“A diplomat who says 'yes' means 'maybe,' a diplomat who says 'maybe' means 'no,' and a diplomat who says 'no' is no diplomat.”
--Charles M. de Talleyrand; image from
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
In Afghanistan, diplomacy meets the TV crime drama - Joseph Marks, Nextgov: "To the long list of public diplomacy efforts the U.S. State Department has launched in Afghanistan, add the TV show 'Eagle Four,' a '24'-style cop thriller that has proven, in early analyses, to be the most popular of several TV programs financed by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. In addition to 'Eagle Four,'
which NPR described in December as filled with 'pulse racing music' and 'quick cuts from scene to scene,' the embassy has funded a youth-oriented soap opera set at a Kandahar university and a reality show-style documentary about army life, according to David Ensor, the embassy's recently departed communications director who's now the director of Voice of America. The shows are all meant to serve some public policy function, Ensor told an audience at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Friday. 'Eagle Four,' for example, is aimed at raising public respect for Afghan police officers, who are widely regarded as corrupt, while the youth-oriented soap opera focuses heavily on female students who would have been banned from attending university during Taliban rule. The 10-part reality series 'Birth of an Army,' which is airing now, is aimed at raising recruitment and also at 'making Afghans proud of their army and giving them confidence that it's ready for 2014,' when most American troops are scheduled to withdraw, Ensor said. While the shows have proved generally popular among the war torn nation's TV watchers, it's far from clear whether they've had any tangible policy effect, such as raising army enlistments or improving respect for public officials.
The embassy recently hired a consulting firm to gauge the programs' effectiveness, Ensor said, including through lengthy surveys of audience attitudes over time. About half of Afghans watch television regularly, according to a 2010 report commissioned by the U.S. Agency for International Development. ... Ensor also described a project aimed at increasing the use of text messaging to create social networks in Afghanistan, which the embassy spurred with a contract to develop cheaper bulk-rate messaging plans. The service, called Paywast,
allows cheap mass texting to a pre-set network so, say, a fruit vendor can text the wholesale price he's willing to pay for melons out to farmers each day before they decide whether it's worth harvesting their crop and driving to town. The embassy paid for the contract by agreeing to buy the first 80 million messages, he said. Ensor's total budget for media projects at the embassy, he said, was about $183 million over 18 months." Eagle Four" image from; barrel of a gun image from ; Paywast image from
Anthony Wayne, US Ambassador to Mexico Swearing In Remarks - Mexidata.info: "I have repeatedly been awed by the dedication, creativity and wisdom of my colleagues from the Foreign Service, from the many other agencies that work with us in forging and implementing US international policy, and from our international and non-governmental partners, as we have tackled challenges in so many areas. My last two years serving in Afghanistan underscored the tremendous importance of this collaboration and cooperation across disciplines, agencies and nationalities. Building effective and well-functioning teams with our partners and creating an atmosphere of trust and frank communication is essential if we are to find and achieve solutions to the tremendously difficult challenges we face. And, we cannot neglect the vital role that an effective public diplomacy has in any success we may achieve."
There is no endgame in Afghanistan, yet — Wazhma Frogh, Pakistan Daily Times: "Creation and re-creation of insurgency, terror and fighters for Afghanistan by the Pakistani intelligence, especially the ISI, is the major factor that defines the AfPak relationship, politics and public diplomacy. ... [M]any of us Afghans
continue to wonder why the Pakistani establishment and intelligence weighs Afghanistan either through the lens of India or the US. Why does the Pakistani government not accept Afghanistan as a sovereign, independent neighbour in itself?" Frogh image from article
Polson woman joins China expedition - Daily Inter Lake: "Monica Pokorny of Polson
was one of 10 young professionals to spend three weeks in China in June as part of a public diplomacy exchange focused on global environmental issues. ... The two-way exchange with China, organized by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana, was funded by a $440,000 grant from the U.S. State Department. ... Pokorny and the other nine Americans — seven from Montana and two from Alabama — first visited Peking University in Beijing. There they took part in a range of workshops on environmental issues with Chinese professionals. ... This month, China is sending 20 professionals in environmental fields to Montana. Presentations and workshops in Missoula and a trip to Glacier National Park are on the schedule, according to the Mansfield Center." Image from
Alumnus of VOA English teaching radio launches English teaching facility in upstate New York - Kim Andrew Elliot reporting on International Broadcasting
Apparently, Boston radio listeners are not so WILD about China Radio International - Kim Andrew Elliot reporting on International Broadcasting
Wikileaks traces changes in Indo-Bangladesh relationship after Sheikh Hasina's entry - Vijay Sharma Real Time News, India: "Bangladesh's attitude towards terrorists underwent a sea-change after the Mumbai attacks,
according to the evidences of the US diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks. ... The transition of Bangladesh from an indifferent onlooker to a state that actively cracks down on them was brought out in a comprehensive review of Bangladesh's political and economic condition for the benefit of visiting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale last year." Image from
Do the evil British need to apologise? - Caroline Jaine, DAWN.com: A big thank you to all the Dawn readers who took the trouble to complete my Axis of Evil survey . ... Israel, India, Pakistan and the USA scored highly in the suggestions
for a new Axis of Evil in 2011. But as a former British diplomat concerned with public diplomacy and nation branding, I was curious to see that 15 per cent of respondents named Britain as categorically Evil. ... I entirely agree with one person who completed my Axis of Evil survey that 'one cannot call any particular country evil' I also concur that it boils down to “some elements and people in the society who might have evil plans." Jaine image from article
The Turkish response - Mustafa Akyol, Daily News Egypt: "Right after publication of the United Nations-authorized Palmer report on the Mavi Marmara incident last week, Turkey took a very bold step against Israel. On Friday, Sept. 2, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu faced the cameras to announce strong measures that included expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Ankara, suspension of all military agreements between the two countries, and a vow to protect the 'safety of maritime navigation in the eastern Mediterranean'. ... [I]in mid-August, [Israeli PM] Netanyahu, in a conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, made it clear that 'there will be no apology to Turkey.' And two weeks later, the Palmer report, which Turkey found to be biased on behalf of Israel, prematurely appeared in the New York Times. It seems that both the Turkish government and the broader Turkish public perceived this leak as the product of Israeli 'hasbara' (public diplomacy)."
Indian tourist arrival in US may double by 2016 - Business Standard: "The US Travel Association today said it expects the number of Indian tourist arrivals in the country to nearly double to around 1.2 million by 2016 compared to last year. 'As per official forecast, we expect 1.2 million Indians to visit the US in 2016, which is a tremendous growth in number compared to 6,50,000 who visited the US in 2010,'
US Travel Association (USTA) Vice-President Business Development Malcolm Smith said. ... 'India is among the fastest growing emerging travel markets worldwide... International travel is vital to the United States as it provides important opportunities to improve economic competitiveness, strengthen national security and advance public diplomacy,' he said." Image from
Transnational Celebrity Activism in Global Politics (Paperback) - gossiphollywood.net: "In recent years, celebrities from George Clooney to Bono to Angelina Jolie have attempted to play an increasingly important role in global politics. Celebrity activism is an ever-growing, internationally visible phenomenon; yet the impact of these high-profile humanitarians on public awareness, government support, and mobilization of resources remains under-researched. Bringing together a diverse group of contributors from media studies and public diplomacy, Transnational Celebrity Activism in Global Politics aims to fill that void with a new interdisciplinary framework for the analysis of celebrity activism in international relations."
Fighting The War Of Ideas Like A Real War - militarydvds.biz: "Title: Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War Description: An innovative re-examination of how the US and its allies should fight the battle of ideas.
This book focuses on message strategies that the US should pursue for the immediate term to win the war against Islamist extremism. The author is a professor at The Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC, who directs a graduate program on public diplomacy and political warfare. His students include officials from the Defense Department, State Department, CIA, FBI, DIA, and other agencies." Image from article
Slovakia's falsification of history fans flames of ethnic hatred - Frank Koszorus, Jr, Politics.hu: "The following is an op-ed piece by Frank Koszorus, Jr., a Washington, D.C. Attorney who currently serves as President of the American Hungarian Federation, was previously chair of the steering committee of the NATO Enlargement Working Group, and is a regular commentator and university lecturer on foreign policy, public diplomacy, human rights and minority rights issues."
Faculty reflect on how Sept. 11 changed teaching, careers - Andrea Vittorio, gwhatchet.com: "[A]s director of GW’s Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication, [Professor Sean] Aday continues to explore the legacy of 9/11 under an academic lens.
Adios Summer - josefkorbelschool: "Tonight is my first class. But first, what a crazy summer.. . Most of my final exams and papers were completed while getting stuck at airports for two days in May, and I had already began my internship
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Why They Get Pakistan Wrong - Mohsin Hamid, New York Review of Books: Image from article: According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, only 12 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable opinion of the United States, and only 8 percent would like to see US troops “stay in Afghanistan until the situation has stabilized.” The alliance between the US and Pakistan is thus predominantly between the US and the Pakistani military. The alliance between the US and the Pakistani military remains a relationship between parties viewing one another through gunsights.
Pakistanis, and above all members of Pakistan’s military, would do well finally to reject their country’s disastrous embrace of militants. Pakistan must urgently mend its relationships in its own neighborhood and refocus on taking care of itself. Image from article, with caption: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, seated second from right, voicing concern about cuts in US aid at a press conference in Quetta, Balochistan, July 13, 2011.
Libya: How They Did It - Nicolas Pelham, New York Review of Books: With Libya’s multiple rebel forces asserting control over overlapping enclaves in the city, and with the linchpin that united them out of government, it is not clear who will rule in, and from, Tripoli, and how. New forces of regionalism and Islamization, represented by different if not rival militias, are beginning to elbow for power. Libyans may yet face a bumpy succession.
Who Knows What’s Best for Libya? - Patricia Lee Sharpe, Whirled view: Certainly the rebels should be grateful for the assistance they have received from “the U.S. and its allies.” Clearly Gaddafi couldn’t have been dislodged without that air support. But nation-building is much more complex than dropping bombs or strafing enemy tanks—and there are national nuances that must always be taken into consideration. For that reason, it’s best that Libyans take the lead.
Chinese online activists concerned that further controls over China's internet "are imminent" - Kim Andrew Elliot reporting on International Broadcasting
Every Piece in its Place Print - retrotogo.com: Mixing Soviet-era propaganda with retro gaming is a winning combination for this Every Piece in its Place print from Pop Chart Lab. Their website claims it is a recently unearthed piece of Soviet propaganda that reveals the origins of the game Tetris, which would be brilliant if it was true,
but as it is, it is a just a cool idea for a print. The style is very much that of Soviet propaganda posters (always great to look at, even if you didn’t agree with the politics behind them) but the Nintendo Gameboy in the design gives the game away. The print has a limited first edition run of 500, each being signed and numbered by the artists. Image from article
1 comment:
In my view one and all must glance at this.
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