April 4-6

"Diplomacy is thinking twice before saying nothing.”

--Computer engineer santiz; santiz image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Progress in U.S.-Pak relationship substantial but uneven Obama: In his third-quarterly report to the Congress on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the American president called for better balance and integration - thehindu.com: "Noting that Pakistan is central to America’s efforts to defeat Al-Qaeda and prevent its return to the region, U.S. President Barack Obama said progress in U.S.-Pak relationship last year was substantial but

uneven. ... The Administration will continue U.S.-Pak Strategic Dialogue and sustain senior level engagement, he said. 'Pakistan is central to our efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and prevent its return to the region. We seek to secure these interests through continued, robust counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency cooperation and a long-term partnership anchored by our improved understanding of Pakistan’s strategic priorities, increased civilian and military assistance, and expanded public diplomacy,' he said."  Image from

A Hard Country - Anatol Lieven, nationalinterest.org: "[I]f only the US could learn a reasonable respect for Pakistani national pride, it is still possible to appeal to the rationality of ordinary Pakistanis (what, oh what, are all those advisers on public diplomacy in Washington being paid for?); and ... while Pakistan is indeed a violent and volatile country, much of the violence is not in fact spontaneous, but has to be carefully inspired and orchestrated."

The Anti-Taliban Constituency: The key to success in Afghanistan - Amrullah Saleh, nationalreview.com: "Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai resorts to religious and nationalist rhetoric to avoid the hard work needed to deliver services to the populace and to create the political narrative necessary to justify the military mission. Washington, too, has failed to articulate to Afghan society the true aims of U.S. efforts. Amidst this communications vacuum, conspiracy theories swirl. ... Afghans of all social strata perceive the huge gap between Kabul and Washington over good governance, development, corruption, military policy, and diplomacy. Only when it comes to the transition to full Afghan control does there appear to be a confluence of opinion, although it is unclear whether this is due to Afghan transition chief Ashraf Ghani’s public diplomacy or, more likely, NATO’s desperation to leave and Karzai’s desire to see NATO go. ... The Obama administration has not tried the one strategy that will work, however: the reconstitution of Afghanistan’s anti-Taliban constituency, both to recreate a political context for the NATO mission and to force Karzai to choose sides between the Taliban and Afghanistan."

Libya's freedom and integrity inseparable‎ - Tanvir Ahmad Khan, GulfNews: "Foreign military interventions seldom run a smooth course; they have been particularly messy, if not counterproductive, in the vast swathe of lands stretching from the Maghreb to Indonesia. ... In the Libyan case, ...

[t]he international community was anxious to maintain, at least in terms of public diplomacy, that it was acting only in the name of what has come to be called ‘Responsibility to Protect'. ... By now, doubts about the success of the intended script are beginning to cloud the horizon." Image from article: A boy, wearing facepaint showing the pre-Gaddafi era Libyan flag now used by the opposition, attends a rally of mostly women and children on the corniche in Benghazi.

Public Diplomacy and the Situation in Libya - Leah Bannon's Blog "I’m in a Public Diplomacy class at Hopkins this semester. Here is my presentation, theoretically as a diplomat who needs to present the issue to a group of foreign nationals. I am explaining how the events transpired and our 2 key reasons for action."

Africa: Democracy by Civil War‎ - Alemayehu G. Mariam, EthioGuardian.com - "In all of the political turmoil and election-related violence, African organizations have failed to take any meaningful action. Prof. George Ayittey, the internationally renowned Ghanaian economist and 'one of the top 100 public intellectuals' who is 'shaping the tenor of our time' said that the African Union is a 'useless continental organization'

that 'can’t even define ‘democracy’'. Today, the AU stands on the sidelines  twiddling its thumbs as thousands of Ivorians are slaughtered and Gbagbo steals the election in broad daylight. The other equally comatose organization is ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States). ...The U.S. says the AU and ECOWAS  will find solutions to the stalemate in the Ivory Coast. David Wharton, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of African Affairs, said 'what matters is not US view, but the African view'.  Wharton was merely towing the party line.  President Obama said, 'the ideal  is African solutions to African problems' and 'what US thinks is really less important than what the neighborhood feels'."  Image from

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - Rush Limbaugh Report: "UNDER SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS JUDITH MCHALE: Under Secretary McHale is on foreign travel to Portugal and Italy through April 6 to participate in programs on green energy, science and technology collaboration, digital engagement and entrepreneurship."

Public Diplomacy Done Right with School Meals - William Lambers, blogcritics.org: "Judith McHale, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, goes to work every day with a legend. She uses the same office George Marshall did when he served as Secretary of State after World War II. Marshall guided the U.S. war effort as Chief of the Army, and as Secretary of State he organized the recovery program for Europe known as the Marshall Plan. McHale calls the Marshall Plan 'the greatest example in our nation's history of Public Diplomacy done right.' Food was what got the Marshall Plan started, in the form of an interim aid program in 1947-1948, and this is where public diplomacy came in. In early 1948, posters and postcards were made highlighting a free supplementary meals program for Italy's school children. Posters, sometimes created through art competitions, served as a way to inform the public of how American aid was benefiting Italy.

The postcards were distributed throughout schools taking part in the meals program. School feeding and public diplomacy were a perfect match during the Marshall Plan era, not only in Italy, but in Germany. ... Our 'school meals for peace' tradition, a staple during the Marshall Plan years, should be rolled out today as a foreign policy tool. Congress needs to get school feeding out of the trash can of recent budget cuts. A good start would be restoring funding for the McGovern-Dole international school meals program." Image from article

"their main experience of us "? theirs? ours? - able2know.org: "We invest in global health as a tool of public diplomacy. For millions of people worldwide, the prevention, treatment or care that the United States makes possible is their main experience of us as a country and a people. And it can be a very powerful one. Giving people a chance at a long and healthy life or helping protect their children from disease conveys as much about our values as any state visit or strategic dialogue ever could."

Public Diplomacy, Internet Freedom, And "Where's Jared?" -skepticalbureaucrat.blogspot.com: "Anne Applebaum, in the WaPo ... , asks whether the State Department has run into a firewall on internet freedom. ... [from the article:] 'The American political system is too dysfunctional, in other words, to create 'a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas.' [Comment by blogger] What an odd situation. A government agency that (1) has a mission, (2) has funds to spend on that mission, and (3) has effective tools with which to accomplish that mission, but (4) won't spend the money it has to use the tools it has? ... And most of all, why can’t my hero @JaredCohen

do something about this? Or rather, why can't he 'think/do' something? And what exactly has he thought/done so far in that Google think/do tank? I will be disillusioned if he turns out to be the sort of character who is perpetually on the verge of creating the next big thing."  Image from

"Why has the State Department run into a firewall on Internet freedom?" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "The State Department needs to have a good briefing about this -- before it is called before a Congressional committee."

China’s new Age of Enlightenment: National Museum in Beijing looks to 18th-century Europe for its grand reopening - András Szántó, theartnewspaper.com: "In a 2007 keynote speech to the 17th Party Congress, president Hu Jintao declared, 'We must enhance culture as part of the soft power of our country' and 'strengthen international cultural exchanges to enhance the influence of Chinese culture worldwide.' The ministry of foreign affairs has since established an office of public diplomacy. Premier Wen Jiabao vouched in his 2010 report to the National People’s Congress that China will put more resources behind promoting its culture. The party is certainly willing to spend big to burnish China’s image. The 2008 Olympics and the 2010 World Expo had a price tag of $80bn. China has been rapidly scaling up its presence at international cultural events like the Frankfurt Book Fair, not to mention on the art market, where, according to Artvest research, it boosted its market share fourfold since 1996. The reopening of the National Museum

is but one point in this constellation of events. It is sobering to contrast this vigour with the anaemic cultural diplomacy of the US. Triumphalism after the Cold War led to a rollback of America’s overseas cultural apparatus, culminating in the dismantling, in 1999, of the US Information Agency (USIA), once the recipient of $1.4bn in annual funding. After 9/11, as the US focused on the Muslim and the Arab world, public diplomacy, dispersed across a range of government agencies, was rudderless. Today, the state department’s bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), which among other responsibilities oversees arts and cultural exchanges, is again building new initiatives. But its modest 2010 budget of $11.5m for cultural exchanges (about 2% of the bureau’s total budget) is deployed mostly outside the visual arts, favouring people-to-people exchange over institutional initiatives, such as travelling exhibitions. It’s worth noting that the ECA’s entire arts and cultural exchange budget is roughly in line with German public expenditure on the Enlightenment exhibition [currently shown at the National Museum of China]. In short, although US museums conduct exchanges with China, when it comes to financing major undertakings, they are not evenly matched with their state-backed Asian or European counterparts. The US follows the same approach to cultural exchange as it practises in the wider arts policy arena. It outsources much of the work to private institutions and public-private partnerships, assuming that private funders will pick up the tab. Many European countries are now eyeing a similar approach. The trouble is that private foundations are loath to support international programs."  Image, with caption: Seeing the light: the National Museum of China reopened last month after a four-year renovation

Meeting the diplomats - Turista Libre, derrikchinn.blogspot.com: "U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli

met with 10 local youth NGOs during their visit to Tijuana on Monday. The meeting, held at the U.S. consulate general's home, was organized by Reacciona Tijuana, which was kind enough to include Turista Libre on the invite list." Image from article

Now available online: VOA transmission schedule and BBC World Service "how to listen" information - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

For those of you who know what QSL cards are: new Radio Free Asia QSL cards commemorate 15th anniversary - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting. Image from article

Video Games as Art (Hit Reset) - Nick, nickkolakowski.com: "A few days ago, Flux Factory launched an exhibit titled 'The Typhoon Continues and So Do You.' The curators asked a group of artists to 'contemplate four specific ‘artifacts’ of war and how their original purposes are transformed through integration into larger society.' One of those artifacts was America’s Army, a downloadable first-person shooter developed by the military as a sort of public diplomacy tool."

Kyoto Zombie Still Walking - Michael Levi, blogs.cfr.org: "The United States, Japan, and Australia have made it emphatically clear that they will not participate in Kyoto II. European nations are of various stripes. Some developing countries are ideologically attached to Kyoto. Others might be more pragmatic in principle, but are boxed in by domestic politics. There is no way to finesse this on the substance. The best we can hope for, I suspect, it to find a procedural approach that insulates Cancun’s gains from the impending Kyoto blowup. The first task is to make that clash as unsurprising as possible; Europeans could help with that by coming down more clearly against Kyoto II.

This won’t make support for a new Kyoto commitment period melt away, but it may give developing countries and their publics more time to come to terms with the inevitable. The second task is to make the Cancun follow-on as substantive as possible: with more concrete progress on the line, states may be more hesitant to jettison it over a Kyoto fight. A third prong might involve public diplomacy, particularly in places like India, Brazil, and Indonesia." Image from

Anglo-American Youtube Diplomacy: Work in Progress - Robin, Public Diplomacy, Networks and Influence: "[P]ublic diplomacy researchers are not the key audience for PD video so what I think is not that important."

White House, NYT Spread Yemen’s Propaganda - hadalzone.blogspot.com: "Obama and his inner circle are seriously mistaken if they consider [a] ... NYT report an equivalent to public diplomacy."

Looking back with regrets - Gill Hoffman, Jerusalem Post: "[Jerusalem Post:] How do you recommend that America act to prevent the nuclearization of Iran? [Outgoing Arizona  Senator Jon Kyl:] We’d be in a much better position had we employed the right sanctions much earlier. We don’t know if employing more sanctions now will have the desired effect, but there is no other option. We have to do it in a way that coincides with the aspirations of the Iranian people, because they will suffer if the sanctions are effective and they need to believe that their suffering is a temporary condition to bring freedom to their country and get a representative government, rather than so the US will be able to reach a deal with a hated regime on nuclear weapons. The US hasn’t engaged in the right public diplomacy to achieve this. We need to maintain pressure on our friends and allies to employ the sanctions that are available and on our administration to do the same. The administration has a lot more authority than it has utilized."

Emotion charged meeting between Peres, Esther Pollard: ‎ President to discuss jailed spy, unilateral decision on Palestinian statehood with Obama in Washington before meeting UNSC envoys - Greer Fay Cashman, Jerusalem Post: "The visit to Washington will be intense, not only because of meetings that

Peres will have with Obama and senior figures in the administration, but also because of his media and public diplomacy commitments." Image from article

Israel urges UN to annul Goldstone report on Gaza war crimes - Vita Bekker, The National (April 4): "Israeli leaders yesterday called on the United Nations to rescind a two-year-old report that had accused the country of committing war crimes during its deadly invasion of the Gaza Strip after the document's author suggested he may have erred in his findings. ... Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister who came to office after the war, said he will launch a diplomatic campaign to have the document annulled. 'We will act on the public diplomacy front, and on other fronts, with the international community and the UN in order to demand the justice that is due Israel,' he said in public remarks at yesterday's weekly cabinet meeting." See also (1) (2).

Jewish activist, Arab bloggers launch Facebook attacks  - Mana Ammar, Bikya Masr:   "A few weeks after it was hailed for its role in Middle Eastern uprisings, social media giant Facebook finds itself in the center of political controversy with criticism from both sides of the global political spectrum taking shots. The first page in the controversy surrounds the $1 billion case being brought against the online networking site by Jewish activist Larry Klayman, a former United States Justice Department prosecutor, failed US Senate candidate and author, who took his case before a Washington DC Superior Court last Thursday, two days after Facebook removed the 'Third Palestinian Intifada' page that had enraged Klayman. ... Klayman, who founded the law firm Judicial Watch and the privacy advocacy group Freedom Watch ... accused Facebook of trying to earn advertising revenues from the page so it delayed its removal. Klayman added that Facebook only closed the site after Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein wrote Zuckerberg urged him to take it down. The second case is with the Arab Bloggers Union, an organization that promotes Arab blogging and allows members on the list to share and receive posts, is accusing Facebook of deliberately shutting down their website for the third time in an attempt to what they said is to crackdown on the shared opinionated posts. Under the title: 'Facebook cancels Arab Bloggers Union’s page for the third time in a row in its pursuit to conceal free opinions' the ABU issued an scathing press release on Monady. ABU accused Facebook of erasing information on the existing page. AUB said they will not re-run the page again and accused the American-based social media site of having a 'Zionist' and 'masonic' agenda."

50 years after Eichmann capture, much information still withheld‎: Among other revelations, new documents confirm that Israel lied when it claimed that Eichmann was kidnapped by 'Jewish volunteers' rather than state agents  -  Tom Segev, Ha'aretz - "On 29 May, 1960, several days after Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion made the dramatic announcement to the Knesset that Adolf Eichmann

had been captured, he met with the cabinet to discuss preparations for the trial. ... What emerges from statements made by cabinet ministers is that they saw the trial as a great opportunity to use the Holocaust for Israel's public diplomacy. Ben-Gurion and several others spoke about the need to bring the younger generation closer to the Holocaust. 'There is a new generation that heard something but did not live it,' Ben-Gurion said." Image from article, with caption: Adolf Eichmann in a police mug shot.

An Old-Fashioned Remedy - Ari Bussel, newmediajournal.us: "In September, Israel and the world will witness a miracle. For the first time in her modern history, Israel will see embassies in Jerusalem. Alas, these embassies will not be foreign representations for Israel but for Palestine. Israel must mobilize now rather than ex post facto—and seemingly might have started doing so during the past few weeks—all of its public relations bureaucracy. This must include the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and the Diaspora and every body in between that has some overlapping interest, as tangential as it may seem. ... Jointly, the intelligence community, the military and the public diplomacy fronts can form an 'iron dome' to protect Israel . ... Together, they are the chickens, vegetables and spices in merrily boiling water that mesh into a powerful elixir."

'Israeli public diplomacy leaves much to be desired' : Jewish State harms itself by not being more cooperative or forthcoming, experts in town for conference on Israel's Global Image Crisis say - Ben Hartman, Jerusalem Post: "Israel has allowed its enemies to frame the public debate by failing to be forthcoming or cooperative enough with outside observers, an expert on public diplomacy said Monday. Prof. Nicholas Cull, director of the University of Southern California’s Masters Program in Public Diplomacy, used the examples of banning press and Western observers from the battle in the Jenin refugee camp during Operation Defensive Shield in March 2002, and the refusal to cooperate with the Goldstone Commission as examples of Israel shooting itself in the public diplomacy foot. ... When asked if good diplomacy can ever be a substitute for good policies, Cull said that 'good policy is enhanced by good public diplomacy, and good policy which no one talks about might as well not happen.

Bad policy can be made a little better by good public diplomacy.' ...Cull said he 'didn’t want to focus just on the negative,' and praised the Israeli delegation’s presentation at the 2010 Shanghai Exposition, saying that it correctly made an effort to present Israel as a country with a lot to offer the Chinese, the object of that particular instance of public diplomacy. ... Cull’s comments came while he was in Israel to take part in a two-day conference at Bar-Ilan University on Israel’s Global Image Crisis. The conference is co-sponsored by Bar-Ilan’s Center for International Communication (CIC), and the University of Southern California’s Center for Public Diplomacy in Los Angeles. ... Prof. Philip Seib, director of the university’s Center on Public Diplomacy, also took part, saying that Israel’s public diplomacy did leave a bit to be desired, especially when it came to international broadcasting. ... British journalist Melanie Phillips also attended the conference, telling the participants: 'My view is that the single most important reason why Israel has been so successfully demonized by Israel’s Arab enemies and their supporters and delegitimized in the West is not just that Israel’s media communications are deficient – which they are – but its entire diplomatic strategy is fatally flawed, and has effectively conceded the field to Israel’s enemies.'” See also. Uncaptioned image from article

Borderline Views: Educating our diplomats: A country that wants others to respect it cannot expect the world to be sympathetic if it continues to send out untrained and unskilled people as its representatives - David Newman, Jerusalem Post: "The report that the director-general of the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs has to travel with an interpreter because he is unable to converse or make speeches in English was published on the wrong day. It would have been more appropriate for April 1, or perhaps on Purim. But it is not something to be laughed at. It is a disgrace that this country continues to appoint people to positions which require them to represent it, and who are unable to fill even the most basic requirement of speaking the necessary languages. This used to be a major problem with diplomats, but the situation has improved significantly during the past decade, as the younger generation of diplomats are almost all fluent in English and other languages. Unfortunately, there are still occasions where a political appointment of an ambassador results in someone who lacks the necessary language skills representing us abroad, putting us to shame."

EU and transition in Tunisia - More for More in the Neighbourhood‎ - EUobserver.com: "‘More for more’ is a useful principle to be applied not just in the neighbourhood, but across the countries where the EU gives assistance. And some other countries should not receive EU assistance at all. Why should the EU spend money in the BRIC countries (except for student exchanges and public diplomacy)? The BRIC governments are all on shopping sprees in the EU and elsewhere investing in projects that many EU countries cannot afford, whereas the EU still offers them development assistance."

China's Soft Power in Developing Countries - peacedawg, Diplomatic Studs: A collection of unique perspectives on current public diplomacy issues: "Historically, China has been seen as an aggressor both by its neighbors and now the rest of the world, particularly Western countries see China's growth as an economic and environmental threat, for example, so that's a tough one to overcome.

Its media is also seen as being completely controlled by the state, which just doesn't sell in this day and age, even if you're trying to use media build a country brand. As Yiwei Wang says in 'Public Diplomacy and the Rise of Chinese Soft Power,' defining the Chinese brand is also a challenge, especially in a society that is evolving so quickly in so many ways. Where China is making headway, and with a healthy dose of self-interest, is in its relationship and cooperative agreements with developing countries. All of the theory is spot on--promoting the idea of win-win relationships based upon equality and mutual benefits." Image from

Working on the Railroad, or the railroad working on YOU? It is China week! - Your Correspondent, The Number One Public Diplomacy Blog: Your number one source for Public Diplomacy: "For all of the thousands of you that subscribe to my commentaries both here and on Provincial Supertramp, you already know that I am a novice railroad historian and rail advocate. Yet, sadly, I had yet to find the occasion to incorporate my railfandom into my Public Diplomacy discussions, until now. In a near miraculous confluence of various seemingly unassociated subjects, I have managed to find a Mark Twain quotation that deals with the Chinese, the railroad, and can even be applied to the modern development of Chinese public diplomacy strategies. It is from a news commentary called 'CHINESE RAILROAD OBSTRUCTIONS,' from The San Francisco Daily Morning Call, on August 30, 1864. 'The Chinese in this State are becoming civilized to a fearful extent. One of them was arrested the other day, in the act of preparing for a grand railroad disaster on the Sacramento Valley Railroad. If these people continue to imbibe American ideas of progress, they will be turning their attention to highway robbery, and other enlightened pursuits. They are industrious.' ... [T]he high-speed rail projects that China is sponsoring in Thailand, Laos, and now Kazakhstan are seen almost as goodwill offerings to neighbors, and generally believed to be relatively inexpensive and technologically advanced projects with a high potential for success."

Report on Australian E-diplomacy - Robin, Public Diplomacy, Networks and Influence: "April 4, 2011 I’ve just got around to reading the report that the Lowy Institute put out last November on e-diplomacy at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The basic thrust is that DFAT has fallen behind other MFAs; the report benchmarks against the UK Foreign Office, the US State Department and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Public Diplomacy is only part of the story, there is some interesting discussion of the use of social media platforms for internal communication and interaction with partner organizations. The Lowy Institute also put out a more comprehensive report on Australia’s Diplomatic Deficit in March 2009."

A (Wine) Drop in the Bucket for Moldova's Nation Branding - Christina, SIS Public Diplomacy: The Group Five Blog: "I was intrigued by the description of a project directed by development consulting firm Chemonics. The project has helped a winery in Moldova successfully brand itself and build a consumer base in the UK market. ... While Moldova has a long way to go in terms of basics to stability, like a market economy, consistent rule of law, and infrastructure improvements,

I think this project--as seemingly insignificant as it may seem at first glance--is a very good first step to establishing itself as a nation that is capable of doing successful nation branding in the future. It creates attention and interest about Moldova--which wants eventually to join the EU--in the UK and Germany, both countries with vast public diplomacy and branding strategy experience, to Moldova's potential--as an eventual tourist destination for wine connoisseurs, for example, or as a viable import-export partner. Chemonics' role in facilitating this partnership should not be overlooked either--it goes back to ... the need for more public-private collaboration on the path to successful public diplomacy."  Moldova wine regions image from

cricket. - Preeti Prabhu, My view: Cricket Diplomacy In this dynamic space of public diplomacy, there is yet another philosophy that was developed or at least came to the limelight was how the Governments of India and Pak made all possible attempts to make conversations...so other than the fact that both the PMs got to watch the cricket live in a bullet proof suit... what were the other achievements of this effort of public diplomacy?

Public Diplomacy and Soft Power in East Asia [Book]- blog.naver.com: "Table of Contents Introduction ｜ Sook Jong Lee and Jan Melissen Introduction | Sook Jong Lee and Jan Melissen 1. The Theory and Reality of Soft Power: Practical Approaches in East Asia ｜ Shin- wha Lee The Theory and Reality of Soft Power: Practical Approaches in East Asia | Shin-wha Lee 2. Soft Power as Productive Power ｜ Yong Wook Lee Soft Power as Productive Power | Yong Wook Lee 3. Measuring Soft Power in East Asia: An Overview of Soft Power in East Asia on Affective and Normative Dimensions ｜ Byong-kuen Jhee and Nae-young Lee Measuring Soft Power in East Asia: An Overview of Soft Power in East Asia on Affective and Normative Dimensions | Byong-kuen Jhee and Nae-young Lee 4. Modern Japan and the Quest for Attractive Power ｜ Akiko Fukushima Modern Japan and the Quest for Attractive Power | Akiko Fukushima 5. Soft Power and Public Diplomacy: The Case of Indonesia ｜ Rizal Sukma Soft Power and Public Diplomacy: The Case of Indonesia | Rizal Sukma 6. Taiwan's Soft Power and the Future of Cross- Strait Relations: Can the Tail Wag the Dog? Taiwan's Soft Power and the Future of Cross-Strait Relations: Can the Tail Wag the Dog? ｜ Yun- han Chu | Yun-han Chu 7. South Korean Soft Power and How South Korea Views 

the Soft Power of Others | Sook Jong Lee 8. The Limits of China's Soft Power in Europe: Beijing's Public Diplomacy Puzzle ｜ Ingrid d'Hooghe The Limits of China's Soft Power in Europe: Beijing's Public Diplomacy Puzzle | Ingrid d'Hooghe 9. Asian Perceptions of American Soft Power ｜ Marshall M. Asian Perceptions of American Soft Power | Marshall M. Bouton and Gregory G. Bouton and Gregory G. Holyk Holyk 10. The Complexities of Economic Soft Power: The US-China Case ｜ Benjamin I. The Complexities of Economic Soft Power: The US-China Case | Benjamin I. Page and Tao Xie Page and Tao Xie 11. Concluding Ref lections on Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in East Asia ｜ Jan Melissen Concluding Ref lections on Soft Power and Public Diplomacy in East Asia | Jan Melissen" Image from

Measurement and evaluation of Public Diplomacy - Madhur, The Public Diplomacy Blog: "There are some obvious difficulties associated with measuring PD. ... Nonetheless it is important that evaluation is given a priority to ensure dynamism in PD strategy."

Public Diplomacy Research: The Limits of Multidisciplinarity - Robin, Public Diplomacy, Networks and Influence: "As PD scholars we are justifiably proud of the fact that we work in a multidisciplinary research area. The fact that we have researchers from International Relations, Communications, Marketing, History, Public Relations, Psychology, Rhetoric means that we have multiple perspectives on what PD is and how it works. In many respects this is a strength. In looking at an area like PD multidisciplinarity is definitely better that monodisciplinarity. However, I’m left with a nagging question how do these different perspectives fit together? Aren’t some of the insights more valuable than others? Are we describing the same phenomena in different ways?

How do we link macro and micro level elements of the problem? ... As PD scholars we are justifiably proud of the fact that we work in a multidisciplinary research area. The fact that we have researchers from International Relations, Communications, Marketing, History, Public Relations, Psychology, Rhetoric means that we have multiple perspectives on what PD is and how it works. In many respects this is a strength. In looking at an area like PD multidisciplinarity is definitely better that monodisciplinarity. However, I’m left with a nagging question how do these different perspectives fit together? Aren’t some of the insights more valuable than others? Are we describing the same phenomena in different ways? How do we link macro and micro level elements of the problem?" Image from

VOA Director to Speak Wednesday - mediabistro.com:  "On Wednesday night at GWU, join Voice of America director Dan Austin as he talks about 'the changing face of public diplomacy.' Austin has led VOA since October 2006.

Previously, he served as Chairman and CEO of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc., a subsidiary of Dow Jones focusing on community media. Like TBD, only successful. In his current role, he oversees multimedia broadcasting in 44 languages to an estimated 123 million people worldwide." Austin image from article

World Press Freedom Day 2011 Website Opens Registration and Event Agenda to the Public: Conference will explore new innovations to advance press freedom in the 21st century - Media Note, Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State: "The Steering Committee for World Press Freedom Day 2011 launched its website, www.wpfd2011.org, today, unveiling the event’s agenda and opening registration to the public for this historic gathering. The conference is organized jointly by UNESCO, the U.S. Department of State, the Center for International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy, IREX, and the United Nations Foundation. The program for the event, to be held May 1-3 in Washington, DC, is built around this year’s World Press Freedom Day theme, '21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.' ... Keynote speakers at the event will include UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale, and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero."

Experts discuss post-9/11 security in Afghanistan and Central Asia‎ - press release, NATO ACT: "From 7 to 10 April 2011, more than 25 academics and experts from NATO and Partner countries engaged in post-9/11 security in Afghanistan and Central Asia will gather at a NATO-funded workshop in Ankara, Turkey. ... Key speakers at the event will be provided by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University (Kyrgyzstan), National Defence University (USA), and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (UK)."

Baku to host third forum of OIC brain centers‎ - News.Az: "A delegation from Azerbaijan has made a number of proposals at the second forum of brain centers of the OIC member state on 'Public diplomacy' held in Istanbul on 30-31 March."

Foreign Policy Initiative (Revisited) - Fed Up USA: "Amy Bradshaw, Associate, Goldman Sachs …is a member of the Office of Corporate Engagement at Goldman Sachs, where she works on the firm’s two signature 'philanthropic' initiatives – 10,000 Women and 10,000 Small Businesses. …In this role, she works with the initiatives’ global network of

nonprofit, academic, and government partners to develop cross-sector partnerships, engage key stakeholders, and coordinate the firm’s participation in various thought leadership events and forums. …Previously, Amy served as a special assistant at the U.S. Department of State, focused on public diplomacy initiatives and private sector outreach efforts in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs." Bradshaw image from entry

The Heart of a Politician - Derrick Ashtong, Huffington Post: "DC, I'm discovering, is a city with an almost irresistible momentum. On my second day in town I found myself at the Congressional Correspondents Dinner ... [w]ithin minutes of arriving I found myself speaking with one of Secretary Clinton's deputies at the State Department about some of their Public Diplomacy initiatives."

Professor Peter J. Katzenstein receives PKU honorary professorship‎ - Peking University News: "A ceremony was held on the afternoon of March 28 at Valori Building, to confer honorary professorship on Professor Peter Katzenstein and Cornell distinguished scholars lecture series at PKU.

After the ceremony, Professor Katzenstein gave a speech named Civilizations in world politics: a comparative perspective on China and Sinicization. ... His current research interests focus on [inter alia] ... public diplomacy." Image from article, with caption: Vice president Li Yansong was presenting PKU Honorary Professorship certificate to Prof. Katzenstein.

Jobs in PD: Measurement of Success - KAT, Public Diplomacy and the Real World: "I wondered how I would feel about working at a consulting firm like Landor Group or Saffron Brand Consultant. Also, I wonder if nation branding and public diplomacy is something that is profitable?"

Viral disillusionment - Molly Sisson, Public Diplomacy and Student Exchanges: Experiences of American Fulbright Grantees in the UK and Turkey, and their counterparts in the US: "There is an oversupply of PhD's. It will be hard to get a job when I graduate. Fair enough--but since the PhD is often a prerequisite for a job in academia, not doing the PhD would make it even more impossible to do what I want to do."

Executive Assistant to the Consul General (British Consulate-General) - chicagojobsfind.com: "The British Consulate-General in Chicago is seeking a highly motivated Executive Assistant to provide administrative support for the Consul General. The British Consulate-General represents the UK diplomatically in 13 states throughout the Midwest. The Consulate-General is responsible for: developing trade and investment relations between the Midwest and the UK; public diplomacy; and Consular services for British nationals."  Image from

Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat, at the level of Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, (Nairobi), Deadline: 30 April 2011 -worldngojobs.blogspot.com: "UN-Habitat is seeking candidates for the position of Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat, at the level of Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. ... The Deputy Executive Director must have a strong background developed through 10-15 years of experience in international and public diplomacy and have experience working in a multilateral environment or an environment with a variety of stakeholders from multicultural backgrounds."

LEI officer to lead on agriculture and environment issues at the British Embassy in Paris - "An exciting opportunity has opened at the British Embassy in Paris for a temporary full-time LEI officer to lead on agriculture and environment issues within the Embassy's Europe team. ... Main Duties and Responsibilities ... •Identifying opportunities and organising senior official and ministerial visits to France, as well as public diplomacy events."

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Time’s Up, Qaddafi - Curt Weldon: "I am back in Libya, this time on a much different mission, as the leader of a small private delegation, at the invitation of Colonel Qaddafi‘s chief of staff and with the knowledge of the Obama administration and members of Congress from both parties. Our purpose

is to meet with Colonel Qaddafi today and persuade him to step aside. ... The world agrees that Colonel Qaddafi must go, even though no one has a plan, a foundation for civil society has not been constructed and we are not even sure whom we should trust. But in the meantime, the people of Libya deserve more than bombs.  Curt Weldon was a Republican representative from Pennsylvania from 1987 to 2007." Image from

Interests vs. Values? Misunderstanding Obama’s Libya Strategy - Anne-Marie Slaughter, New York Review of Books: Let us protect Libya’s civilians by any means necessary, but let us at the same time support any effort to stop the conflict on whatever terms both sides will ultimately accept. Both our interests and our values will be well served.

Hidden behind propaganda a giant crime against Libya is fact (part I)4. April 2011- nocheinparteibuch.wordpress.com: What is done to Libya is a giant crime containing: waging a war of aggression to rob out a nation, a campaign of horrific murders and psychological warfare to deceive the Libyan people and the people of the world.

Let’s have a closer look what did the propaganda tell the world and what really happened in Libya. Here is part I of a timeline containing some relevant events in relation to the war against Libya, showing that the actions against Libya are based on nothing else than lies. Image from

U.S.-China relationship: A shift in perceptions of power: One should be skeptical about dire projections of China's rise and America's decline. China still has a long way to go to catch up in military, economic and soft-power resources - Joseph S. Nye Jr., Los Angeles Times: Given that China and the United States face global challenges such as financial stability, cyber security and climate change, the two countries have much to gain from working together. Unfortunately, faulty power assessments have created hubris among some Chinese, and unnecessary fear of decline among some Americans, and these shifts in perception make cooperation difficult.

KGB TV to Air Show Hosted by Anti-war Marine Vet - Cliff Kincaid, rightsidenews.com: The international Moscow-funded propaganda network known as Russia Today (RT) is set to air a program hosted by a U.S. Marine Veteran opposed to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vet’s press agent, Nena Bartlett, is a former assistant campaign manager for Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) known as the “bikini calendar girl”

for having appeared in a “Ladies of Liberty” calendar. Russia Today, an English-language channel provided in the U.S. and other Western countries, is funded by the Moscow regime of Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, and recently hired an alleged Russian spy who is in the process of being deported from Britain. Her first “story” for RT was to complain that Western governments have a “habit of lashing out at other countries for not listening to their people, while blithely ignoring public opinion on their own doorsteps.” In the U.S., RT is broadcast by MHz networks, a division of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting, and available through 30 public TV stations and Comcast cable in the Washington, D.C. and other big city metro areas. Commonwealth Public Broadcasting receives over $2 million a year in federal and state subsidies. Bartlett image image from

Propaganda online: Welcome to the war on comments - Jahanzaib Haque,
tribune.com.pk: The very first level of running a propaganda campaign online is to create false, manipulated content slanted towards a certain goal using bogus columns, false expert opinion, propaganda-based blogs, mislabeled, false videos etc. However, the more subtle, and arguably equally important arena to wage the propaganda war is in the dialogue taking place i.e. online chat, public forums, comments on websites. Assuming the popular "hive theory" to be a fairly accurate social model of how people interact online, it only takes four or five busy bees to plant the seeds of an idea in a comments section. The rest of the work is done by the rest of the naïve hive, which picks up on the idea and runs with it — and remember — for every one article that goes online with a particular viewpoint, there can easily be four, five, even ten contradictory views in shorter, more digestible form in the comments section below.

Propaganda posters – art that wasn’t about the money - Tom Spender: Freelance journalist & photographer in Beijing: Shanghai’s roaring commercial energy is its signature, but one of the most interesting places to visit there has little to do with moneymaking.

Nestling in the basement of an unremarkable apartment block in the French Concession area is the Shanghai Propaganda Art Center, a private collection of Communist Party (CCP) propaganda posters dating from 1949, the year of the Communist victory over Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists, and 1979, when China’s “Reform and opening up” policy was getting underway. Image from article, with caption: Yang Pei Ming in his Shanghai Propaganda Art Center

A ‘Great’ Critical Auction - Alexandra A. Seno, Wall Street Journal: Wang Guangyi’s ‘Great Criticism Series: President,’

which mimics Communist propaganda posters, is expected to fetch more than $100,000 at auction. Image from article

The Image of the Brandenburg Gate on Coins and Medals - Propaganda and History:

AMERICANA

Closing down Borders sign: "No toilets, try Amazon" from Boing Boing