Miyang gere Blog: November 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Guest Blogger: Jim Robenalt on how HBO's Broadwalk Empire flubbed its take on President Warren G. Harding

While skillfully written and engaging, the new HBO series Boardwalk Empire creates a highly flawed view of our 29th President, Warren G. Harding, and his alleged relationship with Nan Britton. The caricature of Harding continues a long-series of smears that date back to the 1920s.

Harding's relationship with Nan Britton is questionable. His relationship with a woman named Carrie Phillips is not. My book, The Harding Affair, discloses Harding's complex relationship with Mrs. Phillips through the use of over 900 pages of letters Harding wrote to Phillips from 1910 though 1920, when he was elected President of the United States. Phillips and Harding were caught in an age when divorce was unthinkable and there were multifaceted reasons for their long-term (15 year) affair. The affair was much too complicated to caulk it up sheer womanizing.

The Britton allegations are subject to real doubt, as I point out in my book. Ms. Britton lived directly behind Carrie Phillips's home in Marion, and there is good reason to believe her book, The President's Daughter, came from her familiarity with the Harding/Phillips correspondence and not because of any real relationship between then-Senator Harding and Ms. Britton.

The HBO series relies on biographies that falsely used the Phillips correspondence. Worse, letters Mr. Harding wrote to Mrs. Phillips are used to manufacture dialogue for Ms. Britton's character.

But sadly for history, these smears of President Harding distort what he did as President and as a U. S. Senator. Harding was no "imbecile," as Nucky Thompson, the main character in the HBO series, calls him. As a Senator, Harding courageously stood against Woodrow Wilson's call for America to go to war to "make the world safe for democracy," though he did vote for war. In a lesson America never learned, Harding warned that it is not the business of the United States to engage in regime change through the violence of war.

During his presidency, Harding pardoned Socialist Eugene Debs, who was rotting in an Atlanta prison, sent there by the Wilson Administration for violating the Espionage and Sedition Act.

Debs' crime? He spoke out against the war—that is, he exercised his right of free speech. Wilson denied a pardon even after the war ended. Harding granted it.

Who is the "imbecile"?

Entertainment is entertainment. But playing fast and loose with serious historical figures only diminishes our true understanding of history's lessons.

For a more, see http://thehardingaffair.com/.

Jim Robenalt, a lawyer and writer in Cleveland, Ohio, is author both of The Harding Affair and his other terrific book, Linking Rings, William W. Durbin, the Magic and Mystery of America.

Harding photograph is from the Ohio Historical Society.

Bishop Richard Williamson - Will no one rid us of this turbulent priest?

This is a guest post by Mr Christopher Gillibrand, presently residing in Brussels, whom His Grace commissioned (de gratia) to share his insights and thoughts on the troublesome SSPX bishop who seems to be as careless with his lawyers as Lady Bracknell finds Jack Worthing to be with his parents:

It was with no little surprise that I received the entreaty of Your Grace to communicate on the vexatious episcopate of Richard Nelson Williamson, formerly of his jurisdiction but now fallen in a strange and unhappy manner under that of the Bishop of Rome, where he has no rivals, yeah, not even Your Grace in his attacks on the office of ye Pope. To which he doth add, attacks most grievously personal.

Much information on the sad history of the decline and fall of Bishop Williamson can be found on my website Catholic Church Conservation, so what I say now is in the form of commentary on the latest developments.

Williamson is forgetful what it really means to be a Bishop as he has busily, indeed very busily constructed his own reality at the margins of the Catholic Church. And like anyone who wishes to do this, he has not been wanting for those who he wishes to suck into his world. While as a Catholic, I would be slightly more extensive on the meaning of episcopacy, a good reference point serves as the service for the consecration of Bishops in the Church of England.

What is the point of holding episcopal office if you elevate private and indeed eccentric opinions on the Holocaust to a neo-dogma and a touchstone for religious life? If your whole dialogue as a bishop does not directly concern the Gospel of Our Lord and Saviour, such a life in a profound sense is a waste of time and effort.

I heard the Bishop once preach in the glorious Church of St Joseph in Brussels. Ironic indeed, that he dwelt on the Last Judgement and implied that the faithful who have given so much for this church could have been wasting their time, if that dread day was coming as soon as the Bishop thought it was. All too often indeed, those that despair of the Papal office in the Catholic Church become obsessed with prophecies of the end of the world. Williamson’s only rival as a prophet of doom is Al Gore, he who has had the whole world wasting time worrying about global warming.

He scares the faithful with talk of the Last Judgement and is not himself able to accept the judgement of a secular court which has convicted him of inciting racial hatred. He is so keen to appeal not just against the level of the fine but also the judgement itself that he has gone to the extreme of retaining a neo-Nazi lawyer. This lawyer comes from a whole family of neo-Nazis- father and grandfather before him. He is the “in-house” lawyer of the extreme right in Germany and rushes to the legal defence of every odious character who ever perpetrates some vile crime on behalf of this movement. Williamson’s first lawyer was a member of the Green Party, the most anti-church party in Germany. According to his religious order, Williamson is in the process of selecting a third lawyer and will inform the Regensburg court of his decision "as soon as possible." The damage has, however, already been done. Williamson’s change of lawyer has probably saved him, at least pro-temp, from being degraded as a bishop and ultimately stripped of the right to practice as a priest.

Indeed, he took with him when he converted to the Catholic Church, anti-Catholic Church beliefs. His respect for the person and office of the Pope if anything diminished. The Pope was accurate when he said that Williamson never had the experience of living in the wider church and was not a Catholic in the proper sense. A truly Catholic theology lives in the Golden Mean, not at the extremes of heresy or politics.

It was very good to hear the Pope saying that the excommunication ban on Williamson should never have been lifted. It is a pity that this was not clear at the time but the management of the crisis probably demanded it.

One of the problems for the Curia however was that three of the Society of Saint Pius X’s bishops are in good faith. Indeed, it is possible that Williamson’s speculations on the Holocaust were a deliberate attempt to destroy the growing rapprochement between the main traditionalist body and the Papacy. Jewish organisations especially tended to make no differentiation between Williamson and other traditionalists. There are undoubtedly anti-semites in the traditionalist movement - they generally are laity, who do not understand the nuances of theology, and who should be avoided like the plague because they pollute everything that they touch, not least of course, the preaching of the Gospel.

Williamson would do well to listen to the teaching of St Ignatius of Antioch on the silence of bishops.

For Ignatius, God is the true bishop of all (Letter to the Magnesians 3.1). Ignatius pays homage to the Bishop of Philadelphia who “accomplished more through silence than others do by talking” (Letter to the Philippians 1.1). Ignatius insisted “the more anyone observes that the bishop is silent, the more one should fear him. For everyone whom the Master of the house sends to manage his own house we must welcome as we would the one who sent him” (Letter to the Ephesians 6.1).

The dissonant noises, ultimately signifying nothing, of Williamson on matters political has brought mockery on him and worse to the whole Christian Church.

Williamson is part of a wider political problem.

The Holocaust, if not in extent, then in evil intent was the greatest crime committed in world history. Those who deny it are unworthy of a place at any dining table. They have separated themselves off from civilised society. Hitler nearly destroyed a whole civilisation from which, in God’s good providence, Christianity took its roots. And without Christianity, the world will have no chance of civilisation. Hitler unstopped would have destroyed Christianity.

Further, worrying the world and the church with anti-semitism is a complete distraction from the real religious issue of our day, which is the large and growing Muslim populations in the great cities of Europe.

The anti-semitic right is one of the greatest barriers to political progress in Europe. Desperate conservatives danced with this devil in Germany in inter-war years. In our times, conservatives at home and abroad are fighting against the formation of a European super-state with dictatorial powers, not least in economics, as the Irish are finding out. We shall not win this or any battle by partnering with those whom we most fear and whose solutions would include our own political ruin.

An imperative for the conservative right in Europe is a Declaration of Civilisation which any politician of good will and humanity can sign and which would specifically condemn anti-semitism and holocaust denial. This would separate the sheep from the goats among the potential European allies for UKIP and the British Conservatives. This would make for a true ecumenism in matters political.

If these true friends cannot be found, we will find ourselves alone fighting for the freedom and prosperity of our great country. And this fight, my Lord Archbishop of all people, knows is well worth having.

November 30-December 1

"In my conversations at least one of my counterparts said to me, 'Well, don't worry about it, you should see what we say about you.'"

--Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, regarding WikiLeaks's disclosure of classified State Department telegrams; image from

SYMPOSIUM

International Broadcasting and Public Media: Mission and Innovation in the Digital Environment (December 8, 2010, New America Foundation)

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

1. WikiLeaks

U.S. focuses on Pakistan's military, nuclear material - Karen DeYoung and Greg Miller, Washington Post: "In the cables [leaked by WikiLeaks], Pakistani officials complain about a U.S. civil nuclear accord with India, their traditional adversary, and note that its provisions will allow Indians to divert materials to their own weapons program. Administration officials noted that the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons had been extensively discussed during a White House strategy review last fall.

Although President Obama has made repeated public expressions of confidence in Pakistani safeguards, the issue remains one of high concern. 'Why is it that we're trying to prevent the Pakistani government from collapsing?' one administration official said. 'Because we fundamentally believe that we cannot afford a country with 80 to 100 nuclear weapons becoming the Congo.' 'Shoring up Pakistan, helping it fight extremism, trying to improve its institutions are not just a humanitarian effort or some naive public diplomacy gambit,' the official said. 'There is a sense that other places in the world can go to hell, but not this one.'" Image from

WikiLeaks Update: U.S. Tries To Contain Damage From Leaked Embassy Cables - spintested.blogspot.com: "[R]ead the articles (and more than just a handful of the cables), and they are indeed newsworthy ... . Let's look at one of the most benign assessments from the BBC: 'What the documents show in fact is not that the US secretly wants to go to war with Iran but that it has resisted pressure to do so from Israel and Arab leaders acting out of a coincidental common interest. This is very much in line with President Barack Obama's public diplomacy'[.] Maybe (very much in line with Obama's public diplomacy), but it doesn't mean that we're not moving to expanding the wars to include Iran. The situation is as dire as it was when Bush was in office. Nothing's changed."

There's a Leak in the House - thedailyrealpolitik.blogspot.com: "WikiLeaks is amazing! The recent leaks (250,000 juicy embassy cables)

cover everything from gossip about Gaddafi's Libyan squeeze to the wishes of Arab nations with regards to bombing Iran. So what now? America has been launched into a 'worldwide diplomatic crisis' with nearly every single one of its so called 'allies'. I believe that these embassy cables show what Americans really think about the rest of the world behind the gloss of their public diplomacy." Image from

Leaked State Department Cables on Obama’s Sept. 17 Missile Defense Announcement Reveal His and Secretary Gates’ Views on Russia - Ted Lipien, Opinia.US: "Leaked secret State Department cables may help to resolve the mystery as to why President Obama chose September 17, 2009 to make his announcement on canceling President Bush’s missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. The announcement pleased the Kremlin, which had been pushing for the cancellation of the planned system for years. But why the Obama White House made the announcement on September 17, the anniversary of the Soviet military invasion of Poland in 1939 under the secret terms of the Hitler-Stalin Pact,

is still not clear. The timing of the announcement has been seen around the world as a public diplomacy disaster for America and was described with ridicule in U.S. and foreign media reports. Needless to say, not only the decision itself, but also the historical symbolism of the date when it was announced, greatly upset the Polish Government and Polish Americans. It turned out to be a major embarrassment for President Obama." Image with caption: David Low’s Exchange of Christmas Parcels shows how when the Hitler-Stalin pact divided Poland each dictator abandoned his supporters in the other’s territory from

US embassy cables: Fears over safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons‎ - The Guardian: Nonproliferation and Public Diplomacy: "19. (S/NF) Leslie opined that P5 states are 'losing the public diplomacy arguments about nonproliferation" and civil nuclear power, with the P3 and the P5 'being portrayed as the bad guy.' Day expressed a similar sentiment, noting that there is "no real recognition" of what the UK has done in terms of nonproliferation and disarmament, 'either in our own media or worldwide.' U/S Tauscher agreed that we all need to do a much better job of getting our narrative out, and noted that the State Department has brought in new people to help to do that."

'China dumped Pak in Conference on Disarmament' - The Hindu: A top British diplomat in September 2009 told a visiting American diplomat that China has 'dumped' Pakistan in the Conference on Disarmament, according to a US cable leaked by whistleblower site WikiLeaks on Wednesday. This is a good sign, Mariot Leslie, a senior British Foreign Official is quoted as saying in the cable in September 2009, which records her meeting with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control, Ellen Tauscher ... In the meeting, according to the cable, Leslie opined that P5 states are 'losing the public diplomacy arguments about non-proliferation' and civil nuclear power, with the P3 and the P5 'being portrayed as the bad guy.'” Tausher image from

WikiLeaks 25 million copies of the exposure of confidential State Department documents - discount-adapter-battery.com: "Public diplomacy document also records a U.S. official evaluation of foreign leaders, many evaluation very outspoken. Such as the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Italy Elizabeth Dibble was called 'irresponsible, arrogant, lack of capacity.' Another document showed that Berlusconi has been approved, 'often stays up late, indulge in the party, can not get enough rest,' is a 'political level in the body and are weak,' the leaders."

WikiLeaks…and Some More - Team SAI, southasianidea.com: "This is the worst disclosure in

the field of public diplomacy highlighting games nations play. A trove of a quarter-million State Department cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, offers an extraordinary look at back-room bargaining by embassies, candid views of foreign leaders and assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.Whatever the outcome of the leaks, they sully the diplomatic efforts of nations, especially of US, in dealing with friends and foes. International relations will no longer be the same." Image from

WikiLeaks: Why They Help American Diplomacy - John Brown, Huffington Post: "On the whole ... the WikiLeaks episode is not a disaster for America from a public diplomacy or 'behind closed-doors' diplomacy perspective, so long as diplomats are not 'shut up' by a State Department overly concerned about future leaks." Includes comment by Ted Lipien. See also, (1) John Brown, "WikiLeaks: Would George Kennan Have Been Delighted?," Huffington Post; (2); (3); (4)

YPFP: Media & Foreign Policy-A Discussion with Price Floyd - Debie Waggoner, State of Global Awareness "Best Point of the Night: The State Department documents revealed on WikiLeaks only proves the strength of our public diplomacy efforts.

Instead of damaging the relationship of the United States, most of our friends and allies were understanding and even commented that they said even worse things about the U.S. and its representatives. True-and I would add that if it happened to the U.S., it could happen to any government-it could be China or Germany’s turn next to have documents leaked, so don’t be too harsh." Floyd image from

Diplomats in the news for wrong reasons - Nicholas Kralev: Writings on global travel, diplomacy and world affairs: "The silver lining for U.S. diplomats of this week’s WikiLeaks release of secret State Department cables is that there is more buzz about their work than there has been in years. Even though it’s for the wrong reasons, it provides a chance to use the public attention for a serious debate on modern diplomacy."

WikiLeaks: a strange interlude‎ - Andrew Finkel, Today's Zaman: "I’ve never actually seen a production of Eugene O’Neill’s groundbreaking play 'Strange Interlude,' but it won a Pulitzer Prize back in 1928 for its innovation of having the characters interrupt their normal dialogue to turn and tell the audience what it is they really think. On the other hand, I have seen a recreation of that technique in the recent avalanche of documents now pouring from the WikiLeaks website. So much for all those decades of public diplomacy, carefully controlled press briefings and public affairs officers, like worried hens, hovering in the background deciding what was on or off the record. We now have a life-time’s reading worth of documents in which those oh so diplomatic diplomats reveal precisely what’s on their minds."

Finland Surfaces in Wikileaks Exposé - Tiina Jutila, YLE News: Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb has spoken out against the decision to leak the documents. ...

'I support transparency and public diplomacy. However, some information between states can be sensitive. This is certainly a difficult situation.'" Image from article

Al-Qaeda's Magazine in Yemen: Where's Our WikiLeaks Scoop? - Bobby Ghosh and Oliver Holmes, time.com: "The producers of Inspire, the online magazine by the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) must now feel the frustration familiar to editors around the world, when big news breaks just after you've closed your latest edition. For Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the latest WikiLeaks revelations are little more than an embarrassment.

But it's a safe bet that AQAP will extract as much propaganda value from them as possible. 'They will use these documents to say: 'See, just as we've been saying, the ruler of Yemen is a sinful man, who works for the Americans,'' says Mohammed Aish, a researcher on extremism in Yemen." Image from article: Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh

Digital Diplomacy – 21st Century Statecraft and Australia: ASPI-UNISYS Defence and Security Luncheons - Prakash Mirchandani, IntelliBriefs: "What does it say about modern public diplomacy when a foreign Government enables the internet to spread pictures of protest and crackdowns in Iran? When a single tweet message brings hundreds of thousands onto rooftops to shout out 'Allah O Akbar'? When secret videos out of Myanmar provoke the junta to describe satellite television as 'a skyful of lies'? When, without boots on the ground, a recent poll showed that ordinary Afghans view India more positively than any other country? These topics, along with suggested ways ahead, were explored at this ASPI-Unisys Defence and Security Luncheon."

Selling Wikileaks, Selling Hate For America - ‎Gordon Duff, Veterans Today Network: Wikileaks has divided the world into two camps,

those who love Wikileaks as a slap in the face for the United States and those who recognize the stench of Wikileaks for what it is, simple Israeli propaganda. Image from

2. Other Public Diplomacy Items

Under Secretary of State Judith A. McHale Travel to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore - Office of the Spokesman, US Department of State: Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale will travel to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore November 30 – December 8, 2010. During her visit to Indonesia, Under Secretary McHale will participate in the launch of the U.S. Government’s new high-tech American center in Jakarta, '@america,' and meet for discussions with Indonesian officials, media executives, and social media practitioners. Under Secretary McHale will also journey to Yogyakarta to participate in a panel discussion with students at Gadjah Mada University, joined by other Indonesian students via video conference technology, and to meet with civil society leaders. In Malaysia, Under Secretary McHale

will meet with senior Ministry of Education officials to discuss ways of enhancing educational exchanges and bolstering English language training in Malaysia, and participate in discussions with media practitioners, students and women entrepreneurs. She will also visit Malacca, a UNESCO World Heritage City where the U.S. State Department has contributed to the preservation of Malaysia's cultural heritage through a project funded under a grant from the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. In Singapore, Under Secretary McHale will meet with emerging filmmakers and leading local writers. She will also tour LaSalle College of the Arts, a leading arts institution in Singapore that is a close partner of the United States Embassy in Singapore and awards degrees in fine arts, film, design, media and performing arts." Image from

Reconn - Paul Rockower, Levantine: "Apparently, I am State's forward operating team. Undersec for PD McHale is coming out to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (terimah kasih, JB). Unfortunately, no Philippines in the mix. Too bad. This all comes as State is set to open the @America center in Jakarta. Very nice. If only the U.S. Pavilion in Shanghai was this cool...I do hope Madam Undersec McHale gets out of the hermetically-sealed diplo bubble to see the street-level musical culture that I blogged about in Java, and how State could really take advantage of cultural diplomacy outreach to Indonesia's rock youth."

Grand strategy‎ - Philippe Wojazer, Frontline: "A strong political nuance in Obama's new economic diplomacy towards Beijing came into sharp focus following his latest interactions with Chinese President Hu Jintao. They had an exclusive conversation in Seoul on November 11,

besides participating together in the Group of 20 (G20) Summit there on the same day and in the meeting of leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Yokohama on November 12 and 13. ... The overwhelming accent on economic issues in Obama's official and public diplomacy towards China was in tune with the season of G20 and APEC meetings." Image from

What should Egypt exactly learn from Jordan??‎ - Amer Al Sabaileh, Ammon News: "Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Peter Van Ham ... : 'The problem is that Arabs and Muslims will not attach credibility to US public diplomacy as long as US policies in the Middle East and beyond remain unchanged.'"

Thread: I bet the Nobel Peace Prize committee... -philadelphiaspeaks.com: Comment by Oskee Wow Wow [:] "[T]he Middle East, where Obama's intervention seems to have become an impediment to what progress there was between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. (Getting rolled as Obama did on missile defense for Eastern Europe was amateurism but not an embarrassment to the committee.) Still, it's interesting how closely U.S. private diplomacy tracks with its public diplomacy."

Famous humorist writes: "Voice of America is primarily about America" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "RFE/RL is a 'surrogate broadcaster,' providing the accurate information about its target countries that the media of those countries would provide if those countries were free. Kimandrewelliott.com is a surrogate website,

providing the accurate information about US international broadcasting that senior executives of US international broadcasting would provide if they provided accurate information about US international broadcasting. ... The entities of US international broadcasting, as bureaucracies, will do what bureaucracies do: try to preserve themselves. To this end, RFE/RL management has trotted out the old line about VOA primarily broadcasting about America. ... Surveys (my day job for most of the past thirty years) tell us audiences are interested mainly in what is happening in their own country, and secondarily in what is happening in the rest of the world. Their interest in the United States is, I'm afraid, a rather distant third. For any target country at any time in its development, there is a sweet spot, a proportion of the three categories of news, that will best attract an audience. The present structure of US international broadcasting does not allow this proportion to be achieved. ... I am not advocating that RFE/RL dry up and blow away so that my colleagues at VOA can enjoy greater job security. I am advocating that the elements of US international merge into a single corporation, actually organized more along the lines of RFE/RL than VOA." Image from

Obit: Soviet poet [Bella Akhmadulina] heard in the USSR on VOA and Radio Liberty - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting

Ranching's Loss, Jazz's Gain - Marc Myers, Wall Street Journal: [A]fter the [Brubeck] quartet's State Department-sponsored tour in 1958 of 12 countries,

Mr. Brubeck began incorporating rhythms he heard abroad into his compositions." Image from article

Kosovo - MFA officials trained in public and economic diplomacy - ‎isria.com: "In an effort to advance skills required to present Kosovo interests throughout the world, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, namely the Department for International Economic Cooperation, in cooperation with a USAID funded project to support MFA, is holding an intensive training program in Prishtina on pubic [sic] and economic diplomacy for Kosovo diplomatic and consular officials. An introduction to the public diplomacy, turning of problems into opportunities in the context of Kosovo’s economy and other important matters for the newest country in the world were presented to the participants by the project representatives: Dan Santos, Ivan Abrams and others."

Kayani's Briefing: Dawn's Shoddy Journalism - aq-lounge.blogspot.com:

"State media managers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi need to improve the methods of delivery of background information, possibly streamline it in accordance with the latest best practices in public diplomacy methods. Often Pakistani media trails behind its peers in other nations like China, Iran, US, Russia and others in terms of the quality of current background information available to media professionals. Pakistan is a late entrant into this field and it would take stakeholders time to get a handle on it." Image from

Medvedev's Annual Address - Yelena Osipova, Global Chaos: "Today President Medvedev delivered his key annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly. ... Of course, the highlight has been his 'threat of a new Arms Race' comment, and yet he talked about modernization, also touching upon the need to enhance Russia's Economic Diplomacy and improve the ties with the governments as well as the publics of Russia's Eastern neighbors. Russia's public diplomacy is turning to the East, now?"

Weapons of mass information - Tim Wall, The Moscow News: "[A]lthough there are often sound reasons to put out false trails about diplomatic aims and objectives, the more public diplomacy there is between nations, the better. Like the United States and many other countries, Russia has employed its share of secret diplomacy, and it has not been that edifying to see when exposed to public scrutiny. One example of this was finally acknowledged this week, as Russia’s State Duma publicly blamed Stalin for the 1940 massacre at Katyn of 20,000 Polish soldiers. This came about as a result of the secret clauses in Stalin’s pact with Hitler in 1939.

Yet Russia can point to cases when its public diplomacy served a better purpose. As Le Monde pointed out recently, in 1918 the new Soviet government exposed Kaiser Wilhelm II’s war aims at Brest-Litovsk by publishing the secret negotiations between Germany and the allies. That early prototype of WikiLeaks-style disclosure may not ultimately have prevented the Western powers invading Soviet Russia in 1918-21, but it did hasten the end of the First World War and arguably helped to save millions of lives. Whether modern-day leaks can serve such a noble purpose isn’t yet clear. But we should remember not to shoot the messenger, at least." Image with caption: 23rd August 1939: Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian Foreign Minister, signs the non-aggression pact negotiated between Soviet Russia and Germany, at the Kremlin, Moscow. Standing behind him is his German counterpart Joachim von Ribbentrop (left), and Joseph Stalin (centre) from

Nation branding - Coastal Asia Unrevealed: Blog related to my on & off Korean Experience. Tourist, Expat, Social, Environmental and other issues. And my satiric eye on it: "I have already mentioned about Korean Nation Branding efforts and how they impress me. In more developed countries than Korea comprehensive nation advertising and public diplomacy took much longer time or is not that well organized. Part of it is Korean Wave which currently hits Japan, China and other Asian countries. Korean boysbands and girlsbands, so called K-pop music to which you may find links in the video corner is just an example. Korean dramas with Winter Sonata leading among them, singer BoA and many others."

'Israel's public diplomacy tactics insufficient'‎ - Rebecca Anna Stoil, Jerusalem Post: Despite steps taken to improve image abroad, MKs and media representatives agree that diplomats have a long way to go. MKs and members of both new and traditional media complained Tuesday that the government’s public diplomacy strategy was ineffective and did not meet the needs of modern communications or successfully represent Israel’s interests.

The Knesset’s Immigration, Absorption and Public Diplomacy Committee met to discuss how Israel can better promote itself overseas, with MKs concluding that there was still much innovation needed to improve Israel’s image. ... The Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director-General for Media and Public Diplomacy Yigal Caspi emphasized that in the past four years, there was a decision to invest most of the public diplomacy effort toward fields including medicine, culture, art, fashion, agriculture and tourism. Caspi said that he opposes governmental involvement in social-networking sites, and that he preferred to cultivate relations with overseas Jewish organizations who can act more freely on such sites. ... Danon [MK Danny Danon (Likud)] agreed that there was significant work to be done to improve Israel’s public diplomacy, and promised that Tuesday’s session would be the first of a number of meetings held to address the topic." Image of Knesset from

Kazakhstan: OSCE Summit Set to Open in Astana‎ - Joanna Lillis, EurasiaNet: "Rico Isaacs, a lecturer in International Studies at the UK’s Oxford Brookes University, says Astana secured the summit through a skillful performance as chairman. 'The summit has to be seen as a success of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship,' he told EurasiaNet.org. 'I think that they’ve been given the summit through their own political skill in many ways, their own form of public diplomacy.'”

USAK Conference on “OSCE Vision of Kazakhstan”‎ - Journal of Turkish Weekly: "Özdem Sanberk, retired ambassador and director of USAK, ... addressed the importance of the period which started after the demise of Soviet Union within the end of Cold War. In that regard, he pointed out that Turkey was ready and had a great strategy depending on 5 pillars towards Turkic Republics. According to Sanberk, this strategy was based on being alternative on transportation, communication, trade and make cooperation on common culture and common energy politics. In other word, Turkey made investments and used public diplomacy tools effectively to be alternative and partner to them.

Lastly he stressed that Kazakhstan’s importance because of its constructive attitude towards security, peace and development in the region." Image from

The term "public diplomacy" increasingly used globally, but less fashionable in the USA - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "Even though more fashionable terms, such as 'strategic communication' are gaining traction, I still think 'public diplomacy' is a useful term. This is especially because 'public diplomacy' is in increasing use around the world. It's a useful replacement for 'propaganda,' which, despite attempts to declare it a neutral term, has a negative connotation. 'Public diplomacy' should be the official[underlined] presentation and advocacy of international policy by one country to people (not just to government officials) of other countries. International outreach by non-governmental individuals, companies, and organizations is a good thing, but it needs a different word to describe it, so that everyone understands this is not a nation-state speaking."

Dana Perino is among experts speaking at "International Broadcasting and Public Media" - Kim Andrew Elliott reporting on International Broadcasting: "I have suggested a partnership of US international broadcasting and private US broadcast networks in my recent Foreign Service Journal article."

Write whatever you like: I’ll Read it how I want - International Communication SIS 640: "The key framing issue in pubic diplomacy is that there is no magic bullet,

no special phrase, no shortcut that means your message will have the impact on the listener or even that they will understand and take away from it what you want them to do or know. Meaning: You can tell me all day long that red is the best color, but I’m just going to think you are arrogant and that you’re trying to change me." Image from

Campus News and Updates – November 30 - Office of the President Dr. R. Bowen Loftin • Texas A&M University: "Congratulations to Ambassador Ryan Crocker (Ret.), dean and executive professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service and our Commencement Convocation speaker (5:30 p.m. Thursday, December 16 in Rudder Theatre), who has been nominated by President Obama to serve on the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Ambassador Crocker also serves on the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy."

From Nyet to Da [From Nyet to Da: Understanding the New Russia, by Yale Richmond, Boston: Intercultural Press, 2009] - Reviewed by John Handley, American Diplomacy: Yale Richmond, a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, worked on U.S.-Soviet exchanges for over twenty years and served in the American Embassy in Moscow as Counselor for Press and Culture.

He also authored Into Africa; From Da to Yes: Understanding the East Europeans; and Practicing Public Diplomacy: A Cold War Odyssey. ... This book [under review] is certainly most useful to the first-time visitor to Russia and could be equally useful to anyone, businessperson or diplomat, negotiating with Russians. Yale describes at some length the similarities and the differences between Russians and Americans."

Alumna serves Americans in Israel as first line of border defense - Billi London-Gray, The Texas State University-San Marcos blog: "Jen McAndrew ... [t]he 2007 master’s graduate of Texas State’s mass communication program is now a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, currently representing the State Department in Israel. As a vice consul at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, McAndrew does everything from approving visa applications to managing the consulate section’s social media outreach. ... 'Since my background is in PR and writing, I knew I wanted to enter the public diplomacy career track,” McAndrew says.

“My constituents are Americans living in Israel and Israelis needing visas for work, travel or study.'” Image from article: Jen McAndrew, right, and a consular representative at an outreach event at an Israeli university.

Dan Diker to become next Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress - worldjewishcongress.org: "The Executive Committee of the World Jewish Congress has nominated B. Daniel Diker, a noted foreign policy and media expert, as next WJC secretary-general. ... Diker has served as WJC's Director for Strategic Affairs since May, 2010 and since early 2009 has served as WJC Middle East adviser on policy and diplomacy. Diker comes to the WJC following nearly ten years at the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs where he served in a variety of roles, including as director of its Institute for Contemporary Affairs - the Center's public diplomacy institute. At the JCPA, Diker produced and edited several books on the Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy and on Israeli defense and national security issues.

Diker is a former Knesset affairs correspondent for Israel's Channel One English television service and also served as a featured commentator on international news networks covering Middle East affairs and US-Israel relations. Previously, Diker held two senior marketing positions at two leading Wall Street firms. Diker is a graduate of Harvard University and grew up in New York City." Diker image from article

One more voice in defence of WikiLeaks - mephiztofel.livejournal.com: "[T]he hypocrisy of American politicians, who declare the ideals of "public diplomacy" (sic!) and then threaten the dissidents lifting the mysterious veil of this rotten diplomacy. So 'public diplomacy' turns out to mean private diplomacy, after all. Even George Orwell would be utterly petrified, I dare smirk."

B C- The New Diplomacy: A reflective group blog by some of the students on The New Diplomacy module at London Metropolitan University

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The Irony of Wikileaks: By threatening U.S. diplomacy, the hard left is undercutting its own worldview - James P. Rubin, New Republic: The hard left, so quick to demand that America accept other countries’ political systems, now seems blind to the fact that other governments want to have the right to say one thing in public and a different thing in private.

By respecting that difference, American diplomats are doing their job.U.S. diplomacy has been damaged, not destroyed; it will recover after a time. But for now, Wikileaks is making diplomacy’s task a whole lot harder. Julian Assange mage from article

A WikiLeaks wakeup call: In the end, what these documents confirm is that President Obama's foreign policy is a mess - Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times. Below image from

The Obama Doctrine: Hindering American Foreign Policy - Alliances, International Law, National Security and Defense and Worldwide Freedom and Human Rights, Heritage Foundation - Helle C. Dale: The problem for Obama, of course, is whatever you want to say to the American people, such as we want to get out of Iraq, is a message that is boomeranged around the world. The Iranians are going to listen to that message just as well as the domestic audience here in the U.S. So he’s not able to have one message for his voters here at home and one message for the Iranians. That is an unfortunate conundrum for the President.

Obama's isolation grows on the Afghanistan war - Susan Page, USA Today: The invasion of Afghanistan was launched to wide approval after the 9/11 attacks, targeting al-Qaeda leaders and the Taliban regime that had sheltered them. At the time, nine of 10 Americans supported the combat mission. Most in the USA still do, although opposition has risen: Four in 10 now say the military operation was a mistake.

A Role for Science Diplomacy? Soft Power and Global Challenges – Part II - Daryl Copeland, Guerilla Diplomacy

AMERICANA

--From the cover of the May 28, 1954 issue of Colliers; from Boing Boing

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