September 7

"Don't ever accuse me of being objective."

--Recently deceased editorial cartoonist Paul Conrad; image from

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Towards a New Public Diplomacy Book Review – Jim Miles, Palestine Chronicle: "Toward a New Public Diplomacy - Redirecting US Foreign Policy. Ed. Philip Seib. Palgrave MacMillan, New York. 2009. This collection of essays could be summed up in one word: image. Other words used throughout the text range from the more benign terms of 'perception' and 'communication tactics' through to the harder terms of 'propaganda,' the military 'strategic communications' and the rather laborious military phrase of 'coordinated information dissemination.'

At its base however it wall returns to the one word, image. Image as opposed to actions, in that U.S. public diplomacy rarely if ever admits to mistakes in the grand purpose of the U.S. and will only do so under limited circumstances when media exposure catches their actions at cross purposes with their purported rhetorical ideology. The underlying assumption of all authors, some more boldly stated than others, is that the U.S. right, it is good, and therefore we do not need to change our actions, what we need to adjust is our image. ... [F]our words to describe this book - arrogant, ignorant, image, FAIL." See also. Image from article

NATO wants Russian superpower but Russia says no - Russia Superpower: "The work of the NATO Public Diplomacy Division must be expanded. Right now, the Division concentrates too much on specialist circles and not enough on the general public. The NATO/NewsMarket Channel project, for example, marks a step in the right direction. Here it is also important to let the public know that NATO has a Civilian Structure. The Civil Emergency Planning Committee (CEPC) and Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) have helped on many occasions of natural disasters."

All change for European diplomacy? - Europolitics.info [by subscription]: Mention of "public diplomacy" in Google entry

Aussies pull the plug in Iran - Rowan Callick, The Australian: "Iran is slowly suffocating

from sanctions that are beginning to bite where the maverick state has been strongest: its energy sector. ... Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based Foundation for Defence of Democracies and author of a forthcoming book on Iran, has spent much of his professional life trying to prove connections between the Revolutionary Guard and certain Iranian companies, especially those engaged in energy. ... During Ahmadinejad's first four years in office, foreign investment in Iran's energy sector sank by 64 per cent, to $US1.5bn, and the president replaced many experts with Revolutionary Guard loyalists without industrial experience. Ottolenghi says some sections of Iran's energy industry can operate without injections of Western technology, but 'some things they can't do on their own'. ... 'We need to improve our public diplomacy outreach to the Iranian people, to make sure they don't feel the regime is failing to deliver because of an evil conspiracy of Western powers. For they are very patriotic people, to the point of xenophobia. And Iran has had a history of interference from outside.'" Image from

Media New Battleground for Palestinians and Israelis - Mel Frykberg, Antiwar.com: "Palestinians and Israelis are using the media as a new battleground in their war to win hearts and minds across the globe, even as the protracted conflict in the Mideast drags on with no apparent end in sight. srael has led the way for decades with its slick and professional hasbara, or propaganda machine. This has operated mainly from campuses, Israeli consuls, and embassies worldwide where they have first-class access to the world’s media. ... The Israeli Foreign Ministry established an 'Internet warfare team' as part of its annual budget. ... It is doubtful whether Israel will be able to completely silence its critics, given how easy it is to access the Internet and the speed and freedom with which it operates when compared to established media groups. ... Last week, 60 Israeli theater professionals announced they would refuse to perform at a new cultural center built in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. On Monday, over 150 Israeli academics and several dozen authors and artists signed letters offering their support to the boycotters."

PD Grab Bag - Laura McGinnis, manIC: Coverage of three recent PD-related media items.

Mandatory Retirement in the Foreign Service: The Numbers Game - Domani Spero, DiploPundit: "On the staffing deficit: '[T]he Department faces a deficit at the mid-level—with the management and public diplomacy cones facing significant deficits. While it will take a few more years before the deficit is eliminated, it has been shrinking. A recent analysis showed that the 6 percent mid-level deficit that existed in September 2008 is now a 1 percent surplus after

factoring in the 2008 promotions. However, the bureau still projects a mid-level deficit of less than 3 percent at the end of the fiscal year. While the overall mid-level deficit is declining due to the transition of those hired during the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative into the mid-ranks, there will be an overall FS02 deficit in the range of 14 percent as of September 2009. Even if the Department receives authority to hire above attrition this year, the overall mid-level deficit will not be eliminated before the end of the 2010 promotion cycle.'" Image from

Sehreen Noor Ali: Center for Religion & Civic Culture - Ismailimail: Sehreen Noor "Ali works for the U.S. Department of State, where she coordinates global Muslim engagement for public diplomacy as outlined in President Obama’s speech in Cairo in June 2009. Previously, she led digital outreach efforts to Iran and to other countries in the Middle East.

She entered the State Department through the Presidential Management Fellowship, which afforded her the opportunity to work at the U.S. Mission to UNESCO in Paris, the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, and the U.S. Consulate-General in Dubai. In 2009, she co-founded DC Muslim Feds, a professional network that connects Muslims working full-time for the federal government." Sehreen Noor Ali image from article

RELATED ITEMS

Obama's shrinking presidency - Richard Cohen, Washington Post: The president needs better speechwriters.

Petraeus says small church's plan to burn Korans could endanger troops - The Associated Press, latimes.com: The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned Tuesday that an American church's threat to burn copies of the Koran could endanger U.S. troops in the country and Americans worldwide. "Images of the burning of a [Koran] would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan -- and around the world -- to inflame public opinion and incite violence," Gen. David Petraeus said in an e-mail.

Fast-food chains in Asia cater menus to customers - Kathy Chu, USA Today: In recent years, fast-growing Asia has become a corporate playground

for a host of American industries, especially as business has slowed in the U.S. Fast-food companies are no exception. In 2009, fast food — from burgers to tacos to ice cream — generated $139.8 billion in retail sales in Asia Pacific, rising nearly 32% from two years before, says Euromonitor International. By comparison, the larger American fast-food industry grew at a snail's pace, with total sales up 1% to $181.2 billion in that time. One rule for success in this region? Adhering closely to time-tested recipes while offering the right mix of new products to appeal to Asian palates. Image from article

Five Things: The Sheikh's Batmobile - The Economist: Libyans sing along to Lionel Richie’s “Hello”, Iranians jam to Django Reinhardt, and Indonesian teenagers favour the post-punk stylings of Wire, a British cult band. Who knew? Richard Poplak, for one. Mr Poplak is the author of “The Sheikh’s Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim World," a tour through 17 Muslim countries in search of local interpretations of American culture, from cheesy reality television to Metallica. The chapters are organised by country—Libya, Indonesia, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, etc—with each section prefaced by religious statistics and venerated local pop-culture icons.

The result is packed with surprises, five of which More Intelligent Life has chosen to highlight. Via; image from article

Palestinian Propaganda Required Reading At Brooklyn College? Jewish professors object to campus-wide assignment of book that includes one-sided take on Mideast conflict - Stewart Ain, The Jewish Week: The dean of Brooklyn College insists that the school “values tolerance, diversity and respect for differing points of view,” but several faculty members are openly questioning that assertion given the school’s common reading selection this coming semester. The book, “How Does it Feel to be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America,” is a collection of personal stories by and about seven Arabs from Brooklyn that was edited by Moustafa Bayoumi, an assistant professor of English at the school. “Nobody wants to suppress anybody’s freedom of speech, but this book is advocacy,” said Jonathan Helfand of the college’s Department of Judaic Studies. “The final chapter takes up the Palestinian cause and blames their problems on the Americans and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Thus, Helfand argued, “the book is problematic if given without an alternative vision.”

Obama Follows Bush on Iran - Muhammad Sahimi, Antiwar.com: the administration did nothing to put an end to all the speculation and propaganda about Israel and/or the U.S. attacking Iran. Once again, a U.S. president is succumbing to internal pressure by the Israel lobby and its allies and, instead of reaching a negotiated settlement with Iran, is following the same type of failed policies of the past.

Iran Propaganda Special: The Green Sedition Festival (Pedestrian) - Scott Lucas in Middle East & Iran, Enduring America: Fars News today features photos from the “Green Sedition Festival”

which is being held for Qods Day. What is worth noting is the strong emphasis on the Rajavis (the husband and wife who lead the “terrorist” group Mujahedin-e-Khalq). I’ve seen these sorts of festivals before, and there is always stronger emphasis on the West. Image from article

North Korea blows off the cobwebs - Andrei Lankov, Asia Times Online: The KWP [Korean Workers' Party], like all Leninist parties, is a rigidly centralized structure, somewhat akin to a military organization. However, for some reason those parties kept a number of institutions that were designed to appear democratic. Those were largely vestiges of a long-gone era, a reminder of times when in the early 1900s communist parties - or rather their predecessors - indeed had a vibrant internal democracy. Since then, the ostensibly democratic features have been kept partially out of respect for established tradition, but largely for propaganda-cum-decorative purposes.

Fearing for Net Neutrality - Derek Postlewaite, World News: "In our times, whether one knows it or not, we are are ceaselessly in the midst of information wars.

Propaganda–now viewed by many as a tool of the past or something more akin to the WWII generation–has become so successful in beguiling people into believing it’s dead, that I’m reminded of a line from the movie, 'The Usual Suspects.' Out of the mouth of the great deceiver, Verbal: 'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.'” Image from article

The softest of soft power: Farsi1 attracts viewers in Iran with its all-entertainment format - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Modernism, Media and Propaganda [by Mark Wollaeger Princeton University Press, 2008] - Communication Books: Though often defined as having opposite aims, means, and effects, modernism and modern propaganda developed at the same time and influenced each other in surprising ways.

The professional propagandist emerged as one kind of information specialist, the modernist writer as another. Britain was particularly important to this double history. By secretly hiring well-known writers and intellectuals to write for the government and by exploiting their control of new global information systems, the British in World War I invented a new template for the manipulation of information that remains with us to this day. Making a persuasive case for the importance of understanding modernism in the context of the history of modern propaganda, Modernism, Media, and Propaganda also helps explain the origins of today's highly propagandized world. Modernism, Media, and Propaganda integrates new archival research with fresh interpretations of British fiction and film to provide a comprehensive cultural history of the relationship between modernism and propaganda in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century. From works by Joseph Conrad to propaganda films by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, Mark Wollaeger traces the transition from literary to cinematic propaganda while offering compelling close readings of major fiction by Virginia Woolf, Ford Madox Ford, and James Joyce. Image from article

The Flicker of Art Through Tyranny - Knes, Wall Street Journal: Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the culture of East Germany has become a subject of fascination. But one phenomenon—limited-edition original artists' posters created not as propaganda, but to announce art events—deserves further exploration. Anyone who visits "Künstlerplakate," a new exhibit of East German posters from the communist era at NYU's Grey Art Gallery, expecting to find a cheerful socialist realism that invites "Ostalgie" (nostalgia for East German culture and its attendant kitsch) will be disappointed.

Rather, these woodcuts, lithographs, etchings and other prints reflect a wide range of creative experimentation. Image from article: A poster that appeared at the 1986 Dresden Print Fair

Propaganda In Video Games: The Development Side - The Nosy Gamer: "Before this last week, if anyone had mentioned propaganda in a video game, I would immediately think of Eve Online and some of the classic videos posted on YouTube by Goonswarm during their years long struggle with Band of Brothers. But then I found a paper published on Gamasutra titled "Towards An Interactive Goebbels: Can Propaganda Videogames Be Made More Effective And Is Resistance Futile?" Written by Brunel University Digital Games: Theory and Design masters student David McClur, the paper looks into propaganda, videogames and what the future could hold for the creation of propaganda videogame."

AMERICANA

"[Y]et another poll revealed that 24 percent of Americans don't think Obama was born in the United States. ... 7 percent believe he is Kenyan and still others say (correctly) that he was born in Hawaii but do not know, a notable Elvis movie notwithstanding, that Hawaii is an American state."


--Richard Cohen, Washington Post; image from

IMAGE (FOR THE DIGITAL GENERATION)


from Boing Boing