January 24

“Jenny, for Christ’s sake, how can I read John Stuart Mill when every single second I’m dying to make love to you?”

--Line from Love Story, the oh-so-late-twentieth-century bestseller from the recently deceased (at age 72) Erich Segal; image from; see also

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Osama Bin Laden as Che Guevara, and Other Dumb Narratives - Joshua Holland, AlterNet (blog): "[T]he truth is that the al Qaeda movement is broad and attracts a lot more of those 'wretched of the earth' from Waziristan than it does high-flying physicians with connections in the Jordanian intelligence community. The latter may offer the kind of stories the Western media investigate in depth, but that doesn’t make them representative of the larger dynamic. And from that flawed analysis comes some really poor conclusions [by Washington Post columnist Anne Appelbaum]: ['] Perhaps it sounds strange, but they remind me of the early Bolsheviks, who were also educated, multinational and ambitious, and who also often lacked the social cachet to be successful. Lenin's family, for example, clung desperately to its status on the lowest rung of the czarist aristocracy...['] The analogy to the Cold War is as lazy as it is prevalent. And of course, it leads to the conclusion, as it inevitably does, that we need to waste more money

on 'public diplomacy' — propaganda to win 'hearts and minds.'" Waste money image from

Are Glassman and Doran right on Iran? - Daniel Florian Blog: "Last week, I had a brief Twitter dispute with Matt Armstrong (@Mountainrunner) on James K. Glassman’s and Michael Doran’s Wall Street Journal article on what kind of diplomacy the USA should use to 'undermine the regime in Tehran'. In this article, Glassman (who was George W. Bush’s last Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and gained a great reputation for his clever use of social media tools) and Professor Doran argue that rather than using force to eliminate thre threat of a nuclear Iran, the US should use its soft power.
Obviously, I am all for this approach, but it nevertheless seems to me that some of their proposals are too far reaching and rather resemble clandestine operations than public diplomacy instruments or soft power. ... [I]f public diplomacy becomes a synonym for regime change, it will loose the broad support it needs in order to be successful." Image from article

Winning the Ground Battles but Losing the Information War - Gina Cairns-McFeeters, John Shapiro, Steve Nettleton, Sonya Finley and Daryk Zirkle, Small Wars Journal: "As we move toward a whole of government solution on extremist websites, and the use of the wider information environment to incite violence, we must keep in mind the dynamic nature of the internet and use that to our strategic advantage. While we conduct operations to reduce the amount of extremist messages, we must also be able to continuously fill the gaps with viable alternatives to the extremist narrative. As reported by the AP, Saudi Arabia has had relative success in directly engaging potential terrorist recruits and offering them a less radical path. Of 2,631 militants engaged by the Saudi program, 1,170 withdrew the support for extremists. An analogous U.S. program would necessarily have to be run by credible constituents. Fortunately, the U.S. has experience in this, as exemplified by the Alliance of Youth Movements discussed by former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James Glassman in April. This approach requires long term strategic planning, a tolerance of criticism from within the government, and assistance from international partners for maximum effect. ... It is absolutely critical for every government agency within the U.S. government to participate, coordinate, cooperate, and arrive at a final, integrated and definitive standard of Strategic Communications against terrorists. ... The war fighting environment is changing and the arsenal is now communications and information systems. Keyboards

are becoming the weapons of choice—are we ready to take on the challenge or are we going to cede victory to the enemy because we have not yet finished the debate on how to adapt for future operations?" See also. Image from

The lies and fabrications of US propaganda outlets: the case of Radio Sawa - As'ad, The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب

Panel speaks about future of media - Terri Kleckner, Central Florida Future: "A panel of seven professional journalists spoke Thursday, Jan. 21, on how the news media is transforming in today's digital age. The program explored the topic of ‘News Media in Transition: Trends and Future Prospects’ and was co-sponsored by the Global Perspectives Office, UCF LIFE, UCF Political Science Department, UCF Nicholson School of Communication, and the Global Connections Foundation. Suzanne Seggerman,

former PBS documentarian and current president and co-founder of Games for Change, gave the keynote address speaking on the importance of video games for learning and social change. ... Seggerman said that games address the issue of seeing others' perspectives and can even teach youth civic responsibility and engagement. ‘Popular culture can be used to transform the way we think and act about important issues,’ she said. ‘People are using World of Warcraft for public diplomacy.'" Seggerman image from

The 1960 VOA essay that still generates other essays on art and ideology – Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "'Nancy Jachec ... in 1998 claimed that because ‘Modernist Painting’ was written for the Voice of America (VOA), [art critic Clement] Greenberg 'would have been particularly attentive to its political slant.'

By Jachec’s account, Greenberg had irrevocably retreated from socialism during 1947. Following Jachec, to whom he acknowledged a debt, Francis Frascina noted that the title had derived from a request by Lamar Dodd, coordinator of the VOA forum series 'The Visual Arts in Mid-Century America'. After linking the agendas of the VOA’s umbrella organization, the United States Information Agency (USIA), with the CIA he then determined, with potent implications, that Greenberg’s revisions to articles for Art and Culture were ‘evidence of attempts to make them consistent with the views and terminology evident in 'Modernist Painting'. These changes included replacing the term 'modern' with 'modernist'. ... Both Jachec and Frascina were seemingly informed by O’Brian’s comment that the VOA was used as a 'propaganda instrument of American foreign policy'. This may be so, but does this necessarily mean that Greenberg was a compliant party to the VOA’s agenda?’ Sheila Christofides, Forth Magazine (Dublin), 16 January 2010. Greenberg's 'Modernist Painting,' an important essay of art criticism, 'appeared first in 1960 as a pamphlet in a series published by the Voice of America. It had been broadcast over that agency's radio in the spring of the same year.' Terry Fenton, sharecom.ca, with full text of the essay. The Wikipedia entry about Greenberg states that '[i]n December 1950, he joined the CIA-fronted American Committee for Cultural Freedom.'" Jackson Pollock image from

Obama likely to skip opening ceremonies [at winter Olympics] - Stephanie Levitz, Toronto Sun: "While ... leaders ostensibly attend Games in order to show support for their athletes, there is a measure of public diplomacy involved.”

India warns West: 'We have to grow' - Faisal Islam, ‎Channel 4 News (blog) – "[T]he environment minister [the Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh], himself now sees the need to engage in some public diplomacy with the West. The message: Stop consuming and sacrifice some of your own energy rich lifestyles, before you try to bind the likes of India."

Y&F People: All About Alina Syunkova - Beverly Rose, The Young and Fabulous:

"Being a cultural chameleon can be tough, but Bianca’s fellow Stanford alum Alina Syunkova does it in style. She’s gone back and forth between Moscow and the U.S. her entire life, and has become a paragon of the best of both worlds. Multilingual, cosmopolitan and quite fashionable to boot, Alina now works as a Communications and Events Officer at the British Embassy in Moscow, living her dream as a liaison between Russia and the West. ... [Syunkova:][']I manage the Embassy’s busy events schedule as part of the Press & Public Affairs Section. My job is a big part of public diplomacy: whereas classic diplomacy is aimed at influencing policymakers, public diplomacy aims to engage and inform the wider public on issues that policy affects. It’s sometimes tough to organise up to three events per week – most are after-5 p.m. receptions designed for 120-150 guests, including policy decisionmakers, culture influencers, celebrities, senior-level corporate executives, students, diplomats. By bringing together the right mix of people – those who can relay the message and those who are eager to hear about it, write about it, and pass it along – we conduct public diplomacy. It’s a much more up-close and personal type of marketing than publishing informational leaflets. I love working directly with people in this way. The Press & Public Affairs often collaborate with the U.K. Trade & Investment team to increase the public and media profile of events that are commercial in nature.[']" Image from

New Path - Wandering Aimfully: "If I have any followers these days, I would let you know that I have certainly been wandering aimfully out of range of this blog for quite awhile. But much good stuff is happening. The world will be pleased to know that the wanderer has returned to the blogosphere, thanks to an assignment in my Public Affairs class at Emerson College. Subsequent posts this spring will relate to Public Relations, Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy...and of course, anything else I happen to wander into.”"

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

International Students and US Global Power in the Long 20th Century - Paul A. Kramer, Japan Focus: "[T]he history of foreign student migration ought to be explored as U. S. international history, that is, as related to the question of U. S. power in its transnational and global extensions. In this sense, my argument here is topical: that historians of U. S. foreign relations might profitably study international students

and, in the process, bring to the fore intersections between 'student exchange' and geopolitics. The payoffs would be wide-ranging. Such scholarship would enrich our knowledge of the junctures between U. S. colleges and universities and American imperial power in the 20th century. To the extent that international students participated in the diffusion and adaptation of social, economic, and technical models they encountered in the United States, such studies would contribute to the historiography of 'modernization,' 'Americanization' and 'development.' As witnesses, victims and sometimes challengers of racial exclusion in the United States, foreign students were important if still neglected protagonists in the politics of 'Cold War civil rights.' Such research might explore the historical and institutional specificities of student migration within the broader panorama of 'cultural diplomacy' efforts. Eventually, such histories might make possible large-scale comparative work on the geopolitical dynamics of student migration across educational metropoles." Image from

Gov't outlines main foreign policy directions - ANA: "Presenting Greece's main foreign policy goals and directions on Monday, Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas stressed that the key aim for Athens is to occupy its rightful position on the international scene. ... He referred to a series of planned changes in the organisation and working methods of the foreign ministry and Greek diplomacy, in order to better use the country's 'added value'. The minister also announced that the focus will be shifted more to economic and energy diplomacy through the support of Greek businesses abroad, secondly to cultural diplomacy and promoting Greece as a tourism destination through closer cooperation with the culture ministry. Thirdly, he emphasised developmental diplomacy, with a shift toward green development."

Istanbul festival employs cultural diplomacy - Delphine Strauss, Financial Times: [by subscription; entry from Google]: "Cultural diplomacy is becoming an important tool for Turkey as its bid for European Union membership falters."

President perfects art of cultural diplomacy at ambassadors' party - Grainne Cunningham, Irish Independent: "58 diplomats and their families attended President Mary McAleese's

annual New Year reception for ambassadors and charges d'affaires. Many of those who attended wore their national dress, ensuring a blend of beautiful African fabrics, exotic Indian saris and the quaint waistcoats and long skirts of some of the eastern European countries." McAleese image from

Top Spanish Art Showcased in Ljubljana - STA-Slovenska Tiskovna Agencija (subscription): [by subscription; entry from Google]: "[Slovenia’s Minister of Culture] Majda Sirca underscored the importance of cultural diplomacy, noting that Spain had come to Slovenia not only with Picasso, 'who rules by definition.'"

Ankole needs identity, not a king - New Vision: "Instead of seeking to crown a king, the Nkore Cultural Trust should, through cultural diplomacy, help the clans of Nkore to federate into a new Nkore cultural identity.

The federation would preserve and advance Nkore culture." On Nkore Cultural Trust, see. Image: state flag of the Kingdom of Ankole from

RELATED ITEMS

Kabul Promotes Its Side of Taliban Attack - Yaroslav Trofimov, Wall Street Journal: The propaganda war between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban has just escalated, as each side offers starkly different accounts of Monday's insurgent attacks on central Kabul. Until recently, the Taliban proved far better than the disorganized Afghan government in spreading their message. But this time, Afghan officials -- with American support -- have mounted a newly sophisticated effort to present their view of events, culminating with an award ceremony Thursday for Afghan soldiers who helped repel the insurgents.

Arabs demand special satellite channels to beam Islamic propaganda into Europe/America, promise not to fuel terrorism and anti-American incitement…- sheikyermami, Winds Of Jihad: Arab Information Ministers hold a meeting on Sunday to discuss proposals to forge a common media strategy to counter Israeli plans to Judaize Jerusalem and demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound.

The Arab Information Ministers’ Council will discuss setting up an Arab media commission and US Congress legislation that calls for punitive measures against satellite providers who contact entities accused of fueling terrorism and anti-American incitement. Image from article

Exhibition of Soviet-Era Posters to Open at the Fleming Museum - Art Daily: Nearly twenty years after the demise of the Soviet Union, the Fleming Museum brings to Vermont an extraordinary collection of Soviet graphic arts. The exhibition Views and Reviews: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons opens at the Fleming Museum on Friday, January 29 and presents a stunning array of images spanning more than six decades from the time of the Russian Civil War (1918-1921) - during which period the Bolsheviks and their western-backed opponents struggled for control of the new state - to the late Soviet period. Propaganda in the Soviet Union took many forms.

As a complement to this exhibition, there is a sampling of Soviet pins -"wearable propaganda." Ranging in theme from political leaders to the celebration of anniversaries, cultural landmarks, great harvests, Soviet holidays, and major Soviet achievements, these pins present not only intriguing subject matter, but their small, yet strong designs and bold color make them a perfect counterpoint to the dramatic propaganda posters on display. Image from article: Mikhail Baljasnij, Communism means Soviets, plus the electrification of the whole country, 1930. Lithograph, 9 1⁄4” x 27 3⁄4”. Courtesy private collection.

MORE QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“[T]he time is not far off when the typical 10-year-old will have the equivalent of the Library of Alexandria in her backpack.”

--Daniel Akst, a former columnist and technology editor at the Los Angeles Times

"In 1976 Harvard psychologist Ellen J. Langer and Judith Rodin, now president of the Rockefeller Foundation, conducted a study in a New England nursing home in which the residents were given plants, but only some had the opportunity to water them.

Those residents who were in charge of watering the plants lived longer and healthier lives than the others, even those those given plants watered by the staff."

--Michael Shermer, "Cultivate Your Garden," Scientific American (February 2010), p. 30; Image not from article