November 14

“America’s first Pacific president”

--President Barack Obama, characterizing himself; image from

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.”

--Robert C. Gallagher

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Obama's trip to Asia has far-reaching PR possibilities - Robert Tappan, PR Week [Login Required]: [from Google] : "[Obama] ... needs to harness the 'soft power' of public diplomacy, the US' moral integrity and his considerable communications skills."

You Can Bank on It - Mark Dillen, publicdiplomacy.foreignpolicyblogs - "An overseas trip by a U.S. president is always costly, logistically challenging, and full of colorful backdrops. President Obama’s trip to Japan, Singapore, China and Korea is no exception. If anything, there will be more excitement than usual, since it is his first trip to the region as President and there is still tremendous foreign public interest in this appealing, young, intelligent leader, his inspiring speeches, and his photogenic wife. ... One thing you can bank on: the White House will not be looking for photo ops in opulent surroundings.


American public diplomacy and White House politics are both best served by images of a hard-working and popular President seen focusing on the tough issues. That part should not be difficult." Image from

Obama vows greater US role in Asia: Philippine Star: "Walter Lohman, director of the foundation’s Asian Studies Center, said Obama can help advance US strategic interests by helping ASEAN prove its value. 'The capitals of ASEAN nations are very tolerant of dialogue for dialogue’s sake. In fact, they often testify to its dubious positive value. Americans, however, are not as patient with mere conversation,' Lohman said. Lohman said the Bush administration contributed immensely to US-ASEAN relations but its 'public diplomacy was not as successful.' 'President Bush’s decision to cancel a US-ASEAN leaders’ summit in 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s intermittent attendance at regional meetings, Assistant Secretary Chris Hill’s seeming indifference to Southeast Asia, contributed to a damaging impression of American withdrawal,' he said. 'That conclusion was neither fair nor accurate, but it proved difficult to shake,' he said."

Will Obama ask Hu about jamming and other Chinese media controls? - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

US Govt. Seeks Journos’ Opinions of Obama Asia Speech - Journalism and the World: "I knew the Public Diplomacy folks were working on something like this. Every time there is a major presidential address the U.S. embassies and consulates go on full alert to nail down reactions from their sources. So the public affairs people run around to universities and journalism contacts. The econ officers talk to economists. The military people spend some time with the local brass. Etc. And lo and behold, the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong used an e-mail blast to hit their audience.

(At least the State Department has finally given up on Wang.)" Image from


Obama: Between Idealism and Realism - Ali Asghar Kazemi, Strategic Discourse: "About ten months in office has given enough experience to Obama that war in Afghanistan is not leading anywhere and public diplomacy with respect to Iran’s nuclear ambitions is a wishful illusion.

Constructive realism dictates on the one hand that sole use of hard power cannot protect US interests anywhere in the world. On the other hand, relying on public diplomacy alone for the purpose of settling perennial disputes with Iran is merely a waste of time. ... Whether Obama is an idealist, realist or a pragmatist, Iranians should not expect much from him in the fulfillment of their legitimate cause and aspirations. They are in fact learning by experience that in the final account 'Obama is neither with them nor with the regime,' but he is and will remain with American long-run interests." Image from

Subject of US broadcasts to Iran raises hackles here and there - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

Hillary's new 'blank page' - Shamshad Ahmad, The News International - "What successive US leaders over the past 60 years couldn't do, Hillary Clinton, during her first-ever visit to this country as secretary of state, has done.

Despite the agitated mood in the country over the Kerry-Lugar Bill (KLB) issue, she managed to reach out to the people of Pakistan plunging into an unprecedented public diplomacy and communicating directly with a cross-section of our society. Her interaction with our media and the youth, in particular, was lively and frank and served a purpose that could not have been served by any set of officially in-laid 'talking points' on either side." Image from

Can diplomacy resolve anti-Americanism? - Ghazanfar Ali Grewal, Pakistan Observer: "It can be said that public diplomacy can be used as an effective tool to isolate the hardliners from the main stream and the former would be defeated easily. One major reason of the failure of U.S. efforts so far against hardliners is that the U.S. has remained unable to effectively employ public diplomacy techniques along with eradicating basic factors of anti-Americanism. There is no short cut to win 'the hearts and minds' of the Islamic public, but fair resolution of all the concerns of the Muslim world."

State Department regrets and deplores travails of bloggers in Azerbaijan and Cuba- Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

No Substitute For Substance - Robert R. Reilly, The Journal of International Security Affairs, Fall 2009:

"Through its embrace and export of pop culture and its promotion of tolerance based upon moral relativism, U.S. public diplomacy has succeeded in cementing the equation of democracy with unbelief in the minds of many Muslims—a feat that would have astonished the American Founders. In short, the United States has not addressed the struggle at the level at which it is taking place, preferring instead to pretend it is something else that is easier to deal with. It has failed so far because it has seriously neglected the larger issue of moral legitimacy—its own and the enemy’s—which is the real nub of the conflict. If we have nothing to say about justice or the ultimate good of man, we will lose. If we appear indifferent to these concerns, we will be dismissed—in fact, despised. Despite the damage that has been done from the embrace of pop culture and the promotion of anemic themes, the restoration of substance in U.S. government broadcasting can once again attract serious audiences in the countries that America most needs to reach." Note from article: "A longer version of this article was published by the Heritage Foundation in July 2009." Image from

Strategical versus Tactical PSY-OPS - Posted by Michigan Patriot on November 12, 2009 at 8:00am - snardfarker.ning.com: "United States PSY-OP units and soldiers of all branches of the military are prohibited by law from conducting PSY-OP missions on domestic audiences. While PSY-OP soldiers may offer non-PSY-OP related support to domestic military missions, PSY-OP can only target foreign audiences. Though, it is worth noting that this does not rule out PSY-OP targeting foreign audiences of allied nations.

Additionally, in the Information Operations Roadmap made public January 2006 but originally approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in October 2003, it stated 'Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and PSY-OP, increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience and vice-versa.'" Image from

I discovered twitter: The Jeff Pulver Blog by jeff, posted at Sipy: "Earlier this week I sat down with Film News Briefs for an interview. Below is an excerpt from the interview: Film News Briefs (FNB) Innovators: Jeff Pulver FNB: "How did you discover Twitter? JP: I cheated a little bit. A friend was using twitter, at CES [Consumer Electronic Show] 2007. ... FNB: How do you feel Twitter has changed community? JP: Right now the thing that has happened with Twitter — believe me, no one from San Francisco went to Iran and recommended this to the dissidents and suggested using Twitter to tweet the Iranian election. No one went to Hollywood and said if you’re a celebrity, use twitter to delineate the studios cause we can give you direct branding. But it’s happening.

The governments of the US, Israel and the UK use Twitter for public diplomacy. In the United States, there are over 260 police municipalities that tweet for public safety. People in public health use it. I’ve found educators using it. Rather than blocking it, they are using it to teach. It’s a global phenomenon that represents the beginning of the real time internet. For the first time in a very long time, people have a voice and it can matter." Image from

'US, Israel, share ties, not a romance' - Hilary Leila Krieger, Jerusalem Post: 'The [November 9 White House] meeting was closed to the media and apart from a brief and laconic White House press statement, neither of the sides made any comments to reporters following the discussion. Netanyahu met with Obama tête-à-tête

for approximately an hour, after which the two leaders were joined by their aides for an additional 40 minutes. ... Commenting on the two leaders' private discussion, US-Israel relations expert Ra'anan Gissin told IBA News on Friday afternoon that 'Washington is different today, closing one year [into Obama's administration] with a lot of statements but nothing really done.' Gissin said the current US administration 'is an administration putting a lot of emphasis on public diplomacy,' typifying the Monday meeting between Netanyahu and Obama as an instance of 'private diplomacy.' US President Barack Obama has a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office private dining room, Nov. 9, 2009." Image from article

On the Golan – Paul Rockower, Levantine: "Israel is far too isolated and needs to maneuver some way forward to break out of the diplomatic hole it is in.

Syria needs to be brought in from the cold. The Obama administration needs a solid win in the international arena. It is a diplomatic, strategic and public diplomacy victory for all parties- one that all need at present." Image from

Israeli Foreign Ministry Drops Peace As Goal - Resist Zionism - "Zionism is a racist political movement that began in the 1890's and does not represent Judaism: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has set priorities for his ministry that apparently are at odds with those of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ... Public diplomacy and Israel’s image in the world come fourth on the ministry’s priorities list. Lieberman introduced a new goal called 'international law,' perhaps as a result of the Operation Cast Lead and the subsequent Goldstone report ."

Today's lesson: Omar Al Bashir - Cengiz Aktar, Hurriyet Daily News - "Let me make a free contribution to the ongoing 5th Academy of Politics organized by the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, because the 'do’s and don’ts' of politics that we witnessed with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s

aborted visit to Turkey for an Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting are extremely important teachings. When the government is opening the country to the world these are exactly moves that should be avoided. ... When the visit was aborted following the European Union's open and the United States' implicit warnings, the clumsiness hit the roof: A public communication nightmare had become a public diplomacy disaster. Nongovernmental human rights' advocate groups in Africa, the United States and Europe, which managed to change South Africa's ambiguous position vis-à-vis al-Bashir, have immediately pointed the finger at Turkey.” Image from

South Africa - Speech By Minister Nkoana-Mashabane At The Heads Of Mission: Conference For The Asia And Middle East Region, New Delhi, India, 13 November 2009 - ISRIA: From the speech: “We have made tremendous progress in our relations with Asia and the Middle East on all fronts – economically, politically and socially. We will be discussing various aspects of this progress in detail in the course of today and tomorrow. All what I can do for now is to highlight some of the issues as well as what I consider to be some of our challenges moving forward.The thrust of our bilateral and multilateral engagement with countries of this Region is in the following areas, namely: ... 6. Branding and promoting the image of South Africa through our Public Diplomacy campaign in particular.”

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