December 11

"grana dat e fimo scrutans"

--The motto on Johannes Kepler's Stella nova (1606), and the editorial "policy" (in response to subscribers' queries) of the Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review; quotation from The Times Literary Supplement (October 21, 2011), p. 5; image from

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The Truth About the Israeli Palestinian Conflict

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

BBG PR team ignores Rep. Ros-Lehtinen message in support of Voice of America, refuses to issue press release - "Sources have told BBG Watch that the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) public affairs office had refused numerous requests to issue a press release about the Capitol Hill reception, hosted by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting to China.

BBG public affairs experts also ignored an unprecendented video statement in support of VOA broadcasting to China recorded by the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. ... The BBG has hired Lynne Weil, a senior official in the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy, to serve as their top public relations representative." Uncaptioned image from article

ABC plans for merger of Radio Australia and Australia Network. Debate about Australia Network contract continues - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Al Jazeera English opens Chicago bureau and launches "Inside Story" from its Washington studio - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Ministry of Hasbara: IDF Has Become Israel’s Chief Delegitimizer; - richardsilverstein.com: "In the aftermath of the murder of Mustafa Tamimi, Israel’s Ministry of Hasbara (that IS what they call it in Hebrew, in English it’s called the Minsitry for Public Diplomacy) last night issued an unprecedented statement acknowleding for the first time that the worst delegitimzer of Israel in the world today is not the BDS movement, nor the New Israel Fund, nor even Iran.

The worst delegitimizer is the IDF itself." Image from article, with caption: Captain Barak Raz, Hasbara Ministry acknowledged he was one of Israel's 'chief delegitimzers'

IIM Kozhikode wins Audi India Future of Change - coolavenues.com: "Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) has turned triumphant in the ‘Audi-India Future of Change Automobile Design Contest & Business Strategy Contest’, conducted by the German automobile giant to promote new ideas from young professionals and students of business and design school for the luxury automobile marketing India. The team consisted of Sidharth Ramachandran and Ayushi Agarwal, who competed with seven other B-school finalists for the coveted title in the business strategy contest. This prestigious competition attracted an overwhelming response of nearly 900 registrations and 250 submissions nation wide. The grand finale of this contest which kicked off on 1st August, 2011 was held on 8th December, 2011 at the International Management Institute (IMI), Delhi. An award of a 6 month traineeship with Audi or Rs.1,00,000/- was the incentive for the victors. While the winning team called it ‘an exciting challenge’, Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India believed ‘this competition to have established benchmarks in nurturing talent to spur the growth of the Indian luxury automotive industry’. ‘India Future of Change’ is a year old iniative conducted in association with the IdeaWorks and is supported by the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs."

A Case Study in “Armenian Justice”?‎ - Audrey Selian, Hetq Online: "[T]he beginning of a serious crisis of public diplomacy – not at high political levels – but rather at the levels of seemingly trite, colloquial exchange. But these are also the levels at which ordinary people talk to each other.

And thus on a viral basis, we as a collective just might think twice before opening our checkbooks next time to support projects in Armenia without deep, comprehensive due diligence. Image from article, with opening lines in the entry: Nothing could have made more a mockery of the Armenian 'justice”'system than the recent arrest of Nareg Harutunian in Yerevan this past week."  Uncaptioned image from article

9/11 and LLRC Reports: Rambukwella’s ignorance bane for Rajapaksa regime - Daya Gamage – "Sri Lanka, at this crucial moment, needs better public affairs, public diplomacy and strategic communication platform."

PM rights Facebook glitch for boy with rare blood disease - Herb Keinon, jpost.com: "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu used his connections Thursday to reinstate a Facebook page dedicated to a Karmiel boy suffering from a rare blood disease, after it disappeared because of a technical glitch. The boy, Aviel Bekman, is suffering from Fanconi’s Anemia and is in need of a bone marrow transplant. ... Netanyahu, who heard about this in the news, contacted his director of new media – Eitan Eliram – with a request to contact Facebook’s management and get the page reinstated. Eliram then contacted the head of public diplomacy in the embassy in Washington, Noam Katz, who in turn reached the Facebook staff, which reinstated the page."

Cultural Diplomacy: An Asset for France in a Changing World - Public Diplomacy, Networks and Influence: "I’m convinced that the Anglo-Saxon conversation about public diplomacy would be richer if we had a better understanding of how the French conceptualize the activity.

The NYT’s New Contra Lies - Robert Parry (Originally published Oct. 1, 1998), consortiumnews.com: "Reagan’s 'public diplomacy' teams routinely lobbied editors and bureau chiefs to punish or fire reporters who didn’t toe the White House propaganda lines."

RELATED ITEMS

Civilian killings created insurmountable hurdle to extended U.S. troop presence in Iraq - Liz Sly, wshingtonpost.com: So the troops are going home this month, leaving a question mark over what had been one of the chief goals of the war — to nurture a strategic ally in the heart of the Middle East.

They leave behind a legacy that will forever be tainted in the minds of many Iraqis by the casualties inflicted by the American military on civilians. It’s the raw nerve that jangles, a sensitivity that grates on both sides even as the troops stream out of the country. Image from article, with caption: On Nov. 19, 2005, a group of Marines went on a shooting spree in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed.

North Korea's new course: It's courting Beijing now; normalizing ties with the U.S. is no longer a priority - Robert Carlin and John W. Lewis, latimes.com: There was considerable momentum behind the North's strategy for engaging the U.S. in past negotiations.

That is no longer the case, with consequences we have only started to feel. Image from article, with caption: In an undated photo released on Nov. 2, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il inspects Korean People's Army unit 789 in North Korea.

Condoleezza Rice Looks Back - [review of No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington By Condoleezza Rice] - Susan Chira, New York Times: “No Higher Honor” really shows us two Condoleezza Rices: one, the impatient unilateralist who was national security adviser, the other the born-again diplomat who, as secretary of state, worked to repair some of the damage that had been done to American credibility by its unilateralism. “People were tired of us,” she told the president a few months before they left office. A humbling thought as history renders judgment.