July 6

"The Russian spies tried to blend in. They were acting like Americans. As a matter of fact, for two weeks, they were pretending they loved soccer."

--Talk-show host David Letterman, cited Bulletin News, LLC.; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Democracy in trouble - ‎Anne Applebaum, Washington Post: "It was standing-room only on Saturday for Hillary Clinton's speech at the 10th anniversary meeting of the Community of Democracies, and the American secretary of state had the crowd behind her. ... American democracy promotion has taken different forms in recent decades, from the Reagan administration's covert support for anti-communist dissidents to the relaunching of Radio Free Afghanistan in 2002. Right now, though, the whole concept is in trouble. This is partly because -- as [Secretary of State] Clinton and others have recently noted -- democracy is in trouble. ... But democracy promotion has also been unfairly discredited by the invasion of Iraq, a decision too often remembered as nothing more than a foolish 'war for democracy' that went predictably wrong. ... In fact, democracy promotion was not invented by a secret cabal of neocons

but is, rather, a long-standing tool of bipartisan American as well as Western foreign policy, one that has overlapped at times with both public diplomacy and foreign aid. ... We Americans tend to spend money on media (Radio Free Europe and its modern offshoots), on training (for judges, journalists, activists) and, yes, sometimes on covert funding of democrats in authoritarian countries. ... [W]e can continue funding those training programs and radio stations that might, someday, bear fruit. Clinton announced the administration's intention to contribute $2 million to a fund that would provide lawyers, cellphones and quick support for embattled civic organizations. It's not much -- a friend pointed out that some in the audience Saturday have more in their bank accounts -- but these things don't have to cost a lot." Image from

US cannot lecture Zimbabwe on democracy‎ - Nancy Pasipanodya, The Zimbabwe Guardian: "United States Minister of Foreign Affairs (or Secretary of State, as they would like to call her), Hillary Clinton recently made some ridiculous statement about Zimbabwe not being able to protect its own citizens. Following in the footsteps of former president George W Bush's famous 'Axis of Evil' speech, the U.S. chief diplomat said Zimbabwe, Iran and Egypt are countries that are responsible for 'crushing democracy'. ... As much as the government in Zimbabwe is not perfect, the crescendo about Zimbabwe is really about western countries' desire to control that country's mineral wealth. They have not been able to do so because of President Robert Mugabe; who is ever alert to the manipulations of the western world. No amount of public diplomacy by the U.S., E.U. and their allies will alter our view of what is just and what is not. In any case, the U.S. and other western countries have appaling human rights records themselves. Just look at Guantanamo Bay, Afghan[i]stan, Iraq, etc."

Terrorists: Nitwits or Masterminds? - Aaron Mannes terrorwonk.blogspot.com: "Recently, in the Atlantic Monthly Daniel Byman and Christine Fair (two first-rate analysts) argue that the reality is that the terrorist enemies of the United States are not highly disciplined religious fanatics – but in fact are a bunch of nitwits. ... I would be remiss if I did not note two important points their article makes. First that the less than pious behavior, as well as their tactical mishaps, could be important tools for American public diplomacy efforts to discredit them.

Second, Fair and Byman point out the importance of disrupting terrorist training facilities so that they can remain stupid. This is dead on – terrorist groups are adaptable, 'learning' organizations. If they cannot learn and transfer knowledge, they cannot survive. But another recent event highlights the adaptability of asymmetric opponents and perhaps is a caution against any kind of over-confidence. The Gaza Flotilla was a brilliantly planned operation on every level (tactical and strategic). ... There have been important gains against terrorism, but very serious dangers remain. There are a lot of dumb terrorists – but there are also more than enough smart ones." Image from

An Interview with Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks - Shlomo Zuckier, Kol Hamevaser, The Jewish Thought Magazine of the Yeshiva University Student Body: "While living in the Diaspora, how can we best support our brethren in Israel? Through constant hasbarah (public diplomacy). Many people do not understand the existential threat that Israelis live with every single day that began with the moment of Israel’s birth and that has continued to intensify ever since. We have to explain that Israel is the last great bastion of hope in the Middle East for democracy, with both an independent judiciary and a free press – in essence, a liberal democracy. If we lose Israel and that last best hope, God forbid, the Middle East will be impoverished, the world will be impoverished; freedom will have suffered one of its greatest defeats ever."

CfP: Transnational Dimensions of Cold War Anticommunism - d-princetonian.livejournal.com:

"In recent years there has also been growing interest in importance and impact of propaganda and public diplomacy conducted in particular by the US and its allies. When it comes to assessing these developments, the key question of the 'transnationality' of anti-communism has rarely been raised. This conference looks to explore this field in breadth and depth." Image from

Scholarships for female teachers and high school girls to participate in "Women2Women – America" - Education USA weekly updates – No. 180 *17 May 2010: "The purpose of the conference is to empower young women to become future leaders. To be accepted into Women2Women, applicants must demonstrate interest in leadership development, the democratic process and public diplomacy."

RELATED ITEMS

Obama's worst foreign-policy mistake - Mitt Romney, Washington Post:

Given President Obama's glaring domestic policy missteps, it is understandable that the public has largely been blinded to his foreign policy failings. In fact, these may have been even more damaging to America's future. The president's New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New-START) with Russia could be his worst foreign policy mistake yet. The treaty as submitted to the Senate should not be ratified. Romney image from

World Cup dreaming: Although soccer is the most popular sport around the world, in the U.S. it's far down the list. But our population is changing, and our view of ourselves may also change - Ariel Dorfman, latimes.com: We are living a moment in history when the very notion of American exceptionalism is under siege. If the United States were indeed to abandon the idea that it has been chosen by God to save the world, if its citizens were to really entertain the notion that they are just the same as humans all over the globe and not uniquely endowed with shining virtue, could they not someday join the rest of the species in celebrating the most beautiful sport of our time? Would it then be inconceivable that a few decades from now the U.S. could win the World Cup?

We Can All Still Cry for Ghana: World Cup soccer is a game that is beautiful — but also cruel and unfair - Matthew Kaminski, Wall Street Journal:

Maybe Americans will find soccer too unfair, hidebound and exasperating for the game to take off at home. Or maybe not. Team USA's dramatic run, though prematurely ended, gave Americans a taste of the awful, exhilarating feeling that comes with bleeding for your national team at a World Cup. Traumatic soccer memories only fester, never fade. World Cup image from

New Psy Ops Name Illustrates Dark Art's Spin - Elizabeth C., crabbygolightly.com: The U.S. military brass is performing a little psy ops on its own, changing the name of its psychological operations to Military Information Support Operations. The change is intended to make the propaganda branches sound "less ominous,"’ but the new terminology is ticking off service personnel who practice the manipulative arts to benefit the U.S. "I'm a psyop officer in afghanistan (sic) right now," wrote Mindbender at Wired. "…By pigeon-holing us into 'information,' the new name is either an attempt to limit us to the misperceived notion of 'leaflets' and 'loudspeaker' (which is but a very small fraction of our full capability), or some Orwellian attempt at subterfuge.


Either way, I and my brothers want no part of it." Image from article

Arabs And The Holocaust - Farooq Sulehria, arguewitheveryone.com: The Zionist propaganda machine happily advertises the outbursts of Holocaust deniers to paint Arabs and their supporters as barbarians lacking humanism. To further discredit Arabs, they swamp the West with literature on the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Hajj Amin, who was a supporter of Hitler. The London-based Arab intellectual Gilbert Achcar has come out with a brilliant book on the subject. His book, The Arabs and the Holocaust, debunks all clichés about Arab attitude towards the Holocaust. Arab attitudes vary on the Holocaust.

In ambitious India, workplace etiquette rounds out the coursework - Emily Wax, Washington Post: Although many skilled Indian workers have degrees from top universities, analysts said they are often jaw-droppingly inept at the basics of international workplace etiquette:

dressing properly, hosting a meeting, making inoffensive small talk and even using cutlery. Fearing that such deficiencies are hurting India's leadership potential, companies are spending millions of dollars on corporate finishing school for tens of thousands of workers. In many cases, those workers are products of India's burgeoning middle classes who are the first generation in their families to enter the nation's booming and globally minded economy. Image from