Monday, January 1, 2018

Voice of America highlights dying roosters and Iran regime propaganda as protesting Iranians die

Ted Lipien, bbgwatch.com

BBGWatcher December 31, 2017 0 Comments

VOICE OF AMERICA

Text Only captured at 10:48 AM ET, Sunday, December 31, 2017

Iranian Official Blames ‘Foreign Agents’ for Protester Deaths

December 31, 2017 7:53 AM

VOA News

An Iranian official is blaming “foreign agents” for the shooting deaths of two protesters during widespread anti-government demonstrations Saturday.

“No shots were fired by the police and security forces,” Habibollah Khojastehpour, a deputy governor of the province where the protesters were killed. “We have found evidence of enemies of the revolution, Takfiri groups and foreign agents in this clash,” he said in an interview on state television Sunday.

The shootings happened in the western town of Dorud on the third day of protests. VOA’s Persian service identified the victims as Hamzeh Lashni and Hossein Reshno after a reporter spoke to the victims’ families.

Video posted to social media purported to show the two victims following the shootings. Other online video showed thousands of people protesting in several cities throughout Iran — including some attacking government buildings and violently confronting police.

There were reports that mobile devices were unable to access the internet for a period of time Saturday, though coverage was restored later in the day. But Iranian media reported on Sunday that access to some photo and message sharing apps was again restricted.

Protesters will ‘pay the price’

Earlier Sunday, Iran’s interior minister warned that those who “disrupt the order and break the law must be responsible for their behavior and pay the price.” Abdolrahman Rahmani Fazli, in a statement on state television, said “fear and terror will definitely be confronted.”

The uprisings — the biggest and most sustained since the 2009 presidential election protests — were sparked by high food prices and the country’s high unemployment rate. As many as 72 people died in the 2009 unrest after the regime cracked down demonstrators challenging the reelection of then-President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

The latest demonstrations were seen as a cry against President Hassan Rouhani, who won re-election in May with promises to revive the economy.

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal is seen as Rouhani’s major achievement. The deal, made with the United States and five other world powers, curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions. But economic growth has not followed, and people are struggling to cope with the high cost of living.

Iran’s unemployment rate is 12.4 percent, its economy stagnant and inflation rampant

Little information about the protests is available, however, because state-run and semi-official news media have not widely reported on the demonstrations.

As a counter to the violence, separate state-sponsored rallies took place around the country to mark the end of the unrest that shook the country in 2009. State television reported pro-government rallies were held in about 1,200 cities and towns.

Cautions on social media use

Iran’s telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi sent a public message to the CEO of the messaging service Telegram, telling him, “A Telegram channel is encouraging hateful conduct: use of Molotov cocktails, armed uprising, and social unrest.” Telegram responded saying it had suspended the account.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov also tweeted a public message, explaining why the account was suspended.

“A Telegram channel [amadnews] started to instruct their subscribers to use Molotov cocktail against police and got suspended due to our ‘no calls for violence’ rule. Be careful,” Durov said. “There are lines one shouldn’t cross.”

A prominent cleric, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, told thousands of pro-government demonstrators in Tehran that “the enemy” wanted to use social media and economic issues to “foment a new sedition.”

State television broadcast images of the protests Saturday, something it rarely does, including acknowledging that some of the demonstrators were chanting the name of Iran’s last shah, who fled the country during the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Reaction

U.S. President Donald Trump denounced the Iranian government Saturday, tweeting excerpts from his September 19 speech to the U.N. General Assembly. He charged Rouhani’s government, and those before it, have long oppressed the Iranian people.

In a statement Friday, the U.S. State Department said, “Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state, whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos.”

The State Department urged “all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption.”

RFE/RL contributed to this report.

END OF VOA REPORT

New Year’s Letter to CEIBS Community

ceibs.edu

uncaptioned image from entry

New Year's Letter

Dear Faculty, Staff, Students and Alumni,

As CEIBS campuses are waking up to the splendour of the first dawn of 2018 in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Zurich in Switzerland and Accra in Ghana, we wish you – including 20,000 CEIBS alumni in over 80 countries and regions – a very Happy New Year.

CEIBS has enjoyed 23 years of impressive development as an international business school deeply rooted in China. With China gradually marching onto the global centre stage, CEIBS has also grown in phases: learning from the West, reaching out globally, along with integrating into the world and contributing China’s wisdom and global governance knowledge to the world. Today’s world is still rapidly changing, seeing intensified globalisation, informatisation and cultural diversification; all while the reform of global governance and international order is picking up momentum. Riding on such historical waves, CEIBS – as the cradle of China’s business management education – is feeling the joy of excitement, but also the weight of responsibility.

We are pleased to report that we have achieved our initial goal of becoming a top business school in Asia and are now dedicated to building a world-class business school. CEIBS is no stranger to success: in 2017, three of the school’s programmes – MBA, EMBA and Executive Education – continued to be ranked by the Financial Times among the Top 30 in the world, with the MBA programme ranked No. 1 in Asia and 11th in the world. CEIBS’ 5-year-old part-time Finance MBA has also become a reputable programme that continuously supplies fresh talents who are helping to shape Shanghai as an international financial centre. We launched a new course called Key Talent Programme for Chinese Companies Going Global to help Chinese firms tackle the challenges of going abroad as they respond to the country’s globally impactful Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We also launched a joint hospitality EMBA programme with École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) to promote China’s service-oriented economic transformation. On the entrepreneurship front, in 2017 CEIBS China Entrepreneurial Leadership Camp featured themes of lean start-up, platform strategy and organisational innovation, and is widely popular with entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, CEIBS was invited by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) to work together with seven other top business schools in Europe and the US to formulate the exam and evaluation criteria for business executives. In addition, the EFMD’s Business School Impact Survey (BSIS) officially recognised CEIBS’ significant regional influence in Shanghai and in China as a whole.

Knowledge creation is one of our core missions. Chinese companies need management insight crafted from a deep understanding of local practices; the world’s development calls for wisdom and solutions from China and the East. CEIBS’ curriculum has always enjoyed an advantage because of its seamless balancing of the local and the global, the theoretical and the practical, its ability to tell ‘a good Chinese story’ through case teaching. We are committed to creating the world’s best China cases. With the support of the Shanghai Municipal Government, we initiated building an international-standard business case library in China. The project began in 2014; and we now have 1,033 China cases in our collection. CEIBS academic staff wrote one-third of these cases and half of them are from alumni companies. Business schools at home and abroad extensively use our cases. Moreover, CEIBS maintains high academic standards that have earned the school global recognition. For two years in a row CEIBS professors topped Elsevier’s ‘most cited Chinese scholars’ list in the categories of Business, Management and Accounting, accounting for one third of the total number of selected scholars.

CEIBS also has a strong presence in the areas of political consultation and advice, theoretical innovation and public diplomacy. We established the Economic Research Institute of Central and Eastern Europe (ERICEE) in collaboration with the Sino-CEE Fund. We are also engaging in multilateral cooperation with leading business schools from Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, aiming to contribute intellectual support to the ambitious China-led BRI. Meanwhile, CEIBS Europe Forum 2017 was hosted in five cities: London, Paris, Zurich, Munich and Warsaw. These series of events focused on identifying new opportunities for Europe brought by the BRI and building platforms for cooperation and mutual trust between Chinese and European entrepreneurs. Among the keynote speakers were Chinese Ambassador to UK Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador to Poland Xu Jian, former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and former Italian Prime Minister and EU Commission President Romano Prodi. A few distinguished Chinese alumni whose companies have ‘gone global’ shared their China stories and experiences during the forums, showcasing their ‘China-style’ successes. Further afield, CEIBS Africa Campus has nurtured a group of African alumni who have become the ambassadors of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. They are the promoters of China-Africa bilateral relations and practitioners of the BRI.

According to the data we have so far, among our 20,000+ alumni worldwide we have about 100 Chinese central and local government officials, 247 founders or chairmen of the board of listed companies, 6 top executives of Forbes Global 500 companies, and between the year 2000 and 2016, 15 have been selected for CCTV’s annual recognition of eminent business figures. Furthermore, about 10,000 alumni are in various management positions in state-owned enterprises, multinational corporations and the private sector. They are the driving force shaping China’s modern economic system. It is also worth noting that, of CEIBS’ 2,400 international alumni, more than half chose to stay in China after graduation, making important contributions to economic exchange between China and the rest of the world.

We believe the school’s future is tied to yours: CEIBS alumni are the school’s most valuable asset, while the school provides a solid hub of knowledge and support for alumni. In the Spring of 2017, the third CEIBS Alumni Association Council was set up in Nanjing, launching a new framework to strengthen the Alumni Association, a landmark moment in the school’s history. Under the leadership of the new council, CEIBS Alumni Association has engaged in a series of successful projects: jointly issuing a CEIBS Card with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; the publication of CEIBS Alumni Corporate Social Responsibility Proposal, the launch of an exhibition on alumni’s philanthropic achievements, the first CEIBS Alumni Industrial Park project with Zhenjiang Municipality, and CEIBS Alumni Association (Suzhou) chose Suzhou Industrial Park as the location for its HQ. All of these forward-looking initiatives play an important role in promoting social responsibility and helping the local economy while utilising the CEIBS advantage to help alumni development. We want to thank you for everything you do to contribute towards the continuing success of this extraordinary institution in the future.

Let us never forget where we came from and what we stand for. We started with a dream to ‘help people build character and virtue’, and a dream to become a world-class business school. In the course of the past 23 years of development, we have gained trust, built camaraderie, and earned respect. Let us never lose sight of our mission, and continue to lead China’s management education, to promote economic development and social progress. Dear alumni, wherever you are and at whatever stage of your career, remember that as a leader of this era, you will inevitably shoulder more social responsibility. We hope you will always be guided by compassion that spurs you to do ‘good’ for the society. CEIBS will always be a home for you – we applaud your achievements, share your worries, and we hope that you come back home often. We look forward to working with you as together we can continue to strive for the development of a better world.

Now we have come to the end of Year 2017. The sky is high and the view is clear. With the prospect of a splendid Spring at the forefront of our minds, the days of a new beginning are here – a time to reflect on the past, a time to renew hopes for the future.

We wish you and your family a very Happy New Year!

Presidents of CEIBS
Prof Li Mingjun Prof Pedro Nueno

The UN Vote on Jerusalem: A Disturbing Diplomatic Debacle

Martin Sherman, algemeiner.com

The United Nations General Assembly hall. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

“The General Assembly …[a]ffirms that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded … and in this regard, calls upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem.”

— Excerpt from UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/L.22, Dec. 21, 2017, proposed by Yemen and Turkey, demanding that the US retract its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure rejecting the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a stunning rebuke of a U.S. decision that allies and adversaries alike warned would undermine prospects for peace.”

— Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2017.

“A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually…If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.”

— Abba Eban, Israel’s foreign minister, 1966-74.

…

On Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, the world — almost unanimously — voted against the Jews and their nation-state, Israel.

Reprehensible resolution

On that day, the United Nations General Assembly, in an emergency session, voted by an overwhelming majority in favor of a resolution so absurd that it would be inconceivable in almost any other context in which Jews were not those singled out by it for rebuke.

It was a reprehensible resolution.

Indeed, it flew in the face of historical truth, current reality and any ethical standard of common decency.

Under any other circumstances, it would be unthinkable that a sovereign country would be denied the right to determine which city should serve as its capital — especially when that city is inseparably associated with its history, predating the existence of virtually all its UN critics. Similarly, under any other circumstances it would be inconceivable that another sovereign nation would be singled out for reprimand for recognizing such historical association and acknowledging the city as the designated capital of that country.

To make the phenomenon even more absurd, the alleged rationale for the resolution was that it was designed to prevent prejudging the outcome of the decades-long dispute between Arab and Jew for control over the Holy Land, in general, and over Jerusalem, in particular — and keep open the possibility of somehow resolving the conflict by the establishment of a Judeophobic, homophobic, misogynistic Muslim-majority tyranny in the areas (including the eastern section of Jerusalem) lost by Jordan in 1967 in its failed attempt to annihilate the Jewish state.

Go figure.

Double disgrace

The decision — affirmed by 128 member states and opposed by 9, with 35 abstaining and 21 absenting themselves from the vote — to deem US recognition of Jerusalem (albeit within undefined borders) “null and void” was a double disgrace.

Firstly, it was a mark of shame for all the countries that did not oppose it — including those who abstained and/or absented themselves from the vote. For there is scarcely more honor in refraining from such an ignominious motion than there is in supporting it — especially when such feigned neutrality ensures its overwhelming endorsement.

But there was another element of disgrace attached to the results of UN vote on Jerusalem, and it is one that Israel, itself, must bear — or at least one that those charged with formulating and executing Israel’s strategic diplomacy (assuming any existence thereof) must bear.

For the results of vote reflect a devastating failure of Israeli diplomacy — despite the unwavering backing of the most powerful UN member state, the US.

Indeed, had Israel, over the past near-decade, since the so-called Israeli “Right” regained the reins of power, conducted an effective and adequately funded strategic diplomatic offensive, this kind of international rejection of elementary Jewish rights would have been unthinkable.

I realize that many will find this a highly contentious contention — but I am convinced of its validity and the urgent need to address the peril it portends.

Raining on the parade: What if Hillary had won?

Of course, I do not wish to “rain on the parade” and diminish the significance of the diplomatic victory entailed in the Trump administration’s decision to acknowledge the indisputable facts on the ground and recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — and to set in motion preparations to transfer the US embassy to the city.

However, this fortunate outcome is hardly the result of Israel’s diplomatic strategy, but rather the unexpected outcome of the 2016 presidential election in the US.

Indeed, one shudders to think of what would have happened, if, as widely predicted, Hillary Clinton had won — especially given the precedent set by the Obama administration in withholding the US veto against a virulently anti-Israeli resolution, allowing it to pass unopposed in the Security Council in December 2016. After all, it is far from implausible that, if the elections has gone as expected, Israel would have been facing a very different, and far more hostile, global environment — with the prospect of international sanctions, not merely international censure, becoming increasingly tangible.

Accordingly, with so much at stake, it hardly seems a reasonable or responsible policy to leave such fateful issues dependent on the fortuitous workings of chance. So, perhaps the most important lesson to be derived from the dismal UN vote last week, is something that should have been painfully obvious for years — but sadly has not been: Israel needs to adopt a far more robust and proactive posture in determining is international stature among the nations of the world.

Cold comfort

For the results of vote were in fact far worse than the mere numerical tally — in itself dismaying enough — would suggest.

For the fact that nine nations voted against the resolution is cold comfort indeed. After all, out of those nine, two were Israel and the US themselves, against whom resolution was directed. Of the remaining seven, a majority — four — were tiny and remote islands in the Pacific (Nauru, Palau, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia), whose combined population is less than 200,000, and whose total area comprises under 1500 square kilometers. The remaining three — Togo, Guatemala and Honduras — are, with all due respect, not countries that marshal huge international influence.

Accordingly, it would, in large measure, be accurate to admit that Israel and the Trump administration were left in splendid isolation against the entire world. This should be a matter of serious concern — for there is little guarantee as to the durability of the Trump incumbency or of the political proclivity of any potential successor.

This, then, is a totally unacceptable situation and one on which Israel can ill-afford to be either complacent or fatalistic — complacent in the sense that the resolution has no practical effect and thus there no need for serious concern; fatalistic in the sense that because of inherent anti-Semitism, the dice is inevitably “loaded” against Israel and hence, there is no point in serious concern.

Both these claims should be resolutely rejected.

Inexcusably and inexplicably remiss

For years Israel has been inexcusably and inexplicably remiss in presenting its case to the world and equally remiss in undermining and discrediting that of its Arab adversaries.

This dangerous disregard is best reflected by two grave lacunae: (a) the hopelessly inadequate resources devoted to Israeli diplomacy in general and to public diplomacy in particular; and (b) Israel’s official embrace of “Palestinian nationhood” and its consequent reluctance to delegitimize the fallacious narrative on which it is based, and the mendacious myths that underpin it.

This dereliction of diplomatic duty is having dire consequences on several levels. Arguably, among the two most severe are the growing threat to bipartisan backing Israel has traditionally enjoyed in the US, and the disturbing erosion of support among the younger generation (i.e. tomorrow’s leaders) — even within the generally overwhelming pro-Israel Evangelical community.

For over more than half a decade, I have warned, constantly and consistently, of the potential perils entailed in this ongoing mindless neglect of the indispensable role public diplomacy has in the nation’s strategic arsenal, and how defeat in the field of public opinion is liable to lead to setbacks on other, more tangible, battlefields. I have urged that Israel dramatically upgrade the resources devoted to public diplomacy — on which it is currently spending, globally, less than a medium-large sized Israeli corporation would spend on promoting fast food and snacks. Indeed, I have called to allot 1% of state budget — one billion dollars — for a strategic public diplomacy offensive, designed to create a diplomatic “iron dome” to protect Israel from incoming barrages of delegitimization and demonization that precipitate the kind of debacle that occurred last week at the UN.

The stirring annals of Zionist endeavor

What makes a resolution voiding and nullifying Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital particularly galling, is the total obfuscation — indeed, concealment — of the conditions that reigned in the city prior to it falling to Israel in the Six-Day War: When Arab Legion snipers, atop the walls of the old city, shot at random passers-by in the western sector of the city, when Jews were barred from entering the Jordanian controlled portions, when Jewish holy sites were desecrated, and when Jewish gravestones were used as building material. Yet no emergency session of the UN was convened to discuss and denounce these outrageous violations of religious and historic rights. Only today, when religious freedoms are scrupulously observed, does the international community find it fit to express its concern over the situation in the city.

But Israel has been partially complicit — at least passively — in permitting this perverse state of affairs to emerge — at least by default — and allowing pejorative connotations to be attached to the word “Zionism.”

After all, the rebirth of Jewish nationhood and the annals of Zionist endeavor are, undoubtedly, one of most stirring chapters of modern history. It is an enterprise that has achieved remarkable feats against impossible odds. Indeed, Zionism, as the national freedom movement of the Jewish people, has been the most successful of all national freedom movements in the last century. It has attained a combination of political independence, economic prosperity and individual liberties for its people, unmatched in virtually any other country born of the dissolution of the European empires. Beyond its borders, Israel has made amazing contributions to humanity — in medicine, agriculture, computing, communications. It has conducted remarkable humanitarian operations in disaster areas across the globe — from Nepal to Haiti.

Diplomatic incompetence not inherent antisemitism?

Yet instead of being held up as a model to be emulated, Zionism is being portrayed as a scourge to be denigrated.

The knee-jerk reaction to all this bitter enmity has been to attribute it to inherent and pervasive antisemitism. Now, while I do not want to dismiss — or even downplay — the pernicious impact of innate Judeophobia in many countries today, to attribute all, even most, anti-Israel animosity to it, is a little like searching under the light of a lamppost for the proverbial coin which was lost elsewhere in the dark,.

Indeed, as an explanation, it is a very partial one at best. For when a country like India, whose history is virtually devoid of any antisemitism, disappointingly supports the resolution, while countries like Croatia, Romania, and Ukraine, whose histories are replete with such infamy, do not, then invoking ingrained antisemitism rings somewhat hollow — and alternative, or at least supplementary, explanations are called for — like diplomatic incompetence, for example.

The two, however, might not be totally unrelated. Indeed, as I have pointed out elsewhere, “[c]ontinued impotence and incompetence in the (mis)conduct of Israel’s public diplomacy is becoming not only a strategic threat to the country but is beginning to imperil Jewish communities abroad.” For when the Jewish state allows itself to be so vilified, so too are those seen to be associated with it — i.e. the Jewish communities abroad.

“Israel…has vacated the battlefield of ideas”

In an incisive and insightful interview on Israel television several years ago, prominent British journalist Melanie Phillips excoriated Israel’s public diplomacy (hasbara) as a “joke” and contended that in that, in the fight for world opinion, Israel had “vacated the battle field of ideas.”

Today’s leadership should heed her words, and launch a massive assault on international public opinion to ensure that the recent diplomatic debacle at the UN will in the future be impossible — or at least, highly, unlikely.

After all, no one knows who the next White House incumbent will be — or when his/hers incumbency will begin.

Martin Sherman is the founder and executive director of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.

Alumni - YES Programs

yesprograms.org

WHO ARE YES ALUMNI?

Iran culture minister praises IRNA as 'important asset'

irna.ir

uncaptioned image from article

'IRNA, with a history of 83 years, is an important asset for the country,' Abbas Salehi said during a ceremony held to introduce new chief of the official news agency at IRNA's Headquarters in Tehran on Monday.

'Today, the national media should feel responsible to seriously try to help address issues and stay away from adopting approaches that will provoke crises and disappoint the public,' Salehi said.

He said that in their efforts to address issues, the media should try to turn threats into opportunities and lead the public opinion towards positive trends.

It is not only missiles that could target our national security, the Iranian culture minister warned.

'As I have said repeatedly, the biggest threats come from distrust towards our media outlets and when they lose their audience,' Salehi said.

He went on to emphasize strengthening the country's public diplomacy to ward off threats.

'We are living in a world and a region overwhelmed with dangers and threats; we should solidify our public diplomacy to reduce these threats and dangers,' he added.

Zia Hashemi has been appointed by the Iranian minister of culture and Islamic guidance as the new managing-director of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), replacing Mohammad Khodadai who held the post for five yers [sic].

Grassroot Diplomat Talks

podtail.com

Diplomatic consultancy Grassroot Diplomat discuss innovative practices of diplomacy and international relations in today's world. Topics include leadership and self-development, networking, public diplomacy, personal branding and brand marketing, and digital diplomacy.

Strategic Communications

eeas.europa.eu

The Strategic Communications Division ("StratComms") leads the European Union's efforts on the public dimension of European diplomacy and its communication on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as well as its external action more broadly.

It works to project and promote key EU policies and core values – respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights – globally as well as to audiences at home.

StratComms works closely with the European External Action Service and the EU Institutions.

It provides round-the-clock professional support to the High Representative/Vice President in all her press and public diplomacy activities.

For this purpose it liaises with the services of the EEAS and the HR/VP's cabinet to develop communication strategies and messages, which it disseminates to stakeholders through different channels.

This includes press relations, web-based communication and social media, speeches, articles, graphic design and audio-visual materials.

It provides the necessary support to the HR/VP's spokespersons, who are administratively based in the Commission Spokesperson's Service (DG COMM-SPP).

StratComms provides tailor-made communications guidance and support to the EU's network of around 140 Delegations and offices around the world, as well as to the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy missions and operations, and is responsible for allocating and ensuring proper control of communications budgets both at headquarters and in the field.

It is also responsible for ensuring timely internal communication to EEAS staff via the intranet and other means, and for organising public diplomacy events and visits in Brussels.

Functional Mailbox:

sg-affgen-1@eeas.europa.eu

John Brown's Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review