November 23

“I've stumbled into some weird world with no stated rules and people are telling me that I'm destined for greatness (thank iSchool) but not actually giving me any solutions for how to deal with the actual problems that exist within all of this.”

--Anastasia, regarding studying public diplomacy in graduate school; image from

A diplomatic surge - Ziad Haider, The News International: "So how does the US leverage diplomacy to strengthen its relationship with Pakistan based on 'mutual interest and mutual respect?' ... First, US diplomacy must focus on the Pakistani people. The Kerry-Lugar Bill

that tripled economic aid was an important start; patience and public diplomacy are required to reap the dividends." Image from

Rep. Royce's comments to "closed-door hearing" about broadcasting to North Korea broadcast by RFA" - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Elliott comment: "[I]nternational broadcasting should preserve its credibility by leaving the promotion of regime change to the several exile stations transmitting into North Korea. VOA and RFA Korean broadcasts are already a combined ten hours per day. Any expansion would be into hours when North Koreans are less likely to huddle around their radios for news from outside. More shortwave and, if available, medium wave frequencies would help, though."

Highlighting is for hair, not for journalism - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy: Commenting on the statement by Joshua Kurlantzick, Boston Globe, 22 November 2009 that “the US could focus on areas where Beijing, though increasingly sure of itself, remains weak - such as providing technology for Chinese bloggers to get around Internet filters, or highlighting the vast problems of rural Chinese society (both Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have extensive Chinese broadcasts which penetrate rural China), Elliott writes: "VOA and RFA also penetrate urban China. Their shortwave signals may be more difficult to receive than in rural China because of the electrical noise of cities causing radio interference. These days, in China, the internet is surely more popular than shortwave radio. But with the former thoroughly blocked, shortwave may be a more successful way to get information from abroad. 'Highlighting' is not something a credible news organization should do. US international broadcasting does cover domestic Chinese affairs, and that would include rural China, and that would include the 'vast problems of rural Chinese society.' But lest the station be perceived as a 'gotcha' broadcaster focusing on the problems of the target country, balance is achieved by covering the rest of the world, and the United States, including the inevitable problems in those places.

This would work as an international broadcasting strategy, because Chinese audiences, while perhaps interested mainly in China, are also interested in the rest of the world. This is why I advocate the consolidation of US international broadcasting. Radio Free Asia covers China well, but it lacks balance, at least geographically. VOA covers world and US news, as well as domestic news about China. VOA thus has more balance, but it does not have the resources that RFA has to cover China. Merging the two would combine the strengths of both stations, improve balance, and, by eliminating duplication, save the US taxpayers' money." Image from

Ahmadinejad not seeking talks or ties with US: Iran FM advisor - ISNA: ‎"Iranian Foreign Minister's advisor Manouchehr Mohammadi said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad neither seeks talks with the US nor establishment of relations with the country, but he wants to have a debate with his American counterpart Barack Obama. Speaking in a meeting held in Amir Kabir prestigious university in Tehran he said, 'Iran's President wants to open a debate with Obama not on insignificant issues but on justice of the world and public diplomacy.'"

Re: Prattle: The Czar is correct in pointing to Bob Wright's fatuity - gormogons.com: "The way to defeat do-it-yourself Islamism is to convince all the losers and psychos attracted to it that they can't win. That the movement’s millennial promise is false. They must be demoralized—and unfortunately the major way to do so is relentlessly kill a whole lot of their armed confrères, with all the awfulness that that grim duty entails.

Going on the offensive against utopian radicals is not only an act of self-defense, but a step towards defanging the appeal of their ideology which, like every other version we’ve seen come and go since the French Revolution, derives a ton of its appeal from the promise of being on the inevitably victorious side of the Good. You have to smash that delusion—through military success and constant propaganda on behalf of the truth. Indeed this approach of defeating those who would attack us (with violence when necessary) and continually presenting the case to the broader Muslim world through public diplomacy that we are not—as we are in fact not—enemies of Islam. Our carrot, if you will, is the goodwill and unique benefits of friendship with a superpower—e.g., liberating the Muslim lands of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq. Free trade. Economic assistance. Advice on democratization. Etc." Image from

A New Dawn for Israel Public Diplomacy - Anav Silverman, SredotMeda.com: "For the first time since Operation Cast Lead, senior government officials and Minister of Public Affairs and Diaspora, Yuli Edelstein, gathered together in Sderot to discuss the efficacy of Israel's current public diplomacy in a media forum organized by Sderot Media Center. International Media Advisor to the Deputy Foreign Minister, Ashley Perry, commented that advocacy bodies must think not only of tactics in the public diplomacy battle. 'Having a unified strategy in presenting Israel's case is critical. The other side has been working on delegitimizing the Jewish state of Israel for years with a well-thought out strategy especially in terms of the Internet,' Perry said."

How could public diplomacy be considered essential to national security? - Comps Study: "I got nothing. Iran? NATO?"

escaping my studies and my troubles, fleeing westward – Anastasia, anastasiatravels.blogspot.com: "On 16 December I'm ditching Syracuse, getting on a train for 60+ hours, and fleeing to Portland. Well, sort of. This semester ends in less than a month and I am 100% ready for that. I enjoy studying public diplomacy here, but 15 credit hour semesters at graduate school are just insane. For anyone curious: here's the wikipedia link which sort of describes the subject that I'm studying. Hint: it's not propaganda anymore (or at least it shouldn't be)! An upside to this semester, almost making up for the 15 credit hours is that it hasn't really snowed yet (well, once, but flurries) and might be warmer now, in November, than it was in October. In another weird turn, I found out that, although I'm fulfilling all of the stated requirements for my scholarship,

I am not fulfilling the unstated, imaginary requirements that I was supposed to somehow infer from the application, so I'm dealing with that. To make a ridiculous analogy and throwback to the old days, I feel like Harry Potter, in that I've stumbled into some weird world with no stated rules and people are telling me that I'm destined for greatness (thank iSchool) but not actually giving me any solutions for how to deal with the actual problems that exist within all of this. Anyway, December 16: getting away from it all. A 13 hour train ride to Chicago, a 46 hour train ride to Portland (Oregon), a week in Portland, then back to Chicago (by train, of course) to hang out and celebrate the onset of 2010. It should be a good time. Will eat, blog, hang out with friends, and make it back in time to head to DC to attend a professional conference (er, I hope.) and see friends. Woopwoopwoop!" Anastasia image from her blog.

Why Cultural Diplomacy? - David Lindgren, Group 1 Cross Cultural Communication: "I appreciated the previous class topic about public and cultural diplomacy because of its explanation and discussion of the importance of cultural diplomacy in conducting foreign policy. Frankly, before I took Cross Cultural Communication (and another class called Public Diplomacy) I had little interest in cultural diplomacy or even intercultural communication. The topic seemed to me at that time rife with a bunch of academics discussing largely theory about achieving 'peace' and other 'feel good' lofty goals without real-world or serious policy implications. I am glad to have been proven wrong."

About Me - Nick Lombardo, Fused Frame: Convergence of thought and passion at the speed of life:

"I'm a graduate student in the fusion of international and public relations (aka public diplomacy) at Syracuse University. If you want to chat-up such things as Nation Branding and Two-Way Symmetrical Communication, you've found the right blog for wonks like us!" Lombardo image from his blog.

RELATED ITEMS

Pricing an Afghanistan troop buildup is no simple calculation: The White House estimate is twice the Pentagon's. Some see politics at play: Christi Parsons and Julian E. Barnes, latimes.com

A Plan C for Afghanistan - E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post:

When there is no good solution to a problem, a president has three options: to avoid the problem, to pick the least bad of the available options, or to mix and match among the proposed solutions and minimize the long-term damage any decision will cause. President Obama is soon likely to settle on something closest to the third approach regarding Afghanistan. This will make no one very happy. Yet it might be the least dangerous choice. Image from

Tibet thrown under the bus - William C. Triplett II, Washington Times: Buried in a very long joint statement by President Obama and President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China is the following declaration by the American president: "We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have." The magic words are "we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China." Although the State Department has stated these words or similar ones for decades, so far as anyone can discover, this is the first time an American president has ever made such a statement in public, before the television cameras of the world's press.

Brazil’s President Elbows U.S. on the Diplomatic Stage - Alexei Barrionuevo, New York Times:

Brazil’s ambitions to be a more important player on the global diplomatic stage are crashing headlong into the efforts of the United States and other Western powers to rein in Iran’s nuclear arms program. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, is set to receive Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, here on Monday in his first state visit to Brazil. Image from

Zionist Propaganda Body, CAMERA, Seeks Volunteers to Distort Wikipedia Input on Middle East and Israeli Apartheid State - Al-Jazeerah: A Zionist hasbara (propaganda) body based in North America is trying to recruit “volunteers” whose main job is to distort the input of the internet’s most visited websites in Israel’s favor. Propaganda efforts are reportedly focused on popular sites such as Wikipedia, the huge on-line encyclopedia which can be edited by anyone.

Pakistan scores in propaganda war - Shishir Arya, Times of India: If it comes to claiming victories in wars, Pakistan certainly pips India, as the latter has opted to keep mum. A search on the Internet shows no 'official' Indian record on any of the wars, except the Kashmir conflict of 1947-48. Pakistan, on the other hand, minces no words in relating how it made India taste defeat, for which our country has no official answer in the public domain.

Understanding Propaganda [video] - bukisa.com

ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“[P]ermanent war has become the de facto policy of the United States.”

--Andrew J. Bacevich; image from