August 17

"[W]e did not wholly trust the Iraqi security forces."

--Michael Brough, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, a combat adviser in Iraq in 2011; image from

VIDEO

'Propaganda' Director Slavko Martinov - Huffington Post: "'Propaganda,' a searing indictment of western culture, consumerism and militarism, is billed as the first ever 'propumentary.' Director Slavko Martinov joins us to discuss this unique film that pushes the bounds of non-fiction."

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Deadline Extended for EU Event Grants - Trevor Williams, Global Atlanta: "The deadline for grants for event series promoting the goals and geopolitical role of the European Union has been extended to Oct. 4. The EU mission in the United States is doling out grants of up to €15,000 each (about $20,000) for program series in 10 cities where it has a strong diplomatic presence. Atlanta is included in the €150,000 overall grant package, the winners of which are to be announced in November. The grants are renewable twice for up to three years. Organizations applying for the grants from a certain city are allowed to propose events across a broader region. For instance, an organization like the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, which has received the grants in the past, could conduct events in six Southeastern states if it has a compelling reason for doing so. All questions about the tender should be directed to Eva Horelova, deputy head of the press and public diplomacy section at the EU mission in Washington. She can be reached at eva.horelova@eeas.europa.eu."

Beijing's Campaign to Spread 'China Dream' Overseas May Fall Flat - rfa.org: "A new campaign by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to promote President Xi Jinping's new slogan, 'the China dream,' around the world is unlikely to succeed, analysts said on Friday. China's deputy propaganda minister Cai Mingzhao recently called on propaganda officials at all levels to 'deeply understand the weighty meaning of the strategic thinking around the Chinese dream, and to...do everything in their power to preserve its values.' He said the officials should extol and explain the idea across a number of forums, so as to 'strengthen the impact and acceptance of the Chinese dream in the international community,' official media reported.

But the campaign by the Party's powerful and secretive propaganda ministry to spread Xi's rhetoric overseas will likely fall on deaf ears, according to professor Xie Tian of the University of South Carolina. ... China's 'soft power' public diplomacy movement, exemplified in global Confucius Institutes which teach Mandarin in overseas schools, has yielded considerable benefits for Beijing, politicians have said. Beijing has also invested in the education of overseas Chinese in their cultural heritage, including language schools for those who otherwise might not write. However, official media reports didn't specify exactly who would be targeted by Cai's China dream campaign. ... Beijing spends around 40 billion yuan (U.S.$5 billion) annually on building its image overseas." Xi Jinping image from article

Israeli Public Diplomacy head questioned over his anti-Japan comments - Faith Aquino, japandailypress.com: "The Facebook posts of Daniel Seaman, Deputy Director General for Information at the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, caught the attention of Japan, as his posts were addressed against the memorial ceremonies observed for the WWII victims. A Japanese diplomat has also reached out to the Israeli Foreign Ministry for clarification. Seaman’s messages were obviously anti-Japan. Given his public office, Japan wanted to make sure if those messages were merely personal, lest they represent the public office of Israel."

Israeli PM recruiting university students to engage in publicity war for Tel Aviv - presstv.ir: "The Israeli regime has undertaken a new bid to recruit students to work at universities as 'covert units,' posting messages on social networking websites on behalf of Tel Aviv.

The recruited students taking part in the clandestine propaganda project for the Zionist regime will be part of the 'public diplomacy' arm of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, with leaders of the 'covert units' receive full scholarships as compensation for their online pro-Israel publicity campaign, Israeli daily Haaretz reported." Image from entry, with caption: The Israeli regime plans recruiting students to engage in an online propaganda war on its behalf. See also (1) (2) (3) (4) (5).

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti aims to overhaul DWP board - Rick Orlov, Los Angeles Daily News: "As the city is embroiled in a debate over a new contract with Department of Water and Power workers, Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday announced his nominees for the department’s Board of Water and Power Commissioners, saying he wants to pursue a very specific agenda. ... Heading the list of nominees, who will all need City Council approval, is former Rep. Mel Levine, a partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher who also chairs the advisory board of the Center on Public Diplomacy at USC’s Annenberg School."

RELATED ITEMS

U.S. Embassy Hosts American Car Show - The U.S. Embassy hosted a special one-day event highlighting the sale and distribution of American vehicles in the Afghan market, drawing attention to the Afghan economy as a lucrative investment opportunity for foreign companies. Chargé d’Affaires Ambassador Tina Kaidanow

said, "What you see here today is more than a car show; it is an example of how far Afghanistan has come in economic terms, and it highlights the promise of an even brighter and more prosperous future for Afghanistan if this country can continue on the road of economic reform and commercial development." The U.S. Department of Commerce, I Group (Ford’s local distributor), and RMA Group (Chevrolet’s local distributor) have come together to bring Chevrolet and Ford vehicles to the U.S. Embassy and to highlight the continued growth of American products in Afghanistan. Ford vehicles have been available on the Afghan market since 2009, while Chevrolet is making its Afghan debut. Vehicles on display were the Chevrolet Cruze LT, Chevy Sonic LS, Ford Ranger 4 x 4 Diesel Engine Crewcab Pickup and a Ford F-150 4 x 4 Crewcab Pickup. For questions, please email KabulPress@state.gov. Via JJ on Facebook; Kaidanow image from Facebook

Muted hopes in Afghanistan - Michael Brough, Washington Post: The best outcome for the U.S. departure from Afghanistan? A safe exodus and a slow news day.

How social media led U.S. astray in Egypt - Frank Viviano, sfgate.com: Secular-minded young people with social networking accounts aren't more than a tiny segment of the national population. The real Egypt re-emerged from the shadows: an Egypt where 60 percent of the population lives in rural villages, where 96 percent of all women above 45 (and 80 percent of teenage girls) have been subjected to genital mutilation, according to U.N. statistics.

This is an Egypt where only two institutions carry weight in the deep countryside: the Muslim Brotherhood, dispensing social services from branches in nearly every village, and the Egyptian army, traditionally the only route to a better life for ambitious boys. Image from article, with caption: An opponent of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi attends the Eid al-Fitr dawn prayers marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan and is traditionally celebrated with feasts, presents and new clothes, in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2013.

Egypt’s identity crisis - Shibley Telhami, Washington Post: Much of Egypt’s crisis comes down to a battle over identity. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood overestimated the extent to which Egyptians identify with Islam. And now, with their violent repression of the Brotherhood, the generals who ousted Morsi risk underestimating it.

All Egyptians are prepared to pay a price to have their voices heard. If that can no longer happen peacefully, Egypt must brace itself for the violent radicalization that makes democracy impossible. Image from article

Democracy in Egypt Can Wait - Charles A. Kupchan, New York Times: Rather than cajoling Cairo to hold elections and threatening to suspend aid if it does not, Washington should press the current leadership to adhere to clear standards of responsible governance, including ending the violence and political repression, restoring the basic functions of the state, facilitating economic recovery, countering militant extremists and keeping the peace with Israel.

At this fragile moment in Egypt’s political awakening, the performance of its government will be a more important determinant of its legitimacy and durability than whether it won an election. Image from

It’s not about Democracy: Top Ten Reasons Washington is Reluctant to cut off Egypt Aid - Juan Cole, Informed Comment: 1. The US doesn’t give much aid to the Egyptian people per se. Only $250 mn a year out of $1.55 bn is civilian. 2. The military aid, $1.3 billion a year, is mostly in-kind, a grant of weaponry. 3. The Congress gave the Egyptian Generals a credit card to buy weapons, and they’ve run up $3 billion on it for F-16s and M1A1 tanks. 4. Even most of the civilian aid is required to be spent on US goods and materiel. 5. The aid was given as a bribe to the Egyptian elite to make nice with Israel. 6. The Israelis asked the US not to suspend the aid. 7. Congress even structured the economic aid to require some of it help joint Israeli-Egyptian enterprises in Egypt, so some of the aid to Egypt actually goes to . . . Israel. 8. It is not generally recognized, but the Egyptian military provides a security umbrella to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE against Iran (and sometimes Iraq). 9. Many in Congress don’t actually disagree with the generals’ actions in overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Freedom and Justice Party and driving it underground, since they agree it is a terrorist organization. 10. Behind the scenes Egyptian military intelligence has helped the US track down Muslim extremists and in the Mubarak era ran black sites where they tortured suspected al-Qaeda for Washington. Below image from AB on facebook

Egypt’s Military: Doing What the Wehrmacht Should Have Done in 1933 - Robert Reilly, intercollegiatereview.com: We should have some appreciation for what the Egyptian military has done to save its country and, by the way, preserve U.S. strategic interests in that area of the Middle East.

How NY Times helps Israel milk prisoner release for emotional propaganda - Ali Abunimah, electronicintifada.net: As part of the US effort to restore utterly futile “peace talks” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Israel agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners in phases, with the first 26 to be freed on 13 August. According to Addameer, the Palestinian prisoners rights group, most of those slated for release have served more than 25 years in Israeli prisons and are near the end of their sentences.

In many cases, they are the same prisoners Israel has agreed to release in previous agreements, before reneging on those commitments. Israeli media and politicians have been doing their utmost to milk this decision for propaganda purposes, highlighting how unspeakably evil the Palestinians are and what a high and terrible price this is for Israelis. Image from article, with caption: The mother of a Palestinian prisoner at a weekly sit-in in front of the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City.

China Prepares for Psychological Warfare - Aaron Jensen, thediplomat.com: "The recent unveiling of China’s new PSYOP (Psychological Operations) aircraft, the Gaoxin-7(高新七号), marks an important step forward for People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) psychological warfare capabilities. Based on a Y-8 airframe (similar to the U.S. Military’s C-130), the Gaoxin-7’s primary mission is to conduct PSYOP missions against enemy forces. Although specific details are few and far between, People’s Republic of China (PRC) media has compared the Gaoxin-7 to the U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) EC-130J “Commando Solo” in terms of its mission and capability. The EC-130J Commando Solo is essentially a flying broadcast station which can transmit media in AM, FM, HF, TV and military communication frequencies to enemy positions.

Its transmission capability is so powerful that it is required to operate at least 200 miles off the coast of the United States during training missions so as to avoid interfering with civil communications. With the introduction of the Gaoxin-7, the PLA now wields a powerful new psychological weapon which can be deployed to produce fear and confusion in the minds of enemy troops and leaders. If used effectively, the Gaoxin-7 could greatly reduce the amount of resistance that the PLA would otherwise encounter in future battles. Image from article. Via RM on Facebook

The TED talk as propaganda vehicle: How Beijing’s Berkeley hippy wooed chardonnay liberals into embracing Chinese communism - Benjamin Carlson, globalpost.com: Apparently the TED-talk format is so seductive that it can even make Leninism sound sexy. In June at a TED talk in Edinburgh, Scotland, a flawlessly groomed venture capitalist named Eric X. Li stood before an elite Western audience.

He spent 18 minutes defending China’s authoritarian political system, praising its “adaptability, meritocracy, and legitimacy,” and claiming its superiority, in several respects, to democracy. As China analyst Damien Ma has pointed out, Li’s power derives in part from his mastery of Western-style argument and debate. Unlike the wooden, formulaic rhetoric common in Chinese propaganda, Li’s flexible intellectual style makes him far more persuasive to Americans. In Beijing’s soft-power arsenal, Li has become — wittingly or not — one of China’s most powerful weapons. Image from article, with caption: Eric X. Li's Ted Talk paints Chinese communism as more adaptable and free than Western democracy. The Great Helmsman approves.

Olympic committee to Putin: What exactly does “gay propaganda” mean? The IOC has asked Russia to clarify what its intentionally broad new law will mean for athletes and visitors - Katie McDonough, salon.com: To get to the bottom of Russia’s homophobic mystery wrapped in an anti-gay enigma, IOC President Jacques Rogge asked for a definitive English translation of the law. “We have received all reassurances emanating from Mr. Dmitry Kozak, who is in charge of the organization of the Games in Sochi. We asked for written confirmation of these reassurances,” said Rogge. “We received them yesterday, we have studied it this morning but there are still uncertainties and we have decided to ask for more clarification as of today. So we are waiting for this clarification before having final judgement on these reassurances.” Rogge says the clarification of the law is important because the Olympic charter is very clear about its inclusion of LGBT athletes: “It says sport is a human right and should be available to all regardless of race, sex or sexual orientation,” he said.

The Amazing, Colorful Flip Card Propaganda Mosaics of North Korea - io9.com: Mass flip card mosaics are created by having large groups of people in stadium seating hold up cards that, together, form a complete image. In North Korea, these colorful images often serve as propaganda, celebrating the nation's leaders, prescribed lifestyle, and even its nuclear weapons. Among the images:

Punters poorer for the loss of propaganda’s poster boys - Andrew Glassop, dubbophotonews.com.au: Propaganda used to be passionate. Inspired artists used to embrace the thought that they were charged with the important task of changing someone’s mind. It didn’t matter how it was done, whether through words, images, music or text, all that mattered is that people, eventually, thought what you thought.

El Lissitzky worked in the Soviet Union at the time of the revolution and subsequent civil war. His poster, helpfully titled Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, is a masterpiece of graphic design and you don’t need to know anything about 20th century Russian history to get the message that the Reds are a vitally energetic bunch and the Whites are in for a world of hurt. Visual design, or graphics or art can, and do, shift public opinion, but only if the original passion of the individual remains intact. Once the individual is removed from the process, only to be replaced by committee speak, policy and, in the worst circumstances, the cold dead hands of the faceless men, the creative spark is likewise removed, and we end up with visual clutter at its most banal. Image from entry, with caption: El Lissitzky, beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919

AMERICANA

DC Commission of the Arts Building ceiling collapses - Malcolm Lewis Barnes, communities.washingtontimes.com: An ‘All White Attire’ affair turns to dusty grey as Mayor Gray escapes a close call at newly opened DC Commission of the Arts building. At one minute to 9 p. m. as legendary GO GO band Rare Essence cranked the volume two huge sections of the ceiling of the new exhibit hall at the newly opened DC Commission of the Arts building collapsed.

The building at 200 Eye Street, SE, is the home of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. According to Chairwoman Judith Terra, the Commission had just occupied the space in September of 2012 and had planned this long awaited interactive exhibit of art, music, photography, fashion and poetry to celebrate the history of home grown GO GO music genre. Mayor Vincent Gray had just announced the planned dedication of Chuck Brown Park on August 22nd at 18th and Franklin Street, NE a half hour earlier and kicked off the evening’s music entertainment before leaving the elegant all white affair just in time to avoid a disaster as grey ceiling plaster rained down on the stage area that he just exited. Ironically, David Jacobs III a Code Compliance Inspector from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, was the first to comfort injured visitors in the exhibit area before police, fire and emergency personnel could respond. Approximately 300 attendees experienced a spectacular night of art, music and high fashion before the landmark celebration of African, Latin, Jazz and Funk music literally brought the roof down. Uncaptioned image from article

MORE AMERICANA

Why drone makers have declared war on the word ‘drone’ - Brian Fung, Washington Post: The drone industry -- sorry, the unmanned aerial systems industry -- is in the midst of a massive rebranding campaign. For most Americans today, the word “drone” conjures images of lethal spy planes raining missiles down on targets in foreign theaters of war. But that perception doesn’t bode well for a burgeoning set of drone companies looking to shake up the civil aviation sector. So those firms spent the week in Washington trying to convince inside-the-Beltway types that unmanned systems can be used off the battlefield in new, safe and uncontroversial ways. If they succeed in changing the narrative, drone manufacturers will have paved the way toward what some experts think is a $400 billion business in waiting. FAA expects that once it unveils the regulatory framework for small drones weighing 55 pounds or less, the air will be filled with 7,500 such devices at the end of five years. Before that can happen, however, the FAA is required to establish a number of test sites where officials can demonstrate that drones are safe to fly. Two dozen states are currently competing for the right to host the sites.

Image from entry; see also Shotgun vs Drone - UAV Torture Test by Game of Drones (video)

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"Does the commencement of the fast of the Ramadan means that Muslims will stop eating each other during the daytime?"

--Question asked, according to The Guardian, on Facebook by Daniel Seaman, a senior Israeli government official responsible for promoting positive images of Israel on social media networks, who has been ordered to stop posting offensive statements on his Facebook page.

"Why do they think we give a flying F*** what you have to say?"

--The above-cited Daniel Seaman, referring to a Church of Scotland comment on the Middle East

MIDDLE EAST TOURISM

An Israeli Adventure of a Lifetime: The Ultimate Mission to Israel, October 21-28, 2013. Among the activities: "Visit to the Military Court: Watch Hamas Terrorist Trial."

Mission includes: "First Class Accommodation: Five-star accommodations at the Dan Tel Aviv, Leonardo Plaza Hotel Jerusalem (Glatt Kosher); Three meals a day (all Kosher); Luxury bus transportation and knowledgeable tour guide; A dedicated Executive Communications Center at the hotel; Personal cell phone for each participant. ... Cost: $2,595. A mandatory tax-deductible donation of $600 - $5,000 per person is required." Via PVB