September 26

--Bumper sticker seen in Washington, D.C.; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

After the latest leaks: How Americans see the east Jordanians - Amer Al Sabaileh,  ammonnews.net: "Although it was the American diplomat Edmund Gullion who coined the phrase 'Public Diplomacy' in 1965, being one of the first to use this term doesn’t mean that you are the best to comprehend it. We only have to recall the perception of public diplomacy from the perspective of the American Defence Department in its interpretation that: 'Public Diplomacy seeks through the exchange of people and ideas to build lasting relationships and receptivity to a nation’s culture, values, and policies. It seeks also to influence attitudes and mobilize publics in ways that support policies and interests.' Conversely, for the many bystanders observing how American policy is developing in the Middle East, its failure to adopt such public diplomacy is worrying. Whatever slight credibility the US might have had is rapidly waning along with its standing in Arab countries.

The Americans are faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to playing the key protagonists in this scenario. So what is the solution? As their first major tactic they are clearly adopting the solution proposed by Joseph S Nye: 'If I can get you to want to do what I want, then I do not have to force you to do what you do not want to do[.] ' In conclusion, it might be a good idea to tone down the idealized expectations we have of the Americans’ capability to achieve their goals." Image from

UN showdown over Palestine highlights failed process, uncertain future for U.S.: As Obama appeases a domestic constituency, our future role in the Middle East remains unclear - Beige Luciano-Adams, Pasadena Star-News: "Just a year after his appeal for an independent Palestine to take its place at the United Nations, President Barack Obama last week voiced firm opposition to just such an overture as it materialized from the mouth of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Heeding domestic interests pressure-cooked by election season, Obama vowed the U.S. would veto a Palestinian bid for statehood should it gain approval in the U.N. General Assembly - arguing that real peace will rather take the hard work of can't have surprised many, it does raise questions about the future of U.S. foreign policy in a changing geopolitical landscape - defined by both the stunted peace process and the fragile, if now intractable Arab Spring. While the president's about-face

can't have surprised many, it does raise questions about the future of U.S. foreign policy in a changing geopolitical landscape - defined by both the stunted peace process and the fragile, if now intractable Arab Spring. ... Laurie Brand, professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, called the administration's handling of the situation, while expected, a 'big disaster' for U.S. public diplomacy in the region. 'It's definitely a black eye for this administration, and clearly done with a domestic constituency in mind,' Brand said. 'There is lot of criticism of Obama (from) at least one segment of Jewish community that is unhappy with Obama's policies on the Middle East... And with other problems - in particular the economy - they'll be looking for support wherever they can get it.'" Image from

PM: We may not have enough voices in the UNSC to stop vote - Tovah Lazaroff, Jerusalem Post: "Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told The Jerusalem Post, 'Netanyahu had an extraordinarily successful visit here in New York in terms of public diplomacy and his appearance on American television. His interviews, were an unqualified success.'”

Park51 Imam Plans National Speaking Tour - oneworldtradecenternyc.com: “'Controversy has never been a problem for me,' said the imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, whose proposal to build the high-rise community center and mosque two blocks north of ground zero made him the prime target last summer of opponents who viewed the plan, known as Park51 for its address on Park Place, as a Trojan horse for Muslim triumphalism. ... 'I think the controversy of last summer helped initiate a discourse that has been very good for the country.' At the height of the controversy over the summer and fall, Mr. Adbul Rauf was on a scheduled speaking tour in Qatar, Bahrain

and the United Arab Emirates. The tour was sponsored by the State Department’s cultural exchange bureau, known as the Department of Public Diplomacy. He considered canceling that trip in order to confront the opposition and rally support at home to his cause – a job that fell for the most part to his wife and partner in interfaith work, Daisy Khan , executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. 'But in that environment, I realized that no matter what I did or said, I would be accused of something,” he said. And as it turned out, he added, the reaction of Middle Eastern Muslims to the controversy over Park51 was encouraging to him. The idea that in the United States there could be a discussion, even an angry one, about building a mosque that some considered to be too close to ground zero – 'that was an amazingly positive thing to people I met in the Middle East,' he said." Rauf image from

Conspicuous by Their Absence - R.S. Zaharna, battles2bridges.wordpress.com:
"[T]here was a lot of PDing at the United Nations this week, especially on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. ... The Palestinians sought to return the 'Question of Palestine' to its original roots in the United Nations and tap into its broad support in the international community. Israelis sought to distance the conflict from the international forum and stressed direct negations where it holds the upper hand in an asymmetrical power dynamic. Both parties quite naturally want to play to their strength in the diplomatic maneuvering.

In terms of public diplomacy, in such a high visibility, adversarial context, strong assertive public diplomacy that focuses on strong, direct, and clear messaging strategies would be the approach of choice. Both parties took advantage at their turn at the podium to present their position, the best of assertive public diplomacy. However, both parties did not transfer that offline momentum to an online forum. ... The first conspicuous absence: a Palestinian digital strategy." Image from article

Indonesia: why Facebook? - Sarah Logan, ircircuit.com: "What drives Indonesia’s massive growth in social media use, especially Facebook? ... Sociocultural factors emphasising network building could be an interesting factor. Indonesia has been at the forefront of social networking in South-East Asia since the mid-2000s. Some anthropologists argue Indonesian society exhibits cultural traits emphasising extensive network building and de-emphasising deep interpersonal relationships in small numbers. ... Regardless of their accuracy, these musings may be relevant to IR theories of public diplomacy, given they suggest that digital diplomacy ought to be conducted with reference to local social networking preferences."

What WikiLeaks' U.S. Embassy Cables Reveal about U.S. Pressure and Propaganda - Maximilian Forte, zcommunications.org: "The U.S. Embassy cables published by WikiLeaks present numerous very interesting stories about how Al Jazeera was brought to heel by the U.S. Government. The U.S. Embassy in Doha, and officials from Washington, used a variety of direct and indirect methods of ensuring a greater degree of compliance on the part of Al Jazeera. These methods included placing speakers on Al Jazeera news programs; supplying information approved by the U.S. Government; providing U.S. training for Al Jazeera's journalists; demanding editorial distortion of aired programs; securing Al Jazeera's agreement to check first with U.S. officials before airing 'sensitive' programs; monitoring of Al Jazeera in minute detail, ranging from its news coverage to its internal structure and policies; lodging complaints with Qatari government ministers; constant, personal visits to Al Jazeera's headquarters; developing familiarity and close personal contacts with Al Jazeera staff; and going over the head of the Managing Director of Al Jazeera to ensure that 'objectionable content' was removed and never repeated. Mainstreaming, professionalism, balance, and objectivity emerge as the chosen tropes for a journalism that favors U.S. foreign policy. U.S. officials did not overtly threaten Al Jazeera staff, nor did they engage in any crass form of bribery.

The intervention was more polite, prolonged, and intimate. In the process of reading these cables we learn that, for the U.S. Government, Al Jazeera was valued as a strategic tool, as a credible proxy for U.S. 'public diplomacy.' We hear senior Al Jazeera executives describe themselves as 'partners' and 'assets' of the U.S. We also learn about the degree to which Al Jazeera is controlled by the Qatari state and used as a foreign policy instrument. We witness the degree to which Al Jazeera English is almost entirely a foreign import, not even pretending to speak as the 'voice of the Arabs" and operating as a colonial transplant. The picture of Al Jazeera revealed through the cables is a grim one, and it is not likely that Al Jazeera can proceed unscathed.'" Image from

Broadcasting from London: Olympics Fever - Ren's Micro Diplomacy: "The Olympics, in general, have the potential

to be the world’s most impactful** public diplomacy event. The actual impact, however, is dependent on how well the host country harnesses this potential. London has been working hard to get momentum going and build excitement for the 2012 games. Image, among others, from article

Current research topics of political psychology - tarsnevpszi.elte.hu: [Google translation from Hungarian:] "Personally, we also show the current political psychological themes here on Tuesday, 2011. szept. September 27-én 18.00-tól az IZU 216-ban a Politikai Pszichológiai Műhelyünk keretében. Szakdolgozat, műhelymunka, tudományos diákköri kutatás témájának is várjuk az alábbi témákban közreműködőket: 27 at 18.00 in the 216-Izu Political Psychology in the context of our workshop. Thesis, workshops, research students working on the theme are also welcome contributors to the following topics: ... The Hungarian national picture of economic, foreign policy dimension of the examination of the social representation theoretical framework (the single organizing principle and inter-group differences in the representation, the representation of resources, you will provide and the perceived image differences) a common questionnaire, and this may be an additional communication analysis methods. Szakirodalmi kulcsszavak: public diplomacy (közkapcsolati diplomácia), nation equity (ország márkaértéke). Literature Keywords: public diplomacy (diplomacy, public relations), nation equity (the value of national brand)."

"Inside a U.S. Embassy: Diplomacy at Work, The Essential Guide to the Foreign Service, 3rd Edition" Overview - bestpoliticalsciencetextbook.blogspot.com: "Inside a U.S. Embassy is widely recognized as the essential guide to the Foreign Service. This all-new third edition takes readers to more than fifty U.S. missions around the world, introducing

Foreign Service professionals and providing detailed descriptions of their jobs and firsthand accounts of diplomacy in action. In addition to profiles of diplomats and specialists around the world—from the ambassador to the consular officer, the public diplomacy officer to the security specialist—is a selection from more than twenty countries of day-in-the-life accounts, each describing an actual day on the job." Image from article

Working as a Foreign Service officer - Ashworth College: "Public diplomacy officers are responsible for disseminating American ideas and promoting cross-cultural understanding."

RELATED ITEMS

A closer look at drones: The U.S. is expanding their use in targeted killings, but there are serious moral and legal questions - Editorial, latimes.com: The United States should not be aiming its missiles at everyone who associates with Al Qaeda and similar groups, or at mere propagandists. Targeted killings raise serious moral and legal questions, but the Obama administration seems determined

to expand their use as the United States withdraws forces from Afghanistan. If the policy is to be pursued, it should be subject to more stringent oversight. Image from article, with caption: A defense bill approved in May by the House authorizes force directed against "Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces," but doesn't actually include any geographical limitations whatsoever.

US Armed Forces Network ends local operations in Iraq. Listeners included University of Baghdad students - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting.

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Netanyahu's speech of lies - Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz: Bertolt Brecht wrote, in his poem "The Necessity of Propaganda," "Even the hungry must admit that the Minister of Nutrition gives a good speech." (Translation from the German, Jon Swan.) It must be admitted that Benjamin Netanyahu gave a good speech at the UN General Assembly. His English was polished, his hand gestures precise and his body language perfect. His propaganda was sweet as honey dripping from his lips. It improves from speech to speech. But the prime minister promised that this time he would feed us the truth, not another campaign speech. A test of this promise seems apposite.

Faith, Fasting, Football and Hollywood's Anti-Arab Propaganda‎ - Paul J. Balles, Pacific Free Press: Fordson High School is a secondary school in Dearborn, Michigan. At times Dearborn has been a victim of hostility toward its Muslim community. The city has the largest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East. The school and its football (American football) team is the setting for the new film "Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football."

The film, about Faith (Islam), Fasting (Muslims during Ramadan) and Football (the film's setting), premiered on 9 September, two days before the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The team had to train during Ramadan, and in order to fast for the month, they set their practice times from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. Paul Brunick, reviewing the film for the New York Times, notes that "...sound bites of unidentified but recognizable talk radio and cable news mainstays are the kind of provocations regularly criticized by media watchdogs." A narrator in the film says: "We’ve been called many names: an Islamic School, an Arabic School, a Hezbollah High School, camel jockeys, damn Arabs, towel heads, sand niggers." One of the students comments: "It's real hate; you can feel it." But they're young, they're football players and they want to win, not just on the football field but as Arab Americans. Says the narrator: "But when all of this hatemongering is mashed together with a sweeping orchestral march, the individual instances of bigotry are transformed into something larger: a glimpse of how monstrous our post-9/11 hysteria may appear to future students of American history." It's time to put ignorant stereotypes to rest by countering the propaganda with reality as in the Fordson film. Image from

Leader's Advisor: Neocolonialism Uses Culture, Propaganda to Achieve Goals - FNA: Supreme Leader's top advisor for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati warned the world Muslims that enemies have hatched plots to achieve their neocolonialist goals through cultural invasion and propaganda. Neocolonialism has invaded the Muslim countries with

"cultural and propaganda" tools to keep its position in these states, and as a result Muslims are still under "the ominous shadow of colonialism", Velayati said, addressing the fifth General Assembly meeting of the Union of Islamic Radios and TVs here in Tehran on Monday. He reiterated that the colonialist powers use hi-tech mass media to promote and achieve their goals. Uncaptioned mage from article

Libya: NTC [National Transitional Council] concocts mass grave story in brazen propaganda piece ‎- Martin Iqbal, Axis of Logic: In a truly stunning display of dishonesty,

the BBC has reported, citing no evidence to back its claim, that a mass grave containing over 1,200 bodies has been found in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison complex. The BBC attempts to tie this ‘finding’ to the equally concocted ‘Abu Salim prison massacre’, as it claims that the bodies are those of the inmates supposedly killed in 1996. Uncaptioned image from article

Censors kill Super Girl as bloggers muzzled - Michael Sainsbury, The Australian: It has been a big week for China's growing army of media censors with the dramatic cancelling of one of the nation's most popular TV shows, Super Girl, and signs that the country's booming microblogs, or Weibo, will come under stricter control. Chinese officials have voiced increasing concerns about the growth of these microblogs -- a hybrid of Western social networking sites Twitter and Facebook. While the most popular sites belong to Chinese celebrities and can attract more than 10 million followers, the sites are also used to send and swap information not available via the country's rigidly controlled traditional media. It is the only widely connected public forum in the Communist Party state and the sites are regularly used to make comments about government departments, officials and other authorities.

But while the internet is under scrutiny from Chinese censors, traditional media remain tightly controlled. Last Wednesday, censors made a surprise decision to pull China's biggest TV talent quest, Super Girl, produced by Hunan Satellite Television. The show -- which has up to 400 million viewers -- is the first major program to be cut under a promised purge of "vulgar" TV shows. This year's Super Girl began in March and finished on Friday two weeks ago with a three-hour finale. Some commentators suggest that party officials feared the show's voting system was too "democratic." Image from article, with caption: Contestants of a group performance in China’s singing talent search show, Super Girl, on 24-hour China-based channel WaTV (Astro channel 315).

Nigeria: We Will Re-Invent Journalism Practice, Says Ekoriko - allafrica.com/stories: Moffat Ekoriko, a media buff and award winning journalist is the publisher of the newest entrant to the Nigerian media scene, The Moment newspapers. Ekoriko, who also publishes the United Kingdom-based magazine, NewsAfrica, is an alumnus of the University of Leeds (UK), where he specialised in Media Propaganda.

Communist symbol still off limits for capitalist propaganda - Budapest Times: The Soviet-era hammer and sickle cannot be used as a trademark, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday. The European Union high court rejected an appeal lodged by British

Virgin Islands-based company Couture Tech Ltd by ruling that the hammer and sickle symbol is “contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality." Image from

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"All the fiscal and monetary stimulus in the world won't make America young again."

--John Lonski, economist for Moody's Analytics.

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