September 6

"One of the reasons I curate news about international broadcasting from the house where I live is to find out what is going on inside the building where I work."

--USG international broadcasting guru Kim Andrew Elliott; image from

Afghanistan: quest for peace - Tanvir Ahmad Khan, therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com: "Washington creates an enormous fog of public diplomacy to keep everybody guessing its real intentions. ...

Cooperation between Washington and Islamabad would become easier if there is transparency of intentions." The writer was foreign secretary from 1989-90 and is a former chairman of the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. Khan image from article

Proms, Protesters and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – Where Culture Met Political - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: "In the end, culture and politics can make strange bedfellows yet in most cases cultural diplomacy is well received. But not always: when cultural presentations are used for political purposes they are also vulnerable to political backlash."

WikiLeaks: US-Azerbaijan Democracy Dialogue in 2008 - azerireport.com: "The new WikiLeaks report discloses the diplomatic cable from the US Embassy in Baku to the US State Department dated March 31, 2008. The diplomatic cable reflects the policy approach of the US Embassy to Azerbaijan on human rights and democratization shortly before the presidential elections of 2008 in that country. ... FOR DRL A/S KRAMER FROM AMBASSADOR DERSE E.O. 12958: ... 1. (C) David, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment and invite you to Azerbaijan at your earliest convenience to continue the bilateral dialogue on democracy and human rights that Barry Lowenkron initiated in December 2006 at President Aliyev's suggestions. This forum, led on the Azerbaijani side by Foreign Minister Mammadyarov, is an important vehicle to address government-to-government both short-term problems and the longer-term, systemic changes needed to ensure Azerbaijan's lasting stability and prosperity.

The dialogue supplements our advocacy, public diplomacy and technical assistance efforts. Intensifying our work in this critical area of our bilateral relationship is especially important in the run-up to Azerbaijan's October 2008 presidential election." Image from

Iranian punk musician says appearance on VOA's Parazit "is the end of me going back to Iran" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

BBG seeks proposal for VOA social networking studies in Lagos, Jakarta, and - even though VOA no longer has Arabic - Cairo - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

EcoNegev takes 7 visiting journalists on desert tour - Sharon Udasin, Jerusalem Post: "The StandWithUs educational organization’s fellowship, which trains 150 students from six universities across the country to become ambassadors for Israel, is in its fifth year and aims to 'present a positive aspect of Israel to the international community,' according

to a statement from the group. While gaining expertise in public diplomacy and Israel education through a year-long series of workshops, each campus takes on a project that is completely dependent on the group’s individual initiative." Image from

Pro-Gadhafi troop crosses into Niger, heightens security concerns for Nigeria - nigeriansabroadlive.com: NAL’s [Nigerian Abroad Live?]

director public diplomacy, Yemi Ifegbuyi says news of pro-Gadhafi fighters crossing into Niger is of 'eminent security concerns' for Nigeria." Image from article

European Diplomacy Workshop - armacad.info: "The European Diplomacy Workshop (EDW) is an English-speaking program with the main goal of familiarizing participants with EU Foreign Policy, especially with the latest Polish initiatives within the EU: the Eastern Partnership. It aimes [sic] to broaden participants’ knowledge on the mentioned issues, improving their diplomatic competence and creating a platform for exchanging experiences and extending networks between specialists from various European countries. ... Curriculum The program is concluded in 6 days – 46 lesson hours of lectures, workshops, expert seminars and visits to public institutions. The curriculum includes six modules: [including] ... Public Diplomacy in the EU (8 lesson hours)."

About britbyb - three cups of coffee: here's to another great adventure…: "Summer 2011 is an exciting one, I've moved to DC for an internship where I'm learning and seeing a lot. I write articles about current events in foriegn [sic] policy,

some of which can be found throughout my blog. I'm on a quest to work in public diplomacy and/or international education someday (maybe soon?) but until then, I'm striving to get the most out of my time as a poor grad student." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Iran is a victim of Western propaganda: Heydarian - tehrantimes.com: “Because of the West's deep-seated 'orientalist' approach, non-Western societies, especially those in the Middle East, have been portrayed as the 'other'. The post-colonialist literature reveals how this 'other' has been painted as exotic, pre-modern, barbaric, and devoid of all the beautiful and admirable values embedded in the superior western cosmos,” author and political commentator Richard Javad Heydarian has said. Since the 1979 revolution, he says, Iran has been a major victim of constant black propaganda, where only a handful of foreign people, mostly from the epistemic community and liberal circles, have a true knowledge of the complexities and nuances of the Iranian society. Political differences and the relative isolation of Iran have also prevented constant and deepening social and cultural exchange between scholars and people from Iran, on one hand, and Western individuals, on the other.

Media censorship in Iran? - Times.am: "Two publish houses are closed in Iran, media inform. 'Shahrvand-E-Ermuz' weekly is suspended for 'violating the law about media'. 'Ruzegar' newspaper is also closed for publishing 'propaganda articles'. 'Both media representatives were pressed by the authorities before as well. May be today’s obstacles are held because of the elections which will be held on March, 2012. Newspapers have published articles condemning President Mahmud Ahmadinejad recently', Radio 'Freedom' informs."

Turkish General Staff intel chief arrested over Internet propaganda case - hyemedia.wordpress.com: The head of the Turkish General Staff’s intelligence unit has become the latest high-ranking officer arrested in an ongoing Internet propaganda case, Hurriyet Daily News reported. Lt Gen. Ismail Hakki Pekin pleaded not guilty after being arrested by the court. “I have no stains on the uniform I have worn with pride for 40 years,” he said. “I appear before you for a crime I have not committed. I am in agony over this humiliating situation.”

Expert: Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy non-viable - panarmenian.net: Turkologist Ruben Melkonyan commented on possible actions in Iran in view of recent downscaling of Turkey-Israel ties.

“To prevent Ankara from increasing its presence in Islamic world, Iran may start an anti-Turkish propaganda. However, Tehran, which, shares Turkey’s dislike for Israel, might refrain from mentioning damaged Ankara-Jerusalem relations,” the expert told a news conference in Yerevan. Melkonyan image from article

North Korea claims "sinister intention" to collapse its system: Fears South Korea will "force it into opening and destroy it in the end" - Patrick Winn, globalpost.com: South Korean special warfare soldiers perform martial arts during an event in Seoul in 2009. North Koreans are told that South Korea is a U.S. puppet state mired in chaos and class warfare. Just this week, North Korea's propaganda service warned of South Korea's oppression and announced that

valiant South Koreans had to struggle to "build a new world where the people have become the master." It's a rather dystopian take on a nation with lots of boy bands and artisinal coffee shops and really fast Internet speeds. But the North's latest claim, that the South is "plotting to destroy its socialist system," is less easy to dismiss. According to AFP, a North Korean spokesman is warning of plans to "force it into opening and destroy it in the end." Image from article, with caption: South Korean special warfare soldiers perform martial arts during an event in Seoul in 2009.

AMERICANA

Many baby boomers don't plan to leave their children an inheritance: Unlike previous generations, some baby boomers believe they've already given their children enough, and they plan to spend the money they've saved on themselves - Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times

One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring - Jacqueline Mroz, New York Times: Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago, and they hoped that one day their son would get to know some of his half siblings — an extended family of sorts for modern times. So Ms. Daily searched a Web-based registry for other children fathered by the same donor and helped to create an online group to track them.

Over the years, she watched the number of children in her son’s group grow. And grow. Today there are 150 children, all conceived with sperm from one donor, in this group of half siblings, and more are on the way. “It’s wild when we see them all together — they all look alike,” said Ms. Daily, 48, a social worker in the Washington area who sometimes vacations with other families in her son’s group. Image from

More restaurants are targeting customers who use food stamps - Jonathan Ellis and Megan Luther, USA TODAY: The number of businesses approved to accept food stamps grew by a third from 2005 to 2010, U.S. Department of Agriculture records show, as vendors from convenience and dollar discount stores to gas stations and pharmacies increasingly joined the growing entitlement program. Now, restaurants, which typically have not participated in the program, are lobbying for a piece of the action. Louisville-based Yum! Brands, whose restaurants include Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut, is trying to get restaurants more involved, federal lobbying records show.

A list of disgusting non-food things found in hot dogs - Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing

Image from article

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"It might be instructive to ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos had landed at George W. Bush's compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic (after proper burial rites, of course). Uncontroversially, he was not a 'suspect' but the 'decider' who gave the orders to invade Iraq -- that is, to commit the 'supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole' for

which Nazi criminals were hanged: the hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, destruction of much of the country and its national heritage, and the murderous sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region. Equally uncontroversially, these crimes vastly exceed anything attributed to bin Laden." Image from

--Noam Chomsky