August 15

“Talking, it seemed to me, was the point of adult existence. I have never lost that sense.”

--Recently deceased historian Tony Judt; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama Backs Ground Zero Mosque; Iranian Link Questioned - Chana Ya'ar, Arutz Sheva - "U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his strong support for the New York City Ground Zero mosque, even as a political commentator is questioning possible ties between Iran and the mosque's organizer, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Obama came out in defense of the mosque at a Friday night 'iftar' dinner at the White House in which he joined others breaking the daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Obama is not the first to hold such an affair; his predecessor, President George W. Bush, hosted an annual iftar to honor the Muslim holiday. ... Last week, it was announced that the State Department plans to send Abdul Rauf to Qatar, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates as quasi-ambassador to explain U.S. religious tolerance traditions, and how Islam is perceived by the average American. ... The announcement of Abdul Rauf's impending trip angered

at least two Republican members of Congress, Representative Peter King of New York, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who slammed the move in a statement of their own. 'It is unacceptable that U.S. taxpayers are being forced to fund Feisal Abdul Rauf's trip to the Middle East,' the two lawmakers told the media. 'This radical is a terrible choice to be one of the faces for our country overseas. The USA should be using public diplomacy programs to combat extremism, not to endorse it.'" Image from article

Pakistan’s image problem - F. Pont Casellas, newswatchanalysis.blogspot.com: "[I]t is clear that the US is handing massive amounts of aid to the Pakistani authorities in order to ensure the nuclear-armed regime will not descend into chaos and will cooperate in the struggle against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Although progress in both respects can be labeled of moderate at best, the US has strong interests in preserving stability in Pakistan, although it sees the Pakistani ruling and military elite with suspicion and even despair. Of course, now the US is rushing to mollify its image, in a classic public diplomacy move, in order to avoid fueling even further disapproval among Pakistanis. However, although the US image problem in Pakistan is deeply troubling, it looks like Pakistan’s own image problems might be even worse. ... While there is no doubt that increased media focus and public diplomacy goals will translate into a higher level of international commitment to help Pakistan, the horrible image its government and military leaders enjoy throughout the world has turned against its own citizens, who have been literally and unfairly abandoned to their fate in the midst of a serious natural disaster. As the saying goes, humans are the only animals able to trip over the same stone twice: Pakistan's leaders should be more clever than that, learning from their public diplomacy mistakes in order to avoid this isolation to happen again."

Hurdles to US image, interests in Pakistan: Drones, Media Vitriol, Politician Threats - Rupee News: "The US media, and the politicians are pushing the American agenda and trying to convince everyone that the US is Pakistan’s best friend and that America helped Pakistan during the earthquake and during the floods. Both facts are true and valid. It is a fact that the Chinook’s [providing aid to flood victims] were seen as birds of mercy and became very popular for Pakistanis in distress. It is equally true that the US was one of the biggest donors during the earthquake second only to Turkey which provided the largest assistance package. This time around the US has given more Chinooks and they are flying the missions of mercy. ... Many of the same American and Pakistani leaders who worked together during that crisis have reunited in this calamity, including Nadeem Ahmad, a retired Pakistani lieutenant general, and Vice Adm. Michael A. LeFever, the senior American officer in Pakistan. But American officials warn that the glow from the earthquake assistance faded quickly without more enduring development programs. 'LeFever clearly understands the P.R. value of flood assistance, but he also knows that absent other high-profile public diplomacy efforts, the half-life of any improvement to Pakistani impressions of the U.S. will be short[.]' The problem is that while the Chinooks are flying missions of mercy,

the drones are also raining death on Pakistani civilians. This anaomoly defines the paradox for the Pakistanis and is a colossal impediment to the growth of Pro-American feelings in Pakistan." Image from

Officials: Alleged US missiles kill 12 in Pakistan - Rasool Dawar and Abdul Sattar, Aol News: "Pakistan official decries the drone attacks, but is believed to secretly aid in at least some of the airstrikes. The missile attacks, however, have deepened widespread anti-American sentiment in the country. As Pakistan struggles to recover from the worst flooding in its history, the U.S. has donated more than $70 million in aid and sent helicopters and Marines to help in the relief work. The goal, in part, is to improve America's image here, and some analysts have suggested that ongoing missile strikes could negate that effort."

Middle East Public Diplomacy meets Arab Social Media - Joshua S. Fouts, The Imagination Age: "It wasn't so long ago that the US government could spend hundreds of millions (or even tens of thousands) of dollars launching a media campaign or teevee station or website targeted at a country outside the US and the audience in question would not have too much that they could do or say about it that would reach either the eyes and ears of the US or the world. With the rapid boom in social media these days the story is different.

Suddenly small countries, small groups of people and businesses feel empowered to compete with the US government. Or, in today's case, protest the US government competing against them. Today's entry: ArabCrunch, who blogs today "ArabCrunch Under Threats: Hillary Clinton and the State Department To Compete with ArabCrunch!" a post that describes their frustration with a recently-announced US-backed website focused on their region." Image from article

State SIM card listing order boosts M-Pesa - Daily Nation (Kenya): "While in the country recently, US Under Secretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs Judith McHale said the US will import innovations from Africa as part of the Obama Administration’s bid to strengthen relations with the continent."

YES Arrivals - afsvolunteerblog.org: "I had the pleasure to be a group leader for the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program arrivals in Washington DC from August 8 to August 11. YES is an innovative high school exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This public diplomacy initiative builds bridges of international understanding, especially between Americans and people in countries with significant Muslim populations.

The first day the students arrived was amazing. Watching high school students from 13 different countries come together, share stories, and teach each other new games was the realization of the AFS and YES missions being fulfilled." Image from

Reclaiming Israel's narrative of freedom - Shalom Helman, Jerusalem Post: "Israel has lost the plot. To be precise, we have lost our plot. We are like tragic characters trying to find the story line in an absurd existentialist play. We have forgotten our narrative. Whether from self-imposed amnesia or a wistful yearning for 'normality,' we are no longer able to articulate our remarkable story to ourselves or to the world. Those who say we must go 'beyond the conflict' to win the battle for international public opinion are half-right – of course we should tell of the stunning achievements of modern Israel. But public diplomacy will not succeed until we can unabashedly declare the story of who we are and why we are here. ... We can energize a grassroots network of supporters around the world. Together, we can tell the story of Israel as the fulfillment of the Jewish people’s long march to national liberation in our land – a beacon of hope for humankind."

Culture expert criticises Wale Adenuga's 'audition by lucky-dip' - Molara Wood, NEXT: "Veteran arts journalist, Ben Tomoloju, has cautioned media practitioners against what he called the 'laissez faire approach to culture and commercialisation.' ... Touching on the potential of the media for mass mobilisation and cultural action, Tomoloju said, 'Film is a powerful tool for propaganda and cultural diplomacy.' He recalled the colonialists’ use of Mobile Film Shows to 'subdue and subject' African societies culturally.

'Journalists and media practitioners should maintain the required standards of their practice' in order to be effective agents for the propagation of culture for national development, said Tomoloju. For effective communication, he urged against 'the current trend of short-changing the quality of indigenous languages in public communication.' Image from article: Media should serve as the barometer of public opinion and voice of the voiceless,’ says Tomoloju.

Fiji courts China to Indian community's dismay (Comment) - Sify: "India can project its democratic ideals, which appeals to both the native Fijians and Indo-Fijians. India can use cultural diplomacy through the Indian Cultural Centre, which was established in capital Suva in 1971 and has since spread to Lautoka city in western Fiji. Many native Fijians are fascinated by India. India could use its rich culture as an attraction, and so could engage with the Fiji administration to pursue the path of democracy."

RELATED ITEMS

US terror fight slips into the shadows - Scott Shane, Mark Mazzetti and Robert F. Worth, The New York Times, posted at Dallas Morning News: In roughly a dozen countries – from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to former Soviet republics crippled by ethnic and religious strife – the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy using robotic drones and commando teams, paying contractors to spy, and training local operatives to chase terrorists. Instead of "the hammer," in the words of John Brennan, Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, the United States will rely on the "scalpel."

In a speech in May, Brennan, an architect of the White House strategy, used this analogy while pledging a "multigenerational" campaign against al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Yemen is a testing ground for the "scalpel" approach Brennan endorses. Such wars come with many risks: the potential for botched operations that fuel anti-American rage; a blurring of the lines between soldiers and spies that could put troops at risk of being denied Geneva Convention protections; a weakening of the congressional oversight system put in place to prevent abuses by America's secret operatives; and a reliance on authoritarian foreign leaders and surrogates with sometimes murky loyalties. The May strike in Yemen, for example, provoked a revenge attack on an oil pipeline by tribesmen and produced a propaganda bonanza for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Image from

A shift in Arab views of Iran: Anger over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. policy is tilting public opinion in favor of Tehran and against Washington - Shibley Telhami, latimes.com: President Obama may have scored a diplomatic win by securing international support for biting sanctions against Iran, but Arab public opinion is moving in a different direction. Polling conducted last month by Zogby and the University of Maryland in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates suggests that views in the region are shifting toward a positive perception of Iran's nuclear program. The shortest path to understanding this turn in Arab public opinion is to examine Arab views of American foreign policy in the Middle East. In the early months of the Obama administration (spring 2009), our polling found that a remarkable 51% of those surveyed expressed optimism about American policy in the Middle East, a stark contrast to nearly a decade of gloom that preceded Obama's election. A little over a year later, however, the number of optimists had dropped to only 16%, with 63% expressing pessimism. This pessimism, more than any other issue, explains the turn in Arab attitudes toward Iran. Arabs tend to view Iran largely through the prism of American and Israeli policies.

Russia incensed by US report on terrorism in Caucasus Region - RIA Novosti: The section of the U. S. Department of State's Country Report on Terrorism 2009 covering Georgia is surprisingly biased, a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website said.

N.Korea uses Twitter for propaganda offensive – AFP: North Korea's propaganda campaign has surged into the 21st century with a new Twitter account, hot on the heals of its foray into video with clips posted on YouTube.

The secretive regime has begun micro-blogging under the name @uriminzok, with a number of posts pointing its few dozen followers to anti-Seoul and anti-US statements on the country's official website (http://www.uriminzokkiri.com/). Image from website

Tibetans protest 'propaganda' – Strait Times: Taipei - Dozens of Tibetans and their Taiwanese supporters protested against China on Sunday, accusing Beijing of using an exhibition of 'looted' Tibetan artifacts as political propaganda. More than 130 Tibetan cultural relics from monasteries and museums on loan from China have been on display at Taipei's National Palace Museum since July 1. The exhibition, called 'Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World,' is a sign of warming ties between Beijing and Taipei but has angered Tibetans.

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"I wanted to hang myself. Of course, it's impossible because of weightlessness."

--A retired cosmonaut grumbling about the mind-numbing boredom of life on the space station

AMERICANA


California City’s “second community” has miles and miles of mostly unpaved streets -- a ghostly monument to overreach. In the background are a park and country club. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times / August 3, 2010)