December 4

"war of necessity"

--President Barack Obama, regarding the US military engagement in Afghanistan; image from

"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned."

--William Butler Yeats

REPORT

Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States:
A Report to the Center for International Media Assistance
By Mary Myers (December 3, 2009); via MA

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Afghanistan—preemptive withdrawal—the rest of the story? - Bruce Clarke, Examiner.com: "There seems to be a diplomatic /public diplomacy component to the [Obama’s Afghanistan] strategy that was not mentioned in the speech. ... [This] diplomatic/public diplomacy aspect ... became visible yesterday with announcements by both Afghan President Karzai and General McChrystal seeking discussions with the Taliban to terminate the conflict. Most likely this public posturing

is the beginning of the attempts to divide the Taliban and to appeal to the peace seeking component within the Taliban." Image: Bathyllus Posturing, by Aubrey Beardsley

President Obama's New Strategy in Afghanistan: Questions and Answers - Vanda Felbab-Brown, Brookings Institution: "Q. Is military force effective on its own as a means of counterinsurgency? A. Counterinsurgency situations are ones where military force is only one component of the strategy. Since in a counterinsurgency effort, the population is the center of gravity, other tools of statecraft are equally important. These include economic development, public diplomacy, strategic communication, and most importantly, the delivery of the necessary public goods. Public safety, rule of law, and economic conditions enabling job generation are also critical. Yet many insurgencies around the world were defeated or severely weakened by military means alone, without the state ever addressing the root causes of violence. This is, appropriately, not the strategy President Obama outlined."

VOL. V NO. 25, November 20-December 3, 2009 - The Layalina Review on Public Diplomacy and Arab Media:

Improving US Public Diplomacy The State Department’s public diplomacy efforts still remain unclear. According to experts, the US agency must have a clear plan aligned with the USG’s overall strategic communication objectives.

White House Announcements to More Key Posts Create Further Controversy [PDPBR note: the text in this entry is the same as the above entry] President Obama’s recent nominations to more key posts are generating further controversies and debates.

Obama’s Support Waning With the year coming to a close, analysts and commentators reflect on Obama’s accomplishments, unfulfilled promises, and Americans’ growing sense of disillusionment.

Al-Hurra Thriving? Al-Youm, a show that tackles regional and international news, and economic, cultural and social issues, is boosting Al-Hurra’s ratings.

Saddam Makes a Comeback on TV! On the anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s execution, a new channel called “Al-Arabi” started broadcasting the life story and speeches of Iraq's former leader on satellite television. No one seems to know for sure who is funding it.

Sticky Times for the Media in Iraq New regulations in Iraq claiming to moderate the media and avoid sectarian tensions may in fact aim to muzzle news outlets as the elections approach. Below image from



Al-Jazeera English Sets up Shop in Canada In late November, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission gave the green light to Al-Jazeera English, which will soon air on televisions across Canada.

CIA Targets Arab-Americans for Job Positions In an attempt to recruit Arab-Americans, the Central Intelligence Agency will launch a new commercial which tackle the concepts of family, Arab culture, and American patriotism.

90 Minutes Gone Wrong between Egypt and Algeria Clashes between Egypt and Algeria following the recent soccer debacle between both countries highlighted existing tensions in inter-Arab relations.

Obama Comes to a Dead End over Palestinian Issues The Palestinian Authority’s recent request to the United Nations for a resolution to create a Palestinian state has prompted skeptical reactions from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Going wrong in Afghanistan? Show, don't just tell... – Lena, Sis 640 Communiacs: The Creative Domain Of The Fall 2009 Sis 640 [AU]: "Public diplomacy and strategic communication are increasingly criticized for not being responsive to the recent trends of globalization: they have grown increasingly ineffective, they are not engaging enough, and in many instances, they are even counter-productive, if not detrimental, only fuelling the extremist discourse. Many various solutions have been suggested to address the problem, and from all these, I think Daryl Copeland’s approach sounds as the most comprehensive one. He suggests having guerilla diplomats – agile, acute, and autonomous – as 'network-builders' and 'knowledge-workers' to be able to maneuver better in the increasingly 'bazaar-like' horizontal power-dynamics and to manage the challenges of globalization more effectively.

What I like most in his argument, however, is the emphasis on the fact that underdevelopment is the major cause for insecurity, and the need to have guerilla diplomats actively contributing to sustainable development so as to successfully address the problem in societies with chronic instability and lack of governance." Image from

Losing Hearts and Minds or Hiroshima - Congressional Elections Books: "Losing Hearts and Minds: Public Diplomacy and Strategic Influence in the Age of Terror Author: Carnes Lord There is a broad consensus among informed observers both inside and outside the Beltway that American public diplomacy leaves much to be desired. Recent studies describe ineffectiveness, inadequate resources, and a general lack of direction. Further complicating this situation, there is no real consensus among critics on what must be done to fix current problems. Moreover, the ills afflicting public diplomacy are poorly understood. Losing Hearts and Minds? situates these problems within the complex environment of U.S. government bureaucracy, and relates them to other instruments of national power, particularly diplomatic activities and military force. This book prompts debate by analyzing obstacles to effective public diplomacy, and offers a comprehensive vision of this critical dimension of statecraft, which without improvements will ill serve the nation in its ongoing efforts to counter the global threat of terror."

NATO - Chairman's Statement Meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of Foreign Ministers held at NATO Headquarters, Brussels, on 3 December 2009 - ISRIA: "NUC [The NATO-Ukraine Commission]

Ministers agreed on the importance of Ukraine’s efforts to provide objective information about the Alliance to its citizens, on the achievements made in public diplomacy to date, and the need to find a solution to the co-location of NATO’s offices in Kyiv." Image (not related to NUC mentioned above) from

NATO official underlines partnership with UAE within ICI - WAM - Emirates News Agency: "A senior official at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) underlined the current partnership with the UAE in the framework of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), hailing Abu Dhabi's hosting of the alliance's International Conference on 'NATO-UAE Relations and the Way Forward in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative', last October. The conference, held in Abu Dhabi on October 29th, provided an ideal chance for exchanging views with the UAE leadership on the current security challenges NATO faces in Afghanistan as well as on the Middle East peace process, noted Nicola de Santis, NATO's head of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Initiative Countries Section in the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, at a press conference at NATO's headquarters."

NATO, Russia To Review Security Challenges - Julian Hale, DefenseNews.com: "NATO and Russia have agreed to review

common security challenges of the 21st century ... . They also agreed on a NATO-Russia Council work program for 2010, which will include cooperation on Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism, missile defense, civil emergency planning and civil protection, scientific cooperation, and public diplomacy." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Gates: 'No deadlines' on troop withdrawal: Afghanistan drawdown could take 2 to 3 years, defense secretary says - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post: In Kabul on Thursday, U.S. officials sought to assure anxious Afghan leaders that despite the withdrawal deadline, Afghanistan will not be abandoned. Still, Obama's speech has touched a nerve in Afghanistan, where large segments of the population remain deeply scarred by the U.S. decision to disengage soon after the Soviet Union pulled out its troops in 1989. Below image from



Obama's Other War: The president needs to rally the nation, not just the troops - Kimberley A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal

Obama Redeclares War: Can he fight and win without the support of his political base? - Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: The president of the United States gave a war speech, and the next day the nation didn't seem to rally around him. This is not the way it's gone in the past.

Uncertain trumpet - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post: Obama's surge speech wasn't that of a commander in chief but of a politician, perfectly splitting the difference. Two messages for two audiences. Placate the right -- you get the troops; placate the left -- we are on our way out.

A Good but Puzzling Speech - David Brooks And Gail Collins, New York Times:

David: In short I thought it was a good but puzzling speech. You? Gail Collins: Pretty clear, actually. Plus deeply depressing. If I got the message correctly, he was saying that we’re in a bad place with no good options but to try to push things to a less-bad-although-still-not-terrific level. Image from

The Analytic Mode - David Brooks, New York Times: America traditionally fights its wars in a spirit of moral fervor. Most war presidents cast themselves as heroes on a white charger, believing that no one heeds an uncertain trumpet. Obama, on the other hand, cloaked himself in what you might call Niebuhrian modesty. His decision to expand the war is the most morally consequential one of his presidency so far, yet as the moral stakes rose, Obama’s emotional temperature cooled to just above freezing.

Down the wrong path in Afghanistan - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: President Obama should have declared victory in Afghanistan and begun a withdrawal.

If a war's worth fighting, isn't it worth paying for?Congress has raised taxes to fund most of our fighting, but since 9/11 the war bills have been piling up. The Share the Sacrifice Act would change that, bringing a way to pay for the Afghanistan war - Charles A. Stevenson, latimes.com

Doubting Dubai’s Doubters - John D'Agostino, Newswire – CPD Blog & Blogroll – USC Center on Public Diplomacy:

Dubai represented an example of what can happen when a Middle East nation willingly embraces U.S. style capitalist and democratic principles. Contrary to the disastrous scenario of our attempts to force democratic capitalism down the throats of a people, Dubai is proof that America's primary export can still be economic and legal innovation, as well as hope. This phenomenon perhaps deserves to be celebrated, if we can spare a moment from dancing among what we believe to be Dubai’s ashes. Image from

Statement about 10 new uranium enrichment centers propaganda – UNN: Iran's statement about the creation of 10 new uranium enrichment centers is propaganda, said Iranian National Interests Protection Organization Secretary General Hussain Jari said. According to Jari, Iran is capable of building new factories to enrich uranium from a technical point of view, but will only proceed with the support of the IAEA.