do better than the Soviets and to try to save Afghanistan from an endless future of civil war, and to establish a peace in which future progress may be possible. It is our duty to take that chance.

Do We Have to Wait for “History” to Judge US Era in Iraq? - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: America’s era is over in Iraq, and we can say this about it, unlikely to be changed by the passage of time: –The US invasion and occupation killed over 100,000 Iraqis, either directly or via the chaos unleashed. –The oft-stated US major accomplishment of getting rid of Saddam was all over in 2003. We called it regime “change” but in reality it was just regime “destruction,” only the first half of the change thing. –The government we left behind is falling apart like a cardboard box in the rain.

The US vision for Iraq– a kind of Middle East Disney World under martial law– fades just as quickly. –The US invasion and failure of the reconstruction left Iraq in horrific condition, setting the stage for additional years of suffering. Such suffering can likely fuel additional insurgency and lack of support for any central government. It is a poor legacy. –The utter lack of US planning for postwar occupation unleashed sectarian violence and enabled sectarian conflict that is playing out long after the US went home. Whatever comes of that in Iraq’s future is up to the Iraqis, but the US is responsible for letting the genie out of the bottle. We left Iraq with blood on our hands. We created or enabled problems we did not solve, and then we left. None of that will change when history judges the American era. See also. Image from

Predictions about the death of American hegemony may have been greatly exaggerated- Daniel W. Drezner, Foreign Policy: One could point to the last few months of modestly encouraging economic data, but that's ephemeral. Rather, there are three macrotrends that are worth observing now: 1) The United States is successfully deleveraging. 2) Manufacturing is on the mend. 3) A predicted decline in energy insecurity.

Why doesn’t Washington understand the Internet? - Rebecca MacKinnon, Washington Post: Washington targets isolated, static problems. On the Web, everything is connected and changing quickly. Lobbyists exert huge influence in Washington. Major Internet players were late to the game.To stay safe in real life, we give up some liberty. Online, we’re not ready to sacrifice freedoms. Washington is driven by geography. The Internet is global.

Iranian 'Nuclear Threat', Israeli Political Realism - Ludwig Watzal, palestinechronicle.com: US-American and Israeli politicians and their neoconservative extremist friends in Western Europe and the United States do their very best to provoke the Iranian leadership to react irrationally against the different terrorist attacks by their intelligence services. So far, the Iranian regime has kept cool. But Western media propaganda runs at full speed to rally the public behind the flag of war.

Especially in the U. S., it seems easy to manipulate the minds of the benighted population as was the case in relation to Iraq. The question every rational person in the West, not to speak of politicians, has to ask himself: Why do we believe all this propaganda about a nuclear Iran as an “existential threat” to Israel and the West when quite a few leading Israeli security experts and reasonable scientists regard it as a “quantité négligeable”? Image from

The road to credibility in the Arab World - Emma Heald, editorsweblog.org: How can the media regain public trust as a credible source of news, participants contemplated at the 5th Arab Free Press Forum in Tunis. After years of propaganda, it is difficult for newly-free publications in the Arab World to establish themselves as trustworthy sources of news, particularly when facing competition from blogs and social media.

'Activity of Azerbaijani scientists abroad means propaganda of country' - news.az: Executive Director of the Foundation for Development of Science Elchin Babayev said that scientists' activity abroad means the propaganda of Azerbaijan.

“If our men of science stay and help Azerbaijan, it’s reasonable for them to stay there. This help can be the formation of personnel and lobbying activity in the science. And maybe in the future, we will hold some special grant competitions for the scientific diaspora." Image from article

A sourcebook for the media revolution: Book review of Project Censored’s ‘Censored 2012’ (New York: Seven Stories Press, October 2011, $19.95) - Paul W. Rea,
sfbayview.com: As its title suggests, “Censored 2012” features two essential topics: the mechanisms of media censorship and the key issues they’ve censored. Censorship, defined as one type of propaganda, itself takes many forms: skewed “framing, slight of content and appealing to emotion over logic, among other tactics of media manipulation ….” These methods involve de facto “conspiracies to manipulate or withhold information” (p. 37). Canadian scholar Randal Marlin presents an excellent overview of traditional propaganda techniques, including the more recent (and most useful) concept of “state crimes against democracy,” or SCADs. Equally insightful is Jacob Van Vleet’s reprise of French sociologist Jacques Ellul (“The Technological Society,” 1964).

In it, Professor Van Vleet notes that “propagandists often use a combination of true and false statements in their appeals,” thereby creating “the illusion of objectivity when in fact only one side of the issue at hand is being presented.” In addition, Van Vleet indicates that much propaganda is “social,” aiming to influence a society’s lifestyle. Such propaganda, often in the form of advertising, not only promotes consumption and an uncritical belief in technology; it also encourages “individuals to believe that their society … holds the best way of life.” This leads to what Marx described as “false consciousness.” Van Vleet also rightly points to “conditioned reflex and myth,” paying particular attention to the societal rituals such as reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. These, according to Ellul, reinforce conditioned reflexes that impart excessive and exclusive “pride, patriotism and even awe” (pp. 316-19). Image from article

AMERICANA

Sphericallista.mov (video); via

IMAGE

--From

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"I LOLd."

--samael7, a grammar-savvy commenter on Prince Sparkle Pony's Photoblog

January 23

2012-01-23T14:28:00.005-05:00

"Warhol turned out to have been a devout Christian who had an audience with the Pope and received a Catholic burial at St Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on April Fool's Day, 1987, attended by 2,000 people. Who could be more Pop than that?"

--Adam Bresnick, Times Literary Supplement, reviewing "The Pop Revolution" by Alice Goldfarb Marquis (January 12, 2012, p. 18); above image from; below from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The Ambassador Effect - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: "What sort of influence can an Ambassador have on another country’s internal affairs – if at all? This is what the tough and broader question boils down to. Or should a US Ambassador in a country like Russia, China or even Syria confine his or her activities to dealing with the government in power as the best way to represent this country’s interests.

There’s been a fair amount of play in the US news media and American academia about soft power and the importance of an Ambassador’s role as the country’s chief public face or public diplomacy representative and what sort of message that individual sends or should send to the people and the government of the country to which he or she is accredited. ... Effective use of soft power ... is ... not always in-your-face flag waving. This form of high level gamesmanship should be used judiciously and appropriately depending upon the circumstance." Image from

Egypt's Parliament gets to work - Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: "It's good that the Obama administration has not panicked in the face of Islamist success, in contrast to most previous administrations which abandoned their rhetorical support for Arab democracy whenever Islamists won. I've been very glad to see Ambassador Anne Patterson and the US Embassy in Cairo reaching out to all the political forces in the last few weeks. Her meetings with the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie and with Freedom and Justice Party leaders, and announced plans to meet with the Nour Party, are the right thing to do. So are the similar high-profile meetings with visiting senior administration officials. I was sharply critical earlier this year of Embassy Cairo's public diplomacy and engagement, but Patterson really seems to have changed things for the better. There is simply no way that the U.S. could have avoided talking to and dealing with the largest political trends in the new Egyptian Parliament, especially after pushing so hard for the elections."

How the World Could—And Maybe Should—Intervene in Syria - Anne-Marie Slaughter, theatlantic.com: "If the Arab League, the U.S., the European Union, Turkey, and the UN Secretary General spend a year wringing their hands as the death toll [in Syria] continues to mount, the responsibility to protect (R2P) doctrine will be exposed as a convenient fiction for power politics or oil politics, feeding precisely the cynicism and conspiracy theories in the Middle East and elsewhere that the U.S. spends its public diplomacy budget and countless diplomatic hours trying to debunk.

If you believe, as I do, that R2P is a foundation for increased peace and respect for human rights over the long term; that each time it is invoked successfully to authorize the prevention of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave and systematic war crimes, and ethnic cleansing as much as the protection of civilians from such atrocities once they are occurring; it becomes a stronger deterrent against the commission of those acts in the first place." Image from

Second Edition of the Indo-US Printmaking Exhibition ‘Multiple Encounters’ begins in New Delhi - press release, Press Information Bureau of India: "The second edition of the Indo-US Printmaking Exhibition titled ‘Multiple Encounters’ was inaugurated here today by the Union Minister for Culture, Kumari Selja in the presence of Shri K.R. Subbanna, Acting Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi and Shri Michael Pelletier, Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy, American Embassy. The exhibition is a display of the printmaking works of over 120 artists of repute from the USA and India. The exhibition has been painstakingly curated by a joint team of Indian and American printmakers who have taken pains to select relevant works to enhance the overall quality of the display."

L'US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy n'est plus - David Millian, comfluences.net: "C'est officiel depuis quelques jours, l'USACPD est morte. Enterrée. La raison ? Les coupes budgétaires draconniennes imposées par la crise et des choix politiques discutables selon certains. Mais qu'est-ce que l'USACPD me direz-vous ? Rien de moins qu'un organe gouvernemental étasunien vieux de 60 ans et qui avait pour mission de 'superviser et promouvoir les activités du gouvernement ayant pour but de comprendre, informer, et influencer les auditoires étrangers.' Vous pouvez donc cocher les cases 'soft power', 'strategic communications', 'public diplomacy' et autres outils d'influence. Pourtant, il y a moins d'un an, l'outil reprenait du poil de la bête avec la nomination de Matt Armstrong. Consultant, enseignant, directeur du think tank Moutain Runner Institute et, surtout, prolifique blogger, tous les experts anglophones se réjouissaient d'une telle nomination. Et, croyez moi, ils avaient raison. La bonne nouvelle, c'est que Matt se remet à blogger. ... Comfluences, est un espace de réflexion axé sur les problématiques de la communication, de l'influence et des relations publiques. Mon souhait est de partager avec vous ma vision des enjeux informationnels qui émaillent l'actualité.

@ mon sujet : Professionnel de la communication, je suis diplômé en droit, en communication ainsi qu'en stratégie d'intelligence économique. Je vis actuellement au Québec." Millian image from his blog

Alhurra purchases "N2K," UK-produced program about social media, technology, internet - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

RFE/RL video shows how they "vote early and vote often" in Kazakhstan - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Catalog of international broadcasters to Belarus includes a criticism of RFE/RL - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Broadcasting Board of Governors: The Battle Rages On – USG Broadcast/BBG Watch, The Federalist: "There seems to be a conflicted message coming out of the Broadcasting: "Board of Governors (BBG). On the one hand, in the January board meeting, it appears that Chairman Walter Isaacson is amenable to compromise on the nature and extent of the reorganization of US international broadcasting assets. On the other hand, there is the agency press release of January 18, 2012 which looks to be a very public restatement of the long-intended goals of reconstituting US international broadcasting as a corporate-based model envisioned by certain elements within the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) staff. ... Here is what the reader needs to know: The BBG/IBB house is

not in order. It is out of order. Mr. Isaacson, there is a problem. There’s a whole lot of explaining to do as to why this agency is relevant to 21st Century America. Too much of what the agency has become at the hands of bonus-conscious senior officials has left US international broadcasting disappearing below the horizon." Image from

NPR and PBS Anti-Iranian Propaganda - Stephen Lendman, Op-Ed News: "Both National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting serve corporate and imperial interests. They're called public to conceal their agenda. Critics ridicule NPR as National Pentagon or Petroleum Radio for good reason. It's true as well for PBS. Calling it Propaganda Public Broadcasting more accurately explains its mandate. ... NPR's indistinguishable from other corporate media sources. It's corrupted like the rest. Consider its former head, Kevin Klose, its current president emeritus. He was president from December 1998 - September 2008, then CEO from 1998 - January 2009.

Earlier he was US propaganda director as head of Voice of America (VOA), Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, Worldnet Television, and the anti-Castro Radio/TV Marti. As a result, he fit seamlessly in his new role. ... Created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) calls itself 'a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress...and is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting.' ... Under George Bush, former Voice of America director Kenneth Tomlinson was chairman of CPB's Board of Governors. He lasted until an internal 2005 investigation forced him out for malfeasance. ... So-called 'Public Broadcasting' very much is commercial." Image from

Public Diplomacy Partnership | Tomorrow's Youth Organization - "TYO is proud to announce its Public Diplomacy partnership with the US Consulate in Jerusalem. This partnership brings American interns to participate in our International Internship Program in Nablus. As a part of this program, TYO’s interns act as cultural ambassadors for their country and engage in a cross-cultural, global exchange with local staff members, volunteers, and children. One of the internship’s major strengths is that interns are provided with the space for intercultural dialogue with their Palestinian peers everyday – both inside and outside of the classroom. The cross-cultural connections that TYO fosters seek to address the challenge in Nablus of being isolated from the rest of the world and the growing divides between the Middle East and North America.

Most importantly, our interns leave Nablus with not only an understanding of Palestinian culture and its people, but also with lasting friendships and memories. They return home with a newfound understanding of Palestine, its culture and its people, and they are compelled to share their stories and experiences with others, increasing global interest in Nablus. In conjunction with the US Consulate in Jerusalem, TYO is taking its intercultural dialogue to a new level, bringing American thematic programming to our center. Throughout the session, TYO will host library days and open days, based on American themes, for the children and youth of Nablus." Image from TYO President Harni Masri from; TYO homepage: TYO is an American, non-governmental organization that works in disadvantaged areas of the Middle East, enabling children, youth and parents to realize their potential as healthy, active and responsible family and community members.

Edelstein: Iran nuke may be more destructive than Auschwitz - Gil Shefler, Jerusalem Post: "A single nuclear bomb may be more destructive to the Jewish people than Auschwitz, said Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein on Monday. Speaking at a Yad Vashem event marking the 70th anniversary of the

Wannasee Conference, where the Nazis drew up their plan to annihilate European Jewry, the Likud politician warned against Tehran's nuclear proliferation and hinted that if Iran passed the nuclear threshold it could spell disaster for Israel." Image from

Russia persuades Karabakh conflict parties of need to raise confidence measures - news.az: "The talks on the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict between the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia are to be held in Sochi on Monday, 23 January. ...

Among the directions to build measures of trust, there is a proposal to resume a dialogue between intellectuals, scientific and public circles of the two countries. According to the news release, the idea of ‘public diplomacy’ has already been implemented, when in June of 2007 and in July 2009, representatives of the Armenian and Azerbaijani community visited Nagorno Karabakh, Yerevan and Baku within the same delegation." Image from article, with caption: Sargsyan, Medvedev, Aliyev

Encounters: A Lifetime Spent Crossing Cultural Frontiers Review -elitemodelingagency.blogspot.com: "A carefree child of expatriate parents at age 10, a prisoner of the Japanese at 16, a valued source of intelligence to the U.S. military at 19, and a fervent advocate of public diplomacy throughout his long career as a Foreign Service Officer, Clifton Forster spent his life crossing and recrossing frontiers, determined to use

dialogue, not conflict, to solve differences between nations.In 2007, a year after her husband's death, Nancy Forster began to sort through the wealth of papers Cliff had tucked away in a Japanese tea chest, and to reexamine her own memories and writings from nearly 60 years of shared international adventures. Her compelling memoir could serve as a blueprint for a U.S. government newly dedicated to building bridges across frontiers." Image from entry

RELATED ITEMS

The Propaganda of Urine - Michael Ryan, wwwbookdiplomacy.blogspot.com: The recent video of a group of Marines urinating on some Taliban corpses is morally upsetting. As the United States, we would like the claim a moral high-ground. This ground

is shaken when incidents like this occur. These soldiers have just given the enemy the last thing America needs: a new propaganda tool for jihadists throughout the world. Image from, with comment: Urine-Off eliminates odors and stains from urine, blood, vomit and more using a proprietary blend of enzymes and "friendly" bacteria. Now a USDA Certified Biobased Product!

Russian copters for Afghan army - english.ruvr.ru: Russia is to deliver12 Mi-17 helicopters to Afghanistan before the end of the first 6 months of this year, and will thus fulfill the orders of the Pentagon for the supply of Mi-17B5 military and transport copters in full by July.

The Mi copter, which is produced by the Moscow Helicopter Factory could be the trademark of Russia’s aircraft industry. It is exported to more than 50 countries in the world, including India, China and Iran. The Mi-8 and Mi-17 – an upgraded version of Mi-8, are the most popular, says Andrei Fomin, editor in chief of the “Vzlet” magazine. Image from article, with caption: Mi-17 helicopter

Pakistan rejects U.S. self-defense claim on strikes - Sebastian Abbott, Associated Press, Washington Times: The Pakistani army formally has rejected a U.S. claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense. The U.S. claimed the airstrikes were justified because Pakistani troops fired first at Afghan and American forces operating across the border in Afghanistan. The Pakistani report claims its troops fired at militants, not coalition forces. It also claims the militants were operating in a different area than the foreign troops.

Bomb-Bomb-Bomb, Bomb-Bomb-Iran? - Bill Keller, New York Times: An attack on Iran is almost certain to unify the Iranian people around the mullahs and provoke the supreme leader to redouble Iran’s nuclear pursuits, only deeper underground this time, and without international inspectors around.

Over at the Pentagon, you sometimes hear it put this way: Bombing Iran is the best way to guarantee exactly what we are trying to prevent. Image from

Column: Why U.S. politics devolves into good vs. evil - Henry G. Brinton, USA Today: Political debate in the USA is more civil when we have a devil to oppose, whether it is Adolf Hitler, Nikita Khrushchev, or Osama bin Laden. National unity reaches its peaks in times of crisis, such as World War II, the height of the Cold War and the early days of the War on Terrorism. When the threat passes, though, watch out. Because we then turn on each other.

Bureaucratic absurdity goes online - Natalya Kovalenko, english.ruvr.ru: President Medvedev’s supporters from Russia’s Big Government launched a new site late Friday -Rossiyabezdurakov.rf. (Russia without fools) where visitors can report any absurd or simply stupid bureaucratic decisions.

The idea had been put forward by Dmitry Medvedev who told the Public Committee of the President’s Supporters. that “we have so many bureaucratic fooleries in Russia that it’s high time a special contest were organized”. Now people can go to the new website to share their experiences and discuss them, says the head of the project Raf Shakirov. Image from article; via VB

Playing soccer for peace in Colombia - beta.undp.org: Created in 2010 by UNDP, the Soccer and Peace Network aims to create an open network of organizations that use soccer to promote coexistence, reconciliation and peace among children, adolescents and young adults.

Close to 25,000 children, adolescents and young adults participate in the programs offered by the various foundations, associations and institutions in the Network. Image from article, with caption: Only eleven, Kevin Dagua is quite familiar with war. At the slightest sound of gunfire, he and his family run for shelter.

Dreams of Empire – Japanese Propaganda Textiles - The propaganda textiles in this exhibition are mainly incorporated into the traditional clothing; kimono, haori and juban and more. Designed with vivid creativity they display the full pantheon of propaganda imagery over a 40 year period and thus provide a fascinating narative of the time. This online exhibition is the abridged version of the real thing which was staged at the Caskey Lees, Arts of Pacific Asia Show in San Francisco in February 2011. There were 150 pieces on display.

For the San Francisco exhibition we published a 40 page, colour catalogue with a specially commissioned essay in it by Dr Barak Kushner, Associate Professor of Japanese History at Cambridge University in England entitled The Drive to Mobilize Wartime Society in which he illuminates the historical, political and social context in which these extraordinary textiles were made. Dr Kushner is the author of “The Thought War: Japanese Imperial Propaganda." Image from

January 22

2012-01-22T16:58:00.006-05:00

"English’s emergence as the global language, along with the rapid progress in machine translation and the fragmentation of languages spoken around the world, make it less clear that the substantial investment necessary to speak a foreign tongue is universally worthwhile."

--Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers; image from; see also John Brown, "Is the U.S. High Noon Over?: Reflections on the Declining Global Influence of American Popular Culture" (2004), section on English

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Should Embassy Damascus be closed? - Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: "There are three arguments to withdraw him and close the Embassy, beyond the security concerns. First, the Asad regime is too far gone at this point for diplomacy, listens to nobody, and this leaves little room for traditional diplomacy. Second, the rapid and frightening militarization of the conflict has seriously reduced the space for public diplomacy, as Embassy personnel (and Ford himself) have few opportunities to get out to engage.

Finally, withdrawing him would send a strong message to Asad and to the world that the window has closed on a transition which includes him. These arguments all have merit, and the point may soon come where withdrawing Ford and closing the Embassy would be appropriate. But we have not yet reached that point. ... The core question, then, is whether a U.S. diplomatic presence helps create the conditions for a 'soft landing' post-Asad. At this point, I believe that it does. ... For now, then, Ford and the Embassy should stay in Damascus unless the security situation is genuinely too dangerous." Image from

Catalog of international broadcasters to Belarus includes a criticism of RFE/RL - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

USAID supports community radio stations in South Sudan - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

VOA tour includes "something about goats frolicking to be beamed to Iran" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Watch the wonders of Incredible India on Youtube - Neyaz Farooquee, Hindustan Times: "You don't have to empty your pockets to take a trip around the country anymore. The wonders of Incredible India

are now available on the popular video sharing website Youtube. The public diplomacy division of the external affairs ministry's Youtube channel called 'Indiandiplomacy', will now feature films from the ministry's archives to showcase India's cultural diversity." Image from

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Talks about the Outcome of Premier Wen Jiabao's Visit to Nepal, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar and Attendance at the Fifth World Future Energy Summit - press release, MFA China: "[Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's] activities have demonstrated China's sincere wish and firm resolve to enhance political trust and strategic cooperation with Arab nations and relevant international and regional organizations and highlighted China's notion and policy measures to follow a path of green and sustainable development, he said. And the Chinese premier's active engagement in public diplomacy and with people from various circles of the countries that he has visited has been warmly welcomed and greatly appreciated, Yang] Foreign Minister Yang Jiech] said."

Arab Spring sees rise in anti-Semitism: Ministry study finds that "anti-Semitic discourse and incitement have become more extreme and violent" since Arab Spring - Gil Shefler, Jerusalem Post: "That is the finding of the study Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein is to submit to the government. '[While] the popular uprisings in the Arab world do not represent a general change in attitude towards Israel, Zionism and the Jews it seems the anti-Semitic discourse and incitement have become more extreme and violent,' the report, which was written by scholars at the Kantor Center

for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, says. 'Charges of an international Jewish conspiracy have been a central motif in the anti-Semitic propaganda that has accompanied the Arab Spring uprisings. This motif has been emphasized in each of the countries especially by way of pointing a blaming finger towards Israel, Zionism and Jews conspiring against Arabs and Muslims.'” Image from article

New Executive Certificate - Advocacy in International Affairs Kicked Off by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and LEIDAR in Geneva - Press Release, pr.com: "The four modules of the Executive Certificate – Advocacy in International Affairs cover advocacy concepts and practice; public diplomacy and campaigning; governmental affairs and lobbying; and communications programmes. The programme is held in Geneva, Switzerland and benefits from the proximity to a large number of international and non-governmental organizations and multinational companies."

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY
(other cultural-diplomacy related items have appeared in PDPBR January 16-21)

Of times when things were better - thenews.com.pk: "Karachi[:] A photo exhibition chronicling the trail of American Jazz musicians, who trotted the globe under the auspices of the State Department’s cultural diplomacy programme from the 50s to the 70s as cultural envoys of the US, opened at IVS Gallery here on Saturday. Inaugurating the event, Kevin Murakami, public affairs officer of the US consulate, said that at the peak of Cold War tensions in the 50s, the Russians were winning on the cultural front around the world with their ballet dances and centuries-old folk songs. Then in 50s, the US State Department initiated a cultural diplomacy programme through which the US began sending its Jazz musicians across the globe.

The initiative proved to be such a success that one commentator from behind the iron-curtain remarked, ‘don’t send us ambassadors, send Jazz musicians’, added Kevin. The exhibition included photographs of jazz stalwarts like Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington in various parts of the world. The musicians had toured the Middle East, Europe and Asia, including Pakistan. Two of the pictures showed the music envoys touring Karachi. In one of them, Dizzy Gillespie is seen playing saxophone to a snake by the sea in 1956, with the trumpet player being surrounded by onlookers and a snake charmer. In another snap, taken in 1978, Clark Terry, the pioneer of flugelhorn, is seen performing with his band in what looked like a typical Pakistani ‘tambu’ at a local hotel. Jazz music is quintessentially American — a genre of music which stemmed out of the African American neighbourhoods in the early 19th century and came to the main stage in the 1940s. The recognition of jazz has interestingly been aligned to the emancipation of the African-American people in the mainstream American society. The exhibit contained more than 100 images capturing memorable moments of jazz tours in 35 countries and four continents, and would be on display till January 28." Uncaptioned mage from article; see also.

Fund and Games - Artforum: "With four keynote lectures, six panel discussions, and a grand total of forty-two speakers divvied up over two full days of heavy-duty talk, the so-called summit meeting titled 'Art & Patronage: The Middle East' trundled into London last week with no heads of state in sight but so many elephants in the room that the hosting venues—the British Museum on Thursday, the Royal College of Art on Friday—felt squeezed and suffocated by their collective heft. ... What was the point of this mingling of minds and money?

After so many hours of confabulation—Hans Ulrich Obrist on Édouard Glissant’s creolization and archipelic thought, Chris Dercon on soft power and cultural diplomacy—I’m none the wiser and I’m not alone. A video letter that beamed in the artist Shirin Neshat for a pubic [sic] service announcement, like Alanis Morissette playing God in Kevin Smith’s Dogma, did not so much clarify as confound." Image from article, with caption: Left: Curator Reem Fadda and Ashkal Alwan director Christine Tohme. Right: Art and Patronage Summit Director Hossein Amirsadeghi

Abu Dhabi Festival Announces Stellar Line-Up Of International Talent For 2012 - abudhabicityguide.com: "Celebrating its ninth edition in 2012, the Abu Dhabi Festival has confirmed its place amongst the UAE’s cultural calendar highlights by announcing a stellar programme of world-leading artistic talent. The Festival, held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, continues its commitment to showcasing the very best of the arts, with a schedule combining classical music, theatre and performing arts, jazz, ballet and fine arts. ... Topical issues in culture and the arts will be discussed through ‘Riwaq Al Fikr/The Festival Debates’. A total of five panel discussions will bring together a series of leading experts to explore diverse subjects including cultural diplomacy, arts education and the legacy of Arab heritage."

David Arkhangelski: "Azerbaijan is a potential market for armament and military technology": "Exclusive interview with Mr. David Arkhangelski, Secretary General of Youth Atlantic Treaty Association (YATA), Georgia - milaz.info: ... What do you think about frozen conflicts in South Caucasus? Specially Nagorniy Karabakh conflict. How these conflicts can be solved? - Every frozen conflict possesses threat for the regional stability. Probably the worst is their impact on relations between the states in the region.

The solution of these conflicts is the toughest task of our countries foreign policy. From my point of view solution would be unachievable without greater regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. Regional integration based on the European model, meaning greater economic interdependence and cultural diplomacy, might create the necessary base for avoiding and solving the conflict. It must be understood that it is a long term goal and there is no quick fix to the problem." Arkhangelski image from article

RELATED ITEMS

Leave Iraq to the Iraqis: The nation’s political problems can’t be fixed by the presence of U.S. troops - Christopher Hill, Slate: The notion that Iraq’s ongoing political problems were caused by America’s departure, or that they could be improved by its return, is something that only a solipsistic American could believe. In fact, not everything that happens in Iraq reflects the presence—or absence—of U.S. troops. Iraq’s political problems are of Iraq’s making, and they need to be resolved by Iraqis. Outside mediation can help. But no one should be under the illusion that foreign troops, engaged for eight years as a post-invasion occupying force, are ideal for this task. See also.

Zbig: Israelis “bought influence” and outmaneuvered Obama -- The president "should have stuck to his guns" on Mideast peace, says Zbigniew Brzezinski, former NSC advisor - Jordan Michael Smith, Salon: Brzezinski thinks the Obama administration “should have stuck to its guns in promoting a fair settlement” in the Middle East.

A longtime foe of Israel’s partisans in the United States, he says the Obama team “fumbled by getting outmaneuvered by the Israelis.” Then he gets blunter: “Domestic politics interceded: The Israelis have a lot of influence with Congress, and in some cases they are able to buy influence.” Unlike other adherents to the foreign-policy school known as realism, Brzezinski does not see war between China and the United States as inevitable. Conflict, yes, but war, no. “You can have conflicts but avoid a real collision,” he says, arguing there is only a “remote possibility” of war between China and the U.S. over the next 10 to 15 years. Via LJB. Brzezinski image from article

After America: How does the world look in an age of U.S. decline? Dangerously unstable - Zbigniew Brzezinski, Foreign Policy: Those dreaming today of America's collapse would probably come to regret it. And as the world after America would be increasingly complicated and chaotic, it is imperative that the United States pursue a new, timely strategic vision for its foreign policy -- or start bracing itself for a dangerous slide into global turmoil. Below image from article

Not Fade Away: The myth of American decline - Robert Kagan, New Republic: Americans may convince themselves that decline is indeed inevitable, or that the United States can take a time-out from its global responsibilities while it gets its own house in order. To many Americans, accepting decline may provide a welcome escape from the moral and material burdens that have weighed on them since World War II. Many may unconsciously yearn to return to the way things were in 1900, when the United States was rich, powerful, and not responsible for world order. The underlying assumption of such a course is that the present world order will more or less persist without American power, or at least with much less of it; or that others can pick up the slack; or simply that the benefits of the world order are permanent and require no special exertion by anyone. Unfortunately, the present world order—with its widespread freedoms, its general prosperity, and its absence of great power conflict—is as fragile as it is unique. Preserving it has been a struggle in every decade, and will remain a struggle in the decades to come. Preserving the present world order requires constant American leadership and constant American commitment.

Obama chooses American decline - Gale Norton, The Washington Times: "Which nation will be the world's leading superpower a few decades from now? I fervently hope it is the United States, and I have great faith in American ingenuity. But the Obama administration's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline is a reminder of why our No. 1 position is in jeopardy. ... Contrast our approach with China's. China astutely has assured its future supply of oil and other energy resources. Over the past decade, the Chinese have gone around the world negotiating long-term supply deals. The U.S., instead, has rejected an oil supply laid at our doorstep. Which nation is making better preparations to be the superpower of the future?

Iran gets the message from Washington - David Ignatius, Washington Post: The Iran nuclear crisis is far from over, but Tehran appears to have made a subtle blink — backing away from its threat a few weeks ago to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to escalating U.S. sanctions. The softening of Iran’s position followed a warning by a U.S. emissary this month that any effort to close the strait would trigger a potentially devastating U.S. response. Clearly, Tehran got the message — with a top Iranian official publicly disavowing on Thursday the earlier saber-rattling.

Germany has the economic strengths America once boasted: Germany with its manufacturing base and export prowess is the U.S. of yesteryear, an economic power unlike any of its European neighbors. It has thrived on principles America seems to have lost - Don Lee, Los Angeles Times: Germany, with its manufacturing base and export prowess, is the America of yesteryear, an economic power unlike any of its European neighbors. As the world's fourth-largest economy, it has thrived on principles that the United States seems to have gradually lost. It has tightly managed its budget and adopted reforms — such as raising the retirement age — that some other Eurozone nations are just now being forced to undertake. And few countries can match Germany's capabilities for producing and exporting machinery and other equipment, or its infrastructure for research, apprenticeships and financing that support manufacturing. Germany, with its manufacturing base and export prowess, is the America of yesteryear, an economic power unlike any of its European neighbors.

As the world's fourth-largest economy, it has thrived on principles that the United States seems to have gradually lost. It has tightly managed its budget and adopted reforms — such as raising the retirement age — that some other Eurozone nations are just now being forced to undertake. And few countries can match Germany's capabilities for producing and exporting machinery and other equipment, or its infrastructure for research, apprenticeships and financing that support manufacturing. Image from article, with caption: Vera and Volkmar Kruger, seen here in the town of Limburg, Germany, not far from their home in Elz, earn about $40,000 a year but live as well as an American couple making twice as much.

Why China Could Steal the Magic of Disney - Tamara Rutter, fool.com: At least for Disney, most people in China understand the brand and the merchandise behind it. Chinese demand is so strong, in fact, that a fake Magic Kingdom was created. Known as the Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park, the illegitimate theme park even featured Disney's familiar characters. To counter, Disney's planning to open its famous Disneyland theme park in Shanghai -- bringing the authentic magic of Disney to the heart of China. There's no doubt that China's a critical market for Disney to be in. However, the company's profits could be hurt if it's unable to stay a beat ahead of imitation retailers in the region.

A Grim Aspect of Modernity (and a Breezy Tour) [Review of GOD’S JURY: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World By Cullen Murphy] - Patricia Cohen, New York Times: Mr. Murphy wants to demonstrate how the mind-set and machinery of the Inquisition are inescapable products of the modern world that later surfaced in Stalin’s Russia, Argentina’s military junta and 21st-century America, where harsh interrogation tactics and unlimited detention were used at Guantánamo Bay. The similarities between the medieval prosecutorial strategies — play good cop, bad cop; instill a sense of futility; use rapid-fire questioning — and the United States Army interrogation manual that are chilling.

The Inquisition did not officially expire until 1870, when soldiers defied the pope, entered Rome and unified Italy. Mr. Murphy is at his best when he demonstrates the eerie resonance of the Inquisition today. More than cruelty and lust for power, the plodding tedium of bureaucracies, which take on a life of their own, are the engines of inquisitions. With their “myopic imperatives and petty ambitions and animosities,” he notes, they can deliver the wonders of the modern world as well as its horrors. Image from

AMERICANA

Horrific murder no surprise in U.S. meth capital - AP, USA Today: Fresno, California: When a 23-year-old Fresno woman fatally shot her two toddlers and a cousin, critically wounded her husband then turned the gun on herself last Sunday, investigators immediately suspected methamphetamine abuse in what otherwise was inexplicable carnage.

It turned out the mother had videotaped herself smoking meth hours before the shooting. A mother in Bakersfield, California, was sentenced Tuesday for stabbing her newborn while in a meth rage. An Oklahoma woman drowned her baby in a washing machine in November. A New Mexico woman claiming to be God stabbed her son with a screwdriver last month, saying, "God wants him dead." Image from

Ohio dad charged with putting daughter in dog cage - AP, USA Today: A man charged with punishing his 12-year-old daughter by binding her hands and feet with duct tape and sticking her in a dog cage, then threatening to electrify the crate, was being held Friday on a $50,000 bond. Police said that Tapke and the girl's brother took pictures of her while she was in the cage and that the boy posted them to Facebook. Police said the pictures were later deleted.

Guidebooks to Babylon - Tonyt Perrottet, New York Times: The truth is, for any writer who is researching a “golden age” of vice — whether it be Renaissance Venice, Georgian London, belle époque Paris or fin de siècle New Orleans — there is nothing quite so satisfying as a guide to local harlots. When it comes to American guides, the available examples are far less colorful [than European ones].

The directories of old New York are “priggishly American,” Timothy J. Gilfoyle complains in “City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920,” “pragmatic, straightforward, empirical and objective.” Even the notorious “Blue Book,” published from around 1900 to 1915 as the guide to the legalized red-light district of Storyville in New Orleans, makes for relatively dull reading. An exception to the rule is “The Little Black Book,” produced in the 1890s in the “Paris of the Plains” — Kansas City, Mo. In between generic ads (Emma Williams, “Abundance of Beauty,” and Julia Lewis, “Fit for the Gods”) are pages of rhyming verse, poems that spell out naughty words and tales of lusty nuns. Image from article, with caption: Love for sale: A Viennese prostitute, circa 1865.

THE NEW AMERICAN VACATIONLAND

Former State Department social media guru Jared Cohen on one of his facebook entries, with caption: Standing on top of Muammar Gadaffi's former house in Libya:

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"I guess I can count my lucky stars that there were no Saturday morning cartoons when I was kid."

--New York Mayor Bloomberg

"Did you hear the one about the Texan at his first Passover Seder? He was mightily impressed with the soup. 'These matzo balls sure are delicious, ma’am,' he told his hostess. 'What other parts of the matzo do y’all cook with?'

--Robin Marantz Henig, "What We Find Gross, and Why," New York Times

"We who curate our Twitter feeds and Facebook walls understand that at least part of what we’re doing publicly, 'like'-ing what we like, is trying to separate ourselves from the herd."

--New York Times Book Reviewer Gaarth Rish Hallberg

IMAGE

--Image from Ahmed Karim Soliman on Facebook, under the title "Egypt in the future lol"

January 21

2012-01-21T15:34:00.032-05:00

[The] head of kitchen services [at the Savoy was] a blacksmith's son called George-Auguste Escoffier, who wore high heels so that he could peer into pans at the back of the ranges, and refused to learn English because he feared that the language would spoil his cooking."

--Richard Davenport-Hines, reviewing "The West End Front: The wartime secrets of London's grand hotels" (Times Literary Supplement, January 13, 2012, p. 7); Escoffier (1846-1935) image from; Savoy is a region of France; it comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south.

VIDEOS

a) Graffiti Philosophy: The YouTube Video - inewp.com: "It starts out juxtaposing Bush with Obama – essentially one just took the kleptocratic baton from the other without missing a beat. Then it touches on the downtrodden and disenfranchised.

It then moves into the mass media propaganda machine, then mindless consumerism, our oil addiction, empire’s oil-centric/exploitive foreign policy, the corporate driven military industrial complex, the environmental consequences of fossil fuels, and then the evolution (fate) of man."

b) Learn Russian with Soviet Propaganda, 2 - theeasytease.com

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Ambassador McFaul Runs into Putin’s TV Buzz Saw - Ariel Cohen and Anton Altman, Heritage Foundation: "Russian state television has launched an all-out assault on the new U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul—undeservedly so, although not unexpected. ... America-bashing has become a knee-jerk reaction for the Russian leadership. In the Heritage Backgrounder 'Russian Anti-Americanism: A Priority Target for U.S. Public Diplomacy,' Ariel Cohen and Helle Dale explain: 'Russian anti-Americanism remains an entrenched and politically expedient phenomenon among the country’s governing elites. This may seem puzzling, given the rapprochement between Russia’s political leadership and the Obama Administration.

Yet the idea of 'resetting' the relationship between the two, as conceived by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, rests on the profound fallacy that the current Russian leadership and the United States share common values. From the Kremlin’s perspective, anti-Americanism is a strategic tool for pursuing domestic and foreign policy goals. It has remained this way for almost the past 100 years.' Mike McFaul, despite his genuine desire to improve U.S.–Russian relations, ran into the buzz saw of America-bashing, his past activities notwithstanding. He is the chief architect of the Obama Administration’s 'Reset' policy with the Kremlin, which aims to strengthen ties between Washington and Moscow. In fact, as we predicted, McFaul’s reset policy, betting on the wrong horse—President Dmitry Medvedev—caused the acerbic reaction by Vladimir Putin. Furthermore, it may endanger his ability to interact with Russia’s presumed next president. Most probably, this personal antipathy is the reason behind the unprecedented attack. The Obama Administration should denounce this unprovoked attack and make a strong show of support for its ambassador. However, this is not its style. The President would not stand up for his Secretary of State when Putin attacked her and accused her of giving a signal to popular protest in the aftermath of stolen parliamentary elections. Let’s hope that Ambassador McFaul would get more support than the Secretary of State. But don’t hold your breath." Image from

To Russia with suspicion - Jill Dougherty, CNN: "Just before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swore in Mike McFaul on January 11 as the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, she told the audience packing the State Department's Benjamin Franklin Room that 'Mike's reputation precedes him."'

Yet it's that very reputation that has Russia eyeing McFaul with suspicion, wary that the ambassador, who arrived last Saturday, is looking to create a Russian version of the Arab Spring. ... McFaul's closeness to Barack Obama could serve him well in his new post; Russia's leaders know he has the ear of the president. But his expertise in democracy issues and regime-change in non-democratic states could raise questions in Moscow. They probably won't be asking for autographed copies of his book 'Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should and How We Can.'" McFaul/Clinton image from article

Critical Analysis on “Soft Power and [Global] Politics” III - Kiyul Chung, 4thmedia.org: "Nye’s language of soft or smart power concept, no matter how Nye further argues, elaborates and justifies, it’s all about how to effectively get what America wants, by any means necessary! ... Nye’s talk of 'public diplomacy' seems most likely fall into the same line where those sophistications and deceptiveness of America’s 'imperial ambitions,' with specific purposes of how its 'raw power politics' could be best possibly 'hyped' would well function! ... Nye plainly argues how and what 'public diplomacy' should look like by saying, 'Other goals, such as the promotion of democracy and human rights are better achieved by soft power.' 'Soft power resources such as culture, public diplomacy, global mass media, international communications, and so on should be wisely' (Nye’s language) employed in order to 'carry out big sticks' [sic] (Roosevelt’s language) or 'America’s strategic goals to be successfully met' (the Pentagon language). In fact, Nye’s soft power concept seems to have continually enjoyed more spot lights, even when America’s hard (economic and military) power has been humbled and in some aspects defeated. Again, he’s not still honest enough to plainly admit what America has really wanted from its invasion of Iraq, by calling it 'coercive democratization.' ... Wow! It’s indeed quite surprising to realize again a high-powered figure like Nye, who is anyway considered a globally-recognized scholar and strategist, though mainstream, how far he could go with his distortions and misinformation which seem extreme! Again, this is the very example how much deceptive, divisive, and cunning American/Western colonial powers could be! Right here, Nye, like many of his colleagues in mainstream media, academia, church, and government positions, seems no different from President Bush’s arbitrariness, arrogance, denials, distortions, lies, oversimplified dualistic worldview of good or evil, Christian fundamentalism (exactly like that of Islam!), willful misidentification, misinformation, and/or finally self-righteousness."

Pakistan Taliban: "All reporters of Voice of America are our targets and should resign" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Isaacson Hails ‘Historic’ BBG Restructuring Plan - Paul McLane, Radio World: "[T]he BBG has planned, requested or is considering some big changes overall. ... [T]hose changes include a further 'sharp drawdown' of U.S. shortwave capacity outside of a half-dozen key target countries; proposed repeal of the 1948 ban on 'domestic dissemination' of content to listeners and viewers in the United States; de-federalizing some of the agency’s work; ending language services in countries that have more developed, independent media; and moving substantial news and production assets from Washington, nearer target nations.

A merger of the staff of the BBG and the International Broadcasting Bureau is already in progress. BBG has said it wants to integrate elements of U.S. international broadcasting into a single organization while preserving its familiar brands. BBG has promised 'wholesale changes' in how content is distributed. Also among its plans: to create a global news network out of its 59 language services; develop automated translation to help users; expand delivery technologies such as satellite video for China, Central Asia and Southeast Asia; explore new ways to counter Internet blocking and other forms of censorship; launch a prototype TV channel in Latin America that features 'crowd-sourced' content for young people; and place FM antennas at U.S. embassies in Africa as a low-cost additional radio outlet." On BBG, see. Via LJB. Image from

News flash from North Korea - Alex Beam, Boston Globe: "I seem to be developing a specialty of chronicling dictators and their ridiculous propaganda.

A while back, I mined Fidel Castro’s silly newspaper columns, which are not published in an actual newspaper, for their unintended hilarity. ... More recently I spent a couple of weeks listening to China Radio International, Beijing’s answer to the BBC and the Voice of America. Sample idiocy: 'Thirty-five percent of the binding targets' of the country’s National Human Rights Action Plan 'had been met ahead of time or exceeded.' Bravo. ... So what’s in the morning paper in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang? Here is the lead story: 'Kim Jong Un Enjoys Music and Dance Performance' at the April 25 House of Culture. The show, 'We Will Hold Our Supreme Commander in High Esteem for All Ages,' 'included colorful numbers like brass band and mixed chorus ‘Comrade Kim Jong Il Is Our Supreme Commander,’ female solo and mixed pangchang of immortal masterpiece ‘Where Are You, Dear General?’ male solo and male chorus ‘Song of Comradeship,’ male chorus ‘Leader, Just Give Us Your Order,’ and mixed chorus ‘Strength of Korea.’' "Image from

Letter: Letters containing propaganda are bad for American business - tcpalm.com, Kirk Kirkpatrick, Palm City: "When I was younger, I worked for Radio Free Europe, where we fought against propaganda being spewed by both the Soviet government and the most brainwashed of their citizens. As such it saddens me when I read the same propaganda drivel from Americans. You printed a such a propaganda letter from Frank DeGregory of Palm City. In the letter, DeGregory deplored the time President Barack Obama spends on vacation. Obama has taken just more than 60 days of vacation in his presidency. At the same point in their presidencies, George W. Bush had taken more than 180 days of vacation; Ronald Reagan, 110. The only recent president who took less vacation was Bill Clinton. Americans used to be the most practical people on Earth. Now we are filled with people like DeGregory, who have opinions but eschew facts. ... Americans who writer letters like this scare me. We used to be considered some of the most competent people in the world; now, persuading foreigners to buy American becomes harder as they all assume we have difficulty processing information. This lack of concern for the truth is killing the U.S. economy."

The [New York] Times and the Jews: A vocal segment of American Jewry has long believed that the paper has been unfair to Israel. Here’s why—and why they’re wrong - Neil Lewis, cjr.org: "The Israelis have always had a strong appreciation of the importance of shaping their story for the world. They even have a word for it in Hebrew, hasbara, which translates roughly as 'explanation' but encompasses a wider conception of public diplomacy. There was, for many years, no equivalent effort on the part of the Palestinians. 'People began to appreciate that the Israeli government had the smooth machine for propaganda and the other side had nothing in that regard,' said Hundley. But by the time of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Western news reporters and outlets began regularly citing dispatches from Wafa, the Palestinian state news agency, as to what was occurring in Lebanon. In March, 1988, during the first Intifada, Israel closed down Wafa’s operations inside the country. A Reuters dispatch on the shutdown described Wafa 'as the main source of information for the foreign press on the 16-week-old Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.' The emergence of something like the Palestinian news service paralleled a larger development, the growth of a distinct Palestinian national consciousness. ... Many of Israel’s American Jewish supporters say that the [New York] Times

and other media overdramatize and feature Palestinian death and suffering relative to the death and suffering of Israelis. The people who make this argument acknowledge that Palestinian casualties are usually greater but say that the Israelis killed are targeted as civilians while Palestinian civilians are not intended targets and are more properly characterized as unintended victims. So what is to be made of such statistical comparisons and efforts to compare the relative balance sheets of suffering? Any individual death, be it a Palestinian or Israeli, evokes by itself somewhere an infinity of grief. Perhaps we might begin with the idea that measuring with precision how one kind of suffering compares with another may be beyond the capacity of mortals." Image from

Comprehending the incomprehensible – Part II - Martin Sherman, martinsherman.net: "In the first part of this analysis, the reasons for Israel’s feeble performance in the conduct of public diplomacy and in countering its accelerating international delegitimization were investigated. The causes were traced to a lack of resolve to prevail among those charged with the conduct of Israeli diplomatic strategy. ... Deprived of material resources and motivational drive, Israel’s public diplomacy is doomed to anemic, ineffectual failure. ... [P]rofessionals, charged with the conduct of Israel’s public diplomacy – and who are drawn from, and interface with, these elites – cannot adopt a winning strategy. In his seminal opus, The Art of War, the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Zu stipulates '…the ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.' The battle on the public diplomacy front is no different – to win one must go on the offensive. But in public diplomacy, launching a strategic offensive entails portraying Israel’s adversaries as they truly are. If not, the public will have no way of understanding Israel’s security constrains and imperatives, and why certain measures which otherwise might seem unwarranted and excessive are crucial for the protection of its citizens, Jews and non-Jews alike. However, if one presents the Palestinian society as it really is – a society with behavioral norms and societal values very different from those that prevail in

Manhattan or

Mayfair; a cruel, violent society that suppresses its women, oppresses it [sic] homosexuals, represses its political dissidents; a society that, while not legally permitting it, at least socially condones the 'honor killing' of young women, the brutalization of political rivals, and the summary execution of homosexuals – if one presents the Palestinian society as its true, unvarnished self, it makes nonsense of the worldview of Israel’s empowered elites. ... Sadly, this is essentially the position to which Israeli civil society elites have mortgaged themselves – and their personal prestige and professional standing. Accordingly, they cannot permit portrayal of Palestinian society as it really is, i.e., permit Israel to go on a strategic diplomatic offensive. Clearly this precludes the captains of Israel’s public diplomacy from adopting a winning strategy, as this would disastrously undercut their own worldview. As a result, Israeli endeavors are inevitably reduced to defensive tactical responses, chasing events rather than preempting them, and doomed to failure. This – far more than international animosity, global anti-Semitism or George Soros – is the underlying reason for Israel’s abysmal performance on the public diplomacy front." Above image from; below image from

IMANI tops Africa in global ranking of think tanks -ghananewsflash.com/ "IMANI Center for Policy and Education, a public interest, research-driven, advocacy organisation based

in Accra, Ghana, featured strongly in the 2011 ranking of think tanks across the globe released by a joint United Nations University (www. unu. edu) – University of Pennsylvania (www. upenn. edu) team. ... IMANI (www. imanighana. org) is a public interest, research-driven, advocacy and activism organisation that works to influence government and public policy with a view to facilitating broad prosperity based on freedom, open markets, critical enquiry and an efficient and accountable public service. It increasingly specialises in public diplomacy and engagement through broad alliances with civil society and the public-spirited media (see: www. Africanliberty. org)." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Don't defend Marines in Taliban desecration video - Editorial, USA Today: The four men — and the

knucklehead who videotaped them, ensuring that the world would see this — violated a rule of war that's as old as war itself. Even amid the savagery of battle, there are centuries-old honor codes that forbid desecrating the bodies of those who fall in combat. Does it happen? Of course. That doesn't excuse itEven worse, the image of these Marines witlessly gave aid and comfort to an enemy whose greatest weapon isn't battlefield prowess but its campaign to cast Americans as outsiders who trample Islam and disrespect the Afghan people. Image from

Don't punish brave Marines - Michael Savage, USA Today: Most of the "men" in the news media — the same journalists orchestrating the attack on Marines who allegedly urinated on Taliban terrorists they killed in battle — have never even been in a fistfight, let alone a firefight. And yet here they are, piling on the real men who have the guts to go into combat against 15th century radical Islamist throwbacks.

Does Social Media Help or Hurt Terrorism? blogs.voanews.com: - A new study by University of Haifa communications professor Gabriel Weimann asserts that “…90% of terrorist activity on the Internet takes place using social networking tools,” a claim also previously made by researcher Evan Kholmann. But are terrorists winning or losing their wars in the social networking realm? Many researchers say that’s simply the wrong question. “Terrorists use the Internet just like anyone else. They use it to communicate, to share ideas, to share tactics and seek out new followers,” says McCants. “I think the Internet is particularly effective for finding like-minded people and coordinating with them.

But I am very skeptical about its utility in generating new recruits.” Researcher Kholmann, however, sees the web becoming an ever more potent tool for “soft” psychological warfare – militants boasting of accomplishments and creating the aura of a successful group that others may want to join. Whatever the most accurate view, it’s a fair bet that as long as we have terrorists operating in the real world, they will find their way to cyber-space as well. Image from article: Undated image of terror suspect Colleen LaRose, who used the online name "Jihad Jane." [Please note this is a VOA report].

On Iran NYT Introduces New False Propaganda Line - moonofalabama.org: Isabel Kershner, an Israeli reporter working for the New York Times, is introducing a new propaganda term about Iran's nuclear program. She writes: "Though Iran continues to insist that its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes, Israel, the United States and much of the West are convinced that Iran is working to develop a weapons program." "Working to develop a weapons program"? What is that supposed to mean? Since the

NYT ombudsman has admonished the paper for being to casual with references to the non existing Iranian nuclear weapon program, Kersher can no longer refer to it directly. Instead she now comes up with "is working to develop a weapons program." This phrase has, to my best knowledge, never been used in any official language and I have never seen this accusation before. What is the factual base for Kershner's assertion? U.S. and Israeli officials have loud and openly said that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. They have never said that it is "working to develop a weapons program." They say flat out that Iran has not taken any decision towards a nuclear weapon program. That is what U.S. defense secretary Panetta said on January 8 at CBS's "Face The Nation": "Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No. But we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that's what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us. ... But the responsible thing to do right now is to keep putting diplomatic and economic pressure on them to force them to do the right thing. And to make sure that they do not make the decision to proceed with the development of a nuclear weapon." Image from

Iran's Press TV loses UK licence - BBC News: Iranian news network Press TV has had its licence revoked by the media regulator Ofcom and will no longer be allowed to broadcast in the UK. Ofcom said the state broadcaster's English language outlet had breached several broadcasting licence rules over editorial control of the channel. Press TV has also failed to pay a £100,000 fine imposed last year. The channel called the decision "a clear example of censorship".

It will be removed from Sky on 20 January. Image from article, with caption: George Galloway is one of the more well known faces who presented on Press TV

Listening Post: New channel or propaganda tool? - aljazeera.com: In 2005, the Kremlin created Russia Today, or RT, as it is now known. RT is an international news channel set up to rival western news channels and to provide a Russian perspective. The network has since added two more channels, broadcasting in Spanish and Arabic. RT's English-language project is getting mixed reviews. Its criticism of Washington's political agenda is relentless and it has a penchant for off-beat stories and conspiracy theories. In this week's feature, Listening Post's Ana de Sousa looks at a channel that seems more interested in reviving the Cold War than reporting what is really happening in Russia, today.

Violent Class War Coming Soon: How to Prepare Yourself - gawker.com: Kremlin backed propaganda artists Russia Today have predicted that the United States could erupt into a violent class war within two years. "With an assumption that a strong or very strong conflict exists increasing in only two years time, at this rate 85 percent of Americans would sense a class war in two years' time," reads the barely coherent missive.

The economy is down and jobs are hard to come by, so pretty soon we'll all be killing each other in the streets. Should you be scared? You should probably not be scared. Our Soviet friends are not the only ones predicting an imminent violent class war. Some of the fringe elements of the Occupy Wall Street folks, mostly anarchists, regularly voiced their gleeful anticipation of the street wars to come. Who says ridiculous fear mongering is just for right wing Islamophobes? Image from article

Egypt's Tahrir Square activists fight back against military propaganda: Armed with projectors and damning video, Egypt's activists combat state media - Erin Cunningham, globalpost.com: "3askar kazeboon," or "military liars," is a media campaign organized by some of Egypt's most dedicated revolutionaries to combat the military propaganda aired on state television and that paints the activists as destructive thugs. Armed with projectors and damning footage, the kazeboon organizers hold impromptu screenings of films compiling photos and video of army and police beating protestors since they assumed power in Feb. 2011, spliced with statements made by Egypt's ruling generals denying culpability.

With nearly daily events in neighborhoods across Cairo and also in other cities in Egypt, the activists say they want to refocus their efforts from Tahrir to educating people outside the square. But the results have so far been mixed. In several neighborhoods, kazeboon organizers say, they have encountered paid thugs who used rudimentary weapons to attack the screenings or tear down the projector. In other areas, kazeboon is booted by local residents who say the activists just want to sow chaos in Egypt. Image from article, with caption: An Egyptian protester holds a sign reading 'Soldiers are liars' during a demonstration against the country's military rulers in Cairo's Abbassiya district. Activists are now using "military liars" as a name for their guerrilla media campaign to combat army propaganda.

North Korean tourism: it costs more than you think - Peter Hinton, abc.net.au: The death of Kim Jong-il just one month ago wasn't meant to be a surprise. For at least the last four years, images of the now Dearly Departed Leader had revealed a truth that even the North Korean propaganda machine could not hide. He was ill and it wasn't likely to be the result of a cold or a bad batch of recently smuggled lobster. While the embalmers were busy draining the fluid from the Dear Leader's body, the Western media had begun selling North Korea as the world's new adventure tourism destination. A North Korean stamp in your passport not only granted you entry to the most isolated country on Earth, it guaranteed you the title of Most Interesting Dinner Guest of 2012. ("Burma! No-one's visiting Burma anymore.

Have you been to North Korea?"). What these editors overlooked, failed to understand or simply didn't care about however was that tourism in North Korea is not a benign activity. It has the potential to literally kill. This is because a large percentage of money spent by tourists in this part of the world is channelled to the Kim regime through what has become known as Room 39. Room 39 is the name given by Western intelligence agencies to the arm of the Kim regime responsible for raising the hard currency needed to preserve its grip on power. Even in the world's last Stalinist regime, money is power and the Kims have never had good credit. North Korea stopped paying its bills over 20 years ago and its own currency, the Won, is so worthless that not even North Koreans use it. Companies supplying Kim with the bling needed to stave off a military coup sensibly demand upfront payment in cold, hard cash. Image from article

Korean Artist Connects Propaganda and Pop Art - hancinema.net: An exhibition by Mina Cheon titled "Polipop" at the Sungkok Art Museum focuses on the junction of political propaganda and pop art. Cheon is a professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art. In the middle of a wall entirely painted in red hangs "Pokeman", a picture of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il satirically represented as the Japanese game character Pokemon.

Cheon said she wanted to caricature the propaganda of the North Korean regime. "Coincidentally, the English phrase 'poke fun at' starts with the same letters as the cartoon character, so I made Kim Jong-il into that", she says. Cheon is the daughter of Kim Hong-hee, the director of the Seoul Museum of Art, and majored in arts in Ewha Womans University before going on to MICA for further studies. Originally, her works mostly dealt with philosophical exploration of the universe. It was a trip to Mt. Kumgang in North Korea with her American husband in the summer of 2004 that made her turn to sociopolitical themes. Cheon image from article

Study: IDF officers less committed to Jewish values after visits to Nazi death camps: Some 3,000 career officers a year make the trip, which is preceded by a mandatory seminar at Yad Vashem or the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum - Chaim Levinson, Haaretz: The Israel Defense Forces has been "stunned" by the findings of a new study which says an officers' visitation program to Nazi death camps, meant to reinforce Jewish and national values, has had the opposite effect on up to 20 percent of the soldiers.

The program, called Witnesses in Uniform, was founded in the 1990s and involves IDF officers visiting death camps in Poland. It was greatly expanded in the mid-2000s, under former Chief of Staff (and current Vice Prime Minister) Moshe Ya'alon. Today, some 3,000 career officers a year make the trip, which is preceded by a mandatory seminar at either the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem or the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum in the Western Galilee. Altogether, some 25,000 officers have participated in the program over the last decade. The study found that before going on the trip, officers expressed a very high level of commitment to the Jewish people and to preserving their Jewish heritage, and high levels of solidarity with the fate of other Jews. In contrast, they expressed a lower - though still high - level of commitment to more universalist ideas, such as understanding the universal context of the Holocaust. After they returned from the trips, however, the researchers found a drop in commitment to all values related to Jewish identity, including the importance of the Land of Israel for the Jewish people, the importance of the IDF's existence, feelings of national pride in being Israeli, and a sense of a shared Jewish fate. The new study was conducted by Dr. Nitza Davidovich and Prof. Dan Soan, together with Brig. Gen. (res. ) Amir Heskel. It was recently published in a book edited by Davidovich and Soan called "Remembering the Holocaust - Issues and Challenges." Image from article, with caption: IDF officers during a visit to Auschwitz last year.

Anti-Bulgarian Propaganda in FYROM Targets Stanishev, Reaches New 'Heights' - novinite.com:Media in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have proclaimed Bulgaria's former Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev to be a member of the supposed Macedonian ethnicity, misinterpreting Stanishev's words. Several Macedonian news sites, including mkd.mk, have published a "sensational" news story claiming that Stanishev, currently the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist

Party and President of the Party of European Socialists, admitted that he was a "Macedonian" during a talk show broadcast on TV on January 14, 2012. The Macedonian media who are well known for their hate speech and anti-Bulgarian propaganda sprees originally rooted in the policies of the former communist Yugoslavia, and still surviving today, misinterpret – apparently on purpose – Stanishev's words. Image from article, with caption: screenshot from a Macedonian news site with the "sensational" headline, "Ex Prime Minister of Bulgaria Openly Says He Is Macedonian".

How to Create Scapegoats and Target the Media - Martin Zimmerman, capitaleritrea.com: The Ethiopian propaganda machine gets going and suddenly the subject is no longer “just” murdered and kidnapped tourists, but rather, Eritrea being also accused of instigating a plot in January 2011, to disrupt the annual summit of the African Union (AU) in the Ethiopian capital.

A new generation of political Islamists steps forward - Olivier Roy, Washington Post: The issue is institutionalizing democracy, not promoting liberal policies. Democracy could take hold only if it is based in well-established values. Liberalism does not precede democracy; America’s Founding Fathers were not liberal. But once democracy is rooted in institutions and political culture, then the debate on freedom, censorship, social norms and individual rights could be managed through freedom of expression and changes of majorities in parliament. However, there will be no institutionalization of democracy without the Muslim Brothers.

Movie Review: Red Tails Gives Black WWII Pilots a Propaganda Piece to Call Their Own - Jason Heid, frontrow.dmagazine.com: Producer George Lucas has spent more than 20 years hoping to make a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American U.S. military pilots.

Leave it to the creator of Star Wars to turn the true story of that famed squadron’s World War II heroics into a larger-than-life myth. Red Tails plays, as Lucas himself has noted in interviews leading up its release, like some pseudo-propagandist, let’s-all-rally-around-our-boys-in-uniform picture made in 1942. War is not hell on these battlefields; war is a man’s chance to prove his worth. The plotline is dead simple, as are each of the one-dimensional characters’ emotional motivations, and the script is full of groan-inducing patches of gee-whiz dialogue. Image from article

From Government Propaganda Artist to Government Protest Artist - posted by PunkJohnnyCash: "Many of you may already know I had a career in military propaganda before I came out against the war publicly and came to embrace anarchism. Part of this career greatly influenced my embracing of non-violence and anti-militant ideals. ... I appreciate the great irony of someone trained at the Defense Information School (DINFOS) in Ft. Meade MD being able to use their tent to protest the very institution I was once a part of. There was a time when I did not want to paint or do any art with the image of a desert or a Marine ever again. I now embrace the fact that I have done so for so long, and look forward to showing off the work I have been laboring on.

Of course I have done some pieces for pure aesthetic reasons, but the focus of my painting has been on a series facing violence that is accepted in society. This is focusing on violence of police and military as well as violence against women and race. Image, "Homecoming," from article

Soviet Propaganda Lithograph - Author: Justin Tyler Tate, instructables.com: Justin Tyler Tate was born in Canada, grew up in the United States and now lives in Estonia.

Image from entry

15 Awful Examples of Christian Propaganda | Crack Two - phowi.com:

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Your Thighs On Cheese’ Billboards: More Vegan Propaganda Than Accurate Nutrition Advice - Briana Rognlin, blisstree.com: ‘Your Thighs On Cheese’ billboards like the one below are causing a commotion in upstate New York, where they’ve been posted along the highway in a smear campaign against dairy. Put out by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a vegan advocacy group, the posters are their latest hook for what’s basically vegan propaganda: Spreading the message that meat and dairy will make you fat… and being vegan will make you thin.

The group is posting billboards in upstate New York partly as an attack on Albany’s use of cheese in public school meals. They believe dairy-laden meals are contributing to the obesity epidemic, which is particularly pronounced in Albany, where nearly 63% of adults are either overweight or obese. Image from article

AMERICANA

"A study in 2002 estimated that about 80 percent of high school students were not asked to write a history term paper of more than 15 pages."

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--New York Times

MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Wikipedia is going to shut down at midnight. So you have less than one hour to get most of your facts wrong."

–Conan

"[H]e speaks in impressive paragraphs, not memorable sentences."

--Columnist Jonathan Alter, on President Barack Obama

January 20

2012-01-20T17:08:00.022-05:00

"Information is not power. ... Information is just, well, noise."

--Russell B, as stated in his blog: "Dad, freeway faculty, Iraq vet, composer of grouchy letters to the editor, Pamplona mozo. Catapulting the propaganda since 2001"; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Xi's visit to promote public diplomacy - Cheng Guangjin, China Daily: "Vice-President Xi Jinping's trip to the United States this year is expected to be an opportunity to further promote public diplomacy between the two countries, as more US citizens have positive views on China, a US embassy spokesman said on Thursday. Richard Buangan, press secretary of the US embassy in China, said preparations are being made for Xi's visit, which will hopefully be announced soon. Buangan didn't confirm specific dates for the visit. Buangan said it's important to 'keep in mind the public diplomacy aspect of a leader's visit', which is 'one of the best ways for both sides to understand each other'. Speaking at a news conference with video links connecting Chinese journalists from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou - cities where the US has embassies and consulates - Buangan said the US also wants to promote bilateral ties outside those areas. 'We seek to send teams of American diplomats to help the provinces, in the smaller second- and third- tier cities, to provide education and cultural exchanges, so that the Chinese living in these cities can also experience the positive aspects

of China-US relations' he said. ... In the 2010-11 academic year, nearly 160,000 Chinese students were studying in the US, up 23 percent from the previous year, making them the largest group of overseas students studying in the US. Statistics show that Chinese travelers spend an average of $6,000 while in the US. US Ambassador to China Gary Locke has made facilitating the US visa application process a priority as he recognizes the importance of welcoming Chinese visitors. US President Barack Obama has also initiated the 100,000-strong initiative, which seeks to bring more than 100,000 US students to China in the next five years. 'That's what contributes to mutual understanding in people-to-people dialogue,' Bungan said." Locke family image from

Inaugural Meeting of Secretary Clinton's International Council on Women's Business Leadership - Media Note, Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of State: "On Tuesday, January 24th, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the first meeting of the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership at the State Department in Washington, D.C.

The meeting can be viewed via live webcast on the Internet at http://www.state.gov/e/eb/adcom/icwbl/. ... For more information about the Council, please contact the Economic and Business Affairs Bureau’s Senior Coordinator for Economic Policy & Public Diplomacy, Nancy Smith-Nissley, at smith-nissleyn@state.gov or Office of Press Relations, U.S. Department of State (202) 647-2492." Image from

Peace Through Superior Crunk - russellburgos.com: "[Joseph] Nye and other proponents of 'soft power' have gone to great lengths to try clearly defining the concept, but from my point of view they haven't been entirely successful. I appreciate the point that if the U.S. 'lives up to its values,' other countries might be more likely to adopt policies consistent with U.S. interests, but soft power has come to mean far more than simply 'walking the walk.' Indeed, Nye himself has helped expand the concept's purview by linking it to what has come to be called 'public diplomacy.' Public diplomacy, a term that practitioners adopted to distinguish themselves from propagandists (though it is by no means clear that the distinction is either functionally tenable or intellectually valid), is often held to represent the 'exercising' of 'soft power.'

In a 2008 article entitled, 'Public Diplomacy: Sunrise of an Academic Field,' Bruce Gregory defined public diplomacy as 'a communication instrument used in governance broadly defined,' one that describes ways and means by which states, associations of states, and nonstate actors understand cultures, attitudes, and behavior; build and manage relationships; and influence opinions and actions to advance their interests and values.' ... I'm dubious of the proposition that the United States can achieve its goals -- indeed, that it can achieve any goals -- through the exercise of 'soft power.' Whatever face we put on Uncle Sam's image, in many parts of the world the U.S. may well prove to be the diplomatic equivalent of the New Coke. They may love our flava, but when they find out who we are they'll reject us because we're supposed to be the Old U.S. -- the one so easy to hate." Image from

Leave USTR Alone, Consolidation is Not the Answer - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: "Attrition at USIA [United States Information Agency] was huge after the merger with State 12 years ago: the two cultures were night and day and the pachyderm, as expected, rolled over the mouse. If I remember correctly a good 25% of the very experienced staff was gone within two years. The State Department made a travesty of public diplomacy expertise from day one – so it’s no wonder. As a consequence, the US government lacks a nimble, coordinated agency designed to improve America’s image abroad. Instead, the current operation resembles a pair of torn jeans with a few shiny new colorful patches sewn on and a strong Pentagon tilt. Because State was so ineffective after 9/11, most public diplomacy funds went to the can-do Pentagon. But here’s one little problem: selling America abroad works far better when this country’s interface with foreigners is undertaken by civilians and our tanks, uniforms and battleships are kept in mothballs - or at least over the horizon. Even Madeleine Albright, a chief proponent of the ill-fated consolidation has been heard to question whether the whole consolidation affair wasn’t a mistake. Yes, Madeleine. It was. Hindsight is often better than foresight. History is not dead and the US still needs a flexible governmental organization along USIA’s lines to tend this country’s image throughout much of the troubled world."

The Rodney Dangerfield of Foreign Policy - Bill Kiehl, Public Diplomacy Council: "'I ain't got no respect.' That was the tag line of the popular comedian of the late 20th century Rodney Dangerfield. Regrettably, the late Mr. Dangerfield's line is perfectly applicable to today's Public Diplomacy. After all, the only government entity that kept an eye on USG public diplomacy was de-funded and de-authorized in the 2012 budget. Was there a hue and cry about this quasi-accidental elimination of a low cost citizen's commission whose antecedents date from the immediate post WWII era and whose members in years past have included some of America's leading corporate and media figures?

Nope. Not from the Department of State for sure since they have always considered the Advisory Commission unnecessary and unwanted. The State Department never has welcomed advice from outside it own narrow ranks. Nor from the Congress, which is more concerned with saving $135,000 by eliminating this group and the bipartisan commission's 'advice' while ignoring the billions of dollars slipping through their fingers in other programs. The White House could apparently care less too. Why should they show any interest in a commision to which they have not even bothered to nominate anyone. Three of the members of the now defunct Advisory Commision are still on extensions of their expired terms dating as far back as 1997!" Image from article

America's public diplomacy that kills... ...especially if you happen to be Pakistani - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: "[Re] the assassination of a Pakistani reporter [in Pakistan] ... The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility and 'warned that others would be targets in the future.' Why did they kill him? He was working for Voice of America - rather, for VOA's Pashto-language Deewa Radio station, to be more precise. In short, he collaborated with the Americans - he did the dangerous yet the unwanted job on the ground to promote American interests. So, he was killed, and what did he get? A three-paragraph press release from the US Embassy, a statement from the Broadcasting Board of Governors from faraway Washington, and an article in the New York Times. Nothing from the State Department itself - not even on its much promoted blog - and worst of all, nothing in the mainstream American media (with the exception of the NYT, of course). ... This brings up a whole range of issues that should be discussed pertaining to this situation. I don't even know where to begin: America's misguided public diplomacy in one of the most critical parts of the world, complete disregard for the sensitivities of those affected, the totally oblivious American public which doesn't even get the opportunity to hear about these brave men (yes, mostly) who risk and lose their lives for what are essentially American interests... Perhaps the greatest irony in it all is that there still is a strong belief in that feeding information or dollars to the local population will help the U.S. win over their hearts and minds. Somehow, people should forget the random shootings, nightly drone attacks, disgusting soldiers urinating on dead bodies, the very presence of a foreign force... and buy into VOA's message."

The Future of U.S. International Broadcasting: A Call for Debate on its Mission and Funding - Alex Belida, MountainRunner: "With the 70th anniversary of the Voice of America approaching (Feb. 1st), it is an ideal time to assess the future prospects for U.S. International Broadcasting (USIB). ... [T]o enhance a mission of accurate, objective and comprehensive journalism, it is time to remove USIB altogether from government control and funding. I propose that a new entity be created, call it Radio-TV-America.

It would be a private corporation. Its CEO would be selected for a five year term, renewable one time only, by the Deans of the country’s leading graduate schools of journalism. ... [L]et us have a serious and more meaningful debate on the mission of USIB and whether it should be removed from government control." Belida image from

Broadcasting board seeks restructuring of management, networks - Charles S. Clark, govexec.com: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors proposes to conserve resources by reorganizing to trim overlap in its management of U.S. international broadcasting, the board announced Wednesday. Summarizing a resolution passed at the board's Jan. 13 meeting, Chairman Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute and author, said, 'the board is ready to strengthen U.S. international broadcasting in part by freeing up resources locked up in inefficient and duplicative administrative structures and reinvesting in programming. This is a historic agreement by the board to streamline international broadcasting into one great organization focused on quality journalism with many brands and many divisions but unified as one organization.' The board is preparing draft legislation that would establish a chief executive officer to serve as a central day-to-day manager while consolidating the agency's three nonfederal broadcast networks: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. It also would repeal a long-standing prohibition on domestic broadcasting of programming that, though adhering to journalistic standards, is designed to be consistent with U.S. foreign policy aims. The broadcasting board, an independent body of appointees from both political parties, also supervises the federal Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti).

It has a budget of nearly $750 million and oversees producers who use multimedia to broadcast news, debate and cultural programming in 58 languages. ... Former VOA employees now working for the nongovernmental Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting criticized the plan. 'Defederalization of the Voice of America would weaken its pro-human rights impact abroad and make it less representative of the views and values of American citizens,' wrote committee leaders Ted Lipien and Ana Noonan. 'Centralization of management controls over the surrogate broadcasters could hamper their ability to specialize in human rights reporting and divert resources from those who are the most knowledgeable about the countries and regions to which they broadcast.' Matt Armstrong, who recently left as executive director of the defunded U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, told Government Executive that 'the efficiencies the BBG is seeking are long overdue.'" Image from article, with caption: Board chairman Walter Isaacson called the plan "a historic agreement by the board to streamline international broadcasting into one great organization."

Radio Free Asia's new television program to Burma is latest entry in the USIB duplication derby - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Special Forces Get Social in New Psychological Operation Plan - Noah Shachtman, Wired: "The elite forces of the U.S. military think they’ve found a new way to sway opinion in the Pentagon’s preferred directions: a voice-based social networking app that’s a cross between talk radio and Twitter. The American intelligence and defense communities have become enthralled by the possibilities of social media. They’re looking to use the networks to forecast political unrest, spread friendly messages, spot emerging terror groups — and even predict the next natural disaster. But these efforts have generally tried to leverage existing, and already popular, civilian social networks. A new project from U.S. Special Operations Command, on the other hand, looks to create something brand new: a 'user-generated social media radio application powered by the human voice, available on the PC, Mac, Android, iPhone, and Nokia smart phones, that lets users share their thoughts and experiences.' And this voice-activated

SOCOM network is being billed explicitly as a tool for 'military information support operations' — shaping public attitudes. That’s what the Pentagon used to call 'psychological operations. ... [I]n some ways, the command appears to be following the lead of the U.S. State Department, which years ago declared that ”the very existence of social networks is a net good” — and distributed tools to promote the existence of those networks. The idea was that open communication would inevitably lead to more democratic sentiment, which would inevitably redound to America’s benefit. (Theorists like Evgeny Morozov, in contrast, have argued digital communication is easier to track and trace — which makes the networks ideal tools for social control.) And since America’s special operations forces tend to work in parts of the world where the technological infrastructure is the most threadbare, SOCOM is looking to buy up a heap of 'air-droppable scatterable electronic media” that it can litter over a remote battlefield. Those gadgets include “AM/FM broadcast transmitters; miniaturized loudspeakers; entertainment devices; game device technologies; [and] greeting cards.' That’s right, greeting cards. American military’s psychological operators may be looking at new ways to persuade. But that doesn’t mean they’re giving up the tried and true. Via YO on facebook. Image from

Beijing, Tokyo to commemorate ties - Zhang Yunbi, China Daily: "Beijing and Tokyo are planning to launch a grand opening ceremony in mid-February to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations, Japanese Ambassador to China Uichiro Niwa

said in an exclusive interview with China Daily on Thursday. China and Japan normalized diplomatic relations in 1972. Both countries agreed to mark 2012 as a year of friendship for Japan-China people-to-people exchanges, which will include the theme of 'encounters with new friends and bounds of hearts'. ... The year-long series will conclude in the winter, the ambassador said. 'Sports, movies, animation and cartoons, music and youth exchanges are among the priorities campaigned by both sides' to promote public diplomacy, Niwa said." Image from article, with caption: Uichiro Niwa said he hopes youths from both sides can enhance mutual understanding.

Rebranding Apartheid‎ - Ron Jager, Arutz Sheva: "Sharia law is the real apartheid. Let's tell the world the truth about Arab rights in Israel and Arab rights in Islamic countries. The Arab Spring and the Islamic takeover of the Middle East provides Israel and her supporters the opportunity to rebrand the current media narrative concerning Apartheid.

As usual, Israel's public diplomacy consistently misses the opportunity to expose the hypocrisy of our Arab neighbors. It is an outright lie to claim or to imply that Israel is an apartheid state, yet it is done all the time repeatedly by the Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas and other Arab leaders, and by his supporters in the United States and Europe. ... Falsly branding Israel as an Apartheid state means something more fundamental: that there is no justification for there being a Jewish state at all, based on hatred and contempt for Jews. By rebranding Apartheid and associating it with the absense of basic human rights and freedom in the Islamic nations of the Middle East, we can transform the accepted narrative to its rightful place." Jager image from article

Have Job, Will Travel: 6 Jet-Setting Career Paths - thedailymuse.com: "5. For the Peacemaker Foreign Service Officers represent the United States at embassies and consulates around the world in fields including politics, administration, economics, public diplomacy, or consular affairs (the people you go running to when you lose your passport), and it’s a great career path if you want to immerse yourself in a new culture every couple of years.

(Check out our guide.) Image from article

RELATED ITEMS

Afghanistan’s Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces - Matthew Rosenberg, New York Times: American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces, according to American and Afghan officers and a classified coalition report. A decade into the war in Afghanistan, the report makes clear that these killings have become the most visible symptom of a far deeper ailment plaguing the war effort: the contempt each side holds for the other, never mind the Taliban. The ill will and mistrust run deep among civilians and militaries on both sides, raising questions about what future role the United States and its allies can expect to play in Afghanistan.

Another Guantanamo taint: A draft order likely violates the right to counsel and threatens to jeopardize the progress made in reversing Gitmo's legacy as a 'legal black hole' - Kal Raustiala, latimes.com: The U.S., and our long struggle against terrorist violence, will be the loser if the deck is stacked against the Guantanamo defendants.

Image from article, with caption: A detainee is seen being escorted by military guards back to his cell after his annual Administrative Review Board hearing inside Camp Delta's Maximum Security area on the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Balloons carrying Choco Pie sent to N. Korea - AFP: North Korean refugees living in South Korea launched balloons carrying cakes across the heavily fortified border on Friday to help their former compatriots celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday. Most balloons dispatched across the frontier by activists carry propaganda leaflets calling for the overthrow of the North's regime.

Made in China - Charlie Shifflett, Washington Times: The slogan "Made in China" has never been more significant. This column aims to explain what China's growing influence means in the lives of Americans -- from politicians working on Capitol Hill to moms and dads raising children just off Main Street. China owns a booming economy, an ambitious space program, and mountains of foreign currency reserves. More Chinese are getting university educations and learning English than ever before in the country's long history.

No longer just the "world's factory," China is now a political and cultural force on the global stage. The country's leaders are making allies in Africa, a continent full of valuable natural resources. The country's people are exporting art, movies and media. The author's firm belief is that China should be understood -- not feared, and that increased understanding will bring increased opportunities to further American interests. Uncaptioned image from article

Movie Review/’A Separation': The astounding film Iran’s mullahs couldn’t stop: Story of family falling apart is insightful on human level, bold as allegory - Adam Mazmanian: The Washington Times: With a Golden Globe for best foreign-language film won and an Oscar nomination in the offing, "A Separation," is poised to be the first Iranian film to gain a substantial U.S. audience. Ever since its unprecedented win of the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival last February, the film — the fifth feature from director Asghar Farhadi — has been winning plaudits from festival judges and critics around the world.

It's an astounding film on many levels, but many American moviegoers might be astonished simply to learn that there is a corps of world-class filmmakers at work in a country that is ruled by a repressive and murderous regime. Image from article, with caption: Shahab Hosseini is an uneducated, hotheaded husband in “A Separation,” by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (left). The film, which won the Golden Globe for best foreign-language film, is complex and, if taken as an allegory, could be seen as seditious.

The Media Divide: Inside America's Seggregated Diet - Evelio Contreras, Marc Fisher, Kat Downs and Jon Cohen, Washington Post: The explosion of new media technologies has changed not only how presidential campaigns are waged, but how voters learn about candidates and issues. Voters are increasingly walling themselves off in information ghettos in which they read, hear and watch primarily news and views with which they already agree.

AMERICANA

Marriage: Saying 'I don't': Is marriage going the way of the electric typewriter and the VHS tape? Not exactly - Stephanie Coontz, latimes.com: The decline of marriage seems especially dramatic in comparison to the way things were 50 years ago. In 1960, almost half of 18- to 24-year-olds and 82% of 25- to 34-year-olds were married. In 2010, the comparable figures were 9% and 44%. Ironically, however, 50 years ago what had everyone worried was the rapid rise in the proportion of married-couple households, as young people rushed to the altar. The age of marriage has been falling since 1900, but it plummeted between 1940 and 1955, when the average age of first marriage for women dropped by twice as much as in the preceding half-century.

By 1960, half of all women were married by the age of 20. Today, the average age of first marriage is almost 27 for women and 29 for men, up from 20 and 22 in 1960. Fifty years ago, getting married was a step young people took on the road to becoming economically secure, emotionally responsible and socially respectable. Today, it is more often the reward couples give themselves when they have achieved those goals. The vast majority of new marriages are between couples who have already cohabited. But many cohabiting couples refuse to marry until they are convinced that each partner has demonstrated his or her economic and emotional reliability. Marriage isn't disappearing. Most unmarried Americans say they want to eventually marry, and the vast majority will do so. But even in the best of times — which these are not — we're unlikely to see people returning to early and lifelong marriage. That bus left the station a long time ago, and it's been going in the opposite direction ever since. Image from article, with caption: Fewer people are getting married, a report finds.

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"We allow no taboos in the discussion and dissemination of knowledge."

--Among the 10 draft principles offered in a project called Free Speech Debate (www.freespeechdebate.com)just launched at Oxford University

HEADLINES

G.E. Says Operating Profit in Quarter Rose 6% - New York Times

GE 4Q profit falls, sales miss estimates - USA Today

January 19

2012-01-19T14:10:00.003-05:00

“the public must be put in its place… so that each of us may live free of the trampling and the roar of a bewildered herd.”

--Walter Lippmann; Lippmann image from

REPORT

EducationUSA Global Social Media Presence: January 2012

SYMPOSIUM

Feasibility of Metrics in Public Diplomacy: Why and What (January 25, Heritage Foundation)

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Locke: China Is A Country Of Great Contrasts - npr.org: "LOCKE [Gary Locke, Washington's ambassador to Beijing]: "The human rights record within China seems to rise and fall over time, but it's very clear that in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and since then, there's been a greater intolerance of dissent and the human rights record of China has been going in the wrong direction. And we deal with the human rights issue, as an embassy, on a daily basis in terms of diplomacy with the Chinese officials, public diplomacy, public statements, supporting human rights activists and dissenters; as well as meeting with individual groups and churches

and lawyers, and people who in fact have felt the brunt of the crackdown and the intolerance of dissent. We're very concerned about this, because we, as a country, feel very strongly about human rights which are universal human rights. But let me just say that there's a growing ability within the people of China to still talk about these things using social media, the Internet. And while the Chinese may try to censor and limit and block a lot of these activities and discussions, the people themselves are generally one step ahead." Locke image from

In D.C., China builds a news hub to help polish its global image - Paul Farhi, Washington Post: "In a downtown D.C. office building hard by a Starbucks and a busy construction site, China’s most ambitious effort to become a global power in English-language TV news is literally taking shape. For months, Chinese and American workers have been constructing a multi-floor TV studio complex on New York Avenue NW. Within a few weeks, China Central Television

CCTV) — the nation’s state-run international broadcaster — intends to originate news broadcasts produced by a staff of more than 60 journalists hired in recent weeks from NBC, Bloomberg TV, Fox News and other Western news organizations. The new Washington operation, its managers say, will be a hub of CCTV’s global news-gathering operations as the network launches a major expansion outside China to compete with international broadcasters such as CNN, the BBC and al-Jazeera. China watchers see an even larger aim in China’s multimillion-dollar investment in Washington: capturing the attention and perhaps the hearts and minds of viewers throughout the United States and the Western Hemisphere. China’s ambition, they say, is to use news reporting and cultural programming to advance its 'soft power,' or cultural influence, making it commensurate with the nation’s growing economic might. ... CCTV could face some of the same resistance in the United States that has hobbled al-Jazeera English, the English-language offshoot of the Arabic-language network. Since its founding in 2006, AJE has struggled to gain widespread distribution on cable and satellite TV systems throughout the United States." Image from

Why China Is Weak on Soft Power - Joseph Nye, Jr., New York Times: "China has always had an attractive traditional culture, and now it has created several hundred Confucius Institutes around the world to teach its language and culture. The enrollment of foreign students in China has increased from 36,000 a decade ago to at least 240,000 in 2010, and while the Voice of America was cutting its Chinese broadcasts, China Radio International was increasing its broadcasts in English to 24 hours a day. ... But for all its efforts, China has had a limited return on its investment. A recent BBC poll shows that opinions of China’s influence are positive in much of Africa and Latin America, but predominantly negative in the United States and Europe, as well as in India, Japan and South Korea. A poll taken in Asia after the Beijing Olympics found that China’s charm offensive had been ineffective. ... The development of soft power need not be a zero sum game. All countries can gain from finding attraction in one anothers’ cultures. But for China to succeed, it will need to unleash the talents of its civil society. Unfortunately, that does not seem about to happen soon."

China’s diplomacy in 2011 digital micro press releases and public diplomacy - 3abc.net: "Xinhua Beijing January 19 (Reporter Liaolei) 2011, by doing activities related to national leaders of great journalism, press release start a new mechanism to hold special briefing and the

'Blue Room Forum', established 'Foreign PHS' microblogging and 'diplomatic service station' radio program, to enhance communication with the community, organizational gathering activities of foreign correspondents in China, etc., China’s foreign press and public diplomacy has made new progress and breakthroughs." Image from

Decline ‘Friend’ Request: Social Media Meets 21st Century Statecraft in Latin America - Cyril Mychalejko, "While the positive contributions of technology to social movements and uprisings have been been amply noted, if not overstated, more attention needs to be paid to the intrinsic dangers looming in the co-optation of this technology-driven networking, specifically by Washington, but by other repressive governments as well. ... Judith McHale, former under secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department, gave ... [an] honest assessment in March 2011 of what’s driving the State Department’s new initiative, stripped of the flowery and misleading language of freedom and democracy. 'New media and connective technologies enhance our ability to listen…Social media provides new ways for us to keep our ear to the ground,' said McHale. 'Of course, we are not interested in developing social media platforms for the sake of having them. We are interested in applying social media to promote our strategic objectives in the Americas.' ... [I]f Washington approaches Latin American governments with aid for internet infrastructure and training, citizens and governments should approach this as a very loaded Trojan Horse."

EducationUSA and the Social Media Wave Roll On - Marty Bennett, marketingeducationusa.blogspot.com: "Back in early 2009, EducationUSA launched four main social media channels focusing on global audiences: our global Facebook page, two Twitter feeds (one for students @EdUSAupdates, one for the U.S. higher education community @EdUSAtips), and our YouTube Channel. We always knew YouTube would be popular, but Facebook really surprised us. ... Recently, a Mashable.com article shared how significantly the U.S. State Department has adopted social media as an essential public diplomacy tool.

I can happily report that in the last three years, our network of EducationUSA Advising Centers have truly adopted social media as a core part of their work. I encourage my higher ed colleagues in the States looking to connect with our centers via social media to review our 2012 EducationUSA Global Social Media Presence report with links to all the available centers' pages, groups, and profiles on Facebook, YouTube Channels, and Twitter feeds." Image from article

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named U.S. global cultural ambassador - Rene Lynch, latimesblogs.latimes.com: "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA Hall of Famer and Laker legend who continues to reign as the league's all-time leading scorer, transcends basketball with his latest gig: global cultural ambassador. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the appointment Wednesday, tasking Abdul-Jabbar with engaging young people worldwide and 'using people-to-people diplomacy as a means to create opportunities for greater understanding.' First up is a trip to Brazil, where Abdul-Jabbar 'will lead conversations with young people on the importance of education, social and racial tolerance, cultural understanding, and using sports as a means of empowerment,' according to the secretary of State's website.

And, of course, there will be basketball clinics. Compare that with Abdul-Jabbar's website, where he says he is honored for the appointment and adds: 'My first assignment will be in Brazil, a country that I’m thrilled to visit. The culture there is so vibrant and engaging. I’m a big jazz fan and Brazilian jazz is a very popular part of the nation's cultural profile. I think I’ll get a chance to sample some of the current jazz on this trip. And of course there’s basketball. I’ll be involved putting on some clinics for the local hoopsters! All in all this is going to be a fun and exciting trip both educationally and culturally.'" Uncaptioned image from article

Time to Admit Poland into the Visa Waiver Program - Jessica Zuckerman, blog.heritage.org: "Senator Mark Kirk (R–IL) and Congressman Mike Quigley (R–IL) returned from a four-day trip to Poland this week. The bipartisan pair made the journey to discuss an important topic in U.S.–Polish relations: admitting Poland into the Visa Waiver Program. Under the Visa Waiver Program, visitors from friendly member nations are able to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa. To ensure that dangerous individuals do not enter the United States through the program, a visitor must first submit information through the program’s online portal, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). Once vetted and cleared, a traveler is then pre-approved for visa-free travel for up to two years. Since its inception in 1986, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) has reduced the workload on U.S. consulate offices while encouraging travel to and tourism in the United States. The program also offers tremendous benefits in terms of economics, public diplomacy, and national security. In 2008 alone, nearly 17 million visitors entered the United States, spending more than $100 billion in U.S. restaurants, hotels, and shops. These visitors not only infuse much-needed money into the U.S. economy, but they also carry home with them their experiences and perceptions of American culture, helping to improve America’s image throughout the world. Likewise, security measures added since the program’s inception have made it an important counterterrorism tool."

Statement of Criticism on Jaipur Literature Festival - bargad.org: "US Congress ... recommended the passage of the US Information and Educational Exchange Act on January 27, 1948 [and] declared that 'truth can be a powerful weapon'. ... [T]he amendments to the US Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1972 in July 2010 ... banned disseminating within the USA any 'information about the United States, its people, and its policies' prepared for dissemination abroad with the aim to engage in a global struggle for minds and wills to bolster its 'strategic communications and public diplomacy capacity on all fronts and mediums – especially online[.] This reveals that US government’s relationship with the non US citizens is

not healthy . ... US government institutions like American Centre[s] ... have failed to reveal as to why there are some 702 military installations of world’s super power throughout the world in 132 countries along with 8,000 active and operational nuclear warheads." Image from

Nation Building in Laos - Yale Richmond, American Diplomacy: "I arrived in Laos in June 1954 one month after the fall of Dien Bien Phu. The US mission was to support the Lao government in its efforts to prevent an insurgent movement, the pro-Communist Pathet Lao, from taking over the country. But most of the Lao people did not know that they lived in a sovereign state. Information about Laos and the rest of the world was sparse. The Lao government operated a few low-power radio stations and published a daily information bulletin in Lao and French, based on the Agence France Presse (AFP) wire service, but illiteracy was high and the reach of the radio and print media did not extend beyond the few provincial cities. Radio broadcasts from Thailand could be received but the low-cost transistor radio had not yet come to Laos. The term 'nation building' had not yet been coined and we had no example to follow, but over the next two years my colleague Ted Tanen and I accomplished a few major achievements in Public Diplomacy. First, we began publication of a Lao-language edition of USIA’s monthly photo magazine, Free World . ... Next, we produced a monthly Lao-language newsreel highlighting news of the Lao government, the royal family, and US assistance to Laos. ... And third, we distributed large colorful posters with a photo of the Buddha and the Lao king . ... Having just completed five years as a cultural officer in Germany, not a typical Foreign Service assignment in those years, I was looking forward to a real Foreign Service posting. Little did I realize that Laos would be as atypical as Germany, but much more dangerous and far less comfortable."

Interweaving of Public Diplomacy and U.S. International Broadcasting: A Historical Analysis - Ted Lipien, American Diplomacy: "With the current efforts by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to de-federalize the Voice of America, it may be worthwhile to look at the history of the gradual divorce between public diplomacy and U.S. international broadcasting over the past several decades. Relying on my own perspective as a VOA journalist employed by the United States Information Agency (USIA)

to broadcast radio programs to Poland during the Cold War, this article describes the disappearing links between the two cultures in frequent conflict with one another but also successfully working in tandem to advance U.S. interests and support for human rights. ... While some VOA journalists may think that it would be better to have a complete separation between broadcasting and public diplomacy, political realities dictate that they themselves can only be effective and supported with public funds if U.S. international broadcasting is to some degree linked to the foreign policy and national security parts of the U.S. Government. ... U.S. ambassadors and other State Department officials should not exercise a veto power over what goes on the air. But a complete divorce of U.S. international broadcasting from the experience of the U.S. Government’s foreign affairs community is politically unwise and will not be good for America or the world." See also. Image from

All Quiet on the Western Front: 2012 Challenges and Opportunities in the Five-Year Strategic Plan for U.S. International Broadcasting - Alan L. Heil Jr., American Diplomacy: "Content is king, and credibility will continue to be the North Star of U.S. international broadcasting program producers

and reporters in every region of the world and in the United States. ... [A]ccurate, objective journalism produced at the broadcaster level is what matters most and empowers listeners in a wide range of settings . ... Congress, after all, has termed U.S. international broadcasting a national security function. It, along with the administration, the BBG, and the networks themselves, can and must master the challenges." Heil image from

VOA Deewa Radio reporter shot and killed near Peshawar (updated) - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

English subtitles now available with VOA Persian News Network's popular "Parazit" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Parliament’s review to help reset ties: Sherry - Anwar Iqbal, dawn.com: “Ambassador Sherry Rehman, who presented her credentials to US President Barack Obama on Wednesday. ... 'We need to see the Pakistani community in the US as a key resource to mobilising opinion in Pakistan’s favour, and they will be our first line of public diplomacy and outreach here in Washington.

Strengthening and broadening the bilateral relationship, setting it on a firmer, more equitable footing, and educating the people of both countries to better understand each other and to advance Pakistan’s goals would remain my key priorities in Washington[.]'” Rehman image from article

Soft power: It's culture war for India and China: China spends billions of dollars on soft power, but India's press is free - Jason Overdorf, globalpost.com: Soft power seems to be the new mantra for

India and China, as the long-running diplomatic tiff between Asia's two largest powers cools down. But this a contest that India can win with its bureaucrats tied behind its back. ... [B]ecause India allows its vibrant, free press to hammer the government, the opposition, big business, big religion and everybody else, it hardly takes any flak for its myriad failures. ... That's more important than you may think. For one thing, it's allowed India's 'public diplomacy' wing to branch out into social media, hoping that its Facebook friends and twitter followers will do for the government what it can't do for itself. It doesn't need to control the message. But that's not because it hasn't done or doesn't do anything wrong, but because it has always let its own people air its dirty laundry and fight for change (often with less results than achieved in China, ironically)." Image from

Q and A with Craigslist founder and veterans advocate Craig Newmark - Bill Murphy Jr.- stripes.com: "In 1994, programmer and self-described 'nerd' Craig Newmark started an email distribution list. He wrote about things to do in San Francisco and other items he found interesting.

The distro took off and eventually evolved into Craigslist. More recently, Newmark has spent time promoting charitable causes that he finds compelling, including veterans’ issues (along with public diplomacy and opposing the SOPA and PIPA acts)." Image from article, with caption: Craigslist founder Craig Newmark is working with veterans groups to raise awareness for various issues affecting the vet community.

Meeting Mayors, Cordray Continues Public Diplomacy - netbranchnews.com: "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray pledged to work with mayors and city governments Wednesday, continuing a tour of the nation's cities and industry sectors he started earlier this month to make introductions and allies."

RELATED ITEMS

Study abroad is necessity, not luxury - Rick Steves, USA Today: American college students understand the value of study abroad. Four out of every five first-year students aspire to study overseas. But at any given time, only about 2% of students are able to. ... The Paul Simon Study Abroad Act, currently being considered in Congress, would dedicate $80 million annually to incentivize study abroad, with the goal of encouraging a million American students from a wide range of backgrounds to study abroad each year. Is now the time to be devoting precious public funds to sending college kids overseas? Absolutely. Our world is one big, rapidly evolving marketplace. Employers crave graduates who are flexible, multilingual and comfortable in multicultural settings. Study abroad sharpens these skills and helps

keep American workers competitive. In spite of its financial turmoil, the European Union recently expanded its Erasmus Program, which helps students study abroad. That's because the people of the EU understand that globalization is like the weather: Regardless of what you think about it, you have to live with it. And when it comes to stoking trade, building international partnerships and simply co-existing peacefully, Europe understands that study abroad is a smart investment. Image from

UK admits to deploying ‘spy rock’ in Russia - Catherine Belton, Financial Times: Vladimir Putin was handed a propaganda gift on Thursday in the form of an admission that British embassy officials had deployed a fake rock to spy on Russia. Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, admitted in a BBC interview that Russian allegations in 2006 that four British diplomats had used a fake rock to transmit secret data were in fact true. The UK had always denied the Russian allegations that the four mid-level British diplomats targeted in the affair were involved in covert operations to make secret payments to Russian human rights and pro-democracy groups. But it had skirted the issue of whether or not the rock was in fact a spy gadget, with officials preferring instead to quietly suggest they would never be caught using such an apparently stone age device. High quality global journalism requires investment. The “spy rock” admission today could spark new fears for Russian NGOs. The groups are facing renewed pressure over Mr Putin’s claims that western powers are sponsoring the wave of protests that have broken out over alleged

vote fraud and December parliamentary elections and the former president’s planned return to power in elections in March. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Russian state television on Tuesday night hit out at the new US ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, with suggestions his agenda was to foment revolution in Russia by supporting opposition leaders. It targeted him for meeting opposition figures on his second day of work. Image from, with caption: UK admits spying on Russia with the help of a fake rock.

South Park: Iraq to Control Which Armed Mercs are Allowed In - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: Cartman: Those bastards! Those damn Iraqis are now trying to control which armed thugs the World’s Largest Embassy (c) and other foreigners are allowed to bring in to Iraq!

Kyle: No way dude! Image from article

Guantanamo and Its Critics: Some regard the camp as so immoral that detainees must not only be innocent, but uniquely good - Robin Simcox, Wall Street Journal: Guantanamo Bay will almost certainly outlive this U.S. presidency, and possibly even the next. Despite pledging to shut the military prison, Barack Obama clearly does not intend to do it any time soon. Yet while the president seems to have accepted the camp's usefulness, the recent 10-year anniversary of its use as a base to imprison suspected terrorists has led to a predictable glut of negative press. Some regard Guantanamo Bay as so immoral that those detained there must not only be innocent, but uniquely good. Detainees have freely admitted to terrible acts, only for that part of their story to be completely ignored in the media. The White House should push back. President Obama's administration should be far more open about the activities of all those it has detained there. This may not play well to his electoral base, but it is vital for America's overall reputation. Instead of the year in which Mr. Obama shuts down Guantanamo, 2012 should be the year that he starts defending it.

Columnist warns of new Spanish-language Islamic channels, with "no broadcasting counterweights" from the US - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: Actually, the United States has a sucessful [sic, 7:50 AM Jan 19] international Spanish-language channel: CNN en Español.

It provides the news and information that provides the anecdote to propaganda. And this for-profit, and profitable, channel does this at no cost to the US taxpaters. I think, however, Mr. Thomas is another "small government" conservative who wants to expand the size of government by adding another broadcasting bureaucracy -- one that will take sides on matters of theology. Image from

Breathing easier on Taiwan: Ma Ying-jeou's reelection lowers the chances for new tensions with mainland China. But that doesn't mean U.S. support for Taiwan is unnecessary - Dennis V. Hickey, latimes.com: Ma Ying-jeou, the incumbent president of Taiwan, has now won his hard-fought battle for reelection. To state it plainly, Ma's victory means one less headache for any U.S. administration, Democratic or Republican.

Image from article, with caption: Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou addresses hundreds of volunteers at his election headquarters in Taipei after his successful reelection bid.

China Announces More Open Gov't., Less Open Internet - thenewamerican.com: In response to rising citizen demand for government transparency and efficiency, this year China plans to defog the secretive workings of the government and ruling Communist Party, a senior official said Wednesday. "In this new year, we will adopt an even more open attitude and even more forceful policies," asserted Wang Chen, a Chinese propaganda official. The Chinese government will expand the overseas spread of state media, strengthen the presence of its spokespeople, and nourish the rising trend of microblogs to provide more information to the public. Wang indicated that emergency response systems and information about the government’s day-to-day activities will be streamlined and expanded to provoke interest and encourage public interaction. However, while Chinese officials tout a new "transparency" in government, its intrusive Internet censorship laws remain perfectly intact. In recent years, China’s Internet traffic has undergone explosive growth, with 513 million people now online and over 250 million registered microbloggers, more than any other country.

Rise up! The art of North Korea’s propaganda posters -ottawacitizen.com: Inside the Hermit Kingdom is a typically provocative show at La Petite Mort Gallery (306 Cumberland St.). Following the recent death of North Korean tyrant Kim John Il, the gallery will display 35 “large, hand-painted North Korean propaganda posters, on hand-made paper. The real thing.”

The posters were collected by a Canadian,Jean-Frédéric Beauchesne, working in North Korea, and are the same posters that would have festooned the country to help secure the Kim family’s hold on power. Image from article

Uproar over first reprint of 'Mein Kampf' - iol.co.za: Historians have welcomed news that Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” will be reprinted in Germany for the first time since the Nazi dictator's fall in 1945, just as Holocaust survivors hit out at the move. British publisher Peter McGee said he would issue excerpts from the anti-Semitic manifesto, which laid out the Fuehrer's vision long before he took power in 1933, alongside commentary putting the work in historical context. However Jewish groups were sharply divided about the prospect, with some saying McGee was playing with fire.

The book, written in 1924 when Hitler was languishing in a Bavarian prison, combines elements of autobiography and sets out his views on Aryan racial purity, his hatred of Jews and his opposition to communism. Around 10 million copies were published in Germany until 1945, according to British historian Ian Kershaw. From 1936, every German couple marrying received a copy as a wedding gift from the Nazi state. McGee said he intended to put out weekly excerpts with a circulation of around 100 000. The publisher has been involved in disputed projects in Germany before. In 2009, he caused a stir when he began selling reprints of the Nazi propaganda newspaper Voelkischer Beobachter (People's Observer) with comments from historians. Image from article, with caption: A copy of the deluxe edition of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf."

Cold war propaganda exhibit opens Tuesday at the Elmhurst Historical Museum: "Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow: Living with the Atomic Bomb, 1945-1965" runs Tuesday through March 18 - mysuburbanlife.com: The dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945 marked the end of World War II but resulted in a new threat — the uncertainty of the Atomic Age.

The new traveling exhibition at the Elmhurst Historical Museum from ExhibitsUSA explores the ways in which Americans lived with the daily fear of atomic war, and how government responded to the growth of atomic powers and the onset of the Cold War. Through period artifacts and displays, “Alert Today” shows how Americans were inundated with multi-media propaganda that warned of the dangers of atomic energy and reflected a nervous public and shifting global politics, the museum said. Image from article

Revisiting Larry Heller - Edie Adelstein, Indy Blog, Colorado Springs Independent: The Art of War is a student-curated exhibit of World War II propaganda posters and ads by Larry Heller. These works by Heller, which have never been exhibited before, were made during his time as a propaganda artist for the Army Air Corps.

Heller image from article

AMERICANA

More body parts found near man's head in Hollywood Hills park: Police discover a hand, then another, and, as they are about to end their search for the day, they find two feet below the Hollywood sign - Alan Zarembo and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times: As the sun set over the Hollywood Hills park where police spent Wednesday searching for human body parts, they still didn't have a name to go with the man's head discovered there a day earlier. What they did have were two hands and two feet.

Authorities were optimistic that the hands were in good enough condition to obtain fingerprints. The homicide investigation began Tuesday afternoon after two dog walkers in Bronson Canyon Park noticed their dogs playing with a plastic bag and went to inspect it. Inside was a man's head. His hair was graying. Police said he appeared to be in his 40s and that he probably had been dead for a day or two. Image from article, with caption: A Los Angeles Police Department helicopter searches steep, brushy terrain below the Hollywood sign, where a man's head, two feet and two hands were found.

Is Banking Bad? - Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times: In 2007, on the eve of the financial crisis, 47 percent of Harvard’s graduating class headed for consulting firms and the financial sector.

The Good Wife: Can Callista Gingrich save her husband - Ariel Levy, New Yorker: Callista Gingrich has a firm formality that can be very effective in curtailing conversations she does not wish to engage in. In April, 2010, she appeared with her husband on “Hannity” to promote a documentary they made about Pope John Paul II. (The two of them are partners in a film company, Gingrich Productions, but Callista holds the title of president. “I’m just talent—she does all the hard work,” Newt told Sean Hannity.) At the end of the interview, Hannity said to Mrs. Gingrich, who was dressed in a crisp violet suit, “He won’t answer this. How do you feel about him running for President?” She replied, “We haven’t talked about that yet.” “Not once? Not even over dinner?” Hannity persisted. “Are you planning on a long discussion about it, maybe in the near future?”

Callista Gingrich raised her eyebrows slightly and replied in the implacable tone of a kindergarten teacher scolding a six-year-old, “We’ll discuss it early next year.” Via Princess Sparkle Pony's Photoblog. Ms. Gingrich image from article, with caption: "The woman is always the grownup,” Newt Gingrich says. “I think no matter what.”