
"[A]rguably the most successful act of American public diplomacy so far in this new century was the tour of the USNS Comfort in 2007."
--Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, noting that this hospital ship's crew conducted 400,000 patient encounters and 1,700 surgeries in 12 nations; image from
NEW WEBSITE: SIMON ANHOLT
Simon Anholt is an independent policy advisor, author and researcher. He specialises in national identity and reputation, public diplomacy and the "brand images" of nations, cities and regions. Anholt developed the concepts of the "nation brand" and 'place brand' in the late 1990s, and today plays a leading role in this rapidly expanding field.
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Obama-Europe Honeymoon: The Thrill is Gone? -

Why shutting up is the best course of action – Transitionland: "[W]e might even want to be a little more quiet about constituting the aforementioned conditions [in Iran] in the future — not that US involvement in things like the Twitter maintenance delay should be denied by the administration, but rather the utmost importance of tact in this very risky area of public diplomacy. Our indirect assistance to demonstrators should be quiet and humble (and, in this case, very, very geeky)."
Soldier, soldier: has the new world of war passed you by? - Sean McClain, The National: "Ever since George Bush’s ill-fated declaration of an end to major combat operations in Iraq and the poorly conceived drawdown of forces in Afghanistan, the US and its allies have struggled to unravel their own riddle of the trenches: a Gordian knot

Three Amigos Push New Iran Legislation – Michael Goldfarb, Weekly Standard: "Lieberman, McCain, and Graham held a presser announcing new Iran legislation they intend to introduce. It will increase funding for Radio Farda and Voice of America, both of which have been critical at keeping Iranians informed of what's happening in their own country and reporting those events to the outside world as well. They also talk of funding a new Farsi-language website with live news coverage, and 'funding to foster the spread of technologies that would make it harder for the Iranian regime to crackdown' on the transmission of information over cellphones. … MCCAIN: [']So let me get to the aspects of the legislation that we’re introducing. Radio Farda -- as I mentioned, Radio Farda is part of Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty based in Prague. And what it broadcasts isn’t propaganda or even public diplomacy. Rather, its job is surrogate broadcasting, providing the Iranian people with the kind of unbiased, uncensored news and other information they would get in the event that they were living in a free society.[']”
Senate Unanimously Passes Kerry-Lugar Pakistan Aid Package – American Chronicle: "A summary of the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act is below: In introducing this bill, Senators Kerry and Lugar aim to help transform the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan:

instead of a transactional, tactically-driven set of short-term exercises in crisis-management, Kerry and Lugar aim to build a deeper, broader, long-term strategic engagement with the people (and not just the leaders) of this vitally important nation. … A premise underlying the Kerry-Lugar approach is a simple thought-exercise. Following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, the United States devoted nearly $1 billion to relief efforts and reaped a greater reward in popular support than any amount of public diplomacy could generate. The sight of American servicemen and women saving the lives of Pakistani citizens was worth ten times the cost of operating the Chinook helicopters." Image from
Cautious to a Fault: Solidarity with Reformers in Poland and Iran - Reagan’s Response in 1981 Markedly Different from Obama’s in 2009 - Ted Lipien, Free Media Online Blog: "Public diplomacy mistakes

VOA Persian News Network gets media attention - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy
U.S. taps envoy for Muslim outreach without fanfare - Reuters, Washington Post:

7 British Teachers Seek To Learn From Md. Visit - Tom Lansworth, Washington Post: "Seven British teachers visited Montgomery County schools last month as part of the British Council's Teachers International Professional Development program. The program places British teachers in schools around the world, where they work with local educators to exchange information and experiences on best practices related to a particular educational theme or issue."
Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: the Quest to Boost Russia’s Image - Introduced by Vladimir Frolov, Russia Profile: [Frolov:] "Moscow apparently has learned that meticulous policy planning and execution is a much more cost-effective way to boost Russia’s image than throwing money at Western PR consultants or TV channels that broadcast into nowhere. The move to concentrate image-boosting functions in the Kremlin is also a right one, since the Foreign Ministry, which ran the old commission, clearly lacked bureaucratic clout to ensure effective policy coordination. ... What does this move by the Kremlin really mean? Is it simply an exercise in boosting the efficiency of Moscow’s public diplomacy operations, or is it a sign of a serious rift within the Russian leadership on the basic approach to foreign policy? ... Ethan S. Burger, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC: Russia does not need to establish a commission to determine how best to enhance its international image through more effective public diplomacy—it merely needs to change its behavior. ... Edward Lozansky, President, American University in Moscow: ... So, what options does Russia have?

Public Diplomacy, Policy Research and Outreach: European Union and EU-Canada Relations - UBC Faculty of Applied Science: "The European Commission is pleased to announce a new Call for Proposals entitled 'Public Diplomacy, Policy Research and Outreach: European Union and EU-Canada Relations'."

Brand India – Madhur, Soft Power: "The Public Diplomacy office will have to come up with really unique initiatives consistently to convince the world that India indeed is a rising power capable of tackling world problems rather than getting bogged down by it’s [sic] own." Image from
FC Expert Blog: Advancing Ethical Business Leadership - Alice Korngold, Fast Company: "The Carnegie Council achieves its mission through Workshops for Ethics in Business, publications, online videos and podcasts, and the Carnegie New Leaders Program to develop the next generation of outstanding individuals committed to ethics and international affairs. Follow Carnegie Council’s blog on 'Fairer Globalization' for thoughtful and unique perspectives in their postings on President Obama’s public diplomacy with Iran, US trade policy with China and Japan, green mapping in Harlem, and advertising in the age of the recessionista."
UN: New Permanent Representative of Australia Presents Credentials – Daily Update, ISRIA: "The new Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations, Gary Quinlan, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Quinlan

Picking pictures, Bluegrass and Dead Batteries – Paul Rockower, Levantine: "The State of Franklin seceded from North Carolina and tried to enter the union as its own state. Some fascinating history, I recommend following that previous link. Maybe I can drum up some public diplomacy work as the Ambassador for the State of Franklin, State of Jefferson and Republic of the Rio Grande. Public diplomacy as recognition for fledgling states and republics."
RELATED ITEMS
No Choice but Democracy - Michael Gerson, Washington Post: Democracy promotion is difficult and reversible. It is also not new -- or optional.
Obama, the Neocons and Iran: The president's new foreign policy

The prescience of protest: The West should listen to the dissidents in Iran craving freedom -- they can feel the future - Natan Sharansky, Los Angeles Times
The mullahs must go: Obama is making the same mistake as other presidents -- the only answer is regime change - John R. Bolton, Los Angeles Times: It is Obama's policy errors, not his rhetorical ones, that should be opposed. Rhetoric itself is not policy but only the adjunct of policy, albeit often an important one. The Iranian people will continue their opposition no matter how inconvenient it is for Obama's hoped-for negotiations. We should support them, and not just by rhetoric.
Advice to the Prince - David Bromwich, New York Review of Books:

Not this Time - Joseph Ashbyan, American Thinker: The speeches across Europe, in Latin America, and most recently in Cairo, have told us one thing: Obama believes, on some significant level, the propaganda promoted by America's enemies that the United States is the main instigator and perpetrator of international unrest. So shockingly, amazingly, unbelievably, Obama is saying that Iran may very well use America as a propaganda tool, but at least this time they won't be right.
BBC Persian: "careful about not becoming opposition TV" (updated)- Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy
Twitter is a Propaganda Platform - Jared, MentalPolyphonics: Since professional journalists have been unable to report from Iran, Twitter has been the medium of choice for citizen-journalists. The problem is that Twitter is not good at filtering out noise. So much of the news is apparently distorted, either for entertainment purposes or outright psychological warfare.
How to run a protest without Twitter: Iranians can learn from leaders of protests — from Berlin to Beijing — before modern telecommunications - GlobalPost. Via
Taliban Launch Propaganda Attack Against Poles Marcin Górka, Gazeta Wyborcza: The taliban boast on the Web that they killed nine Polish troops and wounded a further forty in May alone. Last Wednesday as many as fifteen Poles are supposed to have been killed!
Art or Propaganda? -


Two for Tuesday: Soviet Propaganda Postcard - Chris Overstreet, Wild Postcards: This ...poster from 1947 reminds the proletariat that, hey, you can work at night, too! Of course, we’ll have to put you on the waiting list for tractor headlights; you should have them in about two years.
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Thanks for a link to our Fairer Globalization blog. We appreciate it.
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