April 16

"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."

--Publilius Syrus (100 BC); image from

NEW PUBLICATION

Kazuo Ogoura, Japan's Cultural Diplomacy (Japan Foundation, 2009). Courtesy of Mr. Ogoura

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE NEWS

Time to Decouple Visa Waiver Program from Biometric Exit - Jena Baker McNeill, Heritage.org:

"Currently, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which affords foreign travelers from member nations the ability to travel to the United States without a visa, remains at a relative standstill in terms of adding new countries to its membership roster. ... This lack of momentum is largely the result of the current biometric air exit mandate, which prevents the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from adding new countries into the program until the U.S. is biometrically tracking (through fingerprinting) the departure of foreign visitors from U.S. airports. While Congress and DHS may see deployment of biometric exit as a necessary step toward understanding the number of visa overstays inside the U.S., the expansion of VWP should not be inhibited by the failure to produce a biometric system. Congress should remove this hurdle by decoupling VWP from the exit requirement and paving the way for the admission of new member countries. ... Public Diplomacy. In 2008, nearly 17 million travelers visited the U.S. through the VWP. These visitors not only invested in the U.S. economy—having spent more than $100 billion in U.S. restaurants, hotels, and shops—but they were able to take back with them ideas about American culture, an experience that often helps to improve America’s image in the world." Image from

Voice of the Mullahs? Not quite – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "In an unsigned editorial titled 'Voice of the Mullahs', The Washington Times charges the 'Voice of America is becoming the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' … Somebody at The Washington Times is either confused or being mislead, or both."

The Washington Times hopes Tehran keeps jamming VOA (updated) - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

How The Spooks Took Over The News - Gheorghe Alexeev's Blog:

"The Pentagon has now designated 'information operations' as its fifth 'core competency' alongside land, sea, air and special forces. Since October 2006, every brigade, division and corps in the US military has had its own 'psyop' element producing output for local media. This military activity is linked to the State Department’s campaign of 'public diplomacy' which includes funding radio stations and news websites." Image from

New blog on the block: The Campaign War Room – Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner.us: "There’s a new blog focused on 'analysis of communication and strategy': The Campaign War Room by James Frayne. James has a background in political communication and, as he told me last year, is frustrated that 'all the standard rules of communications that are accepted in politics and commercial communications seem to be rejected by IO practitioners.' After reading his post about the recent meeting of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, his frustrations appear at least intact."

Labels and Credibility – Graig Hayden, Intermap: "So I was at the Confucius Institute at the University of Maryland this week doing some research for my book on comparative public diplomacy. I had a great discussion with the directors of the program. They offered a number of insights and were very welcoming. I’d like to share something that came out of the meeting that adds some perspective to recent US attempts to rehabilitate US public diplomacy strategy. The individuals I spoke with seemed pretty sure what they did was not public diplomacy – and were somewhat ambivalent about the term cultural diplomacy. For the Confucius Institute – their 'mission' was primarily defined as education and educational partnership. ... The Confucius Institute arguably does great work, and offers an important conceptual distinction akin to outfits like the British Council: where a cultural diplomacy center sustains its credibility by its independence from government policy-making. This kind of self-identification sustains the historical difficulty in linking public and cultural diplomacy. This historical trend, however, may be at odds with the nascent 'fusionist' perspective elsewhere, where organizations like the US Dept of State increasingly employ the implicit language and strategies of public diplomacy in their redefinition of traditional diplomatic institutions. I’m not sure how these two trends would be easily resolved conceptually or institutionally."

Jonathan's US visit and prospect of 2011 polls - Nigerian Compass: “[W]hen Acting President Jonathan came on board, one of the major tasks placed before him was to take the necessary steps to convince American government that Nigeria is not what it is branded.

An analyst said … 'The government must rather develop public diplomacy strategies that delegitimize terrorism through poverty alleviation, creating employment opportunities for young people, providing free education, and building static infrastructure that can support strategic development.' Hence, the wide approval Jonathan received when he was invited by Obama to attend the maiden Nuclear Security Summit organised by the US government." Jonathan image from article.

Fellow Participant: David Halperin - Steve's World: "Today we hear from David Halperin. … Name: David Halperin Professional Life Assistant Director, Israel Policy Forum (IPF); Consultant, Center for American Progress … What do you hope to gain from the trip to Turkey? [Halperin:] A stronger understanding of the views of the Turkish public to its emerging influence in a variety of international arenas, as well as their views of US policies and how and why US public diplomacy efforts may be falling short in Turkey. To the extent we can address the challenges facing the policy differences between the two countries, how they can better communicate to overcome such differences, and ultimately develop ideas for educating both publics on the importance of the bilateral relationship would be cool. Sounds ambitious, but our group is capable, if you ask me."

Leave it to Turkish soap operas to conquer hearts and minds - Nadia Bilbassy-Charters, Foreign Policy: "Who said that capturing hearts and minds in the Muslim world is mission impossible? It's just that the United States hasn't figured out the right way to do it. Sometimes, it seems the U.S. government still thinks that public diplomacy is exchange students and a few diplomats who can speak Arabic and struggle on satellite television in the region to explain U.S. foreign policy. Welcome to the power of the stars! I am not talking about the ones in the sky, but rather a handful of good-looking blond and dark Turkish movie stars who are taking the Arab world by storm.

Four-hundred years after a nasty occupation of Arab land by the forefathers of these young Turks, the Arab world is embracing Turkey, opening its living rooms and flocking around their television sets to watch over 140 episodes of second-rate Turkish soap operas that don't even do well in Turkey itself. … The broader impact of the story is that a simple television production can be utilized as a potent social tool to effect change and influence thinking -- and in the process win a few million hearts and minds. And Turkish soaps are not just about romance, glamour, and secular values wrapped under a Muslim banner. A new soap with more overt political overtones has recently gone on air on MBC (where I am a reporter)." Image from, with following text: I just returned from a week in Turkey with the boyfriend, and it was, as expected, fantastic. We hit the beach, took a cruise, went parasailing, and traveled to Pamukkale (the cotton castle) and the ancient city of Hierapolis, which boasts an amphitheatre from the second century and a natural spring bath. We visited a carpet factory and watched the creation process of handmade carpets, drank loads of traditional apple tea, and hit the local market and bazaar. A high point of a great trip, however, was taking a Turkish bath (the Hamam). I’d heard of Turkish baths plenty of times, but didn’t really understand what one entailed. Figuring that the best way to find out would be to try it, I signed the two of us up for one the second day of our visit.

Talk, talk and more talk can be enlightening - Richard Calland, Cape Town, South Africa, Mail & Guardian Online: "Host a roundtable discussion at Idasa's aptly named new Spin Street restaurant and bookshop where our visitor, Klavs Holm, Denmark's first ambassador for public diplomacy, brings a connoisseur's subject to life. It's about the need for governments to seek to influence a more complex array of non-state actors; old-fashioned foreign office to counterpart bilateral relationships will no longer suffice. Linking neatly with my previous evening, Holm tells his audience that 'people will form very quickly made decisions about another country and their views can change very rapidly'. Denmark had to deal with the Islamic cartoon a year or two back. Even if they had wanted to use traditional methods, the question was who to talk to? The 'offence', after all, was to the whole of the Islamic world. But they talked and talked, to as many of the think-tanks and media outlets they could, reminding people that one cartoonist is not a nation (note to Zapiro) and that Denmark's commitment to freedom of expression is a deeply held cultural value. Holms is compelling on the related subject of 'nation branding'. Denmark's is built on the foundations of a happy people who care about the climate, are strong on design and have a flexible attitude to employment law, based, in turn, on very strong social security provision. With the Rainbow fading, does South Africa have a durable, cohesive brand beyond Mandela? "

Government attacks Georgian Diaspora meeting - Messenger.ge:

"Vladimir Putin has a new strategic plan to damage Georgia's interests and will try to use Georgian Diaspora representatives to implement it, Minister for Diaspora Issues Papuna Davitaia stated on April 15. 'Aleksandre Ebralidze, a businessman with a criminal past, and his organisation the World Congress of Georgian People, are planning to gather Georgian Diaspora representatives in Saint Petersburg on April 22-23. The plan of Russian Prime Minister Putin is to use these people to undermine the present Georgian Government. The Congress has offered to cover all the expenses of Georgian Diaspora representatives attending this assembly. By organising this meeting Russian Special Services wants to make out that a significant number of honourable people in Georgian society oppose the present Government.’ ... If such meetings are part of public diplomacy we have nothing against them, Manana Nachkebia from the Alliance for Georgia told The Messenger. 'We have always said that the restoration of relations is needed, and if this meeting is part of public diplomacy, and significant issues will be discussed, I can see nothing negative in participating in it. However the restoration of relations depends more on the authorities of the two countries rather than the opposition or Diaspora. If some anti-Georgian issues, like revolution and so on, are discussed this will be unacceptable.'" Image from

Why Do You Want to be a Journalist? - Zuleqa Husain, The Muslim Observer: "As I gain international media experience, I hope to join the policy-making community in the public diplomacy sector of the federal government. ... When I got a job as a reporter for Voice of America, for the first time, I felt like I was making a significant contribution. I was telling the true American story to the people of Pakistan and there was a considerable effect. We would get calls from viewers in Pakistan amazed that a hijabi Muslim in America was able to report on a story without being attacked on the street for being visibly Muslim."

At VOA, I was able to bring the American-Muslim story to light for the Muslim populations worldwide. Our show was broadcast to 11 million viewers across the world. ... Just last week, the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale rolled out a new communication strategy with the Muslim world, one that involved pro-actively shaping global narratives. In a statement to Congress, she announced a redefining of the State department to include a position for Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Media. ... After working for a number of years in the news networks, I see myself working for the Public Diplomacy arm of the State department as an international media expert." Husain image from

Murrow, McCarthy and the media frontier analyzed - Alexa Sasanow, Tufts Daily: “'Despite the Internet and despite the lack of controls we witnessed, we as a country walked into the war in Iraq without the media doing its job,' Crocker Snow, the director of the Edward R. Murrow Center for Public Diplomacy at the Fletcher School, said."

Presentation on Diplomacy 2.0 at the Tel Aviv University - Yaron Gamburg, small talk 2.0: "On April 13, Ilan Sztulman, deputy director of Public Diplomacy department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and myself gave a presentation and answered questions from the audience at the Tel Aviv University, at the event organized by Internet Research center of Netvision 013."

Indonesian ambassador presents credentials to Norwegian King - Antara: "Indonesian Ambassador for Norway and Iceland Esti Andayani has presented her credentials to the Norwegian King at the Royal Palace in Oslo Thursday, Third Secretary at the Indonesian Embassy in the Norwegian capital Febby Fahrani said Friday. ... She joined the foreign service in 1985, was technical cooperation director at the Information and Public Diplomacy Director, and commodity and standardization director at the Multilateral Directorate General at the Foreign Ministry."

Job - Diego Agudelo's English IV Blog [Colombia]:

"The U.S. Embassy is seeking a program assistant to work in the public affairs section with primary responsability [sic] for grants management and limited oversight and substantial coordination and reporting for all Public Diplomacy finantial [sic] transactions, fluent in English and Spanish." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

Russian Propaganda: First Inventing a Story and then Trying to Use It Retroactively - Giorgi Kvelashvili, Georgian Daily: As often happens in the Kremlin’s international relations, a problem is created and then followed by bargaining to offer a solution. Something similar is happening in Russian propaganda.

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