April 20

"All media must accept propaganda discipline."

--Qinghai Province official Jidi Majia; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Iran's Nuclear Program: Does the US Have a Strategy? - Jeffrey Chatterton, Heritage.org: "[T]he White House apparently lacks a long-range strategy to deal with Iran now that engagement has clearly failed. ... On the human rights front, the U.S. should use public diplomacy to discredit the regime’s legitimacy and offer support to opposition groups, such as the Green Movement. If Washington is finally moving beyond engagement, the Administration must decisively adopt a new strategy that prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, protects America and its allies, and advances the freedom of the Iranian people."

International Education Will Strengthen Our Country - Victor C. Johnson, NAFSA - Lee Hamilton, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, and a former U.S. Congressman, makes a powerful case for investment in and advancement of international education in 'Exploit soft power of colleges' published yesterday by The Indianapolis Star. ...

Hamilton makes a compelling case for the important role of international education in public diplomacy, writing: ['] Look no further than the roster for last week’s Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, a nearly unprecedented gathering of world leaders to discuss the most important issue in international security: nuclear proliferation. Among those in attendance were Mexican President Felipé Calderón, Chilean President Sebastian Piñeira, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. All are products of American universities whose familiarity with the United States is an asset to their countries and ours. ['] Before these individuals were world leaders, they were international students. Generations of American foreign-policy leaders like Lee Hamilton have pointed to educational exchanges as one of our most successful foreign policy tools, the most proven and effective way for the United States to build a foundation for dialogue and partnership with the rest of the world." Hamilton image from

Tehran summit: Public diplomacy initiative or just a nice try?‎ - Cihan Çelik, Hurriyet Daily News: "Some might have thought it was ironic for a country, which has been long accused of having desires to build nuclear bombs, to organize an international conference on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. However, I simply did not. On the contrary, I thought the International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in Tehran over the weekend was a remarkable attempt at public diplomacy for a nation which has some problems 'being understood by the Western world,' as a foreign ministry spokesperson explained. ... Organizing an international conference on a delicate issue showed Iran is now seeking an active, if not aggressive, diplomacy and wanting to create and also dominate the agenda. But the first wrong step for Iran was to turn the weekend’s summit into a high-profile gathering at the very last minute. ... Still, Tehran denied the comments branding its conference as a 'counter effort' against a similar meeting in the United States. Every single Iranian official said it was planned 'long, long before' the nuclear security summit in Washington and also said the two meetings have different agendas. They say the Tehran summit particularly focused on nuclear disarmament issue while the U.S. hosted summit discussed nuclear security in general. But even I could not stop myself thinking it was indeed a counter attempt. There was no harm in accepting it."

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Envoy To Pakistan And Afghanistan, Holds A News Briefing On Afghanistan And Pakistan - The Associated Press, mlive.com: "HOLBROOKE: Then we would notionally break down into break-out groups on a whole range of topics, from rule of law to communications to agriculture, et cetera. And then in the afternoon on the 11th, we would hope that there would be a intense bilateral between the secretary of state and President Karzai. On the 12th is White House day.

I'll leave the president announce the invitation. I will leave all details of the White House planning to the White House to discuss with you as it develops. On the 13th would be public diplomacy day on Capitol Hill and think tanks, whatever. We'll leave that to President Karzai to decide. On the 14th, some private time and departure." Image from

Afghanistan's Empty Playgrounds - Laura McGinnis, manIC: "Foreign aid can be a public diplomacy tool, if it represents an understanding of a population's desires. But programs that confirm the donor's ignorance of the recipients needs are unlikely to generate a flood of goodwill. Resources for aid and public diplomacy are limited, of course, and playing is an essential part of development."

Rising and Falling on Internet Freedom - "Chinese people are able to organize against pol[i]tical oppression. The power of ideas can change the world. We should not hesitate stand firmly on the side of freedom.

Helle Dalle is senior fellow for Public Diplomacy in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Iternational Studies of the Heritage Foundation." Image from

Leading by example - Siphamandla Zondi, The Witness: "I realised that one should never underestimate the contaminating power of U.S. public diplomacy. It is capable of conditioning one’s thinking about every move that the U.S. makes. The experts behind it are so good that they know how to hoodwink us, gullible foreign audiences (what they call 'publics'), into religiously believing their side of the story through a combination of emotional hooks and witty talk. Of course, the U.S. has a full arsenal of public diplomacy tools to use for that purpose: from semi-commercial 24-hour news channels to the most popular search engines on the Internet — all unashamedly proudly American. You just cannot miss their perspective, often presented as an objective analysis of U.S. positions on global issues."

Jingoism As News‎ - A.G. Noorani, Frontline - "The speeches delivered by National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and China’s Ambassador Zhang Yan in New Delhi on April 1 should prod furious thinking on the role of the media in the conduct of foreign policy.

They were speaking at a seminar on 'India and China: Public Diplomacy, Building Understanding'. ... These remarks should be read in the context of the frenzy in the print media and hysteria in its electronic partner not long ago." Image from

Collateral damage in Sra Vella‎ - Mosharraf Zaidi, The News International - "It is now clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Pakistani military authorised and conducted the aerial bombardment of the Sra Vella area in Tirah Valley with Pakistan Air Force planes that led to the death of at least 61 innocent Pakistanis. ... [T]he Pakistani military's public diplomacy has to be questioned. ... What is ... disconcerting is the idea in the minds of some within the military that an apology is an adequate way of addressing a problem that is clearly not a one-off incident."

'Independence War hasn't ended' - Herb Keinon and David Horovitz, Jerusalem Post: "Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe 'Bogie' Ya’alon ... [is a] former kibbutznik, head of Military Intelligence, OC Central Command, and chief of General Staff, Ya’alon speaks about Israel’s current challenges vis-à-vis the Palestinians, Iran and the US Administration from experience. ... Ya’alon: [']No new settlements are being built; no additional land is being grabbed. ... We are not expanding the territory, or building new settlements.

But they are evading. I know why. Because it is comfortable for Abu Mazen to continue forever without coming to a resolution. ... Let’s remember what we are talking about. [Q:] Maybe because he wants an imposed solution? [A:] OK, but that is what we have to struggle against, politically – in terms of hasbara [public diplomacy] – both domestically and abroad.'" Ya'alon image from

Public diplomacy reaps more success - VietNamNet Bridge: "Participants in a conference held by the Central Commission for External Relations in Hanoi on April 19 emphasized the importance of people-to-people diplomacy in relation to State diplomacy and Party external relations. According to speakers, Vietnam’s public diplomacy has continued to play an active role in expanding cooperation and diversifying forms of activities while deepening the ties with traditional friends, progressive forces worldwide and major regions in 2010. ... Participants said more coordination is needed between domestic agencies and Vietnamese embassies to promote the images of the Vietnamese land and people and refute incorrect arguments by hostile forces as well as prevent other misunderstandings about Vietnam. ... In 2009, Vietnam sent more than 700 delegations abroad comprising nearly 5,000 people, and received some 600 international delegations of nearly 6,000 people in total through the channel of public diplomacy."

Living in the Imagination of the World: Treme, Cultural Diplomacy and the International Exhibition - Linda Constant, Huffington Post: "[T]he utility of cultural outreach and cultural diplomacy will continue to tangentially develop and redefine itself, evidenced by the distinct yet analogous ways in which the large scale international art exhibition has already been interpreted and used.

Though cultural diplomacy has traditionally been categorized in the realm of national governments, other definitive identities are also using their cultures to broadcast to the world. With the various cultural diplomacy endeavors that began during the Cold War, which have since exponentially evolved thanks to our vast information networks, the future of cultural discourse will be informed by our historical backdrop of diplomacy coupled with the increasing reality of a globalized society." Image from

RELATED ITEMS

The Right and Wrong Kind of Presidential Criticism - Jeff Schreiber, americasright.com: Thanks in part to attention paid to them by Matt Drudge and his Drudge Report site, two stories are circulating the Internet now and will likely be the topic of conversation among and ire from many on the right today. The first story is an Associated Press piece featured in yesterday’s Warsaw Business Journal. The second is a news piece run in yesterday’s Washington Times here at home in the States. Both point out that President Obama played 18 holes of golf rather than attend yesterday’s funeral for the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski, killed last week along with his wife and a number of other dignitaries in a terrible airplane crash in Russia. The connotation that President Barack Obama somehow actively chose to swing the clubs rather than attend Kaczynski’s funeral is, on its face, patently unfair. If we’re going to criticize the president for snubbing Poland, let’s not criticize him for failing to foresee an act of God which has halted travel for so many people across the globe. Instead, let’s point out the times that this president has forsaken our allies, even in perfect weather.

Bin Laden no Longer Involved in Social Networking - ecanadanow.com: Facebook, the place where every aspect of one’s life can be displayed for the public is very popular. Even Bin Laden had a Facebook page, where he could distribute propaganda and Islamic videos. Naturally, he himself probably did not run the operation because of the bounty on his head and the need to keep out of the public view. It has been reported that his Facebook page was shut down. He did have a catchy address called “the mountains of the world.” U.S. security officials urged that the Facebook page be shut down and it was.

It was not that popular and only attracted about 1,000 visitors, not a high number for a high-profile figure. The website had the usual propaganda showing the often repeated members of al-Qaeda going through the training with the horizontal ladders that has been shown too many times for being effective any longer in garnering recruits. Facebook was able to use the “term hateful and threatening” as an excuse to close the page down. Image from

In North Korea, Juche Iron vs. American Crows - B.R. Myers, New York Times: The North Korean regime, having been relatively cautious in its economic propaganda for decades, now boldly promises that the North will attain the status of a “strong and prosperous country” by 2012.

First World War sketches unveiled in Britain after 94 years – sify.com:

A series of previously unseen drawings of the First World War have been unveiled 94 years after they were deemed to be too sensitive for the British public. The drawings by Sir Muirhead Bone were first published in newspapers to boost morale at home, and in a 1916 book entitled 'The Western Front'. Sir Muirhead was sent to France during the Battle of the Somme, where thousands of British Army personnel were slaughtered as they attempted to drive back the Germans. The intelligence and propaganda chiefs, however, told him that his job was to record the war in a manner that would not dissuade young men from enlisting. "It was more propaganda than recording the reality. It was all about presenting the right image to show our war effort was just, with one eye on recruiting more soldiers,"The Scotsman quoted Tim Barlass, publisher of The Western Front's new version, as saying. Image from

The Asian Art Museum does Shanghai: opium hulks, Communist propaganda, and neon brush strokes - Lisa Katayama, Shanghai Number One Department Store, 1955. By Chen Fei (Chinese, dates unknown), published by the Shanghai Picture Publishing House. Chromolithograph on paper. Private collection.

During the Cultural Revolution, all the private art studios were shut down and replaced by the government-owned Shanghai Picture Publishing House, where old artists were reformed and new artists were trained to create propaganda posters and ads. This one, called Shanghai Number One Department Store, shows a busy lower class superstore. It was the easiest and most efficient way to sell people on an idea. Those who publicly opposed this type of art were persecuted and publicly humiliated. Image from article