"The world needed this piece of self-congratulatory crap like I need a third nipple."
--Peter Van Buren, regarding a USG-produced video on the success of US Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq; image from Van Buren's blog
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Smart Power Approach to Counterterrorism - Remarks, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, John Jay School of Criminal Justice, New York, New York September 9, 2011, U.S. Department of State: "[T]o truly defeat a terror network, we need ... to take on its ideology, counter its propaganda, and diminish its appeal, so that every community recognizes the threat that extremists pose to them and they then deny them protection and support. ... To achieve these ends requires smart power, a strategy that integrates all our foreign policy tools – diplomacy and development hand-in-hand with defense – and that advances our values and the rule of law. We are waging a broad, sustained, and relentless campaign that harnesses every element of American power against terrorism. ... [W]e should appreciate that while working to resolve conflicts, reduce poverty, and improve governance, those are valuable ends in themselves, but they also advance the cause of counterterrorism and national security. That is why I have more fully integrated the State Department and USAID into the fight. ... [W]e developed and launched the new Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, which is tightly focused on undermining the terrorist propaganda and dissuading potential recruits. The center is housed at the State Department, but is a true whole-of-government endeavor. ... [W]e know from extremists in our own country that they are recruited by and influenced by websites. So we’re going to do everything we can to be in that fight for their minds and their hearts, and we are ratcheting up the pressure. ... Funding madrassas that preach violence and recruit terrorists, distributing textbooks that teach hate, will only accelerate the growth of extremism. This is like planting weeds in your garden and then acting surprised when they choke the flowers. It is counter-productive and ultimately self-defeating, and we will continue to argue against such practices in public and private. ... America is exceptional. We are exceptional for our creativity and our openness. We draw people from everywhere. We are exceptional for our unwavering commitment to secure a more just and peaceful world, for our willingness, especially when it matters most, to put the common good ahead of ideology, party, or personal interest." [Please note lack of mention of public diplomacy;
see John Brown, "Smart Power In, Public Diplomacy Out?," Notes and Essays (3/2/09)]. Image from
10 Years Later: How We Won - William McCants and William Rosenau, theatlantic.com: "In recognizing al-Qaeda's failures and weaknesses, we should reevaluate the political, military, economic, and other instruments the United States wields against terrorism. ... [A] ... questionable tool is one used in part of a broader set of information operations: positive messaging about the United States.
There are excellent reasons to pursue public diplomacy, but countering terrorism is not one of them. The young people who are vulnerable to al-Qaeda's recruitment pitches are likely to be impervious to positive messages about the United States. In addition, linking public diplomacy with counterterrorism risks alienating intended audiences, which can easily detect the fear and hidden agenda lurking behind the friendly American smile. The United States needs to dissuade people from attacking its citizens -- but those people do not need to like the United States in order to abandon violence." Image from article, with caption: New York police stand near a wanted poster for Osama bin Laden
A decade later, what about victory? - Christian Whiton, Daily Caller: "There are limits to what can be achieved by force of arms alone — something our senior military officers have stressed repeatedly. Kinetic warfare — the use of destructive power — is essential in dealing with those who have crossed over to become terrorists. But until something stops the intake of terrorists and terrorist-sympathizers from among the ranks of Islamists, the military must contend endlessly with new terrorist offshoots. That 'something' should be political warfare waged against the enemy and its ideology. In earlier conflicts, we took on communism, fascism and other ideologies that motivated our enemies. More than mere public diplomacy or propaganda, this political warfare included diplomatic, technological, financial, economic, moral, legal and cultural acts focused on undermining the enemy’s reason for existence and means of support. The most important element was a clear strategy. ... Bush and his lieutenants mistakenly thought that increasing knowledge among Muslims about the free world and its virtues would suffice in undermining the terrorists’ appeal.
Aides skilled in public relations were dispatched on 'listening tours' but seldom appreciated that they were part of a competition of philosophies of how government and society should be ordered, or that such competitions are seldom won by diplomats with bland talking points delivered in English. President Obama and his allies on the global left have made matters worse still. Mr. Obama’s outreach to the 'Muslim world' — a make-believe construct that lends itself to the Islamists’ vision — has primarily involved apologizing for alleged sins of the U.S. and its allies going back decades. ... There has been no repeat of 1947, which was the year the U.S. government drastically reordered itself to fight the then-new Cold War. Indeed, many of the tools available to Washington today derive from that year and have been stretched to manage today’s threats, with mixed results. A decade after 9/11, it is reasonable to ask government officials if there is a strategy or even a vision of ending — not just managing — the threat we have faced. To get there, we need to think again in terms of undermining or ablating a hostile ideology." Image from
Staying Focused - Patrick Dunleavy, Family Security Matters: "Following the tragedy of 9-11 a Commission was formed tasked with identifying what had happened and how it happened. After outlining their findings, they made specific recommendations they believed necessary to protect the United States. ... The Commission believed that in order ... to be successful we would need to use every fiber of our national strength in the following areas; diplomacy, intelligence, covert action, law enforcement, economic policy, foreign aid, public diplomacy, and homeland defense. In the area of public diplomacy, I think we have failed to stay on message. We certainly have obfuscated who we’re fighting."
Mideast’s Changing View of America - Randall Lane, Daily Beast: "Shortly after 9/11, in an effort to win Arab 'hearts and minds' in the mold of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, the State Department poured hundreds of millions into a new public-diplomacy initiative, overseen by former ad executive Charlotte Beers and then Bush communications czar Karen Hughes. In short order came Radio Sawa ('together'), television’s Alhurra ('the free one') and Hi Magazine (named for the one English word the whole world knows), which, inspired by the post-9/11 call to service, I steered editorially in print and online in 2003 and 2004. Hi, sold on newsstands in 20 Arab countries,
was charged with providing a window into, and dialogue with, the U.S. for Arabs between 18 and 35. To maximize the project’s efficacy, I conducted perhaps the most extensive qualitative study of Arab sentiment about America in the post-9/11 era. With two colleagues, I traveled across the Arab world—the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Lebanon, and Morocco—for two weeks on what we called a 'listening research tour,' interviewing scores of young Arabs individually, in focus groups and at giant roundtables, using Hi as proxy for the region’s perpetual question: what do you think about the U.S.? While the magazine’s scope was strictly cultural, the answer eight years ago, on the heels of the Iraq invasion, usually came down to some combination of the words 'America,' 'Bush,' and local expletives. ... [Today][e]very survey shows widespread Arab antipathy for American policy—the Newsweek–Daily Beast poll found that only 11 percent of Egyptians think America cares about their interests. But when you pull back the layers, cutting through the decades of institutional demagoguery, the qualities America inspires would warm the heart of any marketing manager. ... Even a majority of jaded Newsweek–Daily Beast poll respondents said that the U.S. had a positive effect on the world—the highest of any nation we asked about. Blend it all together, and that’s an image of America well positioned for the new Arab World." Image from article
Israel, America, and the Lessons of 9/11 - Abe Greenwald, jewishideasdaily.com: "Increasingly, the word is taken to denote not Jewish national self-determination but Jewish chauvinism. In academic and diplomatic circles, the decades-long campaign to place Zionism alongside imperialism, fascism, and colonialism has moved from the far left to the political center. Young American Jews now shy away from a term and an identity whose actual definition they will never know. The great myth about this growing hatred is that public diplomacy can fix it—that greater attention to 'optics' will lead antagonists of America and Israel to rethink their prejudices. We have now had nearly three years of an extremely optics-rich Obama foreign policy, of which the September 11 anniversary guidelines are just one example. Yet, despite serial apologies for American power and dogged appeals for global cooperation, anti-Americanism is more intense today than it was when the President took office. This does not stop the public diplomacy-advocates from scolding Israelis for insensitivity. Thus, Jerusalem is expected to place security second to public relations and express regret over the problematic symbolism of security checkpoints, the West Bank wall, and the response to the Mavi Marmara flotilla. Such counsel might be tolerable in a country like the United States, which can absorb its critics' vitriol as one more tribute to its global supremacy. Israel is not big enough, or safe enough, to afford the luxury of symbolism as statecraft."
Karen Hughes Remembers the 9/11 Terror Attacks - Karen Hughes, FOX News: "For me, September 11 was also a reminder of our nation's wider responsibilities in the world. Before that day, I had focused primarily on communicating with the American people -- after all, that's who elects the president. But as we sent troops into Afghanistan and the Taliban spokesman began having daily news conferences accusing us of all sorts of atrocities, most of which turned out to be false, I realized that we had to do a better job of communicating and sharing America’s values with audiences across the world. My passion for that work resulted several years later in President Bush asking me
Experts discuss the complexities of U.S. foreign policy since Sept. 11 - David Lowenstein, Daily Trojan: "As the anniversary of 9/11 approaches, attention is focused not only on the loss of life that occurred that day but on how the event altered U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy. On Thursday, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism hosted a panel of experts who tackled that question. The panel featured Philip Seib, director of the CPD; Najil Al-Awadhi, a former member of the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council and general manager of Dubai Media Inc.; Laurie Brand, a professor of international relations; Ernest J. Wilson III, dean of Annenberg; Jerrold Green, research professor of communication; and Geoffrey Cowan, Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership. Since Sept. 11, public diplomacy in the Middle East has become more comprehensive, but not necessarily more successful, Seib said. 'The diplomatic issues are complex,'
he said. 'U.S. public diplomacy in fits and starts has had a lots of good intentions, but the problems are related to policy follow-ups.' ... David Mandel, a graduate student in the master for public diplomacy program, said he liked that the panel highlighted using Sept. 11 as a stepping-stone for future U.S. public diplomacy. 'The panel emphasized the importance of using Sept. 11 as a tool to move forward, not to stay stuck in the past,' he said." Image from
US Ambassador To Syria Robert Ford Takes On His Critics - Joshua Hersh, Huffington Post: "For the second time in three days, America's most free-range diplomat has taken to the Internet to deliver a direct message to the people of the country where he is serving. U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford,
who has made a name for himself in recent weeks for his risky visits to remote cities where a popular anti-government uprising has grown violent and deadly, posted a message on Facebook late Thursday in response to critical comments from a message he posted earlier in the week. ... Syrian officials have not taken Ford's public diplomacy lightly, particularly his regular flouting of new regulations that prohibit him from leaving the Damascus area without prior approval. But according to the State Department, Ford has continued to meet with Syrian officials, even as he openly condemns the regime, with the most recent interactions coming Wednesday morning." Uncaptioned image from article
VOL. VII NO. 18, August 26-September 08, 2011 - The Layalina Review on Public Diplomacy and Arab Media:
"9/11 Book Stirs Controversy
A children’s coloring book about the US “war on terror” following the 9/11 attacks, which includes words and images offensive to Muslims, is sparking controversy.
A children’s coloring book about the US “war on terror” following the 9/11 attacks, which includes words and images offensive to Muslims, is sparking controversy.
Encouraging Islamophobia?
A newly released report by Center for American Progress identifies foundations, organization and people who have been promoting Islamophobic rhetoric since 2001.
A newly released report by Center for American Progress identifies foundations, organization and people who have been promoting Islamophobic rhetoric since 2001.
PA Bid Brings Legal Ramifications to Light
Oxford University law professor Guy Goodwin-Gill spearheaded a debate provoking legal analysis explaining the consequential challenges the recognition of a Palestinian state would incite.
Oxford University law professor Guy Goodwin-Gill spearheaded a debate provoking legal analysis explaining the consequential challenges the recognition of a Palestinian state would incite.
Heated Summer for Sinai after Arab Spring
In the context of shifting politics of the Middle East following the Arab Spring, Israel is facing growing tensions with neighboring country Egypt after skirmishes in Sinai. In the meantime, Israel’s diplomatic ties with other allies, including Turkey and the US, are increasingly strained.
In the context of shifting politics of the Middle East following the Arab Spring, Israel is facing growing tensions with neighboring country Egypt after skirmishes in Sinai. In the meantime, Israel’s diplomatic ties with other allies, including Turkey and the US, are increasingly strained.
Assad’s Last Stand
Governments, officials, and human rights organizations alike call for President Al-Assad to end the violence and address the concerns of the Syrian people. As Mr. Assad conceded to some media reforms, protests continue in Syria as the death toll increases.
Governments, officials, and human rights organizations alike call for President Al-Assad to end the violence and address the concerns of the Syrian people. As Mr. Assad conceded to some media reforms, protests continue in Syria as the death toll increases.
Libya: The Next Extremist Battleground?
As rebel forces close in on Muammar Gaddafi, the NTC, the United States and other governments plan for the country's future, tackling issues such as the future of political Islam, as well as the Gaddafi's stockpile of weapons."
As rebel forces close in on Muammar Gaddafi, the NTC, the United States and other governments plan for the country's future, tackling issues such as the future of political Islam, as well as the Gaddafi's stockpile of weapons."
Radio Silence in China: VOA Abandons the Airwaves - Huchen Zhang, Dan Dickey, Heritage.org: "Abstract: On October 1, 2011, Voice of America’s (VOA) Chinese radio service will go silent, as U.S. international broadcasting abandons the airwaves and moves to the Internet. In the burgeoning age of new media, many, including the management at Voice of America, seem to be questioning the continued relevance of shortwave radio. Yet, while the Internet offers great potential, U.S. public diplomacy cannot rest exclusively on the use of a single platform. This is particularly true where the prevalence of Internet censorship is high. Just this past May, China announced the creation of its State Internet Information Office, intended to expand and enhance China’s information dissemination policy, and leading many to question whether abandoning the airwaves is truly the best way to reach America’s audiences throughout the world. On May 25, 2011, three expert panelists—the senior editor at VOA’s China branch, the CEO of Continental Electronics Corporation, and VOA’s former director—discussed the current U.S. strategy for its international broadcasting. Huchen Zhang, Senior Editor, Voice of America China Branch: ... If approved by Congress, ending shortwave transmissions to China would be the biggest blunder yet in the history of U.S. international broadcasting and public diplomacy. ... Dan Dicky, CEO, Continental Electronics Corporation [:] ... Given our position as the world’s leading supplier of high-powered radio transmitters, we are able to easily recognize trends in the marketplace that point to some disturbing facts. As the U.S. has shifted increasingly to Internet- and satellite-based mediums for its public diplomacy, we’ve noticed that many other countries are embracing
The Yanks Know Marr is a Soft Touch - order-order.com: "Another interesting snippet from Wikileaks’ State Department cables proves that Andrew Marr’s reputation as a patsy is global. In preparation for Hil[l]ary Clinton’s UK visit in 2010, the US Embassy in London noted that the Secretary of State should take time out of her schedule to do a pre-record with Marr. The reasons why are hardly a ringing endorsement for the BBC’s flagship interviewer: 'On the public diplomacy side, I hope you can take some time out to tape an interview with leading British journalist Andrew Marr, to be broadcast on his Sunday morning BBC TV talk show.
Wikileaks cable: Mosque sermons from Saudi Arabia - Al Hittin: "From the Eastern province: An anti-American sermon[:] At the Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal Mosque in Khobar on March 17, Shaikh al-Qahtani delivered an aggressively anti-American sermon to an audience of approximately 500 worshipers. The sermon was the strongest condemnation of the Untied States yet delivered by this imam. He began by recounting his recent visit to an old acquaintance who had graduated from an American university and continued living in the U.S. for many years. The imam said he was shocked to find a sticker on his friend’s door that displayed an American flag and the slogan 'Keep it flying.' (Note: He read the slogan in English and immediately translated it into Arabic. End note.) The imam remarked to the congregation that he could not comprehend how a Muslim could display the flag of a country that has been nothing but hostile to Arabs and Muslims. America deceives Muslims [:] It was apparent from the imam’s comments that he had done some research on USG public diplomacy programs in the Middle East. The sermon continued with an attack on America’s allies in the Middle East and their failed efforts to polish America’s image. He called on the congregation to never believe America and its supporters."
Secret Colombo US Embassy diplomatic cable - Daya Gamage, Asian Tribune: "[T]he long-term projection of the Foreign Service professional in the Colombo’s American Embassy became absolutely wrong when the classified cable said 'If the LTTE refuses to cooperate, the UN can say so publicly which would likely cause the LTTE significant problems with its paymasters in the Tamil Diaspora.'
With the total demise of Tamil Tigers a section of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora is seen actively engaged in reviving its leader Prabhakaran’s dream of a separate/independent eelam state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in getting a section of the international community nations and international rights organizations to tighten the noose on Sri Lanka on alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). The Tamil-Diaspora funding stage has now entered the public diplomacy/strategic communication stage, a scenario Sri Lanka is still unable to internationally combat." Image from
The New “Existential Threat” - Bruce Jackson, CounterPunch: "[W]hat happens in the UN could be a game changer. In conjunction with the rise of democratic movements throughout the region, the collapse of Israel’s alliances with Turkey and Egypt, the growth of the boycott-divestment-sanctions movement in the West, and the emergence, in Israel itself, of its own version of the Arab spring, there is a sense abroad, and in Israel, that the times they are a changin’ – and not in ways likely to comfort friends of the status quo. Therefore expect a fresh wave of hysteria and, along with it, a spate of declarations about how Israel confronts an 'existential threat.' That expression entered the political lexicon only recently, thanks mainly to Israeli 'public diplomacy.' It sounds portentous, but all it means literally is that someone’s or something’s existence is in jeopardy. If so, the world is full of existential threats. But the expression is seldom used except in reference to Israel, and its actual deployment has very little to do with whether the threat is serious or even real."
The power of 'hasbara': The battle for Israel’s image is not one between nuanced and ‘simplistic’ narratives. It is a battle between truth and lies - Natalie Menaged, Jerusalem Post: "In his August 29 article, Ilan Bloch posits that not every young adult 'needs to, or should be' an activist for Israel, and that hasbara (public diplomacy) training should not be 'an integral part of an Israel program,' nor should students be educated in a manner that lends itself to positive conclusions about Israel. I beg to differ.
Hasbara training is an imperative for the Jewish community. Israel and the Jewish people face enormous challenges today, among them existential physical threats, lies about Israel, and anti-Semitism. What Jewish students need most today is a basic education that conveys the legitimacy and morality of Israel." Image from
Govt officials to get social media lessons - Harsimran Julka, Times of India: "The ministry of external affairs has come in for praise for using Twitter as a tool for public diplomacy. But such examples are few and far between. Young politicians want to stick with Twitter, despite controversies. A rulebook will only help. ... A rulebook will surely help young policicians and babus, and help them skirt controversies."
Recently the Prime Minister as “Wen Art of Public Diplomacy,” write the word recommended - "3abc.net: September 7, Tokyo (Reporter in Green), former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of Japan Overseas 7 was published in the book 'Art of Wen public diplomacy,' wrote the word recommendation: this is an understanding of Premier Wen Jiabao important works. I look forward to publication of the book as an opportunity to Japan-China friendly relations can be further deepened. According to reports, 'Wen Art of Public Diplomacy,' a book authored by the Chinese media lecturer Zhao Xinli, has translated 'My father, Mao Zedong,' 'Zhu Biography' and other works of more than Tianmin Hong translation, will Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations in the 40th anniversary of the normalization of the grand launch. In the book, the author of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Japan as the center of public diplomacy activities were analyzed, Wen Jiabao summed up the superb skills of public diplomacy, public diplomacy aimed at China’s future, especially Japan public diplomacy for reference. author Zhao Xinli said that to improve China’s national image, in the traditional hard power, based on the Chinese government
will pay more attention to rely on soft power of public diplomacy. To improve the national image that China will more directly to the target country’s media and the public make their voices heard. Wen Jiabao in Japan’s public diplomacy activities very well, covering the baseball with Japanese exchange students, and the people of Tokyo morning exercises, communication with children and other earthquake-stricken areas, a variety of three-dimensional form of public diplomacy. Japanese newspaper editor Duan Qiao pointed out that Premier Wen Jiabao at the start of Japan’s public diplomacy activities to achieve very good results, the civilian prime minister image for him. Prime Minister in the face of media, many unscripted speech, hard talking, Japanese media and people to win wide acclaim." Image from
Debate on Chinese philanthropy abroad - mqvu.wordpress.com: "The Project Hope Africa affair seems to have reignited the debate on Chinese philanthropy abroad. Economic Observer Online, a Peking-based bilingual publication whose English website describes it as independent (the Chinese does not), has published an article arguing that China should not be deterred by those who overseas aid as long as there are so many poor in China. According to the article, China (the country) should develop philanthropy abroad essentially for purposes of public diplomacy; according to the author, an EMBA (student? graduate?) of Peking University’s School of State/National Development (国家发展学院), 'this will also help establish a preference for Chinese goods in the future.'"
Papers mull departure of “headstrong” minister: The decision by Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to step down at the end of the year makes the headlines in all of Thursday’s Swiss papers - Julia Slater, swissinfo.ch: "The French-language Le Temps recalls how when she took up office she said she wanted to conduct 'public diplomacy' leading to consensus over foreign policy. 'The consensus is far from being reached. But at least Switzerland exists on the international scene,' the paper comments.
New initiatives on Karabakh conflict less likely in coming months - News.Az: "News.Az interviews Alexander Karavayev, deputy general director of Moscow State University's Information and Analytical Centre. [Q:] Russian leadership says there is a need to apply common approaches to resolution of conflicts in the post Soviet area. Is it worth to fear that Russia may recognize independence of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan and Transnistria from Moldova as Moscow did it in case of South Ossetia and Abkhazia? [Karavayev:] If we try to recover the root of the expression 'common approach', we will find that this postulate has received different interpretations in Russian leadership. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Moscow focused on public diplomacy in principle of territorial integrity. The coloring of the statement 'common approach' changed on the eve of the recognition of Kosovo's independence by the U.S. and EU. In late 2007, Vladimir Putin reiterated that it was undesirable to change borders in Europe in the context of recognition of Kosovo's independence.
His thesis of a 'common approach' intended to preserve the integrity of Serbia. As is known, Russia still considers the decision on Kosovo to be wrong. Then, following recognition of Kosovo in early 2008, the thesis of a 'common approach' began to be used in relation to conflicts caused by the Soviet collapse in a sense that if West violated recognized balance in case of Kosovo, then Russia finally gets a moral right to decide the separatist conflicts in the CIS in its sole discretion. But we must bear in mind that no practice on this rhetoric followed. The only time when Moscow took advantage of this system of arguments happened after the war with Georgia and subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states." Karavayev image from article
Remembering 9/11: 'It's been an empty life': Parents still grieving for only son 10 years later - Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani, mmail.com.my: "Kuala Lampur ... US embassy officer just five blocks away[:] US Embassy public diplomacy officer
Yet another dodgy diplomat - Charles Molele, Mail & Guardian Online: "Saul Molobi, the department [of international relations and cooperation]'s former spokesperson and chief director of public diplomacy, is to be posted to Milan, Italy, while the former mayor of Mbombela, Lassy Chiwayo, is bound for Shanghai in the People's Republic of China."
American Public Relations Firm to Rescue the King of Bahrain - William Fisher, prism-magazine.com: "Well, Matt Lauer’s got his hands full. No, not the TV Matt Lauer. The other Matt Lauer. The one who used to do public diplomacy work for the US State Department and now does PR for a Washington company called Qorvis Communications. Why are his hands full? The good news is that his firm just got a big new account. The bad news is that it’s the Kingdom of Bahrain."
The Real New Middle East Order – Part IV: “An Emerging New Order” - Akram Elias, securitydebrief.com: "Author bio: Akram Elias writes about public diplomacy, cultural intelligence and Middle Eastern security. In his 22-year career as a public diplomacy, cross-cultural training and communications consultant, Elias has worked extensively with the U.S. Department of State. He is the founder and president of Capital Communications Group, Inc., based in Washington, DC."
Craigslist.com founder Craig Newmark talks about his nonprofit website - Sarah Lutz, UTA The Shorthorn: "Newmark’s new site, craigconnects.org, which launched in March, focuses on creating networks of people
wanting to help in improving open government, technology for common good, public diplomacy, consumer protection, journalism, and outreach and fundraising for military families and veterans." Newmark image from article
Tammy Haddad to be dinner speaker in Easton - The Star Democrat: "Haddad is a board member of the Miss America Organization and serves on the advisory boards for the Harvard Public Diplomacy Collaborative and the Mothers Day Every Day campaign."
Jim Murphy on public diplomacy - News For China Consulate: "[Comment by:] sparky8620 on September 2nd, 2011 at 3:45 pm This is one of the most disliked politicians in Scotland. A devious and odious man."
The white media’s perception management of Black people - F. Jones, africanpress.wordpress.com: "Perception management is used in public diplomacy, public information programs, political campaigns, propaganda campaigns, or in military information operations and psychological operations."
RELATED ITEMS
Post-9/11 permanent state of war should have ended long ago - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: Perpetual war produces a state of mind in which differences of opinion become questions of patriotism, adversaries become enemies and ideological territory must be defended inch by inch.
Now, after 10 long years, perhaps we can finally get unstuck. Bin Laden is dead, his terrorist organization in shreds. The al-Qaeda that attacked us on 9/11 is defeated. Image from
The 9/11 ‘overreaction’? Nonsense - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post: 9/11 was our Pearl Harbor. This time, however, the enemy had no home address. No Tokyo. Which is why today’s war could not be wrapped up in a mere four years. It was unconventional war by an unconventional enemy embedded within a worldwide religious community. Yet in a decade, we largely disarmed and defeated it, and developed the means to continue to pursue its remnants at rapidly decreasing cost. That is a historic achievement.
Imagining 9/11 - Roger Cohen, New York Times: There is a coda to this decade: Hope.
Arabs have risen up by the hundreds of millions to claim a dignity and freedom long denied them. The kleptocratic tyrannies they lived under were production lines for the fanaticism behind 9/11; the hypocrisy of Western support for those tyrannies was a great propaganda tool for terrorists. As America has learned of late, change is hard. It will be uneven in the Arab world. But in this transformation a constructive answer to 9/11 is at last being traced. Image from
US War on Terror: Provocations, Mystifications, and Illusory Feats - Nil Nikandrov, RIA Novosti: A decade ago, the World Trade Center was destroyed in “a terrorist attack” on September 11 in New York. Contrary to all efforts made by the Empire's propaganda and (dis)information machine, the belief in the complicity of hawks from G. Bush's Administration in the whole story did not recede from public discourse but, instead, gained tens of millions of followers worldwide.
Propaganda For Who? Embassy Video about PRT Success - Peter Van Buren, wemeantwell.com: Though no one actually takes credit for the fetid pile (the video, which can be seen at the link), the credits (you did watch until the end, right?) all cite Army people, and the people in the video are mostly Embassy folk. The ones without the neat button downs are contractors, their love of the PRT program no doubt partly inspired by the $250,000 a year State pays them. The others are real-live State Department types: Aaron Snipes appears, milking the last drops of his PRT cred (he is now the “spokesperson” for the Embassy) and the woman displaying the un-Islamic decolletage obviously studied how to win friends in the Muslim world with the State Department. One feature of these propaganda videos is their crudeness, and primarily in their shameless lack of objectivity and balance. It is not unexpected that the Embassy would want to put a positive spin on things, but to present the PRT program as a singular savior of Iraq seems a bit much. Who outside of the State Department and maybe the Army is the intended audience? The video is obviously too one-sided for even the fanboys at Fox, and an Iraqi audience would pee themselves laughing, sad that there went 26 minutes of their life they’ll never get back. The video’s audience, like the PRT projects themselves, was State.
Soros releases report slamming U.S. Islamophobia - Jim Kouri, examiner.com:
As the U.S prepares to acknowledge the 9-11 10th Anniversary, multi-billionaire financier George Soros released a report that claims a conservative cabal of groups and individuals are Islamophobic and the 9-11 memorials are more about hatred for Muslims than commemorating the killing of close to 3,000 Americans by radical Islamists.
Ignore Iranian regime's lies on opposition group - Tom Ridge and Lord Carlile of Berriew, Philadelphia Inquirer: While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton edges closer to deciding to remove the Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedeen e Khalq (MEK), from a U.S. list of banned organizations, the international media has been awash with Iranian regime propaganda attempting to demonize the group. In an attempt to counteract this tendentious public relations campaign, the group's supporters, including senior figures in U.S., British, and European political circles, have waged their own media campaign to counter the Iranian propaganda. Indeed, a recent independent assessment by a former senior State Department official debunked virtually all of the stale allegations that have been regurgitated by Tehran's lobby inside the Beltway in recent weeks.
MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY
“socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting.”
“If there is any substitute for love, it’s memory."
--Joseph Brodsky
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