December 7

"If I had my life again I'd make all the same mistakes. I would still sleep with as many women, and drink as much vodka. Any regrets would make me seem ungrateful."

--British actor Richard Harris; image: Hellraisers to the end: Richard Harris with Peter O'Toole

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Ann Stock nominated as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs - Mark Overmann, Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange: “President Obama announced Friday his intent to nominate Ann Stock as the Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State. Stock’s nomination appears on the Senate record, and was also reported by the Chicago Sun-Times and by the Washington Post’s Reliable Source. The Sun-Times posted a White House press release from last Friday (not yet available on the White House website), which includes Stock’s biography:

‘Ann Stock is currently the Vice President of Institutional Affairs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Stock oversees the Center's expanded efforts to increase its national and international profile and manages the Center's International Arts Management Programs. She also supervises the Government Relations Office, Press Office and Office of Institutional Affairs. From 1993-1997, Ms. Stock was Deputy Assistant to former President Clinton and the Social Secretary at The White House. Prior to that, Ms. Stock served as Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Relations for Bloomingdale's Department Stores for ten years. Ms. Stock was also Deputy Press Secretary to Vice President Walter F. Mondale during the 1980 Presidential election campaign. Ms. Stock has a B.A. from Purdue University.'” Image: Ann Stock (left) and Sharon Rockefeller from

Talking Cultural Relations with foreign policy thinkers in Washington – Andrew Kneal, British Council Voices: “The foreign policy elites who deconstruct the ebb and flow of geopolitics on ‘the hill’, within the halls of power-house think-tanks, and amongst the prolific blogs which shape public opinion, talk more often of ‘Smart Power’ and the merits of strategic communications, and do not necessarily recognize the critical role of Cultural Relations. Increasingly however, I think this is more a function of language, rather than disagreement about the nature or importance of intercultural engagement.

Yesterday, Chief Executive Martin Davidson and Raoul Shah – one of the British Council’s trustees – were invited to participate on a roundtable at the New America Foundation, a public policy institute in Washington, DC. ... They discussed the merits of public diplomacy, cultural relations and other forms of engagement with those countries in which the UK and US have a deficit of trust, with the view to identifying what sorts of practices yield more positive, credible and closer relationships with these countries for the future.” See also; Kneale image from

A top watchdog on foreign affairs - Washington Post: “‎Jacquelyn Williams-Bridgers, managing director, international affairs and trade, Government Accountability Office Best known for:

As the inspector general at the State Department and now as a watchdog for Congress at the Government Accountability Office, Williams-Bridgers has led inquiries and evaluations of American foreign-affairs programs and activities including public diplomacy, development assistance, international security and nuclear nonproliferation. She is known for being smart, tough and a problem-solver.” Williams-Bridgers image from article

Philip Seib Speaks About Diplomacy - USC News: "Philip Seib, professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, spoke on a panel about 'Winning Hearts and Minds: American Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century' at Johns Hopkins University on Nov. 16.

The audience of 120 included Hopkins faculty, students, officials from various government agencies and foreign diplomats. Seib talked about the importance of having substantive policy initiatives to back up public diplomacy efforts and the need to break away from the Cold War premises that have long governed U.S. international broadcasting.” Seib image from

Russian American Rule of Law Consortium: Maine Delegation to Arkhangelsk Oblast Assembly of Deputies (Duma) 21 June 2006—5 July 2006: Report of the Secretary of State, State of Maine - Maine.gov: “Delegation members were Matt Dunlap, Maine Secretary of State; State Representative John Brautigam (D-Falmouth), member of the Joint Standing Committees on Insurance and Financial Services and Utilities and Energy and a member of the House Standing Committee on Ethics;

Ray Pelletier, attorney with Verrill and Dana and Vice Chair of the Greater Portland Sister City Committee; Neale Duffett, attorney with Cloutier, Barrett, Cloutier and Conley and Co-Chair of the Greater Portland Sister City Committee; and Carol Lestock Lord, librarian and Co-Chair of the Greater Portland Sister City Committee.” Image (from article),with caption: The statue of Lenin remains in the Arkhangelsk city square

Canada and the World – Daryl Copeland, Guerilla Diplomacy: “[P]ublic diplomacy, or PD, as a technique for delivering international policy results through dialogue, plays directly to Canada’s soft power strengths (image, reputation, brand).

Equally significant, it minimizes the weaknesses and vulnerabilities associated with diminished hard power, ongoing capacity limitations and this country’s generally shrinking space in the planetary scheme of things. With an admirable reputation and positive image, public diplomacy is Canada’s strongest comparative advantage in international relations. It is incomprehensible that this function has taken among the the hardest of hits the recent round of resource reductions. Not only is this akin to shooting yourself in the foot when you are in a race, but if forces evern greater distortions and misallocations throughout the diplomatic network. Just what, for instance, are all of the Public Diplomacy Officers assigned to Canadian missions abroad supposed to do in the face of the reductions, and in some cases removal of their budgets for programming, travel or representation? How can the very significant administrative overheads and related costs associated with keeping these people in place be justified when in many cases no real work can be done?” Copeland image from

House of Lords debate on BBC includes discussion of BBC World Service and BBC Worldwide - Kim Andrew Elliott discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy

China’s involvement in Fiji and Australia and New Zealand’s position - Phillipa Brant, East Asia Forum: “Only five years ago China’s involvement in Fiji and the South Pacific region barely registered in Australian policymaking and media circles. In the five years leading up to 2009 China’s bilateral trade and investment with Fiji has significantly increased; it has announced an aid package worth $135m in concessional loans; and it has increased its support to the key regional organisations, tripling its funding to the Pacific Islands Forum. Australia’s aid budget to Fiji was $27m for 2008-09. ... Australia’s tit-for-tat

approach to disputes with Fiji, along with the reportedly domineering stance it took in the Pacific Islands Forum, especially at the Cairns meeting in August, stands in stark contrast to China’s politically appealing approach of responsiveness, respect, and effective public diplomacy.” Image from

Video: Israeli Tech 'Geeks' at'140-Character' Conference - Yoni Kempinski, ‎ Arutz Sheva: “Israel National News visited The 140 Characters Conference (‘#140conf’), which took place on Sunday at the Afeka College of Engineering in Tel Aviv, and spoke with the event's organizer and founder Jeff Pulver. ... Since the launch of the #140conf events,

conferences have taken place in New York City, Los Angeles and London. During 2009 the conferences explored the effects of Twitter on a wide range of topics including, celebrities, media, advertising, politics, music, education, public safety and public diplomacy. The organizers of the #140conf events explain that they provide a platform for the worldwide Twitter community to listen, connect, share and engage with each other, while collectively exploring the effects of the emerging real-time Internet on business.” Image from

Romania's Ambassador to Baku to present nato's vision on current security model - Roumanie.com: “On Jan. 1, 2009, Romania took over the mandate of NATO Contact Point Embassy (CPE) in Azerbaijan on the period 2009-2010. NATO contact point embassies in the partner states have an important role in the relation between the Alliance and the respective state. This includes support in the running of NATO activities, especially those in the public diplomacy field, locally, as well as the necessary approaches in order to secure a communication channel for the NATO policies in the partner state.”

Tsai soars, but image needs a tweak - Editorial, Taipei Times: “Following the gains the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) made in the local government elections on Saturday, the popularity of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has increased alongside the power she wields within the party. ... Tsai has reached a point where people are more likely to listen to her.

Now’s the time for her to engage in public diplomacy to dispel the myths that have long haunted her party and to rid it of those who risk undermining its image as a responsible alternative to the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party].” Tsai Ing-wen image from

Knight Center Foreign Policy Seminar Part I - Uncle Jimbo, Blackfive: “I attended a Foreign Policy seminar as Fellows of the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland. ... [W]e went on a morning trip to the State Department and had a chance to question Ian Kelly, a State spokesman on Smart Power. He was somewhat responsive, but all in all fairly typical of someone in his role; he volunteered little that wasn't common knowledge. Then we had a rep from the Public Diplomacy group who was woefully non-communicative. ... All in all the State Department was a waste of time.”

JOTW 49-2009 – Ned’s Job of the Week: A World in Communication: “36.) PRT Public Diplomacy Officer, Afghanistan Support Organization (ASO), Department of State, Washington DC Metro Area, DC/TDY to Afghanistan”

RELATED ITEMS

Obama zeroes in on jobs, healthcare, Afghanistan: After taking office with a raft of priorities, he's realized he needs to focus on a few key issues at a time - Doyle McManus, latimes.com:

On Afghanistan, aides say Obama now regrets the hasty decision he made in March to announce that the goal in Afghanistan was to defeat the Taliban and forge a stable democracy. Obama told columnists last week he now realizes his initial definition of the mission was too grand and led his military commanders to "start viewing the mission expansively." Instead, he said, he wanted to define a "narrow mission" -- not building a new Afghanistan, merely "ensuring enough stability that we're able to keep pressure on Al Qaeda." Image from

Obama, the anti-Churchill? - Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post: Obama is searching for a post-imperial policy in the midst of an imperial crisis. The qualified surge -- send in troops to regain the momentum but then draw down -- is his answer to this dilemma. By the end of 2011, the United States will have spent 10 years, thousands of lives and $2 trillion trying to create stable, democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the most difficult, divided countries in the world. It will be time to move on.

In Afghan troop surge, shades of Iraq - Fred Hiatt, Washington Post:

Iraq shows that forceful, strategic intervention can shape events and redefine inevitability.

Images from and from

When Islamist foreign policies hurt Muslims: Turkey's government and leader bash the West for transgressions while absolving anti-Western regimes of their sins. This hurts ordinary Muslims from Darfur to Chechnya to Iran - Soner Cagaptay, latimes.com: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet today with President Obama in Washington. This is a chance for Obama, who visited Ankara in April in a charm offensive to win Turkish hearts, to have a discussion with Erdogan about Turkey's ill-conceived foreign policy, which is bad for the West and for Muslims.

Beyond Copenhagen – Editorial, New York Times: Nobody should expect a planet-saving agreement from the negotiations that begin this week in Copenhagen aimed at reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases. But the talks were in real danger of blowing up not long ago. Now there is a good chance for at least an interim deal, mainly because the United States and China, the world’s two biggest emitters, have promised to reduce or slow their emissions and their two leaders have agreed to attend. Below image from

Fresh air in Copenhagen: A sound approach for getting climate-change aid to developing countries - Editorial, Washington Post: While the commitments on the table before the conference -- most recently from the United States, China and the subcontinent -- are almost certainly inadequate, they have made possible a Copenhagen agreement that will at least put the world on the right path.

US propaganda film: about Lebanon in 1958 - As'ad, Angry Arab News Service: This is an amusing US propaganda film about the 1958 mini-civil war in Lebanon, and US intervention.


ONE MORE QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"This country has too many parties without people and too many people without a party."


--A participant in an anti-Berlusconi demonstration in Rome; image from