December 3

“Gibson: ‘What were you most unprepared for?’
Bush: ‘Well, I think I was unprepared for war.'”

--From President Bush's interview with ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
PHOTO: TriAction Soft Power - NEW! Price: £19.99 - Classic design sports bra for medium impact - Adjustable scoop back, seamfree cup - Black or white - 32-38A; 32-40 B-D. See also (a) (b).

Worldview: The focus is on 'soft power': Obama's new security team must first rebuild America's diplomatic machine – Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Robert Gates, the current and future defense secretary, and former NATO commander Gen. James L. Jones, Obama's pick for national security adviser, advocate sweeping change in the way America pursues its security interests. Their thinking syncs with Obama's core vision. Gates and Jones want to bolster our capacity to project ‘soft power’ - diplomacy, and foreign aid for development and reconstruction. They view soft power as an essential complement to hard, military power, and as a way to prevent future conflicts. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton supports this shift, though she sought to project a tough-guy image in the presidential race. It will fall to her to implement one of the hardest parts of the new strategy - rebuilding a State Department so depleted that it can't do what needs to be done. … At a time when America's need to engage with the world has never been greater, funding for public diplomacy has been shrinking. USIA libraries and cultural centers, where young Arabs once could interact with Americans, have long been shuttered. While terrorists set up Web chat rooms, we have no capacity to interact with a global generation that uses the Internet.”

Clinton's uncommon résumé - Helene Cooper, New York Times: “Clinton's selection has electrified a diplomatic world where officials can now anticipate the prospect of sitting across a conference table from an American former first lady and presidential candidate, with all of the drama that is attached to the Clinton story. … Clinton, Holbrooke [the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations], said, ‘understands global issues, women's rights and public diplomacy, and has watched her husband make war-peace decisions.’"

Joseph Nye Article - Will O's Blog: “I … agree with [Joseph] Nye's assertion that 'we need to adopt policies that appeal to moderates, and to use public diplomacy more effectively to explain our common interests.'"
New US administration to continue focus on ‘war of ideas’ - Barbara Ferguson, Arab News: Yesterday, Obama announced that he will keep, for at least one year, Robert Gates, the current Secretary of Defense. Gates has spearheaded the Defense Department’s increasing belief that after seven years of war on terror it has become apparent that final victory must be won not only on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but also in the hearts and minds of the people in the region. Now he is proposing developing ‘influence websites’ that would support combat commanders and local populations. … James Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, recently stressed this during a briefing with foreign correspondents, saying that communication has proved effective in the past — but in ‘the early 1990s, the US began in bipartisan fashion to dismantle this arsenal of persuasion. ‘Shortly after 9/11, the tide began to turn, but slowly. One of the biggest advocates of public diplomacy in government is the Secretary of Defense.'”

US takes ‘war of ideas’ to social networking websites - Daily Times, Pakistan: “’In the war of ideas our core task in 2008 is to create an environment hostile to violent extremism,’ said James Glassman, the US undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. ‘We do that in two ways - by undermining extremist ideologies and by encouraging young people to follow productive paths that lead away from terrorism,’ Glassman said in a speech at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank."

U.S. Official Discusses Alliance of Youth Movements Summit: Ask America webchat transcript, December 1 - America.gov: "Jared Cohen, the summit’s international press contact, answered questions about the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit in a December 1 Ask America webchat and explained how to use social and mobile technologies to promote freedom and justice."

The Brookings Institution: Voices Of America: U.S. Public Diplomacy For The 21st Century Washington, D.C. Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - Transcript

Did Kristin Lord Miss the Point? - Project on Middle East Democracy: The POMED Wire: "Robert Satloff at MESH takes issue with Kristin Lord’s recommendations for U.S. public diplomacy in the 21st century. He says, 'In the post-9/11 era, the purpose of public diplomacy is not some amorphous desire to have America better understood or even the more pointed objective of winning the support of international public opinion for U.S. foreign policy…Today, that mission is how to identify, nurture and support mainstream Muslims in the ideological and political contest against radical Islamism….there is none of this in the Brookings report.'… POMED’s summary notes of the event in question can be found here."

Yes, a Nuclear Iran Is Unacceptable: A Memo to President-elect Obama - James Phillips and Peter Brookes, Heritage Foundation Special Report #28: “America should not try to play favorites among the various Iranian opposition groups, but should instead encourage them to cooperate under the umbrella of the broadest possible coalition. [It should] launch a public diplomacy campaign to explain to the Iranian people how the regime's nuclear weapons program and hard-line policies hurt their economic and national interests. … The U.S. and its allies should work to defeat the regime's suppression of independent media by increasing Farsi broadcasts by such government-sponsored media as the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe (Radio Farda), and other information sources.”

A Second Middle East - Marc Ambinder, Atlantic: “The congressional WMD report recommends, among other things, proritizing Pakistani stability above all else in the region; doing so would require significant amounts of economic assistance to Pakistan, and ‘involve the use of all elements of national power--including those of so-called soft power, such as public diplomacy, strategic communications, and development assistance--to counter violent extremist anti-Americanism, create a universal culture of revulsion against the use of WMD, and lower the demand for WMD by terrorists.’"

Area joins the International Visitor Leadership Program – Jamie Page, Pensacola News Journal, FL: “The Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council on Tuesday celebrated its inclusion in the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program. The Department's public diplomacy program allows foreign, up-and-coming leaders and opinion-makers to travel the country to meet professional colleagues and citizens. It's called the International Visitor Leadership Program, in which participants only visit areas where a local citizen diplomacy council can receive them.”

Blogging the Washington DC HIF presentation - Judit Rius, Kowledge Ecology Notes : "Yesterday December 1 2008, professors Aidan Hollis and Thomas Pogge presented their Health Impact Fund (HIF) proposal at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. … The meeting convened and moderated by the President of Georgetown University, Jack deGioia, was attended by 50/60 people and was structured with two presentations by the co-authors and a panel discussion [that included] John Osborn, J.D., Member, United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.”

Foreign Ministers review progress in Mediterranean Dialogue - News, North Atlantic Treaty Organization: “NATO Foreign Ministers met with their Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) partners during a ministerial working lunch on 2 December. …The Mediterranean Dialogue Work Programme has been gradually expanded from more than 100 activities in 2004, to about 800 in 2008, 85% of which include military activities, in addition to Public Diplomacy, Civil Emergency Planning and Crisis Management.”

Ins and outs of a China courtship - H H Michael Hsiao and Alan Yang, Asia Times: “New policy initiatives such as ‘smile diplomacy’ (weisiao waijiaou), ‘public diplomacy’ (gonggong waijiaou), and ‘good neighbor diplomacy’ (mulin waijiaou) have been instrumental in Beijing's pursuit of a benign hegemony. These initiatives have one thing in common: a sophisticated use of soft power resources. … Beijing's soft power diplomacy can be broken up in three levels: first, establish solid political and fiscal connections with Southeast Asian governments via increasing foreign aid; second, explore a comprehensive cooperative framework through FTA-plus plans; third, enhance cultural attractiveness and promote pro-China understanding among ASEAN states through quasi-governmental projects. Foreign aid, comprehensive economic networking and cultural transmission form the core of its soft power resources.”

Give India weapons of self-protection - ND Batra, CorporatePower: Digital Media, Culture, And Public Diplomacy: "The US Patriot Act is a weapon of mass protection that has worked. That is what India needs. By protecting itself, India will protect the region and contribute to world peace."

Wait till you see our talking chickens: The cold war wasn't just about bombs. It was about cars, shoes and kitchens. On the eve of a major show on the era, Emma Brockes meets the American who led the attack on Moscow - Emma Brockes, Guardian: The concept of the world fair, the expo, seems quaint today. But in the 1950s, it was a chance to show people things they hadn't already seen, things that were exciting and new, even if it was at heart a big, colourful piece of propaganda. Jack Masey, now 84 and sitting in the office of his design firm in Manhattan, worked for the United States Information Agency for two decades and designed exhibits for the Agency. ABOVE PHOTO: Nixon and Khrushchev clash at Jack Masey’s Moscow Expo. COURTESY: MC

There's no kind of atmosphere – Sophie, Vox: “I have an essay due on the 11th that I haven't started yet; although I have bought a big book on public diplomacy that I need to read and then everything will be okay.” LEFT: Sophie

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'The world is moving past' USA in higher ed - Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY: The USA has made modest gains since the early 1990s in preparing students for college and providing access, a report says today. But other countries are advancing more quickly, and if trends continue, the picture is only going to get worse.
The IFC Media Project: Bill Kristol & Pentagon Propaganda - Meghan O'Hara, Huffington Post: The Pentagon's Iraq war propaganda strategy worked so well only because so many of our news outlets failed to question where they were getting their information, and who was giving it.

Islamic extremists being coaxed toward YouTube - Reuters

The age of 'celebrity terrorism' - Paul Cornish, BBC News: In a novel twist, the Mumbai terrorists might have embarked on propaganda of the deed without the propaganda in the confident expectation that the rationalisation for the attack -- the narrative -- would be provided by politicians, the media and terrorism analysts. If so, then Mumbai could represent something rather different in the history of terrorism, and possibly something far more disturbing even than global jihad. Perhaps we have come to the point where casually self-radicalised, sociopathic individuals can form a loose organisation, acquire sufficient weapons and equipment for a few thousand dollars, make a basic plan of action and indulge in a violent expression of their generalised disaffection and anomie. These individuals indulge in terrorism simply because they can, while their audience concocts a rationale on their behalf. Welcome to the age of celebrity terrorism.

More War; More Terror: The Mythology of the War on Terrorism - William Blum, Counterpunch: An insidious myth of the War on Terrorism has been the notion that terrorist acts against the United States can be explained, largely, if not entirely, by irrational hatred or envy of American social, economic, or religious values, and not by what the United States does to the world; i.e., US foreign policy. Terrorism is an act of political propaganda, a bloody form of making the world hear one's outrage against a perceived oppressor, graffiti written on the wall in some grim, desolate alley. It follows that if the perpetrators of a terrorist act declare what their motivation was, their statement should carry credibility, no matter what one thinks of their cause or the method used to achieve it.

U.S. builds cases on dangerous detainees - By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY: The U.S. military has launched a massive legal review to build criminal cases against at least 5,000 detainees considered dangerous in an effort to keep them behind bars when Iraq's government assumes legal authority over them.

Across the globe, a cautious welcome for Clinton - Ethan Bronner, International Herald Tribune

Not One Anti-War Voice: Obama's Kettle of Hawks - Jeremy Scahill, Counterpunch: The problem with Obama's appointments is hardly just a matter of bad vision on Iraq. What ultimately ties Obama's team together is their unified support for the classic US foreign policy recipe: the hidden hand of the free market, backed up by the iron fist of US militarism to defend the America First doctrine.

Can Obama Stay the Course? - Robert Scheer, Nation: The problem with Obama's national security team is not that he has picked hawks who he cannot control; they are all professionals, who took the job expecting to go along with his game plan. The danger here, as with his economic advisers, is only that Obama may stop being Obama, the agent of change who electrified a nation.

Why Susan Rice Won't Be Calling John Bolton – Dayo Olopade, New Republic: Rice will assume a "cabinet-rank" position as UN ambassador that gives her more sway than perhaps even Bush UN ambassador John Bolton, whose indifference to his own jurisdiction was legendary. It's that she will bring an entirely different philosophy of global interaction to the UN.

Closet Centrist: In Obama's Cabinet, the Audacity of Moderation - Michael Gerson, Washington Post: Obama's personnel decisions have effectively ratified Bush's defense and economic approaches during the past few years.

Obama Gives Political Ambassadors Their Pink Slips - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post: The incoming Obama administration has notified all politically-appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, a State Department official said.

The Meaning of Mumbai: South Asia, the new arena – Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com: The Mumbai massacre comes at a time when the U.S. is about to switch battlefields in its avowedly "generational" war on terrorism, from the Middle East to South Asia. As we move our forces eastward into Afghanistan and, inevitably, Pakistan, the events in Mumbai light up the geopolitical landscape like lightning at midnight, prefiguring a new and even bigger quagmire than the one we're supposedly leaving behind in Iraq.

At Least Some Accountability - Editorial, New York Times: American forces in Iraq have relied far too heavily on private security contractors who have operated with no real legal accountability. The trigger-happy tactics of these armies for hire have alienated Iraqis. The fact that they have been out of reach of Iraqi law has been an especially bitter pill to swallow. The next administration must quickly reduce its reliance on the private armies so favored -- and so protected -- by the Bush administration.

DC to Delhi: Only Our Missiles, not Yours - Laura Flanders, Common Dreams: Rice may manage to stand in solidarity when she arrives in India this week. But when it comes to advising caution, urging diplomacy and discouraging reprisal attacks, it's hard to imagine that Bush's Secretary of State will be able to do any of that with a straight face.

What India needs – Editorial, Washington Times: America, Britain and other allies can play a vital role by helping India outline a counterterrorist strategy, as the international community seeks to ensure that there is stability in nuclear-armed India and its Pakistani neighbor.

Let's Give Pakistan the Attention It Deserves: The Mumbai attack is the latest wake-up call - Bernard-Henri Levy, Wall Street Journal: Like his predecessor, President Zardari lacks the means to break the back of criminal elements within the ISI and Pakistani military. To an even greater extent, he lacks the backing of those who associate it with the darker side of his own administration. And therein lies the challenge -- perhaps the most frightening of our era. After the bleeding of Mumbai, it is time the entire international community -- not just those in the region -- took notice.

The Iranian threat: Mullahs are ready. Is the U.S.? - Peter Huessy, Washington Times: The new administration will have a lot of support if asks for all of us on a bipartisan basis to do what we need to do - deploy missile defenses in Poland and the Czech

Still Preparing to Attack Iran: The Neoconservatives in the Obama Era - Robert Dreyfuss, TomDispatch

Obama Urged to Quickly Engage Iran, Syria - Jim Lobe, Antiwar.com: The incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should move quickly to engage Iran without preconditions and to promote an Israeli-Syrian peace accord, according to two veteran Middle East experts whose views are likely to have influence over Obama's just-announced foreign policy team.

Afghanistan, Another Untold Story - Michael Parenti, CommonDreams.org: The war against Afghanistan, a battered impoverished country, continues to be portrayed in US official circles as a gallant crusade against terrorism. If it ever was that, it also has been a means to other things: destroying a leftist revolutionary social order, gaining profitable control of one of the last vast untapped reserves of the earth's dwindling fossil fuel supply, and planting US bases and US military power into still another region of the world.


PHOTO by Photographer to the Tsar: Prokudin-Gorskii

An opportunity with Russia - Andranik Migranyan, Washington Times: Allowing Russia to become a full-fledged member of new Euro-Atlantic security structures would make Mr. Obama a truly great political figure, one able to put an end to the Cold War. Indeed, a true end of the Cold War involves integrating Russia into the Western community where it would have both significant rights and serious obligations before its partners in the area of preserving international peace and security.

Don't Rush to Declare the U.S. Done - Alexei Bayer, Moscow Times: In their criticism of Washington, Russian leaders are actually far more restrained than a large portion of their people.

Don't placate Russia: Bear down on the Bear - Helle Dale, Washington Times

The Other Enemy, Still There... Kosovo faces Russia and radical Islam - Stephen Schwartz, Weekly Standard: Confronting both Russo-Serbian and Islamist threats, Kosovo is a microcosm of the dangers faced by those responsible for the exercise of American power across the globe.

The Strategic Economic Dialogue Works: China and the United States are cooperating to solve the financial crisis - Wang Qishan, Wall Street Journal Asia: Mr. Wang is vice premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.

Mexico's plea to Obama: Curb drug use: With an internal war on narco-gangs, Mexico needs the US to reduce its drug addiction - Editorial, Christian Science Monitor

What should we do with Bill? - John Gartner, Baltimore Sun: There is one obvious role that Bill Clinton is uniquely qualified to play on the world stage: peacemaker.

December 2

"The Zero Decade"

--How political activist Gregory Wright characterizes the George W. Bush years; cartoon by Tom Tomorrow, Salon

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Condi Plays Piano For The Queen - Wonkette

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Continuity We Can Believe In - David Brooks, New York Times: “[Secretary of Defense] Gates has told West Point cadets that more regime change is unlikely but that they may spend parts of their careers training soldiers in allied nations. He has called for more spending on the State Department, foreign aid and a revitalized U.S. Information Agency. He’s spawned a flow of think-tank reports on how to marry hard and soft pre-emption. … During the campaign, Barack Obama embraced Gates’s language. During his press conference on Monday, he used all the right code words, speaking of integrating and rebalancing the nation’s foreign policy capacities.”

New Obama cabinet picks announced - Public Radio International: “Robert Gates has expressed little doubt about what he thinks public diplomacy can accomplish. In a remarkable speech last year, Gates said America needs to invest more in soft power." On Rumsfeld/Gates and soft power, see also (a), (b).

A "Smart Power" Cabinet – Marc Ambinder, Atlantic: “Even with the Bush Administration's second-term renaissance, the Department of State is fairly demoralized, understaffed and underfunded. It will have to learn to compete with the DoD when it comes to the arenas of public diplomacy and peacebuilding. Its foreign service officers need to figure out how to use 21st century technology to communicate with the public. Clinton's primary challenge is managerial; she has to wrestle back resources, attract a new corps of diplomats, and justify State's place at the table.”

U.S. Travel Community Applauds President-Elect Obama’s Foreign Policy and National Security Team: TIA Pledges Support for Policies That Boost Economy, Strengthen U.S. Diplomatic Efforts - Press Release, Hospitality 1st: Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association, issued the following statement: 'Senator Clinton, Secretary Gates and Dr. Susan Rice all recognize the need for more robust U.S. public diplomacy efforts, and people-to-people diplomacy is one of our country’s most effective tools for winning hearts and minds throughout the world. Whether it is for business, leisure or education, the travel experience is unique in its ability to shape public opinion. Studies show that those who have visited the United States are 74 percent more likely to have a favorable image of the country and its policies in the world.'” NOTE: MORE ON OBAMA CABINET IN BELOW "RELATED ITEMS."

Real Change Is Afoot: Obama Shifts Political Center with National Security Selections - James Warren, Huffington Post: “James Glassman, a former journalist now serving as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy (the job previously held by Bush chum Karen Hughes), recently gave a speech a few blocks away from Obama's Monday personnel announcements. He talked about the need to show other societies, like Pakistan, why it's just not in their interest to harbor bad guys, or why it's not bright for their citizens to view violence as a prime means to achieve political, social and other aims. Glassman cited figures from a Pew Global Attitude Survey in which 25 percent of Jordanians think that suicide bombing is sometimes justified. There were other statistics of that sort. More importantly, the Obama once again heard Monday would surely concur with the call for 'soft' power in the speech by Glassman, whose area of the State Department is an underfunded backwater.”

A set of possible changes - Kal, The Moor Next Door: Maghreb Affairs :: Geopolitics :: International Relations - “I see Latin America as a place where Venezuela continues its crusade against the Yanqui, but relations with Brazil grow as a result, and in time relations with Cuba are normalized. There is great potential from a public diplomacy and soft power angle for Obama in Latin America, especially when his historic position is compared with other historic presidents.”

US to use Web 2.0 to win "war of ideas": US image-maker - AFP: “The United States is embracing social networks and other Web 2.0 tools to win the ‘war of ideas’ with Islamic militants and other extremist groups, a top US policy-maker said Monday. ‘In the war of ideas our core task in 2008 is to create an environment hostile to violent extremism,’ said James Glassman, the US undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. ‘We do that in two ways -- by undermining extremist ideologies and by encouraging young people to follow productive paths that lead away from terrorism,’ Glassman said in a speech at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank. ‘The best way to achieve our goals in public diplomacy is through a new approach to communicating, an approach that is made far easier because of the emergence of Web 2.0 or social networking technologies,’ he said. ‘We call our new approach Public Diplomacy 2.0,’ said Glassman, who replaced Karen Hughes as the State Department's top image-maker after the confidante of President George W. Bush stepped down from the post late last year.”

Public Diplomacy 2.0: Presentation by Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy James Glassman - Darren Krape blog: “Today I attended the presentation 'Public Diplomacy 2.0' by the State Department’s Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy James Glassman at the New America Foundation.… As I saw it, Glassman had two main points: ... Not the technology: Public diplomacy 2.0 is not, and should not be, about the technology. Instead, public diplomacy 2.0 is a (somewhat) new process for communication and, more importantly, engagement. … Web 2.0 gives the U.S. a significant competitive advantage: This new conversational medium gives the United States a significant competitive advantage over our opponents, most specifically Al Qaeda. Glassman’s argument is that the U.S.’s fundamental message (democracy, personal freedom, etc) is more compatible with the web 2.0 world than Al Qaeda’s (war of cultures, global jihad, etc). … Glassman also highlighted the … best methods for conducting public diplomacy 2.0.”

Public Diplomacy 2.0 - Rita J. King, DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: “On the same day President-Elect Obama nominated Senator Hillary Clinton to the highest diplomatic position in the country, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman defined, in a live speech and webcast, what we call 'Digital Diplomacy' and he calls 'Public Diplomacy 2.0.' Event host Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation calls it Facebook/Twitter Diplomacy. … Every time we think we're finished with our policy recommendations for the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project, another important speech is given or we encounter another impressive and meaningful project. We've traveled to four continents and interviewed over a hundred people across the internet. Glassman, who gave his speech as we're working on final edits, will have the last word.”

American Diplomacy in the Age of Facebook: Personal Democracy Forum: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy James Glassman is at the New America Foundation today for a discussion on what New America's Steve Clemons is calling 'Facebook/Twitter Diplomacy.' It's a provocative topic (particularly post-Mumbai), as Glassman has delved into using social networking to 'encourage young people with political grievances to find outlets for their protests other than violent extremism.' The session has wrapped, but the webcast is archived here.”

Madame Secretary - Steve Clemons, Washington Note: “James Glassman, her [Clinton’s] undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, has some ideas on how to move her agenda forward -- and she should consider using a lot of the tools that Glassman and his team are developing.”


State Department unveils social networking site - Kellie Lunney, nexygov - “The State Department has launched a social networking site to promote international exchanges and enhance the United States' image abroad, particularly among young people. ExchangesConnect, administered by the department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, includes blog postings, photos and videos from users across the world interested in trading information on culture, language and global education programs. A newly designed Web site, exchanges.state.gov, is a portal to the social network and the agency's Facebook page. ExchangesConnect is free, but requires users to fill out a brief online registration. 'It's a natural expansion of our exchange programs,' said Goli Ameri, outgoing assistant secretary of education and cultural affairs, in an interview with Government Executive. … State has tried to take advantage of technology and the rise in multimedia communications to open itself to Americans and foreigners. The department has a blog, DipNote, featuring musings from top-level officials on policies and its mission. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs also plans to develop a program to teach the world English for free. The agency published a notice in the Nov. 17 Federal Register seeking a partner in the private sector to create the necessary technology for an online English language learning and literacy series for economically disadvantaged youths outside the United States.”

Governments, Schools Set Up Shop In Virtual Worlds - Paula Ebben, WBZ, MA : “It's estimated that 80 percent of active Internet users will live a virtual life within the next three years, and Uncle Sam is taking notice. The State Department is one of several government agencies already conducting business in these cyber communities. ‘I think it's important for government agencies to be appropriately engaged in this technology,’ said State Department official Bill May. ‘We're really looking at engaging in mutual understanding, developing understanding between American people and peoples of other countries.’ … The Chinese government has several facilities under construction in Entropia Universe. That's something May says will help the government reach out to the Chinese people. ’We will be well positioned to look at what to do in order to engage in public diplomacy with the Chinese people,’ he said.”

World Reaction to the Election: What Kind of Public Diplomacy? - Foreign Policy Association: Public Diplomacy and the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election: “The test for Obama and his team … is to take advantage of his own personal popularity at home and abroad to move forward on a challenging agenda. If the agenda is then successful, not only will Obama’s popularity be reinforced, but the general image of the United States in foreign countries will also improve. More resources for public diplomacy would be welcome, but this is likely to happen anyway with Secretary-designate Clinton at the helm of the State Department. In short, demonstratively successful policies are the first requirement of the new Administration. Successful public diplomacy will then follow.”

Before He Goes: What President Bush could accomplish in his final days in office - William Kristol, Weekly Standard: “Meanwhile, we seem to have al Qaeda mostly on the run (though not defeated). Here at home we haven’t had a second attack, and in the West generally, it’s over two years since a major attack. Bush can make the broader point that being on offense has been a successful strategy, and that the best form of public diplomacy is making it clear that joining the jihad is a losing proposition."

Crusader Rabbit – Richard Fernandez, Belmont Club: “Christian Whitton and Kristopher Harrison of the State Department make a private argument for the establishment of a government propaganda to fight ‘the ideology that underpins the global jihadist insurgency’. In an article in the WSJ they write: ‘The U.S. government needs to resurrect the nonviolent practice of ‘political warfare’ and create an agency to manage it. The Bush administration started this process by providing more resources for public diplomacy and appointing prominent officials to oversee the task. But efforts to explain America’s values and ideals to Muslims need to be supplemented with measures that confront directly the jihadist ideology. … The problem with creating a new Political Warfare Executive is not primarily bureaucratic. It is political. Western societies do not have the same uncompromising opposition to radical Islam that the wartime alliance had against Nazism. It is difficult to imagine the BBC, the State Department or PBS taking marching orders to discredit the foundations of radical Islam. Why even President Obama might object.”

Confusing the enemy by increasing the size of the U.S. bureaucracy - Kim Andrew Elliott Discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Comment on above-mentioned WSJ article: "How to defeat an undesirable ideology? Create a new bureaucracy. It's Washington's favorite solution. And, once again, this plan for 'political warfare' wants U.S. international broadcasting to join in the 'mission." This probably means transmitting more of this, less of that, and hammering hard on key themes. This would be an application of the bullet theory of communication, which social scientists discarded by the 1940s. Nothing like early twentieth century thinking to form the basis of twenty-first century U.S. international communication. If U.S. international broadcasting is to attract an audience, its 'mission' can only be defined by that audience. The audience is seeking news that is more reliable than the news they get from their state-controlled domestic media. Credibility is the key."

Not so much a ’silver lining’ as a backwards step - The Smarmy Liberal: “The fact that we’re seeing a rise in recruitment specifically due to economic problems suggests to me that we’re simply seeing more people prepared to give their lives out of desperation and a lack of choices, and that’s probably not what we want to be aiming for. Not only is it taking advantage of the poor, it’s bad for our military’s effort to become more competent in public diplomacy on a soldier-by-soldier level. Someone who hates what he or she is doing and is only there because it was the last choice available probably won’t wind up our one of our better on-the-ground ambassadors to the rest of the world.”

Noteworthy - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner: A series of items pertaining to public diplomacy from a variety of sources.

Wednesday Dec. 3 Alliance of Delray Meeting - Mort Mazor, Get Local, West Delray Community Blog: “Wednesday’s December 3 meeting will feature Mr. Alvin Perlman, Retired Deputy Director Soviet Union, Eastern and Southern Europe, American Foreign Service, U.S. Information Agency. His topic: ‘The Role of the Foreign Service and Public Diplomacy in International Relations.’”

"The Neaman Document" (Draft Report): A Study on Israeli Public Diplomacy: A Joint Project of the S. Neaman Institute, Technion and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel - Executive Summary: “The decision to conduct a research project in order to present recommendations for Israel public diplomacy policy relies on the premise that even though there is continuous concern with the subject by government agencies and others in the field, there is from time to time a need to update contents and methods, target groups, and agents on the strategic level and in practical activity. The goal of such revisions is to help in devising a comprehensive policy that will answer the needs of Israel and its citizens; that will follow-up research findings in Israel and the world; that will be able to cope with positions, opinions, and controversial issues; with new technologies, and with the need for creativity, uniqueness, strength, and ability to infuse the message into the agenda of today's media.”

Peace initiative could benefit from PR backing - Roula Khalaf, The Peninsula, Qatar: “Marketing is also about public diplomacy, something that Arab states only pursue grudgingly.”

Honoring Colombia's plead for freedom – Adriaan Alsema, Colombia Reports, Colombia: “In one of the most clear examples of expression of public will and public diplomacy, Colombians and citizens from across the world, have spoken once again clearly against the use of kidnapping as a tactic.”

HdM-Professor Ko-Autor von internationalem Handbuch über "Public Diplomacy" - News der Hochschule der Medien: „Im jüngst erschienenen 'Handbook of Public Diplomacy' des Routledge-Verlags (New York und London) ist Professor Dr. Oliver Zöllner von der Hochschule der Medien (HdM) mit einem Beitrag über die Kulturdiplomatie der Bundesrepublik Deutschland vertreten. In seinem Aufsatz 'German Public Diplomacy: The Dialogue of Cultures' stellt Zöllner dar, welche Bedeutung der Dialog insbesondere mit der islamisch geprägten Welt hat und welche Mittel Deutschland hierbei einsetzt. Seine Analyse fällt nüchterner aus, als es viele offizielle Broschüren und Verlautbarungen erwarten lassen: Echter Dialog bleibt eine Herausforderung, die nur sehr schwer umsetzbar ist.“

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Some States See Decline in Total U.S. Study Abroad Numbers - David Comp - International Higher Education Consulting: “I’m pleased to introduce our second guest blogger today. Chip Peterson from the Learning Abroad Center at the University of Minnesota has identified an interesting trend in the Open Doors 2008 data. Chip’s post follows: While glancing through the most recent Open Doors data I noticed a curious phenomenon. One of the tables in the report is entitled, STUDY ABROAD BY U.S. STATE, 2005/06 & 2006/07. According to that table, overall study abroad numbers increased for forty states (plus DC) and declined for ten states. Four of the latter ten are located in the Upper Midwest: Iowa (-0.2%), Minnesota (-1.5%), North Dakota (-16.7%), and Wisconsin (-0.9%)! Within the Upper Midwest only South Dakota experienced an increase (+40.8%). The remaining six states with declines were much more scattered geographically: Delaware, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Vermont. The overall national increase, for comparison, was +8.2%. What do you think is going on here?”

Pentagon Propaganda Documents Go Online - John Stauber, Australia.TO, Australia: Eight thousand pages of documents related to the Pentagon's illegal propaganda campaign, known as the Pentagon military analyst program, are now online for the world to see, although in a format that makes it impossible to easily search them and therefore difficult to read and dissect. This trove includes the documents pried out of the Pentagon by David Barstow and used as the basis for his stunning investigation that appeared in the New York Times on April 20, 2008. The Pentagon program, which clearly violated US law against covert government propaganda, embedded more than 75 retired military officers -- most of them with financial ties to war contractors -- into the TV networks as "message surrogates" for the Bush Administration. To date, every major commercial TV network has failed to report this story, covering up their complicity and keeping the existence of this scandal from their audiences.

Obama picks a well-tested team - Editorial, San Francisco Chronicle: There's a potential for soap opera theatrics as White House meetings and Cabinet sessions open up into debate sessions with winners and losers. The new president's famed cool will be strained by this combustible mix of views and egos. But, if he gets it right, he can launch the country in a new direction. Without relenting on terrorism, Obama wants a return to negotiated diplomacy, treaties and foreign aid in pursuing his goals.

Why Obama's Got "Complete Confidence" In Clinton - John Nichols, Nation: Obama is not assembling a team of rivals -- at least not with the Clinton pick. He is selecting a fellow senator who he came to respect and even to regard somewhat fondly during the course of a difficult but not particularly destructive primary campaign. More importantly, he is selected someone who agrees with him on almost every significant global issues and who he is certain will be able Secretary of State.

Strong opinions in tough times – Editorial, Boston Globe: Obama has recruited a team not so much of rivals as of strong-willed, independent spirits. America and the rest of the world have reason to cheer.

Team of Centrists: Barack Obama's national security appointees have plenty in common – Editorial, Washington Post: Mr. Obama and his appointees are heavily invested in the notion that better diplomacy can answer Iran's drive for a nuclear weapon, ease the threat of terrorism from Pakistan and maybe even solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. We hope they are right. If they are wrong, particularly about Iran, someone in this group will need to speak up.

For the U.N., a clean break: Obama's choice of Susan Rice, a liberal multilateralist, as the U.S. ambassador represents the flip side of Bush's approach to the world body – Editorial, Los Angeles Times: Analysts have been somewhat puzzled by the spectrum of political viewpoints represented by Obama's picks, but if there's one thing most of his defense and foreign policy choices have in common, it's that they tend to be "realists" -- favoring the use of "soft power" over military intervention, and multilateralism over unilateralism.

The 3 A.M. Team – Editors, National Review: We didn’t want either Clinton or Obama to become president, but now that Obama has won, and that 3 A.M. phone call is on the way, Clinton is as good a pick as could have been expected for the nation’s top foreign-policy position. The same is true of Robert Gates.

Who Can She Be Now? The stages of Hillary - Noemie Emery, National Review: Madame Secretary, Obama’s own Iron Lady, a Margaret Thatcher who will never go wobbly, but shore up his reach to the Right.

Barack Obama — Steady as She Goes: It’s as moderate as any Democrat’s national-security picks could possibly get - Rich Lowry, National Review: Perhaps Obama is simply bowing to the exigencies of American foreign policy, defined by a few ineluctable realities: We are the sole superpower in a dangerous world, full of enemies that only we have the military resources to defeat and of rival powers with interests divergent from ours.

Pinch Me, Am I Dreaming? Fantasy Cabinet with ... Obama? - Mona Charen, National Review: “If [Obama’s] economic team is centrist, the foreign-policy team (and I pinch myself as I say this) leans a little to the right. Did you notice that in introducing his choices, the president-elect used the term “defeat our enemies”?

The Obama Jolt: Is Barack a secret centrist? - Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard: If Obama wants to pursue economic and national security policies that would thrill MoveOn.org, William Ayers, and the Democratic left, he has a funny way of showing it. The only reasonable conclusion is he's spurning the left.

Travels With Hillary: Two Secretaries of State for the price of one – Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: Barack Obama's choice of Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State is either a political master stroke, or a classic illustration of the signature self-confidence that will come back to haunt him. We're inclined toward the latter view.

Success of Clinton Choice Hinges on Rapport - Michael Abramowitz and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post

So what's in this for Hillary? Taking charge of the State Department will give Clinton more power than hanging around the Senate -- even if she does have a history with her new boss - Mike Madden, Salon: Obama intends to focus on domestic policy early in his term -- and a high-profile surrogate on foreign affairs might give him the time to do it.

Obama's national security balancing act: With Clinton, Gates, and Jones, he can weigh opposing views better than Bush did - Editorial, Christian Science Monitor: Obama's team should work to reclaim US leadership (even in its weakened state, America is still the only superpower). But as other countries such as India and Brazil pick up economic power, Washington will become one player among many, having to find its place in a complex, interconnected world -- as the financial crisis illustrates. Obama has chosen three talented individuals to help him juggle these demands. But ultimately, how well it goes will be up to him.

Security priorities: There is a lot of work ahead for President-elect Obama's national security team, including recent rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state nominee – Editorial, Baltimore Sun: With his limited foreign policy experience, Mr. Obama is sure to benefit from having strong personalities and strong opinions around him. Facing an array of tough problems -- including war, international recession, genocide and global warming -- there is clearly a need to think beyond a one-dimensional obsession with terrorism when framing U.S. foreign policy.

A Team in Need of a Plan - Eugene Robinson, Washington Post: One of the most urgent tasks for President-elect Barack Obama's "Team of Rivals" foreign policy brain trust is coming up with a coherent intellectual framework -- and a winning battle plan -- for the globe-spanning asymmetrical conflict that George W. Bush calls the "war on terror."

The End of the Iraq Debate (For Now) - Michael Crowle, New Republic: It's quite possible -- maybe even likely -- that withdrawal will prompt a renewed and violent power struggle that could devolve into civil war. And then it will be time for another debate -- about whether to slow down the exit or say good riddance once and for all. It's possible that Obama is determined to carry out his withdrawal policy even in such a scenario. But his cabinet selections tend to suggest otherwise.

It's Obama that's changing - Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Asia Times: One wonders how Obama expects to be more successful that the Bush administration in the absence of appointees aligned with his vision of change? From the point of view of many foreign observers, this represents a false start by the Obama administration. He is apt to lose a great deal of his international aura within months, if not weeks, of assuming the presidency in January.

Change? What Change? Madam Secretary Clinton and the Middle East - Joshua Frank, Counterpunch: Barack Obama has chosen Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State; a choice that confirms US foreign policy is not about to change significantly under the forthcoming Democratic administration. The US will continue to pander to Israel and the War on Terror will still be the rallying cry for our foreign interventions.

Confronting the Terrorist Within - Chris Hedges, Truthdig: The decision by the incoming Obama administration to embrace an undefined, amorphous “war on terror” will keep us locked in a war without end. This war has no clear definition of victory, unless victory means the death or capture of every terrorist on earth—an impossibility. It is a frightening death spiral. It feeds on itself. The concept of a “war on terror” is no less apocalyptic or world-purifying than the dreams and fantasies of terrorist groups like al-Qaida.

Robert Gates: Wrong Man for the Job - Katrina vanden Heuvel, Nation: It is troubling that Obama, a man of such good judgment, has asked Robert Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense -- and assembled a national security team of such narrow bandwidth.

The Curious Retention of Robert Gates – David Corn, Mother Jones: Obama’s national security team--at this early stage--presents more questions than answers. His selection of Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state has been a much-chewed-over topic of pundit puzzlement. And with the Monday morning unveiling of his senior defense and foreign policy aides, Obama made official another curious decision: his retention of Robert Gates as secretary of defense.

The Enforcer: Obama’s most important national-security pick isn't Hillary—it's Gen. Jim Jones - Fred Kaplan, Slate: Everything that President-elect Barack Obama has said and done these past few weeks indicates that this is going to be an administration run from the White House. His selection of Jones as national-security adviser signals that this will very much be the case in foreign and military policy.

What should Bill Clinton do now?: Critics worry he'll get in Hillary's way. But the new secretary of state's husband is a great international ambassador for America - Joe Conason, Salon: What would not make sense, however, is to hobble Bill Clinton's role as a global citizen, which ought to be used by the Obama administration to advance its own vision of American leadership in the world. His capacity to mobilize political, corporate and civic forces on behalf of benign objectives -- and his influence over officials around the world -- exemplifies the "soft power" that is supposed to become the new paradigm of our diplomacy.

The Deadly Triangle: Obama's Foreign Crises - Deepak Tripathi, Counterpunch: America has been heavily involved in both Afghanistan and Pakistan for almost three decades. It played a role in the war. Now it needs to play a part in their reconstruction and stabilization, in the interests of all.

Get Out Now, or Get Out Later - Philip Giraldi, Antiwar.com: Wanting to draw down in Iraq and increase troop strength in Afghanistan, Obama is embracing taking one failed policy and transferring it somewhere else in hopes that it will succeed. The fact is that Barack Obama's foreign policy is just Bush-lite: it embraces the principle that the judicious use of force is a good thing and that Washington should properly be the world's policeman.

The Sovereignty Dodge: What Pakistan Won't Do, the World Should - Robert Kagan, Washington Post: It would be useful for the United States, Europe and other nations to begin establishing the principle that Pakistan and other states that harbor terrorists should not take their sovereignty for granted.

Pakistan's Task: Peace in South Asia requires a crackdown on terrorists – Editorial, Washington Post: The best way to salvage Pakistani democracy, and to prevent a slide toward war between two nuclear powers, is for Islamabad to shut down Lashkar-i-Taiba and similar organizations, swiftly, permanently and verifiably. Pakistan should enjoy U.S. support, both from this administration and the next, to the extent that it presents not only credible plans for accomplishing this goal -- but also tangible results.

Mumbai and Obama: Lessons in security and diplomacy - Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal: The best outcome would be for Islamabad itself to take action against the terrorists who use Pakistan as a training ground and staging point for attacks on India. Failing that, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be under pressure to take the same kind of military action that Candidate Obama endorsed for the U.S.

Strange storm brews in South Asia - M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times: Washington's prime task will be to cool tempers and avoid an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the two South Asian nuclear adversaries, India and Pakistan.

Iraq Pact Challenges Antiwar Movement - Tom Hayden, Nation: The antiwar movement could include the Iraq withdrawal and diplomatic solutions in Afghanistan and Pakistan within a new progressive agenda demanding a turn away from policing a world of quagmires to addressing our spiralling economic, trade, healthcare and energy crises.

Problems with the SOFA – Editorial, Washington Times: The new U.S.-Iraq security agreement ratified last week by the Iraqi Parliament is a mixed bag. At one level, it ratifies a new and positive strategic reality - specifically, the success of the U.S. troop surge and the defeat of terror networks inside Iraq. But it contains some objectionable provisions, including an end to legal immunity for Defense contractors.

Obama's collision course with China - Benjamin A Shobert, Asia Times: While China may not be one of the president-elect's most pressing concerns, a host of China related issues are interwoven within the challenges of the next four years.

The Cost of Hegemony Is Beyond Reach - Paul Craig Roberts, Antiwar.com: Undeterred by massive budget deficits from wars, a falling economy, and financial bailouts, the U.S. government has managed to start a new cold war with Russia. Now that the Great Hegemon is bankrupt and its economy is collapsing, thanks to unbridled greed, American influence is waning.

War, Propaganda and the Media - Anup Shah, Global Issues: Content: Elements of Propaganda; Propaganda and War; Propaganda when Preparing or Justifying War; Military Control of Information; Information Operations; Embedded Journalists: An Advantage for the Military; Dilemma of Journalists and Wartime Coverage; Wider Propaganda; Propaganda in Democracies; Why Does So Much Propaganda Work?; Wanting to believe the best of ourselves; Fear-mongering and distorting facts; Media management and public relations is very professional ; Disseminating prepackaged, even fake news ;Smear tactics are increasing in sophistication;
Narrowing the Range of Debate; Some Detailed Examples.

The Genesis of Napoleonic Propaganda, 1796-1799 - Asiaing.com: Wayne Hanley's The Genesis of Napoleonic Propaganda, 1796 to 1799 makes clever use of images as well as text to show the artful self-crafting on the part of a young provincial on the make. Using a term actually invented at or near the Revolution, the book makes propaganda into a key element in the rise of Napoleon. With a solid interfacing of cultural and political history, Hanley's novel approach meshes with recent works on the Revolution by Lynn Hunt, Carla Hesse, and others.

India is Burning, but OMG, Look! Condi Got to Meet the Queen!! - Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to: BELOW PHOTO: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, shakes hands with Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, as Louise Miliband, right, the wife of the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, reacts, prior to a private musical concert with members of the London Symphony Orchestra, at Buckingham Palace in London, England, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/John Stillwell, PA). COMMENT: “As a special bonus, it looks like the Royal Person was totally dusted with flour for the occasion. So fancy! Don't sneeze, Condi! And I guess it was some sort of theme night because Condi's wearing... a bathrobe? I don't understand royal protocol.”

December 1

"Batman is Batman, regardless of if Bush is in the White House or not.”

--Jeffrey Schlesinger, the head of international television at Warner Brothers

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Sens. Chambliss, Graham and McCaskill on "Fox News Sunday" – RealClearPolitics: Columnist William Kristol re the terrorist attacks in Mumbai: “[O]ur government has not done enough to show solidarity with the Indians; the world's largest democracy, a good partner and ally of our economically and strategically. And the idea that Secretary of State Rice isn't yet on her way over there to visit and show solidarity, I'm a little surprised by that. I think she'll do it this week. But I really think it's very important. This is a -- you know, the criticism of the Bush administration is always, what happened to the public diplomacy? This is a moment when we can really show solidarity with what is maybe our most important strategic ally in the world. And I think we could do a little more to do that.“

U.S.-funded youth center aims to lure Palestinian teens from extremism - Associated Press, Haaretz: "A U.S.-funded youth center that has opened in the West Bank village of Beita is meant to show America at its can-do best: It will teach English and computer courses, hoping to provide an antidote to political extremism along the way. The Beita center is one of five to open across the West Bank, with a total investment of $5 million by USAID, the international aid arm of the U.S. government. .... James Glassman, who leads the U.S. State Department's effort to improve America's image abroad, attended the ceremony [opening the center]. Glassman has been promoting what he calls a war of ideas, or confronting violent ideologies and trying to lure young people away from extremism by offering them economic opportunities. Youth centers and exchange programs are an important tool, he said." VIA

Noting Washington - DIP's Dispatches from the Imagination Age: “On January 12, 2009 at 11:00 am, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman will be a guest on a live internet broadcast from the virtual world of Second Life that features eight Egyptian political bloggers who covered the US Presidential Election and are learning about how the American political system works. This event is sponsored by the American University in Cairo, funded by USAID and produced by Dancing Ink Productions. It will include real-time chat between a live internet audience and event participants in the virtual world of Second Life. The US State Department is collaborating on Glassman's participation in this event.” RIGHT: Image from Second Life

PD Council Posts "Proposals for the Obama Administration" – GlobalPerspective, Reinventing Public Diplomacy: “The Public Diplomacy Council released in early November a series of ‘Proposals for the Obama Administration’ on how to improve U.S. public diplomacy in both theory and practice. … the piece argues for the abolition of the Broadcasting Board of Governors as its exists, and instead advocates a ‘new nonpartisan oversight commission that would assume more of an advisory role, leaving daily management in the hands of a commission-appointed professional CEO, the VOA director, and the presidents of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcast Networks (Radio Sawa and Alhurra TV), and Radio-TV Marti to Cuba.’This author is curious as to whether the proposed changes more closely reflect a model of ‘things as they once were’ under USIA, or if they represent a true ‘step forward’ in creating 21st century U.S. Government-sponsored broadcast institutions.”

Knowing Too Much – Broadnax, World-Wide-Matel: “We found more than thirty official or authoritative studies of American public diplomacy compiled after 9/11. This doesn’t even include the whole cottage industry producing popular speculation, magazine articles and general gnashing of teeth about 'why they hate us.' Maybe we know enough to draw conclusions. Maybe we even know too much. This is what I am thinking about as my group prepares to make our own contribution to this huge library.”

Sideline Chatter: Grocery stocker Kurt Warner coming out of retirement? - Dwight Perry, Seattle Times: “Times reader Bill Littlejohn, on oft-injured outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.'s appointment as an American Public Diplomacy Envoy: ‘Shouldn't he be Surgeon General?’"

Where now for India-Pakistan? – thariel, contrapuntal:“The Pakistani state has rendered itself deeply unpopular in the eyes of its own people whenever it has appeared to be engaged in counterinsurgency/counterterrorism operations at the behest of an external actor such as the US. This will hold even truer if the demand comes from India. … Should India feel the need to engage in coercive diplomacy (surrender the people we want for questioning, or else...) it needs to do this very discreetly. Its public diplomacy should be all about making common cause with Pakistan. This shouldn't be difficult to do.”

In conversation with Marcin Wasilewski - Stuart Nicholson, jazz.com: "Today, as Poland sheds the remnants of its communist past, jazz enjoys a special place in the nation’s affection, thanks in no small part to Willis Conover’s Music USA and Jazz Hour broadcasts on Voice of America—the short wave radio station heard by an estimated 100 million people behind the former Iron Curtain during the darkest days of the Cold War. As a result of Conover’s broadcasts, Poles will probably always associate jazz with freedom and an idealized vision of America as the 'citadel on the hill' and the 'last best hope for mankind.'” PHOTO: American radio jazz commentator Willis Conover (center) surrounded by friends, from left: Andrzej Jaroszewski from Polish Radio, Jacek Wapinski, Jan Byrczek, Alexander Skale from Yugoslavia, Barbara Wittwer, JF Art Editor Rafal Olbinski and Ryszard Gruszczynski. VIA

RELATED ITEMS

U.S. media thrive worldwide, but not U.S. image - Tim Arango, International Herald Tribune: In the last eight years, American pop culture, already popular, has boomed around the globe while opinions of America itself have soured. Hollywood movies routinely sell far more tickets overseas than at home. Joseph Nye, Jr. the Harvard professor who coined the phrase "soft power" in 1989 to refer to the ways beyond military muscle that America influences the world “American culture remains attractive … American values remain attractive. Which is the opposite of what the president has said -- that they hate us for who we are and what we believe in."

Global Classrooms: Going Off to College for Less (Passport Required) - Tamar Lewin, New York Times: With higher education fast becoming a global commodity, universities worldwide -- many of them in Canada and England -- are competing for the same pool of affluent, well-qualified students, and more American students are heading overseas not just for a semester abroad, but for their full degree program.

A handpicked team for a foreign policy shift – David Sanger, International Herald Tribune: All all three of Obama’s choices -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as the rival turned secretary of state; General James Jones, the former NATO commander, as national security adviser, and Robert Gates, the current and future defense secretary -- were selected in large part because they have embraced a sweeping shift of resources in the national security arena. The shift, which would come partly out of the military's huge budget, would create a greatly expanded corps of diplomats and aid workers that, in the vision of the incoming Obama administration, would be engaged in projects around the world aimed at preventing conflicts and rebuilding failed states.

Will Obama and Clinton work as a team? They’ve had differences, but Obama is expected to name her as secretary of State - Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor: Where question marks do arise is over how Mr. Obama and Clinton will overcome the foreign-policy differences that arose over the course of a long, heated primary campaign. Those differences -- sometimes sharp -- ranged from the decision to go to war in Iraq to the wisdom of speaking to America’s enemies without preconditions.

Obama's Foreign Policy Team Earns High Praise, But Concern About Clintons - Sam Stein, Huffington Post

Clinton, Gates -- The Unveiling - James Warren, Huffington Post: Questions for Hillary Clinton

Hawks for Hillary: Why are conservatives heaping praise on Obama's new secretary of state? Barron YoungSmith, New Republic: “What's with the right's newfound love for Clinton? I spoke with a number of conservative foreign-policy eminences to find out. Many of them were surprisingly optimistic about Obama's new top diplomat.”

Mumbai Terror Could Cascade Across Region - Robert Dreyfuss, Nation: The attacks could vastly complicated the problem that Obama will face in Afghanistan, where US and NATO forces are losing the war, and in Pakistan, where Islamist militants have seized control of large areas in that country's northwest region. Obama is already committed to an escalation of the Afghan war, and if the prospects for negotiations recede, he may be tempted to send even more US forces into that quagmire.

The Horror in Mumbai - Editorial, New York Times: In coming days India will have to look inward to see where and how its government failed to protect its citizens. The United States is still learning the lessons of its own failures before 9/11, but it can help in the process. Washington’s most important role will be to urge the Indians and Pakistanis to step back from the brink.

Jihad’s True Face - William Kristol, New York Times: In nations like India (and the United States), governments will have to call on the patriotism of citizens to fight the terrorists.

New India in the Crosshairs: Terror in Mumbai - Rich Lowry, National Review: With a security agreement setting a goal of a U.S. exit from Iraq by 2012 and Bush leaving office, jihadists are still at their monstrous handiwork. They have an ideological goal larger than any one conflict or any American president.

It’s Not the Cold War: Updating strategy to fight the ideology - Mark Steyn, National Review: The Islamic imperialist project is a totalitarian ideology: It is at war with Hindus, Jews, Americans, Britons, everything that is other. So Bush is history, and we have a new president who promises to heal the planet, and yet the jihadists don’t seem to have got the Obama message that there are no enemies, just friends we haven’t yet held talks without preconditions with.

Will NATO do more for Obama? Obama's popularity abroad may not get him the extra forces in Afghanistan from NATO allies - Gordon Lubold, Christian Science Monitor

Why Somali Pirates Are Good For Obama: Will piracy in the Gulf of Aden help the incoming administration make nice with Iran? - Bruce Falconer, Mother Jones: The pirates' recent seizure of an Iranian-chartered cargo vessel might encourage Tehran to take part in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia.

News Analysis: U.S.-Iraqi pact has many uncertainties - Steven Lee Myers, International Herald Tribune

Pass FTA and amend Plan Colombia For human rights' sake - Shannon O'Neil and Sebastian Chaskel, Washington Times: Two years ago President Bush and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe negotiated a free trade agreement (FTA). Yet when Barack Obama steps into the White House in January, it will still await congressional ratification. Experts agree that both countries will benefit from the pact.

Tbilisi's Tail No Longer Wagging the U.S. Dog - Vladimir Frolov, Moscow Times: Russia has learned that the best PR strategy is getting the truth out early.

The Blogging Revolution and Voices of Crisis - Antony Loewenstein, Juan Cole’s Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion: The online culture, chaotic and disjointed in its aims, is unlike that of any previous social movement. Allowing people to write and speak for themselves without a western filter is one of the triumphs of blogging, though many western journalists feel threatened by its potential. While some want the right to criticise their leaders, others simply want to flirt and listen to hip-hop. That is revolutionary for much of the world.

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“My life is one long escape from myself.”

--Samuel Johnson; cited at