February 16

"Speaking of propaganda — oops! I mean Twitter."

--Technolog's Helen A.S. Popkin, noting that the U.S. State Department is tweeting in Farsi through an account set up to speak to the people resuming protests in Iran; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

And now, Twitterplomacy - SB Anderson, nationalsecurityzone.org: "Social media and diplomacy are growing enmeshed — shall we call it Twitterplomacy? Tweetoplomacy? — with the U.S. State Department in recent days launching Twitter feeds in Arabic and Farsi, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today announcing more to follow in Chinese, Hindi and Russian. ... Judith McHale, undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs, told USAToday.com. 'There is a real, vibrant and compelling conversation going on now around the globe. It is a conversation increasingly taking place on the Internet, and America wants to be a part of it. We are keen to reach out to people where they spend their time online to listen, to present U.S. views and values, and to engage as we work to advance a better and more prosperous future.' In an 'impassioned speech


on Internet freedom' today at George Washington University, Clinton declared the U.S. 'stands with cyber dissidents and democracy activists from the Middle East to China and beyond,' the Associated Press reported. Clinton said $25 million will be spent this year 'on initiatives designed to protect bloggers and help them get around curbs like the Great Firewall of China, the gagging of social media sites in Iran, Cuba, Syria, Vietnam and Myanmar as well as Egypt’s recent unsuccessful attempt to thwart anti-government protests by simply pulling the plug on online communication,' the AP story continued." Image from

Official US Policy on the Internet - The Dialog Box: "The State Dept has an enhanced public diplomacy campaign of tweeting in Arabic, with Chinese, Farsi and other languages spoken in internet-repressed areas being added soon. It’s a whole new ballgame. Fascinating stuff."

Twitter, Translations, and the New Geopolitics - Neal Ungerleider,
fastcompany.com: "The State Department is embracing Twitter-based public diplomacy outreach with a vengeance with the launch of separate Arabic and Persian-language feeds over the past few days. Coincidentally, Twitter is planning a crowdsourced expansion onto multiple foreign language platforms. ... The newly established Twitter Translation Center is currently seeking French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish translators. According to Twitter, functionality translations will be crowdsourced."

Government Policy & Internet Freedom - Democracy & Society: "[W]hen Secretary Clinton spoke today on the promotion of internet freedom around the world it didn’t take long for criticism of the administration to start rolling in. Internet freedom is one of those subjects that opinions vary heavily on depending on the specific situation and one’s personal interests in keeping information controlled. In light of this year’s rather massive political scandals over WikiLeaks and the diplomatic cabletastrophy, it seemed an interesting choice of subjects for Secretary Clinton to address.


On the other hand, given the impact internet freedom and the development of technology had in the recent uprisings throughout the Middle East, how could she not? Unfortunately the nation has faced a great number of problems with contradictions in policy and public diplomacy throughout the political crises coursing through the Middle East. Our government’s reactions to the troubles presented by WikiLeaks, set against Secretary Clinton’s words on internet freedom seem to be the latest addition to the list of contradictions. There is no doubt that the US has a more relaxed approach to information control than the world’s authoritarian regimes, but we’ve a long way to go still before dubbing ourselves champions of internet freedom." Image from

"Internet Freedom" (or, the "Military-Twitter Complex") - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: "[T]here is the increasingly apparent equation of 'Internet Freedom' (which the U.S. claims is a fundamental right, en par with other universal human rights) with U.S. interests, which not only hinders the acceptance of the issue by the governments in question, but also runs the risk of actually discrediting this supposedly 'sacrosanct' foundation of the '21st Century Public Diplomacy'. To quote James Harkin: 'For big American internet companies like Google and Twitter, the danger is that their interests come to be too closely defined with those of the American government: that they’re seen to be smuggling in statecraft under the guise of delivering technology. In the conspiracy mills of the Middle East, campaigns for internet freedom are denounced as cover for America’s broader agenda, the stalking horse for a shady new military-Twitter complex.'"

The Social Network? - Laura McGinnis, manIC: "From today's Washington Post: 'On Thursday night, a protester at Tahrir Square scrawled a joke on a placard, imagining a reunion among Mubarak, Nasser and Sadat in heaven. When the two deceased rulers met Mubarak, the joke went, they asked him: 'Was in poison, or did it happen on a stage?' Neither, Mubarak responded. 'Facebook.'


And there we have an assumption that wields enormous influence over contemporary U.S. public diplomacy -- or 21st century statecraft or PD 2.0 or PD with new media or whatever you want to call it. The revolution may not be televised, but can it be tweeted? ... It's a question I've asked before, in this and my own blog, and I'm still trying to come up with an answer that makes me sound outrageously clever and authoritative, but I'm not confident that I will. ... But I'm going to hedge my bets here and say that I think they're helpful, but not essential. That's right, I'm siding with Team Local Conditions." Image from

Republican-proposed budget cuts would undermine broadcasting board's mission at a critical time, critics say - William Matthews, nextgov.com: "Internet broadcasts and social networking services funded by the U.S. government might have helped topple autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt, but now they're facing a determined adversary here at home. House Republicans' plans to cut more than $100 billion from the federal budget would lop nearly 10 percent from the $745 million budget of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If the cut is approved, then spending by the agency that runs Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks and other U.S. communications efforts aimed at promoting democracy would fall 'below what you had last year,' warned Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif. ... [I]n remarks before a BBG seminar on its role in new media and revolution, Berman said he will oppose cutting the agency's budget. 'If you exempt national security from the cuts


but you don't include public diplomacy in that, that's something to fight and resist,' he said. ... BBG-sponsored Alhurra Television provided Tunisians with coverage of the public demonstrations that drove presidents from office in Tunisia and Egypt. And Alhurra was the first network to announce the imminent departure of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. During the turmoil, Alhurra's reputation changed, said Mohamed Al-Yahyai, host of the network's Eye on Democracy program. It went from being considered an American-run Arabic-language TV network to being 'considered like any other TV network -- not American,' he said. BBG beams television, radio and Internet broadcasts to 165 million people in more than 100 countries around the world, including Iran, North Korea and Cuba." Image from

"Maybe it's time we shut up," but also restore VOA Arabic, he [Ben Barber, McClatchy Newspapers, 12 Feb 2011] writes - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "Actually, VOA Arabic was replaced by Radio Sawa back in 2002. It was not a State Department decision. And -- guess what folks -- the Arab news audience has moved to television. Alhurra (created in 2004) is providing that on behalf of the United States. We could debate whether it should be called VOA Arabic, but Alhurra is drawing larger audiences than any other Arabic-language channel from a non-Arab country. Radio Sawa is also doing well, because its format corresponds with the present preferences of Arab radio audiences. I'm sure Radio Sawa stepped up its news output during the Cairo protests."

VOA radio broadcasts to China signing off: Critics point out Sino-cast expansion - Bill Gertz, The Washington Times: "The Obama administration will cancel shortwave radio broadcasts by Voice of America into China this year, as Beijing is expanding its propaganda operations in the United States and around the world. Critics of the broadcasting cuts, announced Monday, said major reductions in staff and shortwave broadcasts will sharply curtail an important outlet for unfiltered news and information for large numbers of people in China, especially areas such as Tibet and western Xinjiang province, where pro-democracy forces are opposing Chinese rule. ... The cuts were outlined as a cost-cutting measure in the fiscal 2012 budget report of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, VOA’s parent agency. The plan calls for shifting the focus from shortwave to digital media, such as Internet broadcasts. ... Shortwave listeners are not as numerous as Web users, 'but those who are limited to shortwave still represent millions of highly motivated information seekers,' [an] official said. ... Last year, China's state-controlled news agency Xinhua began an English-language television service operating 24 hours as part of what officials say is an effort to expand the communist government's media influence abroad."

United States Self Criticism For Not Confronting China Over Online Censorship - rfaunplugged.org: “'In the same way that our trade with China is out of balance, it is clear to even the casual observer that when it comes to interacting directly with the other nation’s public we are in another lop-sided contest,'


Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) wrote in the new report. ... 'China has a vigorous public diplomacy program, based on a portrayal of an ancient, benign China that is, perhaps, out of touch with modern realities. Nonetheless, we are being overtaken in this area of foreign policy by China, which is able to take advantage of America’s open system to spread its message in many different ways, while using its fundamentally closed system to stymie U.S. efforts.'” Image from article

BBG budget request closes VOA Cantonese and Croatian and shifts VOA Mandarin to "web-only" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Human Events periodical says it helped President Reagan place conservative as director of VOA (updated) - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "The tendency of presidents to place allies, whether conservative or liberal, as director of what should be a news organization is one of the reasons for the reform that resulted in the International Broadcasting Act of 1994, and the creation of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.


It is now the bipartisan BBG, not presidents, that selects VOA directors. (Tomlinson later -- 2002-2007 -- served as chairman of the BBG.)" Image from

Some history of VOA broadcasts to Cuba (in the years before Radio Martí) - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

[RFE's] Radio Azadi's "Liberty and Listeners" is intermediary between Afghans and their government - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Czech Senator, in letter to Hillary Clinton, outlines labor grievances of some RFE/RL employees - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

The Obama Budget - mervdiddy, newmillenial.wordpress.com: "The budget


is of paramount importance, yes, but isn’t a budget that doesn’t go far enough in the right direction still preferable to a GOP that won’t care about DADT, alternative energy, public diplomacy, international assistance, urban development, infrastructure and transportation, financial reform, and civil liberties? To say nothing of access and quality of health care and education." Image from

Hillary Clinton on her way out; Obama has lost faith in her loyalty to him - Macu, Milfuegos: "It turns out that Clinton, Biden, and Gates were following the dictates of key players in the pro-Mubarak Israel Lobby in Washington and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York rather than from the policy-makers in the office of the President. ... Obama is scaling back Biden's involvement in fundamental foreign policy issues, preferring his interaction with key foreign governments, especially those in the Middle East, to be limited to public diplomacy and social functions."

Science Envoy Zewail Concludes Successful First Visit to Cairo - Passed to the Telegraph by WikiLeaks, telegraph.co.uk: "Date: 1/18/2010 5:32 Origin: Embassy Cairo Classification: UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY ... In his inaugural trip to Egypt as U.S. Science Envoy, Dr. Ahmed Zewail met with senior government officials, business leaders, and the academic community to discuss ways in which the U.S. can collaborate with Egypt to bolster science and technology cooperation. -- At a January 10 meeting of the Supreme Council for Science and Technology (SCST), Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif pledged to create a task force to identify key national science and technology challenges and determine how Egypt can contribute to future partnerships. -- Public diplomacy events with the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (AMCHAM) and a 10 year old child prodigy dubbed 'the next Zewail'


focused on the need to improve the education system to strengthen Egypt's position in the global scientific community. ... Zewail also met with a 10 year old American University of Cairo student, featured in a local publication the week before the visit and dubbed 'the next Zewail.' Zewail paid tribute to the boy's industriousness and determination to become a Nobel Prize winner and credited his parents in keeping him focused on academic pursuits. He explained that while Egypt welcomes foreign support, it is critical that Egyptians themselves determine how to solve the country's problems, chief among them the education system." Image from

What Wikileaks Teaches Us About Obama and Latin America - Rebecca Ray, Common Dreams, posted at Caribbean Blog International: "In a 2007 cable entitled 'A Southern Cone Perspective on Countering Chavez and Reasserting U.S. Leadership,' Santiago embassy staff develop a 6-point strategy to weaken Venezuela’s regional alliances: 1. 'Know thy Enemy' (information sharing) 2. 'Directly Engage' (more high-level US visits to other Latin American countries) 3. 'Change the Political Landscape' (boosting Argentina’s and Brazil’s influence as counterweights) 4. 'Play to Our Mil-Mil Advantage' (South American military training and peacekeeping operations) 5. 'Stress Our Winning Formula' (aid and corporate social responsibility) 6. 'Getting the Message Out' (public diplomacy)."

Japanese embassy blog gets thousands of fans‎ - AsiaOne: "The Japanese embassy in Beijing has officially launched a micro blog, attracting more than 5,000 fans in just two days. According to Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa,


the micro blog will introduce his schedule as well as various activities related to Sino-Japanese relations. 'The general public is the important part of the bilateral relationship, and I hope the micro-blogging service will become a platform for communications between the embassy and ordinary Chinese people,' the ambassador said in a statement. ... The Chinese embassy in Tokyo held its first regular monthly news conference at the end of last month, a move that reflected China's efforts to explain its policy and stances to the public in foreign countries. Observers have stressed the importance of 'public diplomacy', noting both countries have utilized various means to provide target audiences with information about their policies and general information." Niwa image from

ASU research having impact in US anti-terrorist program - asunews.asu.edu: "Two Arizona State University research initiatives have been recognized this month by the Department of Defense for aiding the U.S. government efforts to understand and effectively operate in the human terrain during non-conventional warfare and other missions. One of the projects, 'Identifying Terrorist Narratives and Counter-Narratives: Embedding Story Analysis in Expeditionary Units,' is part of research being conducted by the Consortium of Strategic Communication in ASU’s Hugh Downs School of Human Communication. The research is funded by a $1.6 million renewable grant from the Office of Naval Research. ... The project focuses on how such extremists use rhetoric and narratives to instill hostility toward enemies, recruit new members, and incite action. Others on the research team include ASU faculty members Angela Trethewey, H.L. 'Bud' Goodall, Daniel Bernardi and Pauline Hope Cheong. 'It’s a global battle of hearts and minds, and we’re trying to analyze their methods of communication in order to counter their influence,' said Trethewey, who attended the award presentation with Corman. ... The Consortium for Strategic Communication was formed in 2005 to apply concepts from communication research to problems of combating terrorism, promoting national security, and engaging in public diplomacy worldwide. ... The other ASU initiative, 'Finding Allies for the War of Words,' was recognized by the Department of Defense for its exceptional scientific achievements and contributions to the field of social cultural modeling."

Image, with caption, Arizona State has a dance team from

Region's energy, security main concern for Nato - Francesca Astorri, Peninsula On-line: "DOHA ... Nato’s deputy secretary-general Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero ... welcomed Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) partners as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, showing his interest in deepening the energy security strategy and cooperation in the Gulf region also with countries as Oman and Saudi Arabia, both attending the ICI Public Diplomacy Ambassadorial Conference on Deepening the NATO-ICI partnership held yesterday in Doha, but not joining the ICI yet."

Public Diplomacy 2.0: A brief couple of sent[e]nces - Phil, It's All Shove - The thoughts of a Web Scientist: "I discovered the AYM (Alliance of Youth Movements) website last week in a report on the BBC programme Newsnight. It seems the US government have been pushing for an emergence of 'Public Diplomacy 2.0' now that the Web has revealed new paths to social change in all countries (not just those anti-West/neoliberalism). I’d briefly like to share a couple of websites with you this morning, before I run off to lectures. I’ve only just discovered the sites myself, but I’ll be reviewing, commenting further on them and Public Diplomacy 2.0 later this week."

Invitation: "Africa's Emerging Infosystems: A Pathway to Security and Development" - February 22, 2011 - techfordev.posterous.com: "Steven Livingston is Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs with appointments in the School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) and the Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA)


at The George Washington University. ... He also founded the Public Diplomacy Institute (PDI) at GWU in 2000 and served as the chairman of the Board of Directors until 2008. PDI is now called the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication." Image from

US Embassy Job Vacancy - infokarirbumn.blogspot.com: "Information Assistant (surabaya) ... Must have a thorough knowledge of Indonesia’s media, political, economic, social, religious, and education environment. General familiarity with key mass media, government, military, cultural, business, and labor leaders required. Knowledge of journalistic and public relations techniques sufficient to help meet Consulate’s public diplomacy goals."

RELATED ITEMS

Pharaoh Without a Mummy - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times: The most valuable thing America could do now is to help Egypt’s democracy movement consolidate itself. And the best way to do that would be to speak its language.


It would be to announce that the U.S. intends to divert $100 million of the $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt this year to build 10 world-class science and technology high schools — from Aswan to Alexandria — in honor of all Egyptians who brought about this democratic transformation. Image from

Keep pushing in Egypt - Editorial, Washington Post: Mr. Obama claimed that "in a complicated situation, we got it about right" in Egypt. Not many of the Egyptian protest leaders agree with him, but U.S. pressure on the military not to violently suppress the protests probably was important. What's vital now is that, in addition to praising the generals, the administration also keep pushing them to fully open the political system to the pro-democracy leaders.

Mubarak Leaves at Last - Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy: Despite the avalanche of criticism from protestors and pundits, in fact Obama and his key aides backed the Egyptian protest movement far more quickly than anyone should have expected. Their steadily mounting pressure on the Mubarak regime took time to succeed, causing enormous heartburn along the way, but now can claim vindication. By working carefully and closely with the Egyptian military, it helped restrain the worst violence and prevent Tiananmen on the Tahrir -- which, it is easy to forget today, could very easily have happened. No bombs, no shock and awe, no soaring declarations of American exceptionalism, and no taking credit for a tidal wave which was entirely of the making of the Egyptian people -- just the steadily mounting public and private pressure on the top of the regime which was necessary for the protestors to succeed.

Egypt After Mubarak: Talking About A Revolution? -guerrilladiplomacy.com: Mubarak has stepped aside, but Egypt remains in a state of emergency and under the rule of a clique of the former president’s fellow travellers and appointees.

America employs a Ritalin diplomacy - Lionel Beehner, USA Today: America should fixate longer on potential foreign crises before they unfold, rather than just hop around the globe putting out fires.

Al Ja-Jeer-America - Editorials, investors.com: War On Terror: Imagine a Cold War president relying on Pravda for news. Or CNN and ABC vets rushing to work for the propaganda organ. Insane, right? So why are they swooning over Al Jazeera? Al Jazeera is the rabidly anti-American Arab TV network based in Qatar and bankrolled by an absolute Islamic monarchy. Since its founding 15 years ago, it has fomented rage against Israel and American-backed Arab governments. It has favored Hamas over the Palestinian Authority; and Hamas' parent, the Muslim Brotherhood, over the Mubarak regime.


In fact, it's credited with inciting the rioting that led to the Egyptian ally's ouster. Throughout the war on terror, the network — known as the Muslim Brotherhood Channel — has shamelessly given Osama bin Laden a platform. It's served as a mouthpiece for the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan — so much so that President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair discussed bombing it headquarters. Image from

Iranians defy government ban on Valentine’s Day - english.donga.com: Mass anti-government protests that shook the Iranian capital of Tehran Monday were related to Valentine’s Day. Last month, Tehran banned the production of goods related to Valentine`s Day, including gifts with the symbols of hearts and red roses, and activities promoting this day. Authorities threatened legal action against those who ignored the ban. The decision came as the Iranian government considered the day’s celebration as the spread of Western culture and propaganda that have gained popularity among Iranian youths, who represent 70 percent of the population. Angry over the ban, some people under age 30 said they would hold protests on Valentine’s Day.

More Propaganda Leaflets to Be Sent to N.Korea - The Chosun Ilbo: Some 100,000 leaflets are ready to be sent, with their front denouncing the hereditary power succession in North Korea and the back contrasting pictures of starving North Koreans and the luxurious life of the Kims.

Azerbaijan was forced to leave Minsk book fair - Panorama.am: Having no other books available except those anti-Armenian books, Azerbaijani representatives were forced to cease their participation in International book exhibition and fair of Minsk.


Belarusian capital hosts 18th international exhibition-fair February 9-13. Many countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, have their pavilions in the exhibition. Azerbaijani side represented anti-Armenian literature there. They had books introducing their anti-Armenian propaganda and activities. Image from article

Australian director unearths Hitler's 3D films‎ - CNET Australia: "If you're convinced that 3D is the work of the devil then you may not be far wrong after two 3D movies shot by the Third Reich have been unearthed. Australian director Philippe Mora was researching Nazi propaganda films for an upcoming documentary when he found the two 30-minute movies known as "raum films" — or space films. But until now no one knew that these films were shot in 3D.


"The films are shot on 35mm — apparently with a prism in front of two lenses," Mora told Variety. The movie "So Real You Can Touch It" is a musical set at a carnival and features scenes of barbecuing meat, while the second called "Six Girls Roll into Weekend" shows "UFA studio starlets living it up." "The quality of the films is fantastic. The Nazis were obsessed with recording everything and every single image was controlled — it was all part of how they gained control of the country and its people," Mora said. Both films were shot in 1936 and predate Hollywood's 3D "golden age" by 20 years. Image from article

Insightful Analysis - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: "Condi? Remember her? OK, so she wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post today, all about the Egypts! Oh, it's boring; you don't want to read the whole thing. But I read it for you, so I can report that Condi's hard-hitting analysis of the future of Egypt is this: I dunno.


I guess we'll have to wait and see. Girl still throwing down the home truths. Our Condi hasn't lost her ability to use just, oh, oodles of words to say hardly anything at all." Image from article

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"Here's the dirty little secret of the Western world: Exalted political ideals notwithstanding, Western democracies have historically fallen back on whatever tribal, racial, ethnic or religious solidarity they can drum up to solidify their identities."

--Los Angeles Times commentator Gregory Rodriguez

MAP


--From The Economist