Tuesday, August 31, 2010

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at 5:02 PM
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August 31, 2010 - Creativity and Cancer Survivorship

Today I run across this little gem, an edited-down version of a talk by Monty Python member John Cleese on the subject of creativity:



Cleese may sound like an odd choice, at first, to give this sort of talk, but in fact - alongside the brilliant loopiness of his television and film projects - he’s long had interests in being a serious academic. For a while he was Rector of the University of St. Andrews, where I did my Ph.D. (alas, just before my time there, so I never met him). He transformed the Rectorship - until then, a largely honorific, student-chosen position - into one that engaged with the University administration on a number of issues of importance to students.

The advice Cleese gives here is down-to-earth and practical: especially what he says about the importance of “sleeping on” a problem, and also of constructing boundaries of space and time for regular, serious reflection.

Running his remarks through my theological filters, I’m struck by how many times he dances right up to the line of saying something spiritual, but never quite steps over it. (No surprise there, because he doesn't believe in God.) For example, when he attributes creative breakthroughs to the work of “the unconscious,” he could have said “the Holy Spirit” - but doesn’t. When he’s talking about the need to carve out time for focused pondering, he could have said “quiet time for prayer and contemplation” - but doesn’t. Certain parts of the Christian spiritual tradition, such as monasticism, insist on a daily schedule (the liturgical hours) that’s meant to nurture precisely the sort of creative engagement Cleese is calling for, and have produced some wonderfully creative people (ranging from Thomas Merton to Dan Berrigan to Sister Wendy of the art-appreciation videos). We Protestants may be a bit behind the curve on that one, but even we have traditions of spiritual practices that foster creativity and holy insight.

So, what does all this have to do with cancer survivorship? Cleese doesn't mention any connection, but I was led to reflect on something many of us survivors have experienced: how the enforced down-time of a chemotherapy regimen crashed into our otherwise busy, over-committed lives and forced us to spend time reflecting on things we’d otherwise never have thought about (or perhaps not until some long-postponed retirement - and maybe not even then, judging from what I’ve heard from some retired people who report being busier now than when they were working).

It was during the enforced down-time of my chemotherapy, for example, that this blog was born. Since having that experience, I haven’t even needed to try to schedule time for creative reflection. I’ve simply done it (at times to the detriment of some of my more routine obligations, but what’s a credit-card late fee or two, if you’re staying more spiritually grounded as a result of obsessing less over the small stuff?).

Whatever stage of the survivorship journey we’re in - whether in treatment, in remission, in relapse, or in that blessed land some are bold to call “cancer-free” - it helps to let go of the urgent worries from time to time and put them to rest for a while, even if only for the few hours of a good night’s sleep (if that’s possible, health-wise). It also helps to set up those boundaries Cleese is talking about, so we can grab a little time for ourselves, away from the frenetic rounds travel to one medical establishment to another, and trying to respond to some of the demands of our normal lives when we’re not doing that.

Stephen Covey, in a memorable illustration I’ve referred to earlier in this blog, called it “sharpening the saw.” If you don’t stop your ceaseless sawing - back and forth, back and forth - from time to time, and pause to sharpen the saw-blade, you’re doomed to steadily decreasing effectiveness.

So, let’s hear it for self-care, on the cancer-survivorship journey! A major part of self-care is refreshing ourselves at those creative wells, where our spirit is free to engage with the Spirit of the Lord.

at 3:15 PM
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Economist: "Catholic Socialism the Answer"


This article comes from Zenit.
---------------------------------------------- 

Distributism and the Economic Crisis

By Annamarie Adkins

IRVING, Texas, AUG. 30, 2010 (Zenit.org).-  At a time when bailouts appear to be a bust, policymakers seem befuddled, and the economic crisis shows no signs of abating, people are looking for alternatives to the conventional wisdom.  

Benedict XVI's recent encyclical "Caritas in Veritate," was a boon to the so-called "alternative economics" movement, and at least one such economic philosophy that sprang from the papal social encyclicals, distributism, is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance.

But many are skeptical, and believe distributism is simply romantic agrarianism, or worse, just an aesthetic sensibility, without any real practical solutions.  

John Medaille, one of the preeminent neo-distributists, set out to address the critics.  The result, a distributist manifesto entitled, “Toward a Truly Free Market:  A Distributist Perspective on the Role of Government, Taxes, Health Care, Deficits, and More (ISI), could not be timelier as governments around the world wrestle with social and fiscal crises.  

Medaille is co-editor of The Distributist Review webzine, and an adjunct instructor at the University of Dallas.  

He explained to ZENIT what’s missing in current economic theory and why distributism deserves renewed appreciation.  

ZENIT:  Your book begins by examining the basic assumptions of what is generally called "economics."  What are those assumptions?  Are they the cause of the current global economic crisis?

Medaille:  The two most basic assumptions in economics today -- and by the way, they are both wrong -- are that economics is A physical rather than a human science, and that as such it can have nothing to do with questions of  ethics.

Since the end of the 19th century, economics has sought to do away with justice, especially distributive justice, but in doing so it has lost the ability to accurately describe any actual economy. Therefore, no one should be surprised to learn that 90% of economists missed the warning signs of the current meltdown.

The same was true during the last meltdown, and the one before that, etc.

You cannot accurately predict the course of a system if you cannot accurately describe it.

Distributism, on the other hand, asserts that justice is not only a moral problem, but a practical, economic problem, and that without economic justice, you cannot reach equilibrium. When economics abandons justice, the government is constantly forced to intervene to insure stability, even though the interventions may only work in the short run.

We have abandoned justice on a global scale, which has led to chronically unbalanced trade.  When trade is chronically unbalanced, it is not really “a trade” at all.  Rather, it is a system by which foreign producers finance our consumption of their goods, a system that impoverishes both parties.

ZENIT:  Most people believe that the battle for the soul of capitalism is between the followers of Keynes and the followers of Hayek.  But you believe both theories lead to what Hilaire Belloc called the "servile state."  Why is that? What are they and their followers missing?

Medaille:  Capitalism and socialism are really not opposed realities; one is just the continuation of the other, and distributism is the opposite of both: it is the free market.

Capitalism tends to concentrate property in the hands of a few, thereby choking off the market, and socialism continues this by concentrating ownership in the hands of the state. In practice both systems end up with control of the most important resources of the nation in the hands of a few bureaucrats -- über-managers who claim to represent the interests of the nominal owners, be they the shareholders or the general public, but who actually control these resources for their own benefit.

Further, in concentrating economic power, they also concentrate political power, and the large corporations are able to obtain vast privileges and subsidies for themselves, as we saw in the recent meltdown. Thus, between the gargantuan state and the gargantuan corporation, the individual is reduced to a situation of servility.

What both capitalism and socialism are missing is the willingness to admit that power follows property.  Both systems claim to create freedom by concentrating capital, but because this also concentrates power, what is left for the mass of men is powerlessness.

Distributism, on the other hand, seeks to build an ownership society of free men and women, conscious of their rights and with the means to defend them against the centralizing tendencies of both the state and the corporate collectives.

ZENIT:  What is distributism?  Isn't it just redistributionism, or splitting the difference between capitalism and socialism?  How could such a philosophy, which relies on a certain amount of government intervention, create a truly "free" market?  

Medaille:  Actually, it is not so much a question of what the government should do as what it should stop doing.

In truth, the accumulation of property usually depends on government power; the higher the piles of capital, the thicker the walls of government necessary to protect them.  

There are, of course, positive things that government can do, with tax policy, for example, or simply by enforcing its own laws against monopoly and oligopoly.  And there are cases where the title to land or other resources is questionable to begin with.  

But in general, a distributive society requires a smaller government with powers properly distributed throughout all levels of society.

In contrast to a system of concentrated economic and political power, distributist systems rely on a variety of forms of small ownership to distribute economic power:  proprietors for property that can be easily used and managed by a single person or a family, cooperatives for larger enterprises, local public ownership for resources like water or sewer systems, employee stock ownership systems, when that is appropriate, and so forth.

In this way, both economic and political power is distributed throughout all levels of society.  There are really only two choices when it comes to property and power: concentration or distribution.

The former leads to servility, and the latter to liberty.

ZENIT:  What does a distrubist society look like?  Are there any examples anywhere in the world?

Medaille:  Excellent question!

When dealing with economic systems, it is best not to rely totally on abstract theory, but to trust only systems that are on the ground and working.

For example, pure capitalism and pure communism (outside of monastic settings) have never worked, and have no functioning examples.  Capitalism has always been imposed through, and sustained by, government power, while socialism has had to allow some freedom in the market in order to function at all.

Distributism, on the other hand, can display any number of working models, both on large and small scales.  There is the worker-owned Mondragón Cooperative Corporation of Spain, which has 100,000 worker-owners and does $25 billion in sales; there is the cooperative economy of Emilia-Romagna, where 40% of the GDP is from cooperatives. And there are thousands of ESOPs, cooperatives, mutual insurance companies, and credit unions.

Indeed, the historical truth is that distributism goes from success to success, while capitalism stumbles from bailout to bailout.

What is especially interesting is that a distributist society like Mondragón has been able to provide its own social safety networks, school systems, training institutes, R&D Centers, and a university all from its own funds and without government subsidies.

It is much closer to the libertarian ideal than anything that laissez-faire has ever been able to produce.

ZENIT:  By offering practical solutions to today's toughest economic problems, your book seems to address the many critics of distributism who ignore it for its supposed impracticality or its neo-agrarianism.  What are the basic principles or building blocks a distributist uses to compare and construct policy alternatives?

Medaille:  The major principles of distributism are subsidiarity and solidarity.

By subsidiarity, we mean that the lowest levels of society, starting with the family, are the most important, and as much decision making authority and power as possible should reside there. Higher levels justify their existence only by the help they can give to the lower levels.

Solidarity dictates that any political decision must keep in mind the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.

Subsidiarity is difficult to realize in a situation where power is concentrated; only by the diffusion of economic and political power (and the two are just different aspects of the same power) can local communities and families flourish.

ZENIT:  Does distributism have any basis in Catholic social teaching or the papal encyclicals like the recent Caritas in Veritate?

Subsidiarity and solidarity are, of course, straight out of the social encyclicals, and distributism owes much to its Catholic founders, G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc.

That being said, a distributist social order does not depend on the prior establishment of a Catholic social order. However, we believe that such a social order will thrive under a distributist system.

ZENIT:  Can you briefly summarize the distributist solution to the seemingly intractable problem of providing as many people as possible with affordable health care?

Medaille:  Our country has just been through a rather poisonous debate on this topic, one which entirely missed the real point, because it was based on a spurious distinction between socialism and the private market.

The reality is that in health care we have neither. The government already pays 45% of all health care costs, and the “private” market is in fact dominated by government-enforced monopolies through patents, licenses, and “certificates of need” for hospitals.

Indeed, the signature of a monopolistic market is constantly rising prices even in the face of declining services, and that is the reality of our health care market.

Now, distributism would not be of much use unless it could solve practical problems like this, and it can.  

In brief, in the book I propose an expansion of the licensing authorities to increase the supply of medical personnel; it proposes a way of expanding research and development without resorting to monopolistic patents; and proposes the formation of cooperatives of doctors and other personnel which can serve as both “insurance” companies and health care delivery firms, thereby giving the firm the ability to ensure health rather than just treat diseases.

Of course, I go into much more detail on this in my book, but yes, distributism offers a new path on many of the most vexing problems.
at 1:49 PM
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Israeli President to Meet Pope at Crucial Moment


This article comes from AsiaNews.
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Peres to visit Pope at a time of "serious" dialogue between Rome and Jerusalem

By Arieh Cohen

AsiaNews (Tel Aviv) - On Thursday, the President of the State of Israel, will be received in Audience at Castelgandolfo by Pope Benedict XVI. In preparation for this appointment, the octogenarian Head of State told an interviewer on the First Channel of Italy’s public television (RAI): “The relations between the Vatican and the Jewish State are the best since the times of Jesus Christ, and have never been so good in two thousand years of history.” He added too: “The reigning Pontiff wishes to have a sincere dialogue with us, as we wish to have with the Vatican.”

It is difficult to foresee that the visit of Peres to the Pope will have any specific effect on practical details of these relations, which in substance are being dealt with through other channels. The President, in Israel, is an almost exclusively symbolic figure, while the executive power is exercised by the Government. More probably, President Peres’s travels are in the context of the task he has for a while now assigned himself of cultivating Israel’s international image, given wide-spread skepticism concerning the intentions of the Government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Prime Minister himself will on that day be in Washington, for the start of the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), chaired by Mahmoud Abbas, “Abu Mazen” – negotiations convened by President Barack Obama of the United States.

As for the bilateral relations with the Catholic Church (or as is improperly said in the televised interview, “the Vatican”), these are now at a phase of special importance. Since 29 July 1992, the Holy See and Israel are committed to concluding a series of “concordat-type” treaties, which together are meant to achieve legal and fiscal security for the Catholic Church in Israel. Two of those treaties were already signed and ratified some years ago: The “Fundamental Agreement” (30 December 1993), a kind of “Bill of Rights” for the Church in the Jewish State, and the “Legal Personality Agreement” (10 November 1997), which recognizes for civil purposes too the legal personality of the Church and of Church bodies. However, neither of these treaties has been introduced into Israel’s own legislation, which means that their usefulness is at present limited.

Since 11 March 1999, the Parties have been negotiating a third Agreement, for the purpose of confirming the fiscal status of the Church in Israel, especially the historic fiscal exemptions, which are an essential requirement for the ability of the Church to continue to carry out her functions of representing in the Holy Land the world-wide Church and of caring for the faithful locally. This third Agreement will also have to safeguard the Church’s properties in Israel, the Holy Places above all, and to provide for the restitution of certain such properties, such as for example the church-shrine in Caesarea, which was expropriated and razed to the ground in the 1950’s. The next “plenary” meeting of the negotiators – who together constitute the “Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel” -  is scheduled for 6 December this year. In the meanwhile, well informed sources say, the negotiators are working intensively. The United States, France, Italy and other nations are closely (though discreetly) following the course of the negotiations, consistently with their support – and that of their Catholic citizens – for the presence and work of the Church in the Holy Land.

Once this Agreement is made (and it is impossible to foresee when this may be), or even before then and parallel to the talks about it, the “agenda” foresees several more Agreements of no lesser importance. In the course of the years, three subjects in particular have been publicly emphasized. First of all, an agreement that would guarantee and regulate in a stable manner the issuance of entry visas and residence permits for Church personnel from elsewhere. Here the State’s policies have varied over time, though their overall direction has been rather restrictive.

More than anything else, it is the lack of legal certainty that is problematic, namely the lack of officially published criteria.

Then there is this subject that is of the greatest pastoral concern, norms to guarantee the access to pastoral care of members of the faithful who find themselves in circumstances of limited mobility, specifically prisoners, members of the military and hospital patients. The accord on these matters between the Government of Italy and the Union of the Jewish Communities in Italy is often mentioned as a model, given the analogy between the small Jewish minority in Italy and the small Christian minority in Israel. The third subject often publicly mentioned in these years is a review of the presentation of Christ, Christianity and the Church in Israel’s school system. It would serve to verify effective reciprocity in relation to the immense undertaking by the Catholic Church over recent decades to ensure a correct, indeed a friendly, presentation of Judaism and the Jews in Catholic education.

There is then still some way to go in order for the “dialogue” mentioned by President Peres to achieve its purposes completely. However, the forward-looking optimism of the President of Israel is promising, and in fact it seems that both Parties are working towards that goal and are making steady progress.

Thus the Franciscan jurist, Father David-Maria A. Jaeger, an expert on Church-State relations in Israel, tells AsiaNews: “Especially in the last few years, it appears that the negotiations, which in effect constitute this ‘dialogue’ – to which President Peres refers – between the Holy See and the State of Israel, are being pursued by both Parties with great seriousness and commitment, as is evident from the ‘Joint Communiqués’ released from time to time by the Bilateral Commission. Though without ignoring the problems in various sectors of the day-to-day relations between the Church and the State, optimism is obligatory, and such optimism in itself has a decidedly beneficial influence.” He adds too: “In the end, obstinate optimism endows the experience of daily life with an eschatological horizon.”
at 11:52 AM
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Guam Archbishop Urges to Vote with "Catholic Conscience"


This article comes from the Catholic News Agency.
-------------------------------------

Hagatna, Guam, Aug 31, 2010 / 02:56 am (CNA).- Writing to Catholics before Guam's upcoming primary elections, Archbishop Anthony Apuron stressed to the country's faithful that “a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law that contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals.”

Archbishop Apuron of the Archdiocese of of Agana issued his statement on Aug. 27 in time for Guam's primary elections, which will be held on Sept. 4.

“We are called to participate in the upcoming elections of our local leaders for the positions of Governor and Lt. Governor, Senator, Attorney General, and Delegate to the U.S. House of Representative,” the prelate explained. “As we exercise our civic duties, we are faced with issues that affect the common good of the People of Guam.”

Regarding the faithful's civic duty to vote, the archbishop then highlighted “non-negotiable” positions that the Catholic Church holds in five areas of concern: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human closing [sic] and same-sex unions.

Speaking on abortion, Archbishop Apuron called the procedure the “intentional and direct killing of an innocent human being, and therefore it is a form of homicide.”

“The unborn child is always an innocent party, and no law may permit the taking of this life,” he underscored. “Even when a child is conceived through rape or incest, the fault is not the child’s who should not suffer death for others' sins.”

On the issue of same-sex unions, Archbishop Apuron stressed that marriage “is the union of one man and one woman.”  

“Legal recognition of any other union as ‘marriage’ undermines true marriage,” he noted. “Any legal recognition of same-sex union actually does individuals with tendencies for same sex a disfavor by encouraging them to persist in what is an objectively immoral arrangement.”

The archbishop also addressed Catholic lawmakers, telling them they have “a moral duty to express their opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against same-sex union. To vote in for, or advocate such action, is harmful to the common good and is gravely immoral.”

Addressing euthanasia, the archbishop called the act “homicide.” “No person has the right to take his own life, and no one has the right to take the life of any innocent person,” he wrote. “In euthanasia, the sick or elderly are killed by action or omission, out of a misplaced sense of compassion or misguided mercy.” “True compassion,” he stated, “cannot include intentionally doing something intrinsically evil to another person.”

The prelate then urged Catholics to “not vote for the candidates who are right on lesser issues but who will vote contrary to the Church teachings on key moral issues.” 

In his concluding remarks, Archbishop Apuron told the faithful to “participate and exercise your civic duties as Catholic voters and make known your position by selecting the candidates who are willing to be accountable towards the common good of the People of Guam.”

at 11:38 AM
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at 4:18 AM
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Monday, August 30, 2010

Chuck Colson Calls for Ecumenical Action

This video comes from The Colson Center website.
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at 6:52 PM
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Pope and Patriarch Share Eco-Theology


This article comes from the Catholic News Agency.
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Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch promote protecting environment

Vatican City, Aug 30, 2010 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, the Holy Father prayed for God's assistance in protecting the earth for future generations. Both he and Patriarch Bartholomew I have made statements concerning the environment as the "Day for the Protection of the Environment" approaches.

The Orthodox Church-created and Italian Bishops' Conference-promoted event takes place on Sept. 1 under the theme "If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation." The same theme was used by Benedict XVI for the World Day for Peace.

After Sunday's Angelus, Pope Benedict commented on the "day," which he noted is also an important moment for ecumenical relations. "Indeed," he said, "we have the duty to hand the earth on to future generations in such a condition that they too can worthily inhabit it and subsequently conserve it.

"May the Lord help us in this task!" prayed the Pope.

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, referred to by some as the "Green Patriarch," has issued an official statement for the celebration. His predecessor, Patriarch Demetrios, originally established the start of the Orthodox liturgical year, Sept. 1, as a day of prayer for the protection of the environment.

Explaining that in today's world, economic and social stability are very closely attached to environmental conditions, he announced that there is a "dire need in our day for a combination of societal sanctions and political initiatives, such that there is a powerful change in direction, to a path of viable and sustainable environmental development."

Pope Benedict XVI has also taught extensively on the relationship of these elements, dedicating a significant portion of his encyclical "Caritas in veritate" to the theme. In that encyclical, he wrote that "one of the greatest challenges facing the economy is to achieve the most efficient use - not abuse - of natural resources … " The Pontiff also exhorted the Church to assert its "responsibility towards creation" in the public sphere.

The Italian bishops' conference initiative will be observed with an ecumenical pilgrimage, which will traverse along a route called the "Path of Creation." The path will take pilgrims through a canyon in the Italian Alps.
at 6:42 PM
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August 30



"Oratory is persuasion, not the declaiming of essays."



--Woodrow Wilson; cited in John Milton Cooper, Jr., Woodrow Wilson: A Biography (2009), p. 29; image from; on Wilson's Committee on Public Information, the USG's first "propaganda" agency, see



PUBLIC DIPLOMACY



Information Entitlement Doctrine of Barack Obama - dark-wraith.com: "Obama's negotiators were whipping up international support for new sanctions against North Korea at the same time the Central Intelligence Agency was reporting its judgment that those sanctions would probably induce the Pyongyang regime to test another nuke:



presidential diplomacy on the public stage to construct a concert of nations imposing sanctions on a rogue state, while that president's own, presumably trusted, analysts were back stage advising in a written document that success of the public diplomacy could backfire at 180 degrees to intended effect." Image from



Public Diplomacy in the Greater Middle East‎ - Donatella Scatamacchia, Milaz.info: "In the specific context of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, NATO’s new Strategic Concept should focus on the role that the Alliance plays in the Greater Middle East. A multilateral policy approach and a revitalized public diplomacy campaign are required in order to overcome current obstacles to cooperation in this region."



Another 500,000 Flee Indus Breaches Taliban threaten Aid Workers;Global Warming Implicated - Informed Comment, juancole.com: "Mark Metcalfe says: ... Regarding US and NATO aid – as well as the important public diplomacy angle – NATO logistics are working day and night to try and reopen/open up new routes into Afghanistan to supply the troops there.



Expect a lot of road-building equipment and bridges to be sent to Pakistan." Image from



Iran debates talks with Uncle Sam‎ - Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Asia Times Online: "Setting the stage for Ahmadinejad's New York visit in September to attend a United Nations General Assembly meeting, Iran's foreign policymakers are keen to cultivate elements of public diplomacy that would benefit Iran. At such a testy time, Iran must play its cards to perfection to avoid courting disaster."



Forum to boost China-Japan ties‎ - Li Xiaokun, Xinhua: "Recalling efforts to establish a communication channel between Beijing and Tokyo six years ago to revive relations damaged after a former Japanese prime minister visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary on Sunday assured Chinese elites he would help ensure successful cooperation between Japan and China. 'Such cooperation should help China realize its grand target, a real green economy that makes sure of development of both the economy and environment,' Yoshito Sengoku told Chinese and Japanese representatives attending a reception for a major forum on China-Japan relations.



Sengoku, one of the founders of the Beijing-Tokyo forum, said he joined the founding team in 2005 when 'a mechanism of sincere talks' with Beijing was needed to revive relations. ... Now the forum is a major platform for public diplomacy between the two nations. It will see nearly 200 leaders from the political, business, academic and media fields take part in a two-day discussion starting Monday in Tokyo. More than 800 students and journalists have applied for a seat to listen to the panel discussions." Image from



"Welcome to Hizbolandia" - Lena, Global Chaos: "I wanted to introduce what a Spanish newspaper called 'Hizbolandia': Hizballah's brand new open-air museum (dubbed a "theme park" by those who are familiar with the concept) in Southern Lebanon, bringing to life and perpetuating (at least, for the time being) the history of the "Resistance Movement". ... [C]an Hizballah be said to have a public diplomacy strategy? An attempt, perhaps? Not that there is no audience to reach out to: be it the Lebanese Diaspora, the greater Arab and Muslim public, or the international community, in general (they might be hoping to find sympathizers here and there).



Certainly, they have (as in the past) various means of putting out their message, most prominent of which is Al Manar TV. The latter not only streams its programming live online, but also provides English, Spanish, and French versions of its official website. However, with the construction of the Mleeta Museum, the organization seems to have come up with another great way of 'telling its story' to the world: the 'park' clearly aims to attract foreign attention and interest, as well as act as a major domestic PR and/or indoctrination tool." Image from article



Aug. 29 community briefs‎ - The Times of Trenton: "The Polish Arts Club of Trenton and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland are co-hosting a program of selected portions of the Laurence Rees British Broadcasting Corp. documentary, 'World War II Behind Closed Doors,' at 1 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Conference Center at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor. ... Key segments will be explained by Marek Konarzewski, minister-counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington and head of the Public Diplomacy and Education Section."



Information Operations: "learning from Madison Avenue" - James Frayne, The Campaign War Room: "I have always been slightly frustrated with parts of the public diplomacy world - particularly in the military - because of their scepticism about political and corporate communications.



In my experience they tend to assume that the rules of communications go out of the window in a conflict and constantly over-emphasise the complexity of communicating in harsh environments." Image from



Morning Session on Public Diplomacy: Seminar on Philippine Advancement through Security and Promotion of Information - Bernice Achacoso, The Catalyst: "The expansion of democracy in the modern times has shaped a new environment in the international system where in government can win hearts and minds of the people. Primarily this is how public diplomacy moves by striving to influence foreign nationals and the community with values, policies and actions of their very own government to be supported.



In this light, public diplomacy can be identified as the attempt of a nation to influence public or elites of the next leaders or other nations for the intention of using foreign policy for its objective. ... One strength of public diplomacy is that it makes use of soft power instead of hard power and has brought reliance of citizens on their local press and governments for information on foreign events, which amplified possible targets for diplomatic messages. ... The class was required to be present during the morning session of the SEM-CDA class s last august 28 which was about public diplomacy. Domingo Enerio, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Tourism did a phenomenal job as our speaker since he was very articulate and he had to fill in for the other speakers who were absent that day." Image: the author of this blog



Monday, August 30, 2010 Forum on PUBLIC DIPLOMACY - phifocy-bisona.blogspot.com: "Last August 28, 2010 was supposed to be my second time to attend the forum organized by the SEM-CDA but unfortunately due to my tummy I wasn’t able to attend. But I ask my classmate to help so that I will know what the forum is all about. The forum was about Public diplomacy. 'PUBLIC DIPLOMACY refers to government-sponsored programs intended to inform or influence public opinion in other countries; its chief instruments are publications, motion pictures, cultural exchanges, radio and television.' (U.S. Department of State, Dictionary of International Relations Terms, 1987, p. 85[.]"



OUT IN THE OPEN: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (AM SESSION) - yara destura, phifocy-desturam.blogspot.com: "The topic was about Public Diplomacy.



The session lasted for I think about 45 minutes only and that gave a long time for the open forum. ... The best quote that I will always remember from this forum was: You are the BEST and NUMBER ONE Ambassador of your country." Image: the author of this blog



A Diplomat’s Progress – Book Review Essay [Henry Precht, A Diplomat’s Progress: Ten Tales of Diplomatic Adventure in and around the Middle East, Williams & Co: Savannah, Georgia 2005] - Patricia H. Kushlis, Whirled View: "When I worked in the Cultural Section at the US Embassy in Moscow years ago, a colleague observed that life in that puzzle palace on Ulitsa Tschaikovskova and in the capital city of America’s then number one enemy was challenging, difficult but never boring.



Henry Precht’s Ten Tales of Diplomatic Adventure in and around the Middle East suggest that his lengthy Foreign Service career brought him to a similar conclusion about his own diplomatic life." Image from article

My book on Nation Branding! - Efe, Reaching the Public - Personal Reflections on Public Diplomacy and Place/Nation Branding: "Finally, my book



on nation branding is published and is for sale. The book is practically based on my thesis research. Controlling the Message: A Strategic Approach to Nation Branding (ISBN: 3838389409) or Controlling the Message ,for short, is an attempt to describe the actual role of communication strategies, tools, and techniques in nation branding processes. ... Chapter 4 ... introduces a more practical side of nation branding. Political communication in nation branding is examined in three different parts. Firstly, rhetorical aspects, in other words how messages are formulated, are discussed. This discussion is followed by how messages are coded (i.e. coded through a public diplomacy project, coded through lobbying). Last part looks at the communication platforms (media) that are used to transmit the messages to target audiences." Image from



The Hidden Geopolitics of Cyberspace - USC Arts and Events Calendar: Annenberg Research Seminar: Conversations in Public Diplomacy: "The Annenberg Research Seminar series, the Center on Public Diplomacy and the Master’s in Public Diplomacy program host a conversation with Dr. Ronald Deibert. Deibert is an associate professor of political science and director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. ... Diebert will discuss his current project, which monitors, analyzes and investigates the impact of power in cyberspace



as it relates to public diplomacy. This event, the last in a series of Canadian-U.S. Fulbright Chair in Public Diplomacy talks, is a presentation of the Annenberg Research Seminar series." Image from



POSCO Visiting Fellowship Program, USA - scholarship-positions.com: "Nature of the Fellowship POSCO visiting fellows are in residence at the East-West Center for one to two months and undertake research and writing on an agreed topic. Fellows are provided with a stipend and round trip economy airfare between their home base and Honolulu. They are required to give one seminar, prepare a high quality paper to be submitted for publication, and join in East-West Center activities. The Fellow may also be asked to participate in local outreach and public diplomacy activities. Proposals for cost-shared fellowships are welcomed."



Friendly Introduction - elliequent: "Erin [no last name provided], in addition to being an accomplished and much-lauded composer, is also a PhD candidate studying international public diplomacy. And you think YOU'RE busy."



Public Affairs Specialist - Yemen Jobs: "Required Qualifications ... Knowledge: Thorough knowledge of host country’s political, media, economic, social and educational structure, institutions, political parties, and key figures in influential institutions; of public diplomacy programs; public relation techniques; and US public relations concerns as expressed in the Mission Program Plan goals and objectives.



Skills and Abilities: Ability to develop and maintain contacts at various levels in cultural, government, media and educational circles; excellent writing skills; proven communication and interpersonal skills; as incumbent is expected to use an extensive range of contacts with high level influential leaders in skillfully addressing public diplomacy issues; excellent management skills to prioritize and organize a complex work schedule to stay on top of ongoing programs while planning upcoming programs; developed training and supervisory skills; and ability in report drafting." Image from



RELATED ITEMS



Getting a handle on Strategic Communication - Jack Holt, Mountainrunner.us: "I believe ... we have the wrong mental model for strategic communication. In some circles the model is depicted as an orchestra. In an orchestra everyone has their instrument and their piece of the music but they must play in tune and time with every other person. While this model has it's [sic]



truths, I believe it is inaccurate for communication. To communicate means to 'share' or 'to make common.' Communication is about action, moving something from one place to another. Communication is about doing things; human beings doing. This orchestra model leaves out the audience. They have either to like the music or not but are not considered part of the outcome. ... Strategic Communication is about engaging and being engaged by all the stakeholders and helping them understand events as they occur in the accomplishment of the goal." Image from



The Obama Birth Controversy - Todd Leventhal, america.gov: Interestingly, FactCheck.org determined that Obama was originally both a U.S. citizen and a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies from 1961 to 1963 (because his father was from Kenya, which gained its independence from the British Empire in 1963), then both a U.S. and Kenyan citizen from 1963 to 1982, and solely a U.S. citizen after that.



Taliban Propaganda – Why Has it Been So Effective? - Karmsundbk.com: While many people realize that what is said and written in Taliban propaganda is just that, propaganda, still has an effect on them. This is because they hear the same message over and over again. Even if it sounds obviously false, there comes a time when the audience starts to believe what they hear is true.



Mining for baseball diamonds - William Wan, Washington Post: An estimated 300 million Chinese now play basketball - roughly the size of the entire U.S. population. This country is the NBA's largest foreign merchandise market. And when the league launched a separate entity called "NBA China" two years ago, Goldman Sachs estimated its value at $2.3 billion. That success has left other sports salivating. The National Football League has flown in players (and attractive cheerleaders) to make its case. Professional golf is also making a push. Even World Wrestling Entertainment is trying to sell its spandex-clad, muscle-bound act here. Far behind the NBA, but somewhere at the head of this second wave, is Major League Baseball. Its officials have adopted a guerrilla-warfare-type strategy - identifying areas where baseball can gain ground at minimal cost and settling in for the long haul.



Via MP. Image: under the title, The Chinese Know Baseball Needs More Cheerleaders



The (propaganda) empire strikes in China - Kent Ewing, Asia Times: China's leaders are enlisting 50 Chinese celebrities in an unprecedented international advertising campaign to improve the country's global image. The charm offensive is set to begin this September, ahead of celebrations for 61st birthday of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1. In the end, the greatest self-defeating irony of China's global media blitz is the shackles that its leaders place on national media and the great firewall of censorship they have attempted to erect in cyberspace. China's state propaganda machine may be reaching out to the world, but an army of censors at home is busy blocking the world from reaching China.



Propaganda's big guns - John Garnaut, Sydney Morning Herald: The man who established the Global Times as a powerful nationalistic platform, Wang Chen, is now in charge of China's internet as well as "foreign" propaganda.



Warped, Twisted "Hall of Mirrors" vs. Actual Truth - darkroastedblend.com: During World War Two, propaganda posters became something of an art form and some examples are very well known even today.



It’s been claimed that truth is often the first casualty of war, and it is very interesting to see how the events of the time were depicted in posters and leaflets from both sides of the conflict. Image from article



ONLY IN POLAND?



Longest pizza record attempt in Poland - BBC NEWS: Residents of the Polish city of Krakow have attempted to break the world record for the longest pizza in the world. The current record for the largest pizza is 407m (445 yds), but the Poles are trying to break it with one reaching more than 1,000m (1093 yds).



It has not yet been officially announced whether the record has been broken. Via LB. Image from article

at 5:49 AM
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