December 4

“a Quarter Pounder is, indeed, made of real food.”

--What McDonald’s full-color photographs of ingredients are intended to remind customers


“I am fond of Bush’s colloquial, unpretentious English.”

--Jason Lee Steorts, managing editor of National Review

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

How about a Soft Power Czar? - Andy Valvu, The Foreign Desk: "President-elect Obama rolled out his national security team the other day, and if you ask me, there was someone missing. Who is going to run the United States Information Agency? … [T]he person that the new President puts in charge of Public Diplomacy had better have a real understanding of the world. It needs to be someone who has spend time living in different countries. Not someone who has served in multiple U. S. missions abroad and who's only contact with locals has been the people who come through the consulate doors. No we need someone who has not been a part of the U. S. government. Someone who shopped in the markets and hung out in the bars. Someone who has ridden public transportation regularly, someone who has had contact with the local cultures. Someone who has coughed up 5 yuan or ringits or rupees to buy that grilled ‘thing’ on a stick and then spent the next five hours on their knees praying to the porcelain god while that ‘thing on a stick’ worked their way through their body. Hey, that's how you learn about local culture. It's also where you hear what people really think about the U. S.”

Obama's New Power Troika Faces Crises Old And New
- William Bradley, NewsObama.org: “It will be up to [Susan] Rice, [the new UN ambassador-to be] to bring a newly engaged public diplomacy to the United Nations.”

Dean Ernie Goes to Washington - LA Observed: “Those of us who teach journalism at USC, if we checked our email last night, found the following message from Dean Ernest Wilson, the new-ish head of the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. ‘As you may already know, I have been appointed to the team advising President-Elect Barack Obama as he assembles his new administration. As this is an outstanding opportunity to help shape future public policy in communication, media and technology, I am delighted to serve our country in this capacity. I will be wearing several hats during the presidential transition. I will be leading a team reviewing America’s international broadcasting services, including the Voice of America and the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and I will advise the transition team working with the U.S. Department of State on public diplomacy issues.’ … Dean Ernie is a good guy, and a smart guy. So…..what do we think? We think, Hey, Cool! This is good.” PHOTO: Dean Wilson

Dean Wilson appointed to presidential transition team – USC Annenberg News: “Ernest J. Wilson III , Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication and dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, has been appointed to the team advising President-Elect Barack Obama as he continues to assemble his administration. Dean Wilson will serve several functions in the transition. He will lead a team reviewing America’s international broadcasting services, including the Voice of America and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He will also be an advisor to the transition team working with the U.S. Department of State on public diplomacy issues.”

Baseball Plays Key Role in State Department Public Diplomacy: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on November 18 introduced baseball star Ken Griffey Jr. as America's newest public diplomacy envoy - Paul Levitan, America.gov: “The aim of public diplomacy through baseball is to encourage communication between the peoples of … countries and the American people.”

Government Using BI Software To Measure Public Diplomacy: State Department pilot project using Business Objects' planning and budgeting software aims to prove that overseas anti-Americanism reduction programs are working - Mary Hayes Weier, InformationWeek : “A State Department division that runs public diplomacy programs overseas could prove to be a model to its peers with its use of business intelligence software, popular with the private sector, to demonstrate the return on investment of its expenditures. Its latest project is a pilot program to develop algorithms that better show correlations between the department's goals and its expenditures, using SAP Business Objects Planning XI software.”

[Belated News] U.S. Department of State and the Adobe Foundation to Launch Online Video Contest to Amplify U.S. Public Diplomacy: CSRwire, November 25, 2008 – “Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri, in conjunction with the Adobe Foundation, will launch an online video contest to amplify U.S. public diplomacy using web-based outreach campaigns and social media platforms on Monday, December 1."

Jolie-Pitt Foundation Awards Second Grant to Global Action for Children - Social Developments:“The Emergency Presidential Initiative for the World's Children calls for the coordination of all foreign AIDS programs that support children in developing countries to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and reach as many children as possible. Ms. [Jennifer Delaney, Executive Director for Global Action for Children] stated, ‘Establishing an executive-level office to oversee and coordinate foreign assistance programs for children in developing countries will ensure aid is spent on building healthy future civil societies, economic growth and political stability in developing countries --- not to mention fulfilling a critical U.S. public diplomacy goal.’"

Jordan, NATO member states to expand security, political ties - Alia Shukri Hamzeh, Jordan Times: “Once finalised, the ICP [Jordan’s Individual Cooperation Programme] will allow for enhanced cooperation in different fields from public diplomacy to crisis management as well as an increase in the number of joint Jordanian-NATO military exercises and further cooperation in the fight against nuclear proliferation.”

RELATED ITEMS

A Court for a New America - Roger Cohen, New York Times: Only by aligning America again with international law can the damage inflicted on America’s image and appeal by the Bush administration be undone.

Gloom, but Not Doom – Editorial, New York Times: President-elect Barack Obama is inheriting a world that is more complicated and more frightening than the one George W. Bush found in 2001. But while the trends may be apparent, the end results are not inevitable. Decisions Mr. Obama and other leaders make will matter more.

From Mumbai to Washington: Now Is the Time to Renounce the War on Terror - Yifat Susskind, Common Dreams: The best thing President-elect Obama could do to chart a new and improved US foreign policy is to renounce the "war on terror."

'War on terror' -- an exercise in folly: Mumbai serves as a reminder that fanatics committed to violence have been with us for millenniums - Rosa Brooks, Los Angeles Times: With a new U.S. administration about to take office, isn't it finally time to say goodbye to the "war on terror"? After all, we already have two real wars to worry about.

South Asian opportunity? - Georgie Anne Geyer, Washington Times: Washington could use the Mubai events as an opportunity to get Pakistan and India to seriously negotiate; it could clarify the forces in the dangerous Afghan/Pakistan/Indian triangle or, if it only resorts to more force, it can dig us deeper into the graveyard that the region is becoming.

Are Al Qaeda's fingerprints on the Mumbai attack? The consequences could definitely be in their favor - John Hughes, Christian Science Monitor: India is an important ally of the US, a democracy emerging as a powerful economic force. Pakistan is a delicate democracy, a pivotal force in the war against Al Qaeda. Both have nuclear weapons. Both must be nurtured by the US.

The dangers we face - Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle: With the horrifying images of the Mumbai terrorist attacks still fresh in everyone's minds, a bipartisan congressional task force couldn't have chosen a better - or worse - time to inform the American public that the odds are on terrorists using a weapon of mass destruction within the next five years. And the world's biggest danger spot, according to the report? Pakistan.

Back to the Old 9/11 World: Now Obama gets to deal with Islamic terror, and has no Bush to blame - Victor Davis Hanson, National Review: “Just as I didn’t envy George W. Bush’s lose/lose dilemma in dealing with Pakistan and global Islamic terrorism, so too I can only sympathize with President-Elect Obama, who faces the same dismal choices.”

High-stakes missile defense – Ed Fuelner, Washington Times: Even if Mr. Obama had intended to call off the deployment in Poland, doing so now would make it look as if he had backed off in the face of Russia's military threats. And the United States can't afford to look weak. The stakes are high, and the world is watching.

What will make Obama a great president: He must make the U.S. a world leader in global warming solutions. Then he must inspire China to follow suit - Joseph Romm, Salon

Too polite to Thailand – Editorial, Boston Globe: Thailand is an ally of the United States, but it is obvious that ally Thailand has become an embarrassment to the democratic club.

How not to run foreign policy - Joseph R. Wood, International Herald Tribune: One of the recommendations: Do not concoct a mismatch of rhetoric and policy. Especially, do not speak loudly and carry no stick. A rhetorical hard line on principles that is not matched by actions gains all the problems of confrontation and all the drawbacks of appeasement.

U.S. need not decline - William Hawkins, Washington Times

Obama "Deeply Disappointed" in Papa Bear's Beardlessness - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to. PHOTO: President-elect Barack Obama introduces New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as nominee for commerce secretary during a news conference in Chicago, December 3, 2008. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters). COMMENT: “So what does the intrepid Fox 'reporter' do with his golden opportunity? He asks about Bill Richardson's beard. No, really: Fox’s Wendell Goler began by thanking Obama for calling on him, and then proceeded to ask about the TARP funds and Bill Richardson’s now-removed beard. Obama began by offering a light-hearted take on Richardson’s beard: ‘I’m going to answer this question about the beard. I think it was a mistake for him to get rid of it. I thought that whole western, rugged look was really working for him. … We’re deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard’."

Why Barack Should Grow a Beard - Jamie Malanowsk, Daily Beast: But there just might be a good reason for Obama to grow a beard: foreign policy. Consider that in the almost 100 years from Wilson to Bush that America has had clean-shaven presidents, the following individuals have been prominent among its enemies: Pancho Villa, Kaiser Wilhelm, Adolf Hitler, Emperor Hirohito, Hideki Tojo, Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Hafez al-Assad, Daniel Ortega, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden, and right now we’re not exactly sweet on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A bearded Obama would show the world that everyone will start with a clean slate, if not a clean lip.