April 13

"if god really blesses america i strongly believe there is no god"

--Reader Ferry Bookelmang, commenting on the Michael Moore Facebook page citing the Salon article, "The man the State Dept. wants silenced" [diplomat Peter Van Buren; for a review of Van Buren's  book, see]; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Winds of Change: How to Deal with an Intransigent Iran - Adam Ondo, thecollegeconservative.com: "Politicians in the United States are at this very moment deliberating the best course of action to take against Iran. The options on the table are: use diplomacy, work with the Iranian public, preventively strike Iran, impose more sanctions, authorize covert actions, or support opposition groups in Iran. Since Iran will always have the ability to resume its nuclear program, the option the United States chooses needs to ensure that Iran no longer feels that it needs to be a nuclear power.

In order for Iran to turn an about-face and cease its nuclear projects, the United States must ensure that Iran feels secure. How the United States is going to do that is the question politicians must figure out. ... Diplomacy will most likely not work, because trust between Washington and Tehran is almost nonexistent. ... Public diplomacy poses the same problem that normal diplomacy does, in that engaging in public diplomacy would tie the United States hands, preventing it from using sanctions, preventive strikes, or covert operations. Addressing the Iranian public directly would also make Tehran feel even less in control, providing an even greater incentive for it to seek nuclear weapons. ... If the United States is comfortable with the possibility of a full scale war, then a preemptive strike or covert operation may be the correct measure to use to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capability in the short term. However, after reviewing the possibilities and their supporting evidence, covert operations, sanctions, and opposition support seem to be the best options if used in conjunction with each other, as the end goal should be to bring about regime change more favorable to U.S. interests." Image from

A Lasting Shadow over Libya - ‘Short War, Long Shadow’ is a comprehensive RUSI report, released on the anniversary of Unified Protector - the Western military operation against Quadhafi’s regime – that details a final assessment of the seven-month campaign in conjunction with its previous Whitehall report findings on the interim campaign - majalla.com: "Short War, Long Shadow: The Political and Military Legacies of the 2011 Libya Campaign occurred, it happened in a 'singularly unique moment where the international states, as it were, had aligned in a set of propitious circumstances'. The report further suggests that Libya

will provide little in the way of a widely applicable model for future operations, which should be kept in mind as the unfolding crisis in Syria rolls on, and leaves some troubling implications for the future of Responsibility to Protect. ... The operation raises serious questions, more specifically, on how the strategic decisions were handled and how the effects of Libya on 'NATO, on Britain’s allies, and its diplomacy, will play out as policy makers confront far more serious challenges to British security'. ... Overall, the finding that Libya is its own specific case within a set of specific circumstances remains a strong theory to conclude on. It would be foolish and unwise if not detrimental to assume that what worked for Libya would work elsewhere – and this is a notion that needs to be accepted by high officials but also by the people within the Arab world urging their own revolutions/rebellions. ... Language is persuasive and misleading. It is through such reports and research that we can expand our knowledge so as to help 'distinguish lies from facts, and propaganda from sound analysis' in order to discover the truth and raise awareness in our world so that policy is driven behind open and public diplomacy." Image from article, with caption: A Sinel Tank in Libya, Misrata, in 2011

Field of Dreams Meets Visa Waiver Reform - Jessica Zuckerman, heritage.org: "‘If you build it, they will come’—at least that’s what author Edward Alden argues in a recent Foreign Affairs article calling for the long-overdue expansion of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Between 2005 and 2010, 98 million visitors entered the United States from the 36 member nations of the VWP, which allows for individuals from member nation countries to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without first obtaining a visa. Yet despite interest from numerous U.S. friends and allies around the world, since 2008 the program’s expansion has largely been put on hold. Putting the program on the bench makes little sense. ‘By limiting the program,’ Alden argues, ‘the United States is missing out on considerable economic, political, and security benefits.’ And he is exactly right. Since the program’s inception in 1986, the VWP has reduced the workload on U.S. consulate offices while encouraging travel to and tourism in the U.S. In this way the program

helps to reduce backlogs in the continuously convoluted and bureaucratic U.S. visa system while also serving to strengthen U.S. public diplomacy efforts, promoting a positive image of the U.S. abroad. But that’s not all. Efforts to judiciously add more countries to the family of the VWP nations also make sense from an economic and security perspective.” Image from

Turn on the Global High Beams for American Jobs - Trooper Sanders, Huffington Post: "With 60 years on the throne, the United States could learn a thing or two from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. As part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, Her Majesty will dispatch virtually every member of her family beyond the seas to promote the crown and U.K., PLC. While America does not have a royal family to promote its brand, people and products around the world, it does have an untapped resource with its own brand of royal magic: former presidents and first ladies. ... Former presidents and first ladies have a potent mixture of Oval Office gravitas and pop culture celebrity that can help open doors, shift goods and seal deals for USA, Inc. They can be especially helpful in markets where high-level emissaries are helpful in cultivating relationships and conveying respect on behalf of the United States. Foreign trade missions headlining one of them could give a competitive edge to companies without celebrity CEOs, including small- and medium-sized businesses as well as women and minority-owned businesses that may face perception challenges abroad. The interest they attract on the speaking circuit and in the popular press can help highlight goods made in the USA and promote domestic travel and tourism destinations that employ millions of American workers. ... During an era when jobs and prosperity rests on a country's ability to win every customer, serve every market and secure every dollar of investment capital available, the United States can ill-afford to leave one of its greatest public diplomacy assets on history's shelf."

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye: 'Telling a Story Helped Us Figure Out Who We Were' - pbs.org: James L Bullock on Facebook re this item: "A wonderful story - about a woman from Texas who often participated in US cultural exchanges."

Nye image from

Great Moments in Social Media: Self-Congratulatory Propaganda - Peter van Buren, We Meant Well: "We are all aware of the power of social media– to bend autocratic governments to the will of the people, to inform, to entertain, to allow the Department of State to speak directly to individuals instead of governments. Powerful, 21st century stuff. Indeed, social media is so important to the Department of State that over 150 people work on just that, Tweeting and Facebooking 24/7 like high school freshman on their third Red Bull. The State Department even has a full-time person with the humble title ‘Innovator,’ Alec Ross, to embiggen this amazing set of tools which Hillary Clinton has dubbed ‘Smart Power’ and ‘eDiplomacy.’ The Australian government actually sent someone all the way over here to study the Department of State’s social media. That guy wrote ‘US policymakers have put great stock in the transformative power of Internet freedom. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, these tools will be used ‘to advance democracy and human rights, to fight climate change and epidemics, to build global support for President Obama’s goal of a world without nuclear weapons, [and] to encourage sustainable economic development that lifts the people at the bottom up.’ So with that all in mind, let’s have a peek at what the Department of State felt compelled to pass into the Twitter stream on April 10:

Wow. I wept. That is innovative, 21st century stuff, all on the tax payers dime. Jeez, at least when you 'friend' Pepto Bismal on Facebook you get a coupon or something."

The Future of Journalism, Public Diplomacy and Innovation: Five Rules to Follow - Davin Hutchins, innovation-series.com: "What does the future of international broadcasting look like in the age of mobile? Should journalists focus on providing objective information even though information is no longer scarce in the age of the Internet? Should public diplomats focus on explaining a foreign policy or rather sparking discussion and promoting free speech even if it’s critical of that policy? These are questions we ask ourselves daily – no hourly – at Middle East Voices. Middle East Voices is a newly launched 'social journalism' project hatched out of VOA English. ... We’ve come up with five rules on innovation that journalists and public diplomats should follow to remain relevant to their audiences: 1.) Don’t tell, listen and then amplify - According to our data, Middle East Voices’ target audience barely responds or comments to articles about diplomatic meetings, official statements by heads of state. If the Arab Spring revealed anything, it is that future generations don’t like being told what to do by older generations. This audience wants to participate, engage and change the system. What does seem to work, according to our analytics, are posts which asks questions, and sparks a conversation. We allow comments to be published immediately and let the community flag bad ones. All of this is in the name of listening and amplification to show we are partners in the marketplace of free ideas. 2.) Be interesting while being objective – Objectivity is the cornerstone of any journalism endeavor. But objectivity can take many forms and again our analytics show that dry, declarative prose does not resonate in the age of Twitter and Facebook. At Middle East Voices, we have experimented with crowdsourcing Twitter and YouTube data on anniversary protests in Bahrain, moderated live audio debates on Syria, published essays that were responses to user-submitted op-eds on Egypt’s politics. And we are learning that objectivity also comes from creating online constructs for a plurality of voices to flourish and to simply be good moderators. We constantly get kudos from our community for being good referees as well as journalists. Writing objectively in an engaging fashion with colorful prose also goes a long way. 3.) The conversation is the article – Journalists tend to obsess about having the perfectly balanced article at the end of the day – without question a necessary and noble pursuit. But more and more, journalists need to be more transparent in their process because the audience demands it. The long tail of tweets leading up to the article can be as impactful as the final product. 4.) Make sure your whole team is addicted to analytics – Because of the nature of broadcasting, there is a tendency to determine audience size over long periods of time with crude methods. With a website and real-time Google Analytics, you know what people are responding to down to the second. We made a decision to give real-time analytics out to the entire team so they can see how their posts resonate with the audience.

And by watching the little pings light up, story conceptualization and writing are auto-refined because writers are paying hyper-attention to data. Plus it has introduced a healthy atmosphere of competition on who best reaches our Arab audience. 5.) Think mobile and work your way out – Research conducted by the BBG on our behalf in the past year suggests more than 90% of people in the Middle East own a mobile device. Adoption rates of smartphones are skyrocketing in the Arabian Gulf as status symbols. Social media use is spiking. So when you design digital products for countries where mobile is going to pop faster than PCs did, you design for the small screen and work your way out. The team at ODDI have sold us on taking on 'responsive design' for our site redesign, where the website automatically knows if you’re coming from PC, iPad or Google tablet and resizes accordingly. This trend also underscores that content is will remain king and engaging content will triumph over layout." Image from

BBG Budget: Voice of America Slashed, Fewer Broadcasters, More Bureaucrats - Helle Dale, blog.heritage.org: "The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) recently released its 2013 budget request, which slashes Voice of America (VOA) funding by more than $17 million while increasing funding for major bureaucratic offices inside the International Broadcasting Bureau. A reprioritization is clearly necessary. (article continued below chart)

... [T]he BBG budget request reveals a continuing problem with strategic priorities. In China, the U.S. target audience is over 1.33 billon [sic] people. For this huge number of people, we spent around $34.6 million in broadcasting efforts in 2010. This works out to less than $0.03 per person per year. In Tajikistan, we spent $1.57 million to reach 7.5 million people, or $0.21 per person. We should not be spending more than eight times as much per capita on public diplomacy broadcasting in Tajikistan than in China. China’s public diplomacy efforts are rapidly growing, yet in 2010 we spent 18 times as much per capita in Iran, 29 times as much per capita in outreach to Arab speakers, and 39 times as much per capita in Afghanistan. ... Instead of increasing funding to bureaucratic offices and cutting back on VOA, the opposite should be done. Cutting back on bureaucracy and increasing funding to successful broadcasts will allow the U.S.’s message to reach more people at lower cost, which is always a win-win."

Under Secretary of State Tara Sonenshine Visits the BBG - bbg.gov: "Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara D. Sonenshine was welcomed April 10 to Broadcasting Board of Governors headquarters, where she toured facilities and met with staff.

It was her first visit to the BBG since being sworn in on April 5. By law, the Secretary of State serves as an ex-officio member of the BBG. Representing the secretary on the board traditionally has been a duty of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs." Image from entry

Voice of America [former? JB] Blogger Uses CAIR Deceits on Romney Middle East Advisers - John Hajjar, familysecuritymatters: "In her post which appeared in Middle East Voices this week, Cecily Hilleary (pictured above) regurgitated the same Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) talking points about Professor Walid Phares that Brooke Anderson of Beirut’s Daily Star did back in January. Both women parroted CAIR spin saying that 'many American Muslims have expressed concern about Romney’s choice of Walid Phares as an adviser,' but neither offered a single shred of evidence to support their claim. ... It is unfortunate that Ms. Hilleary, who worked for Dubai TV and VOA where Dr. Phares frequently appears, didn't report accurately. Her criticism of Long and O'Sullivan, the two other Middle East advisors of Governor Romney, is certainly not credible. I do not know how Congress which funds VOA will look at this biased reporting. The situation is serious as Hilleary wrote for the taxpayer-funded organization. According to MEV’s website the organization is 'a new social journalism project powered by the (US Congress-funded) BBG and Voice of America. Designed as a collaborative journalism and engagement platform, it seeks to combine investigative journalism, crowdsourcing, participatory writing and social media technology to redefine how stories in and about the Middle East should be told.' All of this bias against Phares, Long and O'Sullivan raises the specter of penetration of the US bureaucracy by pro-Islamists. Congress should investigate the real story behind Hilleary’s article along with other propaganda pieces which are funded by taxpayers."

The Annals of Chicken Diplomacy - Joshua Foust, theatlantic.com: "The government of Uzbekistan -- no stranger to the bizarre and upsetting -- recently made a truly head-scratching decision.

A new voluntary service, according to a report in RFE/RL, now allows teachers and even some doctors to receive part of their salary in Serbian chickens.  Of course, like most 'voluntary' programs in Uzbekistan, it is nothing of the sort -- and RFE/RL quotes plenty of people saying they were given the live animals against their will. The Uzbek government has distributed tens of thousands of chickens: 10 chicks per public sector employee. These civil servants are then expected to fulfill a February decree by cabinet ministers to increase the domestic production of milk, eggs, dairy, poultry, and vegetables." Image from article, with caption: A new voluntary program in Uzbekistan will pay teachers and doctors in chickens. Via PVB on Facebook

e-Dossier No. 32 - Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty - This is a collection of declassified U.S. Government (USG) documents pertaining to Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Radio Liberty (RL) – Radios which were overseen and funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) until 1971, funded there after by open Congressional appropriation, and merged in 1976 as RFE/RL, Inc. The documents were used as primary sources for the book, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty: The CIA Years and Beyond (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Stanford University Press, 2011). ... The collection

is divided into four sections: The First Years: 1948-1955[;]Challenge of Unrest in Eastern Europe: 1956-1957[;] Détente Years: 1958-1966 [;] Transition to Open Funding: 1967-1971 [;] A brief description of each document, with reference to its citation or reference in the book when applicable, is provided. Image from article; via JM on Facebook

After 80% budget cut, Radio Canada International will have no radio, no news - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.

Image from article

China reverts to Stone Age! Overseas websites temporarily inaccessible on Thursday - beijingshots.com: "At just after 11:00am yesterday, the Chinese internet hiccuped, with all overseas websites temporarily rendered inaccessible within the country for an hour-and-a-half. For those savvy enough to weave through the blackouts, rumors were abound and entertaining: the Chinese government was testing interfaces, or a switch to an intranet (à la Iran?) had been made. Or perhaps it was undersea cable problems due to the Indonesian earthquake, or a rerouting of overseas internet traffic in anticipation of DPRK’s missilesatellite launch. ... Of course, the cascading Public Diplomacy problems the Chinese government is facing will lead to much more sensationalized theories. Regardless, we suggest the government works to ensure that internet outages are dealt with swiftly, because the inability to access crucial destinations like Taobao and the Apple App Store would inevitably lead to massive social unrest."

China to boost overseas Chinese-language education - xinhuanet.com: "The Chinese government will expand overseas Chinese-language education to better cater for rising interest in China and its language worldwide, according to a speech by an official on Monday. The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council (OCAO) will cooperate with foreign education authorities to position Chinese-language education as a mainstream education

choice abroad, said Li Haifeng, the OCAO director, at a meeting attended by overseas Chinese social organizations from across the world. The OCAO will train more teachers for overseas Chinese-language education, striving to integrate it with local cultures and develop more online and multi-media teaching materials to meet the diversified demands of overseas youngsters, said Li." Via ACP III on Facebook; image from

Slain USC students' path a familiar one to school's Chinese: Ming Qu and Ying Wu were like many international students at USC: seeking a better future, studying hard, and living west of campus — away from parties but in a more dangerous neighborhood - Rosanna Xia and Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times: "Last year, Ming Qu and Ying Wu set off on a well-trod path for success-seeking Chinese. They left their native country, enrolled at a prestigious American university and plowed toward degrees that could ensure them respect — and a better future — when they returned home. The USC graduate students, focused intently on their electrical engineering program, hunkered down in a neighborhood just west of campus.

It was quieter, a better atmosphere for studying, residents said. But it was also widely considered less safe. That's where, in Wednesday's wee hours, Qu and Wu's immigrant tale ended tragically: with the students shot to death, a gunman on the lam and the university's Chinese community in mourning. Chinese students comprise about one-third of USC's 7,200 international students, a number that has risen in recent years as the college wooed scholars from abroad. So many Chinese residents have flocked to U.S. colleges in recent years that the deaths of Qu and Wu made headlines in Beijing." Image from article, with caption:  As a memorial to two slain USC students grows at the foot of the campus' Tommy Trojan statue Thursday, Brother London, an ex-gang member, leaves a card that says "We Care."

PD and pop art - Laura McGinnis, manIC: "[A]person could easily take to the interwebs in search of a k-pop or j-pop band, watch the video, and log off without any dramatic influence on his attitudes toward Korean or

Japanese policy or culture. If you're looking for evidence of the limits of public diplomacy or cultural branding, I don't think you'd need to look much further." Image from article, with caption: You're thinking about Japanese policy, aren't you?

Public Diplomacy Teaching 2.0 - R.S. Zaharna, battles2bridges.wordpress.com: "When my AU colleague Prof. Robert Kelley invited me to pop in and see what his undergraduate class in public diplomacy was up to I had no idea what I was getting myself into. For those trained in the 'old school' — that is, pen, paper and notebook — let me give you the #hashtag — #SIS419AFG — so you can review the feed of what happened in class. I was the only one offline so I have to go back and review it myself. ... For the uninitiated, this is the world of the digital natives. Having lived their lives in a post-computer, post-internet age, they [the students] do not separate 'technology' and communication. The technology is seamlessly integrated into their daily communication habits. What they learn and practice in class is how to use those tools more professionally and strategically. For this class, they are required to tweet five times per week. In class, they live tweet. Welcome to public diplomacy teaching 2.0."

The Internet age and the impact it has on public diplomacy - newblogger2012, Public and Cultural Diplomacy 1: A group blog by students at London Metropolitan University

RELATED ITEMS

Cannibalize the Future - Paul Krugman, New York Times: America used to be a country that thought big about the future. Major public projects, from the Erie Canal to the interstate highway system, used to be a well-understood component of our national greatness. Nowadays, however, the only big projects politicians are willing to undertake — with expense no object — seem to be wars.

U.S. works to define post-2014 role in Afghanistan - Jim Michaels, USA Today: The Obama administration hopes a new agreement spelling out the American role in Afghanistan after most combat troops leave in 2014 will dampen fears that the United States is turning its back on the country, officials say.

The absence of an agreement about the U.S. role after 2014 is "causing anxiety in the region," Marc Grossman, special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said during a panel at the U.S. Institute of Peace. "People don't know what's going to happen." The agreement will create a "framework" for a long-term security and economic commitment. "We're not walking away as we did in the '90s," said Gavin Sundwall, the U.S. Embassy spokesman in Kabul. Image from article, with caption: U.S. servicemembers board a plane to Afghanistan near Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, on March 27.

Iran Talks Déjà Vu: Obama gives Tehran reasons to doubt his seriousness - Review and Outlook, Wall Street Journal: Economic sanctions are always a game of whack-a-mole, and we doubt they will persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. But the Administration's unwillingness to ratchet up sanctions as far as they can go at the very moment that they're supposed to provide the U.S. with diplomatic leverage says something about the Administration's seriousness—or lack thereof. The Iranians are smart enough to figure that out.

How to Tell if the Iran Talks Are Working - Mark Hibbs, Ariel Levite and George Perkovich, New York Times: Tough and protracted negotiations undoubtedly lie ahead. It won’t be easy to assess the progress of the coming talks. But  benchmarks can be suggested: Oil prices; Access for verifiers; The bargaining issues; U.S.-Iran dialogue; Frequency and duration of meetings; A summer deadline.

World to Washington: Don’t Back the Spy Chief in Egypt - Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled View: Let the Egyptians choose their own leaders. That’s what the agitation in Tahrir Square was all about. Even the secularists don’t want Americans to save them from Sharia.

A Tormenting in Moscow: Why is Russia harassing President Obama’s new ambassador? - Leon Aron, Foreign Policy: Russians are known for their warm welcomes, rolling out the red carpet for honored guests and ensconcing them in bear hugs, complete with three hearty kisses on the cheeks.

Perhaps the new U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul didn't quite expect the same gracious reception given the frosty relationship between Washington and Moscow these days, but his first few months on the job have been unusual, if not downright hostile, a lot more Cold War than Russian Reset. Upon arriving in Moscow, the ambassador greeted his guests with an effervescent -- even hokey -- YouTube video introducing himself, a longtime student of and friend to Russia. In response, he was met with an Arctic propaganda blast reminiscent of the early 1980s, and harassment likely without precedent for U.S. ambassadors -- either in the Soviet Union or in post-Soviet Russia. It is always sad and maddening to hear about insults to human dignity by paid propagandists and thugs of authoritarian regimes. Yet the hounding of McFaul is particularly bizarre. But perhaps not so odd, after all. In the through-the-looking-glass world of Putin's "sovereign democracy" (which as my Russian friends like to point out is to "democracy" as "electric chair" is to "chair"), it is precisely McFaul's involvement in the US reset toward Russia and his unshakable faith in Russia's democratic future that have made him a target of choice. Image from article. Via PC and HS on Facebook

Editorial: Marine's Facebook rants earn discharge - usatoday.com: Active-duty servicemembers are allowed to put political bumper stickers on private vehicles and send letters to the editor, as long as they state that their views are their own, and they don't advocate voting for or against a candidate.The rules were written before the explosion of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and they're overdue for an update. But any reasonable definition of "publish" includes publicly posting an opinion where some 29,000 followers can read it. The military can't, and shouldn't, prohibit servicemembers from spouting off in the relative privacy of the barracks. Such grousing dates to the Revolutionary War. But that's different from publicly posting insubordinate comments for all the world to see — a principle that the vast majority of servicemembers understand.

Whistle-Blower Claiming Visa Fraud Keeps His Job, but Not His Work - Julia Preston, New York Times: It has been 17 months since Jack B. Palmer first made a quiet complaint through internal channels at Infosys, the giant Indian outsourcing company he works for, saying he suspected some managers were committing visa fraud. Since then, Mr. Palmer says, he has been harassed by superiors and co-workers, sidelined with no work assignment, shut out of the company’s computers, denied bonuses and hounded by death threats. In Senate testimony and court documents, Mr. Palmer charged that Infosys brought Indian workers on short-term visitor visas, known as B-1, instead of longer-term temporary visas, known as H-1B, which are more costly and time-consuming to obtain. Infosys and other Indian technology outsourcing companies are consistently among the top users of H-1B visas, but in recent years intensified scrutiny by the State Department has made those visas more difficult to get.

Visa Protectionism: Raising fees on worker visas only depresses job creation for all - Review and Outlook, Wall Street Journal: Protectionists always argue they're protecting domestic jobs. In reality, they're killing jobs for everyone. Consider: India said this week it will file a complaint at the World Trade Organization against a 2010 U.S. law that, in a thinly veiled form of protectionism, hiked visa fees for foreign skilled workers in the U.S. The Indians have a strong case. Keeping talented Indians out of the U.S. will only slow down all hiring in America, and encourage companies—not just Infosys—to consolidate back-office operations outside the U.S.

North Korean missile launch torpedoes Obama’s engagement strategy - Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy: North Korea's apparently unsuccessful launch of an Unha-3 rocket with a "satellite" attached marks not only the 100th birthday of the country's founder Kim Il Sung, but also the end of the Obama administration's year-long effort to open up a new path for negotiations with the Hermit Kingdom. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned earlier Thursday that the promised launch by North Korea would scuttle 

the deal the Obama administration negotiated with Pyongyang and announced on Leap Day Feb. 29, which would have provided North Korea with 240,000 tons of U.S. food assistance over the next year. She lamented that the North Koreans had thrown away the progress made. Image from article

A Wrong Turn in Pyongyang Finally Reveals The Real North Korea - Linda Constant, Balance of Culture: So it finally happened: a North Korean press bus in Pyongyang, filled with journalists invited to document the week's celebration of Kim il-Sung's centennial, made a wrong turn and gave people a sight they usually never see in the country--the real North Korea. Dusty, pot-holed streets, forlorn passersby, and decrepit concrete buildings were a stark contrast to the manufactured images of prosperity that North Korean tours regularly spin to their audience.

Strangely enough, the government minders didn't instruct the journalists to look away or turn their cameras off. Perhaps they were too distracted by the significant error to think of censoring their guests; some have questioned if the regime is adopting a more lenient stance on journalists and information-gathering within their borders, a somewhat unlikely circumstance even with the new young leader Kim Jong-un. Image from entry

Amnesty International Propaganda Targets Russia and Syria - Tony Cartalucci, Prisonplanet.com: The Amnesty International “infographic” titled, “Shocking Facts About Who’s Arming Human Rights Abusers,” portraying Russia’s arming of Syria as “fueling the most bloodshed” is not “shocking” at all when one realizes the disingenuous human rights advocacy organization is run by US State Department officials and is funded by convicted criminal George Soros‘ Open Society Institute (annual report page 8) as well as the UK Department for International Development (page 8), the European Commission, and other corporate-funded foundations. The “infographic,” in this context, clearly becomes a case of shameless, politically motivated propaganda using the Amnesty International “brand” to give it the legitimacy its increasingly distrusted sponsors lack.

Image from article

Anti-Azerbaijani propaganda of foreign forces 'not fair' – MP - news.az: Ali Ahmadov: I should note with regret that some persons try to put a political image and politicize Eurovision, and use it against Azerbaijan. But there is another factor of more concern for men and the people. And that is some political parties and their representatives support actions of outside forces conducting anti-Azerbaijani propaganda.

Ali Ahmadov image from article

Georgia calls Russian travel warning a made up danger - dfwatch.net: Georgia passed a law in the wake of the 2008 war with Russia which prohibits people from visiting the breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia from the borders with Russia, except with express permission from Tbilisi. Lately two Russians have been arrested for violating the law, both of them for having crossed into Abkhazia the wrong way. “Georgian special services continue to systematically track and punish the Russians entering the country. This is done, as we see, in secret, without undue publicity. But the media widely reports propaganda shows like Saakashvili’s visit to the checkpoint “Kazbegi”, where he reportedly welcomed Russian citizens crossing the border, saying, ‘Come more often’”, the Russian foreign ministry and advised its citizens not to visit Georgia. The Georgian foreign ministry says the Russian statement makes it clear that Russia is not only against the Georgian government, but also normal relations and friendship between Russian and Georgian people.

Who Gets to Be French? - Karl E. Meyer, New York Times: From the days of the Jacobins to today’s Fifth Republic, lawmakers have differed strenuously as to whether nationality should be determined by birth, parentage, length of residency or assimilation. How does one become a citizen of the exclusionists’ France? By knowing its cultural references and intricate folkways, as described in 1969 by the writer Sanche de Gramont: “The Frenchman is not someone who possesses a navy blue passport and speaks the language of Descartes, but someone who knows who broke the Soissons vase, what happened to Buridan’s donkey, why Parmentier gave his name to a hash, and why Charles Martel saved Christendom.” (Ironically, in 1977, Mr. de Gramont changed his name to Ted Morgan and became a United States citizen.) The effects of this exclusionary mindset are palpable. France today has Europe’s largest Islamic minority, making up nearly 10 percent of its population. Yet Muslims remain a people apart, as documented in 2011 by a research team recruited by the Open Society Institute. “In France,” one researcher summarized, “you can be of any descent, but if you are a French citizen you cannot be an Arab.” Composite identities like Arab-French are, he added, “ideologically impossible.” Hence the contrast one experiences in Marseille, France’s second largest city. Its 840,000 inhabitants include an estimated 240,000 Muslims (more than any other European city). Yet it is famously welcoming. Here, as we were told by Jean Roatta, a politician representing the port’s upscale central district, “you’re Marseillais before you are French." Via JB on Facebook

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Young men crush on Hillary via social media."

Suzi Parker, "Hillary Clinton is finally hip, thanks to a meme," Washington Post

Image from article, with caption: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton works from a desk inside a C-17 military plane upon her departure from Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, bound for Tripoli, Libya, Oct.18, 2011. This is one of the photos on the meme.

AMERICANA

Nude Maid Service: Melissa Borrett, Texas Woman, Cleans Naked Or In Lingerie, But Fantasy Business Stirs Trouble (VIDEO)

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--Dossier: L'enfance From: Mon grenier est une forteresse imprenable's photo. Via CR on Facebook

--Archdezart. VIA CR on Facebook

April 12

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"In America a pedestrian is someone who has just parked [his] car." 

--Joke cited in Tom Vanderbilt, "The Crisis in American Walking: How we got off the pedestrian path," Slate. Via YO on Facebook; image from article, Carlin Robinson, 12, walks from her grandmother's car to the school bus in Manchester, Ky. Her house can be seen in the background. A study published in 2010, investigating high obesity rates in the town found that residents used cars to minimize walking distance, to the detriment of their health.

VIDEO

Anti-Iranian propaganda and disinformation courtesy of AEI - peppermintmary.blogspot.com

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Demonizing Iran and the Electronic Curtain - Gabby LaVerghetta, Sutradhar's Market: "President Barack Obama in his Nowruz address to the Iranian people coined the term 'electronic curtain' to describe the lack of access to online information in Iran.  (Please see 'Iran’s Electronic Curtain' for more.)  Now, the United States government has launched a campaign based upon the phrase. Last week, the State Department posted an animated video to illustrate its perspective on the situation.  The video, titled 'Behind the Electronic Curtain,' depicts an Iranian internet user who is constantly blocked from the websites he attempts to access. The video can be seen on the U.S. Virtual Embassy to Tehran. All of the text in the video appears in English and Farsi in an effort to reach Iranian audiences.

However, the virtual embassy is still inaccessible from Iran’s national intranet. This might actually be a good thing. The video won’t do much to help relations between America and Iran.  On the surface, the animation might seem a crude attempt to simplify the situation. In reality, animation is a common way of illustrating the issues surrounding the internet. See for example Free Press’ video about net neutrality. But it’s hard to overlook the fact that the video demonizes Tehran. The Iranian government appears large, dark and menacing. Put that image together with the foreboding music and the message is clear: the Iranian government is bad. The U.S. government is promoting the video in English, Chinese, Farsi, and Arabic with the Twitter hashtag #ConnectIran. The video has yet to make a splash, eliciting only brief commentary in several public diplomacy blogs such as John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review.  Most of the promotional tweets thus far have come from State Department employees. It will be interesting to see whether the video attracts more attention in the coming days. Despite not being the most sophisticated product, the video does hold true to the State Department’s ideals of internet freedom." Image from entry, with caption:A tourist in a hotel in Tehran uses an internet station in 2007.

Iranian Activist, 72, Given Three-Year Suspended Sentence - RFE/RL's Radio Farda: "Iranian pro-democracy activist Kourosh Zaim has been handed a three-year suspended sentence after judges found him guilty of acting against national security and spreading propaganda against the Islamic republic. The 72-year-old member of the opposition National Front has been a

vocal critic of the regime in Tehran. Zaim was arrested in February 2011, hours after an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda was broadcast. In the interview, he said authoritarian regimes in the region would inevitably face 'social explosions,' especially due to the fact that the majority of the populations there are young people who have access to information through social media. It's not clear, however, whether Zaim's arrest was connected to the interview." Kourosh Zaim image from article

Iconic American Ballet Dancer Comes to Russia Again - Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya, Moscow Times: "'The fallacy was that black people could not do classical ballet,' American ballet dancer Arthur Mitchell explained recently to an audience at the American Center Library. 'So I said — 'I'll change it.'

Arthur Mitchell became the first African-American to dance with George Balanchine's New York City Ballet in November 1955, an unprecedented accomplishment in the race-divided America of that time. In 1962, Mitchell traveled with the company to Moscow, becoming, he says, the first ballet dancer of color to perform for Russian audiences. In 1969, Mitchell co-founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem, which became one of the most prominent performing ensembles in the country. In 1988, the dance ensemble was invited to perform in Russia. Mitchell is currently visiting as a featured speaker for American Seasons, a cultural exchange set up by the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission." Via NI on Facebook. Image from article

Director Bruce Sherman on Broadcasting Board of Governors’ killing of Voice of America brand-name - BBG Watcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "Why is the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) trying to silence Voice of America (VOA) radio broadcasts to Tibet when Tibetan Buddhist monks are self-immolating to shock the conscience of the world and the Chinese government is increasing its repression of the Tibetan people and their culture? Why are the Voice of America Cantonese Service and many other VOA brand-names, including VOA English and VOA Spanish, being put on the chopping block by the BBG when China and even Iran are expanding their radio and television broadcasts around the world, including Latin America? The answer to these questions was provided recently by the BBG’s chief strategist in an important article posted on one of the BBG’s websites.  Because of its significance, we are providing a link to

Mr. Bruce Sherman’s article and reposting it at the end of our commentary. He holds the position of  the Director of  the BBG Office of Strategy and Development. In a display of unlimited confidence, Mr.  Sherman explained that his federal agency can change brand-names at will. No name or institution is safe.  Even those that have been around for more than 70 years, have Congressional mandates and are closely associated around the world with America and its support for freedom can be erased and silenced overnight. ‘Where our brands resonate with audiences, we want to preserve them. Where they don’t, we have the flexibility to invent new ones. Radio Sawa (‘together’ in Arabic) helped us rebrand our efforts in the Middle East and reach millions of new listeners.’ — Bruce Sherman —  The BBG: One Organization, Many Brands. This is how the Director of the Broadcasting Board of Governors Office of Strategy and Development described the elimination a few years back of Voice of America (VOA) Arabic broadcasts and the banning of the VOA brand-name from the Middle East by the BBG. Mr. Sherman did not elaborate further that the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ decision to kill these broadcasts and their brand-name was based on audience research showing that words like ‘America’ and ‘American’ were disliked in the region. ... What is then the real reason for killing the best-known American international radio brand-name in China? The real reason — we suspect — is a bureaucratic desire to take control over U.S. international broadcasting away from the American people, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. foreign policy establishment. It’s not about saving money when budgets are tight. The BBG and its bureaucratic arm — the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) — are wasting U.S. taxpayers’ money right and left. It’s not about moving to new Internet platforms, which as everyone knows are inexpensive and often free, and which VOA and other U.S. international broadcasters have already been using and expanding their use for many years. It is about preserving and creating new bureaucratic jobs by eliminating critical international news programs. It is about firing close to 300 journalists and program support staffers so that the BBG can give a 50 million dollar audience research contract to the Gallup Organization.” Sherman image from article

Annette Lantos pleads with Broadcasting Board of Governors to save Voice of America broadcasts - BBG Watcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "Annette Lantos, the wife of the late Congressman Tom Lantos, has joined efforts to oppose the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ (BBG) proposals to cut Voice of America (VOA) services, the independent, nongovernmental Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting reported today on its website www.cusib.org. Mrs. Lantos’s April 4, 2012 letter to the BBG

begins: 'I write in support of Voice of America radio and television broadcasting, particularly to China, Tibet and Russia. In addition, I write in support of the efforts of the Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting.

The CUSIB works to ensure that U.S. government-funded broadcasts promote respect for human rights and freedom of the press, especially in nations where these basic freedoms are under attack.' Annette Lantos is the Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Her late husband Tom Lantos (February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until his death and a powerful champion of human rights around the world. In speaking before the House of Representatives after his death, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that Lantos 'devoted his public life to shining a bright light on the dark corners of oppression. . . He used his powerful voice to stir the consciousness of world leaders and the public alike.'” Images from entry

Over 300,000 hits for BBG Watch website - BBGWatcher, USG Broadcasts/BBG Watch: "The BBG Watch website, www.usgbroadcasts.com or simply bbgwatch.com, has received over 300,000 hits since September 2011."

With the help of end-of-year funds, Radio Free Asia is increasingly becoming Television Free Asia - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "[Elliott comment:] The resourcefulness of the RFA engineers is admirable. Nevertheless, funding would be less of a roadblock if the United States had one entity broadcasting to East Asia rather than two. So now RFA has cameras, teleprompters, and lighting to compete with VOA's cameras, teleprompters, and lighting, for broadcasts to the same countries, in the same languages, covering much of the same news. This story says more about US international broadcasting, and its 'many brands,' than the Radio World reporter realized."

Radio Free Asia will "deploy private clouds in remote locations" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "[Elliott comment:]This sounds like something that VOA could also use for its heavily blocked internet traffic to East Asia.

Nevertheless, this is strictly an RFA-only deployment, part of its Freedom 2 Connect initiative. In accordance with the BBG's 'many brands' strategy, there is no room on the cloud for both RFA and VOA." Image from

A visit at the EU delegation in Washington D.C. - Riccardo Ruffolo, PD News–CPD Blog, USC Center on Public Diplomacy:  “On the last day of the Masters of Public Diplomacy delegation’s visit to Washington D.C., some of us had the opportunity to visit the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. ... From our visit, we learned that the PPD’s [Press and Public Diplomacy] program is wide-reaching. The initiatives which target audiences of different age groups from all over the U.S., range from cultural programming to information outreach, and from academia to media relations. The main areas which the EU Delegation’s public diplomacy targets are: programs targeting American youth, collaboration with EU member states’ embassies and consulates, and social media outreach. One of the main objectives of the public diplomacy strategy of the Delegation is to foster a long-term relationship with young professionals and future leaders. This is conducted through programs such as the EU Visitors Program (EUVP), which invites young professionals from countries outside the EU to visit Europe and learn about its goals and policies, and through annual press visits to Brussels. Even younger age groups are targeted. The Euro Challenge (modeled after the Fed Challenge) engages high school students in simulations about the European economy. Moreover, the delegation organizes a yearly Kids Euro Fest, one of the largest children’s festivals in the U.S., held in Washington D.C. in collaboration with EU member states embassies. The coordination between the EU member states embassies and consulates was another major theme in our discussion. The EU Delegation hosts meetings with embassy representation regarding policies and joint events, and with member states’ ambassadors on a monthly basis. The best example of this collaboration in public diplomacy is the preparation for the Europe Day on May 9.

On this occasion, ambassadors and consuls travel to different cities around the U.S. to visit schools to raise awareness about the EU, its structures and policies. Additionally, all of the embassies in Washington D.C. organize an open house event with a specific theme for Europe Day. The theme of this year will be ‘Europe and our country,’ in line with the European motto ‘unity in diversity.’ ...The EU Delegation to the U.S. is on the forefront of using web technologies to conduct outreach. Even though the website is undergoing construction, the delegation’s Facebook page and Twitter feed are extremely active and looked at as a model for other delegations around the world. Moreover, affirming this shift and attention towards social media, the head of the delegation, Ambassador João Vale de Almeida, has recently joined Twitter.” Image from

Analysis of Foreign Language Usage in Twitter: Tunisia - mediabadger.com: "Twitter has become a key communication tool for people around the world. For those that don’t understand Twitter and only see the 'silly' tweets, ... our ... research shows that Twitter plays a key role in the voice of civil society today and we suspect it will only increase.

For building any analytics with natural language processing, it will be a daunting task and always be limited by the rapid changes in hashtags, short life-spans for some hashtags and their evolving nature in Twitter communications. ... [T]he dominant use of English and French is that nationals and civil society groups are intending to reach an international audience, including news media. This issue also adds a layer of complexity for foreign governments with digital diplomacy and public diplomacy programs that use social media. They will need to develop an understanding of the meanings and context of hashtags as they evolve and to understand how words may be played with and what the use of former colonial languages may be signalling, if anything." Image from article

The Power of Lexicon - Nurit Greenger, Doc's Talk: "The problem with many of those who support Israel and tirelessly speak for her is that the lexicon they use in their Public Diplomacy is flawed. They all mean well, but they do just the opposite, they subvert Israel. Some talented pundits often have their word published in newspapers or they deliver speeches, heard by thousands of people all over the world, and in both media they keep on using the title holder word 'Palestinian.' Even ZOA, the Zionist Organization of America, gives the Arabs their new acclaimed, sexy name 'Palestinians.' The worse violators of the right lexicon are many members in the government of Israel. They desperately cling to the Oslo Accords models and fabricate stuff, to go along and get along and keep their warm seats in the white castle of the halls of government. These Israeli officials PR conductors predicate their linguistic expressions on the fact that the whole governing system has been conditioned to be in 'partnership' with the nonexistent 'pestilentinians' [sic]. ... Those Arabs living in Israel should be called Israeli-Arabs, apposing to Jews, who should be called Israelis. Those Arabs, whom, in 1994, Jordan stripped off their Jordanian citizenship and are now stuck, stateless, in Judea and Samaria, are simply Arabs. The name 'Palestinian' must be eradicated from the lexicon and archived into the pages of history. The time has come for all of us to conduct our public discourse along the correct terminology and move forward."

Arts and culture scholarship program of Indonesia: Ten students from ten countries, including Indonesia, are welcomed to Surabaya, where they will be based over the next three months, studying and exploring the diverse cultures of East Java as part of public diplomacy - demotix.com: "Together with Studio Studio Tydif designated as a companion to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 10 students will learn Indonesian language, dance, music, gamelan, ethics, diverse cuisine, and been to several schools and colleges in EastJava."

Image from article

SRU Students visit German and Canadian Embassies - Stenden Rangsit University Thailand: "The students of our International Protocol and Diplomatic Studies (IPaD) minor go from one highlight to another. ... Wednesday 11 April, our students were welcomed by a team of diplomats at the Canadian Embassy in the very heart of Bangkok. ... Topics of

discussion included the Canadian government’s foreign policy priorities, engagement with ASEAN countries ahead of the important 2015 economic integration deadline and the work involved in arranging official state visits, such as last month’s visit by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Bangkok. In addition, the embassy’s public diplomacy activities and current events such as recent developments in Myanmar were discussed." Image from article, with caption: SRU students and lecturer with Ms Caroline Mireault, Mr Denwood Holmes and Ms Amy Galigan

Beijing Olympics: the success of Chinas Public diplomacy!ptional) [sic - JB] - milayna12, Public and Cultural Diplomacy 5: A group blog by students at London Metropolitan University

Press, Policy and Public Affairs Internship- The British Consulate-General in Los Angeles - U.S.-based Internships Information Portal: "The British Consulate-General in Los Angeles is the United Kingdom’s diplomatic mission responsible for the Pacific Southwest, including Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii. It is offering unpaid internships for Summer 2012 to work within the Consulate's Press & Public Affairs (PPA) section, which handles all the media response, outreach and social media on a host of public diplomacy issues, including climate change, commercial diplomacy, UK-US trade, and UK-US scientific cooperation. PPA also arranges visits to the region by senior UK officials. This internship will focus largely on the digital diplomacy strategy for the consulate."

RELATED ITEMS

My Latest Interview with Security at State Department - Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well: "Then it [the interview] got personal. I’ve worked for State for 24 years, been married to the same lovely woman for 25 years. Yet today the fact that that woman was born abroad (in Japan, still a US buddy that we have not bombed in some 70 years) became 'Did I ever have a relationship with a foreign national?' Yes, yes I did, for 25 delightful years and counting, including all my overseas assignments where my dear wife joined me on State Department orders. Luckily they did not know that my dog is also a foreigner. She was a rescue we saved in Hong Kong. Bitch is 100% Chicom canine. ... When an organization such as the State Department wants to deep six an employee for no allowable reason (i.e., rude blogging), they turn the case over to Security. Knowing that their own human resources regulations won’t work, never mind the sticky Constitution, the State Department

in the specific and the Government in general are hiding behind security, where even accusations can become fatal, where facts can be hidden from Freedom of Information Act requests and even court-ordered discovery, and thus manipulated to a desired end. What is called an investigation morphs into an indictment, where the goal is to keep fishing until something, anything, comes up. Van Buren image from his blog. More on Van Buren's case at

Guggenheim Project Challenges ‘Western-Centric View’ - Carol Vogel, New York Times: In an effort to reach beyond the Western art world the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is embarking on a five-year program to work with artists, curators and educators from South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to bringing curators from those parts of the world to the Guggenheim Museum in New York and organizing exhibitions that highlight art from their regions, the program will acquire art for the Guggenheim’s permanent collection. The project, to be financed by UBS

and called the Guggenheim UBS Map Global Art Initiative, will begin with South and Southeast Asia. The museum will invite a curator from each region to New York for overlapping two-year residencies; they will work with a team of Guggenheim curators to identify new and recent artworks that best reflect the range of talents in their areas. The artworks they choose will be acquired for the Guggenheim and will also be the focus of exhibitions that open at the New York museum and then travel to two other cultural institutions. Via NI on Facebook. Image from

US tries to play down North Korean missile launch - firstpost.com: The US has geared up for a strong response to the expected long-range missile launch by North Korea but at the same time tried to play down the propaganda value for the North Korean leadership. “We take it seriously, but you should also understand that within the context of North Korean behaviour, it is not unusual,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, told reporters.

North Korea Propaganda War and the Weaponization of Space - Christof Lehmann, nsnbc.wordpress.com: Western media make use of “experts” in an attempt to scare Western populations into believing that the DPRK “could” use the same rocket to launch nuclear warheads.

This and similar propaganda strategies are, not surprisingly, most prevalent in Western countries who have themselves stockpiled sufficient amounts of nuclear war heads and delivery systems, to incinerate the entire globe multiple times. South Korea scares its population into fear of war by proclaiming, that it would shoot down the rocket if it strayed over South Korean territory, which the DPRK rightfully would perceive as an act of war. Image from

New Website Shows Korea's Dark Side: Korea is more than kimchi, K-pop and plastic surgery, says the founder of new website koreaBANG - Darren Wee, Huffington Post: koreaBANG knows what Korea is talking about and apparently it is drunken women on the subway, tweeting politicians and how much they hate Japan. koreaBANG is a new website that translates the most discussed news stories in Korea and their highest rated comments into English. As the Korean wave sweeps over Asia and the rest of the world, there is a growing audience for all things Korean. There are already dozens of K-pop sites, allkpop has 75 million views a month, but koreaBANG has a harder news edge. The site was founded by two British students of Korean. Cambridge University student James Pearson said koreaBANG's sister site, chinaSMACK, was his first port of call while a student in Beijing, but he was hard-pressed to find a Korean equivalent. He approached chinaSMACK with the idea of a Korean version and launched koreaBANG in January with his co-editor and Korea University student, Raphael Rashid.

The shape of a deal with Iran - Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post: The Obama administration’s Iran strategy has worked so far. Unprecedented pressure has forced Tehran to the negotiating table. It will take extraordinary diplomatic skills to reach a settlement in the talks this weekend among Iran and the “P5+1” — the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany. But there is too much pessimism in the air. A robust deal is possible if, as with any successful negotiation, both sides can come away with something. If Iran does make concessions, the United States would have to accept them and relax some sanctions. Below image from

A last chance for a deal with Iran on nuclear weapons? - Editorial Board, Washington Post: Hardly anyone thinks it likely that the United States and its five partners in the group negotiating with Iran will be able to strike a deal that ends the Iranian nuclear threat or satisfies United Nations resolutions. For those who, like us, believe that military action against Iran is neither necessary nor wise in the coming months, a deal in which Iran met the administration’s terms would be a relief — but an unsatisfying one. It probably would prevent war. But the risk is that it would be counterproductive in the medium term, because it would ease what is now mounting economic pressure on Iran and allow the regime breathing space.

A Stable Afghanistan Is Still Possible: The insurgency persists, but if the U.S. doesn't withdraw prematurely, Afghan security forces will be able to contain it by 2014 - Michael O'Hanlon and Bruce Riedel, Wall Street Journal: Afghanistan still has huge problems, and no clear victory is within reach by 2014. We lost that opportunity years ago, and the insurgency is likely to persist. But the goal can and should be that Afghan forces will increasingly contain and combat it on their own. At that point, perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 foreign forces can suffice—to mentor Afghan units in the field, and for air power and intelligence support, training and special operations. Moving to such a small force prematurely, however, would leave the country's east too infiltrated by insurgents. It would also prevent the partnering and apprenticeship work with Afghan units in the field—which requires NATO combat formations, not just advisers. Below image from

In Afghanistan, who follows Hamid Karzai? - David Ignatius, Washington Post: Some top U.S. officials agree it’s time to focus more on politics and a bit less on the military handover that gets the headlines. Already, Ryan Crocker, the veteran U.S. ambassador in Kabul, is expanding his outreach to Afghan politicians in the hope of encouraging a new generation of leaders, post-Karzai. I don’t know where this sort of political outreach fits in the toolbox of U.S. power. Some would argue that it should be a CIA function, since it may involve covert contacts and money. But why not do this political work openly, through the embassy? It seems crazy to have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to stabilize Afghanistan, and then pretend Washington isn’t interested in shaping the political landscape and encouraging a strong and popular successor to Karzai.

Internet vulnerability endangers U.S. security and economy - Sen. Susan Collins pressherald.com: The Internet is a tool for productivity, commerce and social engagement. Around the world it has also served as a platform of extremist propaganda on one hand and peaceful revolution on the other. The Internet – decentralized, open and infinitely expandable – is transforming America and the world. Those same qualities that bring transformation create vulnerability. That is why strengthening our nation's defenses against cyber attacks is among my highest priorities.

Israel's poetry critics - Editorial, Los Angeles Times, posted at: The people in Israel and Germany who are most outraged by Nobel Prize-winning author Gunter Grass' latest work have one thing in common: They think it's ridiculous, and possibly anti-Semitic, for Grass to assert a moral equivalency between Israel and Iran. Yet by overreacting to Grass' criticism, Israeli officials are acting like, well, Iranians. While Grass' work raises old questions in his native land about whether it's acceptable to criticize Israel given Germany's Nazi past, it's having an even more divisive impact in Israel, where some see it as part of a growing international movement to delegitimize the nation. Hence the resulting personal attacks on Grass by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who suggested that Grass was motivated by anti-Semitism that could be traced back to his time as a World War II soldier in the Waffen SS. And the terrible decision by Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai to bar Grass from entering the country. Israel and Iran aren't morally equivalent because Israel is an open democracy that cherishes free speech and the rule of law. Yet barring a prominent European intellectual from the country for expressing his political views is precisely the kind of reaction we'd expect from Iran's mullahs.

Gunter Grass and the mute left: Grass’ profound moral failure and the Zionist left’s profound failure to respond are a bad sign. They show that leading intellectuals in the West and Israel are no longer capable of defending Israel - Ari Shavit, haaretz.com: Gunter Grass has put us all to the test. The strange text he published a week ago in the Suddeutsche Zeitung is a bizarre but profound document. It doesn't contain old-style anti-Semitism. It doesn't contain Goebbels-like propaganda. But behind its embarrassing lines lie three important statements. In his own way, Grass is saying more or less the following: I'm no longer willing to overcome my disgust with Israel because of my Hitlerian past; I think Israel's nuclear capability is endangering world peace; the fact that my people murdered the Jews in 1942 does not justify the Jews having nuclear weapons in 2012. With the sensitive instincts of a great writer, Grass makes a radical statement that reflects a deep-seated idea now spreading in the dark cellars of the new Germany, the new Europe and the new left. According to this deep-seated idea, Israel, not Iran, is the present-day aggressor in the Middle East. Not the extremist Shi'ites but the extremist Israelis are the new Nazis. The crime against humanity that must be at the center of our consciousness is not what Hitler did to the Jews but what the Jews are about to do to the Iranians. Therefore, in the name of the Holocaust, the Jews should be denied the nuclear power that could enable them to cause a second Holocaust. Grass' profound moral failure and the Zionist left's profound failure to respond are a bad sign. Grass image from article

Unseen Rodchenko and Lissitsky on show in Moscow - rt.com: Hundreds of sportsmen on Red Square, happy smiling Soviet children playing in sandpits, simple working men typical of the 1930s USSR – these scenes have been captured with style by the great Soviet propaganda artists.

­Photographs by the fathers of the Russian avant garde, Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, who shaped the graphic design in the USSR in creating iconic Soviet propaganda posters, are being shown in Moscow for the very first time. “This display offers a chance to see originals that have never been on show before,” Ria Novosti news agency quotes the curator of the project Valery Stigneev. Photographs by Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky will go on display at the Artplay Design Center starting April 14. Apart from Rodchenko and Lissitsky the exhibition will feature 25 other artists, who worked between 1920s and 1960s. Image from article, with caption: El Lissitsky, 1940

AMERICANA

"Although a few years ago Washington, D.C., [drug] dealers earned an average of $30 an hour, today they earn less than the federal minimum wage ($7.25)."

--George F. Will, "Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs?" Washington Post

RUSSICA

Former Russian spy in America Anna Chapman. Via RA on Facebook